Sam went to jump out as it came up next to his beam, almost tripping over himself in his surprise. It was just a mouse. He let out a laugh of relief as it sniffled at his jacket sleeve, bright eyes blinking up at him. “Holy crap, I thought you were a rat.” Sam brushed a hand over the rounded ears. Mice weren’t dangerous to him or Bowman. “You should be more careful. Where’s your family?”
Visiting the village of Wellwood had become something Jacob looked forward to with every opportunity that arose. Long weekends off school or extra time off from his odd jobs almost guaranteed he would make the drive back to the forest that no one else seemed to realized contained a secret. Far beyond the campgrounds and the fence, Jacob made his way towards the idyllic village tucked away in the heart of the woods.
Out there surrounded by the green and gold of the canopy and the earthy tones of the tree trunks and the ground under his boots, Jacob felt the stress falling away. Out here, the most he had to worry about was stepping on slick mud and losing his footing.
You BREAK the rules, Bowman, not just bend them! a voice piped up in his memory, sweet and colored with a laugh. Rischa, his young cousin, would surely scold him for a week once he got out of this one.
Dean grumbled in his sleep, his eyelids fluttering open briefly in the chill air of the motel room. Wondering what had woken him, his eyes briefly wandered over to the nightstand. “ ‘ammy?” he mumbled.
When he spotted the still, sleeping form of his little brother curled up on the nightstand next to Bowman with the extra-small Jacob presumably curled between them, he smiled. Settling back down, he let himself sink back into his pillows, absently scratching at a flutter near his stomach. Dean yawned, slowly passing back into sleep.
Deep in the woods, past the designated campgrounds, the forest was serene, all but glowing with verdant life. Birds sang to each other and fluttered their wings in mock chases. Squirrels, fat from campers always feeding them, spiraled around rough trunks of oak trees or curled up in the smooth branches of birch. Ferns and foliage carpeted the ground, broken up by narrow deer trails that meandered like arteries in the greater living thing that the forest truly was. Golden sunshine lit up motes of pollen floating lazily in the air.
Among the peaceful scene, grunts of pain and discomfort barely broke into the tranquil sound. A voice smaller than the chatters of a squirrel muttered something, and then huffed in frustration. Its source hung from a tree branch, suspended in a net of thin, earthy-colored ropes.
Later on, Bowman had to dodge a surprise projectile, a small ball of paper crumpled up and flicked at him by Dean, seeking a momentary reprieve from the constant tedium of research. Bowman, naturally, was easily riled up by this action and retaliated by retrieving the paper and lobbing it right back at the human, much to Jacob’s entertainment.
Sam rolled his eyes as Dean, a mischievous glint in his eyes, snatched the paper right out of the air, snapping it back at Bowman before the sprite had time to recover from his own throw. Bowman lucked out this time, the shot going wide and missing by a good few inches.
He looked over and saw that Bowman was smiling faintly at him. “Oh, what? You’re just jealous you don’t have a portable Jacob to carry around,” he quipped, earning a tired snicker from the sprite.
“Oh, it’s really too bad we can’t make your picture. Rischa would just shriek if she saw this,” Bowman teased.
There was more than enough room for Jacob inside, but Sam took a few extra items out, leaving his journal along with the spare key for the panic room tucked inside the pages like a bookmark and a few other small supplies.
Jacob pursed his lips at the bag while he considered it. Sam was offering, but Jacob was fairly certain it’d be insisted upon, based on the conviction in his eyes. He couldn’t refuse; he was sore as hell and walking around did not sound very appealing. Every step for Sam or Bowman took three or four of Jacob’s. He had a lot of ground to cover just to get out from under the seat.
Brothers Apart 