Shot in the Dark (Revised) || Six

    Hesitation slowed her steps when she reached the base of a particularly large tree. It occurred to her--she was free. She had made it home. She could run inside, pretend none of it ever happened. Surely Cliff would be smart enough to understand what she’d done if she didn’t return soon. And would he really waste his time hunting her down when he should get Jon to the hospital?

    She breathed out sharply.

    What was she thinking? Jon was bleeding to death!

    Shoving aside thoughts of abandoning the humans, she made her way through the thick roots of the tree. A dark downward passage was carefully hidden among the twisting undergrowth, as if the glamour wasn’t precaution enough. She headed down the passage, able to take even quicker steps on the gradual slope. The light at the end grew brighter, and she emerged through an archway that opened into the underground village.

    It gave her a momentary shock to be in an area that was purposely created for people of her stature. No sky-high ceilings or vast furniture; only cozy passageways and doors she could actually open. There was no one in her immediate vicinity, thank goodness. Just in case she ran into anyone, she hid her injured wing under her good one. No doubt a wound that size would raise massive concern.

    The earthy walls gave off a pleasant coolness as she strode onward. She wanted to avoid the main hub of the village at all costs, but she had no choice if she wanted to reach the nearest storage room.

    She heard conversational voices coming up on the next archway. It would only take a few quick strides to walk to the next passage once she was out in the open. Holding her breath, she kept her head down, half-expecting someone to call her name the moment she was spotted. But no one did. She entered the next hall without a hitch.

    After a short maze of paths, she finally reached a chamber with piles of old tomes. She grabbed the first one she could get her hands on, flipping through it rapidly. No healing spells, as far she could see. Her heart pounded anxiously as she repeated the process with the next book. It took five tries before she located what she was looking for. A breath of relief rushed past her lips.

    Clutching the book tightly to herself, she made her way back to the paths until she reached the main hub again. Without a beat of hesitation, she trotted out and backtracked to the dark passage that led outside. Now all she had to deal with climbing the incline.

    She made it halfway up before the sound of scrambling footsteps behind her made her freeze. Someone grabbed her by the shoulder. Hugging the book protectively, Sylvia yelped in surprise and whirled around, wings snapping open instinctively. A wide-eyed ten year-old girl stood in front of her.

    “S-Sylvia, it’s you!” Even in the dim light, it was apparent how relieved she was. “I knew I saw you! Where in the world have you been? Mother’s been worried sick!”

    Taking a few steps back, Sylvia forced down the urge to hug her sister. She’d spent the past day wondering if she would ever see Hazel again. But she took on a stern expression.  "Shh! I'll be right back, alright? Stay here."

"Wha—Y-Your wing!"

    "Yes, I've noticed," Sylvia hissed, turning on her heel. "Just stay put, and don't tell anyone you saw me!"

    "But what's going on? Where are you taking that book?" Hazel’s little footsteps followed after her.

    Sylvia clenched her jaw and turned once again to look her little sister in the eye. "I said stay put. I'll explain everything when I get back, I swear. Don't tell anyone I'm here, not even Mother."

    Praying she wouldn’t have to repeat herself again, Sylvia rushed all the way up the passage until she was blinking in the leaf-filtered sunlight. Hazel didn't emerge after her. Tucking the heavy book under her arm and cursing her inability to fly, she sprinted until she reached where Cliff had left her.

    As the minutes ticked by, he worried that she had made a last effort to escape them. That maybe she wasn't coming back at all. But movement in the grass veered towards him--more than a mere summer breeze. Soon enough, he saw a tiny head of hair above the blades of grass. His broad shoulders slumped in relief when Sylvia slowed to a halt at his feet.

    "Ready?" he asked, scooping her up in two hands.

    The car door opened. Jon watched his friend duck into the backseat, awkwardly finding a place to set Sylvia. Jon wasn't a small guy by any means, and there wasn't much room with him scrunched up in a prone position on the back seat. Luckily, Sylvia was barely five inches at her tallest; she had room to spare as she was set down down somewhere around Jon's hip. Cliff reached over her, unwrapping the makeshift bandages of shirt strips from around Jon's leg.

    "Ah!" Jon squeezed his eyes shut, grinding his teeth.

    Trying to block out Jon's groans of pain, Sylvia flipped through the discolored pages of the old book. She skipped right past the incantations for minor scrapes and burns. The healing spell she settled on was nearly two pages long, for deep still-bleeding lacerations. It wasn’t going to be easy, that much she wa sure of. Knowing she couldn’t let insecurity get to her, she balanced the book on one arm and raised the other toward the bite wound.

    "What are you doing?!"

    Ripped from her concentration, Sylvia turned to find the owner of the familiar voice. Her little sister hovered a distance from the open car door, looking upon the scene with absolute horror. The little girl’s fiery red hair caught the light, her green eyes as wide as dinner plates.

    Cliff whirled upon the new voice. His eyes darted between her and Sylvia, seemingly conflicted on whether he should lunge and grab the newcomer or ignore her.

    "I told you to stay put!" Sylvia clutched at the spine of the book tighter, infuriated.

    But Hazel didn't listen. Her terrorized gaze focused on Jon's wound, and then the book in her older sister's arms. A look of realization appeared on her young features, coupled by confusion.

    "Y-You can't do that!" The girl flitted closer, apprehensively eyeing Cliff before focusing her urgent attention on Sylvia. "But, if the council finds out—“

    "I know!" Sylvia interrupted. She grit her teeth, attempting to calm herself. She needed to focus. Finding a way to avoid the consequences had to wait. "I know what can happen. But I know what I'm doing."

    "Shoo." Cliff waved a hand at the little fairy.

    Spooked by the simple movement, Hazel cried out and darted away from the car. Sylvia felt her heart pound harder, wondering if Hazel would go to the village and alert the guards. But the young fairy lingered at the treeline. Satisfied, Sylvia concentrated back on the life-or-death situation.

    "Are you ready?" she asked Jon, turning to look at his face..

    Jon frowned, visibly piecing together the brief confusing conversation between the fairies.

    "Yeah," he finally answered in a strained voice.

    After sparing one last worried glance at her little sister, Sylvia locked her eyes on the book’s incantation. Taking steady breaths, she raised her arm again and placed her fingertips on the edge of the dog bite. Warm blood ran down her fingertip. Anxiety for Jon's well-being to fuel her magic. In her peripherals, she saw him shut his eyes.

    Using the clearest enunciation she could manage, she read aloud in the Fae language. Gradually, her pupils dilated. A pleasant chill snaked through her arm and seeped out her fingers. Her breathing became labored for a moment, but she pushed on. A cerulean glow emitted from her hand when she was more than halfway through the incantation. The light spread out over the wound.

    Though she could hardly see past the tunnel-vision of the spell, Sylvia could vaguely see his face, still screwed into a mask of vivid pain. It stayed that way for so much of the spell, she began to fret in the back of her mind that she had made an error. But then his face relaxed, relief flooding his features along with a cold sweat. His breathing evened out from irregular grunts to deep, slow inhalations.

Wringing her fingers together, Hazel tentatively moved closer to the vehicle until she could at least see Sylvia. The little girl sighed and buried her face in her hands when she saw her sister was in mid-spell. She wracked her mind, wondering what Sylvia could possibly be thinking.

    She was so engrossed in these worrisome thoughts, she didn't have time to hide when the massive man standing outside the car shifted and glanced in her direction. Hazel went rigid when he did a double-take, turning away from the open door to face her.

    "It's okay," he said, his voice hushed as he took a tentative step towards her. "I'm not gonna grab ya."

    Hazel gasped and flew backward until she was well out of the human's reach. She stared at him timidly with her arms raised in defense. When he made no indication he would chase her, she came closer. Her eyebrows furrowed, dozens of questions surfacing. Just being near humans was straight out of a nightmare, yet her sister was healing one, offering life force as if he was her own kind.

    "A-Are you making her d-do this?" Hazel stuttered out, eyes shining with worried tears. She remained a wary distance from the uninjured human.

    He followed her gaze to the other human’s prone form in the backseat.

    "Hell no. I didn't even know she could do this shit." He flexed his hands restlessly at his side, giving her a strange look. "I'm just gonna take a shot in the dark here... you're Hazel, right?"

    Shocked, the little fairy raised her eyebrows. She glanced at Sylvia and wondered how and why her name had been mentioned.

    "Y-Yes," she replied after a moment of hesitation. She flew forward tensely, hugging her arms to herself. She could hear her sister's voice clearer, which was enough to bring her comfort despite being in the presence of an enormously dangerous entity. "Wh-Who are you? And why do you have Sylvia?"

    He didn't answer immediately, instead turning over his shoulder to watch Sylvia at work. The glow of the healing spell occurring within illuminated a glint of intrigue in his eyes. Soon enough, the weight of his gaze was back on Hazel, that far-too-big mouth opening to speak.

    "We were hunting down a monster dog and your sister got in the way," he replied shortly. "We're not interested in hunting fairies, so you can cool it, alright?"

    Hazel recoiled, staring him incredulously. She clenched her fists at her sides and scowled, anger winning over the horror.  "Her wing—you did that to her!" She shook her head, now even more confused as to why Sylvia was healing the human in the backseat. Hunters! They had shot her!

    She flew backward slowly, considering making a beeline to the village for help now that she knew the humans had in fact hurt her sister; whether or not they'd tried to help was irrelevant. However, she was distracted when she noticed the magic blue glow fade out of the corner of her eye.

    Darkness crept into the edges of Sylvia's vision as she neared the end of the spell. The words were all she could see now, all that mattered. Her eyelids grew heavy, but she managed to remain conscious. She could feel the magic doing its work, mending Jon's shredded vessels and rejoining the punctured flesh and muscle.

    Sylvia pulled her blood-stained hand away from the thick scar, face pale as a sheet. She felt like she had been in a different world throughout the duration of the spell. Her normal senses returned slowly, only for exhaustion to strike her like a lead weight.

    The book slipped as her arms dropped limply to her side. Her knees buckled, and she stumbled backwards on the seat. She made it a few steps before the sensation of falling seized her. She heard Hazel's voice cry her name in alarm.

    She hit a surface much sooner than she should have--and it wasn’t the hard car floor. The surface was warm and leathery, soft enough to safely break her fall. She lay on her back, blinking upward when her world shifted. Jon’s face appeared overhead as he sat up straight, peering down at her with wide-eyed concern.

    "Sylvia," he breathed. He brought a fingertip to her clammy cheek, voice cracking."Why… Why did you do that?"

    Sylvia scrutinized him, vision clearing. The image of his face screwed up in agony was burned into her mind. But now he looked perfectly alert, as if he had never been hurt at all. She didn’t dare move much while her head pounded, but she managed to grin widely at him with relief and triumph. I did it. She reached up and rested a hand on the first joint of his finger.

    "Are you joking?” She scoffed. “You were bleeding to death, dummy. What else was I supposed to do?"

    She heard the buzz of wings enter the car. Tilting her head back, she caught sight of Hazel perching in a crouched position on top of the driver's seat headrest, facing the back of the car. The little girl looked as tensed as a coiled spring, ready to fly back out at a moment’s notice. Sylvia’s attention was stolen when Jon's fingertip pulled away from her cheek.

    He smiled faintly, his eyes still searching for an elusive emotion in Sylvia's face. "Not so big on the whole escaping thing?" he asked wryly.

    “Not much to escape from when I’m gonna be let go anyway.” Sylvia smiled and averted her gaze, but he didn't let it go.

    "You could have ditched us instead," Jon insisted, as if trying to make sense of all this. He held her higher, and Sylvia found that she had little choice but to look at those immense brown eyes. "I mean, I took you... I hunted you." His gaze lingered on the gaping hole in her wing, confusion mingling with gratitude.

    "I'm not going to deny that you and Cliff hurt me," Sylvia admitted. "You two terrified me, and... still do, a little." Wincing, she pushed herself to sit up halfway. Her eyes shined up at him fondly. "I don't know how to explain it. Being away from here... I could be curious about everything, and you didn't treat me like that was bad." She glanced away shyly. "Besides... you're my friend, okay? Of course I couldn't ditch you."

    He tilted his head to the side curiously. In an impulsive burst, Jon bowed his head and brushed his lips against her cheek in a chaste kiss.

    Odd warmth surged through Sylvia. Something told her she should have been horrified, but she wasn't. She couldn't place the feeling, but she was sure it wasn't negative. She smiled up at him, a fluttering sensation in her stomach.

    "You and him," came Hazel's soft voice.

    Sylvia turned in surprise, having forgotten she was there. Hazel stared with mild disgust and major confusion, and Sylvia could sense what she was thinking.

    "No, no, it's not like that," Sylvia said hastily, chuckling at the notion. "It's just a kiss, Hazel. It doesn't mean anything."

    The little girl shook her head in disbelief, looking panicked. In the blink of an eye, she spread her wings and darted out of the car. Before Sylvia could so much as call out for her to stop, the smaller fairy disappeared into the treeline.

    "Should I go after her?" Cliff asked, staring with a particular scrutiny at a braid of spindly tree branches.

    "It's too late,” Sylvia said, sitting up fully. “She'll be in the village any second now. Just let me think." Legs shaking, she stood up on Jon's hand and pulled her fingers through her hair, staring at the treeline. "Someone will probably notice her running into the village. Little kids aren't supposed to be outside alone. On top of that, they'll see she's upset. If she doesn't want to get me in trouble, she won't answer any questions. But they'll check to see what scared her.”

    Sylvia’s eyes widened and looked between Jon and Cliff with wide eyes. More fairies could come at any second.

    "You two need to get out of here now,” she said urgently. “If they see you... it'll be worse. Much worse."

    "Should I just... leave you on the ground?" Jon inquired skeptically. The fairy nearly toppled over as he got out of the car, but he was prepared with a hand cupped at her side. Sylvia rested an arm on the hand for balance as it approached.

    "Yes," she replied in a soft voice, lowering her head and refusing to make eye contact with either human. An unexpected ache spread over her. She pursed her lips irritably. This wasn't supposed to be difficult. This was supposed to be relieving. She was escaping a nightmare.  There shouldn’t have even been any question of how she should feel.

    "Right over there, where Cliff left me before," she instructed.

    Cliff crouched down next to Jon in the grass. The willow branches waved in the wind, brushing forward and backwards in a melancholy manner. Jon set her down amongst the unkempt grass.

    "Stay on the mend, okay?" Cliff's farewell was clipped.

    "Any chance I'll, uh, see you around?" Jon asked hesitantly.

    "Um..." Sylvia wrung her hands together and shuffled her feet on the ground. She should have said no--that she couldn't see him again because she needed to completely cut herself off from any temptations of the human world if she wanted her normal life back, but…

    Her eyes momentarily rose to the car, and words tumbled out before she could stop them. "The spell book. I left it behind," she said, attempting to sound nonchalant. "I need it back, but it would make things worse on me if I walked into the village with it right now. Evidence of what I did, you know?" She rocked back and forth, failing to hide a mischievous smirk when she met Jon’s gaze. "If you could bring it back sometime… I’ll, uh. Be here."

    The smile that took hold of Jon’s features was instantaneous and bore more than a hint of relief. "Yes! I mean... Yeah, of course."

    Cliff nudged him, standing up. "Come on,” he urged him. Jon nodded; no sense in getting them all in trouble now.

    "You better come up with an excuse for your wing." With that last advice, Jon also stood.

    An inescapable chill ran through Sylvia head to toe, seeing both humans at their full height right before her eyes. Their footsteps shook the ground beneath her as they strode hastily towards the car. With the same urgency, she turned on her heel and ran for the village. She heard the car start behind her and rumble away before she even reached the big tree.

    No guards were inspecting the area. A good sign.

    She made her way among the roots and entered the hidden corridor. When she reached the end of the dark path, she froze at the sight that awaited her inside beyond the archway.

    Hazel, face tear-streaked, had her arm within a guard’s tight grasp. Another guard was in the middle of barking a question at her.

    Eyes widening in disbelief at their roughness, Sylvia lunged forward, arm outstretched. "What are you doing—!"

    She paused, staring in horror at her hand. It was still stained with blood from the healing, which the guards didn't fail to notice. She was in trouble. If that wasn’t bad enough, her injured wing was in plain sight.

    The guard kept his hold on Hazel while the other approached Sylvia with a suspicious scowl. She stood her ground defiantly; after facing humans, she doubted anything could make her flinch.

"The Council will be very interested to hear about where you've been off to," the guard said evenly. He grabbed her by the shoulder and led her away.