𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 ~ {𝐏. 𝐌𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫} ~ 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐎𝐧𝐞

Ch. 20: Powers and Stalkers

*** Third Person Pov ***

Lila awoke with a yawn and a stretch, smiling to herself as she slid off her bed that was somewhat too high for her. As she did a look around her room, noticing the sun rising just out the window and behind the trees on her homes plot. She smiled, knowing exactly what she was going to do this morning. Wake her aunt, Y/n.

Lila pattered out of her room, down the stairs and to the guest room on the bottom floor where Y/n was supposed to be sleeping. As Lila walked through the already opened door, she realizes the empty bed. Being a kid with an imagination, Lila thought her aunt was playing a hiding game, so instinctively, she tiptoed over to the bed, got on her hands and on her knees, lifting the skirt of the bed, pretending to roar, trying to scare her aunt. She wasn't there.

Lila stood up, thinking to herself for a second, trying to think of any other place in the room her aunt could hide? Lila walked over to the laundry basket in the corner of the room, next to a bookshelf. As she lifted the woven lid, she made the same roaring sound she did before, but her face instantly fell flat. Her aunt wasn't there either. Tears began to well in the child's eyes as she thought her aunt had left her. With faint sniffles, she trudged out of the guest room and into the living room. This is when Lila suddenly knew where her aunt must be.

In a trance-like state, Lila walked over to her front door with a blank expression, leaving the door wide open as she walked out, heading towards the forest, where Y/n lay passed out on the grass, shadows of swirls all around her from the night before.

As Lila walked through the trees, starting to come into the circle clearing, the sun shone over her, showing that her eyes were glossed over with a light shade of f/c. When Lila steps barefoot into the circle of trees, she heads straight towards her aunt, no emotion and no sign that she was coming out of the trance any time soon.

As the little girl got close to her aunt, she watched as she shifted on the smooth, green grass, but that didn't stop Lila from shaking Y/n awake. Not roughly or aggressively, gently.

"Lila? What are you doing here?" Y/n opened her eyes, flinching as she noticed her niece. Y/n raised an eyebrow as she noticed Lila's behaviour. A blank expression as the two stared at each other. Y/n could see the slight shine of the f/c coming off of Lila's deep brown eyes. Lila grabbed Y/n's hand, pulling her up to the best of her abilities, walking with her out of the circle.

Everything about this situation sent red flags to Y/n, causing her to worry about her niece as the began clearing out of the forest and making it halfway to the house. This is when Lila snapped out of her trance state,

"W- what are we doing outside?" Lila asked, sounding either concerned, or scared. Y/n didn't know how to respond, she didn't even know what they were doing outside. Of course, she knew that she spent the night outside, admiring the swirly yellow lights she had made, but, that didn't help her case of finding out why Lila was outside, and what was that f/c shine to her eyes? Nothing that was happening made sense.

"I'm not too sure, sweets," Y/n smiled at the little girl, crouching, trying not to alarm her in any way. Lila smiled back, wrapping her arms around Y/n's neck as she started to stand.

*** Y/n's Pov ***

I walk up to the house, Lila in my arms, racking my mind as to why, and how she found me in the forest in the first place.

6ft. That's all that's between me and the house. Lila shifts in my arm and I jump, adjusting her on my hip. Clint bursts through the front door, he definitely noticed us from the window. Running full sprint towards us, Barton has a smile on his face,

"Thank god," he traps both me and Lila, crushing us in a bear hug.

"Lila!" looking past Clint's head, I can see Laura running out of the house with Nathaniel in her arms, securely.