✓ | Girls of a Feather | #OpenNovellaContest2019

| seven |

Aleta

"Elke?" Aleta called, her voice ringing out into the silence of the witching hour.

The woods loomed tall and menacing in front of her, and she stopped, not daring to so much as step inside. No matter how hard she tried, she was still afraid.

She shivered. Even with her thick coat, the crisp air seeped in and settled in her bones. She longed for the warmth of her bed and the comforting nearness of her parents, but then she chided herself. She had something more important to focus on: finding her sister.

"Elke?" she repeated anxiously, pulling her bag tighter over her shoulder as a branch snapped from within the forest. "Elke?" she tried one last time.

"I'm here, lieveling, I'm here. No need to be so loud," the bird said, her caramel feathers appearing out of the darkness. She settled, the branch dipping with her weight, and peered at Aleta. "Good, you brought supplies. I don't know how long this journey will take."

Aleta gulped, hoping the older girl couldn't see her quivering in the dark.

"It doesn't matter how long it takes," she said, forcing herself to smile bravely, "as long as it leads me to Annemie."

Elke smiled sadly, something bittersweet shining in her beady eyes.

"You love your zus," she said softly. Almost to herself, she whispered, "Let's hope it's enough."

"It will be enough," Aleta said, reassuring both Elke and herself, "so show me the way."

"Wait," Elke said, holding up a glossy wing to stop Aleta from stepping forward. "You should know what you're getting yourself into. I certainly didn't."

Aleta paused. The organized part of her craved the information, desperate for a hint of what was to come, but the scared part of her resisted. Did she want to know the danger she was about to willingly walk into, or was it better to remain oblivious? 

The older girl continued before Aleta could decide.

"We're cursed," Elke began, the words slipping off of her tongue as if she had spoken them countless times before. "By night, we're birds, but by day we're our human selves. While we're humans, we cannot leave Antsje Pluk's grounds without her permission. Only under the cover of darkness are we free, but even then we are trapped."

"I don't need to know all of this," Aleta said softly. "I'm going to save you and Annemie either way."

"I know," Elke said. "But you can't just barge in and demand our freedom from Antsje Pluk. She's a powerful heks, and you're just a girl." There was no insult in the dancer's voice. It was true, after all. Aleta was just a girl. But she was also a zus. "First, you need something to defend yourself from the witch's magic, or else she'll curse you as soon as you step foot inside."

"What can protect me from Antsje Pluk?" Aleta asked.

"A flower," Elke answered. When she saw Aleta's skeptical look, she clarified, "It's a special flower. But Antsje Pluk knows of its power to defeat her, so she hid it deep in the heart of the forest. You need to find it to stand a chance against the witch."

Aleta looked away from the older girl and glanced behind her. In the distance, the rough thatched roofs of the village peeked over the grassy hillside. The stars twinkled from their perches in the sky, and the moon blanketed her in its soft, silvery light. Everything looked so peaceful and perfect, and yet she had to leave it all behind.

For Annemie, she reminded herself. She turned back to the bird, who was waiting for her patiently.

"Show me the way," she instructed Elke.