Era of The Lost

Chapter Four: The Lost

"The fact that you went after them when they left, not even Amara is stupid enough to do that."

Amara frowns at Grace. "Uncalled for."

"Doesn't make it any less true," Thea comments, though she balks at Amara's indignant stare, "I still love you though."

"Whatever."

I look down at the book Bianca had left me after finishing the theoretical part of her explanation she had initially wanted to give me. It had been quite long, and Sebastian had fallen asleep halfway through it. I am almost thankful to Ronan for suggesting the other, less boring, option, despite how badly that had ended. Aven had been a much better teacher. Accessing his memories, as traumatizing as that had been, had given me an important clue.

Once Bianca had finished, she had given everyone permission to go. I suspected she had planned much more than a simple explanation, but she had let Ronan go. For some reason, she was determined to convince everyone she didn't give them any special privileges. Reed, Sebastian, Oscar and the twins had left. Only Grace, Amara, and Thea had stayed, though I suspected this was mostly Grace's doing. 

"Wilderness of the Damned," I read out loud, tracing the title with my hands. I had to read it in my head a few times before I felt comfortable to voice it, my reading skills were below average despite Veronica's adamant efforts to teach me. "That sounds...daunting."

The book is obviously hand written, there are ink splotches in some parts as well as some segments that have been scratched out and written over. I also consider that it might have more than one author as there are different letter styles and languages as I flip through it. It looks ancient, though I can't be sure how old it is.

"Yes, it is quite the name, isn't it?" Grace agrees, laying her own book on the table. 

Thea looks up from her phone. "It's a bold choice, considering where the name came from."

"Well some of us had to develop a sense of humor amongst all the witch hunting and burning at the stake," Amara contributes, still mindlessly doodling in her notebook. She has moved on from the hearts she had been drawing during Bianca's lecture and is now sketching some flowers.

"What's the name about?" I ask. Despite my disinterest in Bianca's premeditated lecture, any information about what we were was still appreciated.

"It's what the 'normals' call the forest.  Quite dramatic if you ask me, but that's them for you." Grace looks over the cover of the book and nods to herself. "Yeah, whoever started writing this book had quite the crude sense of humor. That name has a horrible history."

"So does everything involving our kind if we are being honest." Amara takes the book and opens it to a specific page almost as if in automatic. A sketch of a tree with an odd figure hanging from it takes up most of the page.

My stomach drops. "Is that?"

Amara nods. "They got really creative with their methods. And then they called us the savages."

"Bounty hunters," Thea comments, rolling her eyes as a spike of anxiety goes through me, "Always trying to send a message. We are merely the ink to their paper."

I take the book from her and quickly flip over to the next page, hoping they don't notice the anxiety in my movements. "They hardly use methods like this anymore."

Grace mistakes my nervousness for fear, and her eyebrows furrow in sympathy. "They are not as obvious anymore, but they are very much used. The messages weren't as promoted when we started sending messages back." She cringes, probably noticing the lack of comfort in her words. "There are protections around this house if it makes you feel better. No normal can come in, it's kind of like the forest."

I nod, acting as if I am interested in the book so that they look away from me. In this moment, Cassandra would be telling me it is the perfect instant to prod for more information. They were giving away so much in a simple conversation, even mentioning the fact that this house did indeed have some sort of protection, but all I could see was the figure, hanging from the tree, their arm attached to the rest of their body with a single flap of skin. Veronica's body flashes through my mind, head sunken in, face unchanged as a pool of blood formed around her body. Weren't we all beings capable of merciless destruction?

"I am gonna go get something," I mutter, standing up from the table in a hurry. I never claimed to be good, nor did I ever think myself to be right. There was no place for me in this controversy, just the one that got me what I needed. I was okay with that. But the thought of Cassandra using methods like that on Grace or any of the others sent me spinning. I wasn't good, but I still didn't paint myself to be cruel. 

"Do you need help?" Grace asks, rising from her chair.

"No, I-"I almost trip over my own feet and quickly correct my pace. "I know the way, I'll be right back."

Amara stares at me suspiciously, but Thea and Grace seem to be satisfied with my explanation. I don't ponder much on it and get out of the room in a hurry.

Grace was on to something when she offered to guide me, because I was completely lost. Still, it wasn't as if I had any destination in mind. My mind is in shambles. This was supposed to be easy, I wasn't supposed to weaken one day in. Cassandra wouldn't be surprised. So bloody sensitive, a bit of kindness god’s a long way with you, doesn't it?

I hear a startled yelp, followed by a menacing hiss. A sting of pain goes up my leg. I look down, and I see a furry brown cat, back raised, glowing yellow eyes staring at me. The cat's right ear seems to be cut in half and it's missing a few splotches of hair here and there. It doesn't take me long to realize that I had stepped on the cat's tail. Small droplets of blood drip down my leg, evidence of the scratch the cat had given me. 

"Oh no, Ember." Annalise tries grabbing the cat, it only hisses at her and scrambles away. Nathan tries to keep it from going out but it easily evades him. "She scratched you, didn't she?"

"Yes, but it isn't that bad." 

I look down at the scratch. There are three red lines, not very deep from the looks of it. "I did step on her tail so I guess we are even."

"Don't feel too bad," Nathan says, raising his arm to show me three identical scratches, "she literally scratches everyone. I don't think she is a people person."

"Aven assured us she was," Annalise insists, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. "Cats like me."

"Not that cat, Ann." Nathan pats her on the back. "That cat is rotten."

"It just has to get used to us, that's all." She lifts her sleeve to cover her shoulder that had a deep scratch running across it. "She seemed fine when Aven gave her to us."

"She was acting nice in front of Aven," Nathan suggests, narrowing his eyes. "Like the devious master mind she is."

"Nice, Nathan, accuse the cat."

"The moment he left the room I swear that cat had a smirk on her face."

Annalise rolls her eyes. "She is just scared, she'll warm up to us in no time."

"You are just saying that because you can't take a cat disliking you." 

"She doesn't dislike me."

"Hey," I interrupt, having already had my fill of their sibling bickering."You two should clean your wounds." 

Annalise looks down at herself, then places her hand over her shoulder. A weak glow emanates from her hand, it's a light yellow that doesn't blind me nearly as much as the glow I had woken up to my first night here. She lingers for a moment before removing her hand. The scratch on her shoulder isn't red anymore and a scab has formed over it.

Annalise smiles. "That's much better."

I blink. "That was cool."

Nathan frowns, then places his hand over his arm. A weak glow starts forming and then flickers out. He looks at me and then places his arm behind his back. "It's hardly much of a job, that's going to scar."

"Well much faster than yours, by the looks of it," Annalise retorts. Nathan goes red.

"Whatever, scars are cool." 

"Oh, certainly. When they ask you about them, be sure to tell them a kitty scratched you, that will take leaps for your reputation."

"Can you show me how to focus my energy like that?" I ask, trying to diffuse the fight once more. As amusing as I might have found their fighting some other time, my mind was too on edge right now to relax and take it in quietly.

Annalise bites her lip, shifting uncomfortably. "I am not much of a teacher."

"Nor a healer." Annalise jabs him on the stomach with her elbow. Nathan keels over.

"Julian will teach you more about it. I am sure you'll be able to do more than this guy." She points at her brother. "Ronan and him have that in common, I think, their affinities are much too destructive for their energies to work well on the healing department."

I nod, even when I wasn't so sure. My affinity, though not as physically harmful as Ronan's scorching touch, was damaging in every other sense of the word. I doubt I'd had much luck with it. I just rather find out with Annalise than with Julian, who'd be inspecting my every move.He seemed nice enough, but he was overeager about what I could do. 

"Do you think the cat went out of the house?"Annalise asks anxiously, turning to her brother.

Nathan shrugs. "I don't think so."

"You are just saying that because you don't wanna go look for it."

"Even I get lost in this house." Nathan gestures with his hands to the giant room surrounding us. "I doubt the cat will find a way out."

"We can't lose her, Nathan."

"We barely knew the cat was in the house to begin with," Nathan says, in what I assume is his attempt to comfort his sister, "Aven won't notice if he is gone."

Annalise turns to him in horror. "Aven loves that cat."

I look between the two of them, realizing peace wasn't going to be made any time soon despite any effort I make to interfere. Without saying anything, I walk out of the room.

Contrary to Nathan's statement, finding the way out of the house wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The house, despite its size, has a pretty obvious entrance and exit. That's the one thing I could really find. It was mostly due to the forest being so close to the door, and the pull of it was always a nudge in the back of my mind.

Fresh air turned out to be exactly what I needed. I walked through the garden and simply let the energy from the forest calm me. Eventually, I find a bench and simply sit.

Several minutes must have passed before I heard a 'mewing' coming from behind me. I brace myself for another scratch but it doesn't come. I turn, and the cat hisses at me as if it didn't want to be noticed despite being as loud as he was being. I roll my eyes at the cat. Nathan had been wrong again, this cat was more clever than he looked.

The cat lifts its chin and walks away from me with purpose. I raise an eyebrow at it, watching it walk to the gates. Once it passes through the bars, I stand up to go grab it. Annalise would be devastated if she did, indeed, lose the cat. The cat didn't seem to care enough about that.

I run up to the gates, and hesitate. Maybe walking out of the protection of the gated area wasn't such a good idea. It hadn't been long since I had dragged myself up to this gate while bleeding out. Being dragged inside had meant protection and a relief from the pain. Such little time and I was already depending on the safety the walls provided me. 

The cat takes a look back at me, hisses, and runs straight into the forest.

One moment, I am thinking of Annalise's worried gaze as she fretted over the cat and what would happen if she were lost, the next, I am opening the gates and running into the forest after it.

I immediately feel the push and pull from the forest as I walk past the first tree. It takes me a moment to get over the high of it. My energy is always with me, but I just feel painfully aware of it when I am inside the forest. Perhaps it is the fact that it is not only inside me yet also surrounding me. I call on a small bit of energy and let it travel through my fingertips in the form of light. This is only possible for me when I am in the forest, otherwise I find it extremely hard to exteriorize my energy. The cat is long gone by the time I am aware of my surroundings. With a sigh, I try finding any signs as to where she could have gone.

I see no footprints on the ground, though it is impossible to tell at first due to the tall grass covering the ground. As I continue to go deeper, the height of the grass lessens until I am standing on more solid ground. There is movement on a nearby bush which has me calling out for the cat, "Ember?"

A small bunny emerges from the bush, so normal looking I can't help but stare. The forest did contain some normal animal species, at least that's what I read one time when I came across an article. They were always distorted in some way, though, as if the energy from the forest shaped them differently.

I lean down to touch the bunny, and, at the same time, my energy reaches for it as well. It startles me for a moment as the bunny stares at me. Its eyes glow, but then they turn back to normal and it scampers away. The hold my energy had started to take on it snaps, like it's been cut off.

The bunny, just as easily as the cat had done, disappears. 

I consider following it, because I wanna make sure I hadn't only imagined the green light in its eyes, but then I remember I had come in here looking for something else. The thought to let the cat get lost and never come back crosses my mind, because Nathan did say the cat wasn't very nice anyways, and my leg was still throbbing from the scratch it had given me. Annalise wouldn't be happy about though, and I don't think Aven would be either. With a huff, I keep moving and call out for the stupid cat again, "Ember!"

As I step over yet another branch, my attention is pulled from my searching by the sound of someone crying. I halt my steps to erase all other sound, and listen. The crying continues, high pitched and miserable. It sounds female, I think, and it's coming from my right. For a moment, I wonder who could possibly be crying in the middle of the forest, but the pain in the girl's voice makes me follow it. 

The sound leads me past a vast compilation of bushes and trees. I must have gotten several superficial scratches. Then, I finally see a crouched figure in front of a tree. I can't see much of the girl, only the back of her head. Her black hair looks matted, as if she hasn't brushed it in a long time. Her small body continues to shake with her sobs.

"Emm,"I start, unsure of what to say, "are you okay?"

The girl continues to cry as if she hadn't heard me. I approach her cautiously, hoping not to startle her. "I am Bella, if you come with me I can help you."

How stupid did that sound? 

I bite my lip, very close to her now. Would I frighten her if I simply tried to touch her shoulder? Maybe, but I did try to warn her of my presence. I reach out, and just as I am about to touch her shoulder, a hand wraps around my waist and another is placed over my mouth to stop my scream.

I try to struggle, but the grip they have on me is like iron. My energy is about to reach out when I feel the familiar heat coming from the person. "Easy, little mind walker."

My body relaxes, and I let him drag me away from the girl. He stops behind a tree that covers my view of her. Aven is waiting for us there, his stance tense. 

Aven looks at me, pressing a finger to his lips, and then Ronan takes his hand off my mouth. I choose to ignore Aven's orders. "Why did you grab me? She needs help."

Aven's eyes go to the girl who is still crying next to the tree. "She is beyond anyone's help."


"What do you-" 

Just as I am about to finish my sentence, the girl turns towards me. All words leave me then. Her face is emaciated, as if she had her last meal just about a century ago. Her skin has also lost all color, only kept from being completely devoid of it by the layer of dirt that clings to her face. Her face is contorted into a look of complete agony and despair, and her eyes, her eyes are clouded, with black veins crowding the surface of them. She seems to catch me looking at her, and she smiles, flashing rotten teeth at me.

I gasp, Ronan steps in front of me to cover my view. "Not a pretty sight."

"What is she?" I ask, keeping my eyes on Ronan so I am not tempted to look at her again.

"We call them The Lost,"Aven explains, his attention is not on me but on the girl. He seems pained by the sight of her. "They are humans who wandered into the forest and didn't find their way back out."

"Humans? Humans can't get into the forest." 

It had been preached to everyone who had ears on every possible source. Humans couldn't walk into the forest, it meant instant death. The energy that vitalized us did the opposite for them. 

"Oh they can walk in, alright,"Ronan says, grabbing Aven by the hair and turning his vision away from the girl, "Getting out is the problem."

"What?"

Aven is rubbing his head where Ronan pulled his hair as his eyes meet mine."You've been told humans can't handle the energy, right?" I nod. "Well, they can't, but it doesn't kill them. It twists their mind until it takes almost everything that makes them human, until all that's left is a craving for the forest's energy. So they continue to wander it in search for more to sate their fill. The forest keeps them alive, but only just."

I feel my hands shaking with his explanation. "Are they dangerous?"

Ronan nods. "Mostly when there is a bunch of them, you are lucky that wasn't the case for this one. She tried to lure you because she couldn't have subdued you if she didn't catch you by surprise. She must have been following you for a while. Luckily for you, we arrived to save you from your own ignorance."

"Ronan." Aven's tone is exasperated. "Refrain from insulting her if you can. You were doing so well with your explanation."

"I didn't say anything that wasn't true."

I brush off Ronan's insult, too preoccupied with what had just happened."Why did she try to lure me?"

"The forest intoxicates them, but it doesn't satisfy them," Aven explains, "Nothing can really do that, but we are the most direct source that they can get to. If she had caught you, she would have drained you of your energy. Then, when you stopped satisfying her, she would have beat on you until she killed you."

I shudder, wrapping my arms around myself. Ronan raises an eyebrow at me, while Aven seems to sympathize. "That wouldn't have been nice."

"Not at all," Ronan agrees, then he glares at me, "which is why you don't walk alone into the forest like that, little mind walker."

"I-"my words are caught in my throat, still petrified by the sight of the girl and what she might have done to me. "I just wanted to find-"

The sound of something moving behind us stops me form talking. Ronan moves, and I am able to see that the girl has moved from her position. I immediately tense. In the distance, I hear a familiar 'mew'.

Ronan curses. "That stupid cat."

Aven perks up. "Is that Ember?"

I cringe. "She somehow got out of the house. I followed her here."

Aven bites his lip, tightening his hands into fists. Ronan takes notice of this with a frown. "Aven."

Aven turns to him, though his attention seems to be elsewhere. "Hm?"


"Don't."

I look between the two of them, trying to decipher what's going on. Aven takes a slow step back, his eyes still on Ronan, then he goes in the direction of the cat. I curse at the same time Ronan does. We go after Aven.

"I am gonna grill that cat and make myself a coat out of her hair." 

I shake my head. "Try something smaller than a coat, the cat doesn't have enough hair for a coat."

Ronan lets out a startled laugh. "Any particular suggestion in mind?"

"A hat would be a perfect fit, I think." The cat lets out another 'mew'. "Some gloves would also be nice."

Ronan and I stop as we reach a wall of thorns. Ronan sighs. "Great. Aven, you idiot."

He pulls on his sleeves so that they cover his arms more, bracing himself to go in, when Aven emerges, Ember in his arms, looking the most relaxed and docile I've ever seen her. She purrs and nuzzles closer to him. My jaw drops. That sneaky little...

Ronan visibly relaxes at the sight of Aven, though his lips turn in displeasure when he looks down at the cat. Aven smiles at the two of us, rubbing Ember behind the ears. "Poor thing, she was all lost in there."

I am about to accuse the cat of being fake, when Ronan steps in, "Seriously, Aven? You ran for the cat?"

"Well, how else was she going to find her way back?" The cat opens her eyes lazily to stare at Ronan, taunting him, before purring again and sinking into Aven's arms.

"She wasn't," Ronan replies. The cat ignores him. Aven frowns.

"She didn't need to hear that," Aven mutters, covering the cat's ears. The cat, like the big pretender she is, lets out another pitiful 'mew' and earns herself some more rubs.

Ronan walks up to him and takes a hold of his arm by the elbow, Aven hisses. Immediately, Ronan lets go. He forms a small light that glows over Aven's arm. He has a red scratch that extends from his elbow to the beginning of his wrist. I suspect for a moment that the cat had actually scratched Aven, but then I see her fake self purring against his chest and realize the cat was too clever to do that. She liked Aven too much. Ronan's gaze is accusatory as he looks at the cat. The cat doesn't even have the decency to look back. 

"I wasn't very careful, a thorn got me," Aven explains, his expression sheepish.

Ronan takes the cat from his arms. "I hope you don't mind, Aven. I'll be carrying her to the house."

The cat lifts its head at that, looking at Aven as if she was about to take a leap into his arms again. The change in her posture makes me wanna laugh. She looks extremely uncomfortable. I can practically see her wanting to scratch Ronan, but one look at Aven stops her. Ronan knew her game too well. 

Aven places a hand over his wound. I have to look away from the glow this time, it's a lot brighter than Annalise's. When I look back, his arm is completely healed with no trace of a scar. "We are going back to the house? But we haven't even finished."

"We need to walk tiny little Bella home or else she might get pummeled."

I roll my eyes at Ronan's comment, though it did make me feel better that they were going to accompany me. "What are you two doing out here anyway?"

"Important things," Ronan answers, rubbing the cat behind the ears a little too hard. The cat narrows its eyes at him. 

"If it isn't safe for me, it's hardly safe for you." I am looking at Aven when I say this, because he is the most reasonable out of the two. Aven looks away.

"We know our way around and take enough precautions. We've been coming here long before you arrived, nothing's happened."

I meet Ronan's eyes. "Yet."

He glares at me, though he doesn't look as threatening while holding a cat in his arms. His energy sizzles around him. "I can take care of us, Bella."

Aven steps between the two of us."Ronan, if you still wanna come back before it's dark, we better start heading back now."

Ronan nods, then he turns his back on us and starts walking forward.

Aven sighs. "Come on, Bella."

"What could be so important that you choose to risk yourselves like this?"

Aven doesn't respond, and I find myself following after him anyway.

Behind me, I hear the girl's crying begin anew.