Hunter or Hunted

Chapter 1: Invitation Acknowledged

Dear Diary,

Today is my birthday. Dad bought a chocolate cake from Lady Mary who lives in a wooden hut down at the end of the muddy lane. Rumor has it that Lady Mary was initially an astrologer before she went to the bakery business. If that is true, she definitely made a clever move because making pastries sounds more interesting than staring at the stars for a couple of hours.

After dinner, the moment my mom discharged me from the table, I rushed to the kitchen to fetch three clean porcelain plates and ran back to the table. Dessert time is always my favorite.

"Can we cut the cake now?" I leaned to the table, fascinated by the intricate flowerings on the cake. If dad hadn't informed me of its designer, I would have never thought this splendid cake was made by a 70-year-old lady.

"Be patient, Alice. You should first make wishes, blow out the candles, and then you can cut the cake." said mom.

I don't know why we need these complicated procedures. I basically understand the wish part but blowing out the candles doesn't make any sense to me. It's a weird ritual I will never understand.

Why must we blow out the candles before cutting the cake? Given that seconds later we have to light them up again in order to drive the darkness. I can't help but wonder whether every creature in the world would do this or it's just magicians' uncanny routine.

But it is not a good time to ask questions because at the moment there is a cake waiting to be tasted. So, I gave up my curiosity to exchange the freedom to devour that gleaming cylinder.

I took a deep breath and was about to blow the candles when someone knocked on the door and distracted my attention from the candles to the doorway.

"Who is that?" mom was not very pleased about the interruption.

No replies from the door.

"Could be some silly birds went to the wrong direction and hit on our door," dad shrugged and asked me to address the candles.

"I don't think so." mom pointed to the narrow space under the door as she murmured to herself. I gave that direction a quick glance and my eagerness for the cake was immediately replaced by my curiosity towards the silver envelope lying under the door.

"Alice, you've got yourself a prince?" The stretching silence was broken by my dear grandmother. Old as she is, she has the most girlish heart. My mom explained it as a result of aging, though.

The three of us exchanged a look and none of us could understand her words. So, she sighed and started to explain her deduction with a sense of superiority.

"The color, you silly pumpkins. Only people from royal family can use this envelope."

"Why a prince? It could be a princess who suddenly decides to invite me to visit the splendid palace as some kind of birthday gift." I challenged her, trying to prove there is a huge difference between me and a pumpkin.

"That's a good point." dad nodded.

"Very good, except for one thing. The queen only had one child who happened to be a boy." my grandmother smiled as if she had obtained a tremendous victory.

"That's an undeniable truth." dad nodded again.

"Can we just open the envelope and have a check? The debate is unnecessary." mom interrupted impatiently. Pity for her, she would never understand the aesthetics of debating.

Anyway, I went to the doorway and picked up the envelope to figure out what it is inside. I had thought it would be a birthday card, showing the ruler's kindness or a leaflet asking my family to support his sovereign. But I never expected it to be an invitation card, reading:

To all the residents,

Whether you are a witch or a wizard, you are welcome to join the Scavenger Hunt Competition I! The first one to collect all the listed 12 things will have a chance to date Prince Edward. The specific items for hunters to collect are as follows:

Dragon's Teeth 

Siren's Wedding Ring

Unicorn's Comb 

Allegator's Tear

Vampire's Kiss 

Fox's Gratitude

Sliver Mushroom

Strawberry Bubble Tea

Werewolf's Handshake

Spider's Poison

Mermaid's Bow 

Ghost's Touch

Participant's Signature: _________

The competition starts the moment you receive the invitation card and sign your name. Pay attention, if you feel some items are impossible to obtain or your life could be threatened during the acquiring journey, just quit the game.

Good luck!

"Why do you open your mouth like that?" I don't know how my facial expression looked like, but it definitely intrigued my mom.

"I'm shocked, obviously."

"What does it say?"

"Prince Edward isn't picky about his future lover's gender." I blurted out.

In fact, I was not that bad at summarizing. But the information was too much and I just couldn't fully process all of them.

"Oh. Really?" grandmother raised one of her eyebrows, nearly reaching her hairline, "why so shocked then?"

I was speechless because it was really hard to explain. I showed the invitation card to them and was amused when I saw all of them just stared at it and opened their mouth at the same time.

No wonder we are family.

"This is madness." mom commented after a while and carefully asked my opinion. "Do you want to go Alice?"

"Don't do that. The reward is not handsome." grandmother suggested before I could give my answer.

"You mean Prince Edward is not handsome or the chance to date him is not attractive?" I pointed out the ambiguity in her words.

"Could be both."

"Have you seen Prince Edward before?" I couldn't help but ask.

"No." grandmother shrugged causally.

"Then how do you know he is not handsome?"

"I don't know." She admitted shamelessly, "that's why I say 'could be both' rather than 'absolutely both'."

I didn't know what to say so I just held that card and calculate the chance to win and the risk to get myself murdered during the game.

I mean, look at those crazy items! How could it be possible for anyone to survive a vampire's kiss? I was about to throw the card away and eat my cake when you suddenly popped into my head.

My dear, dear diary. If I die young, do mourn for me. I participated in this game only to make you outstanding. My life has been boring for a long time and I really worried that Professor Woolf would be disappointed. She was always emphasizing the significance to add some interesting content to the dairy. But how could I manage it when my life was so boring?

So I made a very very crazy decision. I signed my name with the purpose to earn more experiences worthy of recording.

Yours,

Alice.