by Mary Dublin
Forcing her wings open, Sylvia pushed her legs over the side of the branch. She heard a noise of protest from Hazel, but that didn't stop her from sliding down into the open air. Her descent to the ground was just short of a free-fall, delicate wings beating enough to keep her from meeting a painful impact among the underbrush. She lay back, staring at the scraggly branches overhead.
Hazel landed and fell to her knees beside Sylvia, leaning over her with a panicked expression.
"What do I do?" Hazel's voice cracked, raising in pitch as Sylvia turned onto her side and curled into herself in a futile attempt to ward off the cold. "S-Sylvia, c'mon! What do I do?"
Sylvia gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. "J-Jon and Cliff. Get them—"
"What can they do?" she snapped. "You need a healer!"
Sylvia whipped her head back. "We're miles away from any healer, and I'd g-get locked up as soon as I'm healed anyway!" It was more venomous than intended. Hazel's eyes glistened, and Sylvia frowned apologetically. "Please, H-Hazel. Jon and Cliff. Just br-bring—" She covered her mouth and hacked out a cough. Spots of blood dotted her palm when she pulled her hand away.
Hazel needed no further urging.
***
"Sylvia!" Jon raised his voice to the treetops. The branches rustled, a hollow reply. No sign of a fairy emerging from the tangle of leaves. "What, is she hiding from us?" He sighed in frustration and set back to tying Cliff's button-up shirt around his shoulder. The bite wound wasn't deep, thankfully, but he was still in danger of losing an ungodly amount of blood. Cliff arched his back with a muttered "Shit!" as Jon secured it with a tight knot.
"I'd like to know how she got here in the first place," Cliff strained out. "She's too dainty to fly that far on a time crunch."
"But not too dainty to attack a freaking monster," Jon said, a fond smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. For five inches tall, she had some serious balls.
He clapped his hands on his thighs and pushed himself to his feet. His heart still raced at an accelerated pace, yet to relax in the aftermath of the fight. In the river's shallows, he rinsed his hands off, scrubbing off blood that had accumulated on his palms and under his fingernails. The sloshing of water was enough to nearly drown out an approaching hum of flapping wings. Not of an insect—something a little larger and more orderly in its flight. Though the hair on the back of his neck rose, he couldn't help the relief that blossomed as he turned around to face the incoming fairy.
"Sylv—" The tail end of her name caught in his throat.
His heart skipped a beat when his hopeful gaze landed not on Sylvia, but her sister. She hovered in the air slightly above eye-level, looking utterly minuscule. For a moment, Jon stared at her in confusion, trying to make sense of her sudden appearance. What was Hazel doing this far from the willow grove?
"Sh-she… she's over here," Hazel stammered, looking scared out of her mind. She flew backward slowly, shaking so badly it affected her flight. "F-follow me."
So she is here, Jon thought.
He rose immediately, Cliff giving him a wordless nod to confirm he would be alright without his immediate supervision. Jon followed Hazel closely, despite her jumpiness at his every footstep. A sinking feeling opened up in his stomach when the little fairy looked up at him pointedly, then descended through the branches of a scraggly bush. There was no good reason why Sylvia would be on the ground. And for that matter, why she couldn't come to him herself?
While Hazel fit neatly in between the branches, Jon carefully parted the shrubbery to view the fairies below. Sylvia was curled up on the ground, looking so tiny amongst fallen leaves and pine needles. Her skin was a shade away from the paleness found only in death, and she was shivering enough to rattle the dead leaves under her.
"No," the word escaped him in a moment of stunned horror.
Jon held the shrub further out of his way, pushing his hand between the angular branches to gather up her fragile body. Her neck was limp, rising and falling as his index finger replaced packed earth beneath her head. A gasp caught in his throat from the tentative contact. She was even colder than she looked.
"You're freezing! God, Sylv… what did you do?" he breathed, brow furrowing. His fingers curled around her like a loose blanket with her head resting on his thumb. He lifted her close to his chest, letting the bush return to its natural form while his attention stuck on Sylvia. Jon could feel her shivering even in the warmth of his hand, and it broke his heart.
She took in a shuddering breath. Even something so simple appeared to be painful for her. "The i-ice spell was too much for me," she breathed. "This is what c-can happen… when i-it's too much."
Jon's eyes widened. He said it was like having your blood freeze in your veins. He had been so quick to assure her at the time that the fate of her mentor wouldn't befall her. And here he was, eating his own words in the worst possible way.
Even more desperate to warm her, he brought his other hand over the first, rubbing her skinny arm up and down with the back of a few loosely curled fingers. Even when her wing had been shot through, she had never been this fragile, this helpless. Despite the heat of his own skin, her body seemed to resist accepting any donation of warmth. She remained as icy as ever, and Jon began to realize that there was absolutely nothing he could do to lessen her pain.
"It's okay. You're going to be okay, I promise," he comforted her in a strangled whisper.
Sylvia's breathing took on an unsteady rhythm, her frown becoming more pronounced. Every gasp she took in made her tremble like someone was digging a knife into her spleen. Still, she seemed to be aware of him. She looked up at Jon blearily, her pallid green eyes fighting hard to focus on his face above her.
"I-It's n-nothing lethal, Jon. It'll fade," Sylvia managed to stutter out, chest rising and falling with the monumental effort of speaking. "J-just keep me warm… it'll b-be over in a f-few hours."
Hearing the flutter of wings next to her, she turned her head and saw Hazel hovering close, worried tears beginning to leak out on her freckled cheeks. Sylvia gave Jon an urgent look, not seeming to care how close he'd leaned over her just to make out what she was saying.
"And, p-please, on the way out of h-here, I-I want you to leave H-Hazel at the willows. She needs to go h-home. Okay?" She gazed at him imploringly before a rattling cough left her nearly limp on her side. Jon shook his head at her pleadingly. She was slipping away. "I promise, I-I'll wake up." Her breathing became less labored, body gradually relaxing in Jon's hand.
He glanced up at Hazel, their grief mingling in a single glance. "We'll make sure she gets home safe." He whipped his head down when he realized Sylvia had stopped moving altogether.
"Sylv?" he uttered quietly.
Gingerly, Jon ran a finger over the cropped brown hair that framed her face. Sylvia did not react. She remained unmoving, looking more like a lifeless porcelain doll with every passing second. Jon sucked in a deep breath, praying dearly that she would fight her way through this. A deep-set frown contrasted with the gentle, lingering kiss he pressed to her forehead.
I'll fix this, Sylv.
Twenty
Hazel shuddered, a fresh wave of crippling panic coursing through her. What was she supposed to do now? Sylvia was hurt. Other humans were hurt, too. Even one of the enormous hunters. But the familiarity of Sylvia's pale face was the most horrifying. She was cold and unwavering. What about any of this was so worth risking her life?
Hazel backed away in the air as Jon unfolded to his full height, towering amongst the trees. There was no way she could take him on, even if she had already discovered her calling in magic. He was bigger and stronger, no way around it.
But maybe fighting these monster hunters wasn't necessary. After all, Sylvia trusted them enough to call for them in her most vulnerable hour. She had let the hunter scoop her up in a hand bigger than her whole body, no resistance whatsoever. Maybe something had been lost in translation after all. Maybe these hunters weren't the fairy-snatching cr
iminals Mother had made them out to be.
But it was hard to be sure.
As much as she wanted to keep an eye on her sister, Hazel tore her gaze away from Sylvia and flew higher to be more at level with the hunter. She couldn't bring herself to look at him head-on for more than a second or two at a time, but she felt better without him towering over her so much. She looked farther away from him, and she felt her heart clench up with new terror immediately.
The other humans were a fair distance away, but that didn't change that she was out in the open. They were looking at her. Giants, all of them, able to snatch her out of the air with barely any effort even if she fought her hardest. All of them with their attention on her. Breath catching in her throat, she brought her shaking hands close to her mouth and backed in the other direction. She nearly dropped out of the air when she bumped into something solid behind her. She whipped her head over her shoulder to find Jon's arm.
Hazel cried out and bolted a foot away, half-expecting him to lash out in response to the accidental contact.
"Whoa, take it easy," Jon rumbled quietly. "Hazel—"
"No!" she blurted. He knew her name! Spoke to her like he knew her!
Jon sighed out through his nose, sparing a worried glance at the precious cargo in his hand, then back around at the others nearby. Though she was relieved he didn't make any move to snatch her up, the urgency in his vast gaze didn't entirely rule out that possibility. She swallowed hard when he focused on her again.
"I know I'm not your favorite person, but I meant what I said. I'm going to get you back home, just like your sister said. I need you to trust me, just for a little while."
Hazel went still again, humbled by the sight of her sister lying limp in Jon's hand. Her short hair was askew, her chest rising in breaths so shallow they were barely visible. Knotting her trembling hands together, she flew a few inches nearer to Jon.
"You'll keep her safe?" Hazel confirmed.
"Both of you. I promise." Jon followed her movement with a slight dip of his chin. "Stick close to me."
It was like being caught in a nightmare, but Hazel put up no argument to stay near to him. With Sylvia unconscious, she was alone in the situation. She wanted to trust her sister's judgment on the humans, she really did, but she had spent the last few days thinking they had kidnapped Sylvia again. The worry and sorrow couldn't be erased on a whim.
Yet, there was no mistaking the tender way Jon held Sylvia. He genuinely seemed to care for her safety. That alone was enough to make Hazel more inclined to trust him… even if he had kissed her sister in front of her. Again.
Hazel flew level with Jon's shoulder as he started back toward riverbank at a brisk pace. He turned his head in the direction of the injured campers, pausing briefly to pull out a small metallic object from his pocket and toss it at the man.
"Call 911!" Jon barked over to them. "Get an ambulance out here!"
Hazel clamped her hands over her ears in protest, realizing just how loud Jon could be when he wanted to. She hung back for a moment in mid-air, watching as the man fumbled to press a quick succession of buttons on the device before bringing it up to his ear. He started talking in a hurried voice to someone he couldn't see, babbling about the giant alligators attacking at the edge of Vermeer River.
Her heart softened as she paused to let herself look openly at the injured woman. Laid across her lover's lap, she was clutching at a gaping red stain on her shirt. She was scared, too. She didn't deserve to be bleeding out in the middle of nowhere. When the woman stared back, Hazel was startled into catching back up with Jon. His huge boots sunk into the mud, leaving behind tremendous, shoe-shaped craters as he walked over to offer the other hunter a hand in getting to his feet. She struggled to focus less on how casually destructive he was capable of being, and more on the fact that he was protecting Sylvia.
"You're not looking so hot," Jon remarked, taking into account Cliff's clammy grip.
Cliff gave a pained chuckle. "Yeah? You're not exactly America's Next Top Model yourself."
Butterflies erupted anew within the pit of Hazel's stomach as the blonde hunter stood next to Jon at his full, colossal height. She could only recall him as the human that had snatched her out of the tree when she'd been eavesdropping those days ago. She was far more cautious of him, but felt a twinge of worry when she saw the state he was in. Blood soaked through the shirt tied around his shoulder in a horrible blotch. He had to be in an awful amount of pain.
Cliff's jade eyes fell to the fairy in Jon's hand and went still. "Shit… what happened to her?"
"Her spell backfired. She's… she's freezing."
"The ice," Cliff realized softly.
Jon nodded mournfully, the hand bearing Sylvia aloft closing a little more protectively around her. "There's nothing I can do for her right now."
Cliff's thoughtful scowl drifted over Jon's shoulder. "The little one coming, too?"
Hazel stiffened when she realized he was talking about her.
"Yeah. We're taking her back to the willows," Jon affirmed, shooting Hazel a tight smile over his shoulder.
She couldn't bring herself to even attempt smiling back. They were taking her back to the willows… but what about Sylvia? She was afraid to ask, knowing the answer would be that they were keeping her. With the admiring way Sylvia talked about the hunters while trailing them through the trees, there was no question.
Hazel swallowed hard and backed out of the way when Jon moved toward the other humans. She kept a safe distance, rotating her wary gaze to each human in turn. She hoped they would be too preoccupied with getting the woman on her feet, but Hazel noticed the man's curious eyes settle on Jon's occupied hand anyway.
"So, uh… are those fairies you're working with there?" The man dared to out the elephant in the air between them. Jon looked uncomfortable, and Hazel watched anxiously as he braced the hand holding Sylvia defensively against his midsection.
"We just saved your lives," Cliff said, throwing him a pointed look. "How about you shut your pie hole about 'em, and consider us even?"
The man eyed up Hazel and Sylvia with nervous wonderment one last time before ducking his head in resignation. "Fair enough," he mumbled, returning the little metal device to Jon.
After pocketing his device, Jon took a knee at the woman's side, offering his free arm in getting her to her feet. She looked almost as pale as Sylvia at this point. Hazel grimaced and clamped her hands over her nose to ward off the smell of blood.
"Here," Jon said, slipping his arm under the woman's, taking on half her weight. "Let me—"
"No." The woman's lover readjusted his own grip, hefting her up bridal style in his arms. "I've got her."
He bore a steely look in his eyes that neither hunter could bring themselves to argue with. They set off uphill through the woods, leaving the monstrous corpse of the would-be giant alligator drifting in the river behind them.
Hazel followed in absolute silence as they traveled, tears gradually disappearing. Her eyes darted to Jon's hand constantly. The rest of the time she stared Cliff, her nerves perpetually on edge. The other two humans were unfamiliar, and she kept her gaze trained away from them as much as possible. Judging by the man's reaction, she guessed they had just discovered fairies exist. She felt immensely uncomfortable whenever a curious eye was turned toward her, and she wondered how Sylvia could possibly get used to being around these giants day and night without going absolutely crazy.
The trek wore on until Hazel was sure that she wouldn't be able to keep herself in the air with all the stress weighing her down. But at last, red and blue rays became visible through the trees. They flashed sporadically, making their presence known even from a distance deep into the cluster of rain-soaked maples. Her initial hope that a team from the village had tracked them down was dashed when she saw the source of the lights: metal machines, all harsh lines and huge wheels.
"What's that?" she whispered near Jon's ear.
"Ambulance," he muttered
in reply. He fell back, letting Cliff and the other man continue ahead. Hazel whipped her head around to face him directly and blinked in mild horror when she saw why he had stopped. Jon pulled open the breast pocket of his jacket with a single finger and tilted his hand to slip Sylvia inside.
"Hazel, we're about to be around a lot of people," he revealed, fixing her with one of his stern, calm looks. "I need you to hide with your sister."
The little girl hesitated, drawing away from Jon in alarm. "In there?"
A flicker of apology flickered over his face as he nodded. "Just long enough to get you out of here unseen."
Hazel's eyes drifted to their destination—some sort of human building, with the metal machines on wheels forming a wall in front. Even from this far back, she could see a dozen humans milling around. The idea of being visible to even more humans was downright unspeakable. Conflicted, she sighed sharply. It would give her a chance to be near Sylvia again. Hazel's reasoning didn't take away that she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
With a wordless nod, she glided into the pocket he held open for her and folded her wings tightly to make as much room as possible. She felt Sylvia's cold skin in the dim lighting. Quickly adjusting, Hazel pulled Sylvia's limp torso up and settled behind her, letting her sister's head rest on her shoulder.
"The things I do for you," Hazel muttered, grabbing her sister's hand and locking fingers with it. "When you get better, you owe me big time."
Orders were shouted amongst the humans, barely muffled through the thin wall of tight-woven fabric. An army of new voices swarmed around. Somewhere to Jon's right, Hazel heard the unfamiliar human couple following by his side, explaining in frantic detail what had happened. Cliff's voice moved further away, too, turning tinny like he was inside one of the wheeled metal machines.