They awoke me shortly
after dawn. A girl was walking towards the edge of town, toward the Nolus
forest. Girls laced my boots for me and Annette buttoned my jacket as I pulled
my hair into a tangled braid. Time was imperative.
I nearly fell down the front steps running after her,
still tired from the fight. My boots
crunched on a thin layer of snow and my breath tainted the air white as I
walked briskly toward the edge of town. A faint green smoke rose from the treetops
as far as the eye could see. An eagle flew overhead but turned back when it
reached the smoke.
She was standing at the edge of the trees when I got
there. Her body flinched when I spoke.
“Hey,” I said, trying to be gentle though I was out of
breath. “What are you doing?”
“Leave me,” she answered, her voice cracking.
“Why are you doing this?”
She turned to me. Her eyes were red but she wasn’t
crying. I waited a moment but she didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. I had
talked to enough girls at the edge of Nolus to know why she was there.
“I can’t go back,” she whispered.
“You don’t have to go back.”
Her eyes flickered.
“I have a safe house,” I said, taking a step towards her
slowly. “You can come.”
“For how long?” her dress was ragged and her form
exhausted. “I cannot hide forever. They will find me again.”
I shook my head. “No. I’ve done this many times. I have
helped many girls escape. You won’t stay here. I can take you somewhere safe.”
She hesitated.
“What is your name?”
“Kailah.”
“Kailah. I’m Maylie. Please…come with me. The forest
magic will crush you if you go in.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m so scared,” she sobbed.
I stepped forward and she leaned into my arms, crying on my shoulder. I brushed
her hair gently and held her.
From the house I heard a quick tempo.
I looked up quickly. Smoke rose from the other side of
town. The masks were returning. They must have seen me leave.
“Kailah,” I said, forcing urgency and fear out of my
voice. “We need to go.” I slowly started walking, pulling her with me. She
wiped her nose on her sleeve and came willingly, still trembling.
We barely made it to the house before the masks did. Xandra
pulled Kailah up to the roof and I flung the beds to the ceiling, wrapping them
in invisibility just as the door flew open.
The masks stormed the house, pulling up floorboards and
smashing the windows. I didn’t move, just stood in the corner, watching them
destroy what little they could get their hands on. My bed was thrown out the
window and the pump was allowed to flow freely, pouring out of the new holes in
the floor and watering a few bedraggled dandelions which grew underneath the
house.
One of the masks finally turned to me, shoving me against
the wall with its forearm pressing my jugular. I gasped for air; my eyes felt
like they would slip right out of their sockets as my vision blurred. My toes
lifted from the floor. The magic on the beds weakened. I couldn’t let them
fall.
“We know you have them,” the mask growled, its red eyes
inches from mine. “Where are they?”
I choked in response, unable to speak even if I’d wanted
to. Its hold on me was painful but oddly convenient. It released me and I
crumpled, coughing.
“They…aren’t…here…” I spluttered. “You know I’m a town
councilman. I would never break the rules so vagrantly.”
“You’ve been under suspicion for years,” a mask snapped. “Do
not assume your position protects you from retribution.”
I stood, one hand on the wall for support as I rose. I
stepped forward and curtsied dramatically, sarcasm dripping from my voice. “Never.”
With one motion, the mask backhanded me and I crashed
into the wall. The air was stolen from my lungs as I crumpled yet again into a
motionless, gasping ball.
When my vision and breath returned,
they were gone.
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