Prologue
She lay there, young, defenseless, and silent. Her face lit up by the flickering yellow orange candle on her oak bedside table next to a half empty glass of water. Long dark hair flowing around her on the material bag filled with hay. Her mother watching the 6 year-old body sleep intently, gently running her fingers through the child’s dark silk hair. The candle lit her hair dimly to show it as a deep brown. The room had only one window letting the blue tint of the moonlight seep in, casting shadows against the rough cold wooden floor.
The orange flickering light revealed the mothers face; her features strong from living in this deep forest, her jade green eyes lit up in the night, ageless and untouched by the decades she had seen pass her by. She hadn’t any wrinkles or signs of age on her face, but it was obvious she had to have been much older than 20, and as her frail long fingers skimmed the shape of her daughters face gently her mouth began to open, and out came a whisper. "Elinda, one day you will find your own answers, who you are, and what you will become, that is what you must find" the whisper was softer than the wind itself, yet it stirred the sleeping girl, her eyes opening slowly to see her mother, confused, and curious. The child looked at her mother silently; the green eyes she had inherited from her glowed with bits of gold throughout. Eye contact between the two continued, until loud footsteps where heard at the bedroom door. The girls’ father.
He clumsily stumbled in as if he'd tripped over his own feet in a rush, his chin length brown hair falling into his face, and yet his grey eyes could be seen through. The girl looked at her father confused more still as a thick red liquid trickled down the arm he was holding tightly, droplets fell to the floor where they'd burst apart into tiny puddles. His white shirt seemed stained in the unfamiliar red, between pants he looked up quickly. "Fawna, they're back, you must hide Elinda" he ordered immediately. The mother stood in a flash, picking up the young girl, and opening the small wooden wardrobe. She looked down and opened a compartment hidden on the bottom, gently she placed her daughter inside, quickly closing the compartment and wardrobe.
Elinda lay there keeping still, she had practiced being here, alone in the dark. There were tiny holes punched into the back so that she could breathe. She focused on dreams she had had, anything to make her think she wasn't here, she was only put here when something was wrong, or when she put herself in the small space to practice, in case something serious happened. A loud crash took her out of her trance; it was followed with more, the sound of Momma's good china hitting the floor, the sounds of furniture falling, and finally a familiar sound. The sound she'd often heard when her father came back from hunting, dropping the dead animal on the ground carelessly, a sound that haunted her. Elinda's eyes widened as she had heard an earth shattering scream, the sound of her mother screaming her father’s name, then a sudden silence.
Elinda stayed silent, although she could feel the tears rushing down her cheeks, unaware of why she was crying, or what she was afraid of. She wanted to know, yet her body wouldn't move, she couldn't even scream. Footsteps could be heard making their way to her room, each and every step towards her taunting her, pricking her with needles of fear, she could no longer breathe as she heard her door creak open, and the sound of steps wandering through her room. The needles turning to daggers as the steps moved closer to the wardrobe, her eyes closed tightly as it was opened.
Although as quickly as the door had opened, it was closed, whoever, or whatever it was, didn’t find her. Still, she lay there however, for each hour that had passed, felt like a day. After 6 long hours, she finally opened the compartment above her, looking through the crack between the wardrobe doors to see if such a monster had gone. Nothing was there, nothing but an empty room, her bed destroyed, her window broken, and the sun beginning to rise around her. She let loose her breathing as she stepped out of the wardrobe, her shoeless feet touching the floor that the spring night had cooled. She trembled as she had turned to her bedroom door. Dare she see what lay behind it? Yes, she must know what had happened.
Her hand moved in front of her pushing the door that could never again be locked, she stood in silence staring at the scene before her in horror, unable to force the tears back. In front of her, her mother lay glassy eyed, her hair out of its usual bun, falling around her. Elinda stepped back as she noticed the same red liquid all around her mother. The tears poured out more and more like they would never end as she dropped to her knees next to her mother silently weeping. Finally her breath quickened before she let it out, it was the loudest she'd ever screamed. Her eyes closed as the tears flooded out, covering her face with salt water, her face becoming redder as she screamed.
When she opened her eyes she saw her father’s body lay lifeless, headless, on the floor closer to the front door, Elinada cried, and cried, her heart feeling shattered, her family destroyed. The front door opened catching her attention, the wind playing cruel tricks on her, with her eyes reddened and puffy she stood staring at the door. Her feet dragging during every step she took. As she stood at the door her eyes widened, more forest animal than she had ever seen had gathered there in front of her home, squirrels, rabbits, birds of all sorts, deer, and many other animals. They didn’t run like they usually did when her father used to approach them. They stared at her curiously as she moved closer. Elinda's head turned from left to right, watching more animals approach. That’s when she noticed and unusual shimmering out of the corner of her eye. She turned to and animal and pointed in the direction she had seen it come from only to realize, it was her hand that had been shimmering, she had an almost glittering effect to her skin while she was out in the sun, she and her mother had never been outside without cloaks this must've been why.
She walked through the woods, leaving behind the small house of which she'd never again sleep in, and as she began to walk, the animals seemed to guide her through the trees. She walked longer than she ever had in her lifetime, until she made it to a clearing with the critters. A bear sat there looking at her as she had lost her balance, making noises that sounded like a laugh of some sort, it pointed at her then came up to her closely, scaring her with its size. It rubbed it thick fur against her leg, urging her to climb onto it. She did so gently. It carried her through the woods further to another clearing in which sat two bodies of water, a salt water hole, and a waterfall with a larger body of water underneath it filled with fish and bottomed with solid rock. As she looked around she could see many unusual things, fruits she'd never seen before, berries, plants that she'd only read about, that were supposed to be found in tropical places. This would be where she'd live her life. The forgotten child.
The Lost Boy
The village was pleasant today, no clouds, storms, worries about the nearby forest, And as he stepped out of the small school, he felt the cheery breeze gently fly by, brightening his day. Wilbur was a good boy, he went to church every day, never missed a day of school, and helped others as much as he could. His brother John had become the hunter in the family after their father was injured in an accident. Tonight was the night, the night in which Wilbur would join his brother on a hunt for once, after all if he had to raise a family of his own one day than he had to learn to hunt. Fourteen years-old was the time to do it too. He smiled to himself gently pushing his light brown hair out of his face to see his older brother sitting near the doors on a bench waiting for him.
Johns kind face looked up at him making eye contact, a piece of straw hanging from his lower lip. His naturally black hair hanging down on the sides of his face, and his almost gold brown eyes staring towards his younger brother. They were only two years apart, and John had taken up his younger brothers load on the farm, so Wilbur could go to school. Unlike his younger brother, John had no big dreams, no interests in girls, or fooling around, the most rest he'd take would be when he would stop to drink some water, or stretch. He barely slept, with the hunting, but you couldn't tell by the look of him at all. The most educational ability he had gotten was basic, his brother taught him stuff when he'd come home from school too, like reading, and writing. Wilbur tried to help with a lot of things after school, but his body wasn't built like his brothers, he'd hurt himself, and John would blame himself for it. Wilbur often helped his mother in the kitchen or helped tend to his poor hurt father instead to make up for it.
When the two brothers got home, John headed to the yard and got to work. Wilbur however came into the house and put his things away. His mother stood in front of the fireplace stirring whatever stew she had in the pot which hung above a steadily dancing flame. Their mother was beautiful even from the back, she had long brown hair flowing down her back to her waist, it was tied into a ribbon to prevent it from catching in the fire, the dress she had sewn for herself was made up of older clothes that no longer fit, but it looked brilliant on her, and although he couldn't see them directly, Wilbur knew her bright brown eyes were concentrating on the food in front of her. The delicious smell of the stew filled the air, the smell of the meat, the vegetables, and spices. He had just noticed it when the most peculiar sound came from him, and at that, his mother turned with a good spirited laugh "hungry are you Wilbur?" He felt his face heat up and looked at his feet too flustered to say anything. When he looked up again, he saw his mothers smiling face "It'll be done soon" she seemed to sing and turned back to the stew. Wilbur smiled with a feeling of an ember of warmth inside himself.
It wasn't long after mother's stew hit the table that every one was in their seats, John ate much of the stew to keep up his energy for the next day, Wilbur ate the same amount as his parents, and as the sun began to fall, it was time to hunt. John went into the shed and took out a clear jar of fireflies for light, he also grabbed two daggers, and a bow with some arrows. He looked at his eager younger brother and handed him a dagger as well as the fireflies. "We'll be going to check the traps first" John whispered, knowing it would add to his brothers enthusiasm. They had begun to walk towards the forest that sat at the edge of their small farm, and gently stepped in to the trees silently. It was dark., even with the fireflies and the ivory moonlight, Wilbur began to wonder how his brother could see in such darkness.
As his eyes adjusted, he saw what his brother was headed for, a small animal lay dead. It must've been a rabbit that was there, but it made no difference to John, he picked it up with a glove and put it in his large potato sack, looking around for a moment. Wilbur had been taught that no wolves or cougars roamed these woods, the worst you'd find were bears, but not the kind of bears that would attack on sight. As they checked the rest of the traps revealing nothing, one small bird lay on the ground in obvious pain, another animal of sort coming towards it. Wilbur couldn't bare to watch it get attacked so he grabbed it and pulled it out of harms way, a baby raven lay in his hands. John turned to see his brother at the sound of the little baby bird, he took his bow in hand drawing an arrow, Wilbur looked up "what on earth are you-" before he could finish a loud noise came from the bush that the bird sat next to, some sort of animal that had planned on the bird for a snack didn't appreciate it being taken away, John shot whatever it was and gave Wilbur a serious look, "watch yourself, if it weren't for that bird you'd be dead right now" he put his bow on his back and continued to walk.
Wilbur smiled at his new friend, and followed his now more mature seeming brother. His feet silently hitting the ground with each step taken. After some more looking around with no luck, it was time to got home, he noticed his brother had tied red bits of cloth to the trees for this route, it must've been done during the day, for it looked fairly new. With John still ahead of him he followed still exhausted, they walked, and walked, until out of the corner of his eye, Wilbur spotted something curious, a small shimmer of light that seemed to dance through the forest. He brushed it off as a firefly and tried to continue behind John, but John was long gone, far ahead by now. This, he knew, was why his brother marked the trail, he again gave a relieved smile and with one step forward, his foot slipped.
He had braced himself for the injury of falling, but not sliding, at least not like this. His mouth opened as he tried to scream during his sudden descent, but there wasn't time, he needed his energy to grab a branch, anything that would stop him from falling into the small swamp in front of him. The characteristics of this forest were unusual, the terrain was strange. His eyes squeezed tightly shut when he'd realized that there was nothing around that could stop him, and as he slammed into a tree, the world around him became a black blur. His hallucination of shimmering in front of him now in the shape of a teenage girl. "Who?" he whispered, as everything disappeared.
She stood above the strange creature, watching it, it was just laying there. Was it hurt? What was it? Curiosity flew through her, a million questions clouded her mind until she could no longer resist the urge to move closer and carefully analyze it. She knelt next to it, studying it, brown fur was on its head, but no wear else on it had there been so much fur. It wasn't on its face, other then two strips above its eyes. Strange. She felt her lips purse frustrated. Why were its eyes closed? Was it dead? But that's impossible, she'd just seen it moving. She sighed. The creature itself looked familiar, but, where had she seen a face like that? Her mind flew back to her father, this thing resembled her parents, especially her father, only, younger. She stood pleased with herself. It's a little man, a young man. With that she flicked her wrist towards the boy, and a small shimmering cloud of gold dust lifted him and followed her back to her pond.
Wilbur's eyes opened and although he was sitting up his mind was still groggy. Looking around his eyes widened. This place was the most beautiful he'd ever seen. The sky above looked bruised as the sun was rising, trees surrounding the area were swaying gently to a calm breeze, and the large body of water in front of him was a perfect mirror of the sky above. The pond was surrounded by little frogs croaking in harmony with the crickets chirps. The grass around him was green yet covered with wild flowers in yellows, purples, blues, and pinks all using the green as a background to contrast their beauty and life. It was the kind of place that should never be owned, not by anyone other than those who called it home, the animals. Like the little baby raven now doing well and sitting on the ground next to him. Did we die? "Is this heaven?" he asked himself aloud. Right after he'd said it he'd heard her. The sound of a giggle filled with a burning playfulness and curiosity " what heaven?" the voice was female, he turned back to see her, his hazel eyes trying to understand the sight.
He hadn't been hallucinating when he'd seen the gold shimmer from the night before, this girl appeared as if she was covered in gold glitter, And despite how odd it was, she must've also been the most beautiful girl he'd ever laid eyes on. Her dark brown hair fell to her waist filled with fragrant small white flowers in waves, her eyes were emerald green and flecked with gold. She wasn't short, she could almost hit six feet tall, and her larger figure seemed to move with the breeze, unlike the thin girls in town, Her body was muscular, but barely defined. She wore a strange olive green material which complemented her shape, with a single shoulder covered by the dress. Her lips were colored in a berry tone and gave him a kind smile. He was speechless. She took a step towards him, he'd noticed, barefoot. "what heaven?" she repeated with curious expression. Before he could find words he found himself saying "Do you mean, 'what is heaven?'" the girl nodded excitedly when he covered his mouth with his own hand. Then sighed, she obviously hadn't been offended. "Heaven is....." he trailed off to think of a good explanation "Its like a happy place for the good people that pass away" her expression told him she hadn't understood "pass away?" she whispered silently. He frowned "for those who have died" she looked shocked for a moment "you not dead" he nodded " I know that now."
His mind flicked back to the night before and he looked up at her "Do you know how to get back to town?" he asked quickly, John, his mother, his father, they'd all be worried. Again she looked confused "town?" "yes, town, I need to get back, everyone must be worried about me, my mother, my father" he stared at her as she gave a pained expression, then looked at him "I take you where you fell" she said with new determination in her eyes.
Elinda smiled up at John innocently. He was about an inch taller, and his eyes fixed on her with and unreadable expression. The tension didn't break until Wilbur lunged forward giving his older brother a hug, tears flooding his eyes "I didn't know how to get back, and....and she didn't know what a town is, so we came back here, where she found me, down there" he pointed to the bottom of the hill. John let out a sigh and patted the younger boys head.
Johns eyes stared at her as if daring her to cause trouble, yet Elinda couldn't help but be curious. She looked him up and down and circled him curiously. When she was behind him she touched his hair analyzing its dark color and how soft it was.
John froze, he felt his heart pickup speed, does she like me? he thought, then he pushed that out of his mind, why would he think that, how could he think such a thing when she could be stealing hair for some sort of evil witch ritual. He turned to her sharply only to see her green eyes looking at her hair, which she had put all over one shoulder while she combed through it gently with her fingers, it was messy, and he could see her fingers get caught now and then. She was comparing his hair to her own, he felt his bottom lip quiver. She looked like she never used a brush on her hair, but perhaps instead sat for hours just running her fingers through it. She seemed covered in dirt, but like she had bathed, just without soap, and she smelled like honey and roses. He shook his head roughly, he shouldn't think of that.
Wilbur watched his brother stare at the girl who'd saved him, it appeared as if John, for once couldn't keep the expression off his face, he looked confused, and rattled. He smiled. "should we invite her for dinner?" Wilbur whispered, leaning towards John "no" he answered quickly. Will looked at her with a bright smile "John says your welcome to come to dinner" Elinda's eyes widened slightly "Really?" she looked at John with gratitude, then at Wilbur in excitement "you teach more?" surprise filled Will and he smiled "if your willing to learn" she practically started to bounce with happiness.
Clouds began to from in the sky as they walked back using Johns markers in the woods. It was quiet between the three of them, Elinda was energetic and excited to have found new people and found herself dancing through the roots behind them as she followed. They wore strange coverings and talked like her momma and papa. The tall one seemed strange though and kept calling her a witch. She didn't think she was evil or bad, so why did he?
By the time they made it to the forests exit the clouds had begun to spit at them and the wind had picked up. "Storm comin'" John sighed "we'd better get moving a little faster" He lightly placed his arm around his brother in an attempt to move him along more quickly. within about 10 minutes they had made it back to the farmhouse Soaked to the bone as the rain began to pelt them and the clouds became an enraged darker tone and yet, neither of the boys felt at all cold. As the three of them walked up to the wooden door a women opened it with red puffy eyes as if she'd been crying. She sobbed as she recognized the boys and dragged them both inside holding them close.
Elinda looked at her feet in the doorway not understanding what she could do right about then before the women looked up and ushered her in with a kindness turning to the boys with a quetioning expression.
Johns kind face looked up at him making eye contact, a piece of straw hanging from his lower lip. His naturally black hair hanging down on the sides of his face, and his almost gold brown eyes staring towards his younger brother. They were only two years apart, and John had taken up his younger brothers load on the farm, so Wilbur could go to school. Unlike his younger brother, John had no big dreams, no interests in girls, or fooling around, the most rest he'd take would be when he would stop to drink some water, or stretch. He barely slept, with the hunting, but you couldn't tell by the look of him at all. The most educational ability he had gotten was basic, his brother taught him stuff when he'd come home from school too, like reading, and writing. Wilbur tried to help with a lot of things after school, but his body wasn't built like his brothers, he'd hurt himself, and John would blame himself for it. Wilbur often helped his mother in the kitchen or helped tend to his poor hurt father instead to make up for it.
When the two brothers got home, John headed to the yard and got to work. Wilbur however came into the house and put his things away. His mother stood in front of the fireplace stirring whatever stew she had in the pot which hung above a steadily dancing flame. Their mother was beautiful even from the back, she had long brown hair flowing down her back to her waist, it was tied into a ribbon to prevent it from catching in the fire, the dress she had sewn for herself was made up of older clothes that no longer fit, but it looked brilliant on her, and although he couldn't see them directly, Wilbur knew her bright brown eyes were concentrating on the food in front of her. The delicious smell of the stew filled the air, the smell of the meat, the vegetables, and spices. He had just noticed it when the most peculiar sound came from him, and at that, his mother turned with a good spirited laugh "hungry are you Wilbur?" He felt his face heat up and looked at his feet too flustered to say anything. When he looked up again, he saw his mothers smiling face "It'll be done soon" she seemed to sing and turned back to the stew. Wilbur smiled with a feeling of an ember of warmth inside himself.
It wasn't long after mother's stew hit the table that every one was in their seats, John ate much of the stew to keep up his energy for the next day, Wilbur ate the same amount as his parents, and as the sun began to fall, it was time to hunt. John went into the shed and took out a clear jar of fireflies for light, he also grabbed two daggers, and a bow with some arrows. He looked at his eager younger brother and handed him a dagger as well as the fireflies. "We'll be going to check the traps first" John whispered, knowing it would add to his brothers enthusiasm. They had begun to walk towards the forest that sat at the edge of their small farm, and gently stepped in to the trees silently. It was dark., even with the fireflies and the ivory moonlight, Wilbur began to wonder how his brother could see in such darkness.
As his eyes adjusted, he saw what his brother was headed for, a small animal lay dead. It must've been a rabbit that was there, but it made no difference to John, he picked it up with a glove and put it in his large potato sack, looking around for a moment. Wilbur had been taught that no wolves or cougars roamed these woods, the worst you'd find were bears, but not the kind of bears that would attack on sight. As they checked the rest of the traps revealing nothing, one small bird lay on the ground in obvious pain, another animal of sort coming towards it. Wilbur couldn't bare to watch it get attacked so he grabbed it and pulled it out of harms way, a baby raven lay in his hands. John turned to see his brother at the sound of the little baby bird, he took his bow in hand drawing an arrow, Wilbur looked up "what on earth are you-" before he could finish a loud noise came from the bush that the bird sat next to, some sort of animal that had planned on the bird for a snack didn't appreciate it being taken away, John shot whatever it was and gave Wilbur a serious look, "watch yourself, if it weren't for that bird you'd be dead right now" he put his bow on his back and continued to walk.
Wilbur smiled at his new friend, and followed his now more mature seeming brother. His feet silently hitting the ground with each step taken. After some more looking around with no luck, it was time to got home, he noticed his brother had tied red bits of cloth to the trees for this route, it must've been done during the day, for it looked fairly new. With John still ahead of him he followed still exhausted, they walked, and walked, until out of the corner of his eye, Wilbur spotted something curious, a small shimmer of light that seemed to dance through the forest. He brushed it off as a firefly and tried to continue behind John, but John was long gone, far ahead by now. This, he knew, was why his brother marked the trail, he again gave a relieved smile and with one step forward, his foot slipped.
He had braced himself for the injury of falling, but not sliding, at least not like this. His mouth opened as he tried to scream during his sudden descent, but there wasn't time, he needed his energy to grab a branch, anything that would stop him from falling into the small swamp in front of him. The characteristics of this forest were unusual, the terrain was strange. His eyes squeezed tightly shut when he'd realized that there was nothing around that could stop him, and as he slammed into a tree, the world around him became a black blur. His hallucination of shimmering in front of him now in the shape of a teenage girl. "Who?" he whispered, as everything disappeared.
She stood above the strange creature, watching it, it was just laying there. Was it hurt? What was it? Curiosity flew through her, a million questions clouded her mind until she could no longer resist the urge to move closer and carefully analyze it. She knelt next to it, studying it, brown fur was on its head, but no wear else on it had there been so much fur. It wasn't on its face, other then two strips above its eyes. Strange. She felt her lips purse frustrated. Why were its eyes closed? Was it dead? But that's impossible, she'd just seen it moving. She sighed. The creature itself looked familiar, but, where had she seen a face like that? Her mind flew back to her father, this thing resembled her parents, especially her father, only, younger. She stood pleased with herself. It's a little man, a young man. With that she flicked her wrist towards the boy, and a small shimmering cloud of gold dust lifted him and followed her back to her pond.
Wilbur's eyes opened and although he was sitting up his mind was still groggy. Looking around his eyes widened. This place was the most beautiful he'd ever seen. The sky above looked bruised as the sun was rising, trees surrounding the area were swaying gently to a calm breeze, and the large body of water in front of him was a perfect mirror of the sky above. The pond was surrounded by little frogs croaking in harmony with the crickets chirps. The grass around him was green yet covered with wild flowers in yellows, purples, blues, and pinks all using the green as a background to contrast their beauty and life. It was the kind of place that should never be owned, not by anyone other than those who called it home, the animals. Like the little baby raven now doing well and sitting on the ground next to him. Did we die? "Is this heaven?" he asked himself aloud. Right after he'd said it he'd heard her. The sound of a giggle filled with a burning playfulness and curiosity " what heaven?" the voice was female, he turned back to see her, his hazel eyes trying to understand the sight.
He hadn't been hallucinating when he'd seen the gold shimmer from the night before, this girl appeared as if she was covered in gold glitter, And despite how odd it was, she must've also been the most beautiful girl he'd ever laid eyes on. Her dark brown hair fell to her waist filled with fragrant small white flowers in waves, her eyes were emerald green and flecked with gold. She wasn't short, she could almost hit six feet tall, and her larger figure seemed to move with the breeze, unlike the thin girls in town, Her body was muscular, but barely defined. She wore a strange olive green material which complemented her shape, with a single shoulder covered by the dress. Her lips were colored in a berry tone and gave him a kind smile. He was speechless. She took a step towards him, he'd noticed, barefoot. "what heaven?" she repeated with curious expression. Before he could find words he found himself saying "Do you mean, 'what is heaven?'" the girl nodded excitedly when he covered his mouth with his own hand. Then sighed, she obviously hadn't been offended. "Heaven is....." he trailed off to think of a good explanation "Its like a happy place for the good people that pass away" her expression told him she hadn't understood "pass away?" she whispered silently. He frowned "for those who have died" she looked shocked for a moment "you not dead" he nodded " I know that now."
His mind flicked back to the night before and he looked up at her "Do you know how to get back to town?" he asked quickly, John, his mother, his father, they'd all be worried. Again she looked confused "town?" "yes, town, I need to get back, everyone must be worried about me, my mother, my father" he stared at her as she gave a pained expression, then looked at him "I take you where you fell" she said with new determination in her eyes.
The Witch
John had run back into the woods as soon as there was light in the sky, running as quickly as he could through the forest he yelled for Wilbur, tears stinging his eyes. His breath labored, but he still pushed forward. You better be alive, Will. "WILLY! WILLY WHERE ARE YOU!" he screamed louder than he'd ever screamed before, he ran along the path until he heard a response. "John! OVER HERE!" Johns heart swelled Thank god, thank god he's okay tears slid down his cheeks as he ran towards the voice. When he finally saw his brother he stopped dead in his tracks. He was down hill standing next to a girl Johns age. He curled his fingers into his palm. He'd never found any girls beautiful (guys either) yet looking at this girl was like the feeling of someone hold his heart in their hand and squeezing it. It was impossible, for him, attraction just didn't happen. She must be a witch, and she'd kidnapped Wilbur last night, he must've been able to trick her into bring him back. Anger burst inside of him. "Let go of my brother witch" he demanded, keeping the shaking from his voice. The girls head cocked to the side curiously "witch?" she asked Wilbur "what..... is witch?" she seemed proud for some reason Wilbur smiled "you remembered the 'is'" she nodded "A witch is a bad creature that uses evil magic" he quickly explained. Her nose scrunched up as she looked at John again "I am not witch" John was amazed "what spell have you cast on my him, witch?" at this question the girl seemed delighted "Eelahona" she said proudly. She turned to Wilbur and flicked her wrist causing the glitter to appear again lifting both her and him up to John who had now turned white.Elinda smiled up at John innocently. He was about an inch taller, and his eyes fixed on her with and unreadable expression. The tension didn't break until Wilbur lunged forward giving his older brother a hug, tears flooding his eyes "I didn't know how to get back, and....and she didn't know what a town is, so we came back here, where she found me, down there" he pointed to the bottom of the hill. John let out a sigh and patted the younger boys head.
Johns eyes stared at her as if daring her to cause trouble, yet Elinda couldn't help but be curious. She looked him up and down and circled him curiously. When she was behind him she touched his hair analyzing its dark color and how soft it was.
John froze, he felt his heart pickup speed, does she like me? he thought, then he pushed that out of his mind, why would he think that, how could he think such a thing when she could be stealing hair for some sort of evil witch ritual. He turned to her sharply only to see her green eyes looking at her hair, which she had put all over one shoulder while she combed through it gently with her fingers, it was messy, and he could see her fingers get caught now and then. She was comparing his hair to her own, he felt his bottom lip quiver. She looked like she never used a brush on her hair, but perhaps instead sat for hours just running her fingers through it. She seemed covered in dirt, but like she had bathed, just without soap, and she smelled like honey and roses. He shook his head roughly, he shouldn't think of that.
Wilbur watched his brother stare at the girl who'd saved him, it appeared as if John, for once couldn't keep the expression off his face, he looked confused, and rattled. He smiled. "should we invite her for dinner?" Wilbur whispered, leaning towards John "no" he answered quickly. Will looked at her with a bright smile "John says your welcome to come to dinner" Elinda's eyes widened slightly "Really?" she looked at John with gratitude, then at Wilbur in excitement "you teach more?" surprise filled Will and he smiled "if your willing to learn" she practically started to bounce with happiness.
Clouds began to from in the sky as they walked back using Johns markers in the woods. It was quiet between the three of them, Elinda was energetic and excited to have found new people and found herself dancing through the roots behind them as she followed. They wore strange coverings and talked like her momma and papa. The tall one seemed strange though and kept calling her a witch. She didn't think she was evil or bad, so why did he?
By the time they made it to the forests exit the clouds had begun to spit at them and the wind had picked up. "Storm comin'" John sighed "we'd better get moving a little faster" He lightly placed his arm around his brother in an attempt to move him along more quickly. within about 10 minutes they had made it back to the farmhouse Soaked to the bone as the rain began to pelt them and the clouds became an enraged darker tone and yet, neither of the boys felt at all cold. As the three of them walked up to the wooden door a women opened it with red puffy eyes as if she'd been crying. She sobbed as she recognized the boys and dragged them both inside holding them close.
Elinda looked at her feet in the doorway not understanding what she could do right about then before the women looked up and ushered her in with a kindness turning to the boys with a quetioning expression.
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