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“My name,” he says. “Rock.”
“Oh,” I blush softly. “I’m… Elena.”
“Shining light,” he says. I frown again, but this time he just continues. “Your name. It is derived from Helene, which means bright, shining light or torch.”
“Oh…” This time I can’t resist smiling. “No one ever told me that. It might be why I love taking photographs. You know, the light, the camera.”
I have no idea why I’m babbling like this. One moment, I’m upset, and the next, obviously not. What on earth is wrong with me?
“Could be,” Cal joins in.
Rock turns to him and nods. It’s obviously some hidden signal I’m not privy to. Then, Rock repeats his warning. “Don’t stay here, Elena. It’s not safe.”
I lock eyes with him in determination. “I’ll be fine… Rock.”
He doesn’t say anything to that. Instead, they both turn around, leaving me alone with the cacophonous beating of my own heart, and the knowledge that I definitely could have died minutes ago.
I exhale deeply once alone, shaking my head. What else have these woods got in store for me?
Chapter Two
Rock
“Are we really going to let her stay there?” I hear Cal ask, once we are at a safe distance from the girl.
I don’t reply anything at first. She’s a human. As such, she shouldn’t be our concern. I told her to go back to Pinehaven. In other words, I told her to go back to her own kind, for her own safety. It’s her own fault for being too stubborn for her own good.
“Rock?” Cal’s voice brings me back to the present moment, as we’re walking through the woods. For us, it is not a place of danger. On the contrary, these woods have always been our home. It is a place we have grown our roots in, the place that has birthed us, and seen us die for generations. Now, a new danger looms on the horizon, threatening to destroy the only life we knew, threatening to make us slaves, instead of what we’ve always been, and that is the masters of our own fate.
“You’re not here, are you?” Cal speaks to me softly, as I turn to him. “You’re thinking about them, aren’t you?”
I nod. He’s always been able to read me like an open book. Sometimes, it is a good thing. Most of the time. But other times, you want to be able to keep at least some of your private thoughts private.
“They’re still too far away,” I assure him. “The girl is safe.”
“Elena,” he corrects me, but I am still lost in my own thoughts.
“What?” I ask, frowning, not sure what he said.
“Her name,” he explains, as he bends down to walk underneath a particularly low branch, flowering in thorns. As he does so, he urges me to do the same. I silently bend down, thenemerge unscathed on the other side, where our path continues. “It is Elena,” he adds, as we’re once again walking side by side.
I turn to him with that same look of incomprehension. “Her name is irrelevant.”
“Is that right?” Cal is seemingly unable to resist chuckling and the woods echoes with the sound of his voice. It will slowly start to get dark in a while, but the woods are still a beautiful place. As darkness enshrouds them, they become a completely different place. To some, even unrecognizable.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“You showed yourself to her,” he pointed out. “You didn’t want to allow me to have some fun.”
Cal’s idea of fun was frightening unsuspecting humans in his bear form and making them run or cower in fear. It was funny only to him, but that never stopped him.
“Think about it, Cal,” I inhale deeply, as we’re approaching the cave, which is actually a secret passageway towards our small village, where we have been hiding for ages from the humans. Actually, it could be said that we’ve been right under their noses the whole time, but humans rarely know where to look. “She’s not from Pinehaven, but from God knows where. You could have frightened her to death.”
“Or away,” Cal tells me.
“Hm,” I ponder. “I haven’t considered that option.”
“I don’t know,” he shrugs as we instinctively linger at the entrance of the cave. “I could have frightened her away, but you had to interfere. Maybe, you don’t really want her gone.”
