Jake Addams May 19th,20xx

Branches cut at my face as I ran through the trees in the opposite direction Cai had left in. Tyus clung tightly to my hair with one tiny arm and a round red stone in the other. It was the same that Cai had given us to use as a mirror.

“To the left!”

I let the pixie direct me as I ran and kept my eyes peeled for Galen. The anklets sped me up so far that I had a hard time controlling myself and had to focus on keeping my balance as well.

Tyus had come to warn us, but the witches had been right behind him. The two other fairies had gotten into a scuffle and I had taken off, realizing that there was nothing I could have done to help. My bat was slung across my back and knocked against my shoulder blades with every step but I couldn’t bring myself to abandon it.

Either as a weapon or as mental support, I refused to believe that it would never be helpful.

“To your right!”

I tilted to the right but had to immediately ground my heels into the ground as I nearly crashed into a group of witches. They flew close enough to the ground that I wondered if it wouldn’t have been better to just walk and were clearly on the lookout for something. One of them, a female, held her stomach like she had been hurt and carried a strained expression on her puffy face.

A closer look showed me that the rest of the group carried similar injuries, and why they flew instead of walking became clear. Each of them bore an injury, each case worse than the last.

“That blasted bug prince! Even if he wanted to escape couldn’t he just have used some magic to get out of it? Why did he have to attack me so hard?”

The girl holding her stomach grumbled in a voice filled with venom. Her companion to the left, a male with zebra printed hair and eyes like a cats’ replied just as venomously.

“At least he stopped with you after that one blow! I kept getting hit just enough to hurt but not enough to put me out of the fight. Seven times! You ever been hit by a hammer? seven times?”

“Quit whining and focus on Derela’s mission. You guys laughed when I had to experience her ‘forest of death’ but it won’t be so funny when it's you.”

The mood was cut by a soft-looking girl with puffy hair and a sweet looking face. Even all her clothing, tight and revealing as they were, were brighter themed than those of her companions, who favoured richer colours and obnoxious patterns.

I didn’t dare move and attract their attention, invisible as I was. I didn’t know exactly how the spell worked but Cai had warned me that it wouldn’t work if anyone already knew I was there.

The witches finally stopped talking and dispersed to look on their own. I stayed where I was for a few more minutes before stepping out and continuing in the direction Tyus had pointed me in. He could somehow tell exactly where Cai was but it was probably because Cai had created the pixie.

I’d somewhat given up on finding Galen since I didn’t have any confidence in steering it to safety or at all. If I could find Cai and the two of us could find Galen, the other two fairies and then jet off to safety. Hopefully, by the time I found Cai, he would have found Sparrow as well.

“Wait Krion, something is off.”

No sooner than the pixie had spoken that I noticed that the witches were slowly but surely edging closer to me from all directions. I abandoned all traces of subtlety and took off in a sprint. I hadn’t had the wings nearly long enough to try to outrace them in the air but if there was one thing I had faith in, it was my legs.

“Tch, do they teach this at fairy school or something? how did both of them notice and react the same?”

“Stop whining and speed up. If I catch him I'm telling Derela that you were deadweight on the mission”

“Hey!”

They bickered as they sped up toward me and I was soon targeted by a group of five witches. I slowed down a bit to get the bat off my back but felt my legs kick in gear even faster as they closed in. The wings on my back fluttered anxiously as I ran and tried to launch me in the air but I kept deactivating them and forcing myself to calm down. The result was me running in a weird looking but incredibly effective stride.

The speed I was going at would have dusted any human runner by miles, and maybe even a few older cars but it was no match for my pursuers.

“Hey, if you stop running away I promise I won't hurt you too bad while we take you back.”

The chase was over, and they were just playing with me now but I somehow couldn’t get myself to give in and stop. I swung the bat at the witch without breaking my stride, thinking that even if I couldn’t knock him off the broom I could at least bruise him a little. The witch was apparently expecting the same as he barely swerved out of the way and decided to let his broom take the hit. The second the Bat connected with the broom the witch went flying and collided with a tree at a frightening speed.

“Mondos!”

The girl with cotton candy hair seemed to go red as she flew toward me and reached for the bat that had hurt her friend. She caught her wits at the last minute though and swerved out of the way at the last minute.

“Stop goofing off and draw your wand!”

Finally, a witch with what looked like soft metal for clothes and bright blue hair began to throw orders at his companions.

“Surround him! Avoid the bat and You two-“

He pointed out the last two witches that hadn’t made much of an impression yet,

“Use your binding spells on him. If you can knock him out but don’t kill him!”

Before I could even wonder why they had been ordered not to kill me I felt Tyus burrow into my clothes and the unpleasant sensation of being bound up by leather before the world went black.