the farm

This looks like it could have been someone's home only a few weeks ago. Plentiful plants wait unharvested on the vine, only just beginning to rot. Laundry left out to dry is now scattered on the lawn, and the sound of a running stream that is only just beginning to dry out leaves a faint, trickling ghost in my ears. 

Rav closes his eyes and walks into the decaying field. "Hm." He's thinking. Pondering. I wonder, can he sense anything with his magic?

As we walk through the property, I feel something - a subtle shift in the air. Like we're not alone. I glance at Kieran, but he seems oblivious, focused on the farmhouse ahead.

"I'll take a look inside the house," I offer. Rav nods and shoos me along.

As I try the front door, it's unlocked. It swings open, the door light, slamming into the wall as the wind carries it. I close the door behind me to block out the blustery wind and stand in the foyer of someone's abandoned home. My hand lightly traces the wall where the doorknob had slammed. There's a big hole there. This wasn't the first time that door's been smashed like that.

I step over a small towel into a living room area. There are toys for a small child strewn about everywhere, and a knitting station complete with a rocking chair in the corner. This all feels terrifyingly...normal. Not like something from a horror novel.

I walk through the dining room, looking at the trinket display in a glass cabinet, when one catches my eye. In the sea of fine dinnerware, there's a small little thing made of wood and wrapped in vines. Almost like a doll - albeit one with a big head. Staring at the thing, it's a little creepy. There's no way it could have anything to do with the famine...could it?

Just as the thought crosses my mind, I hear a thunk coming from upstairs. I catch my breath in my throat and grow completely still. Was there something else in the house with me?

I finish looking around the first floor quickly - it doesn't seem like there's anything I missed, and cautiously place my foot on the first step. It creaks loudly. So much for the element of surprise. Each step up I take seems to creak louder and louder. I think even a dead body in the basement would be roused by how loudly I take these stairs.

When I reach the top of the stairs, I exhale sharply. I was holding my breath that whole time, trying to be quiet. All the good that did. Still, I don't hear anything else up here. Was it just my imagination?

I turn down the left side of the hallway first, because there's only one door. I swing it open and see I've found the primary bedroom. It looks perfectly clean and maintained - except for the bed. The sheets are ruffled up in a ball and spotted with blood. What in the world...

I walk back to the other half of the floor. There's a few rooms up here. I swing the door open, my heart skipping a beat as I do. A bathroom It's just a bathroom.

Then a bedroom. I check the other side. Another bedroom. 

One door left. I eye it with suspicion. If anything's up here, it's in there. I don't bother getting my sword out. The hallway is too tight to swing it around in here. I'm ready to use magic if I need to. Granted, this old wooden house is probably the worst place for me to use magic...

I throw the door open. Adrenaline gushing through my veins. My eyes rapidly scan the room. It's gotta be in here. Somewhere. Anywhere.

Nothing. Maybe it was all in my head.

I walk down the stairs, confident I've searched the whole house - these two floors, anyway. As I step down to the first floor, I see Kieran peering down into the basement. 

"Empty down there," he says, shrugging. "You find anything?"

"I thought I heard something before. Might have just been my imagination."

Kieran narrows his eyes but doesn't say anything. I glance back over to the dining room before we step outside the house. I can't say for sure, but there is something creepy about that doll I saw, and the dread clings to me.

We step outside and walk toward Rav. Seems like he's done with whatever he was doing too.

"I can fix it," Rav says confidently as we meet him. Kieran is as dumbfounded as me. 

"You figured it out already?" Kieran beams. "That's incredible!"

Rav smirks. "Well, no, I haven't figured it out. But! It's definitely a magical curse, and I can read the output levels. Whoever cast this spell is a weakling compared to me! Might be a tough match for you though, August."

"Is any of that...real?" Kieran wonders.

Rav clacks his fan open and covers his mouth. "Mostly." Bree lands on the ground behind him as he begins to crack open his theory. "This is just a point on a web," he muses. "I can sense energy in other places just like this one. But for a web to be made, there must be a spinner. It's...north. Northwest. And high. He looks into the distance. Even in the spotty forest, we can see a mountain range freshly dusted with snow in the distance. "The caster is up there, somewhere. I'm certain."

Bree stares at where he's pointing. "My family lives on that mountain."

Rav spits on the ground and cracks his knuckles. "Would you three mind deeply if I left you behind for now? I'm going to track this magic, but I can do it much faster alone." He does a flip and summons a cloud underneath him. He's ready to zoom. 

Bree looks to Rav. "If you mean to ask me to look after the boys, then fine. I will escort them to my tribe. Do be in touch."

"Mmm, if I need anything, I'll use that pop pop pop spell. You know the one." He winks. "That'll be my signal!"

On that note, his cloud swirls with an unexpected downburst of wind, and he's launched into the air. I can't even see where he is. The fact that he can travel that fast but still deigned to walk here with us is humbling.

Bree puts her feathertips on her hips. "Can you two keep a secret?" she says flatly, looking to the sky. It's not often I'm around her without Rav. Does she have something to say that she's not willing to say in front of Rav?

"Rav is amazing. Even with wings like mine, I could never catch up to him."

There's a melancholy in her voice. A sad, songlike quality to the way she speaks. "It's why I've always rejected his advances. I would only slow him down."

"If you love him, you should tell him," I say. "You're better for him than some girls at a club."

Bree looks wistfully skyward. "He's not thinking about the club girls when he rushes headfirst into danger. A real relationship would cause him to make rash decisions. Unfocus him. I've seen it before, all too clearly."

There's a somber note in her voice. Did something happen with Rav? Did he have someone romantic in his life before Bree?

Bree's wings twitch, her feathers ruffling like she's ready to bolt. Her gaze snaps to the trees, startled by the sound of crunching twigs in the forest. I turn to where she's alerted, and I see someone standing there. But they're not alone. From out of the trees, two others. One with a sword, one with a bow, and one with a staff. That one with the staff must be a magic user of some kind. They also seem to be the leader of this little outfit. 

These people don't look 'Hungry', but they do look like they have a bone to pick. I stretch out my back and plant my feet into the ground. Alright. I'm recovered from the Heena attack earlier - I'm ready to roll.