Into The Woods

"Freya, you ungrateful child! Come here!" Lady Hart yelled from the second-floor balcony. The thirty-something-old woman, her plump body draped in a bright pink nightgown, marched down the carpeted marble stairs with stomps that exuded vexation. Her brown bed hair formed a mane around her head, making her look all the more terrifying.

Freya, her skinny eleven-year-old body trembling in fear, could only glance once at her step-mother. Her worn-out shoes were drenched in mud and her shabby grey dress had a few leaves stuck on its coarse garment. Her messy short hair made it look as if she had been running against the wind all day. "M-mother, I'm s-sorry…"

'...not,' she finished her sentence internally.

The little girl nailed her frightened façade immaculately. Inside, she rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue. 'Ugh, here we go again,' she thought.

Hearing Freya's shaky voice fueled the woman's anger even more. At this point, every single aspect of the child before her had become a source of her bad mood. "I don't want to hear it! After you dared run away, my dear Anna was late to the tea party because that stupid maid couldn't find her dress! And poor Daniella couldn't find her favorite slippers because you were the one who took care of them! Where have you been sneaking off to, anyway? No matter, because you've had your fun long enough, and it needs to stop. I don't want to have to make the guards look for you all over the place again!"

The woman's voice roared across the entire mansion, waking up all the residents. However, none of them dared to take a peek at what was currently going on at the entrance. They could only shake their heads, pitying the young Freya. They all knew Lady Hart's rather 'unpleasant' tendencies, especially when her step-daughter was involved.

The mansion belonging to the late Baron Hart had been such a dreaded place to live in for all the servants working there. In the last two years after The Lord's passing, the mansion had been gradually being reduced to such a sorry state.

The wealth that had been accumulated by the kind Baron was fast dwindling. It was partly thanks to all the new dresses and jewelry Lady Hart had purchased for herself and her two biological daughters—both older than Freya. But mostly, it was due to Lady Hart's horrible sense of financial management. As a result, many parts of the mansion had long been neglected. Moreover, a considerable number of servants had been either fired or had left on their own, much to The Baroness' displeasure.

And Freya, well, she just had to be slotted into the row of the now-limited number of maids. Because the mansion couldn't take care of itself, after all. For the most part, she was responsible for looking after her two older sisters' well-being, down to ensuring that there was not a single stain left on their dress.

As to why she was assigned for this particular job even though she was the Baron's daughter and, more importantly, still a child? Well, let's just say that Lady Hart and her two daughters took joy in ordering her around and 'admonishing' her for every little thing.

After listening to Lady Hart's 'loving lecture', Freya trudged back into her room in the maid quarters. She shared a room with two other maids, Rosa and Jasmine. They were an odd combination, and not just because of their names. When Freya entered the room, the two sixteen-year-old girls could be seen sitting upright on their beds, looking at Freya with eyes that said, 'Quickly close the door! We need to talk!' And not in a bad way.

Freya smiled weakly and closed the door behind her. Just as it went 'thud' and it was certain that any sound from the room wouldn't travel outside, Rosa got up, her fist raised in the air.

"That fat bitch!"

Jasmine quickly bent over and pulled Freya into a hug, the air or concern written all over her face. She then cupped the little girl's cheeks and asked, "Are you okay? Did she hit you?"

Freya gave the dark-skinned girl a reassuring smile and shook her head. "I'm fine, Jazz. I'm sorry the ruckus woke you up."

"No, it's not your fault." Jasmine then got up and gently pulled Freya by the hand to take her to bed. "Come now. I'll sing you a lullaby."

And so, Freya fell asleep to Jasmine's lulling melodic voice and Rosa's endless cursing at the Lady of the house.

The next day, Freya couldn't find a window of opportunity to sneak out of the house again, because her mother and sisters were home all day. But finally, the day after that, the three ladies had to go attend yet another tea party, as if twice a week wasn't enough.

Nevertheless, Freya jumped in joy. She told Rosa and Jasmine she'd be back before the tea party ended, and bolted out of the mansion through the back garden. The mansion itself neighbored a forest that could be accessed after going around a small lake by the side of the garden. Freya climbed up the fence surrounding the garden skillfully, as if she had done that many times before, and jumped down to the other side. She dusted off her hands and dress and ran into the woods.

She followed a trail she had memorized by heart for about fifteen minutes before stopping in her tracks. She tried to catch her breath while looking around, as if searching for something or someone. After a few minutes, her face grew somber as she failed to spot any sign of their presence.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from behind her, followed by a voice saying, "I waited for you all day yesterday." There was a slight tone of despondency in that voice.

Freya turned around to find a boy, seemingly fourteen years of age, with dark purple skin, black leather wings, and a tail that was swaying side-to-side weakly. The young demon hadn't grown his horns, yet; that would be when he turned sixteen or seventeen. He had his arms crossed and his red eyes averted to the side. And he was pouting his lips. It was adorable.

And they said demons were supposed to be scary. Who dared cook up such a lie? Clearly, Nix was anything but scary.

Freya ignored her friend's sulking and ran up to hug him. Seeing that, Nix could only uncross his arms and embrace her small body.

"I'm sorry, Nix. But that witch was taking her sweet time spectacularly failing to act like a proper lady of the house all day yesterday. Thankfully, today she and her spawns felt that they were done with domestic duties and so decided to go exchange hot gossip at a tea party."

Freya pulled away from the hug and grinned at Nix. "We have all day to ourselves now!"

At first, Nix was happy to hear that. However, he remembered that tea parties for humans, as far as he had heard, didn't last all day. "Not all day, all day, though, is it?"

Hearing his question, Freya lowered her head, her grin fading. "No. I should be back before evening." She then shook off her downcast look and pulled Nix by the hand. "Let's go! Mr. Ru and Mrs. Li are waiting for us!" she said, referring to the herd of rabbits the two had been looking after.

As much as Nix was happy to be with her again, he couldn't help but sense a bad foreboding in the back of his mind. He was fine being away from his nest because he was a commoner and more importantly, an orphan. He was used to surviving alone, anyway. No one was going to look for him even if he was never found in the nest again.

However, what about Freya? He was afraid someone was going to eventually catch her sneaking off into the woods and worse, hanging out with a demon. What would happen to her then?

Were they going to be alright?

---

Freya woke up with a slight back pain and a sore bum. She realized she had been sleeping sitting down on a rocky ground. She looked around and saw that she was in some sort of small cave. To her side, the now fifteen-year-old Nix was snoring, his hand clasping hers.

The Star who was now Freya smiled. "We're going to be alright, Nix," she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder.