Lexy opened her storm blue eyes to the soft morning light filtering through her bedroom window. She groaned when she looked at the room she was in. Realization that Lexy wasn't in her room back at home. That her mom truly did send her away to be someone else's problem. Her mom probably won't even come for her either. Not after paying for a one way trip.

Lexy pushed away the feelings of sadness and betrayal. She looked back to the window and smiled at the bright beautiful day that awaited her outside.

Lexy got out of bed and smiled, “hopefully today will be better than yesterday. After all, good things happen on sunny days.”

Lexy walked over to the dresser and put on a grey t-shirt with a set of black jeans. She grabbed her light blue hoodie, put it on and zipped it up. She then grabbed her red goggles and put them on.

 Lexy took out the map she made of the house to find her way to the entrance lobby. She exited her bedroom, peered down at her map and realized she needed to go right.

This led Lexy to a grand staircase leading to the entrance lobby. The blonde felt out of her element surrounded by such elegance and grandeur. Suspended from the vaulted ceiling was an enormous crystal chandelier. The stair railing seemed to be coated in gold. Intricate tapestries adorned the walls.

Lexy thought it strange, however, that there seemed to be bare spots on the walls, where pictures once were.She shook her head and pulled herself from her thoughts. 

When Lexy descended the stairs and was greeted by Thokath, “good morning Lexy, I do hope you had a good night's sleep? Would you like to join me for breakfast with the others?”

Lexy gave a soft smile “yes I did have a good night's sleep but if you do not mind I would like to go exploring in the woods. I have always loved nature.”

Thokath thought momentarily and closed his eyes, then opened them, “very well, if you're heading out there I must warn you, we also have many creatures that live on our land and I do not know the land like I used to” He handed her a piece of white chalk. Lexy held it in her right hand and gave a puzzled look.

Thokath lightly chuckled “ you can use this to mark the path you take so you can find your way back, you know if there's anything I remember about that forest is you never know what you're going to find out there so.” he paused when he tried to find the correct words to use, “ be careful ok?”

Lexy smiled softly. Everyone seemed to be telling her to be careful lately. She was starting to get annoyed by it, “ok I will” The blond put the chalk in her pocket and walked out the front doors.

Lexy looked around for the direction she should enter the forest. There seemed to be two ways. She stared for a moment at the deep lush greenery, a warm wind whistled gently through the oaks and birch trees as if it beckoned her to enter the forest.

Lexy took a deep breath, she headed toward the forest. Once Lexy entered the dense undergrowth, she marked trees and mapped out the path took as she went. 

The blonde occasionally stopped to just smell the air that is untampered by the ways of mankind and it was at one of those points when she heard something. Twenty feet away was a herd of white-tailed deer.

Lexy smiled and before she continued she took her hoodie off and tied it around her waist. 

Lexy eventually got so far, she could no longer see the house and decided to head back. The blonde turned away from going into the forest and changed her direction for the mansion.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a young man appeared. His silver hair is wild and heavily disheveled. His clothes tattered and torn. Stained crimson and barely hanging to his limbs.

”Who are…” she was cut off by her gasp.

Blood gushed from a massive hole in the man's abdomen, “oh my gosh you’re hurt” Lexy cared not that he was a stranger. Leaving him to die was not an option. 

The young man was startled by Lexy's presence “oh I’m sorry no I will be fine sorry I-“ he was cut off by the sound of strange barking and growling.The young man gave a soft curse. “Those do not sound like dogs” Lexy exclaimed.

“That would be because those are not dogs” The peculiar stranger shouted back.

Without warning a swarm of dragon looking creatures materialized behind the injured boy. long razor-sharp whips extended from their tail bones. large claws that appeared to be made of steel.

The creatures lurched in the attack. Lexy instinctively shielded her face with her exposed arms. Just in time the stranger shoved Lexy to the ground by pushing her and punched one of the creatures in the face. “RUN!” He shouted.

Lexy decided to take his advice and ran until she found one of her chalk marks on a tree.

Lexy was fraught with worry about the boy fighting those dragons like monsters. She wanted to help defend the injured boy but she lacked any manner of attack weapons. With no knowledge of the beasts or their weaknesses. The blond knew that she would have only been in the way.

A heart heavy with worry and sadness she decided it was best to head back to the mansion to seek help from someone else.

Lexy followed her chalk path until the mansion was in view. From there she walked straight for the house and entered the home to find it was deathly quiet and turned to one of the butlers “where are Thokath and the others?”

The butler paused before answering “Mr. Thokath and his siblings are on an important business trip and might not be back before dinner, but lunch is already prepared for you.”

Lexy shook her head “No, that’s not what I was meaning. There is a boy out there who came out of nowhere and is bleeding out. We need to help him!”

The butler's eyes widened “Lead the way.”

Lexy nodded and hastily led the way back to where she found the boy. Only to see no boy and no monsters. However, there were claw marks embedded into the surrounding trees , blood on the grass and footprints in the dirt.

She stared with wide eyes “He was here! I swear! I mean look at the claw marks in the trees.”

The butler raised a brow “What do you mean? There are no claw marks.”

Lexy looked to the butler with eyes filled with shock and looked back to the trees to see the claw marks that were very much still there.

Lexy frowned, “but I swear they were here!”

The butler shook his head, “young one i will warn you now. Do not be the boy who cried wolf.”

Lexy sighed and followed the man back. Questioning whether she saw the boy at all.

They walked back to the mansion and the butler looked at her “Now how about you go eat and forget about this boy from the woods.”

Lexy nodded, silently she pulled out her map of the house to find her way to the dining room. She entered the vacant dining room and sat down. Lexy was quiet when one of the butlers brought her a plate of food.

When she ate her meal she thought of the strange monsters and the injured boy. Lexy was worried about the boy but the more she thought about it. The more she was convinced it was some weird daydream.

Lexy finished lunch, she thanked the cook and decided to explore the house and add more to the map. Her curiosity led her to explore the hallways without feeling comfortable enough to enter any of the rooms. Lexy found her way back to the ballroom or that’s what Lexy thought it was.

With that, she went to bed.

****

An artwork of Lexy!