ORPHAN aka Violet Haired Girl

chapter twelve

"GRANDFATHER, GRANDFATHER! WATCH THIS!" I called out. 

I got into the position I needed to perform my trick, checking back to see if he was watching me. Grandfather gave me a thumbs up and a smile and I giggled before doing four cartwheels in a row. With each cartwheel, I felt the prickly grass underneath my fingers. The smell of fresh dirt and adrenaline rushed through my head.

"Oh my!" My grandmother hollered, rushing outside, "All these fancy things you're letting my child do! She could hurt herself!"

"Oh Kim, give her a break. She's seven. Her bones are still young. Like mine." Grandfather chuckled before winking at me.

I blushed and hugged both of my grandparents. "I love you all. I would do anything to protect you guys." I said as both of them squeezed me tightly.

I looked Jack Hunter up and down and then clutched my backpack, "You have the same name as the wolf that was in my dream." 

Jack Hunter tilted his head and scratched behind his ear with his paw, "Nice to know dreams do come true."

I rolled my eyes, "And you look the exact same as in my dream."

"Maybe your fairy godmother brought me here to protect you from the evil big bad wolf." He sounded as if he were human, he would be rolling his eyes all like now.

"Ironically." I got up from where I fell and shrugged, "Why are you here? Really."

"You're going to come with us." Jack Hunter began walking in the direction the wolves came from.

Two wolves came behind me and started nudging at my feet for me to start moving. So I did.

"Where are we going?" 

"You ask too many questions."

"How am I supposed to go with you if I do not know where we're going?"

"Because you don't know where you're going so that's why you're coming with us to find out."

"Touche." I mumbled and leaned back against my arms, "So green-eyed wolf-"

"-Celeste." She corrected

I knew it. "Where did you inherit those green eyes from?"

Celeste looked straight ahead, "I'm colour blind. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Y'all aren't cooperating with me as my dream did," I whined and pouted.

"That's because we're in reality. Reality." Jack Hunter sighed, "And Celeste. Being colour blind doesn't stop you from having a specific eye-colour. Your eyes are green. You're avoiding the girl's question."

Celeste groaned, "I was born human. Just like you. I was born into a family of two. When I turned six, an experiment was done on me but failed and I turned into a wolf. The end."

"You haven't given me much information." 

"You have been given much than you should know." She said and looked down at the ground.

"So all of you have been human once?"

They all stayed quiet.

I groaned aloud, "Jeez! I'm not getting anywhere with you guys." I looked down at my feet to see that it was just a branch I stepped on that broke. I shook my foot and continued walking.

"You'll get there when it's time." Jack Hunter stated.

Always the answer I get when I ask questions. Soon from now, I'll stop asking them.

The sky was turning blue, and the moon was nowhere to be seen. It was about seven in the morning when we arrived at a massive river which had a waterfall.

"Water!" I shouted and ran ahead of them to drink some water. Since all of my water was gone. 

As soon as I knelt down to drink some water I heard Jack Hunter holler. "Do not drink that!"

"Why?" I frowned.

"You always ask why and not just accept the fact you're not supposed to do something!" Jack Hunter shook his head and they started walking in the direction of the waterfall.

Celeste stared at me and waited for me to stand, "C'mon. Let's catch up." 

I pushed my hands in my pockets and walked beside her. The sound of the water was enough to make me fall asleep since I was so tired.

"The water was once pure and clean, but fifty years ago, when the Irish came back, they did something terrible with it. And to the woods too. And we're slowly dying. The woods and the creatures within. I'm not allowed to say much but when you were born, word got around in the woods. Jack Hunter spent years figuring out how to get ahold of you. Your grandfather wanted you to live a normal human life, so he kept all the woods secrets from you. We brought you here because there's something in you that not even your grandfather could've distinguish. You're destined to save us, as your people."

"I-" 

"-Os Cionn!" Jack Hunter ordered and the waterfall parted, revealing a pathway to the inside of a rock.

My mouth dropped open, "It's just like those books!" I squealed.

"Do not let the water touch you." Jack Hunter said and I nodded, before stepping in.

A gush of cold wind hit me and I shivered, "What was that." My teeth chattered and my legs shook.

"Welcome to "Rós de an Marbh."

"Why is it called Rose of the Dead?" 

"This place has been renamed plenty of times but this name here has stuck with us for years," Celeste said.

"Legend has it that way back, even before your great grandfather was born, a girl with royal blood showed up on this very cliff we are standing on the night of the full moon. She can only turn into a wolf once every century. The most powerful wolf of all time, with one blow, she can destroy all of the Irish if she wants to but something was stopping her and no one knew what it was." A brown wolf explained. He kept his eyes ahead of him, overlooking the underground city that must've been standing for many of generations.

The lights above flickered and the breeze was cold. The buildings were all different sizes and those who lived within those buildings were wolves. Some with a family of all ages, some alone. From newborn to being on a deathbed. Some even homeless. The view was immaculate! It was practically Wolf town but there was something gloomy about it and I didn't know what it was.

Was it because there was no grass? No trees? No sky? Or was it because it was surrounded by just wall that couldn't be broken into no matter how hard you tried to?

No.

It was something else. It wasn't the interior or the way the town was. It was the interior within the interior and it has been hidden from all of these wolves who live here. And my grandfather probably knew the secrets of Rós de an Marbh and told my father who was supposed to tell me.

But I never got it. And it's not my place to ask for it. The atmosphere got more chilly and I looked down at the wolves who brought me here. They weren't cold or anything.

Was it that their fur that kept them warm or was it that they were accustomed to this?

My hair started to burn and my eyes started to feel heavy but no one seemed to notice. 

Brown wolf continued, "When she wasn't around, it was told that she was seen in a garden of roses. One grew every year once she was alive. She used to sing by the riverside every night, once you heard her voice, you knew it was night and it was time to sleep. Her voice was so angelic and so beautiful. Soft like cotton and beautiful like a rose. But the lyrics stabbed like thorns."

"What were the lyrics?" I coughed and Celeste looked at me, "We should get you to someplace to rest."

I shook her off, "I'm all good." I clutched the side of my stomach, "Keep going."

"We were never allowed to repeat the lyrics so those who heard, heard it and those who didn't hear, didn't hear. Whoever repeated the lyrics were found dead the following morning."

"What about the girl? What happened to her?"

"One night, everyone had gotten into bed already since it was past nine waiting patiently for her voice to seep in through the walls but it never came. They hadn't thought anything was wrong because it was just one night, the second night came and still no song was heard. The third night came and then that night became a week. Every night was silent. Every night was dead."

1444 words

*Os Cionn- Above