Chapter One

The forest was thicker than anything Maaz had ever seen; growing up, his father would often take him to the northern sides of the country, to the forest, and taught him how to shoot. But now this forest was thicker, but certainly not lonely. In fact, he felt eyes on his back constantly, and there were chirping sounds of numerous birds, shrill, soft, melodious, and discordant, but there were nowhere to be seen. Sometimes the bushes would rustle, a quick shadow at the corner of his eye. He decided it was a rodent or a small animal he wouldn't have to worry about. Maybe a squirrel or rabbit or something.

The leaves and soil crunched beneath his thick, tan-colored boots (he felt lucky he was wearing them), and there was crunching noises of the twins walking behind him. A thick silence lay over the three siblings.

Suddenly, Danyal's small voice spoke up. "Brother, are we being punished?" Maaz froze and suddenly he was racked with overwhelming sadness. Danyal, the younger of the twins, often-hated coming out in places like these. The idea of what had happened… might not have settled well with him, or Dania. And the fact that they blamed themselves for it…

"No," answered Maaz firmly. "What happened just happened. We had nothing to do with it. Got it?" He turned to look at the Dani's. Both siblings were lanky and pretty-faced, quite older-looking for ten-year-olds. Danyal's silken hair was haphazard on his head, while Dania's hair was just as messy in her pigtails. Their shoes were dirty but keeping their feet protected. Maaz wondered if they could find somewhere where they could clean themselves.

He stood there, wondering, when suddenly the bushes behind them rustled, the branches of the trees wavering. Maaz sharply turned and picked a nearby stone, raising it above his head to fling it to whatever was coming towards them. After a pregnant heartbeat, emerged a massive black cat out of the overgrowth. Maaz froze utterly, unable to breathe or think or run. He began to sweat furiously, and then his knees began to shake, utterly. They were ruined; now about to be eaten by a savage beast.

The panther was majestic, with glossy black fur lining across its lean but muscular body and massive fine-lined face. Its massive golden eyes stared up at him with what it seemed to be amusement and pleasant surprise. It moved forward, growling under its breath, and Maaz fell on the floor. He was horrified at his fate. He should have left the twins back there, at the cliffside. Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Dania rushed over and grasped the slate fabric of Maaz's button up. Danyal just stood there and watched.

The creature grunted, regarding them momentarily, before jumping back into the overgrown green. The three umber-haired siblings remained there, wondering what the hell just happened. They stayed like that for what it seemed to be a few minutes. Maaz, with his heart racing, eyes darting, got to his trembling feet and nearly collapsed to the ground. He stumbled forward and looked at the hollow the cat made as it left. His heart pulsing fast, he realized that it created what it seemed to be – a path. He decided that it sure as hell would not want to go there. But then he thought he heard water, falling water.

"Brother," Dania suddenly said, "look!" Maaz turned and stumbled forward to the opening from where the panther came from and gasped. There, in the distance, was water. Falling water and a small lake right in the middle of a thick forest. He shook his head with amazement, eyes glistening with pure joy and thanking whatever deity was up there, watching over them. Grabbing the twins firmly, he dragged them to the small waterfall.

Maaz could see his fine features in the water, which was teal-tinted and absolutely clear. His umber hair was tousled and overgrown, reaching his neck, like a mullet. His face was filthy and dark; his cornflower eyes seemingly the only clear thing on his face. His lips were cracked and white, all dry despite the humidity in the forest. His broad shoulders, as usual, seemed odd combined with his fine, almost feminine facial features. He dipped his hands into the water, which was nice and cool and calming. When he brought them out, they were cleaned of filth, and there weren't any black crescents in his fingernails. He then brought water to his lips and drank greedily, not realizing his thirst before. The water was cold in his mouth, ever calming, and he felt it going down his esophagus.

He suddenly stood and kicked off his boots. He heard it ricochet towards his sister and Dania gasp and shortly giggle, and let the corner of his lip to quirk up. He then jumped into the water, splashing his brother and sister and drenching with to the point of dripping. He heard them scream, but his attention was more on how cold the water was. He lowered his face into the water and then stood. His long hair came to his eyes, covering them. Suddenly, beside him, he heard another splash, and another body was beside him, now Danyal. He clung onto his older brother for support. Maaz held him by his hands and steadied him. Dania undid her ponytail and pulled off her cotton frock off (it was dirty anyway), revealing the puffy purple jumpsuit underneath and crawled warily into the water.

In a while, there wasn't much tension amongst the three anymore; Danyal and Dania giggled and laughed and teased each other, calling each other names and splashing water. Maaz tried to join in with them, but the foreboding feeling of 'what are we gonna eat?' was stuck in his head permanently. With the children not noticing his sudden silence from the laughing and annoy-singing, Maaz pushed his locks of hair away from his face once more and walked to the corner, dampening his shirt and twisting it dry.

Then he stepped out of the heavenly pool and water and stood quietly. Suddenly, the splashing and screams behind his died, and he felt two pairs of eyes on his. Danyal, as usual, was first to speak; "Brother? What's wrong?"

Maaz turned to look at him, one hand on his hip, the other scratching the back of his neck. He tried to ask the question deliberately so that the two wouldn't feel the weight of not having food around. "…Aren't either of you hungry? I kind of am."

"Huh?" Dania paused momentarily before turning to Danyal. "We have to eat? But I want to stay here longer." Danyal agreed with her and made a puppy face towards Maaz. Maaz felt considerably relieved that they didn't feel the lacking of food yet, but he knew that breakfast had to be arranged from somewhere. Maybe if he left the two here, and went to search for food…? But then the memory of the panther jumped into his head, with its slender yet muscular, graceful body but savage eyes, almost hungrily looking at them all. What if it returned? What would two defenseless little children do to protect themselves? Maaz sighed.

"I'm afraid bath time's over. But we can come back here later, right? You don't want to catch a cold, do you?"

Danyal raised a brow. "Catch a cold? In this weather?"

"Are you going to argue with me, kid?" Maaz asked sharply, making the younger boy shake his head abruptly. Danyal had known better than to argue with his older brother when he spoke in that tone; despite his vibrant, flamboyant personality, Maaz could be the cruelest, scariest person on earth. Well, according to Danyal of course, because with Dania, Maaz was 'gentler'. But honestly, it was not his fault Maaz had, for some reason, always wanted to play the overprotective brother to a younger sister when he was younger. It definitely passed onto when he was in his late teenage years.

Murmuring quiet complaints, the two crawled out of the pool while Maaz dampened and twisted their clothes dry too. As they complained, Maaz's eyes fell on a splint-like sharp stone lying near the lake. He wondered if he could hide the children somewhere, busy them in something so that they don't get scared while he was away, and mark the trees so that he could find his way back. He didn't like the idea but… sometimes you had to make do, right?

So, he found a large oak, with a hallowed inside, perfect for two little children with bony builds. He busied the two in the traditional (rather boring) game of 'Charlie Charlie' that children in elementary school played; two pencils were needed, and you would ask a deity, in this case, one that was somehow named Charlie, to answer yes or no questions. He also offered a deadly warning not to go outside and wander, or search for him. Under any circumstances.

Then he ducked out of the hidden hedge and, with the stone, marked the trees with horizontal and vertical lines, horizontal to show he was near to the twins, and vertical for far away. The plan seemed to work, just that he couldn't find anything. After what he supposed were half, perhaps even two hours of search and marking, he began growing desperate; nothing was found except for green chlorophyll plants or sometimes even the marks he made. He knew he was going in circles.

After another half an hour, when the sun was almost atop his head, Maaz miserably gave up, almost in a state of unmanly tears. He couldn't take care of the children alone. He couldn't take care of the children here, in a forest, filled with horrors and animals and other creatures and God-knows-what that could cause harm to them. Perhaps this was a punishment. Perhaps this was his punishment, and both his siblings were dragged into it because they were probably the most important people to him, alive. Maaz felt his eyes grow warm and his chest tighten.

Following the marks on the tree bark, he made his way to the children. But perhaps by luck – or maybe God had forgiven him – he caught dark red and purple in the corner of his eye. Halting completely, he turned, to see two bushes with dark red wild strawberries – and another dark purple fruit he thought looked familiar, but didn't remember. He cursed himself; how could he miss these two?

He rushed over to them and quickly picked as many as he could, raising the hem of his shirt and filling it with as much as he could. Then he turned, his head pounding with blood, and practically ran to the twins, muttering prayers of thankfulness, and joy under his breath. He wondered if he could find a place to actually pray for thanking the heavens.