I walked home alone, my feet dragging and my body aching again. Suddenly, I had a better idea of who Fiyero was. I had seen his pain, and his past; I had also seen how he would give anything to be different. He was right to want to. Being cursed and condemned to a strange, painful existence would sound pretty unappealing to anyone.

I finally turned on my street when the wind picked up, reminding me had I left Dawnie’s damned jacket at Fiyero’s place. Something floral was floating around in the air, reminding me of Clara. The darkness seemed to be smothering me suddenly. I looked around the dead street, my skin crawling on my arms. No one was moving. All the lights were out. It was like the whole town had decided the weather was too bad to stay awake.

Though, I’m not quite sure why I started running, I felt the need to. I needed to get home. I needed to be able to be safe. My eyes were dropping. I felt relaxed and on edge at the same time with my feet moving faster and faster across the pavement all the while. The street seemed to be tilting sideways, but I kept running. I could hardly breathe, and my heart longed to slow down and sink into a deep pattern of contempt.

I kept moving. I reached the house, barely able to move my arm from my side and open the door. I walked in, almost collapsing. The urge to sleep was even stronger now. I could see the darkness; my eyes had closed. I could feel the pull of another world somewhere in my head, and yet, I could also only think about one person: Clara.

My eyes snapped open, and finally, I felt my entire body awaken. I had fallen in a heap on the carpet of the front hallway, my legs still feeling slightly like rubber. I pushed myself up, holding onto the banister for support, and stayed there for two seconds longer than necessary. I was running up the stairs, the hairs on the back of my neck on edge. Something wasn’t right here, and I had noticed it even in my duller state.

My feet pounded on the cracking wood, but I had a hunch no one would be awake to hear it. Hell, I almost wasn’t awake enough to make it. I kept running, finally off the top stair, and swung myself around a wall to get to Clara’s room.

When I reached it, a piece of my heart fell to the floor.

The bed was empty, and the sheets were messed up, like she had been having a nightmare. I had a feeling the nightmare wasn’t just in her head, though. The blinds shook, breaking my concentration. I moved over to them, moving them out of the way. The window was open. I looked up in time to see a foot barely five inches from my face.

I reached out and grabbed it, yanking the person or thing down. With a small, child-like cry, the kidnapper turned to look at me with big, purple eyes. I tugged again, making the person’s hand clutch the edge of the house tighter.

“Where’s Clara?” I growled. The thing whimpered before kicking me in the face, on my nose specifically. I let it go to check for blood, thankful when there wasn’t- it would suck to get a broken nose right about now-, pulling myself outside of the window and balancing on the ledge. I gripped an out-facing brick and pulled myself up, following the quick character up the side of the house.

My feet had nowhere to base themselves. With a rush of adrenaline, I managed to yank myself up enough to grab the side of the roof and pull. I barely made it up, reminding me how weak I was. I knew I had to have SOME muscle mass in my arms somewhere!

My arms burning and my legs feeling loose, I finally got up.

A group of people were looking around in a circle, each dressed in black from head to toe. I almost wanted to laugh. How unoriginal. I finally got to my feet and walked over slowly, just in case they were ninjas, or something, and could drop off the edge of a building at a moment’s notice. They surrounded a small, moving figure that could only be Clara. The blonde ringlets and the pale, glowing skin in the moonlight gave it away.

Something inside me seized as I realized she wasn’t moving and her eyes were closed. No. She had to be asleep. Dawnie said they wouldn’t hurt her. I moved closer.

They were speaking in mumbles in a language I had never heard before. One of them looked agitated. I quickly picked out the one whose foot I had pulled as the one who was talking. I could even hear my name a few times. I finally decided I was through with this and kicked one of the people on the back of their knees.

They all looked at me and then at each other before a few, including the small one who had been spreading the word about me, grab Clara and moved towards the edge of the house. I ran after them only to have another two grab my arms and yank me back. I fought them, shaking and trying to wiggle free. I stomped on one’s toe, making it drop my arm and slapped the other, hard, in the face.

I didn’t dare look at how they were progressing before I started running after Clara. The small team that had her was speaking in that language again, only louder this time. They looked back once before the small one smiled. I could feel my anger rising and promised myself that, by the time I was through with that squirt, the pain in my nose would be doubled over on this kid.

But, as I reached them, giant beams of light extended behind them. I darted to not be hit, landing on my leg at a strange angle. I ignored the swelling pain and watched the conundrum before me. The light seemed to be like a breeze off the ocean, calm and curling in circles. The colors were dark, though it was light. I couldn’t look away, my mind completely zapped of all common sense.

When the other parts of the light started forming, I realized that these were the faerie’s wings.

The light spread like butter over warm toast, reaching the faerie’s sides and curving to fit with their forms. It looked like a gas, yet when they started moving, the wind was pushed against my face. They were actual wings. They were actual faeries.

And they had Clara.

Slowly, I got to my feet and limped over towards them at a faster and faster rate. The two from before were starting to move again behind me; I could hear their lazy steps. They knew I would react that way. They knew I would be frozen in awe. That’s the only reason I could think of that they wouldn’t be hauling butt to get to me now.

I picked up speed to a practically flawless run, despite my leg, and jumped off the edge of the roof. I grabbed onto one of the faerie’s backs, not thinking about the consequences. “Let her go!” I cried, but I was smacked in the face again, directly on my nose. Blood started pouring, telling me that it was finally broken. I didn’t give up.

“Please.” I shook the faerie’s shoulders, but stopped when I realized they might actually drop Clara. The one with purple eyes looked at me over its shoulder and gazed into my eyes. I didn’t realize what it was doing until my eyes drooped and my body went slack. “No, please stop,” I tried once more, before all my pleas became slurred and I was falling through thin air.

Didn't read over it. I'm sorry for my mistakes. :3
Plan on going to the movies with my friends. It should be fun.
Rhododendron-Beware/Danger