Beasts and Maidens Read online

  Chapter 6

  Selene stayed and talked to her brothers for almost an hour, by which time they were all sitting down and swapping stories of their pasts and having a lot of fun. Selene didn’t want to be gone for too long, though, so she had to go home. It was hard for her to leave her brothers behind, but she had already made plans to return to visit them again. She especially liked Andy, who still possessed the cheeriness and openness of youth.

  She walked with Tornado back to the main camp, where Jenson was waiting for them. He was wearing some worn brown pants and an off-white shirt that fit him much better than the shorts he had been wearing, though the shirt was pretty big on him. He wasn’t wearing shoes because he couldn’t find any, but he didn’t care because he had never worn shoes before. He stood up from the log he was sitting on and went over to Selene and Tornado.

  “Are you leaving now?” he asked Selene.

  “Yes. I don’t like to be gone from home too long in case someone goes out looking for me. It has happened before. What are you going to do? Are you going to stay here, or you are you going to come with me?”

  He sighed. “I’m just going to stay in here for now, until I can come up with a decent plan that won’t get you in trouble. This has been my home for my whole life, so I don’t mind staying a little longer, as much as I’d love to go with you.”

  Selene knew that was for the best, but she felt her heart drop just a little bit. She didn’t want to have to say goodbye, even though she would see him again. The thought made her heart ache, and she wished she had better control over her own feelings.

  Before Selene turned to follow Tornado, who was already walking away, Jenson cupped her face in his palms. He leaned forward slowly and kissed her very gently and sweetly on the lips. Then he chuckled lightly as he pulled his face away. “I’ve always wanted to be able to do that,” he whispered, stroking her face with one fingertip.

  Selene felt breathless, and she was still trying to control her heart, which was pounding so hard she could hear a rushing in her ears. “Me too,” she whispered back. His face was still close to hers, so she went up on her toes to kiss him one last time. The kiss was a little longer than the first, and it had a bit of an edge to it that Selene could only describe as a type of hunger, though she had no idea what she was hungry for. Then his arms dropped away and he stepped back.

  “Come back soon?”

  “I’ll try,” Selene said. She continued to stand there staring at him, as if trying to commit every detail of his face to memory. She didn’t want to be thinking about him and not be able to remember what he looked like.

  “Come on, Selene,” Tornado said, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she finally turned away, feeling a little ashamed of her own behaviour.

  She said goodbye to Tornado at the clearing, and then she headed out alone. There were two small girls in the meadow picking flowers when she got to the rock at the forest edge, so she had to wait a few minutes until they left. Then she walked home; her head full of many things.

  Dahlia and Henry were back, and they were out in the field with June, the cow. Henry was leading the animal with a rope to the small barn they had, and Dahlia was carrying the old metal bucket they used for collecting milk. She was laughing at something Henry had said when Selene entered the field.

  “Henry doesn’t have any experience with farms,” Dahlia explained when Selene came up to them. “No one wants to hire him until he has a few skills. I’m teaching him how to milk June, and Father’s going to teach him how to plough a field later.”

  They entered the barn, which carried a strong smell of manure. There were two stalls and a small area at the front with some hay and a shovel. Selene leaned against the wall as Dahlia took June into her stall and grabbed a stool. She handed the bucket to Henry.

  “So, what do I do?” he asked. He looked at the cow, and then back at Dahlia, who laughed.

  “Here, I’ll show you.” She took the bucket back and sat on the stool. She patted June’s side to comfort her before she started milking, since she had a tendency to kick if she didn’t know what you were doing.

  Henry watched her closely. His eyes were squinting in his concentration. “Okay, I think I get it now,” he said after a couple of minutes.

  “Then go ahead and try,” Dahlia said. She got up and let him take over, and he started milking like he had done it his whole life.

  “You’re a quick learner,” Selene commented. “That will work in your favour.”

  “We’ve chosen a day for our wedding,” Dahlia announced suddenly, as if she had just remembered. “It’s going to be in three days. Henry wanted to have it in the church, but I wanted it to be outside, and eventually he gave in and agreed with me. We’re going to have it in the meadow.”

  “That was fast,” Selene said, smiling. “I was sort of hoping you wouldn’t be able to decide right away so that I’d have more time to make your dress.”

  Dahlia put an arm around her sister and gave her a hug. “You’re too good to me, Selene. I hope you don’t expect me to make your wedding dress when the time comes. I’m afraid you’d be the laughing stock of the entire village.” She grinned.

  “Surely your sewing isn’t that bad,” Henry said, still milking the cow.

  Selene laughed. “You should have seen the shirt she tried to make for Father last year. The sleeves were so narrow he couldn’t even get his arms into them, and the seam along the side split before he tried to put it on.”

  Henry laughed too, and Dahlia blushed. “In my defence, I think there was something wrong with my measuring tape,” she said, which only made the other two laugh harder.

  Selene left them to their work and headed to the house, where she found Amber waiting by the door, wearing a pretty new pink dress that had lace along the neckline, which was very expensive.

  “You look lovely,” Selene said to her. “What brings you here?”

  “Must I have a reason? Actually I’m bored. I was supposed to spend the day with my aunt, but then she had an emergency meeting about a tainted water supply. I have nothing to do. Want to go shopping with me?”

  Selene shrugged. “I don’t have a lot of money, but I do need to get some fabric, so I might as well go.”

  “Making Dahlia’s wedding dress, are you?” There was a slight edge in Amber’s voice as she mentioned Dahlia.

  “Yes. You know what would happen if Mom made it.”

  Amber crinkled her nose. “Ugh. You certainly have a point there. That woman’s sense of style is the same as it was twenty years ago. Not that I have anything against your mother, but I wouldn’t want her making a dress for me either. You, on the other hand, seem to be a natural, and I would trust you to make my wedding dress too.”

  Selene smiled. “You’re just saying that to be nice. The clothes I make are nothing compared to the ones you wear.”

  “That may be true, but I believe that has more to do with a lack of means rather than a lack of either taste or skill. I can’t very well blame you for being poor.”

  “No, I suppose you cannot, but I still think you’d be far more likely to get Mrs. Cornflower to make your dress for your wedding. It is this most important day of a girl’s life, after all.”

  Amber shrugged. “Well, hopefully we’ll find out next year!” She grinned and winked at Selene, who just shook her head and grinned back.

  The two girls headed down the road to the village. Amber complained about the dust, which she claimed would ruin her new shoes and stain the hem of her dress. Selene just laughed. She was used to Amber being picky about her appearance, even though she hardly ever had anyone to impress. Selene was much more laid back, not that she could afford to look nice anyway.

  When they entered the clothing store Amber went straight to the shoes while Selene looked at fabric. She found a nice white satin and a white filmy material, both of which would be perfect for the wedding dress that Sele
ne was picturing for her sister. She bought small squares of each.

  “What on earth are you going to do with that small amount of fabric?” Amber asked as they were leaving. She was carrying three large bags full of new things.

  “There are some advantages to being a witch,” Selene said. “I know a spell that will turn these little squares into bigger pieces. I just needed some material to start with.”

  “Wow. Why don’t you do that with everything? You could make more food and wood from what you already have, and you’d never run out of anything. You could even sell it all and get rich.”

  Selene had to admit that that sounded nice. “I wish I could do that, but the spell only works for fabric, and it isn’t an easy one to do. It takes up a lot of energy and makes me feel exhausted every time I do it, so I can’t do it often.”

  Amber headed home since she lived close to the shops, and Selene walked home alone, thinking of Jenson the whole way and wishing she were back in the woods.

  Her mother was home when she got there, and she was busy in the kitchen making a potion that smelled to Selene like a healing draught, which she found had a faint odour that reminded her of roses, even though there were no roses in the potion.

  She brought the swatches of fabric into the living room and then went to get her spell book. She turned to the right page, which was well worn from years of use. It had saved her a lot of money since she learned how to use it.

  Greed is not a virtue,

  And can be an evil trait,

  To have it is to be alone,

  As apathy turns to hate.

  To need something is different,

  Since we all need to survive,

  There are things we all must have,

  In order to be well and thrive.

  It has been in our human nature,

  To clothe ourselves since times of old,

  To live in modesty,

  Or protect us from the cold.

  Because of this I ask you now,

  Great spirits of desire,

  To increase this piece of fabric,

  And help be my supplier.

  A large cloud of dark red energy poured forth from Selene’s chest. It sparked angrily as if it didn’t want to be there, but it enclosed the fabric nonetheless. As soon as it disappeared into it, the fabric suddenly grew into more than enough to make a dress. Selene felt the decrease in her energy just as abruptly, and she had to go lay down before she could get to work.