Hidden Gem - Beasts of Beauty Series - Book 4

Chapter 3

I'm farther from home than I would like to be. I may not even be on our territory anymore. I feel so disconnected from my surroundings.

I just couldn't stop running. I don't know where I wanted to go but I know it's far away from anyone I remotely recognize.

I don't want to see anyone right now.

I don't know what to think or what to feel. I don't know what will await me when I get home. What does my family think right now? My elders are surely furious, but are my siblings worried?

And Newt. Is he looking for me? Would I even want him to find me? I don't think so.

I don't know what I would say to him. I can't get the heartbroken look on his face out of my head and that pain will only get worse if I see him again and have to actually tell him I cannot marry him.

A distant feeling nagging in my chest lets me know my suspicions are correct. I am surely not in my frollick anymore. When in my panicked running did I cross the border? How far off of our land am I?

And how long have I been stopped, resting by this tree?

My legs and lungs are burning from all of my running and I am beginning to wonder why I didn't just fly. Then again, as the pain is released from my body, it feels like some of my inner turmoil and tension is being released with it.

I feel so lost and disconnected, but for some reason, I also feel like this is exactly where I am supposed to be.

I just need to clear my head for a minute and then I will go back.

The wind rushes past me, causing some branches in some trees to rustle in the distance. Fear spreads over my whole being as I remember something I wish I hadn't forgotten.

Monsters lurk in the trees outside of our land.

I remember hearing stories of form-shifting monsters that would come onto our land and hunt our animals and our people. The elders in the community call them chimera - two-faced, evil demons. My parents told my siblings and I that long ago, our grandfather fearlessly confronted the chimera. No one knows what was said that day, but no one has spotted a monster since.

Will I be the first?

As if to answer my question, a low growl erupts from somewhere in the distance. Fear pricks my chest as I try to discern which direction it came from.

Instead of hearing more signs of a possible monster, I hear faint callings of my name. It sounds like my siblings and they sound worried sick.

"Mal!" I hear Opal shout, his voice hoarse and strained. "Malachite!"

I am about to scream out to him and reveal my location, but another growl stops me. I whip my head around and spot a giant brown creature blending in with the trees. My breath catches in my throat as I stare at the beast. It is massive and, honestly, beautiful. Something inside of me urges me to move closer, to try and see better, but the terrified beating of my heart stops me.

"Malachite!" My sister screams my name now. The beast's ears twitch and its head flinches to look to its right. That means my siblings must be that way. "Malachite! Where are you!"

While the creature is distracted, I swiftly grow a massive, leafy bush out of the ground and dive behind it, hiding within the foliage. I'm not sure what my objective is here, but I don't want that thing looking at me anymore. Its gaze is intense and it makes me feel weird.

I peer through the leaves to see the giant creature staring back in my direction. It slowly creeps forward, appearing to be trying to figure out where I've gone. After it takes a few more steps into the fading daylight, I realize that the creature looks to be a grossly oversized dog and appears much more dangerous. I gulp in fear.