By now she should have been dead as a carcass or as chyme in several lycans' digestive systems. She almost died a handful of times already, from vortexes to giant wolves, to lycans, to beautiful crazy elves that transformed into wolves, and back to lycans again.
It was almost as if she was being punished for not listening to Hiroko. Life was telling her that her cat-like curiosity deserved some sort of punishment! The two tails she had found to be new on her behind were still attached to her. It was weird. Why two?
Why tails in the first place though?!
"What am I now?" She wanted to mutter out. "Ke eng jaanong?" was what she actually said. She was not speaking in English but by whatever force, she understood herself and every weird syllable she spoke. They were the same ones as the elves surrounding her.
"But they don't have tails!"
At least her inner thoughts were still in English.
The sunset had come as slow as supposed and finished as quickly as supposed. The yellow moon was just rising, coming to accompany its smaller sister silver moon. There was a fire, courtesy of the red headed young elf girl. Around it they sat huddled and chattering, not seeming to notice the brooding girl with them.
"Have I undergone some sort of advanced australopithecine evolution?"
Semacoar and the older blonde in blue had silently tended to their swords at the hour of dusk; the girls had begun pratting over their weapons – the brunette speaking up for the first time since they made acquaintance with April, her voice a low soft tone; and Saka – with a dejected look on his face – had sat quietly on a rock, expressionlessly gazing at April, the fire's reflection dancing in his eyes. The wolf in him was lurking behind those gem-like peepers. He had been scolded by the blonde paladin for his brash behavior and was as of then brooding.
So, April sat clear of him… in fact, she sat clear of all of them, but especially Saka.
They were all good-looking but carried a whiff of death.
"Homo sapien sapien elf?"
"Come sit closer to the fire, little elf." Paladin in blue graciously offered her a little later when the night began getting a tad chilly. "The fire is warm and good for you. Whatever's making you distant, it's not there anymore. Come sit with us. Or better, sit next to me."
He gently gave the blue cushion he sat on a pat, urging her over with a soft smile.
The girl refused to budge and just threw her hood on, clutching onto her two apparently touch-sensitive tails. Nothing good could come out of sitting with them after what they put her through. She almost became a monster's dinner.
Reading and understanding her hostility, the paladin sighed.
"I was hoping I could apologize for everything and make amends with you, child. It may seem that we misjudged you at first."
April turned her face away and the blonde continued.
"I'm sorry for using you as bait… My name is Safatore. This is my younger brother Semacoar," he gestured to the blonde in green and black stuffing his face with cashews.
"This is my friend, Akka,"
The brunette smiled faintly.
Safatore extended a hand to the redhead.
"Her name is Eon, and you already know Saka, the youngest of our squad and my youngest brother… What do they call you?"
Everyone apart from Saka who had already been staring at her, stared. A biting silence followed. Safatore sighed in yield and turned away with a disappointed look. But when no one was anticipating, the girl spoke.
"April. April Commerce. That's what they call me."
A wide, glad, and dimpled smile smeared Safatore's orange face.
"Nice to meet you, April. How old are you?"
"I'm not ready to shake your hands yet. If I remember correctly, I was tied to a tree against my will and I almost died. The pleasure is all yours." April hissed.
Safatore chuckled with a grin and nodded, clearly pleased with her open honesty.
"You sure hold a grudge." He replied.
April stared at him dubiously, unsure whether to spit insults at him or to jump him. He seemed different from the earlier, cold and authoritative side he had portrayed. But what he and his squad did was absolutely inexcusable and wrong!
"It's hardly a grudge if I want to strangle you in return."
Safatore's affable smile turned into a cheeky smirk.
"Would you like something to eat?"
"Is it poisoned to cause my premature death?"
The elf grimaced.
"Certainly not. Would I do something like that?"
"You used me as lycan bait."
"Touché."
April watched his face for a moment. He was smiling the same smile she had seen in those "Glimpse" visions when she first ran into his group that morning.
…It wouldn't hurt to eat something now. She was starving.
"Fine. I consent. If I die we all die."
She came closer to the fire, wedging closer to him, and watched as he, chuckling, took out a deep bottom bowl from… well, it was blue and almost as big as her head. She did not even dare ask why it was so colossal. Inside it was… mush.
She eyed it suspiciously and looked up at him.
He saw the look in her eye.
"It's pudding." He explained.
"Pudding? It's bubbling. Ah! I think it looked at me."
The blonde glanced at his companions and back at April. He thought for a second and brought the spoon of mush to his mouth and ate.
"Mh?" He extended the bowl to her.
"Anyone can put poisoned food in their mouth for show."
She gave him a swallow-it look which he easily accomplished and put the bowl in her lap. Not waiting for her to respond, he stuffed the spoon of mush in her mouth and watched as her outraged look turned into a delighted and awed, enjoying, melting look. She suddenly yanked the spoon from him and started wolfing down the pudding mush.
"I'm not going to murder you with pudding. My sword is best~." He said matter-of-factly. "Where did you come from?" Safatore asked the now elf girl. "And where were you going?"
April paused for a second before she took a spoonful and said through a mouthful:
"The San Adelle Orphanage and to wherever the road leads."
Which in that case could be a monster's stomach.
"You're an orphan?" An empathizing tone was audible in the brown-haired Akka's voice.
But April imperviously answered:
"I guess."
"Were you abused?" Eon asked too.
"Not particularly."
Not at all.
"Then why did you run away?"
Her question felt like a smack in the face. She was about to answer with the truth that she was kidnapped by a vortex but then chose to silence herself with the spoon, for at exactly that moment, a memory of Hiroko's face flitted in her mind. She mumbled:
"Reasons."
They were silent for a moment, grilling in the awkward ambiance until Semacoar chirped:
"Well, fear not because you're in our protection now, little monkey."
"Monkey?" April asked with a deep and scornful voice, squinting at him.
There was an abrupt chorus of laughter among the elves and April voluntarily joined them. They were not that bad. If she wasn't so tired from all the running and screaming, she would have scorned him for such a tease. Good thing he meant well. But when she turned her gaze to the ponytailed Saka, his grim, reproachful, and disapproving scowl wiped her smile clean off.
"What's your deal, teen wolf?"
Staring at him from the bowl, she saw his eyes glint and an image of him flashed in her eyes. Feeling his gaze penetrating her mind, she looked away.
"Heuh! Gross!"
Everyone gradually fell silent and all there could be heard was the subtle sounds of crackling fire. April was gazing at the flames, aware that everyone was staring at her. She gave the bowl back to Safatore and cupped her knees.
"Are you a hybrid?"
The question made April raise her eyes and set them on the paladin sitting skin-touch next to her.
"Huh? What?"
Safatore caressed one of April's tails to refer to his question but a sudden shiver ran up her spine. She yanked the tail away in a panic, worried that her expression might have made it to her face.
"Are they sensitive?"
April glanced around with wide eyes and saw everyone still staring at her. This was so awkward. The attention. That sudden touch felt like electricity to one of those tails.
She had to say something before they made conclusions of their own. She decided to go with honesty:
"Yes, they're super sensitive and touching them is weird. Don't do that."
Safatore retracted his hand.
"Oh. Pardon me. I couldn't help it. They look like serpents. It's fascinating."
"Yeah, they look like snakes, alright." April bitterly thought.
They were the same things she saw that scared her to the point of exposing herself to the elves. If it were not for her mistaking them as serpents, she would have long figured out the people she was spying on were not… larpers!
"Geez, how dumb am I?"
"Do they do anything?" Eon, the redhead, asked, twirling her wand in her fingers.
How would April know? They were a new feature, right next to the elf ears she had. She simply answered:
"They're just tails."
"Oh." Eon said flatly, feeling a little foolish as to why she expected anything else.
April began receiving more and more questions from the group. They were getting more and more curious the more she spoke. Her vocabulary, her clothes, her mannerisms and her…
"What is that bulge in your belly?"
"Bulge in my belly?" Feeling a bit embarrassed by Semacoar's sudden question, April felt an involuntary urge to cover her abdomen. But she felt a hard edge. She peeked into her onesie and saw a book. "Oh. My journal…"
"Ooh! Diary! Read it to us!" Semacoar excitedly chimed, grinning.
April felt her cheeks get hot.
"Oh no! It's not a diary!"
She took it out and ripped out a bunch of pages and tossed them in the fire where they turned black, burned up and faded into ash.
"Phew!"
"Mm," Semacoar crossed his arms wrapped in bandages. "It was definitely a diary." He noticed how April coughed with her eyes lowered. "But hey, would you like to know something interesting?"
April glanced at the young man sitting across the fire. His grin was broad and carefree.
"Ask Sakature to tell you about his arm."
April had raised an eyebrow when the other elves froze and the atmosphere darkened. She turned her gaze to the source and saw the whitehead, whom she had noticed had an abnormal-looking left arm, raising his fiery gaze up to face the blonde swordsman.
"Semacoar, choose your words carefully." Safatore muttered.
Everyone inched away from Semacoar. Why did that feel like a bad sign?
"Do you wanna know why his arm is like that?" Semacoar went on despite the warnings. "Sakature, tell her how you lost your whole arm."
"Don't call me that."
April felt a chill run up her spine as she heard Saka's low and threatening voice come out through gritted teeth. She instinctively pressed her back against Safatore whose cheeks slightly turned pink.
"Come on! Don't be like that, little brother. Just tell her about your arm!" Semacoar kept teasing.
The man in black shot to his feet, a dangerous atmosphere emanating from him. April felt the urge to run and pressed herself further into Safatore who coughed.
"Saka, bushes!" Safatore ordered with a slightly strained voice, his finger pointing into the dark depths of the forest.
April watched the white haired young man growl, baring his fangs, both his fists clenched. He looked like he didn't want to leave, like he wanted to tear his second oldest brother to shreds but when Safatore cleared his throat, he walked off and vanished into the dark depths of the forest, his intimidating aura following him.
April gulped. She had no idea why she was terrified by the sight of him. That look on his face screamed death and misery.
"Why was he like that?"
Safatore sighed in irritation.
"He lost his arm when he was ten. It's a sensitive topic. Semacoar should know better."
The other elves glanced at Semacoar with refuting looks. The young man shrugged like it was not a big deal. April asked:
"What happened?"
Safatore coughed lightly.
"Um, he was young. Let's just say he made a mistake and he's living with the guilt."
"And you're constantly teasing him for it?" April felt a little irritated with Semacoar's behavior.
"He's killed me for it." He scoffed.
"What?"
"Long story." Safatore raised his hand to stop the conversation. "He needs time to cool off."
April bit on her lower lip. Someone like that sounded dangerous. He was probably not the best person to grow up with; an explosive tempter, the ability to turn into a wolf and such intoxicating beauty. He had all the qualities of a bad boy.
"I should step aside for a bit. This fire will give me blisters."
Safatore nodded and April stood up and walked to the edge of the fire's light. She sighed and looked up at the moons.
"Why does everyone get to be gorgeous while I get tails?" She thought, holding her chin. She then blinked several times. "Oh?" What she suddenly thought was in her imagination was in fact something in the sky, the face of the ember moon behind it. Was… something falling?
She watched it with growing curiosity as it grew larger every second. Was it coming to them? What was that? Was it…
"A tree?!"
Everyone had heard the words before the shadow covered her.
The tree fell directly where she was standing. Everyone's eyes were wide with shock. The sudden uprooted tree had just…
Saka stepped into the light, sighing. "You bastard, you better be dead…" his words cut off when he saw the other elves' pale faces stained purple by a liquid substance. He turned his face aside and his eyes slightly went wide.
"Saka…"
"I meant to hit Semacoar."