The Night's Curse #3 (Waverly Stump and The 7 Realms)

Chapter 2

"Waverly friend?" Cassiope yelped in alarm as she searched the room. "Oh, where has she gone?"

Waverly crawled out from the other side of the bed, where she had been lying on the cold floor. "I am here, Cassiope."

Cassiope wore mortified look, and blue tears leaked from her large eyes. "Oh, it is terrible. Terrible! I heard them say it is."

Waverly rushed forward and guided her to sit. She struggled with the panic that was rising to her throat like bile. It had been four days since she sent Goody away with her letter, and he was yet to return, and she had purposefully shied away from asking Cassiope about how fast the pigeon could travel.

"Calm yourself, alright. Tell me what you have heard." Waverly cooed. In truth, she was trembling, and the knowledge Cassiope was about to share burned bright behind her eyes. She knew what her friend was about to say.

"I heard it from Loni. She is the Honeysuckle. She was telling my cousins about our Queen, the Lady Daya." Cassiope paused, wiping the tears from under her eyelids.

"My Lady says the King has received bad news. There are attacks all across the other realms."

Waverly's gaze dropped to the ground then fixed on Cassiope's. "Did he say exactly where those attacks happened?"

Cassiope fidgeted in discomfort. "Yes. The angel people suffer first."

"Angel people?" She asked in utter confusion.

The flower spirit stuttered, trying to recall the proper name. "I. . . their name is hard to remember. They look like big human flying insects."

Waverly's eyebrow went up. For a moment, her nightmare flashed in her mind. "Shades."

"Oh, that is them. And there are big fires everywhere, children go missing because big birds snatch them from their mothers, and. . ."

Waverly watched Cassiope. There was suddenly a lot of hesitation in the latter's eyes.

"And what?"

Cassiope looked sympathetically at her, a single tear rolling down her chubby, glistening cheek. "Your native land is also burning. . . some places in it."

Waverly let her hand drop from Cassiope's shoulder and sat down heavily on the bed. A myriad of emotions rolled through her.

How could such a thing be happening and the Elves were silent?

"Goody has not since returned, has he?" Cassiope asked carefully.

Waverly turned to her. "I would not know if he has."

Suddenly, a light tapping from above drew the attention of the pair. Waverly and Cassiope glanced up at the strange noise then at each other. It was like a gentle knock on the roof, and it sounded like whoever was knocking used a pointy object instead of their knuckles.

Cassiope suddenly brightened. "It is Goody."

She floated upward as if steered by the wind and reached through the golden circle in the ceiling. Her hand passed like smoke through, and when she drew it back in, Goody was resting on her fingers.

Cassiope looked down at Waverly. "He brings you a letter."

She floated downward, carefully working the roll of parchment off the bird's talon then handed it over to Waverly before her feet touched the ground again.

Waverly quickly unrolled the cream colored parchment. She recognized it as the same one HalfHyde loved to write in and the memory of it alone became so overpowering and nostalgic that she felt lightheaded.