The Vagrants

Chapter 9

EVELYN

Weak. That's what I felt like. Not only because some of my strength was sapped out of me, but also because of my being upset over the loss of something I knew not even half an hour. That was the first time I got emotional, and I would make sure it's the last. I never let my feelings show through tears, or screaming, I let my burning anger and disappointment be known through my eyes. People say your eyes are a window to your soul, and that's how I intend to use them.

I probably looked like a baby, running into the forest, but it's like standing at someone's grave for too long. You only get reminded of what you lost. The only difference between my situation and that, is it was the grave of a grave. All my life no ones ever given me help because they think warriors are to strong to need assistance but in other families they always get help from time to time, but not me. If I broke my leg, I'd have to walk over to the healers myself, pain or not. But now I know how nice help feels when you need it.

I came to a stop to let the others catch up to me. I heard their running footsteps approach, not as fast as my own but fast enough not to lose me. "Hey, are you alright" Maikki asked me. I was fine, why couldn't they see that? I looked Maikki in the eyes to show her I was telling the truth "I don't need anything right now." She lowered her gaze, probably because I was staring too hard.

"Let's get going." Jefferson said. I may say this a lot but he was a strange person. We all continued walking in silence, deeper into the green forest. Suddenly the birds stopped singing and a mysterious feeling hung in the air. "Something's going on." Cameron stated. "Really? I thought absolute sudden silence of wild birds was normal." I said in a sarcastic tone. Marnie looked at me like she wasn't sure if I was kidding or not. "It's called sarcasm." I told her. She nodded and we kept walking forward.

We all listened in close behind a bush, to the murmuring voice we heard. Finally we understood. "Don't worry. My second in command is coming. I can sense his presence." A small whimpering voice tried to tell her something but soon got interrupted. "He's near. No doubt. So no more objections." The monstrous voice thundered. The person with them cleared their throat then replied. "Yes ma'am." Ma'am?

I looked at everyone else and saw they were just as confused as I was. Except for Jefferson. He hid his face and kept turning in random circles for no reason, as if looking for an escape of embarrassment. I stared at him for a while, trying to price two things together but then he caught me looking and stared back. We had an intense staring competition until he finally turned away. I looked back towards the voices, now whispering, and peered over the bush.

The woman who was "ma'am" was tall and skinny right to the bone. She wore a dark-purple, sleeveless dress, crumbling on the floor by her high-heeled feet. Her really dark, red hair was sticking up in one slick wave, and she had a diamond headdress hanging down her face. On her lips was black lipstick, and she had dark eyeshadow on her eyelids. Her skin was so pale, she might as well have been wearing paper for skin.

The person beside her was a short man who looked like he might've eaten a horse. His face was a violet colour with a darker shade on his cheeks. His fingers were long, skinny, and in other words, not like the rest of himself. His white button-up shirt was tucked into his black knee shorts, revealing pink with blue polka dotted socks. A spectacle sat on his right eye, which were fiery red.

The pair were walking over to our hiding spot, so I nudged the person closest to me ,which happened to be Cameron, and told them to get the rest of us moving. They all followed my footsteps on light feet to another path.

As soon as we got out of the strange pair's earshot, we walked normally again. "Who , or should I say what, was that?" Marnie asked. "Well, if I knew I would have told you." I replied. I looked at everyone closely apart from Jefferson who was avoiding eye contact. "Any myths, legends, tales, anything, that might have suggested who they were or what they were planning?" I directed the question at Maikki. She stood staring into the distance, lost in a train of thought. "I think I know." She finally said. "Who is it then?" We all asked. "It's not exactly her, but has somewhat of a relation, I'm assuming. It's Echidna. Must be a family member of hers. Didn't seem exactly like the mother of monsters, so I figured she must be related." We all stopped to soak it in, then continued walking forward.

A few metres later, we could her a light tap, tap, tap. We thought it was just falling sticks, until I realised that sticks rarely fall one after another every second. It was high-heels walking along with another pair of heavy footsteps. Another thing sticks rarely do, is have booming voices. "Why, where do you five think you're going"