We continue to walk through the village, silently and quicky. I can tell that Autumn is getting a little uneasy. She doesn't like the cloak. But there's nothing I can do about it. We couldn't avoid this village. 

I hear flapping, once again, behind me. I've heard it a few times now, and I finally turn around to face it.

In front of me, hovering in the air, is a bat.

I automatically grab it, using some of my flight, and tuck it in the folds of my cloak. It struggles, but finally stops.

I grab Autumn's arm and go to a patch of woods on the side of the village. Once we are concealed within the trees, I let go of Autumn.

"What's going o-?" she begins to ask.

But she's interupted by the scuffling of the bat. She looks at me wide-eyed.

"What's that in your cloak?"

I slowly unfold it and open it up. A bat sputters out, obviously flustered.

"What was that?" it shouts.

I look around, and then look back at the bat. "It's dangerous for you to be out there in the wide-open. People around here don't like animals. If I hadn't grabbed you, you would have most likely been one of the courses for somebody's dinner!"

The bat looks at me in shock, but quickly regains its glare. "Still, I don't like being handled like that."

"I'm sorry," I say.

The bat pauses. "It's okay. Thank you."

I nod a you're welcome, and Autumn looks at the bat. 

"Oh!" the bat quietly exclaims. "I'm sorry, I forgot to intorduce myself. I am Alexander."

"I'm Rose," I say. I look at Autumn. "And this is Autumn."

Autumn nods and then looks at Alexander.

"So, what are you doing here?"  

"Guys!" I yell. "This town is a SailHAven trading port, I think. That means..."

Poe Allen runs out of the shadows. He grabs me, and drags me away, screaming. 

After chasing the bat, we finally stop. We'll never catch him. 

"His bats might have recued him," Autumn says.

"Yeah," I sigh, nodding. "Maybe."

We walk in silence for a while when Autumn asks me something.

"When you caught the bat," she says. "I thought I saw you hover, but I wasn't sure... is that because you're an elf?"

"No," I lie. "I can't fly."

She nods hesitantly and we keep on walking. She knows that I'm lying.

Suddenley, there is screaming and banging in the village. We whip around to find a horse cluttering into the townsquare with an unconcious rider on its back. I run up to the horse, with Autumn trailing behind me, and peer at the rider. I feel a crowd shove behind me, but I can still clearly see who it is. A soldier is draped over the horse. A few people take the soldier and run inside a house to tend to them. Autumn takes care of the horse, gently coaxing it and giving it some water.

I look up at the sky, noticing it get darker.

A loud caw sounds behind me, and I look towards that direction. Flying straight towards me is a crow with something in its beak. When it gets over me, it drops a small letter in my hands. I look at the letter, and I open it. Inside it reads:

Dear family member of Garna Riviere,

We regret to inform you that Captain Riviere has made the casualty list in our army. She was known as a great soldier, and she will be missed by us all.

We are very sorry.

Sincereley,

Catastophe's army office

I am overcome by shock. Suddenley, I am filled with sadness, guilt, fear, regret, and anger. I drop to my knees and cry, screaming. I look around through tear-stained eyes a few moments later to discover that the sky has been covered in clouds, and that all of the plants around me have withered and died.

I flap away from Allen. 

Oh no. The human is destroying nature. I flap over to see. 

My body aches as I wake up. I look around and discover that I am in a bed, draped with a cotton blanket. I look to my side and see a glowing hearth with gently lit coals. In the corner, I see Autumn sitting with her arms crossed and her brow furrowed in concern. 

I sit up only to groan and lay back down, covering my head.

"My head hurts," I say pathetically.

"I would think," Autumn replies. "You probably landed on it."

"Where are we?" I ask.

"Bog and Burrow Inn," Autumn sighs conentedly. "No trouble here."

Bog and Burrow Inn, I say, silently. I haven't been here before, so hopefully there is no trouble.

Autumn stands up and walks to the window, peering outside.

"I better get going soon," she says.

"Where?" I ask, sitting up slowly. My head hurts, but it's not as bad as it was a minute ago.

"I'll be back," she replies. "There's just something you need to take care of."

"Oh, cause you're a werewolf?" I ask.

She's drawn aback. "How did you know?"

Now I'm suprised. Isn't it obvious? The earrings, the tatto.

"Well," I reply. "All werewolves go through the stage you're going through right now. They just go through it in different ways. When they've killed people close to them, they'll somehow symbolize it by marking it with something. You did that by having those earrings, for three people close to you that you've killed."

"And then there's the tatto. A moon. As if that didn't add to my suspicions enough, you had to get that tatto to make it a little more obvious. Also, you spend most of your time alone, as I saw when I met you in the forest. You are alone so you won't know or like many people. You think it's one less person to kill." 

"Okay," Autumn says carefully. "Now that my secret's revealed, spill yours. You're a fairy, aren't you?"

"Why would you say that?" I ask.

"Because," she replies. "I've seen you hover in the air a few times."

"Wouldn't I need wings?" I ask.

"Not all fairies have wings," she mutters, looking down. She looks back up at me. "Well, what are you?"

"An elf," I reply.

But before Autumn can reply, there's a heavy knock at the door.

"Open up!" a deep voice shouts.

Autumn holds one finger to her lips, signaling to not make a noise.

"In the name of SOCS, open up!"

Autumn looks at me wide-eyed.

"Alright, looks like we'll have to let ourselves in!"

The door is barged down, and about five soldiers come in with uniforms, masks, and huge guns.

Autumn looks out the window. The sun is beginning to set. She glances back at the soldiers.

"Look," she says, slowly. She holds out her hands in front of her. "Let us go. You're not going to want to see what happens when that sun sets."

"Don't worry, kid," a soldier replies, smirking. "We've taken care of that."

The soldier nods to another soldier, and they shoot Autumn with a dart. 

"No!" I scream.

"Sweet dreams," the soldier says, chuckling.

Autumn crumples to the floor.

The soldiers look back at me. "Now for our sweet little fairy."

"I'm not a fairy!" I exclaim.

"Oh really?" the soldier mocks. He looks back at the rest of the soldiers. "Watch this."

He aims the gun and shoots at me. I hold up my hands, and a blue force field captures the arrow in mid-air. I drop my hands down, and so does the dart. The soldiers stare at me except for the one who shot the dart.

"Stop," I say. "Just stop. What do you want?"

"You two," a soldier replies.

"Why?" I demand.

"An order's been sent out," the soldier replies. "To capture every mutant in Kyngdom."

"I'm not a mutant," I say with a nervous laugh. "I'm a creature, a species maybe, but not a mutant."

The soldier scoffs. "Well, all mutants and you. And maybe a couple of others."

Suddenely, another soldier walks up to me and hits me on the back of the head with their gun, and everything goes black.