Cursed

Chapter 6

Eva's POV
I let them see my blood. I was reckless, if I'm not careful, I could get killed. Holding Cas tightly, I continue to run, eventually stopping when I get out of the woods. As I sit down on the floor, Cas turns back into this human form, and lies down on the grass.

"Shit, I'm such an idiot, I let them see my blood, and the girl saw our souls. At least they didn't recognise me..." I mutter.
"It's fine, we won't let them find us. Whether they decide to report us or not. Where is our next stop?"

"Umm, this way, to Dragmire Drove. Maven said there are people from my old village there, if anyone knows where mum is, it's them."

"You always talk about your mother, but you've never told me what she was like," Cas says.
"Well, she managed to raise me well despite our circumstances. I was fed, taught how to read and write, but most importantly, she cared about me more than anything else. Other than you, I've never met anyone so warm."

"I'll take that as a compliment, let's go then!"

He jumps up and extends a hand to help me up. Taking his hand, I grab my bag from the floor, and hop onto my feet.

Despite the fact we haven't been out for that long, I'm already getting a bit sleepy, I'm just hoping we can reach an appropriate place to rest before dark. One where we don't have that boy and girl bothering us. The girl did seem nice, don't get me wrong, but she knows too much about us. No one has ever picked up on our souls before, we've been surrounded by Impures so that's why. But that girl, she didn't look like a Pure.

What if she's another half blood?

No, it sounds almost impossible for that to be the case. Reports and research claim that all half bloods have been exterminated, obviously that isn't completely true. But there must be some evidence behind that, I wasn't supposed to survive the fire, after all.

But as long as we can avoid them, we shouldn't have to worry or even think about them. If we can't get to Dragmire Drove by dark (which I'm sure will be the case) there's a village on the way which hopefully will have some sort of inn we can stay in. I just hope the money we have will be enough, otherwise it's sleeping in the backstreets, in a tent like I did when I was a child. We're lucky the tent Maven gave us is easy enough to set up.

After a long trek that seems to be leading us to nowhere, a small collection of buildings comes into view at the edge of the horizon. They're mostly silhouetted, with the sun setting behind them, in a mix of ambers, pinks and golds.

"We can rest soon," I sigh, looking to my right to find that Cas is absent. "Cas!"

After frantically looking around, I find him collapsed as a dragon a few feet back. When I go to pick him up, he snores loudly. Unable to stop the smile from appearing on my face, I place him so his head is sticking out of my backpack, making it so he can breathe, and I can carry him more easily.

About ten minutes later and we've arrived at the village. It's already dark, we took a lot longer than I was expecting. Then again, I didn't factor in the idea that we might bump into people. Either way, we're here now, and I have to find a place where we can rest.

"Well, we do have one room left over. It's quite small, and with a single bed, if it's just you who is in need of a room, you can use that one," The receptionist says.
"Right, it's just me. How much will it be?"
"Don't worry, it's on the house, as long as you don't tell anyone. You seem quite young, I can just leave you out on the streets for the night," she smiles.
"Really? Thank you so much."
"Here's your key, it's room 12, up the stairs and on the right."
"Thank you again. I really appreciate it."

She was right in saying the room was small. However, it should work. After removing Cas from it, I dump my backpack, Cas' bag and our food bag on the small sofa in the corner of the room. The bed is tiny, I doubt it could fit a grown adult on it. Lucky for me, I'm a kid, but that still leaves Cas without a place to sleep. Well, if he remains a dragon for the night, which he probably will, he can sleep on the sofa.

I take a seat on the bed, only to be surprised about how comfortable the mattress is. I mean, it's nothing compared to the ones in the palace or Maven's house, but I was expecting it to feel like I was sleeping on cement. And even if it was, we've been given the room for free, I'm not really allowed to complain.

After kicking off my boots, and removing my cloak, I stretch out and lie down on the bed. I should probably change into the pyjamas I packed, but I'm all achy, and now that I'm lying down, I don't want to get up.

Soon enough, I drift off, letting my exhaustion finally take over me.

"You never asked to be born, and once you were, you never asked for a normal life. You never asked to be thrown into a world of war and pain, but you were. All you've ever asked me for is my love, and if I can't give you that, what kind of a mother would I be?"

"You're my mother, that's all that matters to me."

"Eva, I love you..."

I wake up with my vision blurred by tears. The last time I had a dream about her was about a week before I ran away. They used to be a nonstop thing, that would wake me up in the middle of the night, and refuse to let me get anymore sleep.

"Eva, you're crying, are you okay?" Cas asks, back in his human form.
"Just had a bad dream, I'm okay though, don't worry. You well rested?"
"Yeah, but I heard someone knocking on the door in the middle of the night. I looked outside and I saw someone running down the stairs. I would've chased whoever it was, but I couldn't. I didn't want to wake you up, unlike me, you've been walking all this time."
"That's weird. Do you think it could be that boy and girl?"
"Doubt it. First off, there was only one of them, and then there's the fact that they looked like an adult. Those two are probably only a few years older than us."

"We'll ask the receptionist if she saw anyone come in when we leave. Do you want to eat here or find a café to go to?"
"We should really save our food for when we're not in any sort of town of village, that way we won't get hungry on the road."
"Good point, let's get going then," I smile, grabbing our bags. "You might have to become a dragon until we get out of here, I kinda implied that it was just me here."

Immediately, he turns into his dragon form and hides in my hood. When I get downstairs, I return the key and thank the receptionist.

"Oh, did anyone come here late last night? Because I heard knocking on my door last night and I didn't know who it could be."
"There was this one person. I was half asleep when it happened, but there was this man, who claimed his friend had booked a room for the two of them. I thought the knocking was him knocking on his friend's door, but clearly that wasn't the case. I'll keep an eye out for him, try to be safe."
"Okay, thank you."

As I walk out of the inn, I grab Cas from my hood and hold him in my arms.
"Let's stick close to each other for now, just to be safe," I say.
"It's not like we have any other choice," he laughs.

Whilst I search the village for a café, I can't help but feel like someone is lurking close behind, but every time I turn around, it doesn't seem like anyone's following me.

Maybe the idea that someone knocked on the door of that room last night scared me. What if someone recognised me?

I hope to God they didn't.

Eventually, I find a small, homely looking café, and I buy Cas and I a hot drink and muffin each. As I drink my hot chocolate, I feel my exhaustion coming back, and soon it feels like I'm about to drift off.