Adeline and the Ovunque's Key || Ongoing

033

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟑 — 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐥'𝐬

I kept my stares on the pages, unblinking. How could this be? How did he get his hands on one of the items? My mind was swirling around at all possible thoughts. It kept going until a stone was thrown into the water's surface, making my ripple of consciousness float itself back to me in one sudden gush.

I lifted my head up and stared into the very stone that had woken me up from my thought. His green eyes were demanding answers out of worry. "What is it?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing. It's just that— I've seen a few of these items." I've seen the wristwatch.

Pierre's eyes grew in a small amount before he too let his eyes scribbled down the old book. "Which one?" he asked

I shook my head again, closing the book in a light force."I might be wrong," I said with a shrug. When I turned to face him, he looked stunned and shocked. "What's wrong?"

"I was still reading, Addie."

"I know."

"Then why did you suddenly close it?"

"Because I was done."

His mouth hangs wider at that. Astonished and disbelief scripted blatantly on his face. At his expression, I laughed lightly, feeling a warm float inside me. Pierre always has that effect on me. It doesn't matter if he has magic or not, just him being himself, was magical enough.

Pierre was special, with or without his magic. I smiled lightly at the man before me. Why couldn't I have fallen for Pierre instead? He's perfect. Just the way he is.

I let my eyes run down his figure for a brief moment before I turned away and began walking towards where I knew Odell would be. The east side of the forest.

We were walking silently through the woods. Leaves and sticks under our feet. It was all quiet, as always. And it stays that way until Pierre decided to break the silence. "Did you finally fall for me, Addie?" he asked, bending his body forward to meet my eyes.

The moment it reached my ears, I laughed. I would have never guessed I'd hear this question again. "What do you mean?"

"Don't think I didn't notice you were staring openly at me a moment ago," he said, pride flowing in his tone.

"No, I just think you're cute," I said, still walking ahead of him with a small grin on my face.

I wasn't lying about that. I find him cute and nice to be with. If I had never met Nicholas, If I had never kissed him that day, I would have probably never looked at anyone else. Why would I ever, when his green eyes were that alluring and charming?

But it was all in the past. It doesn't matter anyways. It's not like I would do anything about it. Despite hearing it from a possibly Nicholas from the future, It's very unlikely for me to reach out and want a relationship with anyone. In fact, I don't want it with anyone.

I don't want to end up unlucky like mum. I don't want to end up with a guy like Frank. I don't need to grow families and continue the heritage. I don't want to. Love is only something that invites pain. And it's not even real. It's merely an illusion. An illusion that everyone put in their head, believing that they felt it. Believing that it was the right person. But truly, all they are feeling is the enjoyment of someone's company and the feeling of caring for someone. That's all there is to it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

When I felt a vein twirled around my ankle, my thought and monologue were interrupted, forcing me to react and looked around just in case. There's nothing out of ordinary. But then again, I've learned from Odell's trait that her kind knows how to hide and be unseen from mortals' eyes. With that in mind, I keep extra care of the area, craning my neck around every space.

The vein, slowly loosen and it twirled itself off of me, sliding itself away, back onto the tree barks. Seeing such a scene occur in front of my eyes, I sensed it as hope.

"If you're out there. I'm not a dangerous person. I'm a friend." I said, looking around, in hopes to see the instigator of the little veins warning. "I'm a friend of a red-haired girl, with deer horns named, Odell. May we see her please?"

It was silent. I turned to stare at Pierre as he did me the same. Our eyes danced around the area. But we saw nothing that indicate there was in fact someone there. Maybe I was wrong.

We were just about to walk away farther deep into that side of the forest when suddenly a male voice was heard somewhere among the hidden camouflage of nature. "Who may you two be?"

Oh.

As if on cue, both Pierre and I turned to stare at each other upon hearing the voice. I straighten my back and still let my eyes run around. "We're a friend of your kind. We're here to see Odell. Could you please help us?"

He was silent again.

"You don't need to take us in, you can just call her out and we can talk to her here. It's important that we see her now," I said again, trying to convince him.

Again he was silent.

Maybe I was hoping too much. Maybe this won't work just as well as I thought it would. But I need Odell if I was to know more about the items. If I want to more about the key. If I want to know more about the door. I needed Odell.

And she needed me. If she couldn't be here to meet me, I don't dare try to think of what may happen to her town people later.

After a few moments of silence, the voice spoke again, "Whatever weapons you have on you, put it into the mouth of that tree, behind you. And then, maybe I'll help you meet her."

With no weapons, I wouldn't have a way to defend myself. Something bitter crawled up my throat. Something was burning inside the pit of my stomach. I feel sick and worried. But this is the only way. Reluctantly, I put down every single means of defence that I have on me inside the mouth of the tree behind me, as Pierre did the same.

Before we took a few steps away from the tree, Pierre grazed his fingertips lightly on my hand and as I look up at him, he flash me a small smile before saying, "It's okay. You don't need a weapon to feel safe. You got me."

I smiled and was about to reply to him when the voice suddenly spoke, "Oh how charming." He was close. I was about to turn to him when suddenly I felt a bang on my head and then I dropped down to the ground, my eyes growing heavy by the second.