Young Writers Society

"Oh, I'll be fine." I wave the bandages away even though I'm feeling woozy. I adjust the mask on my face, switching the position of the feathers for a little more anonymity - what can I say? Old habits die hard.

I've had worse; so, so much worse. I can remember waking up with my chest slashed open. I can remember being dragged to safety with my shoulder, knee, and wing dislocated - and I can remember fighting off one remaining cat-person while holding in my intestines. It hadn't been fun.

I grit my teeth as the cat-girl goes on about her non-existent healing powers. "You know," I half-say, half-spit, bringing one huge wing around my torso to preen the feathers, "hearing about your non-existent healing powers makes me feel a whole lot better. So thanks."

He shoved the bandages in the boy's direction again. "Take them," he repeated, this time more forcefully than before. The boy pushed them away and gave him a look that clearly said he didn't need any help as he continued preening his feathers.

The girl opened her mouth to argue.

Ryan had been having a tough day, starting with the inexplicable urge to find a small, seemingly abandoned building near the cemetery. The day had become worse when - after taking the cloak, which he guessed was important to him for some odd reason - he had been killed by the apparent guards of the ratty cloak. He had been wandering the woods, cold, in pain, and hungry. When he finally found other people, though they weren't completely human, he was grateful that he wasn't alone.

The two arguing was the final straw.

"For the love of God, would the two of you just shut up already?!"

The girl closed her mouth, and both turned to stare him. He didn't care. Ryan Evans was not an easy person to make upset, but when he was, it was always difficult to calm down.

He pointed a finger at the girl. "I tried helping you! Even if you could fend for yourself, you could at least acknowledge that I was trying to help you out - without knowing you - by at least thanking me for my attempt! Instead you were a brat and started playing the tough girl act!"

He took a step in the boy's direction, still holding the bandages while he jabbed a finger towards him with his free hand. "And you keep trying to get into fights with her! You don't even know each other's names, and you're at each other's throats! Also, you need to stop pretending to be tough! You're literally swaying as I'm talking to you! Take the bandages and put them on, for Olympus's sake!"

He threw the bandages to the boy. Angrily crossing his arms, Ryan started to walk away from the two of them towards the castle. "You can follow me if the two of you both grow up! If you don't, spare me the pain of listening to the two of you arguing with each other over something as stupid as not being able to cast healing magic!"

"You have a good point," I say, still swaying. I quieten, and accept the bandages from the void. The kindness of the gesture makes my stomach crumple - but whether it's guilt or gratitude, I'll never know.

"Thank you," I say quietly. Perhaps too quietly for the void to hear. My stomach continues to crumple. I stare at the bandages for a while longer, my eyes struggling to focus.

I turn away from the other two, fighting my way out of my hoodie, and then my shirt. I hold my wings in such a way that the cat-girl won't be able to see me half-naked. The patch of void won't be able to see me either, but what does that matter? It's a patch of void.

The initial surprise of finding a seemingly sentient patch of void has worn off. I'm still a little wary of it - or them. Would its preferred pronouns be them? Who knows -, sure, but there are bigger things to worry about. One such thing is the matting and dripping of blood on my back, from slashes that are most probably going to get infected.

I bandage up my back as best I can. Feathers grow in my hair, and they continue down the nape of my neck and my shoulder blades, around where the gashes are (the feathers actually continue down my spine. They're soft and downy and good for sleeping rough.). They're pressed painfully into the cuts as I bind them up.

When I'm done, I wriggle back into my clothes and catch the other two up. I stumble once or twice, and I can't walk straight, but I do catch up eventually.

I look at the patch of void. The silence is a little uncomfortable.

"So, patch of void," I begin, once I've faked stability on my feet for long enough, "what brings you to the forest?"

Wendy Maddox

The boy was nice company. She was surprised by how kind he was. In no means did she expect to find another person in the woods at this hour. Perhaps he was lost like her. Another spirit roaming the land. His green eyes were glowing with something grander and wiser. It was best that Wendy didn't ask for his past until later. She remembered something from a blurry memory. A boy with a gleaming smile. A darken past that was foiled only by the smile. When she tried to think hard about it, the memory seemed to wash away. Like the rain over paper.

"Where exactly does this trail lead to, Kou?" Wendy found herself asking. Kou seem to lift the lamp a little higher.

"Depends. I heard once that the trail is connected to your thoughts. Of course, I don't believe such a thing because trails are meant to take you to new places." He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "At least, that what my mother told me."

Wendy decided to not best ask anymore questions. They continued on in silence. There was the random noises like a creature running through some leaves or the bushes moving with the wind. It felt peaceful to her.

"So, why were you in the woods?" Kou asked, breaking the silence.

"I walk through the woods on my free time. There was a cat. It ran away. Now, I am here with you walking down this trail." Her voice sounded hallow and uneven. Kou nodded.

"I was out here for a stroll myself then I came across you. I thought you were a spirit!" He let out a laugh before recomposing himself. An uneasy feeling settled in Wendy's chest. Why did it seem he was mocking her? She felt real since she talking and walking to this guy.

"Yeah," Wendy muttered.

It was only several minutes until they came to a house. White paint was peeling off the side of the house. It was surrounded by dying oak trees and branches lay on the ground. There were some lights in the windows, covered by a white curtain. On a porch, there was a brown rocking chair.

"A house in the middle of the woods. Not creepy at all," Kou said aloud. Wendy silently nodded. It seemed the house was attracting her. A moth to a flame. She shook the feeling.

"Perhaps it is best if we go inside?"

Kou nodded. "My idea exactly."

It was difficult seeing the boy clearly when he glanced over his shoulder at him, as the cloak's hood effectively blocked his vision and nearly fell off when he did so. Luckily, he managed to grab it before it could do so and was spared from the cold.

He slowed his pace to match the boy's. “Patch of void?” he asked. “Is that some sort of insult?”

His question was immediately met by a stare from the boy. "No..." For some reason, the boy looked incredibly confused by Ryan's question. "That's exactly what you are-"

He was cut off by the girl, who was staring at the two of them with the same confusion the boy had on his face. "It's a Wraith."

"It?!"

The bird-boy shook his head. "Unless Wraiths look like blobs of nothingness, you're wrong." He turned to face Ryan, almost as if he was waiting for him to back him up. A second later, the girl was doing the exact same thing.

His response technically wasn't true, but it was the closest he could get to the truth. "I a human," he slowly informed them. He wasn't sure if either of them knew what a human was, but he did know that it was better than them calling him "it", "patch of void" and "Wraith".

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind pushed his hood back. Shivering, he rushed to grab it; he paused upon seeing the looks on their faces. They were staring at him as if he was a ghost. Not literally, of course - his wounds were no longer visible. "Are you two alright?"

Chessy

"Either you're actually a wonderling like me, I'm seeing things, or you're someone or thing none of us know." I teleported to get his cloak for him, teleporting back with it in a cloud of my green-and-purple magic. I held it out to him "If this is used to hide yourself from others, don't hide. If it simply makes you comfortable don't let anyone make you take it off. No matter what you are- don't hide for anyone else's good."

"You look a lot like a patch of void."

"So, you're a really human?"

The void nods again.

"Well, isn't that lucky. I'm a human too," I say. It's the truth - I am a human. I have wings, but I'm still a human.

I watch the cat-girl teleport with a raised eyebrow. Huh, so she can teleport. She seems to be doing it with magic - but I've never seen magic this powerful before. Even the most powerful magic I've ever seen, the magic that gave me my curse, my wings, came from a being unlike us.

I stare from the patch of void to the cat-girl, anticipating the void's next move.

Chessy

"I'm human- well I'm not but I am. I am but I'm not." I took a moment to think about it. "Think of me as a self-created hybrid."

TINA EBERHARD

"I told you this was a bad idea." Tina grumbled behind her best friend, Callie Roberts as Callie pushed a sapling out of the way.

"No, it wasn't. Don't you remember all the areas we just mapped out?" Callie argued, letting the sapling snap behind her as she passed it.

The twig slapped Tina's face, sending a resounding 'THWAK' echoing against the trees of the dark, misty forest. "Gah!" Tina rested her palm against her throbbing cheek, and glared in Tina's direction. "Hey!"

Callie turned around, eyes widening upon realizing what she had caused. "Crap! I'm sorry!"

Tina narrowed her eyes at Callie. "Pay more attention, please."

Callie nodded. "Yeah." She turned around, and continued to lead the way as they reached a clearing.

Tina peered through the dense mist toward clearing. There was a dark shape towering them. It held an eerie sense of foreboding. Tina had only been to one haunted house, and only then she had only made it to the first level before she felt it begin to claw its way out. She had left the place as quickly as possible, monitoring her pulse all the way and chanting Christmas Cannon to herself under her breath. A strange way to keep control, but it worked.

She now felt the same feeling that she did when she was at the haunted house. And she already began to envision the violins playing.

"You look a lot like a patch of void... so, you're a really human?"

The void nods again.

"Well, isn't that lucky. I'm a human too," I say. It's the truth - I am a human. I have wings, but I'm still a human... It's complicated.

I watch the cat-girl teleport with a raised eyebrow. Huh, so she can teleport. She seems to be doing it with magic - but I've never seen magic this powerful before. Even the most powerful magic I've ever seen, the magic that gave me my curse, my wings, came from a being unlike us.

The cat-girl snatches away at the patch of void, and it turns out that the patch of void actually is a human. And what a sight to behold this human is: he has long, black hair, black eyes, a black leather jacket, a black tank top, black ripped jeans, and black fingerless gloves.

Oh, we've got ourselves an emo.

It's a cute outfit though - and besides, it's always cute when the normies pretend they know pain and suffering. Cute, and absolutely infuriating. Mostly cute, though.

"Nice outfit. So you really are a human. What's with the cloak, though? It really makes you look like a patch of void."

"Really?" he asked. Grabbing the cloak out of the girl's hands with a quiet thank you, he brought it closer to his face and inspected it. It looked mostly normal - it was just a tad bit ratty and old-fashioned - but he felt an odd warmth when he held it in his hands. It wasn't the searing hot pain of coming back to life, or the borderline hot warmth of pulling the hood up. It was the warmth he felt when he would sit in front of a fire; sudden warmth that he eagerly welcomed.

The boy nodded.

"I found it before getting lost in these woods." It was the best explanation he could give. Though he was talking to bird-human and cat-human hybrids, and one of them possessed magic, he doubted they would believe him if he gave them the entire truth - starting with the urge to find it and ending with him decapitated.

He shuddered at the memory. He didn't want a repeat of that experience. "I wonder why it makes me look that way..." Almost hesitantly, he added, "Are you two alright with me putting it on again? It was keeping me warm. That's why I put it on in the first place."

The two offered no protest, and he eagerly put the cloak back on. He pulled the hood up. Almost immediately, he felt the warmth spread throughout him. He adjusted the hood ever so slightly to further block out the cold winds. "I'm Ryan Evans, by the way. I just realized I still don't know your names."

Chessy

"My name is Chessy. Or Cheshire. Or Cheshire cat. Or Charlotte. Really I don't care what you call me- go nuts." I paused. "Might I amend that? No calling me girlie, hairball, weakling, or anything along those lines." I wrinkled my nose. "Especially not cutie pie. Last person who called me that ended up in her majesty's undead army."

I listen to Chessy's speech, my exasperation and irritation most probably evident. My blood-sticky back isn't the most calming thing to try to listen to a cat-person babble with.

"I'm Adrian Chapradeur, but, please, call me Adrian. I am a human - not a bird-human hybrid -" I shoot meaningful looks at Ryan and Chessy, before carrying on without a second thought, "It's not like I want to be this way. It was an accident. I still have the same number of chromosomes, my blood is the same, and my mind is the same. It's the same, okay - I'm the same!"

I go silent. My wings are quivering. Ryan and Chessy are looking at me like I'm a sideshow freak at a carnival. Great. Just what I wanted. I clear my throat awkwardly, trying to avoid looking at the two of them. Blood loss is doing wonders for my already terrible impulse control. God.

I turn away from the two and continue towards the castle. A small part of me wants to make further conversation, but the larger, more sensible part of me says no.

Arms laden with books, he maneuvered around the piles of books scattered throughout the throne room; he barely managed to avoid Aska, who was completely oblivious to his surroundings as he flipped the page.

One book slipped off the top of his pile. With surprising precision and speed, he grasped the book by the spine with his tail and threw it back onto the top of the pile. "You can use the throne today," he shouted to his best friend from the entrance way. "I'm going to go bring these back to the library."

Aska's head bobbed slightly. Nendros supposed it was a nod, and also supposed that the throne would still be empty upon his return. He passed through hallway after hallway - even after being in the castle for nearly a year, he still struggled to recall which way he was supposed to go - and eventually found himself walking next to the windows.

There was three people making their way up to the castle's doors.

The books fell to the floor.

Only one of them looked completely human; the other two were a combination of human and animal. The man in the center was in his early to late forties, and Nendros was shocked to realize that he recognized him. He pressed his face up to the glass.

He recoiled in shock and horror and every other emotion one would feel after seeing a man who was supposed to be dead. He resisted the urge to scream as he rushed back to the throne room. He nearly tripped as he came to a halt next to Aska, who, as he had predicted, was in the same exact spot.

"Aska," he managed to get out. Aska looked up at him. Noticing the look on his face, he got to his feet and waited silently for Nendros to continue. "There's-there's people coming. Only one of them is completely human."

"People?" his best friend whispered. "Actual, living breathing people?"

Nendros nodded, claws anxiously gripping the bottom of his tunic.

The pinpricks of golden light that were Aska's eyes became smaller in surprise. "Nen, you're crying. What's wrong?"

"That man..." He didn't stop the tears from falling. "He's the one who killed her. He's supposed to be dead, Aska. I never thought I would have deal with him again!"