I chased away the bad thoughts, focusing on breathing deeply and calmly.
“I don’t think there’s room for both of us.” I said evenly.
She giggled and shimmied up the tree and out the trap door. Her wide, dark eyes stared back at me, and I wondered if I was making a mistake by trusting her.
“I’ll bring some dinner and tell Grandmother and the rest of the coven!”
I tried to protest, but she was already gone. I couldn’t follow her out and risk discovery, so I was stuck trusting she wouldn’t say anything to get me killed.
I carefully sat. The moss was at least soft on my body as the candles flickered. I wondered if it would be better to blow them out—if I could calm myself easily if I thought of wide-open spaces…The real question was whether witches were neutral. It was embarrassing just how little I knew about the different magical creatures. As soon as I was in Lyoness, I would seek out Domik and learn as much as I could about every creature in Dorea!
I slid into my draken form, keeping my wings tucked in close to my back. Pain assaulted me immediately from the tear in my wing, and I wished in vain my mates were here to help me heal. My mates. I struggled to keep a sad warble from my throat as I thought of Benedict, who was likely dead, his body crushed under the rocks. The urge to screech and wail, to have my people find me was overwhelming, but I squeezed my eyes, keeping them shut until it passed. Benedict had to be alive, he had to be.
Carefully, I stretched on the soft moss floor of my hidey-hole, hissing as I tried to find a comfortable position for my wings. At least here, I could lay in my draken form. If I were stuck as a human, I wouldn’t heal at all. I needed to recover and get to Lyoness as quickly as possible. I dozed for a bit, unable to fall asleep with the pain and anxiety. I twitched when the trap door above me yanked open, the dwindling sun still causing me to squint when I looked up. I was in my human form in an instant.
“Luci came baaack!”
The girl hurled a parcel wrapped in cloth at me, which I caught in reflex. The delicious aroma of roasted meat hit my nose, along with freshly baked bread and some mushrooms.
“Luci? Is that your name?” I asked, sniffing the mushrooms cautiously.
She giggled as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I decided not to question it or the food, instead gulping it down. Luci clapped her hands in delight at my eagerness, giggling.
“I’m Wren,” I offered, and her smile grew wider.
“Do you want more?”
More would be amazing. Was this a draken thing? I assumed only male drakens ate like they were starving, but perhaps draken bodies just required more than I was used to eating.
“I don’t want to get you in trouble,” I replied instead. She tsked, then scurried back off into the woods. Luci returned less than fifteen minutes later with more mushrooms and a dead grouse. I furrowed my brow, not sure how to react to the raw bird in front of me. I gasped when flames shot out of the palm of her hand, roasting the mushrooms. She wrapped them in a large leaf and stuffed one in her mouth. She dropped the rest down to me and set to plucking the feathers on the dead bird.
“Pluck them out, then roast it! Done soon.”
I nodded dumbly, having nothing else to say. I was friends with a young witch who could conjure fire and didn’t seem too concerned about a strange woman hiding in her tree. I decided to let all my questions go, and just focus on eating, sleeping, and staying alive. For the moment, I could take some time to heal and try to rest. It would have to be enough for now.
Two
I settled into a comfortable routine, sleeping in the hidden tree and eating when Luci brought me food twice a day. I kept my wings out when I was alone, hoping to heal as quickly as possible. My worst complaint was the claustrophobia, but it could have been so much worse. Luci tried to coax me to leave and wander the forest with her, but I refused. I was terrified I would be caught out in the open by a vampyre or one of the lesser demons.
An indulgence I did allow was for Luci to leave the trap door open when she was nearby. To see the leaves above, with the blue-sky peeking through white clouds filled me with a strange sense of peace. The sound of birds filtered down to me, their music caressing my ears as I longed to join them in song as well as in the sky. I twitched my wing, feeling only a slight lingering soreness. Soon.
One afternoon, I awoke from a nap to the sound of Luci screaming followed by harsh, guttural laughter from outside the tree. My body flooded with adrenaline as I banged my head against the wall in my haste to get up. I slid effortlessly into my draken form, ready to defend my small savior.
“Little witches shouldn’t stray so far from their coven,” a voice snarled, and I bared my teeth from within my hiding spot. Judging from the laughter, there were at least two more. I twitched my wings, testing it carefully as I flexed and bent it. It still hurt but was more manageable. I could fight, and I could win.
“We’re looking for a draken. We know she landed somewhere nearby; you seen anything?”
My heart stopped in my chest as I put an ear against the bark, listening closely for her reply. I needn’t have
