The Secrets Behind Them

★{Grace}★

"UGH!"

Arthur lets out a groan loud enough for pirates overseas to hear. We've been walking nonstop since we left Apate's shop and he clearly hates it. That's hilarious to me, he's the one who demanded we start walking until we met up with some scyra. Right now, we're walking in a field covered in dead trees and tree stumps. There's also at least five inches of snow here too.

"Dude, you're the one who said to walk for so long." Lyra groans back at Arthur, who has his hair up in a ponytail and his shirt tied around his waist. It freaks me out how he can just walk around in the snow like that. Aaron can barely make it with Arthur's blanket wrapped around him.

"Okay, but I'm starving. We haven't eaten since we left Apate's shop yesterday." Arthur whines, stomping into the snow and creating a path for Aaron, who's shivering  from behind him. I pay close attention to Arthur's body for some reason, finding several scars on his back. He's also covered in little brown dots, matching the freckles on his face. I can't see his face from behind and I can't help but wonder what his entire face looks like. He always covers up his face.

"I...I agree with, um, with Arthur." Aaron shakes out some words to the best he can. Arthur stops walking to pay attention to his best friend. This is when I finally see his full face, and when I realize why he covers up his face. His eyes are completely different, he has a really bad case of the eye condition with no name. Plus, there's a golden pentagram on his forehead, the worst place to have one.

"Hey, do you want me to carry you?" Arthur directs the question to Aaron. I turn to Aaron, who has the blanket wrapped around him like a torilla. His face barely pokes out of the soft white cloth he's surrounded in. Aaron shrugs, then sniffles. Arthur decides to squat down, inviting Aaron to hop on. Aaron hesitates at first, but eventually climbs up on Arthur's back. Arthur stands up, the blanket droops down and sways when Arthur begins walking forward.

"Let's find somewhere to eat." Arhur makes the final decision.

While we're walking, my mind loses itself in thought. Last night, we were chased out of a small village for simply being scyras. I recall some of them cursing at us, claiming we were buddies of the "white-eyed" scyra in the woods. I didn't know who they were referring to, but it did lead me to wonder. The only white eyed scyra I've ever met was Casper, my prison buddy. Maybe Casper lived there, but that's a lot to infer.

"Hey Arthur," Lyra's voice interrupts my thought, "do you even know where to find that scyra?" Both Lyra and I speedwalk up to Arthur, catching up to him to have a conversation. I nearly trip over a tree stump on the way to them.

"No, but I'm sure we'll find her like the heroes find what they're looking for in the books." Arthur answers back. We're fucked...wait, he can read? Lyra's thoughts echo in her head, I snicker at the tone her mind uses.

"You can read?" I ask the question for Lyra, she gives me a smirk. Arthur glares at me for a good ten seconds, then looks back up ahead. He doesn't answer back, meaning he probably can't read.

"Hey," Aaron steps into the conversation sounding much less chittery than before, "what's that house up there?" Arthur squints and tries to search for the house up ahead. I instantly spot it, but it takes him assistance to even pretend he can see it.

"Let's check it out, maybe that's the scyra's place." Lyra walks furthur and closer to the little building, the rest of us follow.

When we get about twenty feet away from the little house, I notice the soft green color of the house. The trim is an even softer pastel yellow. In all of the windows, there's at least one plant. Speaking of plants, there's dry vines covering the entire side of the house. I can only imagine this place in the spring. While I look over the aesthetic of the house, I don't even notice the pale young woman standing on the porch. She looks out to us, as if she were waiting for our arrival.