Free Web NovelChapter 196: Episode 196.
Aire waited exactly three minutes after Lysander disappeared from the scary thorny path they called a garden.
She had walked out of her cell with him, not because she intended to obey, but because she intended to leave.
He had taken the thorny veins off her wrists, and ankles, so she would give this a shot.
The moment his footsteps vanished completely, she dropped the gardening shears onto the black soil and looked around.
She saw no one around. No one was watching her, or even bothered to. The realization annoyed her as she realized no one thought of her being able to escape.
Morrigan had crossed realms, lied to her for months, stolen her powers, and dragged her into a nightmare.
The least they could do was commit properly and lock her up.
Aire glanced toward the path Lysander had taken.
Still, she saw nothing.
The garden stretched endlessly around her, with black roses, and silver vines. The flowers looked as though they had grown from moonlight and nightmares.
Slowly, she stood.
The movement made her ribs protest immediately. Pain reminded her of the court, the humiliation, and Morrigan.
The memory alone was enough.
Aire turned around, and without a second of hesitation, she ran.
She expected someone to stop her the moment she started running. However, nothing happened.
She panicked, expecting alarms, or dar expected magic. However, nothing happened.
The silence was almost insulting, instead of reliefing. She might just be arriving, but this felt like a trap.
Perhaps, they might be somewhere, entertained by her little fruitless escape run. It made no sesne, but Aire needed it.
Aire pushed herself harder.
The branches whipped past her, as she ran, and black trees surrounded her, with their pale branches twisted overhead like skeletal fingers.
The garden disappeared behind her.
"Good." Aire mumured. She never wanted to see that sight again.
The path beneath her boots became rougher, and the roots broke through the stone.
The air grew colder as she ran. Her lungs burned, her wrists ached, and her body screamed at her to stop.
Aire ignored it. Every step away from Morrigan felt worth it, even if she feels crazy trying to escape a realm she can into through a portal.
She had no plan, but every step away from this realm felt worth it. At least, she was moving.
.....
After twenty minutes of speed running, she slowed. She slowed slightly.
The forest stretched endlessly ahead of her.
Aire frowned.
Something felt strange.
She looked around. The trees all looked identical with the same white branches, and the same black trunks.
Aire stopped, and started walking in curiosity.
Eventually, she spotted a broken stone statue that was half buried beneath roots. A woman’s face stared upward, cracked down the middle.
Aire barely glanced at it. However, she made a mark on it, then continued running.
.....
Ten minutes later she saw the statue again.
Aire stopped.
Her eyes narrowed. No. That couldn’t be right.
She approached the statue slowly. It was the same broken face, with the same crack, and the same roots.
Aire turned around immediately.
This time she chose a completely different direction. A completely different path, and started walking.
She stopped running.
.....
Another twenty minutes passed, then she froze.
The statue stood ahead, waiting exactly where it had been before. Aire stared at it, and the statue stared back.
A long silence followed.
Finally Aire sighed. "Wonderful."
The forest offered no response.
"I’ve been kidnapped by lunatics." Aire rubbed her forehead. "No." She corrected herself. "Worse."
She pointed at the creepy statue that felt like it was watching every step she took. "The forest is a lunatic."
She kept moving.
What else was she supposed to do?
The next hour became increasingly ridiculous.
She crossed a stream, then crossed it again. She passed a tree split down the center, then passed it again, and again.
Eventually she began laughing. She laughed softly to calm herself, because she was dangerously close to screaming.
"Oh, Aire!" She threw her hands into the air, breathing hard, and trying to take in as much air as she can, so she don’t collapse. "What have to gotten yourself into?"
She kept walking, and eventually she reached a clearing.
Aire stepped forward, then stopped completely. Her heart dropped into her stomach.
Her stomach dropped.
The wheelbarrow sat in the center of the clearing, and the gardening tools lay exactly where she’d left them.
The black roses swayed gently.
She had found geraelf in the exact same garden she had ran away from. It felt like someone was playing with her mind and feet right now.
Aire stood frozen.
That wasn’t possible. She had never turned around.
Not once.
Not a single time.
She had continued forward. Yet somehow, she was back here.
Slowly Aire walked forward.
The wheelbarrow remained where she had left it. The shears remained where she had dropped them.
Everything was exactly the same.
Aire’s throat tightened.
"Feel better?" The same hollow voice from the morning asked her.
Aire closed her eyes.
Slowly she turned.
Lysander sat atop a stone wall nearby. He had one leg dangling over the side, and the other bent casually.
A fruit she had never seen before rested in his hand.
He bit into it lazily, and his golden hair caught the strange gray light.
Aire hated how calm he looked.
She hated it immediately. She’d spent hours running, and he looked as though he’d been relaxing the entire time.
Waiting whole he watching her suffer, already knowing the end of it.
Lysander swallowed. Then took another bite. "That was quick."
Aire stared at him in disbelief. "Quick?"
He nodded, chewed comoletely, brfore replying. "I expected longer."
Aire wanted to throw something at him. Possibly the wheelbarrow.
Rather, she asked lowly. "How long?"
He considered for a second, then replied readily. "Six hours." His shoulders lifted. "I wasn’t counting."
Aire hated him.
Lysander continued eating.
"You look disappointed." His eyebrow lifted.
Aire said nothing. She simply kept staring at him.
His grin widened. "I would have let you off again for your silly fun, but Morrigan would want you back in your cage, soon."
Silence stretched between them.
Lysander took another bite.
Aire remained standing.
Finally she asked. "Why didn’t anyone stop me?" She needed to know. Perhaps, that would explain why the forest kept roaming in circles, and returning her to spots she had once crossed.
That was the part she couldn’t understand.
Nobody chased her.
Lysander studied her. The amusement on his exoression softened slightly. He pointed toward the forest.
"The realm doesn’t let prisoners leave."
Aire frowned.
He nodded, as if she had asked him a question. "The realm is designed for prisoners to never leave. No matter how hard you try."
Aire looked back toward the trees. Everything suddenly felt different. They were no longer dead, but alive and watching.
A detected feeling embraced Aire’s heart, returning her to hopelessness.
Lysander tossed the fruit core aside, then jumped down from the wall. His movement was effortless, and graceful.
And his movement reminded Aire that he wasn’t human, a wolf, or anything she understood.
He stopped beside her.
Close enough for her to realize how much taller he actually was, and close enough for her to notice the scars crossing his chest.
His golden eyes settled on hers. "You done?" He asked.
Aire eyes sharpened immediately, and she glared at him.
Lysander smiled. His smile widened. "I’d be disappointed if you were." He pushed the wheelbarrow aside with a snap of his finger. "You can try escaping tommorow."
