Chapter 37: Zarine

“Hello,” the woman said. “You must be lost.” Glittering eyes winked at him from the darkness, framed by locks of dark hair.

Oliver just stared at her, dumbfounded. His eyes were playing tricks on him – they had to be. Here this woman was, sitting perfectly at ease in the middle of the dark woods, as though it was her own personal drawing room. Her clothes were neither dirty nor torn, as his were after just a few hours in the forest. She seemed to have fallen in from the sky when Oliver was not looking.

She was a little older than him and quite short. Standing, Oliver guessed that the top of her head would barely come up to his shoulder. Her black hair tumbled down her back in a wild, yet artful waterfall.