O N E
These woods were like a second home to me. When I was a kid I had played here: elaborate games of make-believe, tag, hide and seek. I hid high up in the trees until Holly had learned to look up, then I hid down low in hollow logs and behind bushes. There were benefits to being smaller back then. As I got older, this place became an escape. When school got too hard, when drama inevitably seeped into my social life, when I just didn't feel like dealing with the real world for whatever reason I came to the woods.
Lately these woods had taken on a new purpose. This year Holly and I started college. She attended mostly Art classes up on the surface with the occasional Astrology class down below, while I stayed here in the Underworld training to be a Healer. Since our paths rarely crossed anymore we had implemented a new tradition: every Thursday we'd meet at our usual spot in the woods just to hang out and catch up.
Well, today was Thursday and I was waiting for Holly. Alone. By myself. Very, very bored.
Usually when I came here I was alone, so it shouldn't have been a big deal, but for some reason whenever I'm waiting for something or someone, it's like there's this switch in my brain. I get, I dunno, antsy I guess. First I tried writing in my journal. No dice. Then I tried studying but after reading the same sentence five times and still not understanding any of if I gave up on that too.
In the end I sprawled there restlessly pulling up blades of grass and thumping my wing, tiny whirlwinds whipping through the air around me. High above me grey clouds swirled and shifted in the stained glass ceiling of Woodhaerst. It'd been like that for the past week and I found myself wondering what the weather was like on the surface. Were there storms? Was that what I was looking at? I'd have to pick Holly's brain about it when she got here.
If she got here. Seriously, where was she?
Holly ran on Holly time, and therefore was usually late, but this was getting to be a bit much, even for her. She should've been there by now, what was taking her so long?
I glanced at my watch for what felt like the fiftieth time and considered calling her but just as the thought had entered my mind a familiar head of mousy waves weaved into the clearing holding a pizza box and looking very pleased with herself.
"I was wondering what was taking you so long, I almost called the Authority!" I joked, taking the pizza box from her. "How awkward would that have been, could you imagine? 'Yes sir or ma'am, my best friend's been kidnapped! She's got big hair and she's probably wearing something really weird oh wait nevermind she got pizza!'"
"Um, excuse you, my clothes are not weird," Holly said tossing me a bottle of juice from her bag. She pulled out a beer for herself and snagged a slice of pizza. "The 90s grunge look is in Mr. 'I own a different plain shirt for every day of the week.'"
"Sure, whatever you say."
An olive flew at me at the speed of light and in a moment of sheer brilliance and blinding agility I tried to catch it in my mouth only to have it bounce off my nose.
"Nice," Holly said, concealing a smirk. "Solid effort, I score it eight out of ten."
"Hahaha, you're so funny," I said it sarcastically, but I also kind of meant it... "Anyway, thanks for the pizza, any special occasion?"
"Kinda sorta, not really, but yes-ish." She seemed to be in a very good mood as she took a bite and washed it down with some beer. "I've just had a very good week and wanted to celebrate. Also," she glanced up at me, a mischievous twinkle in her eye, "I invited someone to join us, so there's that too. Meaning don't eat all the pizza."
I looked at her, curious. "Who?"
She watched me drawing out the silence with another bite of pizza. Drama queen. Finally she cleared her throat only to shake her head, smiling impishly as she said, "It's a secret. You'll love it though. Cross my heart and all that jazz."
Rolling my eyes I finished off my first slice of pizza and reached for another. "Oh, hey, so we gave our first shots this week." Holly's eyebrows shot up with interest and I told her the whole story. John had gone first and broken off two needles in this poor lady's arm. By that point I'd pretty much already determined I was going to fail miserably, but in the end not only did I not break any needles, but I got the vein on the first try.
I tried to downplay my excitement, but it was a huge accomplishment for me, and by the time I was finished telling the story I was talking at about a million miles a second, my arms flailing wildly.
"Seriously?!" Holly said, eyes wide and smiling brightly. She was practically bouncing with excitement, which only fed my own. "Congratulations! Oh my god, see, we have so many reasons to celebrate today!" She reached over and gave me a quick hug with another "Good job!"
Holly was an aggressively cheerful kind of person, and it wasn't fake with her either. Every tiny accomplishment deserved celebration, and if she was excited about something she was really excited. She was an all or nothing kind of happy; I always loved that about her.
"Thanks, Holls," I said beaming. "So, enough about me, why was your week so good?"
She spoke animatedly about a project she was working on, a sculpture. On the one hand she was loving it. On the other hand, she hated it.
She scooched closer to me and I wrapped one of my wings around her as she showed me pictures of the sculpture on her phone. Pictures of the sculpture turned into pictures of her neighbor's dog, which turned into me eagerly explaining how my mom had a patient come in with their pet rabbit last Tuesday, which turned into the two of us talking about my mom and so on and so forth. The word vomit spilled as it usually did with Holly, and time passed quickly without either of us noticing.
Suddenly a small chime sounded, and Holly glanced down at her phone and then got up with a spring in her step. "Our guest is here!" she sang.
"Oh, okay."
"I'm gonna go get them, wait here!" And with that she took off at a light jog, her frizzy hair bouncing around her like her own private cloud.
And just like that I was playing the waiting game again.
I got up to stretch my legs, and my eyes landed on the small mess I'd made. Textbooks spilled out of my bag, a few different colored pens sat in the grass next to my notebook. Crumpled up pieces of paper scattered the indent in the grass where me and Holly had sat. A part of me thought I should clean it up before our guest arrived, but an even bigger part of me said Whatever, I'll get to it when I get to it.
I circled the clearing lost in my own thoughts until a whistle echoed through the woods behind me. I turned to see Holly wandering through the tree trunks, smiling at me knowingly. She was being followed closely by a small figure with sapphire eyes and short golden curls. Alice.
I stared blankly for a moment, heat rising in my cheeks, before I caught myself and went to meet them.
"Hi, Cole," Alice said, waving cheerfully.
"Alice, hey. I didn't know you were coming."
"Yeah, neither did I! Holly came by the shop earlier and asked if I wanted to come by and I mean, I did—I really did!—but I still had so much left to do, you know, so I didn't think I—but anyway," she laughed brightly waving off her rambling, and I found myself smiling bigger than was probably necessary. "I got finished early! So here I am."
"Good, fantastic! Wow, no I'm really glad you could make it! I was just hanging out here, uh, with Holly. But not with Holly, just—" I laughed nervously. Shut up, Cole. What are you doing? Stop. "Oh, are you hungry? We've got pizza!"
Alice nodded her head quickly, a small giggle escaping her lips, and I turned around. My eyes landed briefly on Holly, and I winced. She frowned sympathetically, but her eyes sparkled with amusement.
Alice followed me to our messy little spot in the clearing where the pizza was, and I mentally kicked myself for not picking it up when I had the chance.
"This place really is in the middle of nowhere isn't it," she observed, taking a slice of pizza.
"Yep," Holly said. "It's our own little get-away."
"Does anyone else ever come down here?"
I shrugged, "Besides us, not really."
"This place is so cool though," she said, sitting down next to me.
I tried to push down the nervous jitters caused by her close proximity and laughed. "Isn't it? I love this place."
Holly sat across from us giving us a sly look. I frowned at her. Really not helping, Holls.
"So, Alice," I said tearing my attention away from Holly. "How was work?" I flinched. Great, now I was making small-talk.
"It was okay," she said cheerfully. "Kinda busy but I'm not going to have to worry about that anymore since today was my last day."
"Last day? Did you quit?" Holly asked.
"Something like that," Alice replied. "It was only temporary though."
"Oh." I watched her scarf down her pizza. It was a strange and kind of vague thing to say but then again she was always saying strange and kind of vague things. It was like one minute she was sharing too much and the next nothing at all.
Either way it wasn't very helpful for continuing the conversation, and I found myself at a loss for words. I looked up at Holly hoping she had something, but she just shrugged.
Suddenly Alice stood up and brushed her hands off on her pants. "Anyway thanks for the pizza, guys, but I don't want to waste a perfectly good opportunity." Her eyes fell on me, a sudden noticeable shift in her behavior, her usual shimmer gone. "Let's get this over with."
Holly and I shared a curious look and she asked, "Get what over with?"
"Glad you asked! Azarias, stand up."
I shot up involuntarily. A cold lump settled in my stomach as I realized what just happened.
Holly slowly got to her feet too watching at me with a questioning look in her eyes. I didn't know what to tell her. My mind was still reeling trying to piece together the situation myself.
But Alice just smiled coolly. "Azarias, touch your nose."
Unable to resist the command, my finger reached up and landed on the tip of my nose. I broke in a cold sweat and ice ran through my veins.
Holly still stared at me. "Cole?"
I dropped my hand and watched as Alice's entire demeanor changed. Her once glittering eyes now held a cruel stare. A smirk played at her lips. My voice trembled when I spoke. "Where did you hear that name?"
She smiled at me, a predator toying with her prey. Instead of answering she said "Azarias, kill Holly."
Alarm flashed in Holly's eyes. "What the hell—" but she was abruptly cut off as my hands wrapped themselves tightly around her neck.
She stumbled back and fell to the ground in an attempt to get away and I went down with her watching helplessly as my body attacked her.
"Holly, fight back!" I begged verging on hysterical. "I don't have control, this isn't me! Please, fight back! Make me stop!"
Understanding crossed Holly's face and she threw her weight to the side knocking me off of her. My fingers tangled themselves in her hair yanking her hard to the ground as she tried to get up. I wrapped my hands back around her neck, they felt numb and cold, no longer mine, and my body crawled back on top of her, finding a better purchase than before. She punched and scratch drawing dark red lines on my arms with her nails and I gasped with pain but my body didn't even flinch. Her knee came up slamming into my back knocking the air out of my lungs. I pitched forward, but my body was otherwise unresponsive.
Her face went from red to purple, her voice squeaked as she tried to draw in breath past my hands.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! God I'm so sorry!" I sobbed over and over again.
"Ugh, this is taking too long. Azarias, use one of those books and just bash her head in."
My hands unwrapped themselves from Holly's neck and went for the biggest textbook in the pile. Given a brief reprieve Holly sputtered and coughed. Fear and adrenaline gave her new strength and she tried to push me away, but my knees stayed pinned around her waist anchoring me to her.
Invisible strings brought my hands up high above my head and Holly screamed, her fists pounding into my chest. I tried to stop myself, I fought with everything I had not to follow the command, but a blinding pain shot through my head and I lost my concentration. The book swung down with all my strength and connected with a horrifying thud. I fought against it again and more pain ricocheted through my brain. I felt nauseous and something warm trickled down my upper lip. My arms brought it back up and blood gushed from Holly's ruined nose. My heart pounded in time with Holly's fists as she fought to get me off of her. Tears streamed from both our eyes. The book swung down again.
Thud. Holly's fists swayed unsteadily.
Thud. Holly stopped moving.
Thud, thud, thud.
Thud.
And my body collapsed released suddenly from the invisible force that bound me.