The Invisible Planet

Part 47: Shadows

Angeline stirred with an irritable groan as Aster slowly pulled his arm out from under her.

"Sorry," he whispered, kissing the side of her face. "Go back to sleep."

She had been staying with him since he offered, steadily losing track of time as the days blended together. It had been two weeks, maybe three — she wasn't quite sure.

She waited until he left before dragging herself out of bed and heading to the outhouse to relieve herself, covering her face with a scarf before she ventured inside. The smell was wholly intolerable, and the flowers she and the others had planted around the sides had yet to bloom.

She returned to Aster's house and gathered their laundry, a bar of soap, and their washboard into a large metal bucket.

The delicious scent of bread baking floated down the path from the home of Hazel — a Midelianite woman in her 30s, originally from Glacia. Since coming to Serenia, she had realized her love of baking and dedicated her time to providing bread and other baked goods to the village in exchange for various items or favors.

Angeline made a mental note to pick some up on her way home. She painstakingly carried the laundry bucket through the forest to the cove, fighting through the cramps in her abdomen. Her cycles had been light and irregular since her injury, often showing up late or without warning — sometimes even without blood.

As she neared the cove, it occurred to her that she was risking running into Shay. She hadn't seen him since he'd been with Flora. But the fact that he was still making himself scarce gave her confidence that she wouldn't see him at the cove.

Even if she did, she was still angry enough with him to tell him off a second time. She reached the cove and emptied the bucket, filling it with fresh water from the pool. Then she took the washboard and soap and began to scrub the clothes one at a time.

It was more effort to carry the laundry so far, but the creek's water felt cleaner than what was in the well, and she was better able to stay cool and take care of washing herself while the clothes dried. She spread them out on the rocks in the sunlight before she showered in the waterfall, and then she dressed herself in a white shirt and a light, flowing skirt to ward off the heat.

The clothes were hardly damp by the time she had folded the last of them and packed them back in the empty bucket. She turned to leave and froze as she locked eyes with Shay, standing just inside the entrance with his hood drawn.

She glared at him as he walked toward the water, pausing to examine the flowers. With her jaw set, she strode for the exit.

"So, you're with Aster now?" he asked, an amused tone in his voice.

She stopped short as fury burned through her chest. "You have no right to comment on who I spend my time with after what you did," she snapped. "I thought I told you never to talk to me again."

"Did you?" he asked, seeming genuinely surprised. "Well, that's silly of you."

She scoffed in disbelief as she turned back to glare at him again. "Silly?" she repeated. There was something... off about the way he spoke, but she was too angry to focus on it.

"Quite," he said, approaching her. "I can feel your anger — you're not finished with me yet."

"Oh, yes, I am," she argued, beginning to turn away. He grabbed the bucket from her arms and set it on the ground. "What're you—" her breath caught in her throat as he took her wrists and pinned them above her head, pressing her body between his and the wall. He was close enough to brush his nose to hers as her stare fixed on his lips. Her heart seemed to briefly drop out of existence before slamming against her ribs.