17 Princess

This was not the same apartment she had haunted for the last seventeen years, within a week she hadn't been here, the very air had changed.

Mandy shouldn't be able to smell anything, but now she could - it scented of a forest and there was moss growing on the floors and walls and, from where she stood, she could see more greenery deeper within.

Mandy placed down August's phone and power cells at a place near his shoes which had not been taken over by moss. In fact, at about a two-step distance from the door, there was almost a straight line running along the walls separating the growth off from a normal looking hall.

So… she needed to go in and wake August up. Floating past the line separating the moss off, she let out a breath… huh? The sensation of an actual breath passing her lips could be felt.

In wonder, she floated a few steps space further and her feet settled down in the fuzzy moss. It wasn't quite her full living weight, but she felt solid. Her hands had lost their transparency and some sensations returned. The moss felt soft and a bit cool, the air scented fresh and alive and she could feel the fabric of her dress fluttering over her tights. She touched her own hands, feeling their texture and warmth. That weird dreamcatcher dream had given her a body, but not a sensation this real.

Undead dryad forests could do this, but… how could there be something like that in a small apartment? And she hadn't seen any trees sticking outside of the building or branches going out the windows, yet there were clearly tree branches deeper within and some had even stuck out and grown leaves on the ceiling of this hall, making it seem like she was walking under thick foliage.

The light from the windows seeped in, illuminating a light fog deeper within. If Mandy had to describe it was merely thicker air, retaining a lot of its transparency, yet sparkling and sending flickering lights through it, over it, in an organic, magical way. The book had said the light and dark alignment aether were clashing, but to Mandy, it looked like a conversation. It was too slow and beautiful to be described in an aggressive way like that. Small colorful mushrooms and flowers were sprouting out all over the place, the only thing missing were animals. The place was silent, a bit too silent. Maybe even holy in its serenity.

How on earth did cursed forests get their name if they were this sacred in appearance? Either this place was an exception or the 'everyone-was-hating-it-for-plot-reasons' was happening in real life. And why exactly was it so bad that undead gained bodies and could make kids in places like this? If there were spaces of this sort… where undead might not even need to consume extra aether - wasn't that a good thing? Yet it was true that Mandy had no idea about other undead (a part she regretted not reading), so perhaps it was a bit too soon to jump to any conclusions.

The deeper she went, the more alive she felt, soon regaining every ounce of weight she had had when alive, her hair too stopped floating falling over her shoulders and back. Mandy had expected to spot the sofa with August on it, but her eyes met with green shrubs and thick tree branches sprouting out from the walls, making the room into an overgrown, albeit magical, thicket. The table and chairs had all grown leaves and roots, branches shooting up to the ceiling and spreading out lush leaves.

She walked deeper in, brushing her hand over the new growth. For a moment Mandy let herself be caught up in the magic. Feeling the leaves on her skin, enjoying the sense of touch she now had and enjoying the scent of flowers and life.

Yet it was all soon accompanied by a nagging sense of regret that her brand new cutting board and knives too had grown branches - not to mention the fact that everything had decayed - all metal parts had rusted. The kitchen that had finally looked like a good one, had turned into a place that might have been abandoned for a century. Branches of blooming apple trees were sprouting out from the cupboard where she had kept some apples before and various plants matching other ingredients accompanied them coming out from various places.

It did look like an inspiring scene of nature reclaiming its land, but Mandy didn't want nature coming in and reclaiming her toaster, for god's sake. What wrong did the toaster do?? It made delicious toast in the mornings, didn't burn it, it had been the best toaster she had ever had! Holding back her tears, she clenched her fist.

Fine, she let out a breath, she would order another one when she gets a chance. Wasteful, but this situation probably couldn't be helped… Mandy resolved to avenge her toaster somehow by doing something to Sarah and made a manly expression as she turned towards the shrubs that separated her from the place where the sofa ought to be.

She carefully brushed the branches aside to step through. The sofas and the armchairs had also grown branches, cherry blossoms blooming on them, moss and lichens were covering the furniture all up otherwise and hepatica flowers were sprouting out and filling the space with their scent mixing with the fragrance of cherry blossoms.

And there August was, sleeping among it all, fitting in. The air around him glimmered, his hair had grown long enough to stretch past his shoulders and he slept so soundly among those flowers that Mandy felt like she was the prince from the snow white fairytale, spotting the sleeping princess for the first time.

Mandy forgot to breathe for a moment and when she remembered to, she let out a sigh.

It was a complete and utter shame that it was her who had come upon this scene. Which man could come and resist something like this? This could have been a start of a beautiful romance!! Seriously! Like this August was the perfect fairy tale heroine - a beauty with a hinted sad past (missing memories, scars, failed love(s), chased by trouble and misfortunes) and a charming smile in those rare occasions when he did smile. There was also that self-deprecating side of August calling himself 'that thing', which was bound to pull on the prince's heartstrings, because… just look at this… how could you possibly be a mary sue about hating a side of yourself that was this beautiful?

Mandy huffed.

Where was a handsome hunk when you needed one? If she didn't need to wake August up she might as well hide in these shrubs and wait for one to appear. It would make such a beautiful boy's love romance.

If only…

Of course, Mandy could instantly tell the flaws in this 'princess' - that sadistic streak, ignoring everyone who got in his way, twisted way of taking revenge and… her dead toaster. If this happened every time when August hibernated (hopefully not so often), then he was a high-maintenance one. But, of course, a fairy tale prince wouldn't give a damn about practical details like those, after all - this happened when his precious 'princess' overstepped the limits of her frail body, in a story that would be a scenario where she protected everyone at the risk of her own life.

Brushing her delusional thoughts away, Mandy walked closer to August, kneeling among the hepaticas. No prince would come, she was his best bet of a wake-up call. She reached out her hand towards him, yet her hand stopped short and her now living heart sped up.

There had been times when she had wondered why didn't the prince just shake the girl awake rather than kissing her, but now she knew. If Snow White had slept with a defenseless face like this, so beautiful she might as well be a dream, then you might as well get caught up in the fantasy yourself.

Mandy's face had moved closer without her realizing. How could anyone resist really? Long eyelashes, pale skin, soft looking lips…

Only when her hair almost fell on his face, Mandy realized what had almost happened-- she moved back in fright. Her cheeks burned up bright red and she fled from the scene only stopping by the door leading out. Her shape turned transparent once again and she lost the weight keeping her on the floor. The leaves and flowers and all the little bits that had caught in her hair and dress also fell off, losing their contact. Only when her heart no longer had the force to beat and blood no longer flooded her face, she could stop and think.

What the heck was wrong with her?

He was dangerous! Dangerously endearing while asleep-- even she could feel like a fairy tale prince around him, which was the last thing in this world she should be feeling like, considering she knew what he was like. He was beautiful, no doubt, but that personality-- yet all that was running through her mind were moments she couldn't help but admire deep within. The sight of him seriously and single-mindedly pursuing a goal, typing away with focus and creating something beautiful as a result. Then seeming to be all about the money yet releasing trapped souls at no reward. Looking up with a sense of relief as souls turned into birds and escaped from their worn down cage. Blackmailing his little sister into being more careful after the worry and care he showed from seeing her hurt.

Mandy had no confidence the same would not repeat if she went again. Having a body, a heart and a sense of touch made everything complicated. The soul was not the only thing doing the thinking, the body had a reasoning of its own too.

Yet this seriously wasn't the time for this! She had to wake him up somehow… who knows how much time she had after that phone reminder rang. What if he had to do something urgently?

For a while, her eyebrows were scrunched up, thinking on various options of poking him with a stick or throwing a shoe at him, but it all felt too rough towards a sleeping princess. Then an imagined lightbulb lit up above her head! She had a method! A brilliant one at that!

Her body dispersed into mist and condensed to form a little tit bird. The color was off and the eyes were blue rather than black, but that wasn't something Mandy either saw or cared about. She spread her wings and took flight (with some telekinetic assistance, though, as which bird could fly well right off the bat). After flying around the hall a few rounds to get a feel for her wings, she felt ready to attempt waking August up a second time.

The bird turned solid and real as it flew deeper in and while August was still as beautiful and enticing as just before, the worst Mandy could do in a shape like this was peck at him.

Mandy landed in the moss by his head and made a few jumps closer to his face, then made a careful peck towards his ear.

No reaction.

Made sense, considering he hadn't woken up with her running around just now. Mandy made a stronger peck. Only after her fourth peck (which left a reddish mark), some movement came.

August shifted in his sleep, but rather than waking up he turned his head a bit to hide that very ear that got pecked, hence - he was now facing the bird Mandy with that beautiful face.

Even in his sleep, his movements were enticing. 'Stop it, you attractive bastard!!!' Mandy felt upset at her own feelings and started pecking his forehead with more force than before.

For a week she had been fine, studying, reading, there wasn't even any time at all to miss him and if she did like him, she totally would miss him rather than easily drown in studying. But now this just from seeing his face??

And so… Mandy got squished. Although rather than hurting she felt like a rubber object under his hand. Were birds this elastic? Peeking at the side revealed that his fingers had dug in the moss, but not the part of his hand by his wrist, even half-asleep he hadn't used much force on the thing that had hurt his forehead.

"Mandy?" August asked as he looked with confusion at the feather blob under his fingers. Although as his eyes regained focus, he caught sight of the room surrounding them right after and Mandy could see in close sequence how someone went from confusion to shock to deep despair.

So it wasn't the usual thing... Perhaps it had been the first time when August had needed to hibernate, so he wouldn't know what might happen? This scene had shocked August even more than it had her and he was the cause of this no doubt, or, Sarah was the reason he had become the cause.

"Sarah will stay in there for a month," August said, his eyes dead.

Mandy would have liked to add something, but-- all that came out was 'chirp chirp'.

August sighed and let Mandy go, using that same hand to rub his forehead in the place where Mandy had pecked. The spot was red.

"Of all things, you'd go for this," August then said, looking at Mandy with some confusion.

Mandy had no idea what he meant by that - was it about her appearance or was it about her methods of waking him, but she couldn't ask in this shape and she couldn't transform here when she tried, so she bit her question down and flew to the door, dispelling her transformation, then ran back.

"What do you--" her words stopped as she spotted August looking down at something.

He looked so sad as if his parents had just died. Mandy could see that the patch of moss revealed a little part of a white object (no longer white but yellow now) - his computer.

There was no doubt that his PC had died, and with it-- "Your novel…"

"...I back-up online, it's safe, but…" August's hands trembled.

Mandy put her hand on his shoulder. So he too lost something precious. RIP toaster and August's PC, the pad she borrowed from August was also probably dead, burried in a mossy grave just like this laptop. For him, it was undoubtedly worse than it was for her. Mandy only had the toaster for a few days, while who knows how long August had relied on his pc to produce art.

"Let's avenge it," Mandy said. In her case it was her toaster and the pad she had borrowed - for him it was this PC and pretty much all his possessions in this apartment. Wasting good tools hurt her heart and knowing that it was all due to a prank made her feel like those two deserved divine retribution.

August nodded. Keeping a moment of silence. Then he mumbled. "Sarah won't get out for three months."

"You got this," Mandy said, her hand squeezing a bit tighter on his shoulder. August wouldn't kill his sister, so whatever she was up for in those three months wouldn't be lethal. Her toaster, all the kitchen tools and… all August's possessions deserved at least that much honor for their short-lived service. Other than the clothes on him and the phone she had kept safe, nothing was probably fine in this place.

August put his own hand on Mandy's and looked towards her with resolve. "I won't let her out."

Mandy gulped. It did not help that she now had a body and could feel the warmth of his fingers. All thoughts of revenge and toasters melted away in front of that resolute gaze, which obviously did think of both revenge and ruined tools, not…

Why had Mandy thought it would get better if he woke up? If she had those strange feelings looking at his face when asleep, why did she think it would all go away if only he was awake?

What was this? Some animalistic lust? But there's no way, she was dea-- oh, she actually had a body now for undead dryad something reasons. How convenie-- not…

"August, you wouldn't be using charm… would you?" Mandy asked, almost in a whisper, as what else could this be? She really wanted him and she should not and seeing his gaze only made it so much worse.

August reached out his hand and Mandy's heart sped up even more as it approached her face.

Ouch! Mandy drew back holding on her forehead.

"Why did yo--" she cast an accusing look in his direction, but then her own words registered in her mind. Holy-- what had she just said???!! And August looked annoyed as heck!

August crossed his arms. "You never struck me as a sloppy learner," he said.

Eh? Mandy tilted her head. Sloppy learner? She didn't feel good about being called that way. She did read on ghosts and then went to elemental magic, so it felt like… wrong to be called that way.

August sighed seeing her expression. "Any book on undead would list the general resistances undead have in its introduction part. It is, by nature, impossible to charm an undead."

Gasp. the Introduction was the part she had skipped-- And that meant… Mandy crouched down to hide her face behind her knees, feeling like her spirit had left her. What a thing she had said-- she wanted to dig a hole and bury herself. Her retort of 'did that count even now' never left her lips, as August's words had implied that he had not done so. And the timing would be wrong for it too, he was feeling sad about his laptop and felt resolute to avenge it, not looking at her with intentions of the pink sort. Her words could have been taken either as a sleazy pick-up line or as an insult. August's reaction said he had taken it as the latter.

"Sorry," Mandy said without lifting her face. She had been both inconsiderate and rude.

"Rather than being sorry, repent by reading introductions. Authors wouldn't write them if they weren't important," August said with a sigh.

Oh. so that's what he was upset about… Mandy slowly lifted her face from her knees. No mention whatsoever about the fact that she said something like that. "Will do," Mandy said, getting up and brushing the moss off her skirt. Boy-- this was a part she had not missed while lacking a body - things sticking to her.

August's eyes narrowed. "Also, what's with that method of waking someone up?"

Mandy looked away, she couldn't really tell him that she was inches away from assaulting him in his sleep.

"Couldn't you wake me up with a kiss or something?" He asked in a casual tone.

Mandy froze. Her lips parted without forming any words. She could not compute.

"Since you feel so charmed," he added, rubbing it in with that sadistic smile of his.

Hnnnn, so he was upset about that part after all. But-- even if he was saying it to rub it in… and, she had to admit, that question about charming had been stupid. He wouldn't be able to cast charm while asleep, so there was no way it was that. Of course, Mandy was not progressive enough to consider females assaulting males as bad as the other way around, but… "...Are you inviting me?" She asked.

August showed surprise, he clearly did not expect a question of that sort. He looked away a bit flustered. "I mean…"

Mandy couldn't help but feel that he was being cute and a small smile appeared on her lips. The best times to catch August by surprise were the times when he tried to tease you with that sadistic streak of his.

"A bird's beak is pretty hard," he said, still not looking back at her.

If this was how August felt when messing with her, then she could somewhat understand why he did that. After all, it was cute to see---

Cute? Since when had it become cute when a person had trouble to express themselves clearly? Something like that was only cute if you liked the other person. Mandy knew that there were people who just liked to tease others for the heck of it and August might be someone like that, but she herself was not the type. A realization started to settle in.

If she was considering him cute like this and given her previous conduct… Taking it further, Mandy said: "Point taken, I will play the prince part in the sleeping beauty next time." Her cheeks were turning a tad rosy, but-- if he hated the idea after all, he could say that now.

August showed some surprise, but then he looked in her direction slightly amused. "So you realized."

Eh… Realized? Realized… Realized. It didn't take long for Mandy to sum up two and two. He had known that she liked him… For some reason, Mandy felt the urge to become a bird again and peck August every morning for playing with her maiden's heart-- although, no, he hadn't really done that. All he had done is figure it out before her and avoid telling her he had figured out, which… Mandy paled. was exactly the kind of thing she would do if someone had a one-sided attraction towards her.

August's amused smile faded seeing her pale. "While it was fun to see you struggle with figuring that out--" August started.

Ugh. And now came the rejection part. But August certainly was a sadist-- to enjoy something like that… Mandy looked even more down.

"I understand, you don't--" need to say anymore. Mandy didn't wish to hear it and she was not looking at August to see his expression showing a trace of panic at hearing her words.

Before she could finish her lines, she felt her chin being lifted up. August was looking her straight in the eyes with resolve.

Huh? She hadn't heard him approach or even sensed any movement. It unsettled her to see him so serious, but perhaps it was kinder to put things straight in moments like this after all.

But the words she dreaded never came.

"I like you," he said, although there was a sense of defeat in the way he admitted it, like he had no choice but to do so.

Eh… Ehhhhhh???? Her ears were not playing tricks on her, were they? Then why had he said it had been amusing to see her struggle? He really had a bad personality… and what was it with that sense of defeat in saying it? Like a kid who admitted that it was him who drew all over the walls. Her own words had an obvious implication towards what she thought he would say and he looked upset about it. Upset about needing to correct her misunderstanding.

"I would kiss you for the sake of romance or what have you--" he said, looking sideways.

It was for real. There was no deceit or that oddly neutral face that hinted at something hidden. And what was he saying even, at a time like this? She made a troubled smile.

"--but I have not brushed teeth for a week, so that--"

What was he saying even? Was he a teenage girl? Mandy stole his lips away, adding some height to herself using telekinesis. When she was actually using her own legs to stand she was forced to see that he was not nearly as short and frail looking compared to herself. (Although he did look frail next to Ian and probably Gerald too.)

She had no problem being the 'prince', or the party who did not care about details like those. Not that there was anything like that to care for, he tasted like tree sap and he scented like the forest. Mandy would believe it if someone revealed that mythological gods married dryads for this reason alone.

"Do you enjoy interrupting--" August tried to say something while catching his breath, but Mandy proved that line correct by stealing another kiss.

How could she not? His gaze was a bit dazed from her previous surprise attack adding an even more enticing look. Despite being surprised he had returned her kiss, teenage girl considerations or not.

It had been seventeen years since Mandy last touched a living human with hands that could feel heat and not even once she had gotten a chance to have a go with someone that tempted her this much.

When you starved, at one point you felt like you didn't even need to eat anymore, but as soon as food would pass your lips, you would devour it. This was no different. Perhaps she was moving too fast, but could you blame someone famished for not wishing to give up a chance for a meal? He liked her, it was mutual, so wasn't it fine?

August tried to say something multiple times, but she never let him say a thing, till he gave up and gave in. This might be the first time ever where Mandy was both the one initiating and taking most of the lead, and miraculously he could keep up perfectly well when they got going, completely unlike his frail princess looks might imply. Dryads had to be that way to keep up with mythological gods, she would guess.

Mandy only found out what he had wanted to say when she pulled on her dress afterward, looking all shiny like a well-groomed Persian cat if one doesn't count how messy her hair had gotten.

"It's your fault if you get pregnant," he said with a sigh, looking defeated despite his words. After all, he was the princess who got eaten up by a hungry wolf prince not the other way around, he was even messier looking than Mandy, covering up the kiss marks as he buttoned up his shirt.