Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 78: My Nephew's Keeper

Chapter Seventy-Eight: My Nephew's Keeper

Xaphile was having extremely bad luck.

After only five minutes of walking, he'd gotten his tail caught on a fallen tree branch, bent one of his new wings the wrong way trying to get it out, and had actually fallen on his ass. Only to land hard on a particularly sharp rock.

"Fuck my life," he muttered, grumbling and rubbing his smarting rear as he trudged through the forest looking for signs of life. "Why can't anything ever be easy?"

That was a rhetorical question since he knew why, but still.

Xaphile sighed, rubbing his paint-smeared face in dismay, but just as he was about to steel his resolve and really start looking for other people, he heard a rustling noise behind him.

When he turned around, he found himself looking at Ella.

She was standing a good ten feet away, completely dressed with her hair soaking wet, but she said nothing.

"Are you all right?" he called, blinking when he garnered no response. "I thought you were heading off to take a bath."

No response.

Ella slowly began to back away, but Xaphile frowned when she lifted her trembling arm and jerkily beckoned for him to follow and headed back into the woods. Figuring something was up, he trotted after her, long ears flicking higher in curiosity.

She moved quickly and steadily, but whenever he tried to jog up, she walked faster to keep herself a good distance ahead him.

The odd behavior bugged him a little.

"Where are we headed?" he called. "Is something up?"

Once again, she didn't respond.

Xaphile followed her through the forest, feeling increasingly disturbed, but just as he was about to stop following Ella stopped in the middle of a clearing and slowly turned around, facing him.

As he drew closer, he noticed that her irises were strangely lifeless-looking and a flash of worry involuntarily swept through him.

"Hey," he muttered, stopping in front of her, "what's wrong? Seriously, are you all right?"

She didn't move. Didn't speak. Didn't even twitch.

Unease swept through him and he gently gripped her shoulders, shaking her a bit, but while her head lolled back and forth, there was no change in her expression.

Almost... like a doll.

"Ella, answer me!" he snapped, tightening his grip. "Are you all right?"

"...un..."

He blinked at the odd sound she made, narrowing his eyes at her face.

Her expression was still slack, but for some reason, her lips were trembling a little.

Something strange was going on.

"What?" he whispered, looking at the strange haze in her eyes. "Ella... what's wrong?"

"R... u... n..."

The slowly whispered syllables made his blood turn to ice, and a strange prickle ran down his spine when an unusually cold wind swept through the clearing.

"So, you really came," a deep voice purred, making him jump. "I'm surprised."

When he turned around, the world went silent in his ears.