Book Three of the Follower Trilogy
"If we're together, even in an endless maze is paradise."
Abraxas is dead Everything is well. Until the flute turns into a beautiful girl with long golden hair, lost in the maze of time.
A/N: I'm so excited for this chapter. Partially because I am doing something different for this chapter versus the other two and because it will finish up the first Piper story, Jimin's. He truly is my Piper and was the first one I envisioned as the Piper when I started Follower. So, enjoy the end of Jimin's story.
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"On your knees, girl," the lead bandit said. He roughly took her shoulder and forced her onto the ground, the dry grass cutting into her knees. She could feel the point of the dagger drag across the back of her neck. Not enough to cut, but enough to cause panic flood her chest.
She felt as the hair dropped in small chunks a little weight loosening from her scalp each time. When the bandit finished, her hair was cut to her jawline, a jagged and rough cut, but one that would continue to grow nonetheless.
She still thought of him in these moments. The way he cut just a small chunk of her hair off in class. How he'd held the dagger so steadily and was careful not to cut your skin even though he was teasing you. The way he held your hand in the cave. Nabi didn't think she'd forget the feeling of his hand in hers. It's what got her through the past two years. Whenever she cried when the bandits left her tied up in the caravan and alone, she would imagine his hand around hers.
"This is the best batch yet," the bandit said, holding up her cut hair. "It's silky and smooth. I think we can sell this for double." The other men took turns stroking the cut hair and each remarked on how soft it was.
"Feels just like real mink," he said. " 't's too bad she can't grow that stuff faster. We'd be the richest men in the world."
The other men nodded in solidarity as they watched Nabi's hair be carefully locked away in a box only the leader had a key to.
Nabi looked out across the vast field the caravan of covered carriages was parked. It was an endless sea of tan grass that went on to the horizon. She could run if she wanted to, hope to one day make it to the horizon, a village, whatever lay beyond this horrid field. But, if she were to break out in a run, she knew she wouldn't make it far. She could only dream of what lay beyond the horizon.
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On market days, Nabi had to stay in the caravan. If she'd gotten out, it would be much too obvious where the hair the bandits was selling came from, and Nabi liked to think that if the patrons knew where the 'fur' actually came from, they wouldn't buy it. But, Nabi's stomach boiled just thinking about it.
"Sold out already!" the lead bandit said, coming back to the caravan. Nabi's eyes widened as he approached her and took her chin in the palm of his hand. "You're going to make us more money than you can even imagine." He paused, his fingers cutting into her jawbone. "Who knew such a useless little girl from Hamelin could bring us so much wealth?"
"Boss!" one of the other bandits called. Through the crack in the curtain, Nabi could see the main running towards the carriage and holding something in his hand. "I found something that's going to make us even richer!"
The lead bandit removed his hand from Nabi's jaw to look at the small glass bottle the other bandit held.
"Jimin's Growth Serum?" he asked.
Nabi perked up at the sound of Jimin's name. It certainly couldn't be her Jimin? He was dead. Jimin was a common name. It couldn't be...
"It says it helps hair grow faster. A girl with long, golden hair sold it to me. She said it took only two weeks to grow her hair to the waist."
The lead bandit's eyebrows shot up and he took the bottle from the other man. He turned it over and read the directions, before tossing it to Nabi.
"Use this twice a day," he said. "And, no cutting corners. Do just as the directions say."
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Nabi did as the bandits told her. She used the serum just before and after washing her hair daily. It was difficult, considering she normally didn't wash her hair so often. Her hair didn't seem to be growing any faster than before, making knots in her stomach.
"Are you sure you're using it correctly?"
"Yes," Nabi said. "I'm following all the directions."
The bandit mumbled something under his breath but threw the bottle back at her. It hit her thigh and she picked it up before it could spill.
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At the two week mark, her hair had barely grown half an inch. But, when she woke up that morning, her hair was dry and looked like straw. It was yellow and clung to her face like wet straw to a barn floor.
She heard footsteps approaching her carriage and quickly wrapped a cloth around her hair and fastened it tightly around her forehead.
"It's time to take a look," one of the bandits said, he opened the curtain and his face contorted. "Why are you covering it?"
"I'm protecting it," she said, although realized her lie didn't matter. Once they found out, there were only two options. Either they would let her go with the promise of never telling, or they would kill her.
"On your knees, girl," the lead bandit said. "You should know the drill by now."
Nabi kneeled down and felt her limbs begin to shake as his hand grabbed the cloth and pulled it off her head, revealing the mess of yellow hair.
"What did you do to it?!"
"I just used the growth serum!" Nabi yelled. She'd never yelled at the bandits before. Her voice raising took them by surprise and a few of the men backed away, but the leader stood his ground. "It looks like you got swindled. But, it serves you right. The swindler getting swindled."
"You have no right to speak to me like that, girl. I should beat you for that, but you're lucky I now have no use for you. I'll give you the mercy of death."
The bandit unsheathed his sword and Nabi bowed her head. At least she would die having spoken her mind, she would die knowing it wasn't in vain.
"Wait!" a woman's voice shouted. "I'm sure I'm the one to blame for this."
Nabi looked up and caught a glimpse of a golden-haired woman standing a hundred feet out in the field. Nabi had no idea how she could've hidden amongst the grass. The field was endless, so endless they hadn't seen anything but it the past two weeks.
"That's the woman who sold me the serum!"
The bandits all drew their weapons, but the woman didn't seem worried. The leader's attention shifted and the tip of his sword brushed Nabi's shoulder as he stepped in front of her and faced the other woman.
"Well, you see, I have many serums. And, it seems I mixed up my growth serum with my dyeing serum. It was really such a simple mistake."
"Have you been following us?"
The lead bandit was so near her that his nose nearly touched hers, but the girl didn't flinch as if she had stared evil straight in the eye before.
"I just happened to be in the neighborhood." She shrugged.
Nabi's attention was on the golden-haired woman. It was only likely that the woman had simply delayed Nabi's death, not saved her.
A hand softly brushed Nabi's bicep and just as she was about to scream from the unexpected touch, a hand covered her mouth. She turned to see Jimin behind her. He removed his hand from her mouth and pressed his finger to his lips.
He flicked his head in the opposite direction and helped Nabi up and maneuver through the grass to prevent too much rustling. Nabi's heart raced, although she wasn't sure if it was from Jimin's soft touch, or from the fact that they could be discovered at any time and then she would have to watch them kill Jimin in front of her again.
They'd gotten a few hundred feet away when she heard yelling and the bandits rushing off. Nabi looked back and saw the bandits running in the opposite direction.
"It's time to run," Jimin said, grabbing her hand.
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"Is she going to be okay?" Nabi asked. The bandits had to have been running after the golden-haired woman and Nabi felt a twist in her stomach that the outcome may have been grim.
"Sloane? Oh, don't worry, she's fine. She has some magic flower thing that helps her travel back in time. She just has to burn it and she'll be gone."
Nabi sat silent for a moment. The possibility that the woman had been magical never crossed your mind.
"Is that how--is that why you're back?"
"Back?" Jimin arched an eyebrow.
"Jimin, you were dead."
Jimin smiled at that, the smile immediately taking Nabi back to when they'd be in class together and Jimin would tease her incessantly. Yet, she couldn't shake the feeling in the root of her chest when he smiled.
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