Witch Hunt (Excerpt #2) She walked through the moonlit forest with Basilisk by her side. They both kept their wits about them. Midnight wasn't the hour to go unprepared into the woods. All the luminescent mushrooms and moss reminded her of days long passed, days when she was new to this strange world, before she'd borne the wings that she now wore with spiteful pride. Had it really been so long? Three long years? No, surely it was a dream, it was all a dream. So long as she told herself that, there was no reason to be scared or regretful. 'Boom, boom, boom,' went the guns of the distant caravan. Maybe they'd wake her up from this place. Maybe she'd find herself in her bed, her wings gone and her body unscarred- like Dorothy coming back from Oz. "And you weren't there! And you weren't there," she'd say. "Only I was there. None of you were Ever there. . ." The bitter taste in her mouth took her from her thoughts. She could smell violent unrest blowing in on the wind. Risking a glance over at Basilisk, Leah noticed a nervousness in the way she held her gun. "I am alive," Leah whispered to herself, grasping her necklace with her open hand. She repeated those three words over and over, her voice so soft that Basilisk only noticed the movement of her lips. Distant thunder masked the sound of footfalls for moments at a time. Storms were coming, and the Moonlit Witch was in its eye. Both travelers looked skyward, as though expecting to see lightning come next. That was all thunder was, a spiteful reminder of the sight they'd missed out on. Neither of them took it too hard, there was more lightning yet to come, whether by their doing or the storm clouds'. (This one is disconnected from the first by several pages, so it is not a direct continuation. Enjoy anyways!)