Masked (A Hat In Time)

A Sigh of Relief

One thing I hope to focus on in this book is the portrayal and recovery of trauma. It's not a major theme, but it's something I need to work on.

For kids, Hattie and Bow are remarkably calm and cool in the face of danger, but that doesn't mean they aren't affected. I'm trying to represent that the best way I can.

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Now that everything had calmed down (except for Ichor), Hat Kid realized something.

She was tired.

Honestly, she would've been surprised if she didn't feel tired. It'd been a grueling few days. Just thinking about the action made her feel dizzy.

In the first few areas Hattie and Bow took their time collecting timepieces because they had enough of them to spare. They only got one a day- maybe two or three if a rift popped up. But when they were ready to leave, Snatcher came in with his Death Wish contracts. That meant they needed to collect those timepieces before they went home too.

The past few days were different. Things jumped from 0 to 100 way too quickly. They found Halcyon and collected all those timepieces in a day. They faced Jaide and the Outlander. The next day, they faced down a brainwashed prince and an evil Moonjuper. After that, they had to go save the prince from Vanessa's dungeon! And just today Hat Kid watched a kid get melted out of ice, her friends started fighting, Jaide got possessed by an otherworldly creature, Bow Kid and Hat Kid were killed multiple times in the span of a few minutes, and the same otherworldly creature just threatened to destroy the world if they got bored.

She was a pecking kid! She shouldn't have to go through this much!

Hat Kid looked over to Bow to see if she felt the same way. The girls met eyes.

Bow Kid looked as tired as Hattie felt. Yeah. They needed some rest.

Hattie walked over, leaving Jaide's side, and stood with Bow. "Let's go home," she murmured.

Bow started to nod in agreement, then she paused. "The prince stays in the ship with us, but he left with Snatcher..." she murmured.

Hat Kid smacked herself on the head. "Peck, you're right!" she sighed. Even if the prince wasn't feeling tired, she would feel bad leaving him behind in Subcon. If only there was a more efficient system.

"Let's go find him," Bow Kid said with a sigh.

The kids left Snatcher's home, walking at a slow pace. Both kids were quiet and solemn. They watched the ground go by as they plodded ahead. They could've gone faster, but they were both exhausted mentally and physically. They needed some slow time. They needed to think things through and truly process everything.

One thing that kept bothering Hattie was that she didn't know Bow Kid's side of the story yet. They'd gotten separated for only a few minutes, and something big had happened to both of them. Bow Kid seemed terrified of something, and it all had to do with the prince.

"What happened?" Hat Kid asked. Wide-eyed, Bow Kid looked up. "When you went to talk with the prince, and Moon took me to see Jaide...what happened?"

Bow Kid cringed and shuddered. "I don't think I'm ready to talk about it just yet," she whispered. Hat Kid saw tears forming in her eyes.

Hattie winced. "Okay, sorry." Even if Bow wasn't ready, Hat Kid was. She was almost bursting just thinking about her side of the story. Bow Kid needed to know what happened. She needed to know how Jaide acted before getting possessed and how Moon acted strangely. "Is it okay if I tell you what happened to me?"