Tree of Life Book III

Part III - Chapter 01

TREE OF LIFE BOOK III – PART III

CHAPTER 01

Nicole woke up. She opened her eyes. She blinked.

With a grunt, she forced herself to sit up and that's when it hit her because wow! What a headache!

She scrunched her eyes shut. She tucked her head down. After rubbing away at her temples for a minute, she recovered somewhat and felt less nauseous. She lifted her face. She had a glance around.

She was inside a cave. She was covered over with a blanket to keep her warm and that was good, because underneath, she found she had been stripped down to her underwear and now that she was thinking about it, waves of cold began invading her body through every pore and she shivered.

Beside her was a fire. She snuggled up to it and held her hands out.

On the other side of the fire, now drying and steaming away in the heat, were her clothes, hung out on a set of branches that had been stabbed into the earth to form a framework. Her other belongings were laid out on the ground by the foot of the branches—her scrunchie, her cell phone, other odds and ends.

Alongside these other things were a tunic and a pair of trousers and boots, folded up neatly and arranged, organized. A set of armour with pieces for her torso and arms were there too. And a cape. With a hood. Everything she would need, it appeared, if she was preparing to go back to the Nephilim village but in disguise.

The sound of footsteps.

She spun around.

It was Ella.

Slipping in through the mouth of the cave, the princess of the night approached, picking her way up to the fireside Nicole and smiled down at her. "You're awake."

Nicole frowned at the woman.

"Is it surprising you're so hard to kill?" Sliding her pack off her shoulder, Ella set it down and removed a few items from it. She held them forth. "You hungry?"

Dried fish. Bread.

Nicole stared up into the other's face for a second. But only for a second.

The food was snatched up in a blur. Nicole shoved it into her mouth, barely chewing any of it before she wolfed it all down.

"Breathe a little." Ella chuckled. She handed her a skin of water. "When you feel up to it, we should get going."

After the water, Nicole wiped off her mouth with the back of her hand. She got up. She considered her old clothes.

Ella indicated the tunic and the armour, instead. "Best to look like one of us. You know?" She shrugged. "In case we run into someone."

Nicole complied. Leaving her old wardrobe on the branches, she began to slip on the tunic and the trousers, and then the boots and the armour as well.

Afterward, she bent to gather up her other things, her scrunchie, which she used to tie back her hair. She picked up her phone.

Surprisingly, it was still working. She swiped through it a little. Her messages were still intact. Even the one from Julian, Wendy’s favourite.

Nicole stood up straight when she was finished. She threw a glance over at Ella, who was huddled over by the fire and putting it out.

Ella caught the look on her face. "You have questions." She smiled, as she threw more dirt onto the dying embers. "Like why I saved you?"

Nicole crossed her arms over her chest.

"My mother and I…" Ella spoke over her shoulder as she worked. "…we have our differences. We don't agree on everything."