9. Amelie #2
“No. Humans..” she scoffed. “Frea is the trees. The spirit that makes the Forest alive. Everything we are, is because of her.”
A shiver ran down my spine, the voice I’d heard when I first got here.
The one I thought was threatening me. All I’d known of the Forest and the things in it was far less scary than I’d been told it was all my life.
Ethel seemed genuinely concerned for my being here, but we’d been far enough from the clearing now that she’d let my hand go and walked alongside me.
“You must respect Frea. She is always watching.”
I nodded in understanding.
“Now tell me, girl, who are you and why are you here?” she asked.
I liked Ethel. It was strange seeing another person out here, but I was glad to have a companion on my journey home. There was something about her that made me want to hold her hand and tell her all my secrets.
“My name is Amelie Bloch. I grew up just outside the Forest, miles away from here.” As I spoke, Ethel’s anxiety seemed to roll off her shoulders a bit.
We walked more lazily now, enjoying the greenery.
Passing another sheet of my journal paper, I plucked it off its branch and shoved it back in my satchel.
It was unfamiliar to share my story with someone, but she was so nervous for me by the lake. I hoped it might continue to calm her.
“My next birthday will be my twenty-fifth. My home was…a hard place to call home. The men who guarded the village were evil. It was my brother’s birthday the day the Palace banished me to the Forest.” With tears now lining my eyes, I looked at Ethel.
“He’s seven now.” Ethel looked at me the whole time I spoke, dodging branches and roots like it was a part of her routine.
“I knew the Blochs once upon a time. They were artists. A lot of the beauty you see around us was their dreams come to life.” Taken aback by her words, I wondered if my family traveled through the Whispering Forest to arrive in Holleberg.
It was maddening to think how different life might’ve been if they had settled here.
“There were Bloch’s here?”
Ethel let out a big, hearty laugh. “Two of ‘em. rowdy boys, but grew up to be fine gentlemen.” A smile crept over her mouth, remembering the Blochs who preceded me.
I chewed on my lip. If I had an uncle living right under my nose, it shouldn’t be a surprise to find out I had family from the Forest. From what I knew of my father’s family, it was small. So, what are the chances Ethel’s old friends were my family?
Stopping and turning toward me, Ethel stood on her tippy toes, reaching up and cupping my face with her palms. Overwhelmed at the proximity of another person after a lifetime of little to no affection, I tried my best to avoid eye contact.
Ethel’s mouth slanted up on one side before saying, “You have the magic of gold in your eyes, girl.” Then dropped our hands and continued our walk as if she hadn’t just implied that I have a family that, in fact, wasn’t human and that the streaks that bolted around in my irises were magical.
“So, you ran away to the Whispering Forest?” She wasn’t believing that I left on my own free will.
I explained to her the events that led to my new residency here.
Ethel took my hand again. When she did this time, a wave of recognition hit me like a warm breath against my heart.
Ethel was the dwarf I so often spoke to in my dreams. To my core, I knew that she’d been the one visiting me night after night, allowing me to pour out my darkest secrets to her.
She let me talk about the three little faces I’d been missing terribly.
How Hansel would go nuts to find out I had a Witch for a roommate and a dwarf as a new acquaintance.
Wren would spend every day by the river fishing, probably getting frustrated at Tildan for not staying quiet and scaring away the fish.
Ethel just listened, and when I finished talking and she squeezed my hand, I held back a smile–somehow my dearest friend from my dreams was standing at my side.
I knew it. I was so grateful for whatever magic allowed it.
Ethel knew right where my last piece of paper was hung. She turned to face me when we reached it, then took hold of my other hand, too.
A warm wind wrapped us in our own little bubble. Murmurings that I couldn’t understand tickled up my arms, covering every inch of my being. Ethel’s eyes widened as it got louder and louder. Like she understood every word that the wind was whispering.
She closed her eyes as her head bowed. “Of course, thank you for honoring me with this message.” Pausing for a moment before continuing. “Thank you, Frea. Thank you for everything.”
My heart fluttered. Ethel spoke with such admiration in her tone to the spirit in the trees. It was magical to see it happen right in front of me.
The warmth dissipated, the murmurs quieted.
Save for the ever present song of the Forest. Ethel met my eyes, hers were watery as she curved her mouth into a smile.
She looked completely overwhelmed with joy.
“Frea would like you to know that you are welcome here, from all of us. She would also like your housemate to know that his heart will beat again.”
She bowed her head into our hands and sobbed. To see someone so overcome with happiness that it came out in tears was overwhelming. I didn’t cry often. Only when life boiled over my breaking point. But I always wiped the tears away as fast as they fell. Then raised the bar and carried on.
Still soaking our hands, she said, “Amelie, we are so fortunate for your company. Thank you.”
Unsure of why she was thanking me, I replied, “No need to thank me, I didn’t do anything.”
“You will.”
She kissed my knuckles, took one last good look, then walked back the way we came, just as the sun set. Right on cue, the Forest around the cottage’s clearing lit up. Not wanting to miss my favorite show, I quickly made my way back home.
When I reached the glimmering clearing, I felt a small brush of skin against my arm. Ethel was standing next to me again. She was quiet as a mouse on her way back to me. I jumped when I saw her small frame staring at the cottage with even wider eyes than before.
“This is…” she whispered so quietly I could barely hear her before she trailed off.
“It happens every night at dusk. Isn’t it beautiful?” I replied, Ethel looked behind her, noting that it was, in fact, happening all around us but was the most alive here in this clearing.
“My family has lived here since the trees were little, Amelie. This has not been happening every night.” She squeezed my hand before saying, “Go, your friend is waiting for you.”
Through the glow and haze of fluttering creatures, I saw Kiaran standing in the doorway.
His arms crossed over his chest, and he wore a small smile on his mouth.
He was clearly trying to look friendly for our company.
I went to make a joke to Ethel about Kiaran hardly being my friend, but she was gone again.
I held my hand up, staring at my palm as it would show me evidence of my new little friend’s presence.
To no avail, I searched around the clearing and behind me until the thick took away my view. She was gone as fast as she came.
Shaking my head, hoping it would break up some of the pieces of crazy that were starting to form, I walked back to face Kiaran.
“Did you see that little woman standing beside me?”
Kiaran’s brows pulled together. His blue eyes searching the clearing. “No?”
Pressing a hand to my forehead, checking for signs of illness, I took one more look at the tree line hoping to see her. I didn’t.
I grabbed Kiaran’s wrist to take a turn at checking my temperature, but a loud snap and a low, pained growl halted me.
His hand was snapping. I’d pulled his hand out of the doorway he’d been standing in.
“Amelie! Fuck, let go!” Doing as I was told, he cupped his hurt hand with his good one. “What the fuck were you thinking? You know I can’t leave!”
“Oh my god. I’m so sorry! I wasn’t trying to make you leave, I swear!” He was already moving toward the stairs to the attic, so I followed. After all, this was my fault.
“What can I do? Oh my god, is it broken?” I ran my fingers through my hair and began pacing around Kiaran’s room.
“Amelie, please. Shut the fuck up for a second.”
Kiaran started splinting his wrist with a cast that looked like it’d been used one hundred too many times. He fastened buckles around it, covering his wrist and stabilizing his hand.
He closed his eyes and took a few steadying breaths before looking at me. With each of his heaving breaths, my eyes grew wider. I couldn’t read how he felt about me right now.
Feels like this would be a great time for him to kill me.
“I won’t lie, I considered killing you the second I felt it snap.”
Oh yeah, he could read my mind.
“Kiaran, I’m so sorry. But why do you have a cast that looks like it’s about to disintegrate to dust stashed in your bedroom?”
“You think that’s the first time my hand has been out of the cottage? I’ve been here for two hundred years. I’ve tested the boundaries many times before, hoping the curse would fade over time. Fern gave me this one probably one hundred and fifty years ago, but she wouldn’t give me a new one.”
Well, that made perfect sense.
“You’d think after the first time you wouldn’t try again,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.
“You’d think. But you know I can’t leave and you literally pulled my hand out and broke it. Guess our curiosity gets the best of us sometimes.” He gave me a wink, tying nervous knots all through my stomach.
“I did not do that on purpose.” He was going to hate me forever. This was a way better excuse for him to be a moody bitch.
“I’m not mad at you, pretty girl. You’ll just have to make it up to me.” He smirked .
Breaking his heated gaze, I looked up at the ceiling of the attic.