The Woods

Part 11

       When Quintin proposed his plan to Bri, he saw her face brighten with what must have been delight. She agreed to meeting Astraea once again, and they set out for the cave they had gone so long without seeing.

The leaves of the forest were beginning to turn red as the seasons turned to autumn. It created a beautiful effect on the ground from the sunlight shining through the canopy as Bri and Quinn searched for the meadow that would lead them to the cave with the waterfall streaming over it. The birds welcomed the newcomers, singing beautiful songs that weaved together to form one beautiful masterpiece. It was here that Quintin felt at home. He wished to live beneath the branches of the strong trees, wake up to the singing of the birds, and watch the animals do what they do best. Live freely. The more they searched, the more Quintin sympathized with the powerful sorceress he had met. The woods were much better compared to the Regazzini farm. His wonderment was pulled short, however, when they reached the cave. There was so much more to discover in the woods. He wished to someday see it in all its glory, with each season pulling on its trees. They entered the cave underneath the waterfall, and once again, Quintin was surprised by the large room they walked into. Astraea was not there however, but something about being in the room again lifted Bri's spirits, and Quintin noticed that he was excited to see Astraea again.

He longed to see her grey eyes again that her emotions shown through. The one place on her that revealed anything about her personality. She was powerful and mysterious, yes, but the grey eyes she had showed that she was also compassionate, free, but also depressed, weighed down by something that Quinn could not place. Was it because she ran away from home? But that couldn't be, she had done that by her own choice. Then what was it that could possibly be the source of a sorceress's distress? Before he could work out an answer, a knife was held at his throat by a smooth and steady hand. A hand that he actually recognized.

"Astraea," he said, and the hand holding the knife slackened.

"Why are you here?" She walked past him, wiping the knife on her faded blue shirt. He noticed that she was no longer wearing a jacket, carried three dead squirrels, and was barefooted. Her hair was pulled back in a thin braid, and her grey eyes shone with that fierceness he had seen the first time he met her.Her beauty stole his breath away, and it took him awhile to answer. 

"I thought it would be good for Bridget to get away from town."  Astraea seemed to notice Bri for the first time, her head snapping to the little girl. She smiled at her, but her lips weren't as warm as before.

"Well then, why did you come here?" Her words were directed at him. He could tell. She definitely hated him way more than Bri. Nobody hated Bri. She was like that.

"She missed you," he said, as if it were obvious. Astraea's lips glinted off a sun ray, and he wondered if she was wearing some of that strange gloss from Juhu, the kind Nels had given their mother during her depression. He quickly threw that idea away. No way would she wear gloss. She wasn't that kind of girl.

Something about that thought made him smile.

Astraea knelt down in front of Bri, who looked at her with wide eyes. Her little hands reached for Astraea's and she took it, the smooth skin, or what Quinn imagined to be smooth, wrapping nimbly around the child's. He imagined that hand on his and shivered, reminding himself who she was. A witch.

"Why did you miss me? What's wrong with your brother and mother?" At the mention of their mother, Bri shed a small tear that trickled down. Quintin quickly explained the situation to her.

"I'm so sorry," she said to both of them. She inclined her head."I know what it's like not to have a loving mother." She said it quietly, but Quinn still heard, though he had a feeling she hadn't wanted him to. She stood up, sighing as she did so. He caught her shake her head slightly, as if trying to erase a memory, but Quintin wanted to know what she was trying to forget. Astraea was cloaked in mystery, and he wanted to thin the fog that surrounded her. He wanted that fog to go away.

She's a witch. You only did this for Bridget.

"What do you mean by that?" He shouldn't have asked it. Astraea looked at him as if he had just morphed into a tail-chasing canine.

"Nothing. I just- I just understand. My mother never really accepted who I was. Who I am." The pieces clicked together in his head, and he realized what she was saying. She was admitting that she was a witch.

"That's why you ran away," he muttered, but Astraea ignored him.

"You made it just in time for the food. Care for some squirrel?" Bri was disgusted by the concept of eating any kind of animal, so she ate some berries that Astraea had gathered instead. She kept gnashing the blue ones, then cutting the red ones with the small knife Astraea had given her, which was completely against what Quintin had told her, and then she would eat it, using the large green things as platters. They all ate together at the small wooden table and stools. In a moment of silence after they finished eating, Quintin spoke up.

"I can understand why you chose the woods to live in. The beauty that surrounds us cannot be found in Lighthill." Astraea nodded silently, her grey eyes shining. They continued like that until the squirrels were long gone and Bri had fallen asleep on her stool.

"I should probably take her home now," he whispered, not wanting to wake the sleeping angel.

"Don't. I have some extra blankets for you two. Stay here. Please." Quintin looked at her questioningly, but she offered no explanation.

"Okay," he said. Astraea smiled, thanked him, and pulled some blankets out of a small hole in the rocks.

"Take the bed. I'll sleep on the floor." She started to lay the blankets on the stone, but Quinn stopped her.

"I'm fine on the floor." Their eyes met, her grey ones swirling with the unknown, his brown ones solid from all that had gone on in the past few months, and in that moment, something happened.

Quinn's stomach churned, and thoughts he had never had before began to race through his head.

Is this the right thing to do? Am I embarrassing myself? I should have worn something nicer. I probably should have told her we were coming. Is she going to get mad? Is she going to kick us out? I don't want to leave. I don't want to leave her. What if something bad happens to her if I'm not around to protect her from it? He paused his madness. Protect her? From what? Astraea was more capable of defending herself than anyone else Quinn knew. Where did these thoughts come from?

She's a witch.

Was that a bad thought?