Page 5 of Magic in the Woods
I turned away, looking for an escape.
The door on the side of the kitchen near the grill opened, and a large man strode through.
I squeezed my eyes closed and the buns tightly to my chest—as if the bread would offer some sort of protection. “I’m sorry!” I yelled.
“What are you doing in my kitchen?” The woman’s voice met my ears.
“What are you doing here?” The man’s voice echoed hers.
“Let me handle this, Bill.”
He paused, his nostrils flaring for a moment before he deeply inhaled. “You aren’t from around here…”
I cracked open one eye, squeezing the buns even tighter against me. I knew that gesture. He was a shifter…he could smell me.
Dorothy stood with her legs apart and her arms crossed in front of her, my pail swinging from her hand.
“I’m sorry, okay?” My voice came out as a whimper. “I just needed food.”
Dorothy didn’t even flinch. “And you don’t want to pay like everyone else?” She glanced down at the ice pail. “Wait…whatisthis?—”
There was no time to think.
Dropping the buns to the floor, I pointed my index and middle fingers at the pail, taking precious ice from my mother’s tomb, and threw it in liquid form at her. Dorothy screamed, dropping the pail and jumping away from the door.
As fast as my feet could carry me, I grabbed ahold of the pail handle and leaped over the steps, my knees buckling as I landed on the ground.
“Get back here!” Dorothy called out.
“Hey, wait a minute!” Bill yelled. “Do you know?—”
I ran away as fast as I could, their yells for me quieting the farther I got.
Using my hand, I swatted at the branches I could see as silhouettes in the dark in front of my face.
That had been way too close. What had I been thinking? I should’ve never began traveling through the woods by myself, without food. I only had my magic, and that was depleting as fast as my energy.
The crickets were loud tonight, their incessant chirpingmaking the inside of my head rattle. I kicked at a bush next to me, but of course, the crickets didn’t stop.
No one would help me.
No one would give me a burger patty or a bun.
I was out here in the woods alone, apparently a burden to everyone I ran into.
CHAPTER FOUR
Dafni
I’d losttrack of the number of days I’d walked. Whenever I came across the occasional stream I’d attempt to fill my stomach with water, only to heave it back up again moments later. My stomach was so empty that the momentary relief of the water filling it felt worth the agony of it all coming back up again.
The pail was getting heavier, and my feet began to feel like cinderblocks.
I started to forget to refreeze my mother—especially when the sun had come up and the air warmed. One time, the ice had melted down low enough to where her orange fur had stuck out like spikes from the ice, the block holding her body bobbing in melted water inside the pail. My heart had never beat so furiously in my chest. The pounding had still rung in my ears even after I’d refrozen the water.
Maybe that was when I’d realized I was slipping away.
I hadn’t slept for days for fear of my mother thawing.
