Taking a careful sip of the tea Bernard had brought her, Beth admired the evening view from her balcony.
Fading sunlight caught bits of movement in the fog. Yet the stillness of the air around her sent a shiver down her spine. Watching the life-like tendrils shifting across the ground and the last of the evening light tip-toeing away, something in her wanted to creep after them.
A sudden knock startled her from her observations.
"Who's there?"
"Dinner. Let me in before the boys find me again!" Maya's urgent half-whisper made Beth chuckle. The moment she unlocked the door Maya slipped in and silently shut the door, locking it behind her.
"Thank the powers that be that you heard me." Maya sighed exaggeratedly. "Those two still find it necessary to annoy me with all of this new castle to explore. Comes of being the least favorite big sister."
"Guess so." Beth laughed at Maya's desperation. "Want some tea? Bernard brought me a pot of it."
"A whole pot? I only got a mugful, and the boys spilled half of it out the window. Gimme." Maya sighed again, this time contentedly, and took a long sip from her now-full mug. "Even Mom and Dad only got mugs. How are you everyone's favorite? Even Bernard, who we literally just met, obviously favors you."
Beth gave a crooked grin. "I'm not everyone's favorite. Mom and Dad barely see me anymore."
Maya shrugged. "Yeah, neither of us is their favorite anymore. At least other people like you."
"You literally don't care if people hate you!" Beth protested, trying to be serious. Sticking her tongue out and pulling under her eye with one finger, Maya made that impossible.
They both laughed, the mood shifting from the pensiveness of before to one of ease.
"Want to sit on the balcony?" Beth invited her further in with a gesture.
"Depends." Maya sipped her tea thoughtfully. "Do you think the boys would be able to see me from the garden?"
"Not a chance. I can't even see the garden if I lean out over the edge." Beth assured her.
"Let's go then, it's nicer outside anyways."
Beth dragged another of the intricately carved wooden chairs out to the balcony for Maya and they settled down.
Silence settled over them, a blanket with the thickening fog.
Until Maya sighed.
"You're right you know." she studied the mug in her hands. "I don't care if most people hate me. I've got you on my side. Better a single loyal sister than a dozen fake friend puppet-people."
Beth smiled a bit and looked out into the fog. Swallowing a careful mouthful of her cooling tea, she looked at the vaguely distant trees.
"Maybe kids at school liked me, but nobody has bothered to check on me since we left. I've missed graduation and the party, and nobody noticed. Guess I had a bunch of those fake friend puppet-people after all. All of my teachers wished me luck with the move though."
"So adults like you. Are you messed up or grown up?"
They both laughed, the old joke working its usual effect.
"Seriously though Beth, are you ok?" Maya turned serious. "You've been kind of... I mean, you've seemed dazed since we got here."
Beth shook her head slowly.
Maya waited.
"It's just... This place. The castle, the grounds, the rooms, even the atmosphere. It all feels like I've already been here before. I'm afraid to leave my room and explore because I might find out I already know my way around. Sorry." she apologized instantly. "I know that sounds stupid."
"Yeah it does." Maya agreed instantly. "You should at least see if you can get to the kitchen before you say stuff like that."
Beth blinked at Maya.
They both burst out laughing until tears slipped down their cheeks and they were gasping for breath.
"You just want a snack!" Beth accused, wiping her face again and again.
"Maybe I do!" Maya admitted. "The boys won't bother me as much if you're there. So come on, test it out, let's go get some food."
Beth agreed, trying to calm the nerves fluttering in her stomach.
Five hallways, several turns, and a close encounter with their rampant brothers later, they reached the kitchen.
Maya looked around them, then back to Beth.
"So you're sure you don't have like a hidden map or something? Because that should have been impossible."
"Yeah, I'm sure."
Maya blinked a few times, then opened a cupboard and started rummaging through it for a snack.
"Huh. Well that's weird. Let me grab some food and then we can test your outdoor skills."
Beth took a moment to process what her sister had said.
"It's dark out by now though!" She protested.
"Perfect. You won't be able to cheat by checking the sun to navigate." Maya winked mischievously.
Rolling her eyes, Beth grabbed a small bag of potato chips. "You know I can't do that. I'm more likely to navigate by the moon. Either way, we both know my sense of direction normally isn't worth anything. That's why you navigate the amusement parks for us."
Maya raised her eyebrows. "I navigate everything for us. Now, how do we get outside Miss Deja Vu?"
Beth swallowed and headed for a door.
"This one?" Maya was surprised. "We don't need to go like, back to the first floor or something?"
"I don't know, I just felt like it was this one." Beth pulled it open, revealing a small greenhouse filled with healthy herbs.
Maya gaped as Beth lead the way through it and to another door that opened to the rolling field beneath Beth's balcony.
Mid munch, Maya lowered her cookie and looked at Beth.
"You realize this is freaky right? You can barely find your way out of a walk-in closet."
They both grinned at that, knowing it was true.
"I told you, it's weird. You asked..."
"Oh I know I asked, I just didn't realize how unprepared I was for the answer!" Maya retorted cheekily. "Now do you think we have time to take a walk in the woods before we go back inside?"
Beth looked across the meadow, which had seemed so large before. Now, in the moonlight, it felt smaller. The forest loomed above them in the fog, almost as if it had marched closer since nightfall.
"I think so. Shall we?"
Maya sidled along beside Beth as her steps grew more confident. The grass beneath her accidentally bare feet, moist from the fog, seemed to spring up in welcome. The night was silent, but the air around them hummed with some song Beth just knew. A few dozen steps carried them across the meadow, and into the welcoming arms of the forest.
The silence was pulsing through her from the air, and the ground under her feet answered. She didn't realize she was smiling until her cheeks began to ache from how broadly her lips had spread across her face. And still, Beth smiled. There was no way for her to not smile.
A startled cluster of birds, like living shadows in the shelter of the woods, darted past the girls close enough to feel the stirring of the air from their tiny wings. The swirls left in the fog danced in front of Beth's eyes in time to the silent song still pulsing through her.
Then she turned her head in the direction the birds had come from.
Her feet, once light, were suddenly rooted to the ground.
There was nothing. But she knew as clearly as if she had seen it, there had been someone... or something... right there. In the exact spot she was staring at. She could almost see it in her mind. If she could only look for a little bit longer, she would know...
"Ok that's enough for tonight."
Maya's voice interrupted the flow of Beth's thoughts, bringing her into a more normal reality.
"You've got a really weird look on your face. It's not... Bad. But I'm not comfortable with it right now. We have an idea of what to expect, that's enough for now. We need to know how to handle it, and right now we're just winging it. That's how half the people in horror movies die." Maya stated firmly.
Beth shook herself, still hearing the pulsing silence, although quieter.
"How would you know? We haven't seen any horror movies?" Beth's voice was filled with laughter as they turned and began to walk back to the castle.
"I just know. Come on, lets head in."
They retraced their footsteps, both ignoring the significant increase in the time it took them to cross the meadow. The welcoming arms of the forest had tried to call them back, and the birds chirped pleadingly. By the time they were back inside, the strange exultation was mingled with regret, and longing to return to the sheltering arms of the trees.
She said goodnight to Maya at the doorway to her room, and as soon as the door was closed behind her the spell broke.
What was going on? The echoes of something still lingered, but her mind had come back to its usual state.
Beth was terrified. She was terrified that she knew. The corridors outside her door were too warm, too welcoming. The air outside was too alive. The ground was too familiar, the echoes in the halls reminiscent of the dreams that had assaulted her memory that morning. The scents and sounds of the woods pounded through the back of her brain, threatening to awaken more. She was terrified by the familiar figure from the woods. Terrified that she knew it was there without seeing it. But most of all, she was terrified of how much she wanted to go back to the feeling of home, joy, and safety that had been brought to her by new sounds, smells, and rooms she'd never known.
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