~Part Thirteen~


Gone.  He’d only left her alone for two short minutes and now she was gone.  It was almost as if something had swooped down from the sky and carried her away without a trace...and he was worried.

Quickly making his way out of the garden, Michael looked around him.  Something hadn’t felt right about the way she looked at him, the way she seemed to clutch his hand as though it was her only safety guard.  She had been scared and he had a feeling it didn’t have anything to do with the crowd at the reception.

There was something was wrong and he needed to find her, fast.

Taking off in a quick sprint, Michael made his way toward one of the places he knew she might go.  Hoped she would go.

Somehow, he knew he didn’t have much time to find her.

.  .  .

It hadn’t taken Maria long to reach the meadow.  She had already been making her way out of Albythia when she backtracked to retrieve the journal that she had been given by Michael.  Her journal.

It was something that she knew she should have left behind, but for some unknown reason she couldn’t imagine parting with it.  As small and insignificant as it might have been, it was a part of her.  Something she refused to leave behind, if only to hold the memories of the last two weeks closer to her soul.

Kneeling down in the grass near a hollowed tree stump, she reached inside, pulling out the small diary.  It was still there, tucked away safely.  Standing up slowly, she wiped off a bit of soil that had fallen onto it.

As she was about to turn around she paused, taking in the sounds of the forest.  Everything around her seemed frozen in space, silent as though a great danger lurked just around the corner.  The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up as cold fear crept into her throat.

She wasn’t alone.

.  .  .

With every step he took Michael could feel his worry increase ten fold.  He’d already been to the crop fields, the Parker’s house, and the fire pit without a single sign of her.  His lungs were threatening to explode on him and all he could manage to do was scold himself for not taking a horse from the stables when he’d had the chance.

He had taken off at a dead run and hadn’t stopped to rest for the last fifteen minutes since he’d abandoned hope of finding her at the forest edge near the pit.  His mind didn’t seem to be working properly, and if he didn’t find her soon he was afraid he was going to loose it.

Feeling every shuddering step as his feet pounded against the uneven floor of the woods, Michael did his best to avoid the branches that were reaching out for him, trying to knock him off balance.  He’d already managed to acquire a gash directly above his left eye.  He certainly didn’t need another one any time soon.

Turning to scan the surrounding areas of the forest, he felt his suit jacket catch itself on a branch, pulling him back quickly and stopping him in his tracks.  Reaching up behind him, Michael struggled desperately with the tree to free himself.  Letting out a cry of anger, he ripped the jacket off, leaving it to hang limply on the imposing limb.

Where could she have possibly gone so quickly?  Why hadn’t she waited for him to get back?  How could she do this to him?

Michael could feel his anger rising.  This was just like her, causing him to worry and most likely getting herself into more trouble than she could handle.  He shouldn’t have left her by herself, plain and simple. 

Just as he’d managed to set a steady pace again, Michael felt his foot catch on an invisible root sticking up near a tree, hurling him headfirst to the ground.  He could feel his knee smashing against a large rock as his chin hit a fallen tree branch, splitting it and causing it to bleed.

This just wasn’t his day.

Forcing himself up into a sitting position and reaching up to lightly touch the cut on his chin, Michael cursed.  He’d been to nearly every possible place he could look for the trouble-causing pixie, and he felt like he was farther away from finding her than he had been when he began.  If he didn’t find her soon, he wasn’t sure what he would do.

He couldn’t believe he was admitting it, but somehow she had managed to carve a small place in his life.  The only other people that were ever able to do that had been Max and Isabel.  Okay, and maybe Alex...a little.

Resting his head back and closing his eyes, Michael breathed in deeply, trying to regain some of the energy he’d lost from running around all over town.  He reveled in the cool oxygen as it entered his lungs, slowly refreshing him.

After a few minutes had passed his head shot up.  A noise - it was coming from somewhere close to him.  Someone had to be close by, close enough for him to hear anyway.

Maybe he wasn’t too late.

Looking around him, Michael slowly realized where he was.  Only a few yards away stood the meadow, with it’s tall rolling grass and comforting daisies.  It was the last place he knew of to check, the last place he could hope to find her.  Maria.

Struggling with his footing, he pushed himself onto his feet.  The steady throbbing of his knee was already starting to go numb, and his jaw still dripped slowly with blood.  Looking down, he noticed a light trail that had already made a path down his shirtfront.  His good shirt.

“Stupid, son of a...freakin’...”

Well, at least he didn’t plan on ever having to use it again.  When would he possibly find himself at another formal event?  Isabel was already married, as well as Max and Alex.

Wiping his face painfully on his sleeve, he made his way toward the clearing.  He just prayed that she would be there.

As he rounded a group of small trees he spotted her, staring out at the vast landscape just east of them both.  If it weren’t for the immense amount of relief he had been feeling at that very moment, he would have stormed right over to her and given her the hardest shake he could muster.  Years off of his life, because of one small woman!

Making his way toward the clearing, Michael called to her.  “Maria!”

He could see the noticeable flinching as he neared her, but her focus never faltered.  Her hands were gripping the journal he had given her tightly to her chest, and if he didn’t know any better he would swear she was shaking.

Stopping in front of her, he finally made eye contact.

“Where have you been?!  After you took off I went searching everywhere for you!”  He couldn’t help the words as they came flying out of his mouth.  “The fire pit, the fields...”  Michael’s voice trailed off as he realized that she was still shaking uncontrollably, and her face looked as though she had just seen a ghost.  Her knuckled were deathly white, and the lip she had been chewing on was starting to bleed from the pressure created by her clenched teeth.  She looked petrified.

“Maria?  What’s wrong?!”

He could nearly hear the quickened beating of her heart as he watched her mouth open and close a few times before she found her voice.  When it escaped, it was barely at a whisper.

“He’s here.”

Michael stared at her, confused.  He’s here?  “Who’s here, Maria?”

Somewhere in the quiet shadows behind him, Michael could hear a deep, hollow laughter erupting from a voice that barely sounded human.  A voice that couldn’t be more threatening and dark.

Fear gripped at his very soul as he heard a contented, wicked sneer come from the creature behind him before it hissed out the answer to his question.

“Khivar.”

Swallowing the thickness in his throat, Michael turned around slowly to stare at the man that was hidden in the shadows of the forest, silhouetted against the green foliage.  Sticking out his chin as he felt an unknown source of anger rise to the surface, he addressed the frightened girl behind him, “Who is he Maria?”

Letting go of a shuddering breath, she answered him in a quiet, shaken voice.

“The hunter of the unicorns.”