Star Child

Chapter VII: Escape Artist; Saturation

"This is such a drag," Selena complained to the guards, who ignored her in a statue-like fashion. "Speaking of which," Pulling out a small cigarette and lighter, she took a drag and then offered the guards one, though they promptly ignored her and just continued through the Wood. Adjusting her glasses, Selena looked to the back of the group and saw some observers peeking out behind trees; Nicolas and some unknown person with him. Smiling visibly, Selena took a puff of her cigarette and shook her head from side to side.

***

"We need to get close enough to her that we can communicate with her," whispered Nicolas to Theo. "But..." He paused and thought harshly, as if there was a physical road block. Taking too long to thing, Theo dragged Nicolas to hide behind another tree as the group moved further away. Theo looked up and saw that the girl that the Vampire Guard had captured had spotted them and smiled.

"I think I have an idea," Theo whispered back, taking his mask and covering his face. "But I need your consent: is it okay to do the bat thing again?" Nicolas swallowed shallowly; the bat thing wasn't terrible, but it disoriented him terribly afterwards, and in seeing how disoriented he was when in the warped reality with La Catrina, he wasn't sure how that would play out.

But Selena was in trouble, and Nicolas couldn't just leave her with those assholes, especially the leader. So he nodded his head slowly and Theo began the spell. A moment later, Nicolas saw the world through the distorted view of the bat. Theo picked Bat-Nicolas up and put him on his shoulder, swiftly darted through the trees, and whipped around straight into the path of the vampires.

Drawing their weapons, the guard who had beaten Nicolas called out to the two:

"Trespasser! Seize him!"

"Nah, bitch," Theo chortled psychotically, taking out another small vial that he launched, causing another plume of smoke to appear. "Nicolas, try flying and using the bat's echolocation to find your friend," Theo whispered to the bat, and Nicolas leapt up, flapping his arm wildly and diving into the plume.

Nicolas' head felt dizzy being back in the bat form, and it took him a minute to finally find Selena. Landing on her shoulder, Nicolas began to tug and shriek, attempting to coax Selena out of the mist. Taking the hint, she complied and they escaped the purple haze. The moment they escaped, Nicolas fell to the ground and began to transform to his normal self, as Theo was awaiting their return.

"We outtie, son!" Yelled Selena with a malicious cackle, and the three turned to run.

"Not quite," Spoke a familiarly husky voice from in front of them; it was the guard who had beaten Nicolas. Taking out three pairs of some sort of golden string, all three were bound by the other guards who had found their way out of the haze. Struggling, they could not undo or even budge the golden thread; it seemed impervious to any sort of resistance. "You can't break this string; it was woven by the three great spinsters themselves; the Three Mistresses Rumple, Stilt, and Skin."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Nicolas and Selena exasperated at the same time.

"What is it?" Theo asked innocently.

"In any case," the guard smiled wickedly. "You will all accompany us to Chateau Du Ciel, where you shall be dealt with."

"As in execution," called another guard from behind.

"I wanted to say that part!" The originally speaking guard growled fiercely. His anger faded, and the three were blindfolded, blind to the Wood around them. The crunching of the ground under their feet was the only indication that they were still in the Wood, and for what seemed like hours they trudged through the Wood.