Fates spell; Jack Korrapati

Chapter 4-The Hunt of Shadow and Smoke

Through the sparse woodland and over the crest of the hill, a dark and shapeless form approached Crow Manor. The place that never felt like home, that there was a place that I needed to be, by fate or by will.

To Morrigan, it looked like a swarm of locusts or a cloud of bats, but it was too low and loud to be either. But to me, it looked calm, like I had finally reached my end, like I'm getting the death I deserve.

The sound of hooves became deafening as the dark mass grew closer. Among the black were hundreds of specks of fiery red light, getting brighter by the second.

The amorphous figure began to take shape. Heads and faces and legs grew out of the swarm, and Morrigan felt her stomach drop; but I, I giggled in delight. Jupiter looked at me with delight and anomalously.  The glowing red lights weren't lights at all. They were eyes. The eyes of men, the eyes of horses, and the eyes of hounds.

Not individuals made of flesh. More like a single living shadow. They were darkness—a pure absence of light. And they moved with purpose. I've seen them in a dream before, my dream was exactly like this, but at the end, they caught up to me, and they dragged me back; my dream ended there.

They were hunting.

I could tell Morrigan couldn't breathe. Her chest heaved in and out as she tried to take in enough air to fill her lungs properly. "What are they?"

''They are lovely creatures, ones I've had dreams about.'' I say, looking at them with enchantment, as if they were drawing me in, calling my name.

"Not now," said Jupiter. "We have to run."

But my feet felt stuck to the floor, the same as Morrigan but for different reasons. She feared them, I wanted to join them.  We both couldn't turn away from the window. Jupiter grasped my shoulders and looked straight into my eyes.

"They're dangerous, I can't lose you to them." he said, giving her a little shake. "Morrigan, save the fear for later.'' Jupiter led us away, into the hall. Morrigan then paused at the door."Wait! What about them?" she said, looking back toward our so called family. They were still gathered around the curtain on the floor, oblivious to the sound and sight of a hundred ghostly hunters barreling toward the house. How oblivious, why can't I be like them

"We can't just leave—" She says, I shake my head, disagreeing with her, they treated us like shit, they deserve to die.

"They'll be fine. The Hunt can't touch them. I promise. Come on.""But—"

Jupiter pulled her onward towards where we both are. "It's you both they're hunting, mainly Charlotte. You want to help your family?'' I shake my head, wanting to let them die, it's not my fault. ''You need to get yourself far, far away from this house."

"Then why are we going upstairs?"

Jupiter didn't answer. When they reached the third floor he ran to the nearest window and flung it wide open, sticking his head out. "This'Il do. Ready? We're aiming for the skylight." He is a mad man and I love it.

Morrigan looked out the window at the strangest machine she'd ever seen. I look out at glee, finally being able to leave the house, not caring about the weird thing sitting there.

As state chancellor, our 'father' had been fetched from Crow Manor in all sorts of vehicles over the years. Corvus still favored his old-fashioned horse- drawn carriage for daily use, but sometimes the Winter Sea Party would send expensive dark-windowed coaches with rumbling mechanical engines, and once even a small piloted airship that needed a special permit to land on the roof. Neighbors had gathered to gawk at it and take pictures.But Corvus had never, to our knowledge, traveled in a gleaming brass pod standing two stories high on eight spindly legs like an enormous metallic spider. What would the neighbors think of THIS? But I honestly couldn't care, I just want to get on that thing.