Frostbitten

Chapter 3: Gracie in the Forest

Heidi's POV

Once I am sure that I am deep enough in the woods that no one can see me, I sink to the ground and pull my knees up to my chest, I am going to have a child, in a few months I am going to be so fat, what will people think about me, what will the teachers do, Harry and I don't even have enough money for a baby, what in the world I am going to do? All these plus more thoughts run through my brain, I can feel the salty tears run down my cheeks, I take a deep breath and wipe away my tears, crying by myself is the only way I have been able to deal with this, I feel completely alone and afraid for not just myself but for the little human growing inside of me. I hear a twig snapping. I whip my head around but see no one, then I hear a tree branch crunching underneath the weight of something, as I look up I notice someone is standing on a tree branch a couple of feet in front of me, and she had her bow arched and loaded with an arrow. "Hello?" I ask the girl, her shoulder length light brown hair with green highlights in it is straight, she is wearing a grey dress that has a green forest design all over it, leaf earrings, brown bracelet on her right wrist, and finally a pair of brown high heel shoes. She is perched upon the tree branch just staring at me, "Who are you?" The girl finally speaks to me, I look at her with major confusion, "I am Heidi, who may I ask are you?" I fire back at her, "That isn't important, what is important, is why you are in my forest?" She asks not moving an inch, I look around confused, "This forest belongs to Auradon Prep, so unless you attended Auradon Prep you are trespassing." I stand up off the ground, "You are the one trespassing, I live here." This girl wasn't making any sense, I have been here for a while and I have never laid eyes on this strange woman in the forest. "Do you have a name?" I ask, I wasn't sure on how to approach this lunatic. "Of course, I have a name, have you ever known a living person to not have a name?" She asks back as she sits on the branch, "My name is Heidi, I am the daughter of Hades, and very close friends to King Ben." Gracie pulls her bow back, "You are the daughter of fire, you are the opposite of what makes this place so pure." I am starting to think that she isn't a fan of people intruding on her forest, "I am not my father, I also have learned to control my powers." I form a fireball and put the fire out, "See, I mean you or this forest no harm." The look in her eyes tell me that she doesn't believe me for a second, "How do I know that you aren't just trying to trick me?" I raise my hands almost like a surrender, "You have no reason to fear me, I just wanted to be alone." For some reason, after I said that the girl nods her head lowering her bow, "My name is Gracie." Was all she said, "And who might you be a descendant from?" The girls look to the ground then back to me, "My mother is Grandmother Willow." I then recalled something Ben told me on my first week here, "You are the guardian of the forest, Ben told me that someone lived out here, and that you protect and preserve mother nature." Gracie nods her head and takes the arrow out of her bow jumping off the tree branch and landing perfectly on her feet. "Mother Nature is the one true Queen, although I will always respect King Benjamin's authority." I make my way back up to my feet, "Why were you crying when I found you?" That awful feeling returned to my stomach, "I am just having one of those days." Gracie cocks her head to the side and gives me a strange look, "What do you mean?" I let out a sigh, "In other words I am just having a bad day." Gracie nods her head, "Well for what's it worth, I am sorry that you are having a bad day, and I am also sorry that I scared you." I give her a small smile, "That's okay, you kind of took my mind off my horrible day." I must say for only meeting Gracie for the first time she is a lot of like her mother, "Well my mother told me once that you need a little insanity to some of the best things." I nod my head agreeing with her, "Gracie, how long have you been living in these woods?" I ask, Gracie lets out a little giggle, "I have been here since the day I came to Auradon, that must have been at least 4 years ago now." My jaw drops to the floor, "You have been living in these woods for 4 years, how do you do it?" Gracie runs her hands across a vine, suddenly the vine starts to move down Gracie's arm and stops once it's wrapped all the way down her arm, "Mother Nature always provides for those who need her most." I can't help but look at the forest in a completely different way now, "Well, I have to say that I think it is incredible what you are doing out here." Suddenly we are interrupted by the sound of a twig snapping from behind me, and the brush moving behind Gracie. Gracie puts her finger to lips signaling to be quiet, Gracie loads her bow with one of her arrows. "Gracie?" A girl's voice says from behind me, I turn my head to see a girl with beautiful black hair, her feathered earrings dangled, she also has a gold necklace with a tree symbol on it, her long sleeved light brown shirt stopped just at the top of her belly button, her right wrist has a racoon bracelet on it, brown jeans that are light but as light as her shirt, and her outfit is topped off with golden yellow flats. "Heidi?" asks a voice from in front of me and behind Gracie, he is slender, very muscular, his blond hair is sticking out of the blue beanie that he is wearing, he has on a white shirt, his piercing blue eyes are hard not to get lost in, a bullet necklace around his neck, a pair of nice tan cargo shorts, and a pair of black and white vans on his feet. It is the son and daughter of the famous couple of Pocahontas and John Smith.