Dwindling Time || One

The night sky was overcast. Not a sliver of moonlight nor starshine could break through the clouds, but it wouldn't have made much of a difference with the trees all but blocking out the sky.

 

Sylvia pulled to a hover to glance around, perplexed. Her skin glowed blue to make up for the lack of light, and behind her, Jon and Cliff both held flashlights. Still, the darkness seemed eat at all the illumination.

She began to wonder if it had been a mistake going out there. After all, they'd completed the hunt over an hour ago.

The spirit residing in an old country home had been particularly old, powerful, and manipulative. It had been able to control its surroundings with such ease that Sylvia shuddered to think of what would have happened if a hunter had gone at it alone. It had taken both her and Jon distracting it before Cliff could snatch the wooden box of old photographs and burn it without being flung across the room for a second time.

That should have been the end of it, considering the spirit fell apart along with the box, wailing curses and swearing he would get vengeance, though that wasn't anything new when it came to angry spirits.

But Sylvia wasn't so sure their work in the area was done.

Her gut feeling was enough to convince the boys to follow her through the woods. Months and months ago, she would have been shocked that a fairy could convince a hunter to do anything. Now, she was comfortable with expecting them to listen.

She'd sensed a strange energy coming from the trees behind the country home, but it was so faint that they'd need to drive a ways before she announced they needed to get off the road and into the thick of the trees.

"It doesn't feel anything like the spirit did," Sylvia mused, looking back at the hunters. "It just… I dunno, it's just there. Some kind of power, but I still have no idea what it could be."

"It's half past one in the morning," Cliff called up to her. "And there's miles of woods we haven't covered. We can come back in daylight hours, see if it's still something worth looking into."

Normally, Sylvia would have complied. Between snuggling up next to Jon in a warm bed and seeding through misty wilderness in the middle of the night, it was no contest where she would prefer to be. But this aura she sensed was unusual enough to prickle the hairs on the back of her neck like a winter wind. 

"No, we're close," she said, turning so they could see her sincerity. "Really close. I'm sure of it."

Cliff's face looked truly tired as he regarded her, as did Jon's. It was enough to make her hesitate in midair, a sudden stab of guilt in her gut. They had each suffered brutality from the ghost tonight. Was she pushing them too far? She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped short with her mouth halfway open and her arms frozen on either side of her. 

"Sylv?" Jon ventured. 

She turned away from them with green-eyed wonderment. The aura of magic had changed--it was pulsing now, in and out like waves beating on oceanside cliffs. 

"You don't feel anything?" Sylvia asked, although she knew the answer. "It's… it's like music."

She drew in a deep breath, practically swooning. It was calling to her. Familiar. Safe. Home, it promised.

Air whipped past her face as she shot between the trees, maneuvering expertly around branches. Behind her, she heard the boys calling out to her in surprise to slow down. But she couldn't. She couldn't slow down when she was so close. She had to know what the lovely feeling belonged to.

The trees began to thicken, providing less space in between. It was easy enough for a fairy to travel through, but she could hear Jon and Cliff falling behind. She could double back whenever she wanted, Sylvia reasoned, pushing forward. It wouldn't be hard to find a pair of humans calling her name in an otherwise quiet patch of woods.

The thick trees suddenly gave way to an open area--a clearing that Sylvia rocketed into so quickly it felt like jumping off a ledge. Pulling to a hover, she steadied herself. The energy was so close. Her eyes fell to a scraggly tree in the middle of the clearing. It seemed oddly alone and barren of leaves compared to the other trees. But there… it was coming from there.

Curiosity flaring from every one of her senses, she closed the distance to the tree, looking it up and down. Part of her was disappointed in her find, but she knew magic well enough to understand appearances weren't everything. She reached out and touched the gnarled bark, sighing out sharply. 

She was no closer to figuring out what it was, until an unfamiliar voice called from across the grove.

"Hey!"

Sylvia tore her hand away from the tree. Another fairy hovered at the edge of the trees, a different direction than where she'd come. Fright flooded out the lovely feeling of the energy.

The fairy drew closer--a man with pale green light glowing at his hands. Sylvia couldn't be sure if it was for illumination or attack, but it lit up his face enough to let her know that he wasn't pleased.

"What are you doing?" he roared. "Get out! Get away from there!"

He began to close the distance. Sylvia bolted back the way she had come, mentally kicking herself for not recognizing the strange energy as glamour. Her hands shook. The last thing she wanted was to fight, but judging by the man's reaction, he knew she didn't belong there. He might have even seen her with the hunters. She knew all too well how other fairies felt about "traitors."

"I'm sorry," she called over her shoulder breathlessly. "I'm leaving! I didn't know."

She didn't dare look back again, searching all around for any signs of flashlights. Her insides twisted at the thought of being caught up in a magic fight. She couldn't do it. Not again. There were still faint pink marks on her arm as a reminder of the last one.

"Jon!" she yelled. "Cliff!"

Her own name was hollered back, not so distant anymore. She veered in that direction, worriedly watching over her shoulder for the strange fairy. She couldn't see far past her own glow. It was hard to be certain whether he had followed or not. 

The blinding beams of flashlights guided her down to the hunters. She all but crashed into Jon's shoulder, hurriedly lowering her glow as she scrambled towards his neck. 

"Hey, what is it? What happened out there?" Jon demanded.

Standing shakily, Sylvia looked between Cliff's worried scowl and trees beyond. The dark gaps between stared back ominously. 

"Another… another fairy," she replied breathlessly. 

"Did he hurt you?" 

"No, but he wasn't happy to see me." She tugged on a lock of hair Jon had tucked behind his ear. "We should get out of here. Now."

Cliff stayed facing her way, but his eyes weren't on her. She knew without a doubt that he and Jon were having one of their silent conversations, but thankfully, it didn't end with them arguing with her. The world rocked as Jon turned on his heel and strode away, prompting Sylvia to fall to a seated position.

Two warm fingers brushed against her side. "Are you sure you're not hurt?" Jon rumbled. "He didn't attack you?"

"He didn't," she said, patting his index finger reassuringly. "Scared the crap out of me, though. Started yelling at me to get out of here."

Throwing a cautious glance backward, Cliff made a noise of confusion. "That's weird. Didn't think fairies were that territorial toward their own kind right off the bat."

Sylvia was quiet for a moment. "Well they… I dunno, they might have perimeter guards outside the glamour bounds. So they might have seen me before I got there."

"With us, you mean," Jon muttered. She could practically feel his shoulder slump.

"It's not just that," she said quickly. "That strange energy was attached to a tree. It must be one of their glamour cornerstones. With the amount of power it was throwing out, I'd say it was recently fortified. That would explain why he freaked out when I went near it."

"Whatever," Cliff grumbled under his breath. Then, turning back towards the way Sylvia had flown from, he cupped a hand to his mouth. "Keep your crappy trees! You hear that?" 

His bark of a voice seemed to echo through the deserted woods.

"Cliff!" Sylvia hissed, fighting a smile. "Be quiet!"

He snickered, picking up his pace to level with Jon. "We're already leaving, what more could they want?"

Sylvia gingerly lowered herself down to a seated position on Jon's shoulder, looping her arm around his plaid collar. Raising an eyebrow, she eyed Cliff matter of factly. 

"Fairies rarely guard alone. Whoever he's with might want to make an example out of you."

"Let him try."

She snorted. "A vengeful spirit wasn't enough for you?"

"Well, we came all the way out here. Might as well see some action."

Though she knew Cliff was joking, her face fell. It didn't seem like anyone was following them by that point, but she couldn't shake the memory of Jon and Cliff dealing with the guards in her village. Twisting around, she scanned the trees and allowed herself to relax once she was certain there were no glows.

"Sorry about this," she sighed.

Jon's hand returned to offer a comforting pet along her arm. "At least now we know it was just more fairies you were sensing. We can sleep easy tonight."

Sylvia smiled, her eyes growing heavy at the mere mention of sleep. "I suppose so," she mumbled. 

"Shithead should be thanking us, not kicking you out," Cliff continued to grumble under his breath. "Unless he wanted a poltergeist to be the next to trespass."

She said nothing, knowing this was one of his strange ways of being protective of her. He didn't mean to be so harsh. 

Sylvia didn't realize she had shut her eyes until she heard the jingle of car keys join the crunch of the hunters' footfalls. The car was back in sight, its windshield glinting bright against the incoming lights. 

She doubted the drivers speeding by would happen to scrutinize Jon's shoulder, but she huddled closer to his neck anyway.

As Jon ducked into the passenger seat of the car, his hand automatically came up to keep her steady. After he settled, Sylvia latched her arms around his thumb and leaned her side against his palm so she was pulled away along with his hand. A giggle escaped her as his ring finger curled inward to give her waist a light squeeze.

Sitting up his palm, she tried to hold onto her smile. After all, there were worse ways to end a hunt. The hunters would get to sleep in beds instead of having to drive into the night to avoid the local authorities. But her mind raced all the same. It wasn't easy to pretend that she wasn't shaken. It was already the second time she'd run into fairies since leaving her home, and both instances left her feeling like a complete outsider.

The car roared to life and pulled onto the road, drawing Sylvia away from her thoughts. She peered up at Jon. "Anything hurting?" she asked, stifling a yawn. "You don't feel some injuries until after the adrenaline wears off, you know."

"Nothing that can't wait until morning," he said, slumping backward in his seat. "Get some sleep. You need it as bad as we do."

Normally, she was ready with a sharp retort.  But when she opened her mouth to reply, another yawn came out, and she admitted defeat. 

"How much longer," Sylvia asked. "Until we get back?"

"Only about ten minutes," Cliff said from the driver's seat. 

She was asleep in seven.