Timeweaver

Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!

Clang. Thud. Tabitha's eyes flew open. This is it, she thought. She's really going to kill me. I shouldn't have trusted her.

Tabitha, pushing away the covers, discerned that the noise was coming from the kitchen. She tiptoed to the door and continued to listen to the racket the intruder was making. The door opened without a creak, and she peeked out.

The kitchen was dark, so Tabitha could only see the silhouette of someone bent over, cursing softly. Even bent over, she could tell that the person was too tall to be Lyss, and he definitely didn't sound like Lyss. Anyway, Tabitha could hear the woman's snoring echoing along the hall.

Tabitha groped along the wall just outside the door until she reached the handle of a broom. Gripping it tightly, she charged the stranger. He swore again and reached up swiftly to block the broom swinging down on his head. Tabitha wrestled to get the broom back, but in the end, the intruder wrenched it out of her grip and threw it across the room.

Tabitha stood there in stunned silence for just a moment, breathing hard and feeling stupid for even trying to do anything. He's probably going to kill me now, she thought. She still had some hope left. Tabitha began to scream for Lyssandra but was muted by a hand clasped over her mouth. She continued to scream even though it was muffled. Her arms flailed about until they made contact with the face behind her.

With a grunt, the hand was removed from her mouth. The intruder waved the hand that wasn't covering his eye at the fireplace, and a fire flickered to life. The entire kitchen was illuminated by the golden glow. Tabitha noticed for the first time the glass shards sprinkled across the floor, the puddle of water and blood lying at their feet, and the wooden chair that had apparently been knocked over. Now she knew what had caused all the noise.

What surprised her the most was the intruder himself. He definitely didn't look like the assassin she had imagined. He looked to be only sixteen or seventeen years old. He had slightly tanned skin, and why wouldn't he, living in a colossal, veritable tanning bed? His dark hair was a mess, but when he pushed it away, Tabitha could see his eyes. His very familiar eyes. They were the same clear-blue as Lyssandra's. Oops, Tabitha thought.

He groaned in pain. He was rubbing his eye where she had slapped him. She righted the chair that lay on the ground, and he sat down. Then Tabitha saw his feet. He was wearing boots, but blood was pooling swiftly under one of them. He must have stepped on glass. "Your foot," she whispered. Tabitha clamped her mouth shut and forced herself to look away.

She busied herself getting a bowl of water and some rags. Taking care not to step on any glass, she knelt on the ground in front of him and began wiping away blood, trying her best not to be sick.

Once the majority of the blood was cleaned up, she handed him a small rag that hadn't yet been soaked in the thick red liquid. "Here," Tabitha said, "Bite this." He took the rag and shoved it into his mouth obediently. "I know this is going to hurt, but we wouldn't want to wake up Lyssandra."

He laughed and muttered through the cloth in his mouth, "That woman could sleep through an ogre stamp--" His sentence was cut off by screaming that, even though it was muffled, managed to be very loud. It echoed off the walls of the house. However, once she had pulled out the glass shard and his screaming had stopped, Lyss's soft and steady snores could still be heard coming from her room.

Tabitha smiled to herself and bandaged the wound. She swept up the glass with the discarded broom whose handle was broken and splintered and set to work making the drink Lyssandra had made her for her headache. "I have one question," the guy said through gritted teeth. It took her a moment to figure out what he was saying. His words were slurred, and his breath carried the strong scent of alcohol. She tried to remember what Lyss had used in her potion and hoped it would at least rid him of the worst of the pain. "Who are you and why did you attack me with a broom?" He didn't sound angry, just curious.

Tabitha chuckled and answered, "I'm Tabitha, and Lyss saved me in the forest today. I thought you were here to hurt us, so I kind of took matters into my own hands."

"Oh, I see," he nodded. "You know, when there's an intruder in the house, my first instinct is also to grab the nearest cleaning supply and attack. Who cares about getting away and maybe living?" He chuckled then moaned and leaned back in the chair.

She poured the pain remedy into a cup and handed it to him. "Drink this. It should help with the pain." Hopefully, Tabitha added in her head. She crossed her fingers and prayed she had gotten the recipe right. Maybe it only worked if you were a witch and used some type of magic. Either way, he gulped it down gratefully.

"So," she asked, "Who are you?" She pulled up another chair and sat down, thinking she had a pretty good idea what the answer would be.

"I'm Griffin," he answered, swallowing. "Lyss's son." Well duh, Tabitha thought. He did remind her of the witch, especially the eyes, but he probably got his hair and his height from his dad. Where is his dad? she wondered.

"Well, Griffin, nice to meet"-she yawned - "you."

"I would say the same thing, but it wasn't really the nicest introduction," he smiled and yawned too.

"Why'd you get home so late anyway?" Tabitha asked, yawning yet again. The adrenaline from the confrontation had caught up with her. Her head was even starting to throb faintly.

"Why don't we save that question for later? You know, a time when I'm not about to pass out from pain, or exhaustion, or both?" Griffin said with a mischievous smile. She allowed herself to be led back to her room and crawled back into bed. Before the door shut, she had fallen asleep.