“No you don't understand. The Forest made us evil. Permanently bad. We messed up big time that night when we went into the woods, Elsa. I should never have followed my brother, but—I couldn't just let him go.” Theo grunted and punched the frame of the bed, drooping his head. Elsa put her hand on the back of his head, feeling his soft blond hair.
“If the Forbidden Forest made you so evil,” Elsa said, “then why did you leave?”
Theo looked up. “I saw how it was changing us for the worse, how the changes kept coming without end, knowing there was nothing I could do about it. Then I just decided if I was doomed, there was nothing I could lose by not giving one last fight, even if I couldn't undo the damage that had been done, even if I couldn't change back to my old self.”
“Oh honey,” Elsa said. She thought about all the suffering Theo had been through with his brother, losing his family, then it occurred to her that if two hours spent in the woods were actually 10 years, how old exactly were Theo and his brother? “Theo,” Elsa started, “just how old are you?”
“Ha, you don't want to know.”
“I do. Tell me.”
“Centuries old. At least six hundred years old.”
“Oh my,” Elsa said, covering her mouth. “That means your family—”
“Gone. Dead. Buried.”
“Why did your brother place a hex on you?”
“He didn't want me to leave the Forbidden Forest. When we first got there, he told me it was useless to leave. But as time went on, and we changed into our animal forms, he started telling me that this is who we were and it wasn't something to be ashamed of. Leaving the forest meant betraying ourselves, he thought. But I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to do something. I couldn't continue on down the same path of death and destruction. Maybe I will never be the same, but maybe I can get some of my old self back.”
“You can. I'm going to help you.”
There was a moment of silence before a loud knock shook the front door of Theo's cabin. Elsa stole a glance at her lover, whose eyes were glowing with the golden spirit of a lion. Theo opened the door of Elsa's cabin, shirtless but with pants on. The yellow glow from the fire created a sheen on his dark hair and tanned skin. But the blue cold from outside drowned half his image in shadow. He stood by the door, tall against the chill east wind. From Elsa's perspective, she could see only a few feet outside her cabin onto the porch. There was nothing but silence, a pregnant pause someone might experience before a volcano explodes or tornado strikes. Scanning the snowy area before the tree line, Theo smelled the air for signs of his brother but came up with nothing.
“Theo, is there something the matter?”
And he stood there, motionless, staring into the snowy forest like a lion sniffing the air for the scent of an intruder. An invisible presence emerged from outside her cabin, terrifying Elsa, even more than the defensive amber glow of Theo's eyes.
“Is it him?”
“He's near. I know it.” The last thing Elsa remembered in her mind's eye was that she looked up and saw Theo standing at the open door. Then a white, two-headed serpent with ruby eyes slithered into the cabin, extinguishing the fire, and blowing a miniature tornado throughout the whole cabin. Elsa could feel the entire structure of the building rocking to and fro, as if the place wanted to spin around and over and up into the air. Plates, windows, kitchen tables, and cast irons flew through the air, loud and angry through the walls, shattering into millions of pieces. The last image Elsa remembers seeing was the striking him multiple times on his body—his arm, his face, his inner thigh. She was certain he was dead.
She woke up to her cabin and its possessions completely destroyed. She ran over to Theo's lifeless body. “Theo!” Elsa held his hand tight, feeling his soft, thick, and manly neck for a pulse. “Oh thank God, you're alive.” She kissed him on his lips, but he wouldn't wake up. She rubbed his cheek. “Theo please wake up. What's wrong? Tell me what happened!” He didn't respond. In fact, as she watched him in silence, knowing next to nothing about wizardry or witchcraft, she sank into despair, almost certain he had been cast into a spell. “Theo—wake up. I don't know what to do. You can't leave me! I don't know what to do!” Tears flowed down the corners of her cheeks, embarrassed for herself even though she was alone. She watched her lover lay there on the floor, silent. Another cold gust of wind swept through the innards of her cabin, disintegrating Theo into a pile of sand. Elsa's heart sank, as her one true love literally melted to dust and disappeared back into the forest from where he came. For a brief moment she had moments of happiness, and now some mysterious force ejected her from that dream—and plopped her right back into reality where she started. She lay in the floor weeping.
CHAPTER 16
“I am in love.”
Elsa stared straight ahead, at the wall, in Father O'Grady's office. After this grave and serious admission, Father O'Grady leaned back in his wooden chair, the weight of his tiny body making the only sound in the room. He rubbed his face, serious for a moment, in attempt to process the information.
“And does he return these feelings?” O'Grady asked.
“He does, and he told me so,” she said, ashamed she let out such a private moment in front of the minister, whom Elsa trusted but nevertheless felt naked and exposed by sharing the information, which was hers and hers alone to share. And she had no one else to turn to.
“Where is he?”
“He's gone. As I said, he did not commit the arson you speak of. His brother did, and I believe his brother took him away from me,” she said.
“If he's gone, are we not safe again?” he asked. “Does that not mean he's returned from whence he came? We should speak of this no more, then. Our problem has solved itself.”
“Father, his brother is angry, and he'll return.”
“What are we to do then?”
Elsa took a deep breath, before dropping the news of her plans to get Theo back. “I need your help in crossing over to the Forbidden Forest.”
“Elsa, you will do no such thing. The forest is deadly and you will suffer greatly in your injured state,” he said, leaning forward, emphasizing the severity of the situation by staring at Elsa with his little olive eyes.
“If you will not help me, I will go alone, if I need to.”
“Please think about what you're doing. We have an opportunity here, to resume our way of life. We have Lili and Ennis back. Things could be good again. Don't mess this up for everyone else, Elsa.”
“I must go, I will go after him. There is no other way,” she said, refusing to give into Father O'Grady's demands. “What must you think of my feelings? My soul?”
“My dearest Elsie, we already lost someone before and we are so lucky to have her back. Don't make yourself the second great tragedy our community has faced in the past month. We love and care about you, but there is nothing we can do to get that man back for you. The Forest will consume every last person who enters its borders. I can't risk that. What's more—if his brother, a dragon as you say, follows him wherever he goes, that means the man's return will come with much destruction,” O'Grady said, looking sad and tired, his beetle brows hunkered over his eyelids like curious caterpillars.
“Then I must go alone,” she said, resolute. Elsa looked down at her shaking fingers, fearful but brave about her future.
“Let God's will be what it may,” he said, nearing tears at the thought of the danger Elsa willingly planned to put herself in. “Elsa, please promise me something.”
“What's that?” she asked.
“Promise me, no matter what happens, you find your way back to us safe and sound. I am sorry I cannot help you. This news breaks my heart into a million little pieces,” Father O'Grady said, and he then got up out of his chair and walked out his tiny office. Elsa looked around at the artifacts he'd collected and the figurines the children had created for him in appreciation for his guidance. Yes, her heart was broken too, she thought.
CHAPTER 17
The next day, Elsa showed up to her job as a waitress in a Bavarian tavern, saying nothing to her coworkers about the latest developments in her life. Up until Theo and his evil warlock brother Dorien swept into her life, Elsa had almost gotten used to her second-rate lot in life, as a busty (but in her eyes rather pretty) woman, with voluptuous thighs and a roomy posterior. As a little girl, many of the boys ignored her and even occasionally failed to acknowledge her existence. But they didn't know the person she would become later in life, and Elsa was certain all the other girls who were snotty to her in elementary school, could they see her now, would breathe strained sighs of jealousy when they laid eyes on Theo's beautiful body. Elsa knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, could she have gone back in time, she would be the most popular girl in school.
She thought about the events that had transpired the night before. She was in love and would do anything to get Theo back into her life. But didn't even know where to start, as there was not a magical bone in her body. Thinking about the story Theo told her the night before, it seemed reasonable that he was in the Forbidden Forest and that she, too, could become a witch if it meant saving him. It was a dangerous idea, because if Theo's experience with the Forest was any prediction of what Elsa would endure, there would be no point to seeking him out there, as any love she had for him would without a doubt disintegrate into nothing. And then where would she be? She looked out the window of the tavern at the same kids playing before. Their frosted little noses and red cheeks made them look plastic, like lovely dolls, animated by the power of each other's affection for each other. Their innocence was so endearing, and Elsa's heart sank at the image, because it reminded her of Theo's story. She tried to imagine the beautiful little boy he was and his equally adorable, if not wild, brother Dorien. Their tragic fate caused them unredeemable grief, with no hope of ever experiencing the joys of growing up together, getting married, having kids, taking care of their aging parents, as Elsa was sure their former selves would undoubtedly do. She realized both brothers must have carried the pain of lost dreams day after miserable day; perhaps, she figured for a split second, the heavy guilt that compounded any hope of their redemption was an illusory perception rather than reality. But then she dismissed the thought entirely.
Stooped in her reverie, she could still tell the other girls at work could sense something was wrong with Elsa, given her haggard appearance and swollen eyes from crying all night, and one woman in particular continued to make concerned glances in her direction. Elsa tried unsuccessfully to fold the napkins into the holster.
“Do you need some help darlin'?” a voice called to her from behind, a position Elsa by this point in her life associated with earth-shattering changes and adversity. Elsa took a deep breath and, once again, turned around to face yet another person.
“What do you want Mitch? Am I not doing the job to your liking?”
“No baby I just could tell you were struggling a little bit.”
“I don't need this shit, Mitch! I've got too much going on. Damn.”
“Baby is everything okay with you? You've been acting a little funny ever since you can in tonight.”
“Frankly that isn't any of your damn business,” Elsa said.
Mitch's face flushed hot with rage, his short temper rearing its head. “Listen here you little bitch, if you don't get your act together, I'll fire you. Then you can find another job for your fat ass that makes this much money in another town, because you know you don't have any other options in this one.”
Elsa's heart sank; she knew Mitch was right. But she didn't have the energy to bite her tongue, given the fact that she most probably lost her only true love and the hottest warlock who'd ever lived. She opened her mouth to bite back, but someone interjected.
“Madam you don't need to talk to your co-workers like that.” Elsa turned around to meet Freja Stein, a petite built woman with beady blue eyes. The hot pink lipstick rubbed over her thin lips and helmet shaped hairdo gave her an air of craziness, wildness, and abandon. But she continued to defend Elsa.
“Bitch don't talk to me like that,” Mitch said to the woman. “Who the hell are you anyway?”
“I'm Freja Stein, and I'm not going to let you talk to my friend that way.” Freja stumbled her words a bit, cutting away her glance from Mitch, and for a second Elsa thought she saw a glimmer of fear from Freja. She knew Mitch had a furious temper, and given Freja's frail frame, Elsa decided to protect her before it was too late.