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“Excuse me,” I call out to an older gentleman standing outside a stable as I approach him. He doesn’t so much glance my way; instead, he ignores me, just like everyone else. At first, I’d thought I was being too quiet, but it quickly became apparent it was more than that.
“Excuse me!” I shout, stopping right beside him. I’m loud enough that the horses in the stable make an aggravated sound and puff out an audible sigh.
Yeah, you and me both, bud. I don’t love screaming to get someone’s attention, either.
The old stable man turns his head toward me before looking past me down the street one way and then the other. For a second, I think he will go back to the hay pile he’d been moving with his pitchfork. Instead, he turns it so that the wooden handle rests on the ground, the sharp metal catching the sun as he leans it toward me, making me step back.
“We don’t serve your kind around here, girl,” he spits the words at me, making me flinch, but I ignore it in favor of keeping my eyes on his could-be weapon. His head once again snaps back and forth to look down the street so fast I’m surprised he doesn’t have whiplash.
It doesn’t take a genius to understand he doesn’t want to be seen with me.
“Look, if I can just buy a horse, I’ll be on my way,” I tell him, fishing in my pocket for some of the gold. His eyes snap to my hand, and I see them widen slightly before he shakes his head.
Money talks, no matter where you are.
“I said we don’t serve your kind!” he hisses through clenched teeth, his eyes wandering back to my handful of gold coins.
“I’ll pay double,” I press, playing up on the fact that the gold seems to be doing much more than my pleading.
Apparently, his greed only goes so far because even the gold isn’t enough to sway him.
He moves fast for an old man. He’s leaning on his pitchfork one second, and the next, he’s pointed it at me, dangerously close to my face. I might not have access to my beast, but I knew this was possible. My gut keeps me out of trouble, and I’ve learned not to ignore it.
“Woah, okay. No horse.” Closing my fist around the gold in my hand, I raise them in surrender and take a step back. “Got it.”
He doesn’t back down even as I step away. Instead, turning with me as I move past his little shit shack to continue down the road.
I guess my feet will just have to do for now. Honestly, it’s probably for the best. Ryker told me to buy one to make the journey to the castle easier since I don’t have my beast’s stamina or speed to rely on. He’d said it was easy to ride, but I have a feeling it’s not the same when you grew up driving a car.
I don’t bother looking back or making eye contact with anyone else, but I can hear them. The people of this town take one look at me, and the whispers start. That or they simply turn around and leave. I’m not sure what about me makes them act like that, but I try to ignore them.
Try being the keyword.
Usually, I don’t care what anyone says. With the guys’ help, I built thick armor over the years, but something about this feels different, almost familiar.
Thankfully, the town isn’t huge. After about ten more minutes down the main path, the houses and shops come to an end, and I’m met with the edge of a forest. It’s nothing like the forest I found myself in originally, though. Whereas that one was more of what I would expect outside of a villain’s castle, this looks like it was ripped out of a princess story.
The sun sits high in the sky, the warm rays heating my skin, and I take a moment to tip my head back and enjoy it. Letting my eyes slide closed, I take a deep breath of the fresh air. The woods back home used to be one of my favorite spots, but they have nothing on this; something about this is so pure. I can hear the soft breeze moving around me, rustling the trees. Animals sound in the distance, birds singing overhead.
As nice as it all is, I can’t stop the pang of longing that shoots through me for my beast. She would love to run free here—the things we could see, not to mention the ground we could cover. Don’t get me wrong; I can cover a bit of distance on my own, but I don’t want to tire myself out too fast with no real idea how far I have to go, especially when this place doesn’t seem to like me very much so far.
I soak in the sun for another minute while I mope, telling myself I have until I open my eyes to get it together.
The forest goes silent around me. The birds stop singing, and the wind is quiet. My eyes fly open, and I push all other thoughts from my mind as I look around, expecting danger, only to find nothing.
The forest around me is just as it was a moment ago. Nobody lurks behind me.
So why does it feel as though someone’s watching me?
I circle in place, my eyes scanning the forest, but even after two spins, I still can’t find anything out of the ordinary—nothing that explains the sudden silence or the feeling of unease that sits heavy in the pit of my stomach.
The sound of a soft whistle cuts through the silence like a whip, so loud that I can’t resist covering my ears. The moment my hands cover my ears, the sound cuts off, but even knowing it’s stopped, I hesitate to lower my hands. Slowly, I pull my hands away from my head, but that’s as far as I go, standing at the ready.
The sound of the wind rustling the trees returns, and a much softer tune is carried with it. Without thinking, I turn toward the sound and almost jump out of my fucking skin.
“Pst, over here.”
A girl stands just off the path, almost entirely hidden by the trees. She can’t be much more than fifteen or sixteen, from the looks of her, or at least what I can see. She stands with her body mostly hidden behind a large tree, her head poking out from the side, long green hair falling past her shoulder. It’s so long it almost brushes the forest floor, the wind blowing through it almost playfully.
