Page 71 of Pocket Full Of Posies

Okay so she might not ask that last one, but I’m sure she would do it if I asked her too. Delphi sits on my shoulders now, quiet since I wasn’t answering any of her chitters. The tiny, clawed hand she brushes through my hair is oddly comforting.

I pick out another black dahlia from my hair and toss it to the ground, stomping on it as I walk. Black dahlias represent pain, suffering, heartache.Why must my flowers show exactly how I’m feeling?

My body lags as I walk, I ran for a while to get away from everyone. I don’t need witnesses to my embarrassment and stupidity. I fell for the bad boy and his sweet-talking dirty mouth. Stupidly I thought I was special. That I meant more to him than some fling or hook up. Turns out I was wrong. I mean even less than that. Because at least he was honest with them about their relationship. I’m not worth honesty.

A heaviness slows my pace, and I plop down on a dead tree stump. Normally I would encourage the tree to resprout and grow anew. Right now, all I can do is water it with my tears.

Delphi climbs off me and sits at my feet, petting my knee. Watching her only makes me feel worse about myself. I love Delphi, but I have to be really unwanted if the only person to care about my feelings is a sprite. Sure, Sage and Tobias care but family is supposed to, they’re obligated to.

“It’s okay, Delphi. I just need a few minutes to get it all out,” I tell my furry friend. “I just don’t know what to believe anymore. I thought he was being honest. I thought he was different. But now I don’t know if I can believe his words.”

Delphi purrs and coos, almost like a cat would, rubbing her chubby little body against my leg and wrapping her tiny little hands around my calf. Her warmth on my feet is nice, I ran off without my boots and my feet are actually getting cold. I think this deep in the woods winter has settled in faster.

I wrap my arms around myself and rub my bare skin to create friction and heat, having forgotten a sweater as well, I’m only partially paying attention to the dropping temperature. Thoughts of Kai and his smiling teasing face distract me and send my emotions down a spiral of confusion and heartbreak.

The bracelet Kai gave me heats my skin where it rubs. I don’t know how he did it, but the damn thing always seems warm to the touch. Plus, I can’t take it off. Which I didn’t mind at first, now it irritates me. I want to rip it off and throw it at a tree. Pulling at the gold band I try to do just that. Like I knew it wouldn’t, the bracelet doesn’t budge, remaining snuggly on my wrist. I’ll probably have to cut it off.

My hand falls to my lap, and I sigh out a watery groan. I’ll never be able to leave my house again. People are going to laugh at me for being so blind and ignoring everyone’s warnings not to get involved with Kai. I thought I was better than all of them, accepting Kai for who he is and not judging him for his salacious past. Looks like I should have paid a little more attention to his track record. A guy that can’t commit to anyone or place for longer than a few months should have been a major red flag.

I have no idea how long I sit here and feel sorry for myself, but it starts to get darker. The sun falling below the canopy of the trees. I should probably head home. There are creatures in the woods that even non-humans don’t mess with. Wraiths and banshees’ dwell in the darkness of the world. We don’t encounter them often, but they are out there, and I most certainly do not want to meet my first any time soon.

Scooping up Delphi I cradle her in my arms and start walking. I got a little turned around while running away but if I go southeast, I should find my way back to a populated area. I hope.

Less than a minute into my walk of shame_hopefully towards home_I hear a sound. A rustling in the bushes and snapping of twigs. I spin towards the sound, stupidly hoping to see Kai bursting through the trees to apologize and beg my forgiveness. There’s nobody there. Just darkening shadows and an eerie cold breeze.

“Perhaps we should walk a little faster,” I say out loud to Delphi, hoping the sound of my voice will calm me. It doesn’t. I think it makes it worse, because there’s no echo and it only amplifies the silence around us.

That’s when I notice the lack of natural noises the forest usually produces. No birds, no bugs, no small animals. Yet there is evidence of a presence. That’s not good.

My feet begin to move faster, not full out running yet, just moving faster. My sadness over Kai and his omissions falling away to be replaced with a fear of the unknown, or rather fear of the known but unseen.

Wraiths are ghostly spirits that can suck the life right out of you, filled with darkness and sorrow born from horrendous acts in the world and fueled by fear. To be caught by one is to be absorbed into its endless void, and I’d rather not learn first-hand what one looks like.

My pace increases, but amidst the dimming sunlight, my panic and having to veer off course to avoid thick underbrush and fallen trees, I fear I’ve gotten turned around again.

“Shit, shit, shit. Which way do we go, Delphi?”

The sprite leaps from my arms and lands on a shimmering disc of magic midair, her cute little nose twitching as she sniffs the air and looks around trying to distinguish our location. When her fluffy ears perk up, I know she’s discovered our way home.

Following Delphi’s guide, we make a sharp right and take off. Roots and vines tangle with overgrown underbrush and I have to look down frequently to keep from tripping. I look up when I should have looked down and my bare foot catches on something and I trip, falling body first and barely catching myself with my hands, before my face makes contact with a thorny bush.

Rolling over I push myself up onto my elbows before I look up to spot a cloud of black hovering over me. It’s like staring into the center of a black hole. No light or life stirs inside it. Two glowing yellow orbs stare down at me. Those must be its eyes.

I scream on instinct crawling backwards trying to put distance between myself and the wraith that I’ve just discovered. The black mass shifts and grows arms and hands tipped in claws that reach out for me. Before its dripping claws make contact with my face, my sweet cuddly sprite pounces. Snapping her tiny fangs at the black spindly hand in an oddly successful attempt to ward off the wraith. That is until the wraith reaches for Delphi with its other hand, slashing at her small body until she unhinges from it and falls to the ground. Red blood streaks her blue and white fur but she’s still moving.

“Delphi!”

My self-preservation instinct disintegrates at the sight of my best friend injured. I lunge for Delphi barely getting to my knees before scooping her little body into my arms and holding her close. Curling my body around her smaller one, I just hope that the wraith kills me quickly and spares poor Delphi.

Eyes squeezing shut, I brace myself for the inevitable pain. It never comes. The silence of the wraith filled forest is shattered by a growling shout. The sound made by someone other than the wraith or myself. Made by a male I know too well.

Kai stands over my huddled body, his spine curved, and claws extended, fire practically bursting from his body. Flames and heat extend from his hands like whips striking out at the wraith, forcing it back. The dark shadows shrink away from the fire and light.

Kai roars at the wraith, a sound purely animalistic and feral. A beast protecting its own, thoughtless of his own safety. There are twin lines of red marring his shirt where the wraith's claws made contact. He ignores them and focuses solely on forcing the wraith back, away from me and Delphi.

He doesn’t stop his advance and fire whips until the wraith grows wary and disappears into the night, his yellow eyes vanishing. Kai doesn’t back down until he’s sure the wraith is gone. The fire streaming from him recedes back into his body, which continues to radiate heat that I can feel even from a distance. It warms my pebbling skin as he stalks closer to me still clutching Delphi to my chest.

“Blossom.” The endearment falls from his lips on a broken sob as he falls to his knees in front of me.

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