Chapter Text
I miss μαμά…
Helene sat in the back seat, knees tucked close to his chest, fingers twisted tightly into the ends of his sweater sleeves.
“Helene, μικρὲ ὄφι μου, we promise we’ll come pick you up by the end of summer, okay?” Mommy said from the driver’s seat. Her voice was light, careful in the way adults get when they think reassurance can be measured and handed out in neat portions. It made him frustrated.
μαμά is more honest with me…
Helene knew she was looking at him even with her eyes on the road. She always did that, noticed him without looking. He trusted her with the wheel more than Mum, at least.
Mum sat calmly in the passenger seat, hands folded in her lap, gazing ahead as though she weren’t about to leave her six-year-old son somewhere he had never been before. As though this was normal. As though she and Mommy hadn’t just decided that this place, this intense place, was safe enough to entrust with his life. Even if his μαμά was watching over him.
Helene wasn’t stupid. Six years old didn’t mean clueless. He wasn’t like Danny from kindergarten, the imbecile who went near the beehive after the teachers had explicitly told everyone not to. Danny nearly died. Helene, of course, did not. His moms and μαμά had raised him better than that.
Still, distrust and something else curled in his stomach.
Home was calm. Home was strange, yes, foreign in a way he couldn’t explain, but it was friendly.
This place felt like it could swallow him whole. If just being near it made his skin buzz and his head thrum, then being inside it had to be worse.
And yet.
The feeling that pressed against him wasn’t wrong. It was right. Achingly so. It reminded him of his μαμά.
That scared him more than anything.
Sand. Paper scrolls. Feathers, scales, gold. The land at home always smelled like too much, too loud, too layered. Helene had learned to live with it, learned to endure the way sensations crashed over him until he felt hollowed out by them. Mum used to say it was sad, that it must be hard for him to be without μαμά.
He’d never understood what she meant.
Not until the car took a left turn and the world shifted.
Strawberries. Fresh grass. Grapes. Roses. Bay leaves—feathers—flames—smoke—ozone—grain—pomegranates—sea salt—
Helene sucked in a breath so sharp it almost hurt.
For the first time he could remember, breathing felt easy.
It had only ever been that easy when he was with his μαμά.
It was as though something had been removed from him, a decay he hadn’t known he was carrying. Like a mask pulled away from his senses, that mask was something that had grown and tried to influence him but never could. As if his life before this moment had been muted, dulled, half-lived.
The forest noticed him.
He was certain of it.
It whispered, not in words, but in presence. In rustling leaves and shifting shadows and the subtle bend of branches leaning just close enough to feel intentional. The land felt alive in a way that watched and welcomed all at once.
Helene rolled down the window as fast as it would go, pressing his face toward the rush of air. Moss and rain-soaked earth filled his lungs. Ozone crackled faintly, promising a storm somewhere not far off.
The trees towered overhead, impossibly tall, yet curved inward as if reaching for the passing car. His hearing was always sharp but now he could pick out layers, wind through leaves, distant footsteps that weren’t footsteps at all, laughter hidden inside birdsong.
Helene thought he was almost able to feel the mood of the world, like he could hear its thought. Just like μαμά.
Something moved between the shadows. Something fast. Something amused.
Mommy burst out laughing, bright and unrestrained, and Helene relaxed just enough to guess that she knew exactly what it was.
It was beautiful.
Like μαμά…
It was like stepping into a world that had always existed just out of sight, one he had never thought to look for, but which had been waiting for him all the same. If he could have, Helene might have thrown open the door and jumped straight out of the car.
Then Mum laughed softly.
It was a sound Helene recognized, tired, fond, threaded through with relief. He glanced at her and saw the faint rise of her cheekbones, the way her gaze lingered on him through the window’s reflection.
She looked… happy. For him.
The sky darkened overhead. Clouds rolled together, thunder murmuring low enough to vibrate in Helene’s now painfully sharp ears. He flinched, then quickly sat back and rolled the window up, retreating into his sweater again.
Mommy eyed him in the mirror, clearly amused by his sudden return to pouty-child mode. Mum kept watching the clouds, smiling quietly.
Helene leaned back against the seat, heart still racing.
Whatever this place was, whatever waited beyond the forest line, it felt like it had been calling him for a very long time.
And now, finally, he was close enough to hear it.
Helene could see a hill on the horizon as his Mommy drove on.
His senses, sharpened, could sense the voices. Whispers, shouts and rapid speaking were everywhere.
Though Helene was scared, he knew deep inside his μαμά was watching him. Always watching. Helene would always be safe.
He knew where ever they were going it would different, in an otherworldly sense. If he felt like this all the time then he would at least try to have fun. For his moms.
His μαμά did want him to be with his own. To spread out, μαμά had said.
Though it was rather exciting. The idea of going somewhere alone without his moms was scary yes, but if his moms said it was safe then Helene had to believe it was.
Helene squinted to look outside, the light rain had made it hard to see through the droplets. He could see a tall tree.
A pine tree, his Mum had told him.
Helene couldn’t help but frown to himself when he felt something ominous. Helene rarely felt like that, even if he did his moms and μαμά were always there to soothe him.
The closer they got, the more Helene felt like something bad was going to take place.