Chapter 6 Escaping Death Through A Deal
"How is that possible?" My father breathed out. He started to walk back towards the car while I was trying my best not to panic. "We've been walking...I'm sure of it." My father continues to survey the inside of the car like there was something interesting to be found inside.
My eyes kept on roaming to the trees like I could find an explanation of what happened in them. We could not have gone in circles, that's for sure. Otherwise, the vehicle would be in front of us rather than where it was when we started to leave.
I thought about heading back and locking ourselves in the car when I noticed a movement behind one of the trees to my left.
I thought that it would just be a bird—I would have welcomed the presence if it was because that would assure me that there are living beings here aside from us, normal ones at least.
I heard a rustle and a few other movements coming from the forest. The movement was so unnatural that I barely caught a sigh of what it was.
Whatever it was, it wasn't alone and I have the strangest feeling that it wasn't from this world. My feet moved as fast as they could until I reached the car and hastily pushed my dad inside before I followed.
"Liv, what are you doing!?" My father exclaimed after I locked the car door from the driver's side. "The car is flat. We can't go anywhere."
I seem to have lost my ability to speak because I can't even answer my father and explain to him why I was terrified.
Something hard fell on the roof of the car, making us both scream out of fright. The impact left a dent on my father's car that the padding looked like it was going to fall on us.
"What was that?" My father asked, looking clueless even while the thing that fell on the roof of his car was already peering at us through the window. It was a black wolf with eyes of a feline. There was no doubt in my mind that it's another fairy in disguise.
No wonder my father could not see it.
It was looking at both of us while barring its teeth.
I was so frightened, especially when it started to raise its head and screamed - yes, not a howl, but a scream like a human.
The noise was so sinister that it sent shivers down my spine.
I flinched while my father was asking me what was wrong.
Of course, not only could he not see the creature before us, but he could not hear the scream that it let out.
"LIV!" The screaming stopped and I was finally aware of my surroundings again. My father has been shaking me this whole time, and I wasn't even aware of it until I could finally hear myself again. "Liv, what's wrong? You look pale."
"I-I...It's nothing." I decided to act like I did not see anything because it would be clear that my father wouldn't believe me if I told him.
What else am I supposed to say? "It's just–" I screamed the moment I saw vines tangling the wolf fairy outside of the car.
I was horrified to see how it wrapped itself over the wolf's body until such a time that I heard its bones crushing from the pressure.
Not long after, green blood comes pouring out of its nose and mouth while its eyes begin to pop out of its sockets.
The vines discarded the wolf to the side like it was a piece of garbage that it no longer had any interest in playing with.
I was having a panic attack and my father was trying to calm me down. I envy him, truly, because I doubt that he would be calm if he also saw what I see.
"You need air. We have to get out of here." My father tried to open the door, but I grabbed his hand to stop him.
"No, don't!" I screamed. It was probably a mistake for me to yell like that because I was afraid that I might get the attention of whatever entity was controlling the vines. It begins to wrap itself around the car. My father sees it too and utters a silent curse.
"What's going on!?"
What am I supposed to tell him? A strange fairy is after us?
The vines start to lift us up and begin to drag us away to who knows where.
My father tried to open the door only to find it stuck.
"Damn it!" My father tried again. The vines rocked and tipped the car upsidedown.
I managed to cling to the steering wheel of the car, but my dad not, and began to fall at the very back, hitting his head on the glass and knocking himself unconscious.
"DAD!" All I could do was yell out his name while I was clinging on for dear life. The back of his head was bleeding, which only caused me to worry. "Damn it." I uttered and slowly tried to climb down, but the car shifted, making me almost fall like my dad.
Something hot was in my pocket, and I suddenly remembered someone who could be of help.
I pulled out the magical leaf from my pocket and got a half second debate on whether I should go for it or not. If I call for Zhier, will he help me? All I know is that he only wants to know information regarding the unseelie prince.
I disregarded the thought and decided to worry about it later.
I placed the leaf over my lips and began to blow on it. Surprisingly, a soft, mellow whistle was created out of thin air. The leaf in my hands started to whither and disappear, making me worry if Zhier was going to come or not because the vines made no sign of stopping.
"Human, must you call me in such a cramped space!?" I never thought that I would be so happy to see the seelie prince beside me again. He seemed to be in a standing position before when he was suddenly called to the passenger's seat of the car.
"Zhier!" I gasped, clutching on to the seat to keep myself from falling. "Please help. Something...Something's happening outside!"
Zhier turned his attention to us and finally got a good view of the situation. His expression grows dim. "Yes, I see. It's the work of the unseelies." He says it so calmly and does nothing.
The vines started to cover the entire car at this point, leaving little to no visibility through the glass. "Zhier, are you not going to help?" I was practically screaming at this point. I'll worry about the consequences of yelling at an unseelie prince later.
"I will." He crosses his arms and looks at me. "But only if you do something for me."
"What is it?" At this point, I am about ready to agree to anything.
"Come with me to the fairy realm—as you humans would like to call it."
"What?"
"Look around you." He said, pointing at the vines that was taking us for who knows where. "It is clear that you are no longer safe in your own world. You bear the mark of the unseelie prince, which would make you a target for them."
"But I don't know where the unseelie prince is!"
"Nonetheless, you have his mark. You are a valuable asset for us to locate the unseelie prince." He insisted. "I am not going to force you to come. In the end, the decision is all yours."
I glanced over to where my father lay unconscious and bit my lower lip before facing him. "This isn't a fair choice!"
"You also weren't fair when you called me in this situation. I told you that you were only to call for me when it involved the unseelie prince, but you called me here to help. You should be grateful that I am even offering you this service. If I were you, you should decide quickly."
I know that he is right. With how my father was bleeding, I need to decide fast. "If I go with you, will you save and heal my father and deliver him to the humans where he will be treated?"
Zhier nods his head. "Just to ease your worry, I would even use my magic to patch up his injuries. I give you my word as the Seelie Prince, only if you promise to uphold your part of the deal."
"I promise, so please, hurry!"
Zhier slowly closes his eyes and gives me a soft nod.
Then, he punched the car window and broke it open before climbing out.
I could not see what he was doing, but the grip of the vines on the car was starting to loosen.
I could hear him slashing and chanting something in a language that I couldn't understand.
A thought began to occur to me while the Seelie Prince was busy cutting the vines.
Who is going to catch us once all the support holding the vehicle is gone?
Damn it. I shouldn't have trusted him!
"Zhier, wait a moment!" My scream came too late, especially when I felt the final vine holding the car snap, sending us plummeting back to the ground and into oblivion.