Into the Woods

By: Everleigh Allen

Deep into the woods on Gaelach day

She danced with the wild bluebells sway

With mirth and mayhem, edging the brae

Watching closely, the grim one lay

With a flick of light doth chance the teasing Fae

Straight into the woods where the spirits slay

One

"What are you thinking about, Aela?" Her mother asked as she gently nudged her daughter with her elbow. Bella nudged her back with a small smile. She didn't really love her nickname, but it made her mother happy so she gratingly allowed it.

That fatefully moment when she was nicknamed, Bella was caught in the gardens climbing a tree. She was told to stay off and away from the trees but didn't listen. When she startled; she fell out of the tree, her mother had laughed and said she had looked like a fairy without wings falling from that tree and her nickname was born.

If only her mother knew it meant 'rocks' or 'angel' and had nothing to do with a fairy. But that was her mother. It was more likely that her mother didn't like calling her from her first name as she was named for her father.

Bella Swan sat on a large granite rock watching the hot iridescent waves of Arizona dance over the road. She had three hours before she would board the plane and finally be away from her mother. "Tell me. Are you having second thoughts?"

Her mother looked at her expectantly, irritation lacing her usual soft features. With a sigh Bella relented, "No. Just thinking about how life changes."

"Yeah, it tends to do that whether we're ready or not." Renee was appeased easily with the answer and started kicking at the gravel in front of her. She wasn't one to get overly offended at anything for very long. "But you can come back anytime."

They lived just outside of Sedona but the warmth of the red rocks permeated everything. Even her white clothes always seemed to have a slight muddy tinge to it. Her mother would always tell her it gave her character, but Bella disagreed.

Time out as a child was sitting on a vortex to "clear her energy," and although Bella would fuss about sitting on the hot rock, she had to admit she often felt better.

It could have also been change of scenery or the moments away from whatever project her mother was starting at the time.

Currently, it was sculpting.

"And what, be the clichéd third wheel as you trapeze through the country staying in seedy roadside motels? No thanks." She laughed lightly, shaking her head.

"You know we don't do the seedy motels, Aela. We sleep under the moon and stars!"

"How could I forget?" Bella grunted. "That is exactly my point. How is that going to work for me and college? Does the moon have Wi-Fi, now?"

"You know, it might." Renee contemplated for a moment before breaking out into a grin. "I am sure you can channel the moons energy depending on the cycle and retrograde...Hmm, maybe Moonshine would know, but some would say it's just a hallow rock that houses space-"

"Oh, for the love of… Stop!" Bella crowed, moving away from her mother.

"I am just teasing you." Renee huffed. "Anyway, there are always those online college courses; people are doing that more and more nowadays. Just look at those hopsters."

"Hipsters." Bella sighed. It was exhausting having the woman as her mother. "I want the whole college experience," Bella said sarcastically. She could feel her face flame with sudden annoyance.

"You were waiting for college to start being experimental?" Renee laughed lightly, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "You could have done that in the commune. Remember that one time we were all in that fun little hut? I distinctly remember Fin-"

"You can stop right there!" Bella huffed pointing at her mother. "You know what I mean. I had to get those silencing headphones to deal with rooming next to you." It was mostly a joke, but it was very much the truth. And gross. This silly game they played was getting old quickly though. Renee was never the kind of mother who really doted on her child, opting to have her learn and experience things for herself.

Renee laughed and then winked. "Well, it is the said that sexual prime for women is in their mid- thirties."

"So I hear," Bella scowled before making an immature, teasing, gagging motion which made her mother giggle more. "Anyway, you should be past all that. You're in your late thirties, so…"

"Oh, shut it you." She smirked before growing solemn. "You know, it wouldn't hurt you to date-"

"I call boundaries."

"You can't-"

"Boundaries!"

Renee instantly bit her lips to refrain from speaking.

This is what it was like with her mother. They were more friends than parent and child. She accepted the relationship as it was much as she could, but it still upset her.

Bella gave her a withering glare.

"Okay, okay. I will stop."

"My plane ticket is bought. Dad is expecting me and will take me to the campus."

"You seem to have it all planned out." She eyed her daughter carefully. Gone was the freckle faced toddler bringing her bugs and flowers; her daughter had grown up right before her eyes and she knew what that meant. Begrudgingly, she stood and shook off the reddish dirt that covered her skirt. "Come back to the house. I have some things for you before you have to go."

Bella nodded before following her mother into the house.

…

The drive had been awkward with her mother whispering a small chant. Bella was used to it, of course, but she wasn't sure where it came from and she never cared to ask.

"That's me." Bella sighed dramatically reacting to the disembodied voice call her flight. Her mother grasped at her shoulders and pulled her into her chest.

"I am going to miss you!" Her voice carried through the small crowd as everyone stilled their movements and the eyed them with irritation. "My baby is going! I don't think I can take it!" Renee said overly loud, eyes searching.

"Excellent show of parental embarrassment, Mother. Well done. Thank you for telling everyone that I am now going to be alone to a heavily populated airport."

"You're so cynical, Aela. So much like your father." Renee sighed but looked properly chastised.

"I am appropriately cynical as needed having grown up with a parent like you. What does Dad always say?"

Renee sighed; mimicking a nasally Charlie-like voice as she rolled her eyes, "Only tell the people who deserve to know all your personal stuff- your personal stuff or something like that." She waved as she laughed but Bella frowned.

"No, Mom. Only tell people who matter- those who deserve to know personal things about you- know those personal things! Not everyone needs to know your whole story. You say too much!" She really needed to go, but her mother still had her in her clutches. With a wiggle out of her grasp, Bella moved backward.

"I can't help but to say what I think in a dramatic affect!" Renee grinned. "You have my presents?"

Her mother also enjoyed gifting Bella with various "special" rocks that "spoke" to her in the moment and a small box.

Seriously, what does one say when gifted various chatty stones?

"Yes." Bella patted her backpack. "And all those rocks and that old, wood box will be very helpful in weighing me down. Thank you. It's a good thing we're not going over large spans of water, I would surely drown!"

"One could only hope!" Renee snickered, eyes darkening with her jibe.

"You're so mean to me."

"Oh, stop it. Now remember not to open the box present until the first full moon after the summer solstice."

"Okay. Not until the after solstice. Got it."

"First full moon, after the summer solstice. That's very important… Moonshine even said."

"Ugh, fine."

Bella would forever loathe that guru that called himself Moonshine. He had thought it was a complimentary name. That it was given to him on a rather intense night around the smoke circle, that only he, her mother, and a couple strangers participated in during a full moon. He liked to embellish, saying that he looked up as the radiant white beams of the moonlight shined over him, but it was more like the way he always smelled… like booze.

Much to Bella's dismay, Renee didn't seem to mind the smell that emanated off the man. He took his name literally and enjoyed libations regularly. She wouldn't hear anything negative about the half-naked man who taught Renee to be one with the Earth and all its elements.

Bella shuddered, remembering the scary night he became 'one with the element of fire,' and they spent most of the night in the emergency room. He apparently wasn't fireproof.

Luckily, Moonshine wasn't injured too badly and went home after a few tense days.

He was the whole reason Bella was renamed Elowyn after a tree and not Isabella on her birth certificate.

They had all been friends and Moonshine he was even more of a permanent fixture in their life after Renee moved away from Bella's dad, Charlie. There was a large amount of drama around town and the story that circled too close to home. It was rumored that Moonshine was Bella's real father and he and Renee booked it out of there, dragging Bella with her.

It just wasn't true.

It was true that she left in the night with her mother and that they went from place to place, living off the grid, off the land, and away from much contact with her father, Charlie.

They sold things along the highway when they needed to, but her mother and Moonshine were perfectly content just creating and exploring. Whether it was making little wooden totem animals figurines, jewelry, creating sculptures of aliens to sell in Roswell, or drumming to the heavens like Moonshine often did, there wasn't anything really wrong with how Renee and Moonshine wanted to spend their days or nights.

Bella just needed a break from them.

Sometimes, though, Bella and her mother would go off from Moonshine. Always in the night, they'd spend months off in faraway cabins or parked alongside a lake sleeping in her van.

Moonshine would often catch up to them somehow and somewhere along the way.

"Go… before I decide to keep you." She pulled Bella into her clutches again before letting her go, "Text me often or call. I want to know all the fun things about what you're doing."

"Yep. Sure thing."

Renee pushed away slightly but held Bella in place. Her mother's grey eyes darted back and forth, seeking comprehension within Bella's hazel eyes. "Listen to me… Stay out of the woods, Bella."

Instantly, a shiver ran down Bella's spine.

"What? Why? You do realize that's near impossible where I am going right?"

"There are monsters in the woods; nightmarish monsters that will kill you or worse."

"Yes, I know… bears, mountain lions-"

"Wolves," Renee interrupted in a cautious whisper. "And other otherworldly things."

"Oh! Lions and tigers, too?" Bella said snidely and ended with a huff.

Fingers clutched tightly over Bella's arms. "Stay out of them. I mean it."

"Right," Bella frowned as she tried to regain her space. "Now stop trying to parent your adult child or I am going to call you mom very loudly in front of everyone."

With that, the tension broke as Renee gasped in feigned shock before pulling Bella into another uncomfortable embrace. "Believe it or not, I will miss you and your smart mouth."

Bella laughed, shaking her long blonde curls. "I have to go for real now," she sighed and her mother nodded with a sad smile. She made her way through the switchback rows leading to the security clearance under Renee's watchful eyes. Her mother was odd on a regular day, but she was in rare form, acting weirder than usual. But Bella surmised that it was just the stress of losing a constant companion.

And as she walked through the airport and away from her mother, Bella felt lighter. It was as if weight that she didn't know she was carrying was lifted off her shoulders but was replaced with butterflies that danced from within. Curiosity and anxiety coursed through Bella as she passed over her boarding pass over and stepped into her new life.

A/N: Welcome back… If you read the PDF or the story originally, you may notice things on it have been changed as I originally planned to pull it to publish it. Well, life got in the way and I am in the process of adding this one back for you. It's not edited so if you see blaring mistakes, feel free to tell me so I can fix them. As ever, thank you for taking the time reading the story and if you feel like it- leave me your thoughts.