ASTRID

Chapter 10 Girls Escape

Now lots of things make sense at once: the sinister garden gnomes we tried to pass by in our small backyard at home, and Dad's magical cloak, and what not! Millions of other details, pieces of the past are gluing together into a single clear picture. Our adventures with Billy were real; everything was real, and Billy knew about it and understood it. But at some point I stopped believing or something made me forget about it. Probably, she realized that I didn't take her and our secrets and adventures seriously! I just played in magic, but for her it was not a silly play, for it was real. Magic is real. How lonely she might have been! We were lonely together separated by the wall of a terrible misunderstanding or someone's dark magic spells that made me forget, for I would never leave her dealing with this unknown brand new world alone. I was so selfish and took into consideration only my problems.

Old grandpa's clock strikes noon. The sound is terribly loud as if it is already midnight. Astrid turns to Lev and her mother. Her face is grave and determined:

"Well, whoever he is, the mage will run into some trouble," she voices like clanging swords.

"I'm ready to go," Lev is helping my auntie with her denim jacket.

Astrid's face is getting softer; she gives him a tender smile looking at her man with heart eyes. But her answer is the exact opposite of her expression:

"I am going alone, and that's final," her face darkens; her words are resolute.

"Astrid, I'm not letting you go in there alone. Don't be ridiculous!" retorts Lev with indignation.

She laughs unexpectedly, "You will let me, and you know it," if any stranger happens to come into the villa at this moment, they will, no doubt, believe her words. Looking at her now, I want to be like Astrid when I grow up. I don't have magic like Billy or grandma or even Dad, but she doesn't use it now to look so vigorous and decisive!

"Besides, Billy would, probably, say, 'You will get underfoot, tail guy'," and she brushes away her dark hair just like Billy does all the time, her bracelets and earrings are jingling joyfully.

"Now I'm not sure whether these words are Billy's or yours," Lev chuckles ruefully.

She comes closer and puts her hand on his chest, "You'll have time to think about it," she's looking into his eyes. "Stay here and take care of the girls and Mom. I do need you at home, because I'm counting on you."

"Long goodbyes bring long cries," says grandma. "And I want you home at a sensible hour, young lady!" her face is serious, but her eyes are smiling. "You'll figure it out, dear. But you already know it without me, willful and cocky girl!"

Astrid winks at me and Nina. She kisses Lev goodbye, and opens the door for the ball of yarn that is tormenting with a particular desire to go out.

And once she left us, the weather changed: suddenly there is nothing left of tender and sunny morning. Everything goes dark and unpleasant; the wind picks up tossing the trees' and bushes' branches in the garden. Then as suddenly as it'd come, it diseased. Like a real calm before the storm.

Even permanently screaming and screeching seagulls that live by the river can't be heard having felt the solemnity of the situation as if giving Astrid some time to concentrate on the running and twisting red thread that is being left by the ball of yarn.

I am so scared that the whole ball unwinds before auntie's rendezvous with Billy's kidnapper, and she will never find my sister and bring her home. What will I say to our parents if it goes wrong? Cold chills go down my spine: very probably that was the exact feeling Billy had when I had made a foolish decision to go to the dark forest alone. No, I will tell them nothing and spend my life in a convent, faithful to the vow of silence.