Hunter's House {Huntlow/Winter}

Chapter 5 ; Music For a Sushi Restaurant

"Green eyes, fried rice, I could cook an egg on you. Late night, game time, coffee on the stove. You're sweet ice cream, but you could use a Flake or two." 

Another week passed by under their noses, not a single sign of magic returning to the door of the old cabin. All that they could see and hear was the creaking of the old door in the wind and a single lifeless cabin. The sun was shining, but the trees cast a gloomy shadow across the front porch, covered in leaves. Luz held her breath as she entered the cabin alone, there has to be a reason why the door always appeared here, she thought to herself. A few days ago the five of them walked back to the cabin after painfully avoiding it for a while, with the same question. There was absolutely nothing special about the place, besides the fact that it was very abandoned and had been for many years. The group hadn't found anything special, seeing as it was probably cleared out many years ago. Luz just couldn't help but feel as though they had missed something, so here she was again, searching for something and yet nothing all at once. Luz climbed the stairs to the second floor, trying hard not to break the silence. The only sounds she could hear was the wind ruffling the trees outside and the sound of water dripping through leaks in the ceiling onto old papers and dead leaves. It felt eerie to the girl, hoping she was just using her imagination to make it creepy. Once at the top of the stairs, Luz cautiously watched where she stepped with the floorboards having caved in o Hunter last time. There were three rooms; There was a disconnected bathroom, where the toilet and sink had been pulled out, revealing the old rusted pipes that didn't smell bad, but strongly of rust. Next there were two bedrooms almost completely empty besides broken bedframes and one had an empty chest covered in dust. 

The first bedroom down the hall was the most damaged seeing as a giant tree branch from above had fallen through the roof. It had been so long ago, however, that the tree was able to continue to grow from there and keeping it's bright green color. Because of the huge hole in the roof, the floor in the center was severely rain rotted and sun damaged, having it's own large hole that opened to the kitchen below. This room was very unstable due to exposure to the elements and none of the teens had even dared walk in there, no matter their personal weight and trust in themselves. Luz, however, had a stupid idea, as a Luz Noceda usually does. Pulling out a long piece of rope, she found a good post to tie it securely around at one end, while the other around her waist. Luz then tested it with a few test pulls before advancing into the room. The sun leaked into this room very easily due to the whole, giving it a soft and almost ethereal glow. Luz stuck close to the sides of the room and avoided any floorboards that looked too risky, making it half-way through the room before stopping for a break. Catching her breath once more, she glanced around for her next move until ... something caught her eye from under the bed. Slowly she mapped an easy path with her eyes before moving over to the end of the room. Using the empty window frame for support, she shuffled over the narrowest part of the floor until she reached more trustworthy ground. From there, Luz was about to reach for the book covered by leaves that just barely peaked over the thicker floorboards. Sitting down carefully, dangling her feet over the edge, she dusted the book off and tried to get a better look at it. 

Luz suddenly recognized that it was almost identical to Phillip Wittebane's Diary. The feeling in her gut emptied of mystery and only filled with unspeakable anger, "What in the Titan is this doing here?!" Luz kept trying to tell herself that it was a coincidence, but somehow this book seemed completely different. Not to mention how well it had been hidden. Taking a deep breath, Luz pulled the book open to reveal a completely different handwriting that she'd been so used to and a page full of tear stains. The name of the diary's owner was almost completely wiped away, including some of the opening words. All Luz could really make out of it were the initials C.W, she tried to think of anyone who could use the same ones and only came up blank. Since the opening words were beyond legible, Luz continued to the next page that only had a few stains. The Diary entry reads as Follows: