Silver Lillies

Chapter 9.

Chapter 9.

"Iris!" Lily pushed her way through the the men in armor and wrapped her arms around me. "Oh my God! I thought you were dead." I was stunned into silence as the scarecrow lowered their guns and took more casual poses.

i manage to stammer out, "I- Lily? What? Who?"

She held me at arm's length, studying my newest feature. "What did they do to you?" She whispered painfully.

"I- I don't know. Mum...she," I couldn't finish the sentence, so Lily did for me.

"She's dead."

Shes dead.

I looked at Dominic for any sort of support but he was eyeing the scarecrow's suspiciously. "Looks like we're not the only ones with some explaining to do." he muttered. Lily gave me a final hug before pointing at the scarecrow's. "These are my friends, Gabriel, Sam and Gunther." She smiled brightly at them. "They look really scary in there costumes but they're really, really nice!" the one closest to Dominic pulled off his- her? Helmet. Rusty orange hair fell around her shoulders. She smirked at me. When the other two did not follow her lead, she jabbed the man closet to her in the ribs. He looked at her for a moment, clearly shocked, before pulling off his helmet. Unlike Dominic, his hair was straight and blonde, with a faint red streak running through his fringe. He swept it the right so it cover the majority of his eye and gave me a wink. All three had shades of yellow and pink play in in there eyes.

"How exactly did you all meet?" I asked while the final "good crow" took off his helmet, he was chubbier than the rest of us, with spiky dark brown hair and a broad smile.

"They've been looking after us since forever ago." When I gave her a confused look she continued, "Mummy told them about the people at the river and they helped them and gave us food." She smiled at Dominic, then gave me a sad look. "While you were away the bad scarecrows came and ask mummy a bunch of questions. But when she told them that she didn't know where you were. They were yelling and waving their guns around and it was really scary! So I hid and when I heard the gunshots I ran away and, "She looked lovingly at the three good crows," They found me and helped me out a lot and told me everything that's been happening." she gave me hug. "I missed you Iris." I hugged her back, letting everything sink in.

After a few quiet moments I looked up to see my good crow raising his eyebrow expectantly. "Oh! Lily, this is Dominic, he's been helping me out a lot. She stood up and extended a hand with a sweet smile. "Thanks you for helping Iris live." He took shook her hand awkwardly.

"Yeah, no problem?"

"So!" Gabriel ? said with a loud clap, "We should leaving in case they decide to search the house?" We all nodded in agreement, I didn't want to be in this hell hole any longer. Sam at least i'm assuming that's her name, offered a hand to help me to my feet. By the time i was standing the trio had already put on their helmets and were making their way down the hall. I sighed, organizing my thoughts before following them. "Where are we headed?" Dominic asked.

"Well what do ya know, the kid speaks after all!" Gunther said enthusiastically. Dominic shot him a nasty look. And Gunther burst into a booming laugh. "Hey, play nice with the new kids." Sam slapped the back of the large man's head. I like these people already. They let off such a positive vibe it was impossible to not smile. "We have a hidden base among the apartment buildings" Gabriel said after a small chuckle. "We'll travel through the fields then along the river." he showed his mental map with his hand, pointing and swooping through the air.

"Sounds like a good plan."

I stayed at the back of the group with Dominic and Lily, listening to the trio's quiet bantering. "How are you so sure we can trust these people?" Dominic asked me quietly. I rested my hand on Lily's head, smiling at her when she gave me a startled look. "My little lils here is a good judge of character." I messed up her hair then turned back to Dominic as she tries to playfully lick my hand. "I wouldn't be trusting anyone she didn't." He flashed Lily a half smile and she grinned back. "she's very positive about this whole situation." He returned his attention back to me. "You're lucky to have such a good sister." I nod in agreement. "Do you have any siblings?" He lowers his attention to his feet and nods solemnly. "Yeah, a younger sister, I haven't seen her in a long time though."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I hope she's okay."

He nods again with a smile. "I think she'll be just fine."

"Hurry up kiddos!" Sam yells at us and I noticed we've fallen further behind. I jog towards them as Gunther punches Sam's arm and tells her to be quiet. "what are yours doing? Exchanging numbers?" she whispers with a snicker once we fall in step.

Dominic sneers at her as the rushing of the river gets louder. Strange, the river isn't normally this loud. As we near the tree line our feet are met by brown water. "they must've opened the floor gates," Gabriel sighs. "We'll have to go the longer way, which is through the city."