The Dangerfields

Chapter Twelve

When Ryder finds me, blood is dripping off my fingers, pooling on the ground next to my feet. It stains my left hand and the blade of the knife, which now lies on the ground beside me, covering the golden leaves in crimson blood.

"Willow, what have you done?" He exclaims, rushing over to where I sit cross-legged, leaning against a maple tree.

He grabs my bloody hand and turns it over, so my palm is facing the ground. The deep cuts still drip with blood, and they throb with every beat of my heart. I see him open his mouth to heal me, but I put my right hand over it, stopping him.

"Don't," I whisper, "I'm tired of pretending like their lives didn't matter, that their deaths don't affect me. They do, they cause me so much pain that I thought I would make that pain visible, so others could see it."

I wipe some of the blood off my hand, but the cuts remain red, showing their shapes. An L and a G, forever etched into my hand, between the index finger and thumb of my left hand. If Ryder heals them with magic they won't scar, and I cut them as symbols, to last my lifetime.

The blood builds up on top of my cuts, and starts dripping onto the ground again.

"For goodness sake, at least stop the bleeding!" Ryder says exasperatedly. He runs a hand through his dark hair as he thinks for a second, then mutters a spell under his breath. A few seconds later, a flash of white comes zipping through the trees to where we sit. I watch as Ryder grabs it, then unfolds it, revealing a white t-shirt. He tears the bottom into a few strips, and starts to wrap the back of my hand.

By the time he finishes, my hand looks huge and disfigured, with its many layers of fabric. The top strip is starting to turn red from the blood soaking through, but I shrug it off. This will show people that I have gone through pain, pain that I didn't want to hide anymore.

"Thank god you're alright!" Mom nearly yells as she attacks me in a hug. We have just walked into our hotel room, to find her packing all of our things. It's time to go again. Mom pulls back from our embrace and sees my hand.

"Willow! What did you do to yourself?" She scolds, holding my hand gently in hers. Her hazel eyes fill with worry, and she blows a dark strand of hair out of her face.

"I'm fine Mom, I just... couldn't stand another second without making their losses become physically visible. I wanted the world to know that I'm in pain, and see it. I didn't want to hide it any longer."

The worry in her eyes turns to sadness, and she nods. "I hate the idea of self-harm, Willow. You know that. But there's nothing we can do about it now. If you want this to scar, I won't make you heal it. Just don't ever do something like this again."

I nod. Alston flutters from the nightstand over to my shoulder and perches there. I smile softly at him. "Hey boy, you're making progress with that wing of yours."

Mom half-smiles and says, "His feathers match your eyes, and he is attached to you already. It's like you were destined to find him."

Ryder holds his hand up and Ash flies over and lands in it.

We make sure we have all of our things, then we head down to the front lobby.

"How can I help you?" The man at the front desk asks politely. He wears a pin on his shirt that has four stars and the name 'George.'

"We're checking out of room eleven-oh-four," Mom says, placing our room keys on the desk.

George types away on the keyboard for a few seconds, then when something pops up on the screen he asks, "Jenna Stephens?"

Mom clenches her jaw slightly as he says the feminine version of our father's name, and replies shortly, "Yep."

We pay, then leave. I follow Mom and Ryder, not knowing exactly where we're going or how long it will be until we get there.

We walk. And we walk. And we walk some more. I still don't know where we're going, and at this point, I don't even know where we have been. We started out weaving between the buildings like we did before, but we have long given up on that.

My legs ache from the hours of walking, and my throat is burning from lack of water. I can feel my heartbeat in my entire being at this point, including in the throbbing of the letters in my hand.

Finally, I sigh in relief when I see Ryder turn into a hotel a step ahead of me. It is bigger than the others we've stayed in so far, but everything is big this far in the city. I don't know where the suburban area of Casedena is, but we haven't crossed through it yet. The view has been mostly skyscrapers, apartments and businesses.

I look around the large entry as Mom checks us into the hotel. It has high cathedral ceilings and a small sitting area off to the side. The room is painted a deep forest green, and the light furniture looks good with the dark colour. The floor is a soft gray carpet with white designs swirling about. A great ornate chandelier hangs from the ceiling, illuminating the grand room. I'm impressed by the place. It seems fancy, especially compared to the more modest hotels we've been staying at for the past few days.

I continue to follow my family as they walk towards the elevators, which we take to the nineteenth floor. We had turned Alston and Ash invisible while we were in the lobby, so we wouldn't get in trouble from the concierge, and now we release the energy, and they come into view.

We open the room, and as we step in, Ash flies over and lands on the dresser. Alston flutters after him, slower and more clumsy.

I look around the room. It's bigger than the others, with cream carpet floors and navy blue walls. The furniture is all lightly coloured, and the beds have dark patterned duvets. I drop my backpack on one of the beds, then go shower.

Afterwards, I lay out on the bed, thinking about what I would've been doing right now if none of this had happened. It's Friday evening, so I would've been home from school, probably with Livia in our treehouse.

We had our whole lives planned out. She was going to be an architect and a national hero, while I was going to be a doctor. She used to tell me that people would pay a lot of money for me to heal them, and I always wanted to use my magic to help others.

After we had both found the one, we were going to be each other's maid of honour, and we were going to live in our hometown, right next door to each other. We were going to send our kids to school together, and they were going to be as close as we were. My kids would call Liv their Aunt, and hers would do the same for me, because we were so close.

Once we were old and retired, we were going to watch our grandchildren get on the bus, and sit on the porch in rocking chairs, reliving our youth and laughing all day long. Even if arthritis crippled our bones, we were going to continue adventuring through the woods.

We had everything planned, but nothing ever follows through, especially that plan. We never expected the government to come. We never thought I would be considered a threat.

We never thought any of this would happen, but fate doesn't care. It just runs it's course, wreaking havoc upon everyone's lives. It has been exactly one week since that fateful day when my best friends died. One week, yet without them, it feels like a lifetime.

A/N: Hey everyone! :)

What do you think about the characters? Is Willow being too rash? Are Ryder and Kylie (their mom) worrying too much and switching hotels too often? What do you think of the story?

Please vote and comment! I really want to know what everyone thinks about it!

-ForeveraNerd17