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The crescent moon seemed to be sneering at his own predicament.
At the night of an important scheduled meeting with a certain trigger-happy lady who lived in a large white mansion obscured by dark trees and tall grass (or however important it could be, as he didn’t exactly keep track of how many of his interactions with other eccentric and lonely people were deemed… important.), a very strange event had stopped him in the middle of the eery path, forcing him to swerve his self-driven carriage and horse into a tree’s unmoving trunk then carefully crawl out of the destroyed vehicle, submerging his recently shined boots onto wet dirt and sharp rocks.
As Edgar carefully approached the strange little thing obstructing his path, the quiet sniffling and crying became more apparent to him.
There was a little girl who wept all alone in the woods.
… Well, it certainly seemed like a little girl, Edgar thought to himself.
The girl hid her face with her bruised hands, and her figure was hidden by a large brownish but tattered cloak that hugged her like a blanket would during a cold winter night.
She seemed to wear a simple dress underneath, slightly matching the same color of her cloak; A light brown, with patches of different colors not only lightening the dullness of the same colors, but also covering the ripped seams of her dress. She didn’t have any footwear nor were her legs covered in any protective clothing from the cold, only slight scrapes and discolored blemishes of skin, as well as dried dirt and gravel that lodged itself into the crevices in her curled up toes.
Poor little lady.
Despite his constant thoughts towards the girl’s pitiful state in the cold night, it’s not like he was any better.
While his black beret protected him not only from the chill but also from stray leaves that would have swept through his thin hair, that was the only thick-material clothing on his person.
His wardrobe consisted of a fancy but thin white button down with a red ribbon and an interestingly patterned cravat decorating his neck. He paired his top with black-and-grey striped overalls that came up from his chest then rolled down to the top of his legs, a few bronze buttons and a pin with an important symbol engraved on it decorating the clothing. The lower half of his legs were paired with asymmetrical black socks, one of them held up by a single garter; And of course, his brown boots that were recently stained with mud that splashed onto him while removing himself from the debris of his carriage’s crash.
But perhaps… Perhaps it was already because he was used to the cold. The little lady in front of him may not be so lucky in the resistance-to-weather department.
“Hey, Miss,” Edgar quietly called out to her so as to not shock her (although the loud crash would have probably frightened her quite enough), “Are you alright?”
She did not respond, instead, she only wept harder.
Edgar bit the inside of his cheek as he stood there.
He wasn’t much of a fan of babysitting children, let alone stop one from crying, so truly, he didn’t know what the best course of action was in this situation.
Not only that, the carriage to his destination, while he did not at all care for the gold linings and shiny metal that was embedded on the outside walls nor the white horse that was gifted to him by some snobbish Frenchman… It was his only ride to go anywhere in this forest abundant with creepy looking trees that seemed to stare at him, and now… It was best to conclude that he was stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Oh well. At least he could pat himself on the back for not running over a crying girl.
Edgar looked around for any clues as to how this mysterious girl winded up all by herself in the forest. His eyes trailed to the floor, and he managed to see the faintest of footprints on the ground, multiple shapes that resembled a bird’s talons and children’s feet littered all around her. There were a few feathers that slightly danced along with wilted leaves due to the wind flowing through them.
“Did you anger a crow?” He jokingly asked her.
She still wept. Edgar started regretting his question.
He sighed, filling in the awkward air. “Little Miss, I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what happened to you.” He rested one hand on his beret, lightly combing through the stray hairs that went out of place underneath his hat, and another hand on his hip.
And miraculously, the crying seemed to stop. Or at least, it was a little more controlled than before.
She slowly took her hands off of her face, revealing an eyepatch on her right eye, and a dark blue pupil staring right at him. “Help me…”
“With?” He lowered his voice. “With what?”
Then, the girl suddenly ran up to him and hugged his waist, crying even louder. She gripped onto his clothes for dear life, not letting go despite Edgar’s hesitant attempts to separate herself from him.
He was so confused.
“Please, Miss, tell me what’s wrong.” His brows furrowed as he looked down on her hooded head. He started to feel her tears and snot on his clothes, and he shivered from the dampness. Despite this, he begrudgingly patted her shoulder for comfort, hoping that this gesture would relieve her.
“My friend…” She hiccupped, before gently bringing a balled fist onto Edgar’s unoccupied hand. Inside her closed palm was a crumpled photo of a person, Edgar tried straightening the photocard for a better look at their face. “Help me…! Please…!”
He brought the picture close to his face, carefully examining it. “Are you looking for your friend?”
There was a man in the picture, his clothes and physique making him just as mysterious as the girl in front of him. Despite the dated quality of the photo, he could see that he wore a blindfold over his face with red tear streaks poking out from his cheeks.
He wore a dark coat with golden lines tailored all over the curves and creases, a single red rose resting on top of his heart and sitting right above a metal pin with a silver insignia embedded on it. Underneath his meticulously sewn coat was a blue vest covered in golden buttons and thin chains, a black and gold cravat hanging from his white collar, and a beautiful bat-like designed pin keeping that cravat in place.
His white gloved hand was covered in his short brown hair, a sheepish grin revealing one particularly sharp tooth.
Edgar rotated the photo. He rotated it again, on the other side. Then, he flipped the photo, once, twice, before rotating it again three or four times then holding it back right-side up and closing his eyes, his facial muscles straining.
He sighed, using one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose while still holding the photo up to his face. “Are you sure this is just your friend?” Edgar opened his eyes and looked down at the girl, who looked up at him with a beady but concentrated eye. “He looks more like an early father to you than just a friend, a shady looking father at that. Are you sure he’s not that?”
The girl looked at him with a tear stricken eye.
Edgar clicked his tongue.
He gently pushed her away from him, loosely holding her scraped hands away from her face. “Alright, alright! I’ll help you find this man, so stop crying.” He kneeled on the ground, levelling his eyesight with the unnamed girl’s. “Okay?”
She blinked, once, twice, before a slight smile was plastered on her face. “Okay.” She giggled.
He finally got her to stop crying.
He smiled as well, before standing back up and dusting the dirt off of his knees. “The problem, little lady, is that I have no idea where to go from here on out.” He laughed monotonically, looking at the small paths that separated from the main one. How unlucky that his vehicle accident occured at this specific place rather than later on in his journey; It would save him the hassle.
She laughed, jumping away from him. “I know, I know!” Her head turned towards the multiple paths that laid itself in the forest, straining her neck a little before fixing her eyes on one particular fork in the road. “Follow me!”
She hopped and skipped away, her dark hood unveiling itself and revealing two cowlicks on the top of her messy hair. She stopped for a second, hurriedly holding her hood back in place, before turning back to see Edgar just standing there.
Her simple dress turned out to be sporting a dark blue ribbon up her neck, polkadot in design. The circles on the fabric had little cartoonish faces that smiled and laughed.
This truly was a child, Edgar thought to himself as he caught up with the hopping girl.
“Hey, aren’t you getting tired with all that jumping?” He rested his hands behind his back.
She suddenly stopped as she listened to his words; Her sweat and her heavy breathing being evident from the exertion of jumping all over the place. As she pondered why she was getting more and more tired with each hop, she stumbled with her balance and fell onto the ground face first with a thud.
“Parading around like that is asking to be accident prone too…” He slowed down as he looked at the girl hoisting herself up and gaining her footing back. “Let’s just walk normally, okay?” He held his hand out towards her.
She upsettingly shook her dress from new particles of dirt that clung to the fabric, looking as if she was about to cry again… Until she took notice of Edgar’s outstretched hand.
She gingerly grabbed it, squeezing his palm until it hurt him. “Okay.” She sniffled.
He led her to the directions she pointed at while holding her hand, assisting her with her strolling.
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After what seemed to be an hour of walking deeper and deeper into the woods, the nameless girl finally said that they were where they needed to be, a wide smile on her face.
While that should have been a relief on Edgar’s part, what with his inability to truly care for and dote on a girl finally being returned to her rightful caretaker, all he felt was a violent chill running down his spine. And… It wasn’t because of the cold.
There was no mansion in sight, nor any housing at all. Not even a person other than the two of them.
He bit his lip. He assumed the man in the photo and this girl were an eccentric bunch who lived in the woods by themselves, as strange as it sounded. It’s not as if he heard any more forest dwellers other than those rich bastards he worked for and with, but he could never be sure; He wasn’t exactly the type to go explore an unknown land on his own.
But as he watched this happy-go-lucky girl hop and clap and sing along to no one and nowhere, he would have concluded right then and there that this girl was probably leading them both to get eaten by a pack of hungry vampires, whether it be intentional or not.
“What did you bring me into…” He muttered to himself, feeling more and more tense with each second they stayed at that particular spot.
Fragile twigs were snapped into two. Leaves crunched under an unknown weight. She still laughed and jumped as if nothing about this situation was frightening to her.
As soon as he heard the screeching and flapping wings of a cauldron of bats and their fleeing from the tall trees, as soon as he heard fast and nimble footsteps coming up from behind, as soon as he felt the need to strike whatever it was that was prepared to pounce on him and run away,
He saw the girl turn around. He watched the smile on her face widen until she grinned from ear to ear.
Meanwhile, his heart pounded so fast that he thought it would burst out of his chest.
Quick footsteps became moderate, then slow.
Something stopped right behind him… no, not something. Someone. The stranger breathed down his neck, not at all helping with the tension building up in his body. “Are… you…” He sounded a bit tired. “... Going to introduce yourself…?”
And suddenly, fear jumped out of his body. Instead, irritation filled every crack and crevice of his brain; Edgar turned towards the stranger to face his arrogance at such a strained moment in time. “Well, excuse you, mister!” He huffed, aggressively poking the unnamed man’s chest with a rigid finger. “I hardly believe introducing oneself should be the most of your worries right now, when we’re in the middle of nowhere!”
And then Edgar realized something. He retracted his hand from the stranger, suddenly feeling embarrassed.
This was the same man from the girl’s photo, although looking a little bit worse for wear.
His fancy clothes in the picture were dirtied and tattered, a few ripped seams at the hem of his coat and sleeves. There were a few patches of dirt on his face too, and the smile that was on the picture was nowhere to be found.
Despite finding the person they were supposedly looking for, he still found it awkward to say anything to him.
“Eli!”
They both turned their heads to the girl behind them. She laughed and cheered.
“Eli, Eli!” She walked a few steps back, still giggling while she positioned herself for a sprint towards the man whose name was… Eli. Perhaps Edgar should have asked her what his name was beforehand.
He stepped away from Edgar, watching the little lady jump up and down. “My darling girl!” Eli happily announced, hunching over to meet her height and spreading out his arms for her to land into. He smiled and laughed along with her as she prepared to run.
The unnamed girl swept her cloak out of her front view, putting her two hands down on the dirt with one knee on the ground. And suddenly, her foot kicked the dirt off of her heel, and her hands flicked away the gravel on the ground; She was quick on her feet, her arms swinging and interchanging with each step all while she smiled and yelled.
Edgar was sure he’d find himself witness to a disastrous hug unfolding right before his eyes, and he prepared himself for the dust that would come from Eli falling backwards onto the ground as he caught his little girl, due to recoil.
But that moment never came.
Instead, as strange as his first encounter with the little girl was, the moment that flashed before him was even stranger.
One by one, her limbs changed shape. Her legs twisted and morphed into that of a bird’s sharp claws, and her arms’ skin broke and made way for hundreds of brown and beige feathers sprouting out of her body, shaping itself into proper bird wings.
Once her dirty cloak untied itself from the girl’s back and was stolen away from the wind that conveniently swept through the air, the rest of her body and dress changed into the anatomy and size of a large bird, a few stray feathers flying in the air. Her transformation kept going as her hops in the air prolonged itself more and more until she was finally airborne; Although, her flying was less than graceful.
She darted all over the place, even hitting a few tall branches and leaves in the process, until she finally landed into Eli’s arms with an oomph , the man caressing and combing through her feathers as he held her close to his chest. “I was wondering where you were, you silly little lady.” She cooed, snuggling herself into his warmth.
Edgar grabbed his own arm, making himself feel small.
“Don’t think I forgot about you, stranger.” Eli warmly called out to him, interrupting his train of thought of just leaving the two of them to enjoy their timely reunion.
He pursed his lips, hesitating before turning back to him.
“I’m sorry for the rude introduction. I’m a little tired and worn, as you can see.” Eli held his arm up as the little girl — the little owl hopped on top of it and perched herself on his upper arm. “I just wanted to know the identity of the person who brought my beloved Brooke Rose back to me. I’m Eli, by the way. I’m sure you knew that already.” He smiled kindly at him.
“Edgar. My name is Edgar, um…” He organized the thoughts and questions he had circling around his mind. “Her name is Brooke Rose?”
Eli’s smile grew in size as he chuckled. “You brought her back to me, walking all the way from the outskirts of the forest to the heart of it, yet you never asked for her name?” He tamed his laughter as he rested one hand on his hip. “Something tells me you’re not one who normally cares for companions or children. Are you a butler who only specializes in housework instead of the more hospitality-based responsibilities?”
“First of all, I don’t know how you knew I was a butler, but it’s none of your business!” He huffed, folding his arms. “Second, there are more important things at hand. One of them being, this girl,” Edgar pointed at Brooke Rose, who evaded his finger almost jabbing into her chest, “This girl was cursed into becoming an owl, and you approve of this? Are you the one that cursed her?”
Brooke Rose hooted in surprise.
“Cursed?” Eli brought his hand to his mouth as he shared Brooke Rose's line of sight, watching Edgar’s face twist from suspicion to irritation. “A human who doomed herself to turn into a bird… I’d think you’re mistaken. It’s actually the other way around, I’m afraid. It seems she turns into one whenever I’m not around, how distressful.” And the little owl agreed with him, cooing before preening her feathers.
“But… How could that be? Wouldn’t anyone be happy to become human?” Edgar still furrowed his brows, but it was not out of frustration anymore. Instead, it was of intrigue.
“I suppose that would be the common belief, yes…” Eli looked down on the ground, contemplating his words. Then, he smiled, hoisting his arm up as Brooke Rose propelled herself into the air, showing off her amazing flying skills. She was certainly a beauty if she prepared herself for flight correctly. “However, I do think that some animals are better off as they are. Living as a person can be quite complicated, you see!” He laughed heartily.
Edgar watched Brooke Rose land on Eli’s shoulder. “I… I guess. I guess so.” He recalled his first meeting with the little owl. No wonder she hopped around like a bird travelling on land, and her attempts to twist her neck to such a degree, and of course, her limited choice of words… She was truly an owl, through and through. And he supposed she wouldn’t have it any other way. “I guess that’s the end of that mystery.”
Eli patted his shoulder, not noticing the other jumping due to the sudden touch. “I’m truly indebted to you, so if there’s anything you need, I won’t hesitate to assist you. It’s a rule of mine.” He grinned, sharp teeth showing.
Edgar stared at him up and down. “I think you should attend to yourself first before helping me in any way, shape, or form.” He wore a judgemental face.
“So you do have a request?” Eli grinned, leaning forward in Edgar’s direction. “I can take care of myself, so everything you just said is nonsense to me. Why, if I couldn’t, my lackeys and I wouldn’t be alive as of now!” He laughed.
There were more of him? Edgar thought to himself. “Well, mister I-can-jump-into-unknown-danger, I’d like you to take me to the lone mansion sitting at the center of the dark forest.” He said as a matter-of-factly, grinning. He couldn’t believe that this man would know where it was, nor show him the way.
“The mansion?” Eli tilted his head as he smiled.
“Yes. The one where I was working before I initially left for a vacation.” He grimaced. He did think that his leave was too short, but if he complained about it, his employer and the head butler would talk his ears off.
“Sure, I can take you there. I just have one question before we leave.” Eli circled around Edgar, him being the person to look at him up and down this time. “Are you afraid of heights?”
What a weird question. “Not particularly, no. Why?” He was once again surprised by this man, as not only did he know about the mystery of the lost girl in his path, he also knew the road to the mansion.
“Because we’ll be flying, my dear Edgar!” Eli said, before grabbing the back of his overalls and pulling him back.
Edgar turned around to see the chaos of this man’s actions, almost concluding that Eli was crazy, before he watched his human form dissipating and morphing into a bat flapping its wings, its sharp claws grabbing onto Edgar’s clothes.
It wasn’t long before Edgar’s feet parted ways with the ground, watching his lower body move farther and farther away from land.
If he wasn’t afraid of heights before, he was now.
He would have screamed if he didn’t think it would throw off Eli’s concentration. Edgar curled up into a ball as he tried to face Eli’s bat form, seeing Brooke Rose flying alongside them across the night sky. “Whatever you do, please don’t let go of me, you hear!?” Never mind Eli’s superhuman strength in his other form, he was literally dangling by a thread!
Eli squeaked.
The wind was more apparent to him when he was this high up.
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And after they gracefully landed at the front of his employers’ mansion, Eli stylishly turned back into his human form, whisking his coat away from the front of his vest and undershirt.
“Please give me a head’s up next time.” Edgar watched Brooke Rose carefully land on his shoulder. He wasn’t very surprised at the supernatural things happening around him anymore, so he didn’t care to ask how she turned from a human into an owl and how he turned from a human into a bat.
“Yes, if we ever meet again, and I’m sure we will.” He tucked his gloved hands into his pockets, looking at the entrance of the lavish white building.
He followed his line of sight. “And why do you say so?”
Eli whistled as he pursed his lips. “My masters have a feud with the people inside, you see. And of course, that includes me and my fellow coworkers.”
“Really?” Edgar pondered to himself. Just what happened while he was gone?
“Two people from this house had ambushed me a little while ago, you see.” Eli smiled at him. “A woman had surprised me with the click of her gun, and a tall Frenchie shooed me away with his silver sword. That’s why I look awful, and that’s why me and Brooke Rose were separated.” He gestured to his and Brooke Rose’s ragged appearance.
He could recognize both of the people Eli mentioned, the woman being the head butler who was meant to welcome him back. He sweated, knowing he would jump into this unknown quarrel the moment he stepped inside the estate.
Eli seemed to notice Edgar’s worries. “I can tell my friends not to bring you into the fray, if you’d like. I’m sure they’d understand your late arrival.” He nudged the other with an elbow.
“Yes, that would be appreciated.” Edgar’s brows furrowed even further. “Although, I’m sure I’ll be brought into it sooner or later…”
Edgar walked up onto the staircase, reaching out to grab one of the handles of the large two sided doors. He put his ear on the door, hearing multiple voices cheer and thin glasses clink against each other. Whatever it was, they were most likely victorious from tonight’s dispute against Eli’s own group of noblemen.
Eli waved goodbye, with Brooke Rose flapping her wings. “You must tell that woman what a good shot she is. I hope I’ll see her once again.” He turned around, preparing himself for takeoff. “But make sure to also tell her that if we do meet again, I’ll be the one to first land a hit against her. Goodbye, Edgar! May your welcoming back be wonderful!” He cheerily said, before once again transforming into a bat and flying towards the moon, the owl flying by his side.
Edgar covered his eyes with the shadow of his hands, before pulling the door inside, hoping his masters and his coworkers wouldn’t notice his sudden arrival.
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