The Beast of Fox Hill

Thirty One

If you are lucky, you have the chance to react to a threat. In a world where normal rules of nature do not always apply, the chance is stripped from you, and the only movements made are those of the potential predator lurking around you. 

I was not lucky this time. As soon as the branch behind me snapped, my mouth was covered and I felt my body being pinned to the rock below me. My eyes widen as I look up at the predator staring down at me. 

She was young, around early high school age I would guess. Her hair was a coppery brown with a reddish shine to it, complementing her gorgeous green eyes. Her face still had some baby chub to them, but it was clear once she matured more her jaw would be sharp and her face would be stunning. Her skin was lightly tanned, looking like she was just recently sun kissed from being outside.

Her eyes looked so familiar and somehow I was not threatened by them. No, the only threat was the fact that this clearly supernatural being was pinning me to a rock and covering my mouth so I could not scream. 

She raised one finger to her lips to signal for me to keep silent. I gave her a gentle nod, my eyes still wide with shock. 

"Hi," her voice chirped through her pinkish lips. 

My eye brows furrowed and she pulled her hand away from my mouth. I knew she was stronger than me, but she was just a girl. What threat could a teenager do to me? Upon second thought, I was not sure at all, especially since this girl was not a human. 

"Hello," I say but it comes out more as a question. 

"Alethea!" a nearby voice calls. It sounds young as well, but it is clearly a boy's voice. Soon enough, the girl called Alethea jumps up, pulling my body along with her so I was now in a sitting position. She stood nearby, a guilty look crossing her face.

A boy, looking around his late teens exits the forest, jumping down the hillside that lead to the water. Despite his young appearance, the boy was tall, looking to be at least six foot. His skin was a darker tan than the girl's, and his hair was a dark brown almost black just like Cassander's. I examined the boy, and the more I looked at him the more he appeared to resemble Cassander. Even their nose shapes and facial structures were alike. 

"What are you doing, Thea?" the boy asks in a scolding tone. The girl looks down, looking ashamed at whatever she had done. 

"I just wanted to meet her," Alethea says softly. 

"You know we weren't supposed to until it was okay with Cassander," the boy states firmly. Who exactly were these two? 

"I know but she was here and I couldn't help myself, Rhydian!" Alethea defends herself. I stop to think about the names they had called one another, and I was sure I had heard them before. 

"Oh gosh what have you two done now?" a third voice chimes in. This time, I recognize it instantly. Out of the forest line comes Zane, shaking his head as he comes out. 

"Now look what you've done! He sent the gamma to come find us!" Rhydian scolds the girl once more. 

"Well if you two weren't always running off I wouldn't have to come find you all the time, now would I?" Zane says. Clearly this was a normal occurrence for the three of them. 

"So when am I going to be informed as to what exactly is happening here?" I perk up. 

"Oh, hey Jas. Nice to see you out here in the wild," Zane says with a warming smile. 

"Nice to see you too, Z," I say. 

"These are Alethea and Rhydian Osiris, Cassander's younger siblings. Most people know them as the packs troublemakers though," Zane says with an eye roll.