by Nicole Yek
The brunette hadn't realized that she had been gaping like a fish at the boy's peculiar appearance until she broke out of her daze and found him looking at her with his arms crossed over his chest and an eyebrow raised in vague amusement. She quickly shut her mouth and blurted out the first thing that came into her blank mind.
"Y-you're the wolf from last n-night!" she exclaimed, clumsily stumbling over her own words.
The boy stared at her for a moment longer before finally speaking. "And you're the girl from last night."
"B-but now you're not a w-wolf anymore..." Garnet trailed off, confused.
"Clearly." The boy replied indifferently.
"You're… you're…" her hands flew over her mouth and her green eyes turned huge.
The boy exhaled a sigh and cocked his head to one side, his wolf ears wiggling slightly. "A monstrosity? An unholy beast?"
"So adorable!" she exclaimed and leaped for him with outstretched arms. Instead of wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him as Garnet had planned, she ended up colliding face-first into the open palm of his outstretched arm.
"What on earth do you think you're doing?" the boy growled, pushing her away but she stood her ground and pushed back with the strength of her face. The boy's brilliant blue eyes were wide, clearly taken aback by the girl's abrupt and incomprehensible actions.
"Well, what does it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to hug you!" she yelled. "Your ears are so cute! Please let me touch them!"
"What- no!" the boy answered back, bafflement spreading across his impassive features. "Absolutely not!"
The girl let out a groan in chagrin. "Please! Just let me touch them once!"
"No!" he growled back, exasperated. "This is harassment!"
Garnet frowned, pulled her squashed cheek away from the boy's hand and allowed her outstretched arms to fall limply down at her sides. "I'm not a harasser," she pouted at him. "I just came to thank you for saving me last night,"
The boy ran a hand through his slightly tousled silver hair and let out an almost hysterical chuckle. "Is that how people from where you live thank one another? By attacking the other without warning and toying with their ears? If that's so then I'm terrified of the place that you reside in."
"We don't toy with one another's ears," Garnet argued. "But we do share hugs sometimes, with people who we're more familiar with, like family members and close friends!"
The boy raised an eyebrow at her. His eyebrows were a darker shade of silver compared to his hair but not as dark to the point of becoming black. "And am I familiar to you?" he inquired.
"Not really…" she answered meekly, realizing her mistake.
He took note of her apologetic expression and simply sighed. "Moving past that," he began, looking straight into her eyes. Garnet had always found her green eyes to be incredulously dull so when she was staring up at the boy's exquisite blue ones, the contrast made envy rise within her.
"Was Nathaniel the one you brought you to me?" the boy suddenly asked.
Garnet blinked her eyes, snapping out of her short trance. "Huh?"
The silver-haired boy shook his head and repeated his question. "I asked if Nathaniel was the one who brought you to me since it's usually difficult for outsiders like you to come across me on their own."
The brunette stared at him with furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips. "Who's Nathaniel?"
He looked at her for a moment in utter disbelief but soon regained his composure and tilted his head towards Button. "The rabbit." He clarified.
Garnet's gaze darted from him to the rabbit and her mouth parted to form an ‘O' shape in realization. "You mean Button?"
It was the boy's turn to seem puzzled. "Who's Button?"
"The rabbit." She answered matter-of-factly.
The boy's eyebrows knitted together in a mixture of frustration and irritation. "Who on earth gave him such a ridiculous name?"
"Oh, I did." The brunette reached down to take the rabbit into her arms once again.
"Well, that would make sense." The boy said with a stoic expression.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Garnet barked. "Are you implying that my taste in names is ridiculous?"
"No," he said, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "I'm implying that you are ridiculous, everything single thing about you, from your vacuous personality down to your unfathomable behavior."
Garnet gasped, shocked and outraged. "How dare you- Is that any way to talk to a lady?"
The boy placed a hand on his chin as though he was deep in thought and said, "I'm sorry, but I hope that you're aware of the fact that you're not exactly a proper lady."
Garnet's blood boiled at his remark and she resisted the urge to slap him right across his face. "Well, at least I'm not a wolf-boy hybrid!"
"Please don't tell me that stating my species is your way of insulting me." He shook his head, not bothering to hide the smile playing on his lips. "You don't have the faintest idea on how to insult anyone, do you?"
Blood flooded to the brunette's cheeks, her anger died down and slight embarrassment took its place. "Well, it's not as though I go around the village insulting people every day." She mumbled. "In truth, I think you're the first person that I've ever insulted."
"I'm not sure if I should feel flattered or offended by this." the boy was grinning and it was infectious.
Garnet couldn't help but crack a smile and that was when an idea came to her. "Oh! Since you live in the Wood, can you help me find a way out to the kingdom? I'm on a trip to my grandma's house, she's gravely ill and I'm going there to take care of her."
The boy's grin faded as fast as it had appeared upon hearing her request. "No."
"What? Why?" she questioned. "You helped me last night, didn't you? You fought off the wolves, and I think telling me directions is a much easier task compared to that."
His lips fell into a thin line as he stared down at her, and it was at that moment when the brunette realized how much taller he was than her. "It would be an absolute waste of time," he said. "I think you might've heard this from people in your village but I'm going to tell you in case you haven't, the Wood is cursed. People who go in never come out, in a more direct way of explaining it, it's basically like an enchanted labyrinth."
"Enchanted… labyrinth…?" Garnet echoed, both perplexed and intrigued.
"Yes, a labyrinth, a maze, whatever you'd want to call it." He continued. "It changes and moves several times in a day, and at random times might I add. It's impossible to escape and you're better off giving up on the idea of getting out of here."
Garnet took a few seconds to process the new information and when what he said finally registered in her mind, she glanced up at him. "Excuse me, but in case you didn't hear what I said earlier, my grandmother is gravely ill and I need to get to her. I need to get out of here."
The boy's eyebrows scrunched together in vague chagrin as he really looked at her, at her big green eyes which resembled the forest and were gleaming with determination, her round button nose which was slightly dusted with freckles, and her thin lips which were pulled down into a frown. "And in case you didn't hear what I said earlier," he mimicked her words. "This forest is cursed, and escaping it is out of the question. There is no way out. You're trapped here just like the rest of us."
The brunette glared up at him and he returned a glare of his own just as viciously.
"So it's better to face reality before your absurd hopes and dreams get you killed." He finished.
Several seconds passed when neither of them spoke. The only sounds that kept silence at bay were the leaves rustling in the wind and the dry leaves crackling underneath Button's feet as he hopped up and down beside the two. Garnet was the first to break their glaring match and crossed her arms over her chest.
"If you're going to be stubborn and not help me then I might as well find a way out of the Wood by myself." she let out a huff, turned her back to him and started trudging back to where she came.
&
nbsp; The boy shook his head, never having felt this exasperated in his entire life. He glanced down at the white rabbit that was still hopping up and down next to his leg. "Why did you even bring her to me?"
The rabbit ignored his question and hopped after the girl in red. The silver-haired boy released an annoyed groan and followed after them. It took the rabbit and the boy a minute or two to catch up to the brunette and although she could tell that they were both behind her, she made no move to turn around and kept on walking.
"I thought you said that you didn't want to help?" Garnet said to the silver-haired boy.
"I'm not helping." He replied
"And yet you're following me?" she questioned.
"I'm not following you," he denied. "I'm just making sure that you won't get into or cause any trouble for me."
"But you're causing trouble for yourself by following me." Garnet stated and craned her neck to look behind her at him. "Are you sure that you're not coming along because you're worried about me?"
One drawback about having skin as flawless and as pale as his was that it was extremely easy to tell when he was angry or embarrassed. The brunette watched with green eyes glittering in amusement as the silver-haired boy's pale milky face turned a bright red and his blue eyes growing immensely wide.
"T-that is certainly not the case! W-what on earth makes you think that I'm c-concerned about you?" he stammered, making Garnet chuckle. It was the first time that the girl had seen him so uncertain and vulnerable and she liked it. The boy's unearthly features made him look like something that had come out of a fairytale, but the way he blushed and stuttered so easily after being teased made him seem human.
The brunette chuckled more and faced back to the front. "Since you're going to be joining us on our little journey, we might as well tell each other our names. I'm Garnet."
There was a pause of silence and Garnet almost thought that he wasn't going to reply when he muttered, "Hywel."
"Hywel?" she repeated, testing the name on her tongue. "That's a peculiar name."
"Well, it's undoubtedly better than ‘Button'."
"Oh, be quiet!"
Chapter Six
She didn’t know how long they had been walking and how much progress that they were actually making, all Garnet knew was that they had walked long enough for her legs to start hurting and that they had been heading north the whole time. Her breathing was becoming shallow with each passing step and the hot and humid weather wasn't helping with her fatigued condition either. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead and it made her wonder if the weather in the Wood during the past day was actually that muggy.
"Are you doing alright?" she heard Hywel ask from behind her.
Garnet turned to face him and shook her head without reluctance. She didn't think that she could bear much more even if she wanted to. "I'm exhausted." She breathed out.
"Well, I'm not surprised. We've been walking for almost half a day without a break." The silver-haired boy said nonchalantly. Button stopped hopping after noticing that his two companions had halted.
"What?" the brunette exclaimed, green eyes wide and mouth gaping in shock. "Half a day?"
"More or less that long I would assume. Just look." He tilted his chin up and pointed up at the sky.
Garnet looked up and saw through the gaps unoccupied by the tree leaves that the sun, bright and blinding, was no longer in the east like how it had been when they began their journey, nor was it in the middle during midday, but more towards the west. They really had been walking for half a day, yet it seemed as though they hadn't moved much from where they started off that morning. It wasn't that she doubted Hywel, but she just found it difficult to believe completely that the Wood was an ever-changing labyrinth. After seeing it with her own eyes, however, Garnet couldn't think of his words as anything less than the truth.
"This is awful." She moaned and plopped herself down on a pile of fallen leaves on the ground.
"I've already warned you," Hywel watched as she pouted glumly. "You should have listened to me and given up looking for a way out before you decided to just waste half a day walking around in circles."
Garnet sighed.
"You're only setting yourself up for more disappointment and fatigue afterward." He said.
"Well, what do you suppose I should do? Give up and let my sick grandma wither away while I just sit here and do nothing?" she looked up at him.
Hywel bit down on his bottom lip and Garnet realized that he hadn't actually thought about that. "Well, you could put your past behind you and try to adapt yourself to living here in the Wood."
"You mean try not to get myself killed in here." She corrected, unamused.
"That's another way to put it, but yes." He said.
"Like you?" she inquired, feeling slightly curious about his story.
There was a pause of silence until he answered, "Yes."
"How long have you been here anyway?" Garnet never took her forest green eyes off of the boy, not wanting to miss any possible slips of emotion that his impassive features might have made.
"Longer than you, that's for certain." He replied indifferently with his arms crossed over his chest.
She continued to watch him and he cocked an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"I don't think you get the meaning of ‘living', Hywel." She said.
"Are you trying to imply that I'm lacking in the ability to comprehend the meaning of words now?" he asked, a lopsided smirk playing on his lips. "Because if that's your attempt at your second insult then I'm sorry to tell you, but you have failed once again.
Garnet shook her head sincerely. "No, I truly don't think you understand the meaning of it."
Hywel's smirk faded as fast as it had appeared. "Then enlighten me on the meaning of it if you wouldn't mind."
The brunette took a breath and looked up at him. "You tell me to try to adapt myself to living here but I don't think using up all your energy trying not to get yourself killed, trying and hoping to survive another day so you could do the same thing all over again in the next is worth it. You're constantly worried about getting slaughtered, constantly afraid of anything which could be a threat and that is almost everything in here, you're not happy… tell me how that's better than dying. Tell me how that's considered living."
The silver-haired boy was staring at her, his sapphire-blue eyes wide and his lips parted. Garnet got back onto her feet, feeling as though all of a sudden her energy had returned in an overwhelming surge and she was instantly refreshed. "I'm not going to give up," she told him. "I'm going to keep trying to find a way out. I'm going to keep trying to find a way to truly live."
She turned on her heels and walked forward while Hywel was left behind feeling surprised and somewhat impressed by the girl in red. Button was wrinkling his tiny pink nose as he stared up at the wolf boy.
A few seconds later, the two heard the brunette cry out for them. "You two, come over here, quick!"
They exchanged a glance with each other before trudging towards the direction to where the girl left in. They both found her bent down in a crouch at the edge of a pond.
"Look what I found!" Garnet flashed a wide grin at the two. "A pond with such clean and clear water, and just when I was feeling thirsty!"
She had already finished all the water in her water pouch that morning so it was definitely a valuable find for her. She cupped her hands and dipped them into the cool water in the pond and lifted them up to carry two handfuls of the translucent liquid. She was about to bring it up to her lips to take a generous sip when Hywel's voice stopped her.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He warned but there was no urgency in his voice.
"Why?" she raised an eyebrow at him and added sarcastically, "Would it turn me into a wolf-girl hybrid?"
"No." he replied indifferently.
"Then why?" Garnet said. "It looks like ordinary water and it smells like ordinary water and I trust my eyes and nose."
"You're making qu
estion if you're the one who should've been a half-wolf-half-human hybrid instead of me." Hywel said with a small smirk on his face.
The brunette rolled her eyes. "I'm just going to drink it!"
"You'll turn into a dwarf-goblin if you drink it." Hywel said bluntly.
Garnet's hands instantly unclasped, letting the water seep through the space between her fingers. She wiped the residue on her skirts and looked back up at the silver-haired boy who was failing at hiding the fact that he was unquestionably finding amusement in her actions.
"So," she began, flashing a forced, sickly-sweet smile at him. "Where can I find water that won't turn me into a magical creature or make me shorter?"
This made Hywel chuckle which only caused her blood to boil and embarrassment to flood through her. She was ready to strike at him with an offending remark when he abruptly grabbed her wrist and led her away from the pond. She didn't protest and followed him to wherever he was taking her. She glanced down at his hand which was wrapped around her wrist, and her eyes widened and she wondered how on earth she had missed them when she first met him. Sharp, black claws grew out from where his fingernails should have been and she noticed how carefully his hand was holding onto her wrist, making sure not to exert too much force and keeping the keen tips of his claws away from her light olive skin.
"Hywel?" she spoke, staring at the back of his silver head.
"Yes?" he replied without turning around to look at her.
"Have you always been like this?" she asked him.
He knew what she was asking without needing her to mention it, and she knew that he did because his footsteps slowed and there was a pause of silence, a pause of hesitation before he finally answered. "No."