"Hold onto me or people will see you floating around. Which would not be ideal," Tabitha snorted.
Winona gripped Tabitha's waist.
Tabitha removed the simple silver band that covered her witches mark and slipped it over the tip of one of Cinder's many antler points. She shaded her eyes, just as Winona was instructed to do before she fully joined the Origin.
The world around them dulled, the newer, manicured forest blending with the more feral woods of her home. Winona shut her eyes, taking in the feeling of the beast breathing under her thighs and the smell of the clean air she once took for granted.
Her eyes snapped open as Cinder took off, a blur of surprising speed dodging trees just before the familiar would have smashed through them. The shimmering world of the inbetween was more confusing at speed.
Was Cinder dodging the trees of the Origin, or her home world? Both? Neither? Her grip tightened on Tabitha's waist.
"Scared?" Tabitha whispered as they broke out onto the street.
The hair of the pedestrians swirled in the wind as Cinder ran between them. A particularly dense group of people sent him dodging into the street, weaving between slow moving traffic in a way that terrified Winona.
The man who she saw that first time, in the inbetween, stood aimlessly on the sidewalk, his own hand up to his eyes. Unlike the others it was so clear that he was with them. He stood there with such clarity, such awareness that he had to be there with them.
Cinder paused a few feet away from him, ears twitching at the intrusion. He could feel the nervous glances Tabitha gave the man.
"Who is that?" Winona asked in a hushed voice.
The man looked older than Tabitha, but not by much. His face had an angular quality to it, with a distinctive broad nose and deep set eyes. He looked up at them, or more specifically, just Winona, with a sort of nervous smile.
"We aren't the only Eldest in town, Win. Now shush before any of them hear you," Tabitha urged Cinder to continue with a tug on his antlers.
Winona turned to watch him as they passed. He waved with his free hand. Winona waved back.
YOU ARE READING
The Eldest Marked
FantasyWinona is an Eldest, a firstborn child promised to a witch in a pact. She, like all the Eldest before her, must make her own pact before her twentieth year. If she fails to do so in time she will lose her home, her power, and her connection to all...
