VILLAIN

Chapter 11

I cried out, landing unceremoniously on strangely solid ground inside the light. I rubbed my shoulder, which had taken the brunt of my fall through the...whatever this was.

I pushed myself to my feet, taking in my surroundings. I wasn't inside a ball of light anymore, or at least, as far as I could see. No, I was...in a forest. A beautiful forest. Tall trees surrounded me, but they weren't just regular trees. These trees were covered in flowers of all different colors, and petals rained down from them peacefully in the breeze. A small creek trickled through the underbrush, its waters sparkling in the light. The sky above me was clear and blue, and the sun bathed me its comforting rays of warmth. Birds chirped amiably from the treetops, their voices weaving together into a complex melody. Small critters scurried from tree to tree, and butterflies rested on the trees' flowers. There was a little clearing in the middle of it all, and I could barely make out the quaint little house that claimed it, a thin column of smoke rising from the chimney.

I looked around with wonder, amazed at how such a place could exist – and how I'd been transported here through that ball of light. The grass was soft beneath my feet, greener than I'd ever seen grass before. I was marveling at it when I heard a person approach behind me, and I turned around.

"It's lovely weather, isn't it?" the girl said happily, her dark hair blowing in the breeze.

She wore a simple dress of deep blue, which ended just below her ankles and accented her creamy complexion and ruby-red lips. She looked a couple years younger than me, but she was already stunningly beautiful. Her eyes were a warm brown, and graceful eyebrows arched over them. In her hands she held a wicker basket, which held delicious-looking raspberries and blackberries. Even after all these years, there could be no mistaking who she was.

"Eva?" I asked incredulously, almost afraid to believe it.

The girl nodded, her lips spreading into a wide smile. "Moira!" she exclaimed, dropping her basket and pulling me into a hug. "You found us!"

I could scarcely believe what was happening, but I hugged her back as hard as I could, happy tears welling in my eyes. When she finally pulled back, my little sister was tearful as well.

"Moira, what happened? We've missed you so!" she said through her sniffles.

"I, I, I don't know," I stammered. "I –" And then I caught something. "Wait, we?" I asked.

Eva nodded eagerly, grabbing my hand. "Yes, Mother and Father and I," she said. "Come, we must let them see you!"

I stayed rooted to the spot, this entire thing growing stranger and stranger with each passing second. "Eva," I said slowly, "Mother died when you were eight years old."

Her smile faded, and her perfect eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "No, Moira. Mother is at home with Father making lunch. Come on, we need to get you home."

My confusion was growing, but standing there was hardly going to fix that, so I let her pull me along and off toward the cottage. It didn't take long for her to recover her usual bubbly personality and begin chattering on about their lives since I'd "disappeared". I had no idea what she was talking about, considering I wasn't the one who had disappeared at all, but after her strange denial of Mother's death, something told me that bringing up what I remembered wasn't going to help. Instead, I just listened intently, so glad to hear my kid sister's voice again, no matter how strange the circumstances were.

Soon enough, we arrived at the little cottage I'd seen in the distance, and I sucked in a breath. Because it wasn't just any cottage.

It was my house.