edited: 06/07/2017

Maksim had been right. Barely anybody travelled along the backstreets of Astracia, and even those that did paid no heed to Remy while she was covered in a purple cloak—which, she noticed, was surprisingly heavy against her shoulders and reeked, oddly, of some sort of floral perfume. She supposed it belonged to Maksim's mother, though she wondered if perhaps he had a girlfriend before deciding against it; he was far too hostile to interest anybody other than Annika, whose feelings obviously weren't returned. 

She paused as Maksim turned, without warning, into an alley way between two glass buildings that had been tinted black so as not to allow anyone to look in. The blinding sun bounced off the windows. "Where exactly are you taking me?"

"You will see," he said vaguely, turning expectantly to wait for Remy. "Well, are you coming, or would you prefer to stand there all day?"

Remy narrowed her eyes. "I'm not following you into a dark alley again. Last time it didn't turn out so well. Besides, you're a stranger."

"Yet that never stopped you before." He raised an eyebrow as though challenging her.

"I learn from my mistakes," Remy retorted, clutching the cloak tighter around her torso as another warlock passed her.

"Fine." Maksim waved a dismissive hand and continued his journey, his boots sounding heavy against the cobbles. "Stay here all day and see what I care."

"Wait!" Remy called, rushing to catch up with him as panic surged through her. "You can't just leave me here. I don't know how to get back to your house."

"Of course you do. Left from here, then take a right on Aylin Street, straight ahead until you reach the one with the green walls. Easy."

She sighed resignedly and trailed along behind Maksim, muttering quietly that she didn't have a key anyway and casting her eyes to the floor. She ignored the pain, sharp but much more bearable than it had been yesterday, that shot up her leg each time she stepped forward.

She was surprised when the alley didn't come to a halt at a dead end, instead widening out into a woodland area. The ground was hidden under a veil of golden leaves that were tinged with red at the edges, their veins green. She no longer felt trapped by the humidity, the air now cool and fresh as she inhaled the earthy scent of the woods. At least forests still smell the same, she thought, feeling slightly less homesick as her Vans stepped out onto the spongy mud beneath her. Still, she thought of her beach at home and a pang of longing jolted through her.

"You can take your hood down, now, if you must," Maksim said as he began to pass through the trees. "Nobody ever comes here."

"Oh, good," Remy responded sarcastically, pulling her hood down despite herself, "that makes me feel so much better about being in the woods with a stranger who claims to be a warlock."

Above her, the midday sun beat down through the cracks in the trees, its rays iridescent as she stepped between them. They reminded Remy of laser beams that she had seen in spy movies, crisscrossing over each other as though keeping out any unwanted visitors. In their light, she could see snowdust floating like flakes that never fell.

Maksim turned, causing Remy to stop in her tracks. "What exactly do you think I am going to do to you?"

"I don't know," she shrugged in response. "Throw me through a portal, get me into trouble with your mother, make me stay in a strange place with people that clearly don't like me ..." she paused. "Oh, wait, you've already done that."

"Do you think I planned this?" he asked incredulously. "Believe me, the last thing I would ever want is to have to spend my free time looking after a stupid little mortal girl who thinks the world revolves around her."

Remy scoffed. "Well, it's your fault I'm here, not mine. If you dislike me so much, you shouldn't have brought me here."

"No, I shouldn't have!" Maksim shouted, causing Remy to jump slightly. His raised voice seemed incredibly loud here, where everything else was silent but for a few birds chirping in the distance, and it echoed off the trees. "I should have left you in your little Mortal World with your boring mortal friend. I should have let Elthar and my brother deal with you, let them use dark magic on you and torture you for information, but there is nothing that either of us can do about it now, unless you possess a time machine, so I suggest you keep your mouth shut and stop whining until the portals open again! Believe me, the moment they do, you will be long gone, and perhaps then I will be able to enjoy a quiet walk through the forest without having to put up with you!"

Remy had nothing to say to that. Sarcasm and moodiness, she could take. What she couldn't take was somebody yelling and getting angry at her. She swallowed the lump in her throat as best she could, her eyes stinging as eventually she thought up a response. "I look forward to it." Her voice didn't sound like hers anymore; it was too small and quiet, all of the things that Remy's character was not.

Maksim's cheeks were flushed with rage, but he turned away and began to tread through the woods again without another word. It wasn't long after that they had seemingly reached the place that Maksim had spoken about, and Remy broke the silence by gasping.

The woods had cleared, the trees replaced by a lake, and above that, a waterfall, where the sunlight danced against its surface. Mist lingered above it, though it never touched the water, and crystals of all colours glinted threateningly as they surrounded the pool, as though warding off anybody that dared come too close.

That wasn't quite what Remy found strange, though. The waterfall, which at first glance seemed perfectly normal, actually flowed upwards upon closer inspection, the slivers of water more like shards of glass being thrown up to something beyond the creek by an intangible force. "I don't understand. How is that possible?" she said aloud, despite not wanting to talk to Maksim after the way he had just spoken to her.

"Your question is too vague to answer. How is what possible?" His voice was emotionless and controlled, but he ruffled his auburn hair tensely. She hoped he felt as bad as she did, though she didn't suppose he ever felt bad about anything other than his nagging mother. 

"The waterfall," she whispered, her eyes never leaving it. "How can it flow upwards?"

He sighed as though he could think of a million things he could be doing that was better than answering her.

Remy rolled her eyes before he could bother. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. Forget it."

She could feel his gaze burning into her back as she stepped further towards the lake, close enough that the top of her shoes could touch the crystals and the mist enveloped her in a swirl of grey as though grabbing her and pulling her into its shadows. Despite the fog, she felt, for the second time since arriving in Astracia, that everything looked clearer here than it ever had in Calderdale, like she had been woken up from a hazy dream and could finally see reality again. This couldn't be reality, though; she knew that. This would never be her reality.

The splashing sound of the waterfall reminded her of the many times that she had sat on the beach, listening to the waves crashing onto the sand, and she closed her eyes automatically. In the darkness, she could almost pretend that that was where she was now; home, by the ocean, where nothing was so bad that the salty air couldn't wash it away.

"What are you doing?" Maksim questioned curiously, sounding much closer to her now than he had been before.

Remy opened one eye, finding him stood beside her with an intent expression. The mist curled around him yet never seemed to touch him, as though it desperately wanted to but simply couldn't. She wondered if that was magic too, or just the effect that Maksim had on ordinary things. "Nothing," she said, no longer in the mood to hold any kind of conversation with the obnoxious warlock.

He raised a disbelieving eyebrow and sat down on a dry patch of grass, careful to avoid any wildflowers. Remy might have joined him if she wasn't so upset with him.

"Are you just going to stand there?" he asked after another moment.

She huffed in response, shaking her head. "Is that a problem?"

"Everything that you do is a problem, it seems."

"Have you ever thought that perhaps you're the problem? That maybe you don't have to be so unpleasant all the time? That maybe, if you got your head out of your own arse and started being nice to people, you wouldn't find everything I do so annoying?"

If he had been affected by her words, he did not show it. "I believe that that is anatomically impossible, actually, even as a warlock," he countered calmly, crossing his arms over his knees with a smug smirk. "And no, I have not thought those things, because even if I did, you would still be intolerable."

Remy exhaled in defeat, no longer having the energy to argue. She had not had nearly enough sleep or food to even try anymore. Besides, this felt different to the way it had in Calderdale; this felt personal, as though he truly did hate her simply for existing. She had never had anybody be so cold towards her, and she might have been just as good at returning his hostility, but not when she was here, out of her comfort zone and reliant on him to get her home safely.

For the first time, she realised that she was afraid.

When she spoke again, she recognised the fatigue in her own voice and wished she could have been stronger. "Then don't talk to me. Nobody's forcing you to."

"My mother is, actually. You are my problem, remember? I must put up with you until the portals open again."

She said nothing, just blinked at Maksim and sat down for the sake of resting her injured leg. She was glad for the silence. Her head was pounding now and her empty stomach uneasy with nausea. She could almost feel her tiredness rotting away at her bones and weighing down her body. It was so overwhelming that the sight of the lake no longer comforted her, nor did the smell of pine or the feeling of soft grass tickling the palms of her hands. She felt completely tiny as she gazed up at the colossal trees that enclosed her, thinking that even those looked so much different here, with branches that clawed at the pink sky and leaves that looked more like blazing flames. It wasn't easy to accept that everything she had ever known had now been changed.

It was even less easier to hear Maksim's voice again, though it did not seem to hold its previous reticence. "What do you think, then?"

"Of what?" Remy answered monotonously.

"Of this place: the lake, the waterfall—which, apparently, is not supposed to flow upwards."

"Does it matter to you what I think?"

"I suppose not," he said surprisingly softly. "I am just trying to make conversation, something you mortal girls seem to do an awful lot."

"It's called being friendly," she muttered. "You should try it some time."

"I always thought my brooding misery was much more attractive." His mocking tone was back, and Remy found herself feeling a little better for it, though she was afraid it wouldn't be long until she talked him back into a bad mood. "That is why I have so many admirers."

"Annika clearly likes it, though I can't see why."

A flash of something wavered across his features for a second, but it was gone before Remy could decipher what it was. "Yes, well, perhaps she likes it a little too much. I have never known anybody to enjoy being rejected so much."

"Why don't you just put her out of her misery?" She frowned, remembering the porcelain doll look-alike that she had met last night. "She's pretty. Freakishly pretty. Are all you witchy-wizardy people this attractive?"

"She has the personality of a cobblestone." Maksim scowled, his hair looking redder than Remy had ever seen it against the sunlight. She noticed that a particularly auburn strand had fallen onto his face, though he didn't seem to notice it. "And no, not all have been blessed with my dashing good looks."

"How unfortunate for them. I am sure they are devastated." She was joking, of course, though she did think that Maksim was incredibly attractive—more attractive than Annika and more attractive than she had ever imagined anyone to be. It was the sort of beauty, she thought, that one would never truly get used to, not with his flecked eyes or opalescent hair, and not with his angular face either, chiselled in all of the right places. He had flaws too, though, if one could call them that: his jaw was slightly crooked on one side and his nose was a little too sharp and pointed, though Remy didn't see them as imperfections. They only made him more interesting to look at. "Why did you bring me here, anyway, if no one else knows about it?"

Maksim hesitated. "I like to come here for a bit of peace and quiet—something I don't have the luxury of in my mother's company. I thought maybe you would like to see the better part of our world before you go home."

"I would," Remy said, a little too quickly. "I do. It's beautiful. How could people not know about it?"

"They know about it, they just do not care. Warlocks and witches are surrounded by magic every day. This is nothing for them. People who can create magic with a click of their fingers tend not to notice the beauty around them. That, or they get used to it."

"I could never get used to this." She watched as the water, clear and teeming with life, rippled, its surface gleaming with the reflection of the sky, which was broken only by the mirrored treetops above her.

"Nor could I."

She could feel his gaze on her and her skin prickled, though she chose to ignore it. It was strange how quickly his mood had changed, and she wondered when it would be that he switched back to his usual antagonising self. She didn't want to know.

Her stomach growled suddenly in the same moment that a sharp pain shot through it, and she blushed. She hadn't eaten since yesterday, and it was only now that her hunger was catching up to her.

Any hope that Maksim hadn't heard it was lost when she saw his wary expression. "We should get you something to eat. I know a restaurant on the same street we came from." He stood up, wiping his trousers of any dirt, and waited patiently for Remy to do the same.

When she did, she took one last look at the lake and the bizarre waterfall before following Maksim back into the woods. She almost felt sad at the fact that she would never see this wonder again, and hoped that she would never forget the way it had looked and felt to sit beside it, even if she had been annoyed and tired and hungry.

She doubted that anything as extraordinary as that scene would ever be wiped from her memory.