Chapter 4

Today was the feast and I was ecstatic. We were all still a little jittery from yesterday's accident and this feast was the perfect thing to distract us and lift our mood.

"Hope!" Frigg screamed and burst through my room, "We need to be ready in two hours, so come on." She exclaimed and pulled me from the soft bed. Laughing I went to my phone and started some music, while we threw our clothes out of our bags.

"How does this look?" Frigg asked for the hundredth's time. She was wearing a pair of fitted jeans, a white shirt with a cream coloured teddy bear coat and a red scarf. Her dark hair was loose and glasses at the tip of her nose.

"Frigg," I signed, "You always look beautiful." She blushed at my compliment and twirled.

"Thank you, now you can't go like that." She said shocked, her eyes grew bigger and she placed her hands on her hips.

"What? It's comfortable." I moaned into my blanket and rolled myself in it, seeking its warmth.

"No!" she shouted and ripped the blanket from me, "I'll let you keep on your jeans..." she said tempting and handed me some clothing she had picked out for me.

"Fine." I complied, neither wanting to put up a fight and took the clothes from her. It was a grey cropped turtleneck sweater that complimented my high waist jean and for some more warmth, my favourite black Nike jacket. Frigg was always the fashion expert and always knew what suited me. Grabbing my long blonde hair, I tied it up in a high ponytail and walked out blushing.

"Yes, I knew it would look good on you." Frigg complimented and grabbed my hand dragging me to sit on a chair in front of a dresser. "Now for the makeup and don't worry, I know you like it natural. The natural look is anyway making a comeback." Frigg clapped her hands and started her magic.

"Aye, but nothing will ever be better than the smoky eye." I whistled in response to which she agreed.

"You girls ready up there?" Gina shouted from downstairs after thirty minutes.

"We better go, don't want to be late," Frigg announced. I grabbed my purse and with one last look in the mirror, I went downstairs.

"You both look fabulous." Gina cussed as she waited at the door for us. She was dressed in brown pants and a white button-up top, a very cheek and casual style.

"I am so excited, Gina!" Frigg exclaimed as she dashed to the blue Beatle, calling out a shotgun.

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The festival wasn't really what I expected. There hung fairy lights from the trees with blankets placed underneath them where families sat and had mini picnics. Little stalls were scattered in a big circle that bussed with tourists and locals and in the middle was a big dance floor while music was booming all around us. It was like living in the middle of nowhere, truly mesmerizing with the town hall in the background.

"I am going to meet up with some friends, your girls enjoy yourselves." Gina laughed and walked to a pregnant lady that sat at a picnic table next to the dance floor.

"Let's go get some food and then play some games, what you say?" Frigg asked excitedly as I just nodded my head. We played many of the carnival games, not winning anything because both of us sucked, but still had a great time. We played a shooting game, cup toss and balloon pop, after playing almost all of them we played with the children. We didn't plan on it, it just happened. I gave Frigg a snarky remark about her aim and she started to chase me. It was childish, but it was relaxing to forget about growing up. We ended up playing cat and mouse and similar games till it was completely dark.

"I am famished, wonna get something to eat and drink?" Frigg asked as some kids tugged on our sleeves.

"Yes, I could do with a break." I laughed and we both went to get hotdogs after excusing ourselves.

"Hello, Gina. Can we sit?" I asked as we came across Gina's table.

"Of course, love. Olive this is my beautiful granddaughter, Frigg," Gina said and grabbed Frigg's hand who sat next to her, "And this is her lovely friend Hope." Gina smiled at me. "Girls this is Olive, Lily and Olga, my best girlfriends." She said as they all started to laugh, Lily the Indian woman from the Moontide, more nervous and paler, as if she's seen a ghost. Olive was the pregnant woman who we saw in the beginning, she was in her early thirties with blonde hair and brown eyes. You could see that the pregnancy suited her, she glowed with happiness, making me shyly smile to myself wondering if I would ever have kids and how they would look. Olga was a tall woman, with divined cheekbones and jade coloured eyes. She was the youngest of them all, probably in her early twenties.

"Hello," I said shyly.

"They are just so cute, can't wait to have my own," Olive exclaimed happily, rubbing her belly smoothly and her eyes sparkling.

"Darling." A man in his mid-thirties came up to her and kissed the top of her head. He was a bulky man with sandy blonde hair and baby blue eyes, he seemed to have a baby face that did not fit on his tall, lean body.

"Love, shouldn't you be with our guest?" Olive raised her eyebrow, sceptical.

"He can go without me for a while, love." He whined back and sat next to her, cuddling her from her side and rubbing her belly, "And anyway, Volcov knows how much you mean to me, he insisted." He said and placed his nose in her neck, inhaling deeply.

"Maybe you should make sure that no trouble follows them? And they are our guest here, so go." She said with a sly smile and pushed him back.

"I am just here for your wellbeing, protecting you from any harm to come." He smiled sweetly at her.

"Yeh-yeh, superman. Now go, Michael!" she said having nothing of it and staring straight into his eyes like they are secretly having a conversation that we aren't apart of. Groaning in displeasure Michael stands up and kisses her one last time on the head.

"Hi. I am Michael the sheriff in town, I am sorry about your little incident yesterday. That rarely happens, so my deepest apologies." He said and nodded his head towards me and Frigg.

"No worries, it's all in the past," Frigg said, as I just smiled.

"Michealson! What happen-" Olive shouted.

"It is nothing, love. Don't stress about it, I already handled it. Now off I go!" Michael said nervously and quickly jogged away from his angry wife, as we all laughed at them. They were the cutest couple I have ever seen.

"Who is this very important guest you all are talking about? It seems if you are all on edge because of him or her?" Gina asked out of curiosity.

Nervously Olive looked back at Gina, while Lily stared at me intensely making me feel uneasy. "Sir Volcov," Olive whispered, she inhaled deeply and give us a big fake smile, "He's an old friend here for business." She explained and moved onto a new subject.

"I am going to walk around; I'll be back soon," I said as my butt started to hurt from sitting.

"I'll come with?" Frigg asked.

"Oh no. I just need to stretch my legs a bit, I won't belong." I reassured her and stood up, walking past the dance floor. I watched as the people danced to the music, how their bodies swung with the beats. Children eagerly ran around and laughed happily. Some young teens wherein a corner smoking and cursing like sailors, clearly at that stage of their life where their starting to explore. Walking through some of the little booths, I walked into someone.

"Sorry." I blushed.

"Hello dear, fancy seeing you here." Dalia greeted with a smile as she placed some new herbs in a crate at her booth.

"Oh, hello Dalia." I greeted back and stroked my hands through the herbs. Smelling my fingers, I smelled the sharp smell of rosemary...

"Are you wearing your necklace?" she asked suddenly, looking paranoid.

"Yes," I calmed her and grabbed it out from under my sweater, "See here it is," I said playing with the chain. The stone wasn't glowing as bright as it was that night in the bath, but it still had a faint glow to it.

"That's good, how are you today? Enjoying the festival?" she asked looking relieved after seeing the necklace around my neck.

"Yes, I am having a lot of fun." I said and placed my hands in my jacket's pockets as a freezing breeze blew past, "It's quite an adventure..."

"Saw you playing with the children?" she said, helping a customer bagging some herbs that they bought.

"Yeh, I love children." I smiled, when her eyes grew big and she ran to my side.

"Well if you want to get the full experience of this festival you should go through all the booths, starting in that direction." She rushed, pointing in a direction and pushing in it too.

"Oh, but I have been through all of the booths," I said, digging my heels into the ground wondering why she wanted me away so quickly.

"Well- well, this might be weird, but I am like an aura reader and my senses are telling you must go in that direction. You see Moontide is like a witchy shop as you already noticed so..." she explained looking at me scared as if I would judge, but did not care. People have their own beliefs and we should respect that. "Would you at least do me a favour then?" She asked looking too rushed.

"Okay," I said unsure with a smile.

"Here, would you please go and buy me a scarf, I saw a cute one with little penguins on them at Mindy's booth and I am too busy here at my booth..." she asked and gave me some money, "Oh and would you be a dear and buy me a pink crystal too, both are in that direction." She said pointing in the same direction as before.

"Um okay, but how would I know it's the right one?" I asked unsurely, I don't even know anything about crystals. The scarf is easy; I just had to search for it, but the crystal? How do I even know if it is the right one?

"You'll know, it's the only one." She explained and pushed me further in the direction.

"But..." I wanted to complain further, but she kept pushing. Alright, I'll go, if she wants me to go in that direction so desperately I'll go. She was acting stranger than she already was.

"Customers, don't stress I trust you." She reassured me and walked to a customer. Walking in the direction that she pointed out, I was curious about the 'aura' thing. What was she 'sensing'?

Walking around I look through every booth for the pink crystal, the scarf was easy to find. It was at a yellow booth with a big sign that said Mindy's. Mindy was an old lady with long grey hair that knitted her sweaters and scarf. There was a lot of cute stuff, but now I was on the hunt for the crystals.

'Crystal, crystals' I muttered to myself before I walked into something hard, stumbling backwards and just to my luck my feet slipped on a cola can. Before I could land on my butt a warm and hard hand grabbed me, pulling me towards it.

"You alright?" a deep and powerful voice asked, sending thrills down my spine. It felt strange, yet good.

"Um yes, thank you," I said and looked up at the person in front of me. In front of me stood a very tall man with arms as thick as trunks that could have snapped my neck in seconds. He had midnight black hair that was shoulder length and that waved freely in the freezing breeze that could represent his stoned cold face. His eyes were what astonished me the most, though cold it was beautiful and unique. I had only heard of the mutation called Heterochromia. One eye was brown with golden flecks and the other an electric blue. They stared right through me with a hint of curiosity.

"I am sorry for bumping into you, I wasn't watching where I walked." I softly explained with a blush, hardly hearing myself. My sole focus on the beauty of his face. Neither of us even noticed the position we were in, his strong arms were wrapped around me securely and mans rested on his chest for stability. Our faces were inches away from each other.

"It's alri..." he started to speak but stopped looking at my necklace and grimace as if he was in pain. Blinking his eyes before realizing our position, he moved back and retreated his arms. Leaving me to the mercy of the cold breeze again and continued his unfinished sentence, "It's alright." He said cold with wide eyes and twitched muscles under his suit that looked uncomfortable. Bowing a little and looking straight into my eyes, he swiftly walked away. Standing stiff in my tracks for a minute, I turned around and looked back at his retreating form. He suddenly came to a stop and turned his head too, meeting my eyes. Blushing for being caught, I whipped my head back around and speed-walked away, forgetting all about the crystal for Dalia.

Running to her booth, I gave her the scarf in and hurry and the rest of the money, murmuring a sorry and running back to Frigg and Gina.

Dalia's POV:

I was helping a customer when the young Hope came running in. It was such a lovely name and it fitted well for her destiny. Such a teensy girl for such an enormous destiny.

"Hope." I smiled, but she hardly heard. She dumped the scarf and money in my hand and murmured a sorry, before disappearing in the crowd to who knows where hardly glancing at me.

"Do you think she had met him?" Nina asked me, petting her python.

"Get that thing out of here!" I shouted in displeasure, "And yes, I sent her in the right direction." I stated and started to pack up the herbs and objects at our booth.

"Oh, she met him alright," Lily said behind me in a hushed voice, startling me. she had a nasty tendency to do that. "Didn't you see how pale she was; no one meets Sergei for the first time without almost shitting their pants." Her eyes focused on the crowd of people who were slowly decreasing. "The first part of my vision has played out. A Girl as pale as snow with cheeks as rose gold, running from her unknown." She spoke softly and stared off in the direction Hope ran in.

"Alright let's go before Miss Visionary here creeps out the customers," I exclaimed, as we packed up the last of our stuff.

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