The Pain in My Heart [Completed]

Chapter Twenty-One ~Crista

"Emma?" Axil asks perplexed before turning around and fixing his gaze on the little girl.

She's come for us already. This is it. Axil's plan has not worked at all and this is how she gets us?

There she stands in front of us with a simple cotton dress that looks way too big and a giant seashell necklace that hangs down to her stomach. She shies away, her face all of a sudden, frightened. Her big brown eyes dart back and forth between Axil and me before she takes off running into a crowd of people.

"Hey!" I yell. "Come back here!"

I started after her and tripped only to realize that Axil had pulled me to the ground. My chin hits the dirt, the air getting knocked out of my chest.

"Crista! What do you think you're doing?" Axil barks at me, struggling to keep me on the ground.

"Don't you understand?!" I whip around and look at him. "That little girl is Eden's daughter."

His bright blue eyes go wide and he pushes off of me to start running, using my body as a launch pad.

"Ow!" I yell, but I don't even care. Axil is the fastest out of all of us. He would always win races when we were little. "You keep running! I'll catch up!" I yell and I know we've caused a scene.

An elderly woman comes up to me piled on the ground. Her frail arms wrap around my shoulder. "Are you alright, miss?"

"I'm fine," I squeak out. She makes a cage around me with her arms as I force myself to stand. "Thank you, Ms. Ophelia."

"Oh, Crista," she says bowing her head slightly. I brush off the gesture. "What are you shouting about? Is something wrong? I saw the prince take off." She lists off all her worries and questions and I can only half pay attention until I hear her say something about a little girl.

"What did you just say?"

Her eyebrows knit together as she looks up at me. "I said, I had just taken in a little girl last night and I let her stroll about the town, but if Prince Axil is here chasing after someone I don't know if I should let her be on her own."

I lean in closer and she must take that as an invitation to keep talking. "I should hurry home to see if she has come back. If you see her around, please tell her I want her inside. She has dark brown hair and eyes. Maybe ye high," she says leveling her hand around the middle of her torso.

"This little girl," I question, "What is her name?"

"Willow," she answers.

"Willow," I repeat. "And what is Willow wearing?"

She looks down, gathering her thoughts. Stray hairs spring out of her bun, and something tells me this isn't the first time she has had to look for this child.

"Well, I think this morning she put on a smock. Oh! She wears this necklace her father gave her."

"A seashell." I don't even have to question.

"Yes. How did you know?" Her forehead is scrunched, her eyes narrowed.

I sigh. "How do I put this nicely," I murmur under my breath. "Willow," I say, the name sounding foreign on my tongue, "is the person Axil is chasing after."

She gasps and folds her hands to her chest. "Not Willow." She shakes her head frantically, more hairs coming undone. "But, why?"

"Um... well..." I stall for time looking around to see if I can catch a glimpse of Emma or Axil through the alleyways.