Beasts and Maidens

by M.E. Timmons

  Chapter 3

  Selene went to see Tornado first thing in the morning. There was still dew clinging to the grass as she walked through the meadow, and it was almost dark in the clearing because the sun hadn’t quite gotten high enough in the sky to make it over the trees. She sat there, shivering, for almost twenty minutes before Tornado arrived. He sat on his usual log, absentmindedly brushing some hair out of his eyes with one clawed hand.

  “I found a neat spot by the stream,” he said, not bothering to say hello. “It’s a little cave. I think something might have lived in it once, but it’s been empty for a while. Want to check it out?”

  “Torn, I went to see Mayor Thornbrook yesterday afternoon,” Selene told him. She wanted to break the news as soon as possible so that it wouldn’t be eating away at her conscience. “Love potion has been tried before, and it didn’t work.”

  Tornado’s face fell, and his tail stopped moving. “So what do we do now?”

  “I don’t know. I’m running out of ideas.” Selene started feeling that uncomfortable lump in her throat that meant she wanted to cry, but she fought the feeling angrily.

  “Hey now, it’s okay,” Tornado said. He got up from his log and sat next to Selene on her rock, putting an arm around her shoulders.

  Selene realized that she had lost the war on her tears, and they were falling quietly down her cheeks. She buried her face in her hands and leaned into her friend, comforted by his warmth. She thought about how silly it was that he was comforting her when it should have been the other way around. Her failure to help affected him more than it did her.

  “I just... I just really wanted to be able to make a difference, you know? I wanted you to be free. I wanted all of you to be free. You shouldn’t be stuck in the forest, and...” Selene trailed off, unable to stem the flow of her tears.

  “You sound like you’ve given up,” Tornado observed, carefully controlling his anger. It wasn’t Selene he was mad at. He was mad at Varla for creating the curse, and he was mad at Mayor Thornwood, since he knew she had something to do with Selene’s newfound hopelessness.

  Selene looked up at Tornado and wiped her tears away. “I’d never give up on you, Torn. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I feel lost.”

  “I have an idea,” Tornado said, brightening suddenly. His tail started moving again. “You might not like it, but I think it’s a good idea.”

  “Oh?”

  “Go further into the forest with me. I’ll take you to where we live, and you can meet the others. I’m sure they’d be happy to see a normal human being in person, instead of just looking at pictures. You can even meet your brothers. They all live together near the western edge of the forest. I don’t know them very well, but they’d probably be happy to meet one of their sisters.”

  Selene sighed wistfully. “That sounds nice, but what would it accomplish? If anything it would likely just get me in trouble. Actually, it would probably get everyone else in trouble. What if the authorities thought I was kidnapped or something?”

  Tornado scrunched up his face. “I’m not really sure what it would accomplish, but I still think it’s a good idea. If you really want to do it, then why not?”

  “You know I can give you dozens of reasons why I shouldn’t.”

  “And you know I can give you more reasons why you should,” Tornado countered.

  Selene didn’t need much convincing. She desperately wanted to meet her brothers, and she wanted to see the other beasts as well. More than anything she wanted to give them hope, but she knew that would be a dangerous thing to do, especially when she had nothing to offer but her dedication. At least she could show them that at least one female was willing to stand by their side, no matter what they looked like.

  She didn’t voice her acceptance to the plan out loud, but Tornado could read it in her face by the way it slowly lit up while she thought about it. He grinned suddenly, and the expression took up most of his face. “Want to go now?” he asked.

  Selene thought about it and then shook her head. “As much as I’d love to, it isn’t the best time. I think we should wait until the ceremony is over. There will be less risk of me getting caught by then.”

  “The day after it ends, then?”

  “Yes.”

  Tornado was as excited as Selene was, but he hid it better. He couldn’t wait to share the rest of his world with her, and he was happy to do something that would help Selene after all she’d tried to do for him. He owed her, and introducing her to her brothers seemed like a good way to make her happy.

  Tornado actually felt guilty most of the time when he was with Selene. She was always trying to find ways to break the curse, and sometimes he felt like he encouraged her too much. He didn’t mean to put pressure on his best friend, no matter how much he wanted to be free. She had always accepted him as he was, even on the day they met three years before.

  “So, do you want to check out that cave now?” Tornado asked.

  “Well, if you insist,” Selene said, grinning.

  “I do. Just follow me, my lady,” Tornado said, bowing and holding out his hand.

  Selene giggled and shoved his hand away, then starting running further into the forest. Tornado, who was laughing, had to run to catch up to her.

  “You’re going the wrong way!” he teased, though Selene already knew the way to the stream and was going the right way.

  The stream was little more than a trickle of water falling over a few rocks and pooling in areas. Unlike the river, it didn’t come from the mountains. The water came up from an underground spring, though Tornado had yet to find its origin and Selene never went far enough into the forest to look for it.

  On the way to the cave the two chatted playfully. Tornado told stories about the beasts and how they had just taken in another baby from Blue Falls, the third village on the border of the forest. Tornado thought the baby was a particularly interesting shade of orange. Selene told him about helping Jill with her garden, and then she told him about Amber, even though Tornado always said that Amber sounded like a silly person whenever she talked about her. Selene secretly thought he was just jealous.

  Tornado was just telling Selene how close they were when they both stopped dead in their tracks. There had been a distinct snapping sound of someone stepping on a dry twig, and that sound was followed by a rustle of leaves and then someone humming. Tornado relaxed.

  “It’s just Edgar,” he whispered. “He’s a daydreamer. Just stay low and he won’t see us.”

  Edgar soon came into view, and he certainly did seem to be off in his own world. He hardly paid attention to where he was going, and he even walked into a tree as he got closer. He was lucky he had great curling horns on either side of his head with which to protect himself. They were as blue as the rest of his body.

  Selene and Tornado were crouched behind a bush, though it offered little cover. As they were watching Edgar stumble about, they didn’t notice the rabbit that hopped out in front of them, but Edgar did. He stopped walking and looked at the rabbit, and then he looked up, right at Selene.

  She sucked in a breath and stared back at Edgar, unable to move. They started at each other for almost a full minute, and then Edgar’s eyes shifted to Tornado. He shrugged and then started walking again as if he hadn’t just seen someone who wasn’t allowed to be there. His humming resumed as he walked past them, not bothering to look back.

  Selene stayed in her crouched position until Tornado gave her a little shove that almost knocked her off balance. She stood up slowly.

  “See? That wasn’t so bad,” Tornado said, shrugging like it was no big deal, even though he knew that it sort of was.

  “He saw me,” Selene whispered, still shocked. It was the first time any beast other than Tornado had seen her in the forest.

  “Edgar keeps to himself since he’s one of the older beasts. I don’t think he’ll say anything. Most of us beasts don
’t care much about the rules anyway,” Tornado said honestly. “We only follow them if it’ll harm us if we don’t. For example, we don’t leave the woods because we know it’s a death sentence. You being here doesn’t actually do much harm, especially since you aren’t likely to be caught.”

  “Um, I just was caught, remember?”

  “Not by anyone who cares,” Tornado assured her.

  “Do you mind if we skip out on the cave today? I’m thinking it’s probably safest for the both of us if I just go home for now.”

  “I don’t think it’ll disappear any time soon,” Tornado said, though he was disappointed and worried about his friend. “Come back to see me?”

  Selene made an effort to smile, even though her insides felt like they were turning in jagged circles. “You know I will,” she said, and she headed out of the forest, leaving Tornado behind.