𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 | Hosie ✔️

Chapter 1

Josie opened her eyes abruptly, but the only thing she saw was darkness. The scream she had unconsciously uttered before she had awoken from her dream still lingered in her ears. But although it was dark around her, she was not afraid of it, for it was far less frightening than the dream from which she had struggled to free herself.

It took a few seconds before she realized that she was back in her room on the grounds of the Salvatore Boarding School. She took a deep breath while waiting for her eyes to get used to the darkness. Her clothes stuck to her body and beads of sweat were beaming from her forehead.

As her breathing slowly calmed, she turned her head slightly to the side where there was a second bed, which she knew was her twin. But even though she knew that she stretched her neck slightly to catch a glimpse of the blonde between the pillows and blankets. The knowledge that Lizzie was here gave Josie a feeling of security and made her tense bones loosen immediately.

After a few seconds of just lying there listening to Lizzie's calm breathing, the brunette leaned on her elbows. Why did this happen again and again lately? Why did nightmares repeatedly disturb her otherwise calm sleep?

In the past, she had always slept well and woke up well in the morning. At the moment, however, the exact opposite became apparent. You almost had the feeling that someone had a hand in it. But this thought was nonsense and the girl knew that too. Why would someone do that too? And she also thought of a reason why someone should do that? After all, she hadn't made any enemies at school so far. Or at least she couldn't think of any at that moment. So what interest could anyone have in her sleeping badly?

Knowing that she couldn't possibly fall asleep again now - and if she was honest, she didn't want to - she pushed her blanket aside, suppressing a sigh, and then slowly rose from her bed. Now she would have to find something to occupy herself with. For although she didn't like it, a cold shiver ran down her spine and she felt how everything in her was cramping up.

Slowly she shuffled to her desk chair over whose back she had hung a thin, light blue cardigan the previous evening, which would be enough for this moment. Quickly she put it on before putting on her socks.

Then she let her eyes wander across the desk. Maybe this was the perfect moment to work on her attack spells. After all, things had still gone wrong the last time. But her spells had to be perfect if she wanted to convince her father that attack spells should be taught at her school as well. Otherwise, they would never be able to defend themselves properly.

As soon as she spotted her pad, she reached for it and grabbed a pen before quietly and secretly making her way to the door. She could not possibly stay here if she did not want to wake Lizzie. Slowly she opened the door and scurried out into the hall.

Luckily, the corridor was empty - but how could it be any different at this time of day. To be honest, I didn't feel like explaining to anyone why she was awake at this time of night and sneaked out of her room.

After a few steps, I arrived at the stairs and slowly descended the steps, hoping not to make any noise. So it took me a little longer to get to the bottom of the stairs, but finally, she had reached the lowest floor and made her way to the lounge.

In the room she let herself sink onto one of the two comfortable sofas and pulled her feet up onto the seat as well. Almost reflexively, her gaze wandered to the fireplace, which almost automatically caught her eye as she entered the room. Without thinking about it for long, her hand wandered to the necklace she wore around her neck and her fingers snapped around the small pendant, which, however, contained more magic than one might think.

"Incendia", she whispered as she reached out her hand towards the fireplace. No sooner had her voice faded away again, than a small flame suddenly began to flare up between the woods, growing in size with every second until a stately flame was burning beside her in the fireplace.

With a satisfied expression on her face, she leaned against the back of the sofa and began to skim with her eyes over the already written words. By doing so she forgot for a moment what she had brought back here. Only when she heard a noise from the side, she flinched slightly and was brought back to reality. Suspiciously she let her gaze wander through the empty room. When she saw no one, she tried to direct her gaze back to her block and concentrate again. But she had noticeably sunk down and felt an icy shiver run down her spine.

Even if she didn't want to admit it, she knew inside herself that these nightmares were eating away at her nerves. So it was time for her to do something. Although she had no idea how to do it. She could not talk to Lizzie. Lizzie wouldn't take her seriously anyway. After all, she already had her problems and I didn't need to burden her with my own. And I couldn't say anything to Dad. He would only worry too much again and wouldn't let me out of his sight until he had found a solution. I didn't need that. So I guess it was up to me to figure out what was going on and solve the problem.