Page 16 of Stitches
“What happened?” Levi asked.
“The demon tricked him, what else? He killed the prince for his, um… humorous?”
“Hubris,” Grillo supplied.
“What’s that mean?”
“It means the prince was prideful,” Grillo explained, “overconfident, and because of it, he caused tragedy. Like a little boy wandering intothe wood when he knows he shouldn’t.”
Kenner ducked his head, otherwise ignoring the comment. “Anyway, the demon cursed everyone using the Source Crystal, which used to be a symbol for the Amethyst Kingdom. Nothing can destroy it, and people have tried. Or used to try. It’s what keeps the barrier up. And if anyone crosses it, the demon waits in the wood to eat them.”
“Eat them?” Levi said as his stomach dropped. “I thought people disappeared if they crossed the barrier?”
“Well, yeah, coz he eats them. Oh! He’s big with bat wings, claws, horns, a tail, and tons of scary teeth. His skin is so dark you can’t see him in the shadows until he smiles and shows all his fangs, or when his eyes glow. And when he wants to eat someone, his mouth gets so big, he can swallow them whole.”
In many ways, that description shouldn’t be scary. It wasn’t exactly like one person in the Dark Kingdom, but its pieces were definitely present in various people.
Yet still, the image filled Levi with dread, and he couldn’t shake the sensation of being watched from the shadows. When the people first saw the demon, none of them had been monsters yet, none of them had ever seen a monster, so it must have been terrifying.
Wait….
“Have other people seen the demon?” Levi asked. “I thought only Braxton and the king were present.”
“Others were there after the prince died. Then Ash and Brax chased the demon into the wood. Almost everyone saw it then. Right, Father?”
Grillo was about to answer when a flicker from the warding crystal lit up the expanse around them. In the distance, they could see the perimeter of crystals faintly glowing too, though a few were clearly missing or had gone out. “Time to head left,” Grillo said, taking his son’s shoulder to steer him. “Levi?”
Levi shivered as he stared at the flickering crystal in his palm. Thethought that some unknown beast waited just beyond the barrier made a lump form in his throat, but he had a job to do. Slowly, he approached the barrier and replaced the missing or unlit crystals with ones from his bag, and then chose a new crystal to carry in his hand.
Across the barrier was seemingly more darkness, but with a shimmer in the air almost impossible to notice. The shadowswerewatching them—animals, like the glider monkey. Levi hoped that’s all it was, and not foolish highwaymen willing to press their luck by crossing over. Or something worse.
He hurried back to keep pace with Grillo and Kenner, and after a few strides heading left, the new crystal he held went dormant.
The next time they hit a spot where the crystal flickered, Levi did the same, and that was where they stopped. Grillo would be taking the trees from just before the line of the perimeter, as many as could fit on the cart after they were felled and trimmed.
“Kenner, you don’t get even close to that line of crystals. Understood?”
“Yes, Father. I don’t want to get eaten.”
Much as Levi felt differently about the wood now, so deep in its ominous embrace, that feeling of being watched never became more than that—a feeling. Grillo chopped trees, Levi and Kenner helped stack the lumber, and when there was hardly any room left in the cart and Grillo announced one more tree should do it, Kenner darted farther into the safe zone, beckoning Levi to give chase.
The line of crystals was behind them, with Grillo still in sight without any shout of reprimand, so Levi complied. He even conjured a few more fairies to chase after Kenner as they ran between the trees, this way and that. Kenner always stayed one step ahead of Levi. Most of the trees were skinny and difficult to hide behind unless there was a cluster, but there was one just wide enough that when Kenner dashed behind it, he disappeared.
A different boy emerged from the other side.
“Slowpoke!” he called.
Levi froze. The boy was an elf. A half-elf maybe?
With pale skin and red hair.
“Levi?”
Levi blinked and Kenner was in front of him—rightin front of him, peering up at Levi with concern in his eyes.
“Why are you crying? Did you stub a toe?”
Levi’s hands went to his cheeks. They were wet. “I… I must have. I’m fine now.”
