Come Away

Chapter 13 - Glowing

Cináed is the first to step through the archway, followed by Darren. I'm next, the hesitant and awestruck girl who feels like she's being forced to believe in something... well, something unbelievable.

The trees I saw from the other side are actually just the beginning of this new scene. The lines of bark and moss stretch out beyond my view. Their branches block out most of the ceiling, but I catch a glimpse of something twinkling through the leaves.

Almost like a starry sky. Under the ground.

I turn to watch bull-head and goblin step through the archway. But on this side there's no stone wall to support the passageway. Trees simply continue behind us, surrounding the archway like it's a portal that suddenly appeared in the middle of a forest.

I'm about to shame myself for even thinking of the word 'portal' outside the context of a Sci-Fi movie, when some of the glowing orbs from before start to hover by my face.

They hum a steady note that vibrates the air around them. A deep purple light moves close enough that I can see the source of the glow in the middle. A minuscule body, so slender that my fingers would seem chubby next to it, is fluttering on a pair of sheer wings. The creature is also tinted indigo, the same color as the surrounding light pulsing outward like a heartbeat.

And its tiny face, overwhelmed by large, black eyes, is staring right at me.

"She is pretty."

"A perfect token; a perfect gift."

Voices that sound like the tinkling of small bells chime around my head, coming from the tiny creatures inside the orbs. I look past them to find Darren or Cináed, but they're standing close by, watching me as I'm swarmed by the lights.

"Surely more than a token." The indigo creature says, bobbing in front of my face. "Do you not see her glow?"

I wave my hand like I'm warding off a swarm of bugs and step through the orbs. All eyes are on me - even bull-head and goblin are staring - but I'm forced to keep moving past them before the lights decide to follow.

Cináed is the first to move after me as I stomp through the underbrush. "Roisín, wait." He says. I hear surprise in his voice, but there's no way I'm stopping to talk about the floating orbs right now. All I want is to put some distance between us and the archway before I change my mind and run back through it.

If I wasn't indebted to Cináed, I never would have stepped through in the first place.

For some reason holding tighter to the straps of my backpack while I walk helps to keep my growing panic at bay. I'll have to face my new reality eventually, but if I'm supposed to live here until my debts are paid, there are some things I'll just have to be in denial about.

Like the fact that a floating light just told me I have a glow.

Darren and Cináed are walking on either side of me now, and bull-head and goblin trial behind. I catch a glimpse of Cináed staring at me like he's trying to dissect me with his eyes. I hop over a boulder and throw the only response I have at him.

"Let's just get this over with."

<<—————>>

After walking for what seems like hours through soft undergrowth shrouded in swirling mist, Cináed calls for us to stop. I lean against the dampened trunk of the nearest tree and catch my breath. Darren sits beside me on a boulder and lets his backpack fall off his shoulders onto the ground. His skin glistens with sweat, and the hair bridging his forehead is heavy with humidity.