Chapter four

"Bryony come on, it's breakfast time." Amara said for the fifth time, trying to drag Bryony out of her bed, but she wouldn't budge.

She was still thinking about last night. She couldn't forget about it, and it was killing her. She wanted to forget it, she wanted to forget what Elon had said, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't.

"Helloooo, earth to Bryony. Anyone home?" Amara was snapping her fingers in front of Bryony, and that's when Bryony blinked looking over at Amara. She smiled. "There you are, what has gotten into you lately? You seem different and more... off."

Bryony shook her head, giving Amara her best smile. "Sorry, I just didn't really get sleep last night." That was true, after Elon left, she couldn't sleep. She was laying in bed staring at the ceiling until morning.

Amara nodded. "Okaaay, but it's time for breakfast. Come on come on come on, get up and eat some breakfast, today is going to be a great day. A storm is coming and I love thunder storms. It's supposed to be a really bad one too so no school today. How exciting is that?"

Bryony groaned. "Noooo. Why? I hate storms, especially bad ones. They always cut our electricity out and we have no flashlights."

"We have candles." Amara said, pulling Bryony out of her bed.

Bryony let Amara drag her out of the room. Greta wasn't in there, she must have already woken up and went out to eat breakfast. Bryony heard laughing from in the dining room, and when Amara dragged her in, she saw the twins laughing at the TV with a face full of eggs and pancakes. Bryony didn't know what show they were watching, but they seemed to be enjoying it. Greta was sitting at the table eating her eggs and pancakes in silence as Amara dragged Bryony into the kitchen.

"Good morning mother." Amara said as Auntie Collette looked up from the stove, smiling, and shaking her head. "I got Bryony up."

"She forced me up." Bryony grumbled and Auntie Collette laughed.

"I can see that." She said holding a plate of eggs and a couple pancakes out for Amara, who took it with a 'thank you' and then went to sit with Greta. Bryony stood up straight as Auntie Collette held a plate out for her too. She took it, giving her a smile and thanking her, before she ran after Amara to sit at the table with her and Greta. She had just eggs. She didn't like pancakes, yes, she knew it was weird, but they just tasted gross to her.

"So, what do you want to do today?" Bryony asked Amara as she plopped down right next to her at the table. "You like storms, but there is never anything to do when stuck inside. We have like nothing."

Amara took a bite of her eggs and turned to Bryony. "We always think of something and it always turns out to be fun. Don't worry I got this, I know exactly what we are going to do."

"And what is that?" Bryony asked her, watching as she took a bite of her pancake.

"Go outside and have fun in the rain when it comes. We could play games like hide n seek in the dark, that would be tons of fun, or capture the flag." Amara replied after chewing and swallowing her bite.

Bryony turned to her in disbelief. "Just go outside into the storm where it will be freezing cold, and probably really dark to play childish games? Yeah, no thanks." Bryony turned to her eggs and scooped some up with her fork. She was about to take a bite, but Amara grabbed her arm and stopped her. Bryony turned to her, giving her a scowl. "Let me eat my eggs."

Amara shook her head. "Oh come on Bryony, we can bring our coats and some flashlights. I really want to experience playing hide n seek out in a storm. Sebastian has done it multiple times and it sounds super fun."

She gave Bryony puppy dog eyes and she sighed. "How do you know it will be fun? It sounds cold and dangerous. It's winter Amara. Freezing cold, we'll get sick. And how do you know your mom will let you anyway?" Bryony rolled her eyes at the last part. Auntie Collette would never allow her precious kids to be dumb and go outside during a huge storm just to play hide n seek.

"I don't, but I got my charms. And I know it will be fun because Stan said it is and we technically like almost the same things." Amara said, stopping Bryony from eating her eggs again.

Bryony noticed that Amara's plate was empty. How did she eat all her food in less than a minute? She thought. And how did she eat when she was talking to me? How the heck...?

Bryony groaned. "Fine, I'll help you convince your mom. Just let me eat my eggs in peace woman!"

Amara squealed and wrapped her arms around Bryony, hugging her tightly, and making the eggs spill that were on her fork, and that she was going to eat. Bryony gasped as the eggs fell on her lap, and then she scowled. "Amara! My precious eggs!"

Amara didn't even seem to care, she just tightened her arms around her friend. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"My eggs!" Was all Bryony said as she shoved Amara away from her and scooped more eggs up on her fork. Bryony was about to take the bite, but Amara grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet, making her drop her fork and plate onto the floor. Bryony gasped in shock as she stared at her eggs on the floor. "Amara! You-"

Before she could finish, Amara dragged her out of the dining room. "Lets convince her right now!"

"My eggs!"

As Amara dragged Bryony to the kitchen, the only thought in her head was that she didn't even get one bite of her precious eggs. They were on the floor, untouched, and disgusting now. Bryony didn't get to eat her eggs. She was so going to get Amara back for that, she knew Bryony loved eggs.

Amara let go of Bryony's arm when they got to the kitchen and Bryony rubbed it, giving Amara a look. "That hurt, not so tight next time."

Amara ignored her and smiled sweetly at her mom when she turned to the girls. "Let me guess, you want more eggs?"

"Yes pl-" Amara put a hand over Bryony's mouth, stopping her, and shoving her behind her. Bryony scowled at her, but Amara didn't see.

"Actually mom, I... I mean, we," Bryony shook her head, trying to say it was all Amara's idea but her voice was muffled by Amara's hand as she finished what she was saying, "were wondering if we could go outside and play hide n seek."

Bryony's eyes turned to Auntie Collette, waiting for her to answer. Hopefully she said no, that would surly teach Amara a lesson, but Auntie Collette just smiled and clapped her hands together. "That sounds fun. You could take the little ones out and play with them, just come inside when you see the first drop of rain, this storm coming is going to be very dangerous to be outside in."

Bryony gave Amara a smug look as she took her hand off her mouth. "Ha, told you she wouldn't let you go out in the storm to play."

Auntie Collette looked at Amara. "You wanted to go outside when the storm came? Amara, that is dangerous, and I say no. Go take the twins and Greta outside for a little while and play with them, it will be good for all of you to get fresh air. But come inside when the first drop of rain falls, understand?"

Amara nodded, sighing in defeat. "Alright fine, come on Bryony."

"About that more eggs..." Bryony said, and Auntie Collette gave her a knowing smile as she turned to serve her some more eggs.

"Bryony." Amara said and grabbed Bryony's arm as she was about to take the plate of eggs Auntie Collette held out to her, and dragged her away. She pouted childishly and reached out for the plate as Amara dragged her out of the kitchen. Auntie Collette let out an amused laugh and Bryony made a face. Now she was laughing and thought this was funny? No, Bryony was going to teach both of them a lesson.

"Clarence, Octavia, turn the tv off." Amara said as she walked in front of the tv, ignoring the complaints from the twins. "We're going outside to play for a little while, come on, get your shoes and coats on."

"Yay!" Greta squealed, jumping up, and running to her shoes and coat in the coat closet next to the front door. Bryony went to help her as Amara took care of the twins. Bryony helped Greta put her shoes on and then put her coat on, and Greta gave her a huge smile. She grabbed her gloves and put them on. She definitely was excited, they hadn't played games outside in a long time.

Bryony sat down to put her boots on and then stood up to grab her coat. It was winter, so being outside during the storm and getting soaking wet in the freezing cold rain coming would be the death of them. Amara should know that. Bryony put her coat on and then grabbed Greta's hand as Amara and the twins started putting their stuff on.

Once all the kids were ready, Amara opened the door and they stepped outside. Immediately, Greta shivered and wrapped her arms around herself as she looked up at Bryony. "It c-c-cold."

The twins nodded as they stood behind Amara on the porch, not wanting to go outside in the snow. Amara was the first to run out there. She jumped in the huge pile of snow, disappearing completely from view as the twins laughed. Amara popped up, grinning at us. "Come on guys, it's fun. It isn't that cold."

Clarence laughed and let go of Octavia's hand to run and jump into the snow with Amara. Octavia laughed at her brother before joining him. The snow was kind of deep this year, they would all struggle to walk in it, especially Greta since she was tiny. How would they play hide n seek in the snow? Maybe they would all agree not to and just jump in the snow.

Greta giggled and put a gloved hand to her mouth and pointed at the others with her other. "I wanna go."

Bryony nodded. "Okay just be careful, it's kind of deep."

Greta was already running when she said 'deep' and Bryony watched her squeal as she jumped in the snow to join her siblings. She went all the way under the snow, and Bryony tried not to laugh at how sudden she just disappeared. Greta popped her head up and giggled as the others started throwing snowballs at each other. They were having fun, Bryony didn't want to interrupt the sibling fun, so she walked around the house and into the back yard, where she saw a family of small rabbits hopping and playing around in the snow.

Bryony smiled as she watched them, but then she felt something wet fall on her head and she looked up at the sky, squinting from the snow falling. She could see dark gray clouds above them, and she felt more wet drops fall her face. She knew it wasn't snow. Seriously? She thought. Right as we went outside, the sky decides to rain. Wow, how rude of nature to not let us have fun. Bryony immediately turned to run back to the others, but managed to somehow trip on her clumsy feet and fall over, face first, in the deep snow. She got up and was about to run, but slipped again and fell.

Why is this spot so slippery? She thought. Why does ice even have to exist? I'm already clumsy enough without it. Winter is always a nightmare.

Bryony finally managed to step over the slippery spot, but froze when she heard a growl. Her eyes widened. They lived right next to a forest and they always got animals in their yard. The worst was a black bear that came in spring, it had two babies with it but they didn't harm anyone, they were attracted to the cat food on their porch for the stray cat that was always hanging around their place. It had disappeared a few months ago and they had no idea where it went, but they didn't have cat food out anymore so she didn't know what or why this thing behind her came into their yard.

Bryony heard the other kids laughing and having fun from the front yard, completely oblivious that she was gone. The animal growled again and so Bryony finally got the courage to turn around and see what was behind her. She clutched her mothers necklace as she took a step back, staring at the animal in front of her. It was a mountain lion, and somehow managed to find their yard. It had three cubs behind her, which was why it was growling at Bryony. It was protecting her babies, and possibly was hunting for food. Was Bryony the food?

Oh no, I don't want to be the food. Bryony thought, the realization hitting her as she took another step back. I can't die right now. It can't kill me. No, it's just growling to warn me to back off so it could pass peacefully and be on its way.

Bryony took another step back, but the mountain lion growled louder so she stopped. She just froze, staring at the animal as tears formed in her eyes. She didn't want to die. She could feel the rain getting heavier and then heard thunder from afar. The cold wind got harsh all of the sudden, and she shivered as she saw the dark clouds fully above her.

The storm was here.

"Uh oh." Bryony heard Greta say. "It raining."

"Lets get inside." She heard Amara say and then she heard the kids giggling and laughing as they all ran out of the snow.

"Wait, where's Bryony?" Bryony heard Clarence ask.

Finally they notice I'm missing. Bryony thought. I little too late for that, I'm going to be a mountain lions dinner soon.

"Bryony!" She heard Amara call.

"Go inside!" Bryony shouted back, earning another growl from the mountain lion as it took a threatening step towards her. "There is a mountain lion and I think I'm going to be its dinner."

Wow, she wasn't even scared of that. She just said that like it was nothing. Why wasn't she scared? What was wrong with her?

Just then, the mountain lion growled lunging forward, and that's when Bryony screamed and turned around to start running back. She felt its claw swipe her back and she cried out at the pain, and then felt warm blood slide down her back. Just as Amara came into view, the mountain lion jumped on Bryony, knocking her to the ground.

Amara screamed as she ran inside to tell Auntie Collette. The other kids weren't outside, they were probably inside by now. Bryony screamed and tried to get away from the animal on top of her, but it was too heavy. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the pain. Waiting for death. But instead, she heard the mountain lion howl in pain before she felt the weight off her. Bryony immediately turned around and scooted away from the animal, not caring that the snow was making her pants wet and it was freezing.

Standing in front of her and blocking her from the mountain lion was a boy, but he wasn't a boy. He looked like one who was about close to her age, maybe a little younger, but definitely a little taller, not by much but still taller, with black messy hair that was sticking together in curls, falling into his eyes. His eyes were different colors. His left eye was bright blue. They reminded Bryony of the ocean, clear blue that you can almost see through, with hints of gold. His right eye was bright green, with a little hints of blue and gold in it. His eyes were beautiful. His face was caked in a little mud, as was his clothes and skin. He was dressed in dirty jeans and a black tank top, showing his skinny arms. He had some kind of marking, like a tattoo on his right shoulder, but mud was covering it and Bryony couldn't really make out what the marking was. But what scared Bryony was that giant red/orange wings spread from his back, looking like an angels but not. They weren't feathery, but kind of scaly. Like what you would expect snakes wings would like if they had any. The mountain lion growled at the boy but he made a noice back, immediately wincing as he did, but the mountain lion took that as a threat because it lunged forward at the boy. He smacked it aside and it hit the fence they had in their yard hard and yelped in pain, before turning to the boy and growling again.

Bryony scrambled to her feet and turned to run to the house but the mountain lion turned to her instead and ran after her. She screamed as it jumped on her again, but as soon as it was on her, it was off again and the boy was holding it up with one arm. Bryony's eyes were wide as she stared at him. How could someone so skinny hold a heavy freaking mountain lion? The boy threw the animal and once it hit the ground, it immediately got up and ran off, its babies following it.

Some mother that was, just abandoning her babies like that. Maybe she knew they would follow her anyway.

The boy turned to Bryony and held his hand out for her. She stared at it for a moment before slowly reaching out to grab his hand, eyes still on the wings sticking out of his back. He helped her up and his wings folded neatly behind him, so Bryony looked up at the boy faces. He looked curious as he studied her, tilting his head to the side a little and blinking.

"Who are you?" Bryony asked him. "No, what are you?"

The boy didn't answer, he just stared at her with those gorgeous eyes of his. Could he talk? Was he a mute or something? What was he even doing here? Who was he? Why did he have wings sticking out of his back? That doesn't just happen.

"I'm Bryony." Bryony said and held her out for him to shake. "Your wings are cool. Where did you get them? Are you from that magical world that guy Elon told me about? For the record, I don't even believe in that stuff anyway. But seeing you? Well," she leaned to look at the wings behind him before looking back up at his face, "I'm starting to think something is going on here."

The boy didn't say anything and Bryony's eyes widened as his wings suddenly started to disappear. Wait what? How does that happen? What was going on here?

The boy held his hand out for Bryony. She heard Auntie Collette and Amara calling her name and she turned as she saw them running outside, looking for her. Bryony turned back to the boy and took his hand. He squeezed her hand and then she suddenly felt dizzy all of the sudden. What did he do to her? Why did she suddenly feel so dizzy? What was going on?

Bryony's head was spinning and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to get rid of the horrible headache but it only got worse. The last thing she remembered was being surrounded by a beautiful forest before everything went black.