AS ANOTHER WEEK of lessons began Vetta's mind became full of thoughts of the purloined statuette. Was it still there, in the woods? She wanted to retrieve it and replace it where it belonged but to do so also meant she had to stray from the path.
There was a symbolism in this thought. Straying from the path meant all sorts of things. The way the woods were laid out seemed a challenge to an uncertain soul in search of guidance. Taking the wrong path had consequences. Neglecting to do the right thing served to confuse matters further. To add to this a great tragedy had occurred.
The Blue Hair Clan were gone.
Those boys had said it. Moved on by a stern and disapproving authority.
Why were they here? Why did that girl come into the school that night and steal a figurine only to leave it lying unclaimed in the woods, and then to disappear herself?
It created a blankness of comprehension in her mind that left her sat quietly in the first year form room in a corner by herself while other girls chattered and wandered about.
"You seem a little busy with your own thoughts," Esper said, noting the blank stare and slight drool coming from the girl's mouth as she sat there clutching her bag as if waiting for a tram. The purple-eyed girl from the very strange land of Granite where rumours said dragons roamed amid the misty heights sat by her dorm mate to keep her company.
"Oh," Vetta said, realising someone had spoken to her. "I am sorry. My thoughts were nothing really," she admitted in confusion.
"Well, the mind needs its rest periods as much as food for thought and stimulation. It is why we sleep and dream," Esper said. "Especially Dolly. She seems to need a lot of mind rest." The girl from Nordeyer had soon become notorious for being physically hyperactive when awake which appeared to require a lot of heavy sleep at night to make up for it.
"My mind is always busy trying to understand this difficult place for I lack knowledge of all these new things I think," Vetta responded and peered down at the contents of her clutch bag as if in search of intellectual stimulation.
Her mind was indeed busy and that evening as a golden twilight settled upon the beautiful hills around Mount Syzywyg, the Poldorama girl had resolved on pursuing matters further. After stowing away her ceramic puzzle from Widow Mint so she might consider that particular problem at greater leisure she still found she had had no opportunity for several days to investigate the purloined statuette. She began to fear the Clan must have taken it away by now, perhaps along with other things, including children, though there were no reports of missing youngsters on any news streams. Nor were there much on the travellers either, as if Frangea society was tired of their existence. Or, Vetta thought hopefully, it was all rumour and gossip. After all, it was visitors who spoke thus in such a prejudicial way. Perhaps the girl she had seen was simply mischievous. She seemed very young, as young as Vetta herself, and that sense of wanting to befriend her strengthened as it always did when she met someone new. Thus a desire to prove the blue-haired girl had only borrowed the figurine in fun urged Vetta to check if it still lay there, abandoned among the pine needles, waiting to be found and recovered safely.
"A walk!" she suddenly blurted out in the dormitory as the girls relaxed from their lessons and awaited the evening meal. "Um, a solitary walk," she clarified her intention on seeing Meresinth reach for a hat as if intending to join the pleasant Poldorama girl on her intended twilight amble. "Need to sort something out in my very tired head," she felt obliged to add. Vetta simply could not lie, it was not a part of her nature, so she adapted her explanations as best she could without resorting to falsehood.
With blushing cheeks she departed the main building in haste, crossed fields and gardens to the main boundary wall of the school where the usual friendly gatekeeper nodded a greeting. Security at Miss Plazenby's was minimal as there was generally few problems of the sort posed by the Blue Hair Clan or others. Following the intrusion of earlier little had changed, again reinforcing Vetta's belief the incident was of no significance beyond that of a prank.
She soon found the right path, remembering the great dark spruce near where she had seen the statuette. At this time of the evening it looked like the scariest of giant monsters towering over her but nonetheless she approached its shadowy bulk, wishing for Anthera's marvellous spectacles which no doubt enabled her to see in the dark. Perhaps the Meditia girl had already spotted the glint of metal among the pine needles and retrieved the thing some time ago for when Vetta scoured the area there was nothing to be seen. Disappointment seized her and she knelt down amid the dirt, defeated.
"You won't find it," came a soft voice from behind a tree trunk and Vetta stood quickly.
"Who's there?"
"Someone who knows about that thing. It was my fingers that filched it and my fingers that returned it. Did you not notice it was back on its stand in that corridor, way up there in the grand building you live in?" came a chuckle. With that the speaker stepped out from behind the tree some distance from where Vetta trembled. In the misty light from the school grounds she could see long strands of blue hair tumbling over one shoulder. Otherwise the girl was near invisible in a dark costume that reflected no light.
"You came back?" Vetta said, stepping forward, wanting to see the girl better. As she approached, the other receded, making a backward progress up a slope away from the marked path. Fascinated by her presence Vetta did not notice where she was going and ran rapidly forward when she saw the girl had stopped in a clearing as if waiting for her.
Just as she reached her it was as if the world caved in and Vetta Mindal disappeared into a black pit so suddenly she seemed to vanish without trace.
"Oops," the blue-haired girl was heard to say as she stood there, alone in the pinewood forest on the slopes of Mount Syzywyg.
***
THERE WAS DARKNESS, dust and strange earthy smells far removed from the pine scent of a moment ago. It was as if Vetta had stepped into, or rather fallen into another strange dimension. A very unpleasant dimension.
She stood looking up at the hole above her and realised she had tumbled into a trap prepared for her.
"Why have you done this to me?" she cried, rubbing a bruised elbow.
"Are you hurt?" came a voice of concern from above and to the other's surprise the blue-haired girl jumped down into the hole as well so they were both trapped.
"Not really," Vetta admitted a little hesitantly.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Lighting a torch, the girl then flipped shut what appeared to be a trapdoor and fastened it with a pole.
"Good," she said. "Then follow me and I'll explain everything." With that she marched off down the tunnel's mouth, using the torch to light the way. "This is an old mine," she explained the origin of the underground passage they were walking along. "Abandoned some time ago and found by my people. Very useful for getting about without being seen."
"Why do you not want to be seen?" Vetta asked, taking in the strange sights and smells of the place as she walked next to her captor. The odour of damp earth filled her nostrils.
"We're the Blue Hair Clan," the girl laughed scornfully. "Everyone is against us because we don't fit in. Soon as they see one of us they chuck things our way. If we're lucky it's something useful and we get to keep it."
"It is wrong to steal," Vetta felt compelled to say. "Where are you taking me?"
"To a hideaway deep in the forest," came the reply. "And we don't steal. I used that statue thing to lure you away from the others so I could capture you. Worked a treat as you're such an inquisitive little body. Been watching you I have and noticed right off. Thought you would be the ideal victim."
"Victim! Are you going to sacrifice me?" Vetta gasped.
"Oh dear. You are a strange one," came the laughing reply again. "Mind that skull." This warning came too late and in her fright Vetta tumbled over the gruesome thing on the floor of the tunnel with an impressive scream.
"It's a skeleton!" she gasped, once the initial shock had subsided. "There are dead people down here. Was that one of your victims?"
"Don't mind old bonehead," the other laughed. "He's been down here guarding the tunnel for years. Keeps superstitious people away." The girl then helped her up and Vetta brushed the dirt off, grateful and frightened all at once.
"Helping others is a kind of generosity, which is one of the five wellsprings of joy," she said with a nervous stutter. It was as if making this pronouncement strengthened her courage to go on in the difficult situation she found herself in. The blue-haired girl grunted, not sure what she meant.
"Not far now. I can see the steps already," she decided to respond instead. With that she moved on ahead as if not caring if Vetta ran the other way. Then the captive girl remembered the pit she had fallen into was unscalable so she was trapped anyway. Thus she followed obediently and climbed the rough cut steps behind the other girl, up through planking and into a well-lit room full of homely furniture and bundles of fabric.
"Is this where you live?" she asked uncertainly. The girl snorted as she moved some seats around so that two faced each other in the simple room. There were no windows and light came from two lanterns hung from low rafters.
"What? In this old log cabin? Certainly not. This is where we bring our victims," she said in a disturbingly sinister voice. Then she laughed again.
Vetta looked suitably alarmed and the girl decided not to pursue the teasing banter any farther as they both sat upon the chairs.
"I heard someone shout 'Vetta' back along when I watched you in the woods. That your name?"
"I am called Vetta Mindal, from Poldorama. May I know your name?" she asked politely.
"Truancy Mundane, but you can call me Tru. Most everyone does," she added ironically.
"We have the same last initial. That is an amazing coincidence," Vetta said, squirming in her seat with seeming pleasure.
"A twenty six to one amazement," the girl added wryly.
"Happy coincidences create a sense of friendship, which is one of the five wellsprings of joy," Vetta then said as if not understanding the comment previously.
"Really? I won't ask you what the other four are."
"Why are you keeping me captive?" Vetta pursued, ignoring the other unpleasant word used to describe her. "Are you holding me for ransom? That is like stealing things. You said you did not steal, but holding a person captive is the same as stealing." She stopped, out of breath from the flurry of accusing words, and sat upon the nearest chair.
"Well, you are a one," the girl said, impressed.
"One what?" Vetta was trying hard not to cry. She wondered if anyone was searching for her yet, or even if they would bother, so forlorn she felt at this moment.
"For speaking your mind when you have something on your mind to say. That takes great courage." The blue-haired girl sat forward on the simple wooden chair opposite Vetta and looked earnestly into her eyes. For the first time Vetta noticed she had hazel eyes flecked with gold. They were pretty she decided, and wondered what her true hair colour was. "Listen. What I have done this evening is not stealing. It is an exchange, a fair exchange. I have something you want and you have something I want."
"What have you got that I want?" Vetta asked in all innocence.
"Your freedom you buffoon," the girl said, shaking her head.
"You stole it from me," Vetta insisted bravely, eliciting an impatient sigh from the other.
"Listen," she said again, more abruptly. "Two years ago my people came to this area on their travels, circuits we call them, visitations other call them. I was only ten at the time. You cannot imagine how I've counted the years until I was here again. When last here I stole away from the main encampment over at Cloven Skull and watched all you girls about your schooling from a distance. So fine you looked, so knowledgeable, so friendly. How I envied you. For just one second of your life I would have given all ten years of mine. Just one second." She lowered her gaze then and her eyes roamed over the scattering of pine needles on the wooden floor.
"I wasn't here two years ago," Vetta said, puzzled.
"Not you personally, you girls. You extremely exclusive girls. The things you must know. The things you must see, out there, in the wider world, coming from distant lands through storm barriers. I have only travelled as far as I can walk and see nothing but the stars above. Imagine travelling to them!"
"They are the same everywhere," Vetta observed offhandedly, but there was a growing sense of what was troubling this strange girl with blue hair. It was what her father scornfully called shop window hunger, yearning after something you could not possible have. Yet there was something within her that ached to help the girl, to relieve that yearning so she could be at peace.
"Our Frangea stars are special," the girl insisted, but then, having never left this land she could not know otherwise Vetta conceded.
"What do you want me to do?" Vetta asked, swallowing. "In exchange for my freedom."
"You do know I'm not really holding you hostage?" the girl replied unexpectedly and Vetta sat up straighter and looked around the cabin. A door opposite seemed unlocked. "That's right," the other said. "You can walk out any time. I won't stop you." Her eyes were sad and worried and pleading all at once and Vetta knew she really was a hostage, a hostage of her own good nature, for she wanted to help this girl any way she could. She wanted to see her smile in a way that was not scornful or dismissive, but through a genuine sense of happiness. Vetta Mindal was a captive indeed.
"I'll do what you ask," Vetta said bravely. "Though I do not know what it is."
"Are you hungry?" came another unexpected question. The blue-haired girl seemed to skirt what bothered her most, as if ashamed of herself.
"I have missed the evening meal," Vetta realised, an emptiness making itself known by this realisation.
"Then share a meal with me. Share a moment of your extremely exclusive time, and make this wandering girl feel a little of the magic of your world. That's all I ask."
"I might be able to do this," and when Vetta smiled, the blue-haired girl smiled too so that a bond of friendship was forged that would last longer than worlds.
The parting which followed, necessitated by the worry of lateness and the fact there was no more food left in the cabin, was a little intense.
"I have to go," Vetta said softly yet made no attempt to move.
"You have to go," Truancy replied softly as well, but she dragged the girl through the doorway and pushed her out into the twilit forest in silence.
Vetta paused and looked around her, spotting the telltale marker of an amble walk in the distance.
"Perhaps," she began, looking back, but the cabin was empty. Indeed, it looked as if it had not been occupied for a very long time. She listened to the forest sounds, the whirr of spruce bugs and the scratchings of squirrels and the whispers of pine fronds in a gentle breeze.
"Perhaps we might see each other again," Vetta completed the sentiment in a whisper of her own and then wandered out of the strange shadow world of the Blue Hair Clan back into the noise and bustle of Miss Plazenby's Extremely Exclusive Seminary for Girls.