When several of their classmates wondered about the terrifying woman who had come screaming out of the forest after Jahrra, Ellysian had a ready excuse.
“That was probably one of her friends from that mud hole! I bet she paid them to dress up and howl like that, though I have no idea what she could have paid them with!” Ellysian had crooned menacingly.
Far too angry to speak, Jahrra had simply clenched her fists and stalked to the other side of the schoolyard to fume. Eydeth and Ellysian were on her last nerve, and she didn’t know how much more she could stand. Stupid, she thought, how could I be so stupid to think that they’d actually leave me alone after this?
“The most dangerous thing you could’ve seen in there was a mosquito or two!” Eydeth cackled, half bent over, his face contorted and his cheeks streaming with tears. “I bet you ran in terror when you saw them! Is that why you and your mud-hole friend came screaming out of the woods?”
This earned a healthy rumble of laughter from some of the students, but not as many as usual, and Jahrra couldn’t help but be a little happy for this bit of fortune. The twins were still on the hunt, but it seemed that their pack was getting tired of chasing down the same old prey. By the middle of fall, however, the majority of the class, except for Gieaun and Scede and a few others, were convinced that Jahrra was the liar Eydeth claimed her to be.
Jahrra would’ve accepted their continued abuse with some dignity if it hadn’t been for one thing: Eydeth and Ellysian had gone back on their word about staying away from Lake Ossar. Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede had enjoyed a few weeks of freedom at the lake after the success of her venture into the swamp, but then, out of the blue, the twins suddenly started showing up at the lake once again.
“What are you doing here!?” Jahrra had demanded angrily of her two mortal enemies. “You are not supposed to be here! We had a deal!”
It was the second weekend after the start of school and Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede had been craving an escape to the lake.
“We don’t have to keep promises to liars,” Eydeth had sniffed, dangerously quiet as he stood his ground.
“Now move out of the way, we have more important things to do than talk to worthless Nesnans!” Ellysian spat, sweeping past Jahrra in a flurry of the layers of skirts she always wore.
Jahrra was livid, and if it hadn’t been for Gieaun and Scede holding her back, she would’ve tackled Ellysian and practiced a few of her newly learned attack moves on her.
“I’ll get you back for this someday!” she screamed in rage as the twins and their friends marched away sniggering.
“Jahrra! Calm down, there’s nothing we can do!” Gieaun hissed, trying very hard not to bolt after Ellysian herself.
Scede had been so angry he couldn’t move from where he stood for several minutes.
“I’ll find a way to get rid of them if it kills me!” Jahrra seethed as the three friends left the lake.
Jahrra could feel herself burning with anger as she recalled the memory. That had been over a month ago, and it was now the middle of autumn. Soon it would be winter, and soon she would have a few weeks away from the twins. Free time for going to the lake and watching the winter birds, Jahrra thought sadly, shivering with annoyance as she remembered her one place of sanctuary was no longer safe. Well, maybe not my only place of sanctuary, she thought with a wry grin. She was presently stretched out on a great sagging, moss-covered oak branch, her arms folded under her chin, watching Denaeh tend to some of her plants and mushrooms. It was a foggy, quiet fall day similar to the late summer day when she had last been to the Belloughs before the start of school. The familiar smell of sluggish smoke tinged the air and she kicked her legs lazily, the hanging dry moss from the branch above brushing her feet.
Even deep in the Black Swamp, where normally one would be on their guard, Jahrra couldn’t help but feel comfortable and at ease. The forest was enveloped in a great blanket of fog, but everywhere within this deaf silence echoed the small sounds of moisture collecting and slapping leaves as the water droplets fell to the forest floor. Both near and far the sounds of the dripping condensation sang in unison with the quiet crackle of Denaeh’s fire. The small noises of the tiny creatures searching out the driest spot to rest in the underbrush only added to the secretive atmosphere.
The silence only enhanced Jahrra’s other senses as she continued to brood over her latest debacle with the twins. How? How do they keep getting away with it!? How do they keep winning even when I beat them?
Jahrra had been so lost in thought that she failed to notice Denaeh smiling up at her.
“Don’t let it bother you so much,” she said aloud, shocking Jahrra back into the present world. “It happened months ago. Besides, are you sorry that you accepted their dare?”
Again, she’d managed to read Jahrra’s mind. This statement, if given by Hroombra, or worse, Jaax, would have raised Jahrra’s hackles and turned her pale gray-blue eyes deep cobalt. But coming from Denaeh it made perfect sense. Besides, she’d been listening to Jahrra’s thoughts again, and one couldn’t be angry with someone who had that kind of power.
“I’m not saying that I’m disappointed,” Jahrra proclaimed. “I wouldn’t have met you if I’d backed down. But those two always seem to lure me into their trap, and no matter what, no matter how many times I succeed, I never can win. I just wish for once I could get back at them, not just for a few weeks, but for good. I’m still angry at them for trying to kill me on Solsticetide!”
Denaeh merely nodded and smiled, still bent over her precious mushrooms. She hadn’t seen the young girl since the week before school had started and at that time Jahrra was still pleased with the results of their combined act to bring the dreaded swamp witch to life.
“You had the lake for a while, did you not? And you and Gieaun and Scede alone have the satisfaction of seeing the twins’ faces and hearing their screams when I chased you from the trees. They can claim you lied all they want, but they were petrified.”
“I know,” Jahrra huffed, “but I just wish there was a way to get them to leave us alone.”
Denaeh stood up from her crouching position, black crumbs of soil tumbling off the front of her stained apron. She pressed her hands against her lower back and stretched, gazing off into the distance as if doing so would clear her mind.
She stood that way for several minutes before she spoke, “I don’t usually partake in revenge because I believe that everything will one day come back to haunt you, even if those you are casting your vengeance upon have been deserving their comeuppance for quite some time. But I like you Jahrra, you remind me of what it truly means to be youthful, and these two children have stepped far over the boundaries of what should be tolerated. So I shall help you this one time in developing a plot to disrupt the evil twins, as you so claim them.”
Jahrra’s head shot up, her cheek prickling after having left behind its mossy pillow. She hadn’t thought that Denaeh would ever propose such a thing. The Mystic was grinning up at the young girl underneath a halo of fire-red hair, a look of mischief soon replacing the look of calm composure on her youthful face.