The Elements of Forbidden Love

Chapter 15: The Outsiders

I was woken up by a slight movement next to me. My eyes fluttered open, and I looked up to see Aidan beside me. He was awake, and he smiled when he saw that I was as well.

"I didn't mean to wake you," he told me softly.

I laughed, "I'm a pretty light sleeper. It's not that hard to wake me up."

"Yeah, I'm starting to realize that," he smiled.

He sat up in the bed, and I rested my head on his lap. He ran his fingers through my hair slowly, and I closed my eyes.

"Aidan, can we just stay here? Do we have to go back?" I asked him softly.

He was quiet for a while, but he sighed, "I wish we could stay here, but they'd find us eventually. We have to go back. We have to rule. It's our responsibility even if we don't want it to be."

I frowned, "You're right. Even though I wish that you weren't."

"We can still find Brooke. We can be together still if we can just find her, and we could get married. If your father wouldn't want us to rule, mine might," he explained to me as he ran his fingers through my hair again.

I smiled up at him, "That would be amazing."

"It will be amazing. We are going to find Brooke. I'm trying to think positively," he told me with a laugh.

I gently pushed off of his leg to stand up. I looked in the closet, and I found a small black dress. It was light, and it would blend in better to my surroundings.

Aidan looked the other way, and I changed into the dress. I grabbed a comb, and I combed through my hair.

Aidan grabbed his clothes from the day before and put them back on.

I put my hair back up into a high ponytail, and I grabbed Brooke's waterlily necklace. I stared at it for a moment before carefully putting it around my neck.

I looked at myself in the mirror, and I found it hard to recognize myself. I was so different from the little girl who lost her sister in a fire. I wasn't that girl anymore.

I knew Brooke wasn't going to be the same either. She'd been through more. She'd seen worse things. I found myself wondering if she would actually want us to find her or not.

Before I could think more about it, Aidan's arms wrapped around my waist. His mouth was next to my ear as he softly whispered, "You look beautiful. Are you ready?"

I nodded before turning around, grabbing my bag, and carefully walking out of the trailer. He followed behind me as I walked back to the clearing where I saw the shadow people the previous day.

I looked out onto the field, and I saw that a larger group of shadow people were congregating.

"What are they doing out there?" Aidan asked me in a quiet whisper.

"I have no idea. I don't think we want to find out," I told him quietly.

We carefully backed away from the clearing when I heard a noise. I immediately spun around facing the area next to the trailer where I heard the noise come from.

I quickly opened my bag, and I grabbed a knife. Aidan held his hand out ready to attack anything near us with Fire.

"I'm not dangerous. Please don't hurt me," a small child seemed to say.

I lowered my knife, but Aidan stayed prepared in case of something else around us.

"We're not going to hurt you. Come out for us. We just have to know that you're not going to hurt us," I told him softly.