Hello all. I know I said I'd have this out yesterday, but I was in a play(which was really fun) and couldn't. I had a dress rehearsal in the morning, too. But whatever.

This is kinda a sequel to The Beast's Origins, so you might wanna read that first.

Here we go!

The teenage girl who ran through The Unknown was not lost. She was not afraid. She was searching.

Her father needed souls, and the teen was often the one sent to locate them. There were several reasons for this- she was fast, she had unusually good senses, and, most of all, there wasn't really anyone else to do it.

It wasn't always this way. The teen's mother and older sister used to do it too, but two years ago they had been lynched by townsfolk, who called them witches. They were, too, which had made them all the better at sniffing out lost souls.

The teenager's father could do it, and sometimes did, but mostly he taunted an old woodsman and wallowed in self-pity.

The teen dashed through the familiar forest, her long black dress not catching a single burr. Like a weasel, she ducked and dove, leapt and climbed. Then, something red caught her eye. She stopped and peered through the branches.

Two boys- one about, say, 7, the other maybe 15- were walking along the dirt path that wond through The Unknown.

"But I think the very worst name for this frog is-" The younger boy was cut off by the older one sticking his hand out, hitting the younger one in the face.

"Wait," he said, clearly nervous. "Where...are we?" The younger one responded, but the teen didn't hear, she was already running silently back to her father's cabin.

When she got there, she burst through the door, breathing hard, the door slammed closed behind her.

The cabin was simple, the living room was just an old leather couch and coffee table in front of a huge fireplace. On the mantle were a few dusty books, a melting candle, and several wooden sculptures that depicted cryptic animals.

In the dim light, she could see her father sitting on the sofa, staring at the flames. She'd once asked why he did that so often, and he'd said something about not looking at the fire, but into it. Something about her mother and sister's souls being in fire, all fire. She honestly didn't understand her father.

He, as usual, didn't even realize that the teen was home. She cleared her throat. "Father," she said, drawing his steely gaze from the fire. "Yes?" Came his deep reply.

The teen took a deep breathe. "I found two boys lost today," she said hopefully. "A young one and one about my age. The older one even said he didn't know where they were."

Her father nodded slowly, once more looking at the fire. "Where?"

The teen replied without hesitation. "Near Shovbel's tree. They were heading East."

The teenage girl's father stood, his cloak swirling around him. "Good," he said slowly. "Yes, very good work,"

He started toward the door, saying one more thing before disappearing into the dusk.

"Forestyne."

Please review.

~KitKat