Obsidian Night Pack

45

Abruptly Ash and I collapsed onto the ground of the forest, leave as twigs slapped our skin as we made contact.

"Cerin could have warned us about the drop!" Ash yelled as she began to rub her butt.

"Well, she did her best... telling us what she could. She brought us this far at least." 

"Ya, where is this place?" Ash and I took this moment to look around at our surroundings. All there was, for what looked like miles, were trees, fallen trees, and trees that were about to fall, but hadn't yet.

"Well... Cerin said she would get us as close to Iris's cabin as she could. So she can't be too far away." I shrugged, standing up and brushing off the dirt from my knees and shaking out the twigs from my hair.

"Cerin also said that Iris would have cloaking spells or whatever to hide." Ash and I both took the moment of silence that fell on us to mull over ideas. How were we going to find something that didn't want to be found?"

"Well, I say we start walking, we're not going to find her standing around here." We both agreed to this and began trudging through the trees. It was warm out and the bath we had taken last night way beginning to were off with the summer heat beating down on us. We had only been walking for twenty minutes or so, without seeing a single sign of a witch living out here when Ash finally spoke up.

"I change my mind, we are not going to find her wandering aimlessly. We need a plan."

"Well can't you smell her or anything?" Ash gave me a pointed look, narrowing her eyes at me.

"No, stupid, I don't know what she smells like."

"Cerin said she that Iris makes a lot of blood bound deals right?"

"Yeah,"

"So, shouldn't she smell like blood?" Ash's eyes widened with realization and she stopped in her tracks.

"You're right, I thought I smelled something metallic a bit ago, but I thought it was just a dead animal or something." We both jumped a little with realizing out new-found genius. Quickly turning around on our heels we rushed back the way we came with Ash's nose leading the way. 

It hadn't been long until the smell the metallic smell was even strong enough for me to get a whiff of.

"Dear Goddess, that's strong." I waved my hand in front of my face, but it did nothing to get rid of the smell.

"You know I think if other supernaturals could smell what we do, her business might not be so popular." I laughed as we continued to follow the awful smell of blood. suddenly, the trees began to thin, and instead of dead leaves and dirt covering the ground beneath us, grass began to patch together. Before we knew it we were standing in front of a small wooden cabin. There were dried plants hanging from the roof as well as a small garden off to the side. Not only did the cabin reak of blood, but of spices and herbs as well.

"I think we found it," I whispered to Ash. I looked at her when she didn't respond to see her now holding her nose between her finger and thumb.

"And I think my nose is going to fall off." 

Nervously we both made our way, with caution to the front door of the cabin. Once we were standing in front of it I motioned to Ash to knock on the door. She quickly shook her head and took a step back.

"No! This is your life-changing journey, you knock!" She hissed at me. I gapped at her in shock.

"You're my best friend, you should do this for me!"

"Being your best friend doesn't mean I do crap for you it means I encourage you to do crap for yourself." She gave me a thumbs up and then whispered "you can do it." Before I even got the chance to rap my knuckles against the old wooden door, it opened. Quickly Ash and I both jumped back in surprise so see a short young girl, who looked no older than us. She had fiery red, curly hair that had been lazily tied up into a bun. There were still tray curls that escaped, but it looked as if she didn't mind. Her face was peppered with freckles as well, but the feature that stood out the most were her eyes. They were white with a black rim around them.