Huntress

Chapter 56

Milo was my only visitor. At least, he was the only visitor I was aware of. Sometimes I would be able to recall the nurses and staff that attended to me and sometimes I would not. Or I would think I would know a person by their smile or their voice, but I was never really sure. Frankly, I doubted I would ever be able to confidently place anyone again. They all seemed like ghosts floating in and out of my awareness.

But Milo was a consistent in my life. Sometimes I remembered him right away, other times it came later or not at all. He would talk to me about his work or he would chatter on about whatever show he was watching. Occasionally, he just stared at me for a little while and started pacing. He would mutter about the absurdity of it all. One day, I was the best, then next, I was sleeping with the enemy. He told me he should have killed Ryder.

"Ryder." It was a croak out of my mouth, but it tasted like heaven on my tongue.

Milo blinked and rushed to my side. "Yes, yes! Ryder. Do you remember him, Georgia?"

Of course I did, the man with the silver eyes whose laughter could crack even the coldest hearts. But I couldn't tell Milo that. The one word that left my mouth had taken all the strength out of me.

Milo sighed, deflating a little after a moment of silence. I knew just how that felt. The high of the hope and the crash of reality right after.

"I don't understand, Georgia. I don't. you knew this could happen to you and you still took the risk. And it's not even just about you. God only knows what they could have done to Cassey if they had gotten their hands on her. I was so happy to see you alive, to know that you came out of the royals' lands. But I should have known you couldn't have done it alone. I should've have seen that car pull up and grabbed a knife. Then you could have gone back to hunting and you wouldn't be like this."

He changed the channel on the TV to a kid's show then flipped it back, entirely agitated. I knew that too. Wishing so badly that you could turn back time.

"I just don't understand. Why would you let this happen? Didn't you care about what would happen to the rest of us? Weren't you worried about yourself? They're werewolves for god's sake. What were you thinking? I know that Dawn and Armond weren't running things properly, but you could have just left like me. you didn't have to bring one of them into it."

I couldn't recall what had been on my mind at the time and even if I could have, I still wouldn't be able to tell him. I just stared ahead at the talking sea sponge until Milo told me he had to leave to get ready for work.

I faded away from the earth then.

A woman was staring into a mirror, sighing, pulling at her hair. There was no colour to describe her hair. It wasn't blonde with its yellow tones and it wasn't white either. It shimmered and shone like pure moonlight laced with delicate shadows. The sharp points of two ears poked out from the strands. And her long, slender fingers were a shade of purple, the kind that was revealed when just the tip of the sun was starting to rise in the morning.

"Oh!" she gasped, whirling around so suddenly she bumped into a small side table. The small marbles that had been resting on top scattered to the floor.

Freckle like spots were on her purple cheeks, but they weren't brown or reddish like a human's. They glowed like constellations in the sky. Above her prefect cheeks sat two entirely black eyes.

"You're here," she said, almost like she didn't believe the words.

"I suppose so." This was the first time anyone had been surprised to see me in a dream.

"Oh Georgia, what has happened?" she asked, turning her dark eyes towards the ceiling.

It was then that I realized that I had never seen this place before. Not in my dreams or otherwise. I would have known it. I was sure of it. because who could forget the feeling of shadows curling around their feet and the sight of a night sky so perfectly painted on the ceiling of what looked like an otherwise normal log cabin? And the shelf of black books, all leather bound and gorgeous. Except for one blue cover that was slashed with silver streaks.