Charlotte's Dilemma

Charlotte went over to Elise who was clearly shaken and helped her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes. We should go now," Elise said, panic in her voice.

Charlotte turned her attention back to the giant, who'd managed to crawl to the wall and was now sitting with his back against it. She stared at him, unable to contain her inner fury and outrage at how he'd treated her. She watched as his nose began to bleed. He grabbed his head in his hands then screamed out in pain. Charlotte kept staring at him until Elise blocked her line of sight.

"That's enough," she told Charlotte. "We have to leave now, before anyone else comes."

It was only then that Charlotte realised she hadn't just been a spectator to the giant's pain, she'd caused it. As Elise tried to usher her away, Charlotte looked back at the man who'd violated her. She willed his leg to involuntarily snap back at an impossible angle and the giant let out a blood curdling cry then passed out.

"We can go now," Charlotte told Elise.

The two girls rushed out of the alley towards a taxi rank on the main road where fortunately a line of cabs were waiting. The first cab driver took one look at Charlotte's bloodied face and drove off but the kindly driver in the second cab let them in and handed Charlotte a box of tissues to tidy her face up.

Elise asked the driver to take them back to the hotel. She put her arm around Charlotte and hugged her. Charlotte sobbed into Elise's shoulder as Elise told her how sorry she was and how it was all her fault.

The taxi pulled away, watched by a large, black, raven perched on a wall. Unnoticed by anyone, it had landed a few moments earlier. Jasper watched the taxi drive away then spread his wings and took flight. Within seconds he was soaring above the city's night sky, watching over Charlotte until she was back inside the hotel...