“Leave her alone. She has done enough. She saved my life after I escaped from jail and needed a ride back home. She’s leaving in the morning.” I heard Maxwell’s anger building as he spoke.
“You’re not the one in charge here. You don’t get to make decisions like who gets to leave.” His mother growled.
“Yes that would be where I come in. I say we let Safire decide in the morning. If she wants to stay after we tell her what we have to offer she can, but if she wants to leave she may do so.” His father’s voice rang out quieting them.
I had to hold my breath to keep from making a sound. I quickly backed away from the door. I made my way back down the halls and the stairs and found my way to the stables without running into anyone else. What are they going to offer me? A job? Why doesn’t Maxwell want me to work for his family? He better be ready for all of my questions because I’m not leaving until I find out. In my hurry I nearly knocked over the poor man who takes care of the horses.
“I am so sorry, miss. I didn’t mean to be in the way I was just making sure the horses are okay they were making noises a few minutes ago.” He stammered as he stumbled back a few steps.
I reached out a hand and grabbed his arm to steady him. “No I am the one in the way. I’m sorry I should really watch where I’m going. Are you okay? What’s your name?” I answered wondering why he flinched at my touch.
For a moment he just stared at me. “I’m okay. My name is Edwin.” He paused for a moment and looked at my hand on his arm. “You’re different from the others around here.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked removing my hand from his arm and looked at him. He couldn’t be older than eighteen. His curly long brown hair looked greasy and was nearly down to his shoulders. There was a dusting of freckles across his nose and his blue eyes glowed in the moonlight.
“When you look at me you actually see me. When the others look at me it’s like they don’t see me at all. You’re kinder than the rest.” He spoke softly and couldn’t look me in the eyes while he talked.
“You’ve only just met me. How can you know I’m kinder than the rest?” I asked genuinely surprised at the statement. There is no way I’m the nicest person he has met. I nearly ran him over.
“If you were like the rest you would have hit me and locked me in my room for the night for being out past my bed time.” He shrugged and added, “You’re like Maxwell which is a good thing. I should be going now before anyone notices I’m gone. Goodnight miss.”
“You can call me Safire. Goodnight Edwin.” I called after him then had a sudden thought. “What did the noise sound like?”
He turned “It sounded like it could be a wild animal of some sort or it could be the wind. Be careful of the woods.” He called with a shrug and a smile before running off.
I turned to see a familiar hooded figure walking towards me. I could tell he recognized me by the way his pace sped up.
The figure pulled his hood back to reveal Maxwell’s honey comb brown eyes. “I’m sorry I’m late I got caught up in an argument.” He trailed of with a sigh, looking different. His frown worried me for some reason. He seemed more closed off than when I first met him.
“Walk with me to the stables while you tell me what’s going on.” I spoke while listening for the noise that Edwin was talking about. “Be ready.” I started to walk forward and was stopped by Maxwell’s hand on my shoulder.
“For what?” He asked turning me to face him.
“Anything or nothing. Edwin said he was hearing noises by the stables.” I whispered while focusing on the sounds around me. I could hardly feel the wind on my face so there must be something making the noise. It could be harmless but I’m going to make sure. I need to make sure Maydire is safe. I turned to start walking towards the stables.
“Safire, wait there are creatures who roam these woods that are dangerous. They are unusual from the typical wildlife around here.” He warned me before releasing my shoulder.
“I have a knife on me if I need it but my bow is with Maydire which is why I’m going to her first.” I explained with a smile. He truly looked concerned.
“I don’t think you’re understanding what I’m saying. Safire the creatures used to be normal things like bears, wolves, deer and other wildlife but they were captured and experimented on then released back into the wild.” He moved closer to me so I could see the fear etched around his eyes and I knew that the experiments were something more complicated.
“All the more reason to get a move on. You can explain these experiments more on the way.” I called as I started walking down the hill to the stables.
“Nothing scares you does it?” Maxwell remarked as he caught up with me.
“I do have fear I just control it better than most.” I replied with a smirk.
“No wonder my parents want to recruit you. You’re very intelligent.” He muttered.
“On my way out to the stables I overheard a part of your argument with your parents. What exactly are they offering me?” I asked as we reached the stables.
“A very dangerous job that doesn’t pay well enough to outweigh the toll it takes on you.” He explained.
“I’m not interested in working for your family. I prefer to be on my own with Maydire. Now explain more about these experiements.” I demanded as I squinted in the dark to try to find Maydire.
“It’s some horrible science experiment that went wrong and my parents funded the whole thing.” He explained. “No one really knows how it happened it just made the animals mutate then they escaped into the woods. Sometimes people will dissappear into the woods but it’s all kept secret. I’m sorry I got you into this.” He finished looking exhausted.
“I knew there was something going on. How about I get you out of this and we can call it even?” I heard myself reply, then whispered. “Maydire where are you?”
“Are you offering me a way out?” He asked in surprise.
“I am. You can stay with me until you figure out what you want to do. I’m leaving tonight. I can’t put Maydire or myself in danger any longer. Come with us.” I could tell he was telling me the truth. He didn’t make a terrible companion either.
“Safire, thank you for everything. You’re the kindest person I’ve met.” He responded with a smile.
“You’re only saying that because you haven’t seen me when I’m angry.” I retorted while hearing a faint neigh.
“Anger is natural. It doesn’t make you less kind though.” He replied easily giving me a smile that I couldn’t argue with.
I didn’t reply as I walked towards the neigh. “Maydire?” I whispered as I approached the stall.
When I approached the door of the stall Maydire’s head popped up and she nuzzled my face. I could hear a noise that was coming from outside of the stables. The noise was a deep rumbling that sounded like thunder but more animal.
“Maxwell what is that?” I asked as my heart rate picked up.
“I don’t know.” He answered while looking around with wide eyes.
To be continued…
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