I saw the panic grow within her, rising up and threatning to overflow in the form of tears. She backed away, slowly.
"No way. Not happening...no..." She murmered. Her large lucid eyes widened and I saw her body move to turn and bolt. I dashed around her, cutting her off and grabbing hold of her wrist, bringing my face close to her and her breath caught. Her lips were so close to mine, I could already feel their soft shape molding to my own. But I restrained myself.
"If you don't come with me calmly, I can assure you nothing can protect you but myself in this forest." I did not threaten her but kept my voice firm and cool. She shivered.
"B-but my house is right over there..." She looked over my shoulder and gasped. I nodded. I knew what she was seeing. Trees, dark and looming, enclosed us. The path she had been on had faded to nearly nothing. She was in deep...and I was her only salvation in this place, the gateway to the Fey: The Dark Woods. This was a place where the line between our two worlds blurred enough for me to capture her and bring her in...if she wouldn't try to escape. I prayed for her sake she wouldn't.
"You can't go back." I told her, the half truth painful on my lips. It was difficult to tell the truth when your mind wanted to lie. But the cursed lips of mine could not...and only tell true. But I could still decieve her. But she didn't believe me. She jerked away, trying to dart around me, breathless. She didn't make it far. I slammed her against a tree, trying to both stop her and not hurt her. She broke into a sob.
"Please let me go! Please!" She begged, thinking the worst. I sighed.
"You can't go back," I continued as if she hadn't said a word. "Because there are worse things here than me. I don't want to hurt you. But others might."
She sniffled. "Please take me back. Take me home! What do you want from me?!" he eyes were so wide they looked ready to pop out of her head. Suddenly he felt her to be the most adorable creature, even in her fear.
"I won't harm you. I won't harm anyone you love. I just want to take you away." He told her half-truth...there was more to taking her than that...
"I have a family! And school! And...does any of that matter to you?!" She leaned against the tree, and I saw an inner strength within her. A normal girl would faint away or be screaming. She was calm and collected and...brave.
"All that matters is what I want." I answered and grabbed her hand. "Now come on."
She stumbled shyly behind me. But I heard her sobbing softly still. Something inside me long to comfort her but we were still in a dangerous place...it was no time to dawdle.
"Come on. We'll be there in good time." I saw her cast one glance back and I sighed. "There's no going back. Not anymore." And I grabbed her wrist and began to run. I cast a spell around us to speed our feet . We flew along the ground, I trying to be careful and keep her locked into my grasp. I heard her gasp behind me, but otherwise she grew silent. She was too much in awe to even sob. The trees loomed darkly but were a mere blur as we raced by. Slowly the forest cleared and I slowed. We came to a spot ringed by the trees, but bathed in cool sunshine. Flowers grew everywhere and directly in front of us was a yawning mouth of a cave, carved out of a rock wall hidden by the forest.
She looked around, shying away from the darkness of the cave. "Now what?" She asked timidly. I nodded toward the opening.
"There. It's the only way into my world. Right now we're in a place owned by neither the Fey or the Mortal realm. This is the way to safety. " I murmered, crossing the small clearing to the cave. She shied away again even as i tugged her onward.
"The...Fey? What is the Fey? " She sounded so frightened but all the same curious. I smiled.
"It's where I live and all beings like me. You'll see soon enough." I pulled on her again and this time she relented. I suppose a girl's curiosity will outwin her fear. But then I realized she didn't belive in any of it.
As we walked into the darkness, my feet leading us, I heard her keep whispering to herself. I didn't slow our pace but quieted my feet so I could hear her. Her soft voice seemed to echo in my mind and I felt my heart drop.
"It isn't real. It can't be. I'm just having a crazy dream with this dream guy. It'll all go away. I'll be at home and go to school. It's ok it's ok I'm dreaming..." I looked back at her, and realized she couldn't even see me. But with my eyes, my magical eyes anyway, I could see her. Small, frightened, shivering with the chill of the dank cave.
I thought to myself as I neared the exit of the tunnel: "'No, my dear...this is no dream. It's a nightmare."
