Leila slowed down and walked next to Sarika, letting Landon taking the lead with his arms wrapped around all the materials. He’d insisted he carry it all solo, leaving Leila and Sarika to casually stroll their way along the path.
A soft breeze picked up and the trees that lined the path towards the mansion and the grove rustled, a gentle swoosh through empty branches and the leaves that laid all along the ground. Leila closed her eyes as the rush of cool air tickled her skin, then sighed. The way the wind tickled her hair, the way it flowed through her thick curls . . . it was gone. She adjusted her wig with her free hand.
She stopped and shut her eyes tightly.
Waiting.
“Anything?” Sarika asked, letting go. Leila could feel her taking a step ahead, and listened as the jostling of Landon’s tanks and materials stopped.
“Leila?” Landon called from a little bit away.
“It’s fine, I’m fine,” Leila said, breathing in and out slowly. She shook her head and opened her eyes, rejoining Sarika, looping her arm through hers as they continued towards the end of the trail. “It’s just weird, you know? All the trees are empty. The birds are quiet. And the whispering? Nothing. I thought I’d hear at least something.” She sighed loudly. “God, I hope they didn’t—”
“Don’t even think it,” Sarika said firmly. “Come on.”
They moved faster, hurrying towards the end of the trail. Soon they caught up with Landon, who had kept up a pretty quick pace despite all he carried. The developers had clearly been through the area again. The pathway that was once so narrow, and that had been lightly trimmed and marked before, was now several feet wide, large enough for a car to rumble down.
A twinge of pain hit Leila somewhere inside her chest and she stopped walking and placed her hand over her sternum. She breathed in slowly, feeling woozy again, the way she had when her hair fell out.
“What is it?” Sarika asked. They had reached the end of the trail, and the large, broken-down mansion came into view. In the late afternoon (or “golden hour” as Shawn had called it on that awkward, poorly planned first date) it looked far more beautiful than ever. The sun cast a faint glow on the stone face, illuminating the small details that were crumbling, but still holding on tight. More of the plants and shrubbery in the area had been cleared out. The ones that remained were brown, dying, and something else was . . . off.
Leila shook her head and looked down at the ground. The patches of dirt visible through littering of leaves looked strangely lighter, paler almost.
“I don’t know,” Leila said. She felt nauseous, the discomfort flowing over her and nestling itself in the pit of her stomach like a rock.
Landon stopped abruptly and turned to Leila and Sarika.
“Someone’s still here!” he whisper-shouted, his eyes wide. He looked around, set the aquariums down, then darted towards the mansion. He motioned to Leila and Sarika.
“Come on!”
Sarika grabbed Leila’s hand and they hurried into the crumbling building. The inside was full of dirt and overgrown plants tucked into cracks and bursting through the shattered windows. Even the leaves in here had faded to brown, but their stems and small branches were white with death, like bleached bones. Each step left Leila feeling short of breath, and as she pressed herself against the mansion’s old, crumbling stone walls, she winced, feeling sore all over.
“Something—something isn’t right,” Leila said, starting to feel breathless. “The plants . . . everything around here . . .” Landon and Sarika hurried to her side. A pain shot through Leila’s stomach and she doubled over with a grimace. “I think . . . we are too late. . . .”
Landon peered over her shoulder to look at something past her, and his eyes went wide, his expression turned furious.
He practically snarled at Sarika, “Keep an eye on her, I’ll be right back.” And then he looked right into Leila’s eyes. “You hear me? I’ll be right back. I’m not going anywhere.”
Leila waved him off, letting herself slide down the wall and onto the floor. Sarika knelt down and wrapped her arms around her.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing? I’m talking to you!” Landon shouted from somewhere outside the crumbling mansion, his voice fading as he moved farther away. Leila tried to push herself to her feet to look out the shattered window at what was happening outside, but the movement made her cover her own mouth to stop herself from shrieking.
“Don’t, don’t,” Sarika said softly. She stood up slowly and looked out the window, standing on her tiptoes and leaning against the wall. “He’s chasing someone.”
“Get back here!” Landon yelled from farther away. A few additional unintelligible shouts carried on the wind as Sarika sunk back down and nuzzled Leila. Leila’s head was still throbbing with pain, and now her stomach was, too. It radiated throughout her body.
Leila closed her eyes, breathing in slowly, and listened.
Nothing.
Silence.
They were gone. The voices of the dryads. Of her birth mother, and the two creatures who were essentially her biological aunts. What had happened to them? Had the developers cleared out the grove? Was everything dying around her because they were gone?
Was she next?
She squeezed her eyes shut until her head started to throb again.
Footsteps.
Leila opened her eyes and spotted Sarika jumping to her feet and peering back out the window. She squatted back down at her side and took her hand. Landon bounded into the mansion with his fists balled up, his eyes hard. He looked down at Leila with a mixture of fury and concern.
“Sarika, help me out.” He bent down and put his arms under Leila’s legs.
“Wha-what are you doing?” Leila muttered.
“Getting you off the ground,” he said, as Leila looped her arms around his neck. He hoisted her up, and the pain in her chest and head boomed. “It’s okay,” he said softly. “It’s going to be okay.” He turned quickly to Sarika. “We have to get Leila the hell out of here.”
“Why?” Sarika asked, as they started walking out of the mansion. “Who were you chasing? What is going on?”
“Some kind of poison. Maybe weed killer? I’m not sure what it is,” Landon said firmly. “It’s everywhere. We’re not going to find any animals here.”
“What?” Sarika exclaimed. “Why? Why would they . . .” she faded off, and Leila looked down at her from Landon’s arms. Sarika’s expression went cold, and she shook her head.
“They know,” she said, softly. “Whoever it is, someone told them what’s going on here. They know what our people are looking for.” She stopped and stooped down to run her hand over the ground.
“Sarika, don’t!” Landon cried.
She lifted her hand up to her nose and squinted. She immediately whipped her hand back and forth, and wiped it on her jeans.
“The poor mice. The other animals around here, your owl. What do we do?” Sarika asked.
“We keep Leila away from it. It’s clearly hurting her,” Landon said resolutely. “Let’s get out of here.” He turned to walk away from the mansion, and Leila could feel the world around her spinning as he moved back and forth. She swayed in his arms.
“N-no.” Leila muttered, trying to move out of Landon’s arms.
“What?” Landon asked, stopping. “What’s wrong?”
Leila pointed back towards the mansion.
“We can’t leave,” she said, feeling like she had to force her voice out. “The, the dryads. We need to see if they’re . . . if they made it.” She coughed out the last few words and Landon held her tighter.
“Leila, I don’t think—” he started.
“We’re not discussing it,” she said as sternly as she could. “I’ll crawl there if I have to. If you take me home, I’ll find a way back.”
Landon looked over at Sarika, who shrugged in response.
“She’s stubborn,” she said, and Leila could hear the smile in her voice. “Let’s go.”