1. Night Sky #2
“Keep very quiet,” the girl leaned down and whispered into Flora’s ear, “and you’ll be just fine.” She pulled Flora along after the boy as he wove through the trees. “Noec’s very good at navigating, even in a dark place like this. Don’t worry, we’ve got you.”
After a few minutes, the uncertain ground became more solid beneath their feet. Noec, it seemed, had found a path. Suddenly, they heard a serrated shriek, like steel raking across stone. Flora gasped as the sound, much closer than the last, raced through the air in their direction.
Aonia threw her hand over Flora’s mouth, begging nervously, “Shh! Shh!” They held perfectly still as the screech seemingly passed overhead.
“I think we’re good,” the boy whispered once the sound was long gone, rushing back to the girls. “You’re both okay?”
“What... What is that noise?” Flora stuttered, and the older children shared an uneasy glance.
“Don’t worry about that now,” the boy assured her with a pat on the shoulder, though he scanned the woods behind her as he did. “Keep quiet, and there will be nothing to be afraid of.” With a warm smile, he added, “We’re almost there. Promise.”
The children hurried along, ignoring the strange calls that echoed every so often. It was a comfort, though, that each frenzied screech sounded more like the pangs of a distant memory.
Their steps continued on into the shadows, but no place so dark and so dead had ever looked so alive.
Charming flowers lit the eerie world, clinging to the trees, and coiling up their trunks.
Their layered petals curled back, glowing brightly from the center like fireflies.
They painted ghostly shadows of plants and trees against the blanket of leaves that hung seemingly miles above.
These little ghoulish lights were their only guidance in a place so sunless and somber.
The dense foliage that encased the forest gradually thinned, and more and more brief flames of sunlight broke through the trees.
The muggy air tasted fresher with each breath, and the cold began to lessen.
What had appeared so obviously to be a night as black as obsidian soon gave way to an open clearing, beaming with early morning light.
Flora rubbed her eyes with her fists. As the sting of daylight faded, she flashed a huge grin.
Finally, Flora understood the white noise she had been hearing in the distance.
It was the soft roar of a waterfall. Just ahead of them, a babbling spring foamed and swirled.
From a wide ledge above, the clearest water tumbled down, shattering into mist and foam as it struck the pool below.
Like the soapy iridescence of a bubble, hints of color shimmered in each ripple as the water was whisked off into the woodlands.
Trees still loomed, but with delicate green leaves rather than the monstrous black leaves of the haunted forest.
“Pretty,” Flora gaped at the colorful new landscape.
“He sure thinks so,” Aonia jested, rolling her eyes until their gaze landed on Noec. “I’ll find him here almost every day. Sits and broods for hours like it’s his job.”
“Nia… ” Noec muttered, shifting nervously and crossing his arms.
Aonia leaned toward Flora and whispered, “Probably just trying to get out of chores, though.”
Noec huffed and glared back, both girls muffling their giggles.
He avoided Flora’s curious eyes and let out a sigh before sinking into the white sand at the shore of the spring.
A subtle grin crept across his face as he looked on.
He was probably a grade or two older than her, Flora thought. Maybe nine—same as her brother.
All around, dark boulders sparkled with crystals. The glistening monuments lined the opposite side of the spring and poked out of the water in odd places.
For just a moment, Flora allowed herself to peer back at the path they had followed.
The vibrant sunlight steeply contrasted with the infinite blackness that swallowed the trail.
Even here, she was too close for comfort.
Once more, she felt compelled to run for as far as her knobby legs could carry her.
But, the other children did seem to feel safer.
Aonia’s voice no longer wavered when she spoke, and Noec wasn’t nearly as threatening as he had first appeared.
The warm reflection of the sun glistened welcomingly in the spring, and small blue fish squirmed just beneath the water’s surface.
Flora glanced down at their reflections.
Noec caught her gaze in the water, but immediately broke it.
It made her feel awkward, almost embarrassed for having eyes.
“What’s a Heron?” she asked after a moment. A bird or a fish? One of those, probably.
Noec scrunched his brows, letting the dazzling water fall through his hand. His lightly speckled skin was crisped by the sunlight. “Heron’s my uncle.”
No, definitely a fish.
Flora plopped down next to the boy and held her knees to her chest. The sand felt soft, like butter. “Where are we?” She looked at the gentle froth of water ahead, a growing quiver in her voice.
“This is Lunara’s Spring,” Noec replied, gesturing toward the waterfall, adorned with vines of glassy lilies, their glow now feeble in the presence of the rising sun. “This water comes from Night Sky, then flows out and through my village.”
Unsatisfied, Flora scrunched her bushy hair against her head. “And everything else?”
“I don’t understand..." he said, smiling back in an odd, cautious way.
She was unsure of her next move. Most of her dreams didn’t follow the same story line for this long. This one must be a record, she thought. She wondered what it would take for this dream to skip to the next channel. She was bored, and bored usually did the trick.
Flora perked up with excitement. Her brother, Davy, had told her about this thing called “lucid dreaming”, which was when you could basically go into “god mode” in your dream if you figured out that you were dreaming.
You could fly, you could create, and allegedly, you could ride dinosaurs without getting eaten alive.
She looked up.
Rain hot dogs, she thought.
Nothing happened. Flora grumbled. Slowly, she looked at the scrawny boy with the wavy blonde hair. She grinned.
Turn him into a cat.
Noec blinked, growing increasingly uncomfortable as she stared at him.
Flora groaned. Still, she couldn’t access the powers of her imagination, and there was no remote to change the channel. Unsure of what to do with this particular lapse in her own creativity, Flora tapped her teeth together and wondered what her parents would advise her to do in the real world.
“Hm,” she murmured thoughtfully. “My mom says I’m supposed to call the police if I’m in danger. Like, if strangers offer me candy. Or drugs.”
Noec and Aonia exchanged a puzzled glance.
“What?” Aonia questioned.
Noec tilted his head. “I think she really doesn’t like candy.”
Flora shook her head and tried again, “Can I call the police?”
“The… what?”
“I think... it’s... uh... whatever the number is for 911,” she continued, the composure in her voice beginning to unravel with frustration.
A familiar shrill screech called through the trees far off in the distance.
“I need to call the police!” she demanded, her voice breaking. The boy froze for a moment, then looked down, beginning to play with the fraying thread of his pant legs.
“Well, I don’t think they’ll hear you like that,” Aonia said pointedly.
Flora’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry,” she said quietly, tilting her head back to rest on the sandy grass beneath her. The gentle sun was like a warm blanket. “Mom says I could be better at the way I say things.”
Mostly still, Noec looked nervously at the girl. He took a long breath. “It’s okay. What are the police?” he asked calmly. “And how do you know they’d hear you if you called for them?”
“Umm... I don’t think…” She paused thoughtfully. “I just thought they could help me get home. They’re like–”
“Oh. Ohh. We can get you home.” Aonia scrunched her face in thought and squatted next to Flora, careful to hold the delicate fabric of her skirt away from the ground.
“No trouble at all. Where are you from? Asilia’s about an hour walk.
But it’s a nice walk, like with trees and rocks along the road.
I make the journey pretty often, actually.
” She waved toward the winding road that vanished down into the wooded valley.
At the crest of a hill beyond, the path reemerged from the valley, stretching through fields and past clusters of charming huts.
Finally, the shrinking ribbon of the path ended at the base of a shimmering white citadel.
“No. Well, I…”
“Zevur is manageable, too, for my father I suppose. You’re lucky you ran into me,” Aonia said, pointing a thumb back at herself proudly.
Flora raised an eyebrow. “Thanks, but... None of those places, actually. I guess somewhere super far away. But if one of you has a pho–”
“Oooh this is a good one!” Nia announced, giddy with excitement as she bent over and delicately brushed off a black pebble. It had a pretty arrangement of quartz-like crystals bursting from one half. “Looks like sugar candy!”
“Nia, no!” Noec scolded. “She doesn’t like candy!”
“But… it’s not! Doesn’t taste nearly as good as it looks.” She paused, then added nervously, “I mean... not that I’d know. I’m lady-like.” She straightened her shoulders.
Noec chuckled to himself, finally locking eyes with Flora. “I should take you to the village. Someone there will be able to help you,” he said, revealing a toothy grin. “At least you’ll have a place to stay that’s not just dark, spooky woods.”
“Hurry! They are probably wondering where you are about now,” said Nia as she pointed at the sun.
Joylessly, Noec questioned, “Are you not coming with us?”