~Rain~

Chapter Five

Chapter five

Tyron awoke with a start. It must have been just seconds before what could truly be called dawn. It was dark, but clear. He could see, but there was no doubting the darkness that surrounded him.

Jumping to his feet, he first realized that the embers of the fire had burned out while they had slept. The second thing he realized was that Alice was gone. The third was that a rabbit, some berries, and various other things had disappeared.

Then the fact that Alice was gone truly sunk in.

‘Alice?’ he called, knowing full well that that was one of the least useful things he could have done. He turned to Miles instead, shaking him roughly and pulling him to his feet the second he opened his eyes.

‘Willa. Willa, up!’ Tyron cried, moving on to Willa, who rolled sleepily away from his across the forest floor. She opened her eyes and smiled up at him, her brown curls framing her face.

‘What?’ she asked, getting slowly up to her feet, frowning a little.

‘Alice is gone!’ Tyron cried.

Willa’s eyes widened. ‘Do you think the Nelia took her?’ she asked in a hushed whisper.

‘No.’ Miles cut in. When he received two hard looks questioning his surety, he explained, ‘They kill every human they see. We would have heard them. She would have cried out. She went on her own accord.’

Tyron frowned, attempting to comprehend this. Why on earth would Alice leave them? It suddenly struck him – she had gone back to Cael and Taya.

Tyron cursed loudly and began to loudly clear the area for any signs that they had been there.

‘What are you doing?’ Willa asked, still looking petrified.

‘Well, I’m going to get Alice. I don’t know about you.’

‘Well…’ Miles started right at the same time Willa managed to look deeply offended and cry, ‘Of course!’

Willa turned on her brother and glared at him, a trick she had learned from Alice. Before, she would have fluttered her eyelashes and begged, and ended up walking in the wrong direction doing something somebody else wanted her today. Now, Miles sighed and nodded, remembering how Alice had helped save his life. Willa grinned, and began to talk animatedly about something Miles quickly dismissed as unimportant and Tyron never heard.

He focused his eyes on the ground, watching his feet splash in the puddles that had settled over the last few days of almost constant rain. He wondered briefly if he should start running, move with a little more urgency, but then he realized that there was truly no point; they didn’t know where she was, and she had left of her own accord.

Tyron pictured a fight, blood flowing, punches flying, trying to get Alice back, but then he realized that this was not an option. Miles wasn’t huge for his age or anything, and although Tyron was strong and tall, Atticus and Cael were both built like boulders and not afraid to use their weapons. And they would have Willa to protect. He wasn’t sure how she was in a fight, but to Tyron she seemed so small, so bright, yet fragile and bubbly and innocent. He couldn’t lead her into danger, and walking right into what could be Cael and Taya’s elaborate trap seemed pretty dangerous to Tyron. Hopefully, the Neila had finished them off overnight, and Alice had lived.

Tyron turned and focused his eyes on Willa, who had finally fallen into silence, a serious expression on her face. He watched as her curls tipped forward as she stared at her feet, not complaining even though her hands were blue and her feet were soaked, and she had somehow misplaced her jumper and both her parents were dead.