She came out of the woods like a disease: slow, unnoticed, and craving attention. By the time Celeste turned around with a slight feeling of unease, the woman was right behind her, half-closed eyes the colour of red-gum wood, wild green hair like mossy fern sprouting out from her scalp and falling down to her waist, and smooth, pale fingers flashing gemstone rings as they moved precariously in time with the wind.
"I didn't do it!" Celeste cried out horribly.
The woman closed her eyes and said softly, "They must not meet again. It has been foretold... of great..."
Celeste felt rage bubble up in her stomach. How dare this old hag seek her out here, in her secret spot, and demand things.
"I will not!" she shouted.
"There is no other way..."
"Leave me alone!" she took a step back and stumbled as her heel hit a root. Fuck the roots, Celeste thought angrily, the words flashing in her mind like a neon sign. Her bum hit the muddy ground. Fuck this bitch!
The wild woman gazed down at her with an expression of inhumane quality. Celeste could not make it out, but it fueled her rage further. She's just too green, Celeste wailed inside her head, too green to be human... She gasped out-loud. "YOU'RE AN ALIEN!" she screamed, pointing a finger.
The woman leaned forward and reached out a hand. "Only you can light the path..."
Celeste stared. No, this bitch glittered like Bucky- she wasn't an alien. The sunbeams poking their way through the gloomy overcast afternoon bounced off her hand, lighting it up like she had painstakingly glued a million sparkly stick-on diamonds all over her skin on a boring winter's day, and Celeste suddenly felt true fear.
She scrambled up, knocking the woman's hand away. There was a small zap upon contact as if Celeste had touched an electrical socket. The woman withdrew.
"You're a goddess," Celeste spat.
The woman drew herself up, "I am a-"
"You're all the same!" Celeste shouted. "Stay away from me! And leave Fern alone!"
She turned and ran, glancing back only once to see the woman standing in the same spot, glaring, shoulders hunched, a darkness gathering about her that Celeste could not see but knew to be there. As Celeste looked up at her face, the woman's eyes flashed. Pain seared up her right arm. She stumbled, slipped on the mud, but kept running. She knew she couldn't outrun a Goddess, she had no magick yet, so she clutched her crystals tight and prayed for a miracle.
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