A Girl Named Calamity by Danielle Lori

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

A VIRGIN’S BLOOD

Ithought I was done for. That I was going to be stuck here forever. The only good thing about it was that the seal would never be opened because I would surely starve in a few days.

We were in the middle of the forest and as still as a statue. Leaves fell around us and one tickled as it skimmed my cheek. I could only blink and move my mouth to talk. I only knew that because I had been randomly shouting for some help. I only hoped the right help would come.

I sat frozen for hours staring into the dull forest in front me, and used all that time to imagine I was some monster’s dinner and had been caught in his trap. All those times thinking about how I would die, and this had never made the list. And of course, it would have been the worst one.

My imagination had gone wild for the past hours with nothing to do but think. When I heard the heavy crunch of sticks and leaves, a chill ran down my spine, imagining nothing else but a hungry monster.

I never imagined what came out instead.

A dirty-faced boy with a rabbit on his shoulder.

Sure, the boy wouldn’t have been far-fetched. But the rabbit? It felt like Alyria was purposely messing with me at this point.

“Well, Tink, looks like we caught something,” the boy said.

I assumed Tink was the rabbit.

I stared at the boy with my mouth gaping while I realized I was what he’d caught. “Excuse me, but I’ve been stuck here for hours.”

“Ma’am, that was the point,” he said, and I could see him digging around in my saddlebag out of the corner of my eye.

I blinked. “You did this so you could rob me?” I hadn’t thought about this either. Apparently, my imagination was too wild and kept me from thinking logically.

“Ma’am, no one would be getting robbed if you were smart enough to stay out of my snare.”

“No one would be getting robbed if you got your hands off my stuff!” He wasn’t turning this around on me. Just because I wasn’t used to noticing tricky kid’s magical snares didn’t mean I should have been robbed.

Although better this than be eaten . . .

“We all gotta eat, miss.”

“Yes, we do. That’s why you need to put my stuff back. And why is that rabbit on your shoulder anyway?” Probably the last thing I needed to be focusing on at that moment, but it was distracting the way it was just sitting there.

“I froze him there.”

I was so far from home.

“Well, that’s horrible. How would you feel if he froze you like that?”

He grimaced. “What are you? My mom?”

I was glad to hear they even have moms out here.

“Where is your mother? Does she know you are out here, robbing people?”

He threw my map over his shoulder. “She’s dead.”

“Your father?”

He threw my soap over his shoulder. “Dead.”

“If you are going to rob me, you’ll want to take that soap with you. You could use it.”

He snorted.

“You live out here by yourself?” I could barely make it out here a day without getting in trouble. But I didn’t have magic. That I knew of, anyway.

“Have for as long as I can remember.”

I thought for a moment before I made a decision. “There is a pouch of coins tied to my belt. It’s yours as long as you free me,” I said with some reluctance.

“Fine, but I can freeze you again in a second, so don’t try to pull a fast one on me. I’m not stupid.”

“I didn’t think you were.”

Suddenly, I had the mobility of my limbs again. I groaned as I stretched them out. I rolled my head around on my stiff neck. I took the pouch off my belt and tossed it to the boy before I could change my mind.

“Ma’am, do you know how much this is?” he said in awe with an eyeball focused in the pouch.

“It’s yours, but you need to quit freezing people. It really isn’t nice,” I replied while rubbing my neck. The rabbit seemed to look straight at me, with I swore, pleading eyes. “And unfreeze that rabbit right now.”

“Whatever you say, miss,” he said with his eyes still on the coins. The rabbit hopped off his shoulder and ran through the forest at record speed.

“Thanks!” the boy yelled while he started running toward town. He abruptly stopped and turned around. “Watch out for the red marks!” he shouted and then took off again.

I spun Gallant around until I found a small red mark on the base of the closest tree trunk.

What a tricky kid.

* * *

The longer I went without seeing Weston, the more I believed I had actually killed him. I looked down at my hands in front of the fire I made and imagined I could still see the blood. The warmth from the flames warmed my skin while I tried to convince myself this was a good thing.

Tried.

He could walk through the Burning City’s flames. I hadn’t killed him with a knife to the stomach. But there had been all that blood. My thoughts only had my chest tightening uncomfortably, and I pushed them away.

Earlier, I’d gone to the stream and tried to wash with my magical soap the best I could in the small body of water. I had shrugged the dirty clothes back on and used my knife to sharpen a spear and caught a fish from the stream.

The fish cooked over the fire while I sat wearily in front of it. The Star of Truth was bright in the sky, and I imagined Grandmother looking at it at that same moment.

I fell asleep to melancholy thoughts and my catch burning over the fire.

* * *

Alyria must have been looking down on me because I had spent the night alone and woke up still alive. And not captured.

Unfortunate as it was, those were the two things that made me the happiest.

With a growling stomach, I caught another fish from the stream, and cooked it over the fire while I sat there anxiously. Something was telling me I needed to leave, and I listened to it. I would take any help Alyria decided to give me.

As I progressed further into the forest, sweat ran down my face and into my eyes, blurring my vision. The heat here seemed to wrap itself in a suffocating hold. I pushed up my long sleeves and rolled up my pants, but it barely helped. I had multiple layers of the dirty clothes on, and there was nothing more I wanted at that moment than to shed them all off.

It was too risky. I didn’t come this far only to get caught again.

The sun barely made its way to the forest floor, the trees a thick canopy. Moss covered most of the wood, and the large leaves had water dripping down from the one above. The forest was dark and had a still, eerie feel to it. At this point, I’d had so much of unnerving forests that I was only trying to get through it faster, but the roots sticking tall out of the ground created a maze that could only be navigated slowly.

We entered a small clearing with a small body of water. I looked at it with a grimace. It was so murky that I imagined if I went up to it, something would pull me into it. A shiver ran down my spine, and I told my imagination to shut up.

A burst of air rushed by my face and before I could even blink, another one flew by in the opposite direction. When I opened my eyes, a naked woman stood before me. She had long dark hair that reached her knees. An exotic tilt to her eyes and tanned skin. Some kind of brand wrapped around her arm, and when she stepped to the side and tilted her head in an unnatural way, I noticed the brand on her arm was an extension of the tree behind her; it blended in with the spindly branches.

I blinked, and three women stood before me now. They were all the same woman: tanned skin, long black hair and exotic looks to the detail. Six appeared before me now.

“What are you doing in my forest?” The voice resounded inside my head, but I never saw the woman speak.

I swallowed hard. “I was just passing through,” I managed to get out while I watched a large white snake enter the clearing. My heart drummed as its red eyes honed in on me while it flicked its tongue out. The woman’s laughter was loud inside my head. Eight of her surrounded my horse.

Worst case scenario was I would end up snake food. Best case scenario was I might get out alive.

I was hoping for anything not involving the snake.

“No one just passes through my forest without a gift.”

“You want a gift?” I asked.

“No!” her voice shouted in my head, and I couldn’t help but cringe.

My forehead scrunched. “You don’t want a gift?”

“I couldn’t care less about man’s trinkets,” she said while eight women walked in circles around my horse.

“What do you want, then?” Please say a lock of hair or a piece of dirty clothes. Because that was all I had.

Her head tilted again, and I imagined she was thinking. The clearing was suddenly filled with woman after woman. Then they became one again.

“A bite.” Her voice was soft in my head, and it only added to the eerie feeling of her demand. My stomach dropped while I tried to process what she was asking for.

“Why?” I choked out.

She smiled. “You have fresh blood . . . virgin blood.”

Note to self: lose my virginity as soon as possible if I ever survive this.

It was a terrible question, but I couldn’t help but ask it. “Do I have to?”

“Please decline. Then I can slit your wrists and hang you upside down above my pond. It’s been a long time since I’ve swum in virgin blood.”

I swallowed hard. “Where?”

“Your wrist will do fine.”

I wondered how painful one bite to the wrist could be.

“Then I can leave?”

She nodded her head in an odd way, and I held my wrist out before I could change my mind. Horror squeezed my lungs when I saw three-inch fangs extend and black fill the whites of her eyes. A burst of air hit me in the face before she sank her fangs in my wrist. I clenched my teeth to stop from crying out from the pain.

As soon as it began, it was done.

When I looked at my wrist, the two holes were already closing up. There were about twenty of her, and they were all spitting the blood out on the ground. My blood covered her lips when she looked at me with wide black eyes.

She bowed her head. “I am sorry,” her apology rang in my mind. “I am of service to you if you ever need it.”

Had she tasted that I could open the seal? Why she would feel indebted to me because of it was a mystery. My heart was beating too fast to worry about anything but getting safely out of the forest.

“I have a gift for you that I hope will help you accept my apology.” A small crystal attached to a chain appeared in my hand. “The crystal will glow red when there is danger near.”

“Thank you . . .” I stopped, not knowing what to call her.

“Sahara,” the word slithered into my mind. She bowed one last time and then was gone. The snake was still lounging around, and I gave it a generous berth while I left the clearing.

Two scars were all that remained of the bite. I put the crystal around my neck and decided one bite was definitely worth it for the gift. I squeezed the crystal in my hand, in a grip begging it to get me through this.