She went to the counselor's room and Ana's room and her own - there was barely any movement at all.
As she walked past the dining room, she heard a familiar voice coming from it again, that she ignored and kept walking past. On her way back from the kitchen, however, it was hard to resist. While no one was around, she pressed her ear to the keyhole on the door. The first thing she heard was, “There's too many people making monsters and you know it, one date isn't enough to do a cleanse."
She pulled her head back, surprised, and then listened again.
“It's close to winter and-”
“The daylight times are shorter and many who venture out do it alone so damn the cold and it's 'protection.' We're all still dying this season. How could we not if all is hidden from us during these next few months? Like it or not, we're one day away from going extinct Sara."
The girl named Sara shifted her weight. “So we cleanse and then what? Replace all who die with more monsters?"
“The ones that people notice and ask around about. Yes.”
“They could find out and get really angry.”
Rose did not have to see to know Vister was smirking. “If that should happen so be it, we did it before and we'll do it again.”
“We had the first cleanse at the beginning of fall, this is too much.”
“Well, desperate times-”
“Don't always call for desperate measures. No matter how bad off you are, you have a choice.”
“And right now I'm making the choice that saves us.”
Rose pulled away and sucked in breath, letting the pieces fall together with the people missing now. They meant Aylea. They might mean Grace. But why was it their fault that people made more monsters? And they were born not turned. He couldn't kill born people. She took off down the hall.
“Ana,” she screamed, “Ana.”
“She's not here,” the same guard from before replied.
“Someone is about to do something illegal and terrible.”
The guard took out her sword and looked at her seriously, “Tell me what it is and we'll look it over.”
“They're going to kill monsters, a bunch of monsters.”
The woman smiled sadly and put her sword away. “I can't take that case, if the person feels threatened that's not illegal.”
“Yes but-"
“Sorry kid. All they have to do is say they felt threatened. You know the law. If you don't have more than that, there's little we can do.”
She opened her mouth but stopped.Was this illegal?If it was proven that it was, she could get the news to Ana and they could take Vister down. It might help that he was killing monsters who were half people. She didn't know if that was something bad enough, so she took off and ran back to their room, pulling down all the fighting books off the shelves on the way to her bed - thankful Lena was such a heavy reader - it must be written somewhere that he couldn't do this.
Light slowly left the sky as she searched and searched. The searches did not help her in the slightest; in fact, they angered her. Throughout history rules against monsters were so unfair. They were set up, framed, and tricked over and over again, but the fact that they were scary made them lose every time. If a monster even happened to be in the area when a person died, they were blamed; In every case, and worried mother's argued about keeping them in “control” so their kids would be safe. Before she knew it her head fell and she fell asleep.
It had grown so dark by the time she woke up, that Lena lay on the bed close to her, breathing deeply. A “hoo” from outside bough her to her senses. She remembered what was supposed to happen and she threw the books down. Was she too late? She thought about getting up, but decided that she would take time to make sure something was going on first. No more hasty decisions. She wondered if there was a way she could see what was going on in the forest, and the river popped up in her head. If she could do her water trick with it, she would be fine. But could she from so far away? It was worth a shot. As her eyes closed, she tried it. She let her mind travel out the house and past the garden, which was the strangest thing she ever felt. Luckily, she was able to go that far; as her mind slowly attached itself to the water, she felt safe and relaxed. It was then she heard it, a loud wounded howl. She jumped up and realized she was outside as somehow, her body had actually traveled.
As the howls grew, she became more scared. When one sounded close to her, she began to move. There were roars and screams of all kinds that went off like alarm bells. In the darkness of the night, something touched her with a long leathery hand; without a second thought, she ran fast until her feet were aching. The sound of another scream made her stop; she couldn't leave her friend. Aylea was a kid, a child, and tonight, if she was out there, she would die or get hurt. Rose ran towards the forest instead and opened all her senses as she looked for her. All around her she heard noises and saw eyes, but it didn't matter; they were mainly just to scare things away anyway.
The majority of the monsters were behind the front boundary line when she arrived. Around her tons of half humans stood, and she noticed the fighting had started long ago. There was blood all over the grass and plenty of wounded. When a bell was sounded that marked the second round of the fight, Rose jumped right in. She picked up a huge ball of ice, but she could not bring herself to kill a monster, as Daniel always taught her to never fear them and to be their friends. One of the half humans winded up jumping in front of her to protect her as around her twelve monsters lunged. She took off running deeper, shooting ice now but making sure not to take instant death shots.
Something was gaining on her, and she heard a blood piercing scream. She ran to the right, but was cornered, so she ran to the left. In front of her was a clear area with water that glistened like the moon; if she could get to it she would be safe. She used light magic to take the last few feet of steps and screamed. Aylea stood at the top of a hill and at her feet, nearly a hundred monsters had been slain that ranged anywhere from werewolves to demons. When Rose moved closer, she shifted back to her monster form and lay in the grass.
The wordsHow did you get here? Thank god you're okay appeared in Rose’s head.
Aylea are you alright?Rose asked in her head, hoping Aylea was listening. Aylea didn't reply.
Second Part
Chapter 12☆
Autumn was coming, but not in the way you expected. That is, if you expected Autumn to come in on two feet. Rosalie sat in her room looking out the window as everyone prepared for the celebration that would soon be happening. Lena, for the first time, was nowhere to be found, Aylea was still in recovery, and Noah had healed, so Rose watched by herself. Already a few trees had some yellow or red leaves here and there from people who couldn't hold excitement. Occasionally the scene brought a smile to her lips.
Samuel Garcia the third's, teenage son, would be in Trearce for three days, and each would bring another party. From the beginning the Garcia family were the fathers of the season. To them (and many other people) it made no sense to be hot for months and suddenly wake up freezing, so they added something else in between. At first they called it the “second spring” but then they changed the name to something people wouldn't mix up. (Some confused first spring with second spring). It quickly took off. Everyone loved the idea, so it was an agreement that they would all start celebrating. Rosalie was already making mental notes on what to tell Sakara; maybe the taken would make an appearance on one of the nights. It was the perfect time for murder, betrayal, and poison. In addition to that, Ana would be traveling, and she could be ambushed. As five o'clock approached, Lena made no sign of coming back yet; her head fell slightly while she gave way to sleep.
Simultaneously, outside, she heard a loud thump. She raised back up and stared; nothing, yet the people outside had stopped moving. Rosalie held her breath for thirty seconds, forty five, eventually figuring she'd imagined it. After her second look around she spotted that the tree near the marble hall had fallen and crashed near it. A f
allen tree was uncommon but not strange, so she sighed, relieved. That is, until two more fell right after it. Rose squinted her eyes in her seat. As if on cue a few kids screamed, and three huge trees fell on top of the ground inches away from them. Rose jumped up and held her breath as a huge tree fell right in front of the kids, and grew with fear as one crashed towards her bedroom, just barely missing it. There were more large sounds.
"What's happening?" she yelled as she threw open her door. One of the maids said, "I don't know.” They both heard a scream and felt a shake so bad that it caused them to start to run in opposite directions.
Rose ran down and opened the door while the maid ran up, screaming for help. "God," she said when she saw the sight. A guard tried to block her back from the door but she pushed him out the way to get a good look; everything was either falling or being crushed. In a daze she saw she could no longer see the kids until one yelled "help". She knocked another guard very far back when she tried to grab her, and threw a water whip that grabbed the kids. When the trees stopped falling she pulled them into safety. After checking them, she took off into the day after her aunt and her friends. Just this morning Ana asked if the kids of the counsel wanted to go see Sam; Rose now bit her lip in frustration recalling how quickly she had said no. She dodged branches until she realized there was one tree completely blocking the path. Without hesitation she jumped over it and a large thump let her know that she had been twenty seconds away from being crushed. "Help," a man said. She whipped him back with another rope made of water, after that she helped as many as she could along the way. At least fifty more trees fell.
The people were packed when she made it to the forest, but she still managed to see Ana, whose face was deeply in shock. You couldn't see it at first glance, for she made quick, capable movements, still Rose noticed that she looked around waiting for something else to happen, and met eyes with people who could hold explanations.
When the crowd around her had pretty much cleared, Rose approached only to have her arm grabbed by Lena. "I thought you'd come," she said, almost accusionary. "What?"
"Nothing. It's just dangerous out here is all."
Rose opened her mouth but was cut off.
"You're here, good, you'll need to help oversee the guard." Ana's eyes paused on the two of them and some sort of moment passed. "Lena, may I speak with you?" The color her face turned as she nodded and walked towards Ana, made Rose wonder why they had been spending so much time together lately. Rose watched them talk, hoping she could pick up a few words, but the talk was over far too soon, and Lena was sent to go help someone else.
"Rose, do you see that women behind you?"Ana asked.
Rose surveyed around, and when she thought she saw her, she said, "Yes." "Help her."
She nodded. She hoped Ana knew she would have done it regardless of being told.
She had not really seen who Ana was talking about, but when she walked over she heard the sound of a heavy sob that gave it away. The woman’s once pretty braided hair was a tangled mess at her shoulders, her dress was torn from the waist down, her stockings were covered in dirt. When she realized who Rose was, the first thing she said was, "My son" and Rose didn't need to be told twice.
“What does he look like?”
“He's three, and he had on a blue suit when we left this morning. He has black hair, brown skin, and brown eyes.” Rose looked among the trees for any sign of a boy. For a wild second she thought that he might have been crushed, but she put it to the side. She caught Ana's eye and, with her approval, began venturing farther. There were so many leaves and branches in the way that it felt as if she was no longer in Trearce. She climbed over the stump of a big tree and then, without Ana's approval, she ventured even father, down one of the great hills.
It felt like hours that she was just aimlessly making her way, so she kept certain landmarks in her head to be sure she wouldn't get lost. Twice she went back half the way she came to be sure she knew where she was. In her mind she imagined she was just merely being an explorer in a forest, instead of a girl in a war zone. There was no sign of any person for miles. Twelve more trees almost fell while she was walking, and she easily stopped a few of them, making her wonder who could possibly think to attack by knocking over trees.Is this an attack?She received her answer when she climbed over the biggest tree yet and it was then she saw it: her first dead body. He looked as if he could have just been passed out, but somehow she just knew he was dead and it wasn't a tree's doing. Someone killed him. She closed her eyes and braced herself to look again, but it was not as bad as she expected the second time. In fact she barely saw it at all. It was like reality was ripped away from the situation and all she saw was health. It wasn't like he was asleep - no - more like a rejuvenation. All around him was a white light and she saw visions of him that came from nowhere. There was so much light coming from him that no matter how much she wanted to look away, she couldn't. No matter how much she wanted herself to see the situation for what it was, she couldn't.Does this mean he'll get back up?
The woman's loud gasp brought her to her senses.
"Ana, Queen Ana, over here," she yelled. Ana and the guard came running. Once aware of the situation, as fast as she could, she called for someone to come cover the man
with a blanket.
“I’m sorry you had to see this," Ana said.
"It’s ok, as long as I manage to find my son.”
“Where was the last place you saw him?”
“He was with me till he got lost and took off somewhere out here."
More words were said, but Rose never heard them, for she saw the surface of a tiny
body of water bubbling out of the corner of her eye - someone was there, and they weren't an adult. She walked over and dipped her hands inside. Sure enough, when she lifted them back up, a child was there. He looked at her with tears in his eyes, and Rose wiped them away. His little arms wrapped tightly around her neck, so she rocked him soothingly.
“Trees,” he said.
“I know, but it's okay now.”
She walked back and gave the child to the woman, who cried in amazement and thanked her a hundred times. Then she looked for more to help, as the day was not done. Her next person was found in another river and another was found inside a cave. By the end, Rose had united thirteen families. She found the majority of missing children in the water and returned them. When it was all said and done, she had seen five dead bodies. Lena seemed as if her fare had been worse but she did not speak on it, even when Kana begged to know if she was okay. After the search was over, they united back at the center, as Ana had an announcement for them.
“Change of plans; I want you guys to go home,” Ana said as she looked at the crowd that had gathered to ask questions. “Get some sleep since you don't need to be here for the rest of this.”
“Did you find who did it?” Kris asked determined.
“No, but we have an idea.”
“I thought they just started falling? At random?” said Kana.
“They did, but the thing is that they're completely healthy - completely healthy trees
would not fall like this.”
“There must have been more than one person doing it if they were falling everywhere.” Ana folded her hands. “If it was more than one person we would have detected it; that much unauthorized magic would have gave them away. That's why we all know about the taken and the chainers, it's hard for that much magic to go unnoticed.”
“So they were really strong then?”
“Yes.”
“Whoever did this should be charged with mass murder and put in prison forever,”
Kris said angrily.
“I think it was a distraction,” declared Rose, “for them to do something else.” “Believe me, I know, far too many people lost someone today."
“And it wasn't death by being crushed either."
“The first man you found had been water drained, there wasn't an ounce left of fluid
Rose shivered thinking about him again. “Do you think it has something to do with
Sam?” Kana asked.
“If you mean in the sense that he did it, Gods no. If you mean the person saw the big
gathering and took the chance, yes.”
“I feel like this is starting to get common whenever we have big gatherings.” “Until we find out who took our people, it can't be helped.”
“You think the same people are doing all these things?”
“I think they're a group growing so many people, that it's getting out of control.” “Will you send a search?” Lena asked.
“We told Sam not to come, but he insisted, and he promised he would do a full wind
search of the whole city for us.”
“I can do it,” urged Lena.
“No, go home and rest; I know you're tired. Cleanse your eyes, as seeing the first death is always the hardest.”
“I belong out here. It's my job.”
“You need to rest.”
“But what if I stay quiet?”
“You-”
Ana stopped talking then, for more guards arrived then and ordered everyone, who was just being a bystander, back inside. Together, they forced the trees down into the ground and steadied them. Kana and Bash ignored Ana's orders and stayed for this, but the other three left quietly.
“Do you think they'll find them?” Rose asked when they were away from hearing distance.
Neither answered; it was a really stupid question.
“I hope they find him.”
“We all do,” Lena agreed.
“Did you see the way that most of the people looked? Except for the ones who had someone missing, most weren't even shocked.”
“They could have been and just weren't displaying it,” Lena suggested. “If that's the case, it's still weird and they need to be held back,” Rose insisted. Lena grew so angry she turned and punched a tree. “A lack of shock doesn't mean they are a part of it, a lot of people just expect bad things to happen now. We can't punish them for it; at the end of the day they are right.”
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