"Percy!" Mama cried out and Percy nearly burst into tears at the sound of her Mama's frantic voice. The cut on her forehead was stinging painfully and the bruises that littered her body ached all the way down to her bones.
Mama's shaking hands carefully touched just below the lash. "What happened?" she asked Papa. "Did she fall again?"
"No," said Papa, sounding stiff. "Pack a bag - only take what you can carry."
"Percival..." Mama said warily.
"The villagers know about her," Papa said and for the first time, Percy heard panic in her papa's voice. "I don't know how - I was inside the mercantile when it happened. They-they did this to her."
Mama sucked in a sharp breath. "That's-that's not possible. She's-she's too human. She's never once showed any sign of magic. Not once."
"Well, she must have today," Papa said. "It's only a matter of time before they come for her. And word is going to spread fast about a blind girl with magic... we can't stay here. We can board a ship... go to the continent. Anywhere but here."
"I-I-"
"We'll argue about it later, Demeter," Papa snapped and Percy whimpered into his chest. "But while we're on the road. We can't risk staying here too long."
Papa's hands smoothed over Percy's in gentle motions. Percy sniffled slightly. "I'm not a changeling, Papa. I'm your real baby. Me. No one switched me around, I promise."
Papa brushed a stray curl from Percy's face. "Sweet girl, i'm always gonna be your papa. No matter what, okay?"
Percy was too distraught to realize that all her papa really did was confirm that he still loved her and nothing about the magic that everyone seemed to believe she'd displayed. He set her off to the side and Percy wrapped her arms around herself in comfort, flinching at the sound of her papa's feet hitting the ground harshly.
But then... then she was hearing something else. More footsteps. A lot more. And angry voices that were not her mama or papas. She could smell smoke enter the air around her - faint but present nonetheless.
"Papa!" she cried out. "Papa, someone's coming!"
The front door slammed open and then her mama was at her side. "Percy? You hear someone?"
"A lot of people," Percy said with a sniffle. "And they're angry."
Mama let out a shaky breath. "What else?"
"I smell smoke..."
She could feel Mama at her side, twisting and turning her head around. "I don't see any smoke," Mama said. "I can't smell it either..."
YOU ARE READING
The Dark Flower (Azriel x OC)
FanfictionBorn blind and under the rule of a cruel dictator, Persephone has only known a life of both literal and figurative darkness. And she doesn't see a way out, at least, not until her father brings home a strange human female and her world changes in wa...
