Children of the Forest

Chapter Three

A/N: Sorry for the delay! I also forgot to mention that Adair's father had gone missing seven years too – so I quickly added that in the second chapter. Just that I'd let you guy's know, for those of you who read it before this chapter came out. Sorry again!

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"Hello, Elise," Adair greeted, crossing his legs over the flocculent grass and staring up into the silvery heavens. The sky looked on the verge of tears, blotting out the indignant sky behind a grey gossamer veil. A thrill of accomplishment fluttered through me when he remembered my name.

"So tell me," I replied, dropping into the grass behind him and patting down my dress. "What's stopping you from happily trotting back to our cozy town of Enrith?"

Adair's mouth twisted sombrely, his dark lashes fluttering against his cheeks like the gentle beat of a butterfly's wings. "No pleasantries?" When he saw the look on my face, the corner of his mouth twitched a little, as if being restrained from a grin. He sighed. "Well, you're quite frank," He remarked wearily. He picked at a weed. "Where do I begin?"

I ruminated for a moment, listening to the distant howl of a chilly gale.

"How about your father and how you went missing in the first place?"

Adair sat up rigidly, curling his thin lips. His eyes sparked with memory, with sorrow, with rage, with something akin to revenge. They paled from a floral lilac to a limpid colour of liquified pearls.

"I loved him," He spat out the words as if they were a bitter poison. "And I thought he loved me. Seven years ago, my mother had died from an unknowable cause, inexplicable and completely sudden. Some say she was cursed by a witch; others say it was bound to happen eventually, that death is inevitable, something inexorable."

Autumn, keenly listening to our conversation, exhaled a tender breath against the grass, causing it to undulate in silky ripples of pale gold.

"My father and I mourned her death together, but –" Adair seemed at a loss for words. "I didn't know he was planning something so nefarious and otherworldly – " a flock of ravens cried out above us, flapping their wings in a raucous manner. I shuddered at the eldritch noise. " – he took me to the woods – said we'd go hunting together to get our minds off her – shoved me to the ground and –"

A strangled, miserable sound forced its way out of Adair's frozen lips as he dropped his head into his hands, trembling uncontrollably. The clouds finally gave in, upset by what was happening below, and began to weep softly. Liquified crystals descended onto us lightly, pattering off of our shoulders. The world was cloaked in a curtain of grim emptiness.

"You don't have to talk about, if you don't want to." I whispered, touching his shoulder gingerly, as if handling glass. This time, I barely noticed the sharp bite of ice that came with touching him.

"I haven't talked to someone else in years..." For the first time, I saw Adair shivering. Whether it was from his emotions or the cold, however, was unclear to me. "You're the first person who was kind, a total stranger..." He shook his head a little, watching me with empty, glassy eyes. "I needed to talk to someone about it."

Adair straightened, a flicker of emotion passing through his ghostly eyes. "He took me hunting, said he'd seen good game nearby, said it'd take our minds off of my mother. He led me deep into the forest, behind a veil of hazy mist. There was some sort of symbol on the ground, carved into the trees. The presence of some sort of thing was so palpable, it felt as if Death himself were breathing against my skin; but by the time I realized what was happening, that – that man – my own father – pushed me to the center of whatever ritual that was and tried to sacrifice me, one soul for another, to resurrect my mother."

His voice rose with every word, prickling my skin with dread. Every sentence muddled into the next, every breath coming fast and hot. Adair's face was contorted in loss and fury, streaked with bitter rain and sour betrayal. He went quiet for a moment, closing his eyes. Tears clung to his thick eyelashes like a dew on a spiderweb, teetering but refusing to fall.

"But that's not all," He continued in a harsh, ragged voice, swallowing roughly. "I was dazed from being struck in the head; my hands came away with blood. But I was conscious enough to see roots spurt out of the grass and twist around his body, gnarled branches distorting his limbs. He screamed and wept fruitlessly as vines spurt from his gaping mouth – but I couldn't do anything. I was paralyzed with fear, ears ringing and head pounding, and was forcibly lulled into a dark oblivion. When I awoke, my father was gone. I was abandoned in the forest. It saved me though, and nourished me back to health. I am a child of the forest now."

Perturbed and nonplussed, I was startled into a deafening silence. Adair looked at me miserably, remorseful and ashamed.

"I've frightened you. I'm sorry."

I instantly snapped out of my reverie. "You're apologizing?" I shook my head incredulously, faintly taking note of our drenched clothing and frostbitten cheeks. My heart palpitated in my chest; my stomach fluttered anxiously. I fully turned to face Adair, taking his wintry, pallid fingers in my numb ones. "No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what you went through."

Soft rivulets of water drizzled onto our hands in the noiseless shelter we created for ourselves. Then, Adair exhaled softly, tenderly breaking the fragile stillness like popping a brittle, glimmering bubble, saying, "Don't feel sorry for me. I like it here."