A Forest Witch

7. Autumn

Itried to fall back asleep after the man Rain had left but my brain refused to let me go back to sleep in such a strange new place.

Besides, if what he said was true I had already been sleeping for over a week now. I guess my body had really needed the time to heal. But I seemed to be over sleep for the time being.

The Elders had an old cottage in the woods that I had been in a few times. Otherwise it had been tents, and those were old and had been stitched and patched up so many times that the majority of them leaked majorly.

I had never once been in a house like this before or even slept in a bed like this. The house appeared to be rather large. At least this room and bed were. I was most curious to view the rest of the house. It would be wrong of me, a complete stranger and yet a guest at the same time, to go exploring a house I hadn’t been invited to explore. I knew that much.

Curiosity was always a problem of mine. I could never leave well enough alone.

No wonder I always found myself in trouble. You’d think I would learn but nope.

As I looked around the room with a burning curiosity I think I understood that this was something I would likely never be able to outgrow or control.

This was most likely the nicest room I could ever dare to dream to be in in my whole life. I already knew it was the most comfortable bed. I’d never laid on something so soft before.

The mattress was like sleeping on a fluffy cloud. The sheets were the softest thing against my skin that I had also ever felt in my whole life. The blanket was so unbelievably warm and soft and comfy as well. And the pillow felt like my head had also been resting on a magical cloud.

The bed itself was like something out of one of the books I’d read or something out of a dream. There were four tall posts, one at each corner, that went up high towards the ceiling. Each beam had vines and flowers carved into it, circling around the whole thing and going all the way up. The beams were a deep, rich brown, but the vines and flowers were painted light, airy colors that stood out beautifully against the dark wood.

There was a white, gauzy curtain strung up on the ceiling that circled the inside of the bed and hung down prettily. Each opening had been pulled up tight to a corner post and tied tightly.

It was incredibly beautiful and looked like something that belonged in a room meant for a princess. And it wasn’t the only piece of beautiful furniture in the room.

The dresser had the same carvings in it as the bed and they were painted to match. A large, oval shaped mirror sat atop the dresser with a ring of vines around the very edge of the frame. In front of it sat a dainty, one seater bench with carvings on the thin legs that matched both the bed and the dresser. I worried about one of those legs snapping if I were to ever sit on the chair.

There was a large window with a bench seat built into the wall right in front of it. The pillows seated on the cushion were all very feminine and looked too pretty for me to ever actually want to touch, like basically everything else in this room.

Far too pretty for someone like me to ever put my grubby hands on.

I bathed in a creek and I had never used real soap before in my entire life.

I only knew what things like soap and shampoo were like because I had read about them in books. Some of the books I had to hide and steal because certain ones were forbidden for me to read.

What kind of place hid information from you about the real world and kept you in the dark about basically everything to do with real life?

I was so tired of all of the lies and deceit and the fucking abuse. I had been forced to suffer at the hands of the same people who I had always considered to be my family. They might not have been my family by blood but they were all I had ever known. They were my people whether I wanted them to be or not. That had to mean something, right?

I hoped so.

Though, deep down, I knew I was stupid for feeling that way. Those people had hurt me so badly and they’d left me tied up to a tree, completely naked, and bleeding to death.

So why did I still care?

Why when that Rain man had questioned me didn’t I open my mouth and just answer him?

Did I want to go back there?

No, no I did not.

I did not care that I’d never been anywhere else and I had nowhere really to go now. If I had to I could live in the woods somewhere else and I’d survive just fine. If anything, I’d be happy to finally be all on my own.

Being on my own actually sounded quite nice to me. I could make my own home and grow my own food and put all of my teachings to good use. I bet I would flourish all on my own.

I started to get excited at the thought of running off into the woods and finding a happy place to call my own and live out the rest of my days peacefully.

It sounded like a dream to me and that helped to immediately kill my happy vibe. I had learned from a young age that dreams might exist in this world but they didn’t come true for people like me.

My life would never be my own and I had accepted that a very long time ago. And then somewhere along the way I had become my communities public whipping horse.

They had abused me long enough and why had it been allowed? Because I had strange markings on my skin that no-one actually told me where they’d come from or what they actually meant?

Fuck that.

My life had to be worth more than that, I was sure of it. All life was worth more than that. Otherwise it seemed kind of pointless.

No matter how hard or how often I tried to do the correct thing I knew that was kind of pointless too.

Always too curious for my own damn good. I couldn’t stay here in this bed, not when I knew there was clearly an entire house for me to explore.

I also knew it was very wrong but I was going to do it anyway. I just hoped that Rain fellow didn’t get mad and immediately kick me out. I was starving, I wanted him to feed me before he sent me packing.

I wondered what kind of food they ate here and if it was anything like what we’d grown in the dirt in the forest before it had started to die.

I swung the sheet and blanket off my body and paused when I finally caught sight of myself. My body had been cleaned. My wounds had been healed and I couldn’t even tell I’d been injured in the first place. And I was wearing clothes I had never seen before.

A tank top and a matching pair of shorts that were a lovely shade of moss. I pinched the fabric and pulled it away from my stomach. It was the softest thing I had ever felt in my entire life and it was covering my skin.

I didn’t know who these people were but I was very impressed with the lengths they went to to make a stranger feel so comfortable.

I had been warned that all other covens were dangerous.

I was fairly certain that every thing they’d taught me had been a lie and perhaps they’d been the real danger all along.

Maybe I shouldn’t believe anything I’d been taught.

These strangers had shown me more kindness than my own community ever had and I haven’t even officially met these people yet.

I just assumed they were the strange men from the woods that I had initially thought to have been a dream.

Either my body had worked extra hard this week while I’d been sleeping or someone had done some extra work on my body to heal me. I was betting it was a good mixture of both.

I really owed these strange people for their kindness. And I did not like owing people anything. In my life the cost was always too high and no-one ever did anything out of the goodness of their hearts.

I wished the world worked like that.

I climbed out of bed and immediately collapsed against the side of it as my legs gave out beneath me. Hopefully they’d feed me before they tossed me out on my ass too because I was starving and if they weren’t lying then I’d been here for a whole week and healing had really taken it all out of me.

I hadn’t felt this weak in a very long time. I almost reconsidered exploring and climbed back into the very comfortable bed but I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I did. I wouldn”t be able to quiet my mind no matter how hard I tried and I’d just lay there while my mind raced on in a million different directions.

I gave myself a minute and then stood up again. This time my legs were steady beneath me.

I shuffled my feet across the plush carpet and peeked out around the door and into a hallway.

It was empty but it also wasn’t what I had been expecting. The hallway was long but there was a railing all along it that opened up to the downstairs.

I tiptoed to the railing and peeked over. This was not my idea of a normal house from what I had read in books. It was large and open down there and I could see practically everything.

There was a long table with chairs all around it. Rain was seated at the table and it was like he had some crazy superpowers because as soon as I looked down his eyes shot right up to me. I wanted to shrink back and hide from him but it was too late, he’d already seen me.

He was bold, I’d give him that. He raised his fingers and gave a jaunty little wave. Everyone else at the table turned to look up at me.

Gods damn it.

I scowled at the man for ruining my plans but it only made him smile broader. I bet he drove both his daughter and his girlfriend insane.

“Come join us, Autumn,” he called up to me. “I’ll have Raven fix you a cup of coffee, assuming you drink coffee that is.”

My eyes shot to the man I remembered from before, assuming he was Raven. He dipped his head towards me in acknowledgment.

So his name was Raven. I couldn’t remember if he’d told me before or not. Pain has a way of clouding the mind and my time tied to the tree was a little hazy.

I knew I would like to try coffee though. It had been a delicacy in camp and only something the Elders had been allowed to drink. I knew it really was not though and there had been some days in the winter where my body had been so cold I would have traded a lot for a cup of something hot to warm my belly, no matter how bitter it was rumored to be.

I was not cold right now but I felt like I wasn’t exactly in a position to refuse Rain’s subtly challenging request. He’d been fishing for answers in my room and I knew he hadn’t liked my silent treatment very much. This was his way of putting me on the spot to see what he could get out of me with an audience.

A room full of strangers and then there was me.

Oh, I’d definitely say I minded being put on the spot by one Rain Kimber.

By the look on his face he knew I was uncomfortable and he was highly amused by it. What an odd man.

I changed my opinion of him right then and there. I was no longer intimidated by the man. But I did think he was kind of an arrogant asshole and I bet both his daughter and his girlfriend wanted to smack him upside the head from time to time.

I knew I certainly wanted to right then.

I dipped my head as I headed down the open hallway towards the stairs. I was never one to back down from a challenge and that’s exactly what this man had been attempting to do to me since the moment I’d woken up in that foreign bed.

I held on tightly to the handrail as I very slowly and carefully descended the stairs. I did not want to trip and fall down the stairs just to land in a heap at the bottom of them in front of these strangers. Normally I wouldn’t care what these people thought of me, hell, my own people practically hated my guts and barely tolerated me on a good day, but for whatever reason I didn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of these men.

Which was stupid because they meant absolutely nothing to me.

Was I really so sad and desperate and lonely that I now cared what complete strangers thought of me?

I desperately wanted to reach up and touch the strange markings on my face that I had always been cursed with my whole life. What did they think of them? Did they think me just as much of a freak as the people I had been around my entire life?

For some reason that thought made me unbearably sad.

I had never really stood a chance in this life. There was no place for me to fit in anywhere.

I now had no people to call my own and never really had.

No coven.

No family.

No longer even in a place in the forest to call home.

I was a lone witch in a strange place with strange people.

I’d never fit in anywhere.

Yesterday that would have been perfectly okay with me. So why was today any different?

It had to be this place and these people. That’s all that had changed in my life.

I curled my hands into fists as I walked up to a table and pulled out a chair, leaving a few empty ones between me and everyone else.

Even if I was extremely intrigued by them I wasn’t stupid enough to trust them. I wasn’t even stupid enough to ever trust anyone, even Plume and she was my sole friend in the world. Just stupid enough to let everyone abuse me because that seemed to be my role to play in life and I was just only becoming not okay with that.

Something about being tied to that tree changed things inside of me though and I no longer felt like I was going to be able to live my life in such a way anymore.

I wanted to be strong.

I wanted to be brave.

Perhaps today was the day to start on that journey. I was in a new place after all.

The man named Raven placed a steaming mug of coffee on the table in front of me. He then slid over a ceramic dish with cream and then another with sugar over in front of the mug. They had never been able to doctor up the coffee at camp and couldn’t wait to see if it tasted any less bitter with cream and sugar in it than it was originally rumored to be.

“Are you hungry, Autumn?” Raven asked in that incredibly deep but sexy voice of his that sent shivers down my spine.

I didn’t understand it. What a strange thing for a voice to do to me. I wasn’t quite sure if I liked it or it scared the crap out of me because he affected me so much.

What did he ask? Was I hungry? I took stock of myself. I hadn’t eaten in the whole time I’d been sleeping, obviously, and I’d lost a whole lot of blood before that. I was definitely hungry, practically starving.

I nodded my head as I carefully picked up my coffee mug and sipped from it. It was as bitter as the rumors claimed it to be. I sat it down and spooned in some sugar before pouring in the cream. The coffee immediately changed color to a lighter brown.

I picked up the cup and gingerly sipped from it again. And almost moaned out loud. Goodness. Cream and sugar made all the difference and I could easily drink coffee like this all the time.

“I’ll make pancakes and bring everything out to you.” a different deep, masculine voice spoke and my eyes shot around the table until they met with startling blue eyes set into a gentle face. He smiled at me sweetly before getting up from the table and walking away.

“That was Scout,” Raven helpfully informed me. “We’re missing Liam but he’s off doing research for you. He’s always researching something and you’re his most fascination subject he’s found yet. The big guy is Gunner. He’s a lot nicer than he looks, I promise. And the quiet, watchful one is Mason. He’s a lot less judgmental than he looks and he’s really only quiet because he’s shy. You’ll get used to him in time and then you’ll probably never get him to shut up again. And you’ve already met Rain. He’s just visiting and not a member of my coven.”

Why was he telling me all of this information about these people? A simple name worked just fine. I didn’t know why I needed to know a piece of information about them all. I kind of appreciated it though, even if it did leave me more curious than ever.

I didn’t like that I now felt the need to share something about myself with them in return. If it had been Rain I would have said it had been done deliberately. With Raven something inside of me told me he was just trying to be thoughtful.

I was betting he was always thoughtful and likely very sweet at times. I was going to like Raven a great deal if I wasn’t careful.

I had learned a long time ago that I couldn’t afford to like anyone because no-one was ever really my true friend in the end.

“So, Autumn,” Rain said conversationally but he wasn’t fooling me in the slightest. “Tell us something about yourself that we don’t already know.”

That would be so easy because all they really knew about me was my name and where I had come from.

Someone around the table snorted and muttered, “Subtle, Rain. Very subtle.”

They weren’t wrong in their sarcasm.

I got why Rain was so curious about me. I would be curious too. But my people were excellent secret keepers and secrets didn’t remain secret if you told everyone about them.

I cleared my throat. I had to give them something but it was going to be difficult to force myself to share. I licked my suddenly dry lips nervously. “Where you found me? In the forest? All I”ve seen in my whole life is there amongst those people. They weren’t really my people though, because I’ve always been different from the rest of them.”

I reached up and touched the markings on my face that I had memorized since such a young age. “But they were my people nonetheless because they were all I had ever known. That forest was my home because it too was all I had ever known. I should probably go back to it soon. Not that any of them miss me. I guess I don’t really miss them either. And, if I’m being honest, I don’t really want to be there any longer anyway. Am I going to have to go back there?”

Once I started speaking it was like I couldn’t shut myself up again.

Even though I’d asked them about going back their answers didn’t really matter to me because I had already made up my mind. No matter what I had to do I would never return to that place. I didn’t care if they tried to drag me, I would not be returning. Ever.

“A Forest Witch,” one of the men murmured quietly but I refused to look at them and focused on the cup in front of me like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. “Interesting. Thought they’d all been chased out of the woods and rounded up years ago.”

I had no idea what they were talking about but I was indeed what one would refer to as a zforest Witch since I was a witch and I had lived in the forest my whole life.

“You’ll never have to go back there again, girl,” Rain spat out so viscously that my head shot up and I shrank back into my chair to escape it. “We don’t tolerate abuse of any kind, especially not when it’s directed at our young female witches. Those responsible will pay for their part in your pain.”

I didn’t understand.

I didn’t want anyone to pay for anything, I just didn’t want to be sent back there for more of it. But I wasn’t so sure they deserved to pay for their treatment of me. They thought they were doing what was best for all of the people even if it meant I’d had to live a horrible life because of it. I wanted my people to live happy, fulfilled lives. I simply didn’t want it to be at my expense.

Why did I always have to pay the price for everything? When would it be someone else’s turn to suffer just a little?

That horrible thought made me feel like a terrible person. I was taught better than to wish ill on others and I shouldn”t be doing it now, no matter how much pain and suffering I’d been forced to endure at their hands.

“Agreed,” Raven growled. “If she doesn’t want to go back then she’s more than welcome to stay here for as long as she likes. If she never wants to leave, well, that’s fine too. We don’t care.”

Rain glared at Raven from across the table. “She can go wherever the fuck she wants. She doesn’t owe you a goddamn thing simply because you’re the one who got her out of there. She might be a forest witch who clearly doesn’t know any better about certain things because of the way she was raised but she’s a free witch now and is free to come and go as she pleases. I realize she might not have a place to go because she doesn’t know anyone but she does have alternatives now. She’s welcome to stay with myself and my coven, she’ll be safe there. I also know my daughter will be more than happy to open up her home to the girl as well. And you damn well know she’d be more than safe with my daughter and her coven. She’s still a Council member and the closest thing we have to an authority figure right now.”

For the first time in my life I had options. But it also kind of sounded like I’d end up a burden no matter where I landed.

I just really wanted to be on my own for awhile. That didn’t sound like it was going to be an option for me though.

For once, I wanted to own my own future.

“She can go wherever the fuck she wants to go and stay wherever the fuck she wants to stay.” Raven snarled angrily as he leaned over the table threateningly and I thought maybe took his life into his own hands because Rain was clearly a dangerous man. “And the Council is good and dead. Your coven made damn sure of that. Your daughter might be a powerful witch but whatever power she had over the people died with the rest of the Council. Don’t you dare sit at my table in my fucking home and threaten me. And don’t you ever fucking threaten to take Autumn out of here or do anything at all with her. She’s a free woman and she’ll make her own decisions from here on out, and she’ll not be bullied into doing what you want her to. If you don’t like that then you can get the fuck out of my house.”

I stared at Raven with wide eyes and I worried my mouth was hanging open. I reached up with a shaking hand and ran my fingertips across my bottom lip. Yup, my mouth was definitely hanging open. I pushed my chin up and gently closed my mouth. I didn’t want them to think me dimwitted and a fool. I might have been both at times but I really did not want to appear to be either in front of these men for some reason. That was very important to me. I just wasn’t sure as to why. These men were complete strangers to me and yet their opinions of me very much mattered.

It was a very unfamiliar feeling to me to care about what others thought of me. I wished I didn’t care now. It would make my life so much easier. Rain threw back his head and laughed. I shifted my wide eyed look to him.

That man was clearly not right in the head and I wasn’t sure if I should run away from all of these people screaming. The problem was I had nowhere else to go. I was stuck here for the time being. Until they kicked me out or I wised up and ran away. Whichever one came first.

Strangely, it was me who Rain looked in the eye while speaking. “The balls on this one, girl. You’re gonna be in for a lifetime of it, you can trust me on this one. My daughter has got herself one just like him. Do yourself a favor now and if you don’t already have one get yourself a backbone. You’re going to need one.”

I frowned at him. “What do the size of his balls have to do with anything?” I was so confused, I had no idea what he was talking about. None of it.

They all burst out laughing and the tension faded away from the table and out of the room.

Now I was more confused than ever.

“Finish your coffee, sweet Autumn,” Raven demanded in a soft, gentle voice. “And after you eat we’ll give you a tour of your new home, however temporary or permeant you wish for that stay to be. And I’ll have lunch made for you so it’ll be done by the time the tour’s over. Is there anything you don’t eat that we should be made aware of?”

That was all very kind of him. I wondered why he was being so nice to a freak like me. Was he blind? Did he not see the strange markings on my face? Did he not find my different hair color strange and odd? I had been made fun of and picked on my whole life. Every single person found me strange and odd.

So why did this man look at me as if he didn’t see any of those things?

I cleared my throat again. “Food is a luxury not everyone can afford and that’s a lesson I’ve learned the hard way. I’ll eat whatever you offer to feed me and I swear, whether I like it or not, I won’t complain about it. I’ll simply be grateful for the meal.”

They were all quiet again and I worried I’d said something wrong or done something to displease them.

They all were looking anywhere but at me and none of them looked happy.

Oh well. I had food and a tour to look forward to and there was no talking of kicking me out just yet.

I’d take it. For now.