𝙷𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝙾𝚏 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚜 | ✏️

𝕥𝕖𝕟 // 𝕒𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕣

     Our rooms are large and spacious, and the bed is comfortable, but for some reason, I just can't fall asleep. My mind is whirling too fast for my body to relax and I'm tossing and turning beneath my fluffy sheets. Finally, I give up and get out of bed, heading into the darkened hallway with my candle.

     I open the doors to the balcony, only to find someone already out there.

     "Can't sleep?" Jamie asks, turning around from where he's perched on the railing.

"No," I reply, setting down my candle and joining him at the edge of the balcony. "It's just too...new?"

     "I get that," he says, jumping down to stand beside me. "When my mind can't settle, I come outside and just look at the stars."

     I look up at the sky, and the whirling display of light steals my breath away. There must be billions and trillions of stars, pinpricks of brightness punctuating a blanket of shadows. "It must have been awful when you couldn't see the stars," I muse.

     Jamie nods. "But I'm sure that was the least of their worries, since, you know...death and destruction and all."

     I sigh, "I...wasn't exactly honest with you earlier." My brain is blaring warning lights, telling me DO NOT DO THIS. DO NOT TELL HIM. WHAT ARE YOU DOING??, but I don't listen. "My dad...he was a Hunter. For a long time, like thirty years or so. He didn't die on the Hunt, he got sick four years ago. But he- he was there when the Vial was lost. Or rather, stolen."

     "Stolen?" Jamie asks. "Like the legend says?"

     "It's not just a legend. It was real. My dad, well, his best friend got taken in the middle of that Hunt, thirty-two years ago. He was taken by a witch. And this was after they lost the Vial, so there's no way that the witch or the faery has it. But my dad confronted his friend a few weeks later, when fire and flood was destroying the kingdom. And Dad told me that his friend escaped. Said he was going to fix it and save the kingdom. And then..."

     "He disappeared," Jamie finishes. "And the kingdom fell into ruin."

     "Yeah," I say, "except it survived. People rebuilt, and soon the disasters were on-and-off, instead of all the time. Almost as if someone were fighting for control over them."

     He inhales sharply, realization dawning on his face. "You think the Hunter escaped with the Vial, and found a way to use it."

     "Exactly. And there's only one place where an exiled Hunter could go to escape notice. Somewhere he could be far beneath notice."

     "The castle," Jamie breathes. "You think he's here?"

     I nod. "I think he's here, and I think he can help us. There's something absent from the stories, and I think he knows the missing piece."

     From behind me, a male voice speaks up. "Good job, Miss McNary. You are correct..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Written January 5, 2024

Word count: 494

{ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha don't you just love cliffhangers}