Blood Moon

Chapter Four - Clearing

The journey to the fae circle had only taken about half an hour, mostly because they would stop every ten minutes to scream. Which was understandable given they not only came across a hefty gang of squirrels but also a very ferocious looking badger.

"Who's genius idea was it to go into the woods on the stormiest night of the year?" Albie said, kicking through mud as they waded through the small stream overwhelming the path.

Lilo stayed silent all of her concentration set on balancing on her small stretch of dry land. It was a rhetorical question anyway, the plans were always Lilo's.

The gang stopped, as the trees suddenly opened up, revealing the clearing. It was interesting the way the trees around the space behaved. You would expect the branches to reach out into it, especially given the moonlight that was pouring in but they grew in the opposite direction. In fact, thinking about it, Lilo had been coming to this spot all her life and each time it seemed a little larger. The trees were running.

Nina's hand wiggled into hers. If Lilo was to run now she felt certain the others would join her without even looking back.

Instead, squeezing the warmth of the hand, she took a step further.

In the centre of the clearing was a large ring of mushrooms. The red spotting their white bodies matched the blood red moon and their heads all slanted towards it. In quick gusts the wind bashed against the girls, pulling Lilo's hair into bundles and knots leaving the small strands blocking her vision. The mushrooms didn't even sway.

It was very clear whose side the magic of the storm was on.

The moonlight, though bright in the clearing, barely penetrated the inside of the circle. So that, even with Lilo squinting, she could only just make out the silhouette of a huge boulder. The hilt of a sword, decorated with glowing symbols, jutted out from the top of the rock. Lilo had been to these woods hundreds of times but she had never once seen the sword or boulder before. A coldness began to sneak up her leg and she resisted the urge to bat it away. The night was only playing with her.

"The sword, guys I've seen it before!" Seemingly unaware of the uneasy scene and without warning, Albie let out a battle cry, her shouts fading into the storm as she charged at the circle of mushrooms and jumped into it.

Lilo could feel Nina's heart through her palm. Her whole body tensed and she could feel Nina's shaking.

It was then that the world went dark and they lost Albie entirely.

"Albie!!" Nina's shout felt world's away. Lilo's headache swelled in waves and the world started to spin. She grasped Nina even tighter in one hand, and in the other her daisy necklace. The chain broke. Nina, however, gripped her hard. Together they felt strong.

The wind's howl was the only answer they got. It battered against the two of them and they stumbled into each other crouching their bodies low to the ground. Relentless the wind fought the two girls for the right to stand upright and in the struggle Lilo was unaware it had almost pulled them completely into the circle.

You came.

The wind relented and carefully the two edged towards the circle. With each step, Lilo's head beat and her stomach clenched. There was a fuzziness that washed over her and her legs shook.

It didn't help that the ground would not stay still. The storm appeared to have turned it into a raging ocean, coming at Lilo in growing waves.

If the world could just stop spinning for one second.

The cloud that had been covering the moon moved on and light flooded the clearing again. Albie reappeared, she was just leaning against the boulder grinning. "Hey, it's fine come on guys!" It was ok... Lilo's heart didn't stop racing. "Damn Lilo you look pale as anything. Are you alright?"

Lilo was vaguely aware she was squeezing the blood from Nina's hand. They were safe, Albie was safe. She didn't feel safe.

Narrowing her eyes, she tried to focus on Albie but the world was drifting. They all felt very far away. The mushrooms spun and the trees stayed still. Or was it the other way round? Why did everything look so distant? Maybe she had started running from them.

She looked down on the clearing, Albie had stopped grinning and was now sprinting out of the circle.

Perhaps I am dead, she pondered. Distantly she realised her head was no longer aching and her heart did not seem to be pounding. Was it beating?

Albie now knelt down beside a body. Her body.