Snow White Queen [NaNoWriMo 2018]

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Okay, since you're only just starting out, let's start with something small."

Amity and Neva were towards one edge of the clearing, away from the cabin. Amity was looking around the ground, seemingly searching for something they could use.

"This should work," she muttered to herself as she picked a twig up off the ground.

Neva looked at it skeptically. "What, you want me to wave that around and recite incantations?"

"No." Amity held out the twig in her palm and focused her gaze on it. After a moment, it snapped in half, seemingly of its own accord. The next second it was whole again.

Neva blinked slowly, processing what she had just seen.

"It's a little weird when you first see it, but after a bit, you get used to it." Amity held out the twig for Neva. "Why don't you give it a try?"

Neva took it, a little unsure of what was expected of her. "Do I just..."

"Just envision it snapping."

Neva nodded. She held out the stick in her palm and concentrated on it. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the twig splintered messily in her hand, the two halves still holding on by a few strands.

Amity nodded encouragingly. "That's a good start. Try putting it back together."

Neva turned her attention back to the twig, concentrating once again, this time on putting it back together. This time, it happened a lot faster. The threads reached out and pulled the two halves back together. It still seemed pretty fragile, but it was all in one piece.

Amity smiled. "Very good. Go again?"

Neva repeated the exercise until she could split the twig cleanly, then moved on to thicker twigs with the same objective. By sunrise, Neva felt that she had a solid grasp on the concept.

They would return to their lessons within the next few days. In the meantime, Neva would practice on her own whenever she could find the time.

~~~

Mallie Annot stumbled through the shrubbery, desperate to get away, as far away as possible.

A branch snapped behind her, which only encouraged her to hasten her pace.

Her foot caught on a stray vine, sending Mallie falling to the ground. She scrambled to regain her footing, but the soft dirt, which had been softened by rain earlier that afternoon, continued to keep her on the ground.

I'm going to die.

Something grabbed Mallie's arm and pulled her upright and into a nearby bush. She would have cried out if a hand hadn't immediately covered her mouth.

Mallie's pursuer passed by her new hiding place. They stopped and looked around, apparently seeing the markings Mallie had left during her fall. They looked through the nearby bushes, getting closer and closer to Mallie.

If Mallie still had a pulse, it would have been racing. She struggled against her new captor, who only held her tighter.

A flash of movement jumped out from one of the bushes opposite Mallie. Two figures leapt at the hunter, pinning them to the ground. The hunter fought back for a few seconds, then lay still; Mallie could only assume he'd been killed.

The person holding Mallie finally let her go and she leapt from the bush, her mind racing to make sense of what had just happened.

"Don't worry. We only want to help you," the woman who had been holding Mallie said.

"Who says I wanted your help?"

"Am I correct in assuming that you would have been dead - rather, dead dead - had we not intervened?"

Mallie eyed the three women before her suspiciously. The way she was talking implied that she knew-

"You are a vampire, are you not?"

Mallie looked between the three of them one more time. "So what if I am?"

"You can trust us." The first woman gestured at the other two. "We all are."

Mallie debated with herself for a moment, then decided to trust them. "Okay. I admit, I'm undead." She leaned casually on a tree. "So, what's the deal with all of you."

"I'm Amity, they're Lira and Neva. We've all been exiled in some way or another because of the whole vampire thing. We ended up finding each other and now we're looking for other vampires in need of help."

Mallie nodded to herself, then pointed to the one called Neva. "Is it just a coincidence that your name's Neva, or are you actually the princess who was supposedly assassinated last week?"

Neva made a mocking bow. "The very same."

So the princess is a vampire. She couldn't help but wonder how new of a development this was.

"So, would you like to join us?"

Mallie considered for a moment. This could be advantageous. After all, she'd been on her own as a vampire for less than a week and had already gotten herself into a lot of trouble. She could probably benefit from being around other vampires. "Count me in."

~~~

Neva, Lira, Loretta, Amity, and their new friend Mallie made their way into the nearby town for their biweekly venture in an attempt to keep up with current events. They had taken every precaution to make sure they weren't recognized as vampires, and to make sure Neva wasn't recognized at all, but they still kept their guard up. It never hurt to be careful.

Neva couldn't shake the feeling that was growing in the pit of her stomach. Something bad is going to happen.

She tried to ignore it. They were only planning on staying for an hour at most. How badly could things go? Still, the feeling persisted.

Someone's watching.

Neva whipped her head around, scanning the crowd behind her. She didn't see anyone who seemed to be watching them specifically, but her instincts continued to scream danger.

"We should get out of here. I have a bad feeling about being here," Neva muttered to Amity.

Amity nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Something's not right."

They made their way to the edge of the town as quickly and surreptitiously as possible. When they reached the edge of the treeline, Neva breathed a sigh of relief.

A faint whoosh penetrated the silence, followed by a thump and Loretta's piercing shriek. Neva whipped around to see Loretta on the ground, bleeding profusely, and in the distance, a fast-approaching gang of vampire hunters.

I'm back. I thought I might as well let you know I'm going on vacation soon. I will be writing, but I won't be updating this until I get back.
Thank you for reading. If you like this, leave a vote, and comment your thoughts. I'll see you next time.
~Patchesmimi