Imonstri

Then, I wasn’t falling anymore. After what seemed like an eternity of blackness and rushing wind wiping the loose curls in my face, I was suddenly turned to a standing position. Like being pushed forward once more, my foot met ground for a split second before I fell forward, doing a somersaults and stopping in a sitting position in front of a giant tree trunk that must been half a mile long. I fell back, laying down completely and shutting my eyes.

What had just happened? Where was I? How did this happen? So many questions ran through my head that I didn’t even know where to start! How had I gotten to this mysterious place? What was up with that mirror? Most of all, why was my hand burning as bad as it was?

Just as I opened my eyes to take a look at my hand, I could hear faint footsteps coming from the other side of the massive tree. My body locked up in terror and all I could was listen and pray to god I didn’t end up dead. As they got closer, I could tell whatever it was, it was trying to be light on its feet and sneak up. As sudden as I heard the footsteps, they were gone. I just my eyes again and exhaled. A split second later there was a loud thud and a small gust of wind from in front of me.

“Who are you?” a deep voice growled. I opened my eyes slowly, terrified more than I was a second ago. There was hair in my face and I tried desperately to move my non-burning hand to brush it out but it was still frozen. There was another small gust of wind and all of the hair was blown out of my face.

In front of me had to be what was the most attractive, yet simultaneously the most terrifying, man I had ever seen. He seemed to have an olive skin tone, though considering the lighting out in a freaking forest; it was hard to be sure. His hair was a chocolaty brown, arranged in a strangely perfect way. It was perfectly straight and his fringe hung in one section just above his eyes. There was a couple stray pieces sticking up, though considering the way his hair looked otherwise, it might have been on purpose.

“What are you?” he spat at me. My eyes went from his bright green ones to his hands and if I wasn’t stuck to the spot, I would jump back and spring in the other direction. His hand was glowing an amber color and there was what seemed to be like lightening bugs orbiting around his hand and wrist.

“Talk!” he barked and instinctively my mouth opened but all that left was a small amount of air. My arm, finally free of fear, moved and I raised my good hand to my throat, trying to talk again, but still no sound. His eyes darted from my face to my hand and slowly he relaxed, taking a couple steps around me and then bent to take my hand in his glowing one. My first reaction was to pull it away because I didn’t want some guy with a glowing hand touching me, but my body hadn’t quite recovered from fear and only certain parts were working.

“Relax,” he murmured, taking it in both of his. His glowing hand felt warm, but nothing that caused any discomfort. It was more spring day than surface of the sun, which was what I had been assuming by the look of it. He flipped it over a couple times, tracing the gash that was gushing blood all over my hand. It tingled slightly, but the burning and bleeding continued. As I got a good look at my hand, I saw twigs and a couple small rocks stuck in it and a huge gash going from my thumb diagonally to my wrist.

“I can’t fix this here,” he informed. He stood up, letting my hand drop back down. “Can you talk?” I opened my mouth to say something but still nothing. Instead, I shook my head and grabbed at my throat again.

“I see,” he said seriously, “Well, come on.” He grabbed my good hand, pulling me up with enough force to crack my shoulder. After I was on my feet, instead of stopping, I continued to fall into him. He stood his ground though, helping me to stand up straight on my feet. He took a slight step back and I toppled over again into him.

“Whoa there,” the guy said quietly, steadying me again. “Are you okay?” His look had softened, but it was still stern and slightly unfriendly. I shook my head, wincing silently as I tried to move my legs.

“Did you fall or something?” he questioned, looking up at the tree over my head. I nodded slowly and he made a pained face.

“Come on then.” With that, he scooped me up with some difficulty and started walking. I could tell he was having a slight problem carrying me but then all of a sudden, it was like he was carrying a notebook. Slowly but surely, we headed out of the woods and as I got a good look, I realized I wasn’t anywhere near home anymore. In front of us was a stone wall with a gap for a small dirt walkway. He headed through the gap and followed the walkway to a small house, if you could even call it that.

“We’re almost there,” he told me. He nodded at the door and it swung open. I wanted to ask him how, but though my body seemed to be regaining movement, I had a feeling my voice still wasn’t going to work. He crossed the threshold and the door closed behind him. Carefully, he set me down on top of a table and headed over to the stove. He glanced at the teakettle and suddenly, it began to steam. He grabbed it, heading back over to the table where I sat to pour the contents of the kettle into a cup that wasn’t in there a second ago.

“Drink.” He took the cup, holding it up. I took it from him with my good hand, giving it a wary look and back up to him. He raised his eyebrows and sighed, “I swear, it’s not poison. And give me your other hand.” I held it out to him, taking a sip of the drink. My throat felt warm for a second or two and then went completely numb. Then, there was this bubbling that made it burn. I started coughing, dropping the cup to over my mouth. I winced slightly as I heard it smash.

“I’m—” I started, falling into another coughing fit, “Sorry.” He shook his head, making a face and shrugging.

“It’s fine,” he told me, looking at the cup and then back to me. I looked down to see the cup pieces weren’t there anymore. I wanted to ask how but I felt that would be the worst possible thing I could do. I didn’t know how, but I just had a feeling at the bottom of my stomach.

“I’m Zane,” he told me finally.

“Contessa,” I muttered, trying to clear my throat.

“What were you doing in the woods, Contessa?” he asked, suddenly seeming very serious. He reached next to me, to a box that again, had just appeared where the cup had been. He pulled out a pair of tweezers and began pulling out the twigs and rocks. I whimpered quietly, sighing.

“I don’t…I don’t know,” I admitted, “One second I was home, and the next I was in the woods.” He glanced up at me for a second before back down to my hand.

“Transporting at random?” he muttered, “Must just be developing your powers, huh?” I opened my mouth to ask what he was talking about but he cut me off with, “And done.” He ran his now glowing finger along my gash and slowly it disappeared.

“Thanks,” I said, taking my hand out of his and flexing it a couple times to make sure everything was okay. “Where…where am I?”

“The valley,” he said simply. I tilted my head at him.

“Valley of where?” I questioned slowly. I had a sinking feeling I knew the answer but I needed to know for sure.

“Imonstri, of course,” he chuckled, “What a particular question.” He shook his head, going back over to the stove. My eyes bugged out of my head and I looked around me to the bed in the corner, to the window above it and then back to Zane. Imonstri? It was a real place?

“Are you going to the festival today?” he asked, “I’d be happy to accompany you if you are.” I licked my lips before nodding slowly.

“Yeah,” I said quietly, “Yeah, I am. What’s this festival for again?” I asked. He chuckled again, turning back around with two more cups of what smelled like hot chocolate.

“It’s All Hollow’s Eve in the mortal world,” he said, grimacing. “Stupid mortals. You should see the way they think we are. It’s sick,” he spat, and I flinched. “Boy, I’d like to spend one day in the mortal world and give them what for.” His hands were glowing again, and the hot chocolate was seeming to get hotter by the amount of steam coming out. It was kind of scary how his mood kept changing the way it was. It was also apparent I had to keep my mirror adventure to myself.

“Oh, yeah,” I mumbled, “Right. I guess I just…hit my head when I fell.” His hand slowly went back to its olive tone, and he handed me the hot chocolate.

“Sorry, it’s hot,” he told me as I took it. I almost dropped it because it was boiling but I just grit my teeth and tried to forget about it. He leaned over, blowing on it and looking at me with a smirk on his face as if I was supposed to be impressed as it cooled down.

“Thanks,” I said nervously, taking a sip. He glanced out at the sky and then took a long swig from his cup.

“We best be leaving for the festival soon, Contessa,” he said, “It’s going to take a little while. The vampire kids are being stupid again and mortal searching. You know…sniffing people and all. Weird if you ask me, even if the council says it’s necessary. I don’t see why, it’s not like there’s been a mortal here in centuries. Ever since that mirror got lost, I don’t see why they worry.”

I just nodded and took small sips of my hot chocolate. What was going to happen when they found me? I was terrified to think about it.