"Her Eyes"

*Blair*

I have a secret, and I cannot tell anyone because if they knew, they may want to kill me, or others may end up hurting them...

Its been a week's long journey, just me and one friend. They're loud and obnoxious, and often a hot head, but I can tell that they care about me for whatever reason. We contrast so much, I am quiet and secretive, Lake is loud, blatant and honest. They volunteered to help escort me to the wastelands were I will live in exile. Well, they said they'd only escort me until we got to the wastelands but knowing them they'll be 'escorting me' for life. In other words, no matter how dangerous I am, I cannot shake Lake off of my tail. They are annoyingly stubborn and do not care about my secrets which could expose them to grave danger. I was frustrated at the thought. How could someone feel so okay and safe with someone that they hardly know?!

Maybe if I told them..they'd leave for good. But there is one problem to that: I really like having Lake with me, I feel safer and happier to have a friend, which comes rare to me.

So together, we continue on our path to exile until we meet a stretch of woods that leads to the Corvid Mountains, recognizing the place, I began to worry for Lake's vulnerability in this territory.

"Its getting dark, we need to find a tree to hide in quickly" I whispered.

"Why? What's the matter? How do you know about this place?" Lake inquired being a little too curious and a little too loud.

"I haven't been here before or anything, I just know that its dangerous, it's Corvid Mountain, it contains some of the most species of animals and avians, in the country, and the people that liver here are even worse. Right now we are in the most life-endangering place on earth." I say in a hushed voice.

Lake gave me a look.

"Probably mentioned in history lessons at school" I explained.

"Right"

That last part was a lie however,even Lake picked that up, truth is I have been here before, its where my family raised me after all.

*Lake*

We hid in a big enough tree that concealed us with branches and established our bed on a thick limb, large enough for the both of us to squeezed in together side-by-side. It really would have been a peaceful, even beautiful night if there wasn't the eerie feeling of eyes fixed upon us at all times, and the screams of the woods were no help to putting my mind at ease.

Blair was already asleep, her stomach rose and fell softly as if she were dreaming of meadows or of her home, somewhere safe I imagine. Her jet black hair with bangs, long eyelashes and blue eyes contrasted with my green eyes and shorter, dark-ish brown hair that was lighted with reds. Both our bodies were thin, but mine was taller and slightly thinner while her frame was more fit and slim.

She may not understand it, but the day I saw her, I felt a need to know her. Everything in my being wanted to know her, and I became fond of her, enough that we became friends. 

Some days, I can even pry out a small smile on her face.

"Hey, what are you doing all on your own?" Suddenly, I could hear our first conversation. No answer. I turned to this new girl's side and lifted her jaw letting the moonlight illuminate her features. Her teary blue eyes, almost glowing in the dark, and then I saw it. A dead bluebird.-much like a blue jay, but instead has jet black wings with a blue body and exists more as a spirit rather than a physical being-I see the pained look in her eyes and how her tears reflected white flicks of light from the moon.

"Oh, don't worry about your bird," I assured "these birds have seven lives, and your bird is going to re-sprout from a black flower in just a day, and if we bury it under soil it will grow back faster."

She looked at me in disbelief and smiled. 

"You know I don't believe in magic"

I remember how the next day I found her at the same spot, and there on the top of the grassy hill, was a black flower bud waving at us in the wind. 

Even after that day, I would make it a point to be with her. She was unfairly cold and distant to me for a while. It was a relief when she finally opened up.

She is so mysterious however, even where we lie, I have never seen the Corvid Mountains, and she knows more about it than the History books tell.

Tired of pondering about the horrible place I was to spend the night in, I close my eyes and began to listen to the howls and screeches of the woods, When I reopen them however, sitting directly in front of me were a pair of golden yellow eyes locked on mine.

"Shhhh" the eyes whisper to me.

*Blair*

"Lake" I spoke nudging my friend, "time to wake up you lazy bean-sack" (Probably the most outgoing thing I've ever said to Lake by the way.)

"What? My head-" Lake groans as they try to get up, but quickly loses consciousness.

Lake was perfectly okay last night. I thought as my heart began to pound.

Uh-Oh. 

"We had better get a move on from this place" I tell myself.

Someone must have gotten to Lake last night. 

A headache inducer and sleep hypnotist must have meant yellow eyes, which must mean possibly one of my brothers.

Just as the thought registered I saw a pair of eyes gleaming in the thicket of branches.

Happy Family Reunion.

There was a day when I was being tested on wiping my face of emotion, a test that everyone in my family had to take to become ready for their planned future careers. That same day we were attacked by a group of soldiers from a kingdom that our family must have pissed off. That same day was the day my mom died. In the moment I saw her gone, was the moment that I was reminded of the target above our heads and the moment where I felt an overwhelming wave of anger and adrenaline. After my mother's murderers died, I was disgusted of how out of everyone, this was my family's fault for making enemies. My mom of all people did not deserve to die.

That same anger is what I felt now. 

If I wanted to control my emotions earlier, then that plan was quickly beginning to fail. I could feel myself boiling into rage. My eyes that began illuminating to a glowing blue. I may end up being the real menace of the Corvid Mountains.

Before I lost myself to adrenaline and rage, I picked up Lake's light body and strained myself. I cannot begin using my power, or things will get out of hand. I ran, I ran as fast as I could, I tried to lose my pursuers through a thicket of trees, but I was running blindly and the thickets soon became walls that I was crashing into while simultaneously trying to preserve Lake's body. I was faster than my pursuers, but there were more of them and I was carrying both the supplies and Lake. Before I knew it I was cornered and face to face with one of my yellow-eyed brothers. I avoided his eyes and tried to run past him, until he pushed me. I tried turning back until he spoke.

So is that your new slave" gesturing at the unconscious Lake.  

Before I knew what I did, my brother's decapitated head was lying on the ground, smiling wickedly as if the detached extension of itself couldn't have possibly mattered. The body on the other hand was convulsing uncontrollably. I don't even remember turning around to face him and the fact that the head was smiling threw me off.

Then the pieces of the puzzle began forming together, and I realized that there was no hope in trying to escape the scene at that point. This was all an elaborate plan to capture me. By then, I became perfectly aware of gleaming eyes of yellows and whites that had cornered me.

The moment of being frozen in utter dismay that my brother knew that his life would end this way, that he was just the decoy. Was all the time it took to notice that my dead brother's soulless eyes remained locked on mine and continued to glow. 

Lake, I'm so sorry.

*Lake*

When my eyes opened they began hurting and were sensitive to the light. My head was throbbing and It felt like I had a strong migraine.

The first thing I saw were the four blank walls staring back at me, and I became aware of the cold seat with straps that I was sitting in.

A door opened and a group of young boys, all with black, buzzed hair and light brown, almost yellow eyes entered.

"Hi Blair's slave" said one of the boys robotically, "we are glad you are awake, now you can join us for dinner."

Slave, that's an odd way to describe someone.

The dining room was rather large and looked rich. The people sitting in the long royalty table were an even larger group of boys all with the same hair and eyes, a man with black hair and red eyes, an elderly woman who had grey hairs and extremely white eyes, and Blair.

As I examined them, I noticed their faces carried similar features, and almost all of them had trademark jet black hair.

So they must all be related.

"You must be Blair's family" I announced stupidly.

The family cackled with laughter.

"Blair?!" snickered a boy, "Out of all the slaves you could have, this is who you chose? She must be the brains of the operation eh? I mean what do you even use her for?"

Blair's face was red.

"N-No I don't use them for any-" Blair stammered, "They're not a slave, they're my friend."

The roomed boomed with laughter.

"Oh c'mon Blair!" a boy crowed, "Ya know y'aren't good 'nough for companions!"

"Yeah, a simple person like Lake is way to good to be with someone like you!" another boy cried.

"Satan might be a better match for you though!" a third, taunted.

Blair looked down.

"Enough" ordered the elderly woman. Her face was stern and old, but anything but frail.

"So Blair's friend, Lake was it? How do you like our home?"

Blair looked taken aback and relieved from the corner of my eye. 

I felt relieved too for a second.

"Oh, it's lovely, a little old-Uhm, if you don't mind me asking, where are we?"

The lady smiled. 

"Honey, we are inside the Corvid Mountains."

This time it was my turn to be taken aback.

"But-Blair said that this was the most dangerous place on earth?! How could you live here?!" I protested feeling stupefied.

I must have been a comedian that night because the family was rolling with laughter.

The man spoke this time, "That's a funny thing to say coming from someone who is friends with my threat of a daughter!"

"Dad stop-"Blair tried to speak"

"If anything, the menace of this place is Blair!"

I looked to Blair, she avoided my eyes.

The elderly lady examined my baffled expression.

She added, "Oh heavens! Haven't you noticed Blair's eyes before? You really didn't know?! No wonder someone like you trusted her so dearly!"

"Grandmot-" Blair sounded desperate this time.

The grandmother cut in.

"I guess our family did fail to give a proper introduction. You see we are a family business that hold many titles which include but are not limited to: assassins, murderers, hit-men, kidnappers, and many more!," she exclaimed, "We all have special abilities that are correlated with our eye colour. I'm sure one of the boy's gave a demonstration with their measly sleep-hypnosis ability. You see, we use our power to our advantage for what we do. And your friend Blair is the deadliest of us all, because whoever she kills, she takes everything that they are and can use their abilities, their memories, anything about them to her advantage."

Her next words could have frozen time which were:

"You see, her victims are but a deck of cards to her."

Looking into the elderly woman's white eyes that now lacked an iris, I saw Blair, killing people, her blue eyes glowing, her body growing claws or her mouth morphing into a sharp beak. I saw visions of her slaughtering families.

I didn't want to believe it.

Then the ladies eyes went dark. Blair was holding the lady by the neck with incredible force, and with one piercing-blue look, her grandmother was out cold. She lashed at all the young boys knocking the air out of their lungs. The father got up with red, gleaming eyes and the Grandmother somehow was managing to resist the hypnosis and seemed to to be rising again. It was only a matter of time when the boys would recover too.

Blair began quickly looking for exits and at me just as bluebird flying outside a window caught my eye.

"Lake, you're a genius" said Blair in an unfamiliar, praising voice as she sprouted massive black wings.

She stretched a hand out to me and I hesitated.

"Lake?" she said looking hurt but her voice noticeably familiar again.

In a split second I made the biggest decision of my life, and gave her my hand and we launched out a stained glass window.

Lake and Blair escaped the Adrian family during the night and after a day's journey there was no going back home for the two of them. Lake was wanted for murder and a kidnapping of the Adrian family's dear beloved daughter Blair. Both were wanted alive for a large amount of money and rewards.

Welcome to the wastelands.