Chapter twelve

"So... what do we do now?"

"We make a plan." Aven said. "There's a small kingdom not too far away. It won't take long to get there, Elon lives there. I never met him, but the fairies told me about him. He should be able to help us. He'll tell us what to do and when to do it."

"Is it bad that I kind of feel excited?" Bryony said and smiled. "It feels like I'm in a movie, I have always wanted this to happen to me and I'm just really happy. It's like a dream."

"More like nightmare." Aven said. "You're excited about death? You've always wanted death to happen to you? This is going to dangerous Bryony, nothing to get excited about."

"Okay well, I haven't seen anything bad happen yet (unless you count that creepy shadow monster thing) but I'm not scared." Bryony said. "I was born for this, there is nothing here that scares me."

Aven shook his head. "Tell yourself that when we leave this forest. Come on, the kingdom is this way."

Aven started walking east, and Bryony followed him. At least they were getting somewhere now, when he first brought her here, they were just... around. They didn't really do anything, except get almost eaten by at least three devil birds, and the devil frogs. Nevermind, that was just Bryony, Aven didn't get attacked by anything, except that shadow monster thing they saw at night. Actually, they did visit that rude and gross old man, so that was something.

"Wait, you never told me why or how all your energy drains at night." Bryony said to Aven.

He shook his head. "Another time."

Did he not want to talk about it? Was it bad? Bryony was a very curious person, and she never liked waiting for an answer. She folded her arms and made a face, watching him. He turned to her and shook his head again. "Another time."

"Fine." Bryony said even though it wasn't fine. She wanted to know. He didn't really tell her a lot of things, just his dragon powers, and those shadow monsters.... Mthunzi? Whatever they were called, they were the reasons this forest was falling. Although Aven tried to save it, she knew only one person wouldn't be able to. She knew that deep down, Aven knew that too.

"Wait, we were going to get my parents." Bryony said after a minute of silence. How could she forget? They just changed directions.

Aven stopped walking and turned to look at her. "Dorian has your parents Bryony. You think just two kids can get past him and save your parents? You're wrong. We don't have anything to help us, and we don't have a plan and that is why we need to get to the kingdom. We'll get ourselves killed. Never misjudge Dorian, he will rip you to pieces if you even step foot in the same room he is in. You know, I'm doing all this for you and Kaedwenian, not because I want to. You think I want to be where Dorian is? No, I don't. He's looking for me Bryony, and when he finds me, I'm dead. That's it. You won't be able to save your parents and everything will die, including you."

Bryony blinked, surprised by his tone of voice. He didn't yell and he wasn't upset. His tone of voice was soft, but he should have been upset. Everything he said, she would've thought he was upset with her, but he wasn't, his tone was really soft. Aven watched her, waiting for a response, but she only shrugged, so he turned and started walking again. She followed him.

"The kingdom is just a few miles away, past this grove of trees." Aven said.

Bryony looked up to see a grove of trees surrounding them in a circle. It was a huge circle. She remembered that that bird couldn't get in, and that confused her. Why couldn't it? Was this grove magical or something? Well duh, everything here is magical. Except you, a voice in her head said and she scoffed out loud.

Well that was rude. She thought

"Hey, Aven. Is this grove magical? Like, protected from mean creatures? That bird that tried to eat me couldn't get in, why?" Bryony asked.

"This grove is the safest place in the forest. " Aven said. "The purest of creatures live here. And that Kaiwa didn't try to eat you. It liked you, too much. It tried to steal you away."

Bryony looked around. "I don't see anything moving, are they gone or something?" That bird liked her? It tried to eat her. Well, it did like her touching it, maybe it did like her. But why would it scare her by trying to take her. She thought she was going to die.

"They hide well." Aven said.

"Oh." Was all Bryony said, although she was kind of disappointed she wouldn't be able to see some of the purest creatures there. Are there unicorns? Bryony thought. Oh my gosh, I really want to see one now!

Bryony looked around her, really hard, trying to see if she could spot any moving thing, but Aven was right, they hid very well. She sighed and Aven turned around to look at her. She gave him a small smile, and he gave her this cute look back. Aw, he's cute. Bryony thought.

"Wait what?" She said out loud, eyes widening. She did not just think that. Thankfully it wasn't out loud, that would've been the end for her. She would die.

"Are there unicorns here?" Bryony asked Aven, trying to get a conversation going to ignore the inner voice inside her.

Aven shook his head. "Not in this forest, no."

Darn.

"Okay well, what kind of creatures live in this grove? You said they're the purest out there, unicorns should definitely be one." Bryony said.

Aven gave her a look. "What do you know about unicorns? Or think you know about them."

"Their horns can heal anything, and they have silver blood. They're usually white, and its said they're like the most purest creatures." Bryony said. "Well, from what I read about them."

"Wow, you literally have no clue what unicorns are like." Aven said, shaking his head, and giving her another look, that she somehow found cute... again.

Seriously, what was wrong with her? Nothing, she thought. I can call a boy cute. Amara and I called a lot of boys at school cute, that's what girls do. And boys call girls cute, it's normal.

"Well, tell me." Bryony smiled.

Aven shook his head, turning away from her.

Rude. She thought. He didn't even answer me.

"Okay then, what kind of creatures live in this grove?" Bryony asked, folding her arms, and raising an eyebrow, waiting for him to answer.

"You'll have to see for yourself." Aven said, stopping, and turning to Bryony. She looked at him as he pointed at some bushes lining next to one of the many trees.

"I don't see anything." She said.

"You aren't looking hard enough." Aven said.

Bryony looked really hard, searching everywhere for whatever he was talking about, but she still couldn't see anything. Aven lifted her chin up a bit and turned her head to the spot where the creature was, and Bryony gasped when she finally saw it. It looked like a little kitten, but it wasn't. It had green and a little bit of orange fur, and huge, really bright blue eyes. It had six legs instead of four and was standing straight up on two, ears pointed up in alert, as the other four paws were hovered above its chest. Beautiful green, fury, butterfly looking wings were on its back, and its tail was really long and looked like leaves from a tree, but really fluffy. It blended in really well, no wonder she had missed it. Now that she saw it, she couldn't not see again.

"Oh my gosh." Bryony whispered. "What is that, it's literally the cutest thing I have ever seen here."

Aven whistled and the cute little creature perked up, eyes landing on Aven. He crouched down and held an arm out, and as soon as he did, the cute little thing ran towards him. It jumped up in his arms, with such force, that he fell backwards onto the ground. The creature starting licking his face and he was trying to shove it away from his face, but it wasn't going anywhere. Bryony couldn't help but smile as she watched. Aven was making disgusted noises, but was also laughing.

"Devlin stop." Aven said and laughed as the creature jumped back on his face when he finally managed to get it off. The creature plopped down on his face and just sat there for a moment, and this time Aven just let it. He knew it would get off him eventually.

The creature looked at Bryony, finally noticing she was there. Its big blue eyes stared up at her and she smiled, reaching a hand out to touch it, but it jumped back and hissed at her, back arched up, and wings spread wide on top of its back. Its claws were out now, and Bryony saw little baby teeth inside its mouth.

It was just a baby.

Aven sat up, grabbing the creature as it jumped forward to get Bryony. It immediately calmed down in his grip and started purring. Aven touched its nose with his finger. "Devlin, meet Bryony." He looked up st Bryony who was just standing there awkwardly. "Bryony, meet Devlin. He's a Kit."

"Never heard of a Kit before." Bryony said as the baby Kit, Devlin, sat down on Aven's lap and tilted its head to the side as it watched her.

"You can touch him now, he won't hurt you." Aven said, noticing how she looked uncomfortable. "He's really soft, and don't worry about him attacking you. He doesn't attack anyone, he tries to look fierce and scary like his mom, but he isn't old enough yet."

Bryony slowly knelt down next to Aven, and Devlin watched her every move, making her feel more uncomfortable. She knew he was just a baby, but every other creature in this forest, besides the fairies, hated her. Bryony reached a hand out towards the little Kit, and he immediately leaned forward and closed his eyes, allowing her to touch him. Bryony smiled at how soft he was.

"He is adorable." Bryony said. "Where's his mom?"

"Probably out looking for food." Aven said. "They have to leave the grove to find food, so they're always hiding from sight so nothing can get them. Like I said, this grove is full of pure creatures. They wouldn't hurt anything, unless they were being attacked. You would think some of them eat meat, but they don't. They go to the fruit trees that are hidden in this forest and eat those, bringing some back for their babies if they have any of course."

"Cats eating fruit? I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it." Bryony laughed.

"Cat?" Aven asked, looking up at her.

"Oh um, like Devlin, except no wings, only four legs, and their fur aren't green." Bryony said. Aven was still confused, but she just shrugged, not knowing what else to say about cats. She kept forgetting he didn't know all the stuff she knew about the things in her world. He was so innocent and pure, he should be living in this grove. Wait, had he killed anything before? If he did, maybe not.

"Do you know what a dog is?" Bryony asked Aven as she watched Devlin pounce on his hand, and cling to it when Aven lifted his arm up. He shook his head and then shook his arm, trying to get Devlin off, but Devlin clung to his hand, upsidedown, giving Aven this adorable look that said why you trying to get me off? "Oh."

"Trust me, I don't know anything except hiding and running." Aven said as he stood up, little Devlin now sitting on his shoulder. He must've crawled up his arm to his shoulder. "And taking care of this forest."

Bryony though for a moment. Wait...

"Do you know what sadness is?" She asked him, remembering when he was so confused when she was crying. He didn't know what that was.

"What's that?" Aven asked, turning to her as Devlin played with his hand again. He must like hands. The little Kit purred and started biting at Aven's hand, but since he was a baby, it didn't leave any marks.

"Do you know anger? Happiness? What about love?" Bryony asked him, suddenly feeling really upset. She wanted to cry. Why was she so upset over this?

Aven shook his head, and that's when Bryony started crying. Aven gave her a look as she covered her mouth with her hand. "Your eyes are leaking again."

She shook her head. "Its called sadness. I'm crying Aven, crying. It's a feeling or showing of sorrow, but I take it you don't know what that is either. Aven, have you never cried? Have you never let your emotions out? It hurts keeping everything in, why do you keep everything in?"

"I don't understand anything you're saying." Aven said, clearly really confused now. Devlin had stopped playing with Aven's hand, mouth still closed around it and big blue eyes looking up at Bryony. He immediately let go of Aven's hand and stood up, jumping, and opening his wings to catch himself as he jumped on Bryony's shoulder. He made a sad purring noice as he rubbed his face on her cheek. She laughed a little through her tears.

"You're so cute." She whispered as he purred.

Devlin sat down on her shoulder and turned to Aven with his adorable big blue eyes. Bryony wiped the tears away and inhaled a shaky breath, forcing herself to stop crying. She was so emotional, she hated it. She hated how Aven didn't know almost everything, and that made her sad. She needed to help him get his emotions out, no matter how long it took. Nobody doesn't just not know what emotions were. They had to experience them multiple times in life. She knew that some people really didn't know what love and happiness were because the people around them abused them or treated them horribly, but they still knew pain and sadness and loneliness. Aven had to know happiness, he was just laughing not too long ago when Devlin was licking his face. Or did he laugh, but not feel anything? No, he had to have felt something.

"Aven." Bryony said, earning the attention of the little Kit sitting on her shoulder. "What do you feel?"

"What do you mean?" Aven asked her.

"Like, how do you feel inside?" Bryony asked. "Like um, numbness? Or just bored? Or like what?"

Aven thought for a moment, before shrugging. "I don't feel anything, I don't understand what you're trying to say, I'm sorry."

"Where are your parents?" Bryony asked him.

"They're gone." Aven said, giving her a blank expression.

"What do you mean gone?" Bryony asked. "Did they abandoned you, or did they... die?"

Aven shook his head, holding his arm out for Devlin. "No, come on Devlin, we're going."

Devlin jumped on Aven's hand and then climbed up onto his shoulder and sat down, eyeing Bryony closely. He made a purring sound and tilted his head as his long tail flicked to the side before he carefully wrapped it around Aven's neck to make sure he didn't accidentally fall off his shoulder at some point. Aven turned to Bryony. "Come on, if you want to save your parents we need to get to the kingdom right now."