Two✧*。

My eyes flutter open. The first thing I see is my ceiling. I sigh.

"It was a dream," I say.

"No, it wasn't," Vi says.

I turn to my right and see Vi. I'm not in my room. I'm tied to a bed with the same vines from earlier. I look to my left and see Jake beside me unconscious.

"What do you want with us?" I say. I hear Jake wake up.

"I should be asking you the same thing," she says, looking annoyed. "Why'd you break into my house?"

"What... Where am I?" I hear Jake say.

"Who sent you?" Vi asks, completely ignoring Jake.

"What?" Jake says. He's just as confused as I am.

Vi looks at him. "You guys didn't even know about me, did you?" She groans. "Oh my God. I'm so sorry." She waves her hands and the vines start to slither off our bodies. We quickly get up. "I thought your whole surprised act was well, an act."

Jake holds my hand and we start backing up slowly. "Yeah. We understand. It was just a simple misunderstanding. We all make mistakes," Jake says.

We are already at the door. Jake opens it and yells, "Run!"

We are getting to the stairs when vines wrap around our waists pull us back into the room. Vi shuts the room door and locks it. She looks pissed.

"Let's make one thing clear," Vi starts, sounding as pissed as she looks. "The only reason I tied you up is that I thought you guys knew what I am. I thought you were a threat to me." As she speaks, she walks closer to us. With each step forward she takes, we take a step backward. "But now I know you're just two incredibly idiotic teenagers who can't mind their business. So, the only threat in this room is me."

We've backed up to the wall now. For someone so small, she can be very intimidating.

"So, what are you going to do to us?" James asks, his voice shaking a bit.

"I'm going to tell you a story," Vi says, a smile suddenly appears on her face. She is unhinged. "Have a seat."

Too scared to disobey, we sit down on the bed and Vi sits on a chair opposite us.

She begins,"It was the year 1816. There I was, young, 16-year-old Vi, minding her own business, then boom." She makes a hand gesture that mimics an explosion. "I was taken from my village in Badagry, Lagos, and..."

"Badagry, Lagos?" Jake asks. I don't know where that is either.

"Lagos, Nigeria," Vi says.

Jake still looks confused.

"Nigeria in West Africa," Vi says. She looks irritated. She shakes her head in disappointment. "Americans. Anyway, I was forced on a ship to America and I, being the whimsical dumbass I am, thought I was going on an adventure. You see my parents..."

She takes a deep breath. She has this sudden sullen look that immediately disappears. Then her smile returns.

"My parents were too protective of me and never told me about all the slave trade that had been going on for the previous two centuries. I was homeschooled. My only friend was my pet rabbit. I essentially lived in this fairytale bubble for 16 years of my life so, even when it was so obvious I was in trouble, I couldn't tell. Everyone around me told me I was stupid but, did I listen? No. I told them that they should have a little faith in these pale, sickly-looking people that called themselves Caucasian. That everything was going to be fine." She looks directly at me. "I'm the first person they threw out to sea."

I look at Jake and he has this empathetic look on his face. He can't actually be falling for this, can he? I know she's likable but, she can't be that likable.

"So there I was in the middle of the freaking Atlantic ocean fighting for my life. The ship was long gone. There was no sign of land or life but, did I give up? No. I keep swimming to I didn't know where. Eventually, I passed out because I have the upper body strength of a jellyfish and I started to drown." She pauses for a second.

"I'm thirsty," Vi says. "Are you thirsty? I'm thirsty. I'm going to get some orange juice." Before we can say anything she disappears.

"Oh my God," I gasp.

"Are you okay?" Jake asks.

"Am I okay?" I say to myself. My voice gets louder. "Am I okay? Did you not just see someone disappear or was it just me? If it wasn't for you none of this would be happening."

"It's not that bad," he says. "She seems nice. Practically harmless."

I start yelling," Nice?! Harmless?! Are you out of your freaking mind?! For all we know this is all an act and she eats teenagers! That 200-year-old girl is probably going to poison us with her dumb juice!"

Vi appears again. She's holding a tray with three glasses filled with orange juice. Even her dishes are floral. She hands a glass to Jake and he takes it. She tries to hand a glass to me but, I don't collect it.

"Okay," she says. "I can sense some resentment coming from you. Also, I heard everything you said. The walls are paper-thin. So, let me make three things very clear. One." She holds one finger up. " I'm a vegetarian. Two." She holds a second finger up. "I'm 207 years old. And three." She holds up the third finger. "I'm not a girl, I'm a minor female deity. Not the same thing."

I roll my eyes and scoff.

"Anyway, back to my story. Where was I?"

"You were drowning," Jake said, enthusiastically. Unbelievable.

"Yes," Vi said. "I blacked out and woke up surrounded by trees and this woman showed up out of literal thin air. Like I did just now. She was green and naked. She was so beautiful and happy and playful and childlike. Her name was Fawn. She reminded me of me. She found me on the beach nearby. She told me she was a nymph. The last one. But, she didn't tell me what happened to the others. She made me feel comfortable but, after what happened to me on the ship, I knew I didn't have time to be comfortable. I needed to get home and see my parents and tell them I was okay but, Fae told me it was better to stay. That I was safer with her. She told me all about slavery. She said it was better to wait it out. I shouldn't have listened to her."

Jake's phone rings. He had his phone this whole time? He picks his phone from his pocket and it goes flying out of his hand into Vi's hand.

"Oh my God," I gasp.

"No cellphones," she says.

Vi continues. "It turned out waiting it out would take almost 200 years because even when slavery was abolished, it would still be too dangerous for me to leave and Fawn knew this. She taught me the ways of the nymph. 'A nymph is calm and happy and kind. Never angry,' she said. 'A nymph protects nature at all costs. However, when in a dangerous situation, a nymph flees and blends in. Just because you have the power to bash their head in with an entire tree or suck the air out of them by choking them with vines doesn't mean you should.' I finally went through my metamorphosis on my eighteenth birthday. I lived my life as a happy, naked nymph for a long time. It took fifty years for slavery to be abolished and another 130 years for racism to drop to a level that I could handle. But, I was too happy. I didn't want to leave. Everything in my life was too peaceful. Fawn didn't force me to go. She liked the idea of me staying with her forever. She wasn't a fan of being alone."

"Why was she alone?" Jake asks. "What happened to the other nymphs?"

"Eradicators," Vi says. "It's a dumb name. I know. They believed that magical creatures shouldn't exist so, they took it upon themselves to destroy all creatures from least to most dangerous. Guess who was at the top of the list. Word got to them that there were two nymphs still alive. They came, ruined our forest, and tried to kill us. I told Fawn we should fight. We were powerful enough to defeat them but, she chose to hide. That's the problem with nymphs so much power but, we're so timid. I hid with her but, we were caught. They killed her first. I saw my best friend get killed because I couldn't stand my ground and fight. That did something to me. It broke me. You see, nymphs aren't supposed to be able to feel anger but, at that moment, I felt so much anger, I felt it might consume me. These entitled Caucasians kept coming into my life and ruining it. I couldn't take it anymore. I fought back. I didn't kill anyone but, I held them off long enough for a Caretaker to find me."

"What's a Caretaker?" Jake asks.

"They are the opposite of Eradicators," she says. "They protect magical creatures from danger. The Caretaker rescued me from the Eradicators. He's the one who told me all about them. He brought me to America. He kept me in a safe house and took care of me for about six years. He decided it was safer to move me to a small town so I wouldn't be isolated and he could keep an eye on me. That's how I ended up here. He said I shouldn't tell anyone what I am. That they would either want my power or want me dead. But, you already saw me. I don't think you want my power and you couldn't kill me if you tried."

The doorbell rings. Vi looks startled.

"I should go see who it is." She disappears.

"Jake we need to leave," I say with urgency.

"If we leave, she's just going to bring us back by force," he says. "Let's just let her finish her story."

"Unbelievable," I say. "You like her, don't you? Boys are all the same. You saw her naked once and you've had like what three conversations with her. Why is it so hard for you guys to keep it in your pants?"

Jake is about to say something but, Vi reappears.

"I need to get you guys out of here," Vi says.

"What?"

"My caretaker is here. If he sees anyone here he'll kill you."

"What?!" Jake says.

"Oh my God. Do you want to die?" Vi says. "Shut up. Did you leave anything around here?"

"I don't think so," Jake says.

"Good. Take my hand," Vi says. She holds her hands out to me and Jake. Jake takes her hand but, I don't.

Vi looks annoyed. "Look," she says. "I know you don't like me and I don't know why but if you don't take my hand right now, you'll die." I stay quiet and don't take her hand.

"Hunter," Jake says.

I still say nothing. There's no way in hell I'll ever trust her.

"Fine," Vi says. She disappears with Jake.

I hear footsteps. Then, a voice calls.

"Violet," the voice says. "I bought you muffins. I couldn't pick one flavor so, I bought one of each. Vi?"

The footsteps are getting louder and then suddenly they stop. I hear a clicking sound and I realize it's a gun. I realize that Vi was right and this person is going to kill me. I hide under the bed and close my eyes. Just as I hear the person struggle to open the door, I feel a hand on me. I open my eyes to see that I'm in my room. I run downstairs to see Jake in my living room.

"Oh my God," Jake says and hugs me. "You're safe."

I push him off me. "No thanks to you," I say, with as much venom as I can muster. "None of this would have happened if we just came home like I said. You think we've been transported into this magical world but, the reality is that she's probably going to kill us and it's all your fault. The worst part is you like her. What is your problem?!"

"Hunter, I have a boyfriend!" He yells back.

"I... I didn't know," I say.

"How could you know?" he says angrily. "How could you possibly have known when you spent the whole of freshman year doing everything in your power to ignore me? You think that I'm so dumb that I just decided to break into someone's house without knowing who or what they are?"

"What?" Vi appears. "You knew about me?"

If she didn't want to kill us before she definitely wants to now.