Demon Daughter (Book I)

10.1 | The Stranger

The morning had dawned. Ravenna woke up because of the streaming sunlight, penetrating through her eyelids, and looked around. All she could see were wooden walls and old curtains fluttering lightly in the warm and gentle breeze. The girl still had the mirror in her hands, so she shoved it in her backpack, gathered her stuff and got ready to go. She didn’t go that far from home and was afraid that someone would recognise her.

She had to go east. Ravenna tried to stay on course and kept looking at the mirror crystal, but it didn’t respond, sowing the fear that maybe Neptune made a mistake and the map pointed to somewhere other than the World of Absence. But the girl refused to give up and went on. Plains and forests covered the majority of the territory, but she loved nature, where nobody disturbed her thoughts. The only drawback was food, because she rarely found shops, even though she had enough money. And the question of where she would have to sleep the following night also poisoned her mind. But most of the time she had to do it under the open sky or in a makeshift tent made of tree branches, logs and stones. It didn’t look too bad, especially with summer approaching and the weather warming up enough to keep her from freezing to death.

However, one day, an unforeseen storm took Ravenna off guard...

She was on her way out of the shop, looking for a place to spend the night, when the sky suddenly clouded over, and it began to rain. The girl ran as fast as she could, but it didn’t help her find shelter any faster. Soon she was soaked through, and a little later the lightning pierced across the sky and thunder rumbled.

Ravenna found shelter after an hour. A half-ruined wooden hut stood on an empty plain that wasn’t really habitable. It was dark inside, but she somehow managed to see things—an ancient furnace, a low table, a saggy mattress in the corner. The only thing that made her happy was the furnace, because she would be able to warm herself up if she could find something to light it with. But there was no need to look. When the girl opened the furnace door, firewood appeared right before her eyes. But she knew it wouldn’t last long, and she would probably only be able to dry her hair and clothes.

Ravenna placed her backpack near the door, pulled out her sleeping bag, stretching it out by the furnace, and soon lit the fire. She looked out of the window and listened. The storm grew stronger, the trees swayed more and more in the wind, and the old house was creaking. It looked a little scary, but she had no choice but to stay where she was, and watched the blazing fire in the furnace for a while. The sun was setting. She felt tired and wanted to sleep. Forever. No, she didn’t want that, she had the fire of hope to find her mother. She believed everything would be all right, she just had to wait a little longer...

All sorts of thoughts came into her mind. Ravenna was homesick, but most of all she was worried sick about Neptune, because Tasdar had kidnapped him. Will he be able to escape and come to help her? Or will Tasdar kill him? Block her way to her mother? But no, she knew she hadn’t revealed her powers yet, and it was hard to track her down now. But at the same time, she wondered what powers she had, what special things she could do, whether she could teleport, recognise others by their magical energy, and what it felt like.

At the thought, warmth spread through the girl’s body. The sun had long since set below the horizon, so she settled comfortably into her sleeping bag. That night she had a strange dream. The most memorable detail was the young lady running in the forest. She remembered her face clearly and even when she woke up, it was still fresh in her mind.

But trying not to think about it, and fully rested from the day before, Ravenna crawled out of her sleeping bag. She eagerly wanted to reach her destination as soon as possible, even though the challenges had just begun. She knew there was a lot to see and learn in the special worlds.