Character Encounter

Jenelle, one of the Five Enchanted Roses authors, suggested we take part in a Character Encounter that her friend Kendra is hosting on her blog, which you can visit here. I have never done one of these before, and after reading Jenelle's encounter, which you can read on her blog, I decided I would give it a try. I had a difficult time choosing which character I wanted to visit, and finally decided on my heroine. But then I changed my mind. I am instead going to introduce you to a minor character in Wither who is quite a major character in the "Neverway Chronicles." Yes, he is also going to be featured in After. And, yes, he does have future stories to be told. So I hope you enjoy this very brief introduction to a quiet little character with huge stories to be told . . . I expect great things from him. The life of a Spook, after all, is anything but droll.

~

The air is cold and smells dry and feels brittle like old leaves. I can't see where I am. The darkness presses against me on all sides. When I stretch out my hands, I can feel the prickle of branches. I know without question I dropped myself outside the village limits, somewhere in the Neverway. How could I have been so careless? I can hear the wilderness around me, whispering its dangers, of sharp cliff faces, brutal mountain winds, and of flesh eaters and other horrors I myself had placed here. It would be just my luck to perish at the hands of the monsters I had created.

Ahead of me, an orange glow begins to bob toward me. I freeze, my breath a mist in front of my face, but as the glow moves closer, I realize it is lantern light and not something more menacing.

"What do you think you are doing!" a voice calls.

"Oh thank goodness it's you!" I exclaim as I hurry toward the friendly glow. I would know that voice anywhere. Victor sounds pleasant, not angry, his tone gentle but cautious. He peels out of the shadows, bringing the warm light of a lantern to the dark patch of forest I found myself in. He pauses to search my face, in that quiet and intense way I know so well. It is a little discomforting, I discover, the sober directness of his gaze. It pains me, knowing that the soberness in him is brought on by circumstances and not his true nature. I take time to study him in return. His features are softer than I had imagined, still carrying the remnants of youth. His eyes however grab me, dark and inquisitive, the eyes of one who has seen much.

"I don't know you," he says, surprised.

I laugh, as my heart beat begins to regulate again. "No, I suppose you don't."

"It is not safe to be out alone," he tells me, and after a quick glance he adds, "Especially unarmed."

"I know, trust me. I am actually here to see Bet Haverly."

His expression clouds. "I am afraid you come at a bad time. She left the village two nights ago and has not returned."

This disappoints me. I had been so eager to see her. She must already be at Briarstone Abbey. I can tell from Victor's expression that Bet's absence worries him. It would. He feels responsible for all of the villagers he fights to protect. He feels responsible for a great many things.

"You take good care of them," I say, feeling a little sorry I wrote him such a difficult part. "But you cannot blame yourself every time something goes wrong." I am not thinking of Bet Haverly or the villagers but of those from Victor's past, those he misses with every breath.

"That is easy to say, but impossible to do," he says quietly. His eyes hold mine, still narrowed inquisitively.

"Nothing is impossible," I whisper back. I want to tell him that everything will be alright, that his story is yet to be told, that there is a larger plan at large, but I know he would not understand or believe me. The most important lessons are always learned by living them. Someday he would know the story of his life as clearly as I do, but I will simply have to wait for him to discover the path for himself.