Shadows Over Arcadia Chapter 68: 67. The Cursed Child

Read chapter 68 of Shadows Over Arcadia by Zacheas on NovelPedia.

I am Yukiha Ling, a foxkin of the Fel tribe. I am eight years old. I hear Woofy’s steady rumbling breaths and the distant singing of birds. I don’t want to open my eyes. It’s far too comfortable curled up beside him, wrapped in his fur like a blanket. The gentle rise and fall of his breathing rocks me, slow and soothing. Even his scent is too comforting to want to wake. My tummy rumbles in disagreement. I groan and roll over, irritated at my own empty belly’s insistence. Begrudgingly, I open my eyes to the early morning light shining in through the mouth of my cave. I’m greeted by the view of Whiskers at the opening, the huge striped cat half-lit by morning and half in shadow. She stares vigilantly out into the forest. A plink of last night’s raindrops falls from the entrance into a puddle below, echoing off the walls. Whiskers’ ears twitch. I stretch with a sigh and look around the hole I live in now. Cold stone. Damp air. Dust that never really settles. It isn’t perfect, but the home I got pushed out of was colder in a different way. My eyes land on the sack of potatoes a few feet away. Then on the little pure white rabbit sitting beside it. “Good morning, BunBun!” I squeal, my tail fanning behind me as I scramble over to him. “Are you hungry? Or cold?” I ask as I scoop him up in a hug. “Come on. I’ll keep you warm,” I tell him. I grab a potato from the sack, then lay back down in Woofy’s fluff, tucked against his neck. Woofy stretches his huge forelegs out and arches his back, shaking off the morning stiffness, then curls around me again. BunBun settles into my lap as I take a bite of the potato. It’s hard and gross, but I’m so hungry. I remember Mum used to cook these. They were soft and tasty. I miss it— No. I don’t. I hurl the potato as hard as I can. It cracks against the cave wall and bursts into pieces. I don’t want to miss that place. Those people. I sigh as I scratch BunBun behind his big floppy ears. I pick him up and hold him in front of my face. He looks back at me with a kind look in those big pale eyes. “You’ve got white fur like me,” I say softly. “Were the other bunnies mean to you too?” BunBun tilts his head a little. That’s a yes. “Same for me.” I swallow, even though my throat feels tight. “I used to be grey like Woofy, and my eyes were orange. But after… my fur turned white, and my eyes turned red.” BunBun hangs limp in my hands, looking back at me with sad eyes. “I bet they didn’t like that you were different, did they?” I kiss the top of his head and hug him again. “Don’t worry,” I tell him, patting his back. “I won’t leave you.” I’d never abandon them. Woofy, Whiskers, BunBun, and the others saved me. The people in the village thought they were scary, and sure, they broke a few things. It isn’t their fault. They’re just big. All they ever did was bring me food and keep me company. “There’s nothing they could do to change that,” I say, glaring out of the cave. “If you love someone, you don’t leave them.” “I was born broken,” I tell BunBun, as I place him back on my lap. His ears lift. “It was my heart.” BunBun’s eyes follow my hand as I rub the center of my chest without thinking. “They say I died.” “Mum was sad.” “But the old magic lady had a book. She tried something she wasn’t supposed to.” I keep talking while I stroke BunBun’s silky ears. He looks up at me like he’s hanging onto every word. He and the others always do. That’s nice, because I don’t have anyone else to talk to. “She fixed my heart, but I was different. Mum called me her little miracle. At least… she did back then.” I hug BunBun to my chest and curl my knees up, sinking deeper into Woofy’s fluff. Heat stings at the corners of my eyes, and my tummy feels cold and tight. “Everyone else called me cursed.” It hurt… a lot. It hurt more than the way they looked at me. More than the way they avoided me like I was something dirty. I got good at playing alone, keeping quiet, staying out of the way. It even hurt more than an empty belly. I got