Into the Woods

Chapter 10

With each pounding footfall, each haggard inhale, each painful beat of his heart, another incriminating, self deprecating thought ballooned in his head. In between them his anxieties rose like air too hot to breathe; was Shiro in pursuit? What about the faeries? Was he now being hunted? What would they do to him if he was caught? Lance could feel the crawling sensation of many eyes upon him and he resisted the urge to look over his shoulder, to double check that he was truly alone once more in the deep dark woods. He didn't want to risk the truth, or to slow himself down.

Just in case though the boy took random twists and turns, growing more and more lost with each one. He wasn't thinking about that though, only that he had to get away. As if he could outrun the sudden doubts that filled him. What if this book didn't have anything useful in it? Had he grabbed the wrong one?

Stumbling he coming back to himself, surprisingly, in the clearing between his home and the forest. It took a moment for his exhausted brain to process how in the world he had managed that, before he swiftly dove down beneath the tall grass, hoping he hadn't already been spotted.

It wasn't the best idea to hold his breath right after running so hard for so long and a wave of dizziness washed over him. He risked gasping in a few ragged breaths, clutching the book tightly to his chest. When he neither heard his name nor was hauled up by his father or mother Lance finally peeled the ancient tome from his torso.

It looked so very old, the leather backing warped and cracking. The spine crooked. If there had ever been lettering on the front, a title or an author given, it had long since faded and flaked away. Large as it was old, many age stained pages between the bindings.

Okay so... so maybe if he had grabbed the wrong one... maybe he could hock it online for a decent amount right? It felt expensive, so heavy in his arms. Maybe he could get enough to buy a better damn doctor for Rachel to see...

Or perhaps he could just, trade it back to Shiro for some actual help.

Either way, he wouldn't know if the book was bunk or not until he cracked it open. And here was as good a place as any for a not so leisurely read, hidden by the tall grass, late afternoon sun still warm upon his back.

The cover quite literally creaked as he lifted it, propping it in his lap.

There were not many times that Lance could focus easily on a book. And one like this would easily have him distracted with the texture of it, the scent, the handwriting itself, for each of the pages was covered in small scribbled notes.

But he had a goal and so began to scan the pages with a feverish intent.

At first the boy though that perhaps the days activities had finally caught up, compounded upon his over all physical and emotional exhaustion, for it was almost as if the words were blurring before his eyes. It was taking longer for him to translate each one. Nothing seemed to be in order, and the first couple pages looked like nothing more than recipes of some sort, like what he could find in his abuela's cookbook, though they were all medicinal. There was no way medicines could be this easy to make...was there?

Except as Lance took a closer look, he realized that some of the directions were a bit... odd. Starting this tonic at the dark of the moon, and this tincture over here had to steep for an entire cycle... whatever that was. That oil was to be blessed by.... The sun in... mars? And they only grew weirder after that. Some didn't even specify a medicine. Words Lance didn't recognize and couldn't quite translate began to pop up.