Finally been doing a bit of writing! Here's a bit of what I've been working on:
Sadie pulled her cloak tighter against the chill of the morning air as she crouched by the edge of the forest. The towering trees loomed ahead, their tangled branches forming a dark canopy that seemed to swallow the sky. Most would consider it a creepy, foreboding place, but Sadie felt at ease here. This was where the real magic lived—not in neatly organized classrooms or dusty textbooks, but out in the real world. She loved nothing more than exploring the seemingly endless stretch of wild magical forest that surrounded her family home.
Today, though, something felt… off.
She knelt by a patch of soft moss, running her fingers over claw marks etched into the earth. They were fresh, too fresh. A faint rustling came from the underbrush, and Sadie froze, holding her breath.
“Don’t be a Thestral, don’t be a Thestral…” she muttered under her breath.
A pair of glowing yellow eyes blinked back at her. She let out a relieved sigh when a Bowtruckle emerged, its twig-like limbs quivering as it scurried up a nearby tree.
“Hey there,” she whispered, her voice soft enough not to scare it off. “You okay?”
The Bowtruckle didn’t respond. It tilted its head at her, then darted higher into the branches, vanishing from sight. Sadie frowned. Usually, they were more curious—sometimes even cheeky. This one had been skittish, as if something had frightened it.
For the past few weeks, she’d noticed little things like this. The Pickwockles had been more restless when she fed them fresh carrot soup last full moon, the Hippogriffs near the paddock were snappish, even with Sadie's father.. And now, even the Bowtruckles seemed wary.
Sadie pushed herself to her feet, brushing dirt from her skirt. “Just imagining things,” she muttered. But the knot of unease in her stomach wouldn’t go away.
