[WIP] Locked Tomb | Book Club AU

0. Prologue

It was at the precocious age of seven that Harrowhark Nonagesimus encountered Gideon Nav outside their shared home, in the dirt, Gideon's natural environment.

They had met before, a few times. Harrow had seen Gideon in her class three days out of the three months that she had attended school. During that time, their diplomatic teacher had described Gideon as "independent" when she failed to follow basic classroom routines and "imaginative" when she spun elaborate and implausible stories about why she had missed three months of class. This, however, was the first time that Harrow had seen Gideon in her element.

Mother Novenarius swept Harrow off her feet. The children's illustrated encyclopedia that had been pressed to Harrow's nose a moment before fell to the ground in a puff of dust.

From her mother's arms, Harrow spotted a strange, tiny being writhing in dirt. It wore a comically oversized puffer jacket that made the child resemble a larva of the order Lepidoptera.

"Gideon?" gasped Mother.

The grub called Gideon pointed its diseased finger at Harrowhark and screeched, "Why is his hair so bad!"

Harrow regarded the maggot with derision. She hoped she could burn a hole through Gideon's gut with her glare, but Gideon seemed immune to shame.

In the coming years, Harrowhark was never quite sure if she had correctly remembered this interaction, but, in the manner of first impressions, it nevertheless informed her perception of her neighbor. 

~~~

A/N: Thank you for reading. Updates coming....eventually. Maybe.