Young Writers Society

Words: 1,165

Last Line(s): “Maybe I'll see you soon,” she said.

Lira gave her a small smile of her own.

“I hope so,” Lira answered.

And with that, Cass began her journey.

Chapter 12

Walking through the tunnel alone didn't feel as magical as walking through it with Aspen had. She walked past the same floating lanterns that she had marveled at barely holding back tears, and, by the time she emerged from the darkness into the open field and path that lay beyond the tunnel, they were freely streaming down her face. She tried to focus on the strange trees and animals she saw scurrying around in the grass, but her mind stubbornly kept returning to Aspen.

Her hand grasped her locket and held it close to her chest.

She walked for a short distance until she found a good place to sit down and change. The tunic was exchanged for her loose t-shirt. The leggings were exchanged for her denim shorts. Her boots were exchanged for her sneakers. Putting on the familiar clothing help take some of her already growing homesickness away. And once she was dressed in something more comfortable, she felt like she could finally focus on the journey ahead of her. 

She consulted her map, and followed the dirt path underneath her feet for the next couple of hours. When necessary, she chose one path over the other, never straying from what the map depicted.

The sun slowly continued its journey across the sky; it was her sole companion on the lonely trek. It seemed like most animals were wise enough to avoid the path. The few ones she did see were birds with unfamiliar plumage that flew overhead, and the rare small, furry creature that darted across the path. After she saw the first few, she gave up on trying to find them in the guidebook that Lira had given her. The style of the book was too unfamiliar, and it took too long to compare the different species to what was pictured.

As the sun grew farther down on the horizon, the path began to leave the safety of the open field for a dense forest. The trees began to take on even stranger forms, their leaves strange shades of blue and their trunks thick and brown. The transition from somewhat familiar to completely foreign was accompanied by a chorus of unfamiliar animal cries. The rustling in the bushes that lined the path grew in frequency, and she saw an increasingly higher number of birds flitting from tree to tree.

She began to hum under her breath.

At first, she was just trying to push away some of her fear. She wasn't sure if the idea had any merit or not, but she had always felt that making noise was a decent way to keep animals away. The combination of that logic and the tune leaving her lips always made her feel better when she had to venture into the dark alone. But the more she hummed, the less alone she felt. The humming increased in volume and energy, and soon she was quietly singing the lyrics to whatever songs popped into her head. Time began to pass more quickly than before. Her heart still ached at the thought of Aspen being left in Rey, but, for the first time, she began to actually enjoy her journey.

The bits of blue sky she could see past the tree canopies began to turn into beautiful shades of red and orange.

Cass pulled off from the path. She didn't stray too far; if she needed to suddenly leave the site, she wanted to have it close by. The worst thing that could possibly would be for her to get lost in the unfamiliar and seemingly endless forest. Once a suitable spot had been determined, she set up the tent she had in her backpack and had a feast of Mountain House macaroni and cheese beside a roaring fire. She kept the mirror propped up against her backpack in the hopes that Aspen would message her using the mirror. But by the time she was pulling into her sleeping bag, the mirror still looked like a regular mirror.

She carefully slipped the mirror back into her pack. Aspen likely had been rushed from place to place by Mr. Ream's scientists throughout the day to make up for lost time and a lost locket. If she tried contacting her in the morning, she was sure she would get a response.

She fell asleep to a duet of her crackling fire and the distorted chirping of the strange bugs lurking in the darkness.

xXx

The council droned on in the background as she held back another yawn. She should have never started reading that book last night; she had been unable to put it down until the early hours of the morning, and the entire day had been spent in a groggy haze. She would catch up on sleep after this meeting, she promised himself. She had responsibilities, and she couldn't fulfill them when she was like this.

She fiddled with her necklace, her gaze traveling from those seated around the table to the nearby window. Night had long since fallen. The dark sky and endless array of stars provided the perfect backdrop to the rows of stone houses. It was in moments like this where she wished she had been gifted with her father's magic and not her mother's. The scenery could have been perfectly captured with just the right spell, but all she could do was marvel at the beauty of a scene she had seen thousands of times before.

Something moved out of the corner of her eye.

She rose from his seat, the room falling quiet as she approached the window. A brilliant streak of light burst across the sky. Its purple tint conjured memories of the stories that her father had told her when she was a child; it was the same color as the streak he had seen on the night he had met his future wife. 

Shooting stars were not meant to be her responsibility. They never had been, but neither had they been her father's. She bid the council goodbye, threw on her cloak and rushed out into the night. The streets were rarely occupied during this time of night, but she had to push through a growing crowd of people. None questioned the meaning of such a sight; all were far too busy scanning the skies for more. Shooting stars rarely happened on their own. Yet as she cut through the crowds, ran through the castle's gardens and dove into the darkness of the surrounding forest, the only lights above were the moon and the motionless stars.

She came to a stop when she saw the scorched trees. 

A figure sat, huddled, among a circle of fallen branches and burnt grass. Their back was turned to her, but the wings that were wrapped around their body identified them as what they truly were.

“Hello,” she said, a small smile dancing across her lips.

The fallen turned to look at her with violet eyes.

“Welcome to Telorum.”