Shadow Princess

Chapter Seven: What are You?

A small town sits on the edge of a water, made of stone and wood. Children dart across the roads, laughing and screaming. Adults mill around, some grouping up to talk. Cars go pass every few minutes, the main road busy in the middle of the day. Dust swirls around and has a few adults coughing into their sleeves. Callista walks by a group of kids by the river bank. The older ones, throwing pebbles in the shallow end, look at her with weird expressions. Rolling her eyes, she goes by them without interacting.

Five days went by and Callista hasn't heard anything from her parents. Her cell phone was left at the house, too scared to be found so early in her run. She feels dangerous to be around all these families and people, but Callista found this town by surprise. It is hidden, close to the river where they don't need to spread the town out. Callista found a small shed towards a field, with an entrance to the water front. The shed is big enough for a make shift bed and some tools she grabbed from the town.

It is kind of hard to find things when you have no parents, but legally she is allowed to be on her own. She turned eighteen two days ago, the little cupcake with a candle is how she celebrated becoming a full adult. Shaking her head out of her thoughts, she feels the hair on her neck stand straight. She freezes, the scene before her captured her. The sunlight reflects off the water, causing the light to catch the side of her shed.

Callista feels strangely exposed in her safe place and the feeling of being watched never leaving as she glances around the clearing. She shudders, shoving the feeling behind her as she climbs her way through fields of purple flowers. A crumble of rocks fell when she slid through a pile, slicing her on the leg. Cursing, she bends to rub the blood away when footsteps fall behind her. Whirling around, she faces two men, both in all black. On the right of their breast is a symbol. Th e symbol contains of three gold circles intertwining, with a silver V stamped in the middle. The one with dark brown hair that fell down in waves to his shoulders, looks her up and down. A cruel smirk fixates his face as his dark brown eyes meet hers. She feels ice in veins as they stare each other down, something predatory in his gaze. The other light-haired male clears his throat, but his green eyes hold triumph as he takes her in.

"Callista-"

The brown-haired male runs at her, her eyes tracking his movement, but she couldn't stop what he did. His hand came up and slams into the back of her skull. Callista gaps, a blinding noise splits her ears and she fell forward. Slamming in the ground, her eyes flicker and she hears a male swearing.

∞†∞†∞

Callista groans as she came back to consciousness. Her eyes open to a shadowing part of the woods. Behind her she hears the rush of water and feels the rough edges of bark digging into her back. She feels panic rise within her but as she tries to move, her hands are bound. Pulling at her hands, she feels the rope dig into her skin. Kicking her feet to get traction, she pulls harder. A tingling sensation spreads through her hands and she settles down, letting the blood flood into her fingers.

A shadow falls over her and she glances up to the right. One of the males from earlier stand before her, a smirk hanging on his lips. He leans against a tree across from her, his hip pressing against it. His brown eyes look her over and snorts. Callista wrinkles her nose at him and anger rallies through her. The light-haired male is standing by another male, who has dark red hair, the rest in the shadows. They look to be arguing, but the male beside her moves to stand closer, gaining the attention of the red headed male.

"Lintel, do not speak to her," the blonde headed male snaps, moving over to stand in front of Callista. She looks up at the male, her face scrunching together. The look the red-haired male sends her is filled with disgust. "We do not engage with her until Julius comes."