Chapter Two: The Bracelets of Anna Brynn

There were no bells, but the bells rang. The deep boom of church bells and the fairy-songs of tiny bells mixed together, rising and swelling on the wind's crest.

She slipped through the trees like she was a part of them, like a snake weaving through blades of grass without noticeably touching anything. Light enough to be less than a memory as soon as she had made her way past each notched trunk.

Her eyes were like the wind. The sounds of the bells echoed in her irises, hollow sounds caught in the pale green of her eyes. But there was something savage in those eyes, too, something that was stronger than the music carrying on the breeze.

She walked, leaving behind her the parts of the forest that were friendly. Gradually, the bells faded, and as she left the sounds in her wake, the forest grew darker before her. It was not that the tree cover grew thicker or that clouds shrouded the sun. There was no less light. There was only a dark undertone, an ominous, cold hand brushing at her throat and sending something resembling adrenaline coursing through her body.

She knew what she was doing. There was no fear in her bearing, no regret in her stride. She knew the forest well enough to know in which direction she was going, to be fully aware of what lurked in the trees beyond the sounds of the bells. Yet she continued walking.

He would have to do something about it this time. He would have to have picked up on the not-so-subtle hints she'd left for him in their last conversation.

"I'm going out today," she'd said.

"Oh?" he answered. He was clearly uninterested. Anna knew that if she dropped the conversation, he wouldn't probe any further. He was too wrapped up in the quill pen in his right hand, his eyes firmly rooted on the inky nib as it scratched across paper.

"Yes. Into the forest. Past where the bells stop ringing." She'd debated on adding the last part but had decided that its presence was essential. Without it, her words sounded too much like normal conversation. After all, the fact that she was going out exploring wasn't exceptional.

He hadn't bothered to answer her. She'd continued, scattering a few more details through her words to make sure that she was being explicit enough.

"I want to see if the rumors about the dark thing are true. I've been to plenty of other places, but the forest is big, and I haven't spent enough time out there to know if there's anything malevolent prowling around. It should be interesting."

"Oh," he'd said again, ending their conversation.

Without the melody of the bells filling the air, the forest felt sterile. Anna's mind ached for a sound other than the empty padding sounds of her feet against the forest floor, craved a bird call or another sign of life. This silence was uncomfortable, settling over her like a wet, heavy cloth.

She began to have second thoughts about what she was doing. Her past attempts at trying to get Jason to rescue her had proved fruitless. What if he didn't pick up on her hints? What if he was too caught up in what he was writing to hear when she sang the song of distress? And what if, worst of all, Gavyn came to her rescue again instead of Jason?

She grimaced at the thought of Gavyn, wishing fervently that he would learn she wanted nothing to do with him. She pushed the thoughts of his previous times rescuing her out of her mind. That wouldn't happen this time. He wasn't even at the castle. He was off in Byrder, probably picking up another exotic creature or bartering for another horse.

She quickened her pace. Gavyn was a skilled horseman. And if he returned to the castle before she managed to get herself in trouble, he would undoubtedly rescue her before Jason even if Jason attempted to. She scowled again because that was mostly her fault. If she wasn't always involving herself in perilous situations, he wouldn't be so good at getting her out of them.

To make things worse, she wasn't even sure what she would do if Jason did rescue her. What would it mean? If she attempted to thank him, how would she do it? She had no answers for most of her questions. All she knew was that Jason's rescuing her might present her with a potentially romantic moment. That chance alone was enough to keep her walking.

But then, the trees moved, and she instantly forgot her unanswered questions. Her hand flew to the hilt of her sword.

The trees were alive. They had to be. How else could she explain the way they moved? They all rustled once, clenching like a muscle recoiling from a sharp stab of pain. She skidded to a halt. Every part of their black-barked limbs was watching her eyelessly, staring not only at her but into her. As they loomed over her, her fist tightened around her blade, her knuckles white and bloodless.

She'd heard stories of things like this. Trees that were alive beyond the scope of normality, that consisted of other substances than sap and wood. Vessels for shapeless beings to inhabit and control. The stories had rarely ended well. But at the moment, the trees appeared to be content with watching her.

The forest was crushing her. It was all too much: the unyielding, stifling silence, the oozing stares of the trees, the knowledge that there might be something worse lingering just out of sight. Anna found herself fervently wishing that she'd stayed at the castle. Such a strong sense of foreboding rarely visited Anna without bringing consequences along.

Suddenly, Anna heard it. A deep, rough snarl, echoing through the trees. Judging by the clarity of the sound, the creature wasn't far off. It was time to sing.

She closed her eyes, remembering the many times she'd sang this song. The wordless song. The song that meant she was in trouble. She traced her fingers across her gauntlets.

Please, Jason. Let it be you this time. Not Gavyn.

At first, her voice barely overcame the silence. But as she sang, her voice strengthened, ringing out like the bells surrounding the castle she called home. Growing higher until it pierced like an eagle's cry. Even the trees shrank back, quivering and leaning away from her instead of hovering over her. As she sang, a whirlwind gathered around her, picking up leaves and twigs and sending them spinning up past the treetops. If anyone was looking for her, they would know where she was.

"Not bad, Brynn," something growled behind her as the last note of the song faded away. "But it confused me. There was no need for you to sing it in the first place."

Trembling slightly from the exertion of singing the song, Anna turned. Nothing but empty air greeted her stare.

Jason, I hope you heard that. Please.

The trees exhaled, filling the air with something like wind. Only this time, the trees were making the wind move instead of the other way around. The branches creaked and groaned, stretching until they were nearly straight. An enormous, ancient-looking tree at Anna's right shattered, sending fragments of wood hurtling through the air, narrowly missing Anna. She braced herself, not knowing what she was waiting to see.

But nothing happened. The trees stopped shaking as suddenly as they'd started, the musty silence settled back into place, and Anna was left soaked in sweat and leering at the trees.

No. That couldn't have been all. There has to be more to it than that.

Anna was angry. In the wire crouch of her muscles and the white-knuckled clench of her fists, in the glint of her bared teeth. She was infuriated by the idea of a false alarm. What if Jason chose to show up this time? If he did, he would be arriving soon, finding Anna unharmed. She drew her sword and hacked it onto a tree, frustrated and embarassed. Panting, she glanced down at her sword.

The edge was glimmering with dark blood.

Trees didn't bleed; Anna knew that. But it was unmistakeably blood. She could smell it. She trailed her fingertip through the blood, testing the texture between her thumb and forefinger.

How could trees bleed? Anna didn't know. She only knew that her heartbeat was whining in her ears like a climbing frequency, a slender piano-wire of a sound reaching into her skull and jabbing at her eardrums. Her crimson-stained hand dropped to her side.

"Brynn," a deep voice growled from somewhere within the trees. Anna felt her heart tremble. "Brynn. What are you doing out here?"

"That is no business of yours," Anna spat back as convincingly as she could.

"Oh, but it is. Because this is my forest, Brynn. Don't you know enough to know that I own the darkness? It has always been so."

"Not in my book," Anna muttered, her hand tightening around her sword. "Just because something has always been so does not mean it is the right way."

"It is the right way," seethed the voice, "if everyone who has ever said otherwise hasn't lived to regret it. I am feeling hungry, Brynn. Do not test me."

"Haven't I already done that?" Anna answered, not without hesitation. There was something in that voice that she had not been ready for. It was ravenous. She'd been in trouble more times than she could remember, but not like this. She'd known what the threats were the other times. Mischievous water pixies. A pack of scavenger wolves. But never this. Never before had she felt something craving to devour her flesh.

There was no answer. There was only silence. Even the trees stopped, those trees that had been shivering like they were leading up to something, like they were the drum roll. Anna stood in the middle of the trees, more uneasy than ever.

This won't do. Forget about Jason rescuing me. This time, I need to rescue myself. Standing out in the open won't help anything.

She slunk to the woodline. The trees didn't object; suddenly they were not alive anymore. She ran a finger over the gashed trunk: cold, dead bark littered with damp moss. Tree-blood blotted her gauntlet.

The thing in the trees had tired of talking to her. Perhaps she'd excited its appetite a bit more than she should've. But at least she was out of the open. The thing was coming to get her and soon it would be here, but at least she would have a chance hiding. More than a chance. She pressed her back up against a tree trunk. Now she didn't need to watch her back. She only needed to watch her front. Tree blood seeped through the back of her jacket; she inhaled a raspy breath of the earthy stench. Apparently the trees were bleeding in places other than where she'd cut them.

"You're hiding," the voice said, faint. There was a sniffing sound, a slurp of a tongue testing air. "Prey hides. Do you know what else hides? Thieves hide. Thieves that are stealing what is not theirs. You steal my privacy by being in this forest, Brynn."

It would close in. It would sniff her with the tongue that could taste the air and it would be on her before she could see what it was. Yes, she had been cocky. She knew it. But now it was time to back up the cockiness. Now it was time to deliver. Her fingers felt the gauntlets. Behind them, her wrists were cold. Numb. This time, she would have to save herself. There was no other option.

She stepped away from the tree, backed back into the clearing. Closed her eyes, knowing that she was painfully vulnerable. Clenched her hands into fists at her side. The trees were silent. The voice was silent. Everything was heavy.

"Not hiding anymore?" the voice questioned.

"No need to," she shot back between clenched teeth. "No need to hide when you're not running." Beneath her breath, she was chanting, her fingernails digging into her palms. "Light it up. Burn it down. Light it up. Burn it down."

Finally, she raised her wrists. The trees screamed; her mouse-brown hair swirled out wildly from her skull. One instant, the trees were dark black skeletons. The next, there was an electric hum; bright colors swirled from Anna's wrist out into the air, and the trees were exuding intensely white light.

There was a sound of bells. Dark, giant church bells pealing deeply. Small tinker bells chattering away like mice in an attic. Melodic bells playing songs. The trees shone white with light, spitting white magic. Anna was smiling from ear to ear. She liked the music. She liked the colors and the air that wasn't filled with tree screaming. The forest was hers now. That thing in the woods was the king because it was part of the trees, and now, she'd replaced them.

But here it loomed. Slipping out from the trees. No skeleton. An enormous black mass spouting a tongue that slipped in and out of its amorphous body, smoldering coal eyes shying away from the light. But still wanted her. It wanted to eat her. It was dying from the light and it wanted to retreat back to the comfortable darkness of its forest, but she'd stolen its privacy and now it would steal something from her. It would steal her breath.

This was an unforeseen challenge. The light was quickly fading; Anna felt her body growing weak and limp. The light was just a show. There was no real power in it. She should've saved her energy for something less theatrical and more diabolical. Her poor choice might cost her horribly.

"Get back!" A sharp, furious voice rang, resembling the hollow aching of the bells but somehow purer. Somehow more musical. A slender figure with hair white-blond to the extent of standing out in the remnants of Anna's light-charm hurled itself in front of Anna, arms stretched rigid as it bent a bow, released the tension and spouted an arrow towards the creature. "Stay away from her!"

Anna's heartbeat slowed. The light charm had been too much for her. Her legs gave out beneath her, sending her body tumbling to the ground.

Through her half-closed eyes, she could see the light fading until it was a pleasant glimmer, a sunset fade rather than the heavy beating sun of midday. Suddenly, Gavyn was above her, shoving his arms beneath her armpits and pulling her to her feet.

Anna scowled and slurred. "I could've gotten it."

"You're right. You could've," Gavyn scoffed, pulling her arm around his shoulders so she wouldn't fall again. "If you'd been smart about it. But you weren't, Anna. You went and got yourself into trouble again. How do you think I felt? Returning from town and hearing your alarm song, not knowing if you were going to be alive by the time I got out here."

"I could've gotten it," she insisted unconvincingly. Gavyn was pulling her with him as quickly as he could walk, stumbling over the uneven forest floor. He yelped as his shin collided with a sharp tree root.

"Anna, you have to stop doing this. He's not going to save you. Not now, not ever." Gavyn groaned angrily.

"That's not why I did it!" Anna retorted, trying to pull away from Gavyn. His arm, thin but surprisingly strong, was unyielding.

"Then why did you do it?"

Anna was silent.

"You don't need him to save you. You've never needed him to save you, just like you'd have never needed me to if you'd just open your eyes.

"Gavyn, go." She tried to pull away again, but he only walked faster.

"No."

"Get away."

"No."

"Gavyn!"

"What?"

"I don't need you here!"

"Then why do you keep getting yourself into situations like this?" Gavyn growled, fire flashing in his grey, icy eyes. "All you ever do is go to places you shouldn't be and get yourself in trouble you could easily avoid. You're constantly setting yourself up to be eaten or inhaled or stabbed! I don't know what the thing was, but that was its part of the forest and it's wrong of you to challenge it just to entertain your own fantasies. I'm just glad it let us get out of there without hurting us. I swear, Anna, sometimes I don't know what's wrong with you."

"If you think there's so much wrong with me, then why didn't you let it get me?" Anna answered. She could feel her strength returning.

"You know I can't do that!"

"Why can't you?"

"Because I love you, idiot!" Gavyn shot back. "I love you. More than that filth Jason ever will. Why don't you understand that?"

"Jason is not filth!" Anna screeched. "You're just jealous of him. He's a beautiful person."

"Then why doesn't he save you?" asked Jason, wincing as a bush brushed against his injured leg.

"Maybe he didn't know I was in trouble."

"You're expecting me to believe that he didn't hear your voice?"Gavyn responded. "There's no 'maybe' about it. He doesn't care."

"Shut up!" Anna shrieked. "Let me go! I can walk on my own!" She pushed Gavyn away from her, slapping him harshly across the face as she ripped her arm off of his shoulders. "What's wrong with you? You want to know who the idiot is, look in a mirror. You say I'm delusional? Look at yourself."

Gavyn stumbled and fell backwards, a tree branch lashing across his face and slicing his cheekbone. Anna broke into a run.

Gavyn didn't chase her. He knew that he wouldn't be able to catch her now that she was strong again. If he did, she would send something from the gauntlets to keep him away from her. She wouldn't let him follow her; he'd ended up paralyzed or otherwise incapacitated enough times to know that when she was this angry, she had no qualms about seriously injuring him. Besides, she was running in the direction of the bells, and it wouldn't be long before she was back at the castle.

Why did she keep obsessing over Jason? Didn't she know he wouldn't come out of the castle? He was always holed up there, never paying attention to her when she returned from the forests, never taking enough notice of her to see what obvious turmoil she was going through.

Gavyn pulled himself up and began limping towards the castle. At least she was safe. That was all that mattered.

Tears of frustration singed Anna's eyes. Gavyn was wrong. Jason was not filth. Jason was beautiful, beautiful enough to be a part of this world here and the other world, back with her parents and her school. Strangely, he was more a part of her life here than in the other world. At least here she could visit him in the castle. Back in teh other world, he had remained in private school while she'd moved to public school, attempting to escape the alienation caused by the news of the incident that had spread through private school like a wildfire. He'd been her entire life back in private school. He had a license. He could drive and see her.

It must be because he was busy with academics. Just like he was always busy writing when he was here.

She ran through the part of the forests where the bells rang, wiping tears from her race, breathing heavily. The feeling was returning to her wrists. Always after she'd created something big or summoned a massive charm, she would hurt. The gauntlets would sizzle her skin and she would be sore. But she was used to it.

There was the castle. It was only moments before she was up the stairs, past the enormous stone lions with moss-encrusted manes in the courtyard. Through the kitchen, where doughy smells of pastries floated out. Up the golden stairs inside, over the soft carpets, leaving a trail of leaf fragments behind her. Up to the bedroom, where she shed everything but her gauntlets and stepped into fresh clothing. She raked her hands through her long hair and swept it back from her face.

Now that she resembled something remotely attractive, she could pay a visit to Jason. Perhaps he'd tell her why he hadn't answered her song.

He was in his room, the way he always was. He didn't answer when she knocked on his door, but that was normal. He never answered anyone. His silence drove some people crazy, but Anna admired it. She thought the way he measured his words was mysterious.

She cracked the door open. "Jason?"

Nothing. Not even his usual annoyed grunt. He sat at a chair pulled up to his desk with his back turned to the door, fabric-covered shoulders sloped in the way they always were when he was writing. Anna inhaled the peppery oil smell of ink.

"Jason?"

"Anna, I'm busy. Please leave me alone," he grunted.

"Oh. I'm sorry, Jason." She backed out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her, her wrists burning as the door clicked shut.

Jason, why didn't you answer?