Just Like Magic

Chapter 13 The Run

Randalyn's POV

We slow down our walk, practically coming to a stop as he leans against a huge tree for a short moment, giving us a chance to catch our breath before we start back up to running again. I look around as I see a bush shaking, so I step back, not knowing what would be in there, but Cassius is quickly at my side saying softly into my ear, "That's just a fluttery bush, nothing to worry about." I nod as I look over at him to ask. "So there is nothing in there?"

"Probably not.. Its a bush that shakes all the time, hence the name.. so its ok.. just relax." he says turning away from me as I nod and keep looking around at all the details around us. That's when I noticed vines spread out all over the place with tons of pink flowers between each leaf on the vines. I see a big bright pink flower and it's probably the biggest one here. It's beautiful. It looks like it may have spots, but I can tell from here. So I slowly walked over to it, leaning over to get a better look at it as I extend my arm out to touch it.. But before I can come in contact, Cassius quickly wraps his arm around me just to pull me away.

"What are you doing?" I ask as he keeps pulling me away with my hand still extending to the flower. That is until it snaps at me, with what would look like teeth. I'm in shock as I retract my hand and look up at him, so he explains. "Its a fanged geranium.. It's known to bite humans, but it's also known for the beauty it beholds, that entices people to come in so it can bite them." he says to me as I nod, "Will it eat people?" I ask with fear in my tone as he chuckles at my question before saying.. "Not that I know of, but it can give you a nasty wound for sure.. I just didn't want you to get hurt anymore than you already have." I nod at him as I continue to back away from the pretty flower with him, just to keep looking around.

Cassius waves his hand to get me to follow him and, of course, I do without hesitation. He starts walking but starting off slowly, which is helping me to keep up with him because of how exhausted I feel right now. I keep my eyes on all the details around me, I'm scared to touch anything else, just in case it's something that can hurt me.

"Maybe this place isn't as amazing as I first thought. Everything is so beautiful but it has lots of stuff out here that could hurt me." I say to myself as he quickly responds. "It's not that bad at all, it just takes some time and effort to get to know the plants and creatures around here, but once you do, you would be fine." He explains to me as I smile at him before inquiring. "Is that what you did to get to know all this stuff?" he nods at my question without hesitation.

"My mother is a magizoologist so I have been around creatures all my life. My sister is a healer so I know medicines that mostly come from plants and sometimes creatures.. and for me, I am an herbologist, so plants are my thing.. Well, maybe I should say that I was an herbologist." he declared this, automatically peaking my curiosity.

"What happened?" I blurt out before realizing in that instant how personal the information that I'm insisting from him is, without even knowing him. That's none of my business, even if I want to know. So I cleared my throat out of embarrassment before adding on. "If you don't mind me asking.. of course... sorry." I notice that he quickly groans out, pinching the bridge of his nose, showing the displeasure of this question. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked." I quickly retracted my question.

But he just shakes his head before he answers it anyway. "No, don't worry about that.. it's not the question that's bothering me.. it's the answer... I... I caught my ex cheating on me with my boss and lost it.. she said she did it for the promotion since we worked together and a position opened up above us.. and we both had the opportunity to get it... but I honestly don't believe that... and after I lost my insanity on my boss's face, I was escorted out of the building. That situation had opened up a whole can of problems because now there is a formal investigation in the process at the herbology lab.. So I can't go back to work yet, well until they give me the ok.. but even then I don't know if that will ever happen, because they haven't even told me if I still have my job yet."

"Oh.. I'm sorry.. were you guys together for a while?" I ask him as he shakes his head. "No longer than any other relationship I have been in... only a couple of months, but still hurt all the same.. A betrayal is still a betrayal.. You know how that is when it comes to a relationship." he says this so casually as I shake my head. "No it might sound bad, but I have never been in a relationship.. my father never allowed me to.. he said I was only his." I say sadly to him as he looks over at me with concern but doesn't say anything. He looks like he wants to say a lot but his lips stay silent for the moment. I don't want this silence to convey what the rest of this walk will be like.. there was good and bad for both of us... that doesn't mean we have to let it control everything now. So I casually look over at him, thinking of how to change the conversation to something that doesn't involve a bad relationship.

I keep walking, while looking around, trying to decide what to talk about to start a random conversation with my savior. "Why can't we do that zipping thing that you did to get us to the woods? That was very convenient." I say huffing as we continue to trek through the trees and bushes. I look over at Cassius. He is staring over at me and smirking to himself, but when he notices me looking over at him, he quickly looks away to replies back. "By zipping thing, I'm assuming you're talking about appartating.. its what took us out of the house and to the edge of the forest." I nod at that, bitting my bottom lip as I wait for him to explain things to me, since I seem to be the dumb muggle... no matter how many magical movies and books I have intercepted in my lifespan.

"The ministry can track magic when they have pinpointed a certain person... So when magic is used by specific people, they can find out where I used it and what spell I used.. And since they know that I'm hiding you because of coming to the house I live in with my sister, they can now track me if they want and I would assume that's exactly what they're doing.. Just waiting for me to use my wand.. but luckily I don't need my wand to use my magic.. it just helps with harnessing my magic.. So I will try to not use my wand that much only when I would need to do more powerful spells.. that's it and only if I have to." He retorts to me as I nod at him, thinking about just that. "So those men.. were bad guys?" I ask probably sounding dumb to him, but I want to know what's happening.

"I wouldn't say bad.. They are working men, doing what is asked of them... It's more that they are a little quick to shoot before asking questions.. They are dramatic about anything they don't understand and quickly get rid of it, if they think that will help." He explains as I quickly reply. "Do they want to get rid of me?" He stops in his tracks as he looks over at me but with his mouth agape, "I don't know.. but by the way they reacted to you being here.. I would say so." I huff out as I shake my head. "So I'm tortured in my own world and then I find a new one, and I'm already on the chopping block within only one day of being here.. all for just being me.. different then the rest." I cross my arms across my chest in frustration.

Cassius turns to face me and I look up into his eyes, letting him know I'm frustrated but listening, no matter how hard this may be for me. "They are just afraid.. Long ago, muggles found us and destroyed us.. They used us to experiment on and bled us dry.. We were hunted every day of our lives and had to fight just to get the world back to what it is for us today.. But because of that.. yes, they are very protective over our world.. I think they attacked because they were scared of what one muggle might do.. especially if you took this information back to your world." he tries to explain as best as he can.

But that doesn't seem to satisfy my mind. I feel myself getting even more frustrated with that thought and making my mind run rampant. I huff out and state. "That explains why that man called me a monster.. but what they didn't know is that I don't want to go back to that place.. ever.. I would rather die alone in the clutches of that strangling plant you saved me from, then go back to that place." I walk away from him, keeping my stride as he now follows behind me.

"You're not a monster." he says to me as I scoff and flip around. "You don't know that.. maybe I am.. maybe that's why no one wants me.. Maybe I'm not worth the time or effort.. I won't ever be welcome anywhere to finally be happy.. and all I'm doing is bringing everyone down with me.. So you should probably just go before the same thing happens to you.. I don't want you to get into anymore trouble than you already have for me.. Because... It must be me. What else could it be? I must be toxic or something." I sadly say to him as I keep walking not stopping.

"You can't think like that." He says to me as I stop while shaking my head. "And why not?" I ask before facing him, this makes him freeze as he says softly. "Because.. you...you seem nice." he says to me and this gets my attention. My eyebrows touch as I step closer to him. "You think I'm nice? I threatened you with bear mace the first time we met." I state as he chuckles and says, "In your defense, I did follow you into a dark alley."

I giggle at that as I look away from him and reply quickly. "Yeah that was creepy.. but lucky for you, you seem nice as well, so I guess I won't bear mace your face." He laughs with that as he responds just as playfully. "Thanks for that and now I won't have to turn you into a toad." I laugh at that comment.

"Thanks for that, but at this rate I might be better off as a toad.. or maybe you could turn me into something cool where I could still kick some ass.. like a dragon.. that would be nice." I say to him as he laughs with me while he nods. We nervously stare for a moment, making my heart skip a beat as I get even more nervous than before. I turn away from him to cut the staring contest because I can't seem to get enough of those green orbs and probably making a fool of myself as I indulge in that sight.

When I turn something catches my eye.. I see a bright blue frog on the plant below my hand. I stop and slowly inch down to look at it before adding. "Well, this guy is pretty cute, so maybe that wouldn't be so bad." I say as I reach out to touch it, but before I can Cassius grabs my hand and informs me. "Well as cute as this little frog maybe.. it has killed more than the devil's snare that got your leg or any dragons.. they are poisonous.. So its best to try to stay away from anything out here that is covered in bright vibrant colors.. That's the natural warning sign to stay away, for all of us.. but someone like you that doesn't know falls straight into their trap."

I nod my head vigorously as I stand up and say to him.. "Ok, so maybe I would love to be a bright teal poisonous frog.. can you do that?" He chuckles at that as he pulls me further away and says, "yeah I think I could do that.. but why teal?" I smile and pull my hand away before walking ahead of him again, before saying over my shoulder. "It's my favorite color."

"So what else is poisonous out here? Does your mother protect everything out here or just the things that arent poisonous?" I ask him as he gets closer still looking around over his shoulder as we continue on our way. "She mostly just protects the weak or hurt until she can get them back to their type of land that they can thrive on.. But she has been known to save endangered animals and bring their species together to save them from extinction." He says with so much pride that you can feel it in each word stated.

"She sounds like a saint." I say to him as he smiles and nods to himself. "In a way she is." I find myself inching closer to him as I ask. "So when was the last time you got to see her?" He shrugs his shoulders before replying. "Its been a little bit.. about a couple of months.. I don't get to see her as often as I would like."

"You can't just come out here and see her?" I asked, being nosey like I probably shouldn't. "No, not exactly.. She is always on the move and has to stay out here with the creatures to ensure their safety.. and since everything is blocked off from the world out there, it's not exactly easy to come visit.. So I normally only get to see her when she comes to see us." He says this sadly and I can see that, so I try to change the subject. "What about your father? What does he do?"

"He works for the ministry.. we don't stay in contact with him at all, honestly.. he is not a very good man... he has done a lot of bad things to get his way so it's hard to trust the ministry knowing they fully back him.. but he is what they nicknamed, the triggerman.. he takes care of things that most won't, because of morals and all." he spats out about his father showing the obvious animosity in his words for that man.

"Shitty dad? Been there done that. I get it. Mine or I guess I found out he is not mine.. but anyway, he was doing this torture to me since I was little, so I get it. He had no morals either." I try to say casually to show he is not alone in that, just to try to put a better tone on things, but that just makes him look sad again. "We should probably run a little longer until we can get to the center and then we will stop and take a break.. it's been hours now so it should be about the afternoon, even though we can't tell in here." he instructs me as I nod at that. He starts up as I do the same, keeping up the pace with him.

We keep running and taking breaks in between, just before running again.. I don't know how long this forest is, but I feel like we have been running for hours and I would assume after a strenuous activity like that, that we would've made it to the end of the forest.. but he said we're going to the middle and we haven't stopped yet.. so I don't know how we're not there yet, but apparently we're not. I appreciate his help but never expected to have to do all this running in the process.. I was thinking that I would have to do more hiding then anything. If I would've known this was in my future, then maybe I would have tried harder in school during the physical education classes.. But I didn't, so here we are having a heart attack while trying to not look completely useless to this incredibly attractive man, who for whatever reason, wants to help me out.