Name: Roslyn - Species: Unknown

Name: Roslyn - Species: Unknown 5

"Hmmm," she watched me with unnervingly unblinking eyes.

"I know it sounds crazy-" I started, but she just laughed.

"It's not crazy Rose," she beamed. "I'm crazy. Now, let's explain a little of this to you."

I blinked at her. I thought that crazy people didn't know they were crazy, but she'd just admitted her own slight insanity like she said it every day. This girl confused me.

"There are sups, supernaturals, everywhere. We've been living among humans for thousands of years," she started absently braiding her hair, like this conversation bored her despite how interested she appeared seconds before. "There are weres, vamps, shifters, mages, fey yadda yadda. Tons of us strange types, all different ages, abilities, allies. I think you came through a portal, someone around you created it and you fell through. You ended up here. I wonder what's for dinner."

I was still trying to sort through all this new insane information when the crazy girl stood up and went to the door. She opened it, then closed it again and came back, sitting down and staring at me like she had when the conversation just started. I waited for her to speak, but she didn't. Instead she got up again, picked up her sketch book, sat on the floor and started drawing.

"Ash?" a knock came at the door a few moments later.

She jumped, for the first time so far, jumping out of her drawing haze. She blinked and stood up, leaving a half-finished drawing on the floor and going to open the door. I stared at her. Hadn't her brother said she never left her sketchbook?

Ash opened the door to her room and closed it again. Someone knocked again and she opened the door. Patch stood there, frowning at her. She turned around with a smile and went back to her sketchbook, sitting back down and drawing again. Without a word, Patch walked into the room, his eyes on Ash. He took my arm and lead me to the door and motioned for me to stay and be quiet. I nodded. Ash was acting stranger than I'd seen so far and I didn't like it. I was worried about the sweet crazy girl.

"Ash?" Patch walked up to her.

She kept drawing, biting her lip in concentration. No one said anything for a moment, until Ash finished and snapped the book closed, jumping up and going to the window. She looked angry now, agitated and... scared. Unconsciously, I gripped the doorframe.

"Ash luv?" Patch didn't approach her.

She spun around, confused, then staggered. I took a step forward as instinct and fear for her, but Patch was right there, catching her. She opened her mouth like she was trying to speak, but closed it again and just pressed her head into his shoulder.

"It's alright Ash, it'll all be alright," he soothed, then with a sudden movement, knocked her out with a sharp blow to the back of her neck. She instantly went limp and I sucked in a shocked breath. He picked her up bridal style and came to the door. "Stay here," he glanced at me. "I'll send Kate to take you to a room."

"Wait-" I called after him as he left the room. "Is Ash-"

"She'll be fine," he started to walk forward again, then stopped and looked back at me with horribly sad eyes, but a blank face. "She's been through a lot, she doesn't mean to..."

"It's okay," I said when it was obvious that he couldn't go on. "I'll wait here."

He nodded and carried on down the hall. I watched as Sean ran up the stairs, meeting Patch, then nodding as Patch said something. They both looked miserable, looking down at Ash like she was about to fade away. That sent a stab of fear through me. Was she dying? Did she have some sort of disease that made her slowly go crazy then die young? The thought of that girl dying really shocked me. I might only have been here a few hours, might be struggling to come to grips with all this insane new reality, but in this crazy place that I was, I knew that Ash had been nice to me, helped me.

I took a deep breath and went back into her room, sitting down on the bed. I looked at her pictures. They really were beautiful, sketches of plants, flowers, people, things. I imagine that there was a sketch of every person in this manor on her walls too, in human and.... wolf form. There were multiple ones of her and Patch too and ones of her with her brother and both of them with their father. One of a woman too, a woman who had to be her mother, she looked more like Sean than Ash and she was beautiful. There was only one of her, half hidden behind one of the manor. I hadn't seen her mother around here... I wondered if she'd been killed by hunters. Patch had said that she'd been through a lot... could that be it?

I don't know how long I sat there, but the next thing I knew, a little girl stood at the door, staring at me. She wasn't a day over 6, but her eyes were older, haunted almost. I wondered again how much these people have seen. She had short sandy brown hair and huge dark brown eyes, she was thin but I didn't doubt that she could take me on in a fight and come away unscathed. Even the children in this place were that tough, but I wasn't scared for myself anymore. If they didn't want to risk having a human here, I would be dead already.

"I've never met a human like this," she said after a minute of assessing me.

"Am I what you expected?" I asked, feeling like I was taking to someone my age, not a child.

"No," she smiled suddenly. "You're nicer than those men, the ones with silver guns."

"I'd never dream of touching a gun," I told her honestly.

"Good," she nodded. "Mitch told me a room for you, this way."

I stood up and went to the door. She looked at me for another long moment, then took my hand in her tiny one and lead me down the hall. It was a strong grip, this girl could probably break my hand if she wanted.

She lead me down stairs and to the end of a corridor on the second floor. This had been Mak's whores corridor. I almost laughed at the irony when she lead me into Molly's room; except now it was... nice. The wallpaper was plain beige and the sheets were red, there was a small desk and closet. It was a lovely little room. I wished I could take a photograph and bring it back to see Molly's face.

"Thank you," I turned to Kate.

"No problem," she nodded, then sat on the bed. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," I sat on the floor, back against the wall, facing her.

"Why did Ash help you?" she stared at me with an intensity that a 6 year old just shouldn't have.

"I don't know," I smiled. "I was lost and unwell, she brought me in here, helped me. I kinda got the idea that it was usual for her."

"It is," she nodded. "But not for humans. If there's a Sup like us around, she wants to help them; lone ones come here sometimes to ask for help from Mitch.

But she's never brought in a human before, Ash hates humans."

"She does?" I blinked in surprise. At no point had she acted like she hated me... Then again.

"I sensed it, you don't have to hide"

She had thought that I was one of her kind, a 'Sup'. I wanted to ask Kate what happened to Ash, why she was like this, but I couldn't. I had to right to pry into her life, she had been so kind to me, I couldn't do that to her.

"Yeah," Kate said. "She hates humans, no one knows why she brought you in here."

"Oh..." I didn't really know what to say to that.

"But I'm glad that she did," she smiled at me. "I'm happy that not all humans want to kill us."

I smiled back and watched as she stood up and went to the door, then stopped and looked back at me.

"Rose, don't leave this room until someone comes to get you, not everyone here likes the thought of a human in our home," she said very seriously.

"Okay," I nodded.

She waved and left, clicking the door shut behind her. I stood up, my mind whirling. So much had happened in such a small time. I felt ready to pass out. It didn't help that I was knackered. I needed to sleep, I kicked off my shoes and collapsed into the soft bed... the first I'd been in since my foster mother passed. I was asleep in seconds.