Page 25 of Lost Starlight
“Yes, Gwen is gone.”
“I still think that maybe she—”
“She did not leave by choice; she was stolen, William!” I shouted as terror raced through me. I needed to protect her, save her, find her. The desire burned urgently within me. Stronger than I had ever felt it before, my curse pulsed under my skin. Not for adventure as it used to–but for Gwen. I had to find her, my entire being could not exist without her.
“Okay, yes, yes.” He turned to the crew and started speaking, and I made my way to the royal cabin beside the captain’s quarters. I sat down on my bed and tucked one of Gwen’s books to my chest, clutching it just as she always had whenever she was nervous or startled.
This is all my fault,I told myself.
She had never showed up to read to me a few days earlier. Her family had no idea where she had gone. I begged themto let me search her bedroom, and that’s when I discovered where she was. There, on her bed, was the book we had been reading only the day before.
I opened it, fingered to the page we had left off with, and traced the script, imagining her voice, reading. It had been all my fault. I had been so casual about the pixies, and she had been worried about the warning in the book. I would have cursed myself if it were in my power to do so at that moment.
“I will find you, Lady Gwendolyn Darling. No matter what,” I whispered.
Present Day
I awoke with a start, the wind from my open window salty and cool upon my sweaty skin. I had dreamed of that day when I had realized that Gwen was gone—stolen by pixies. The fear I had, knowing she was taken because of me, raced through my blood.
Gwen is here in Walden. I saved her, I told myself as I placed a hand over my heart. That would never happen again. William and I had traveled the seas, rescued mylong-lost brother, and then found Gwendolyn. We had also found the many orphaned children, whom the pixies had stolen, and they had been placed in happy homes. I wished that Pixie Isle could have been removed from my mind forever, that it could really exist only in my past. And while, yes, I had saved her, that was not the end of the story. Saving her came at a price, one I happily paid and would do so again, but it complicated things, and meant, unfortunately, that Pixie Isle and those blasted pixies were not just in my past, but would be a part of my future as well.
I got out of bed, needing to pace a bit and get the anxious energy out of me, or I would never be able to sleep. After a half hour of pacing, my heart calmed down, and I could breathe better. I walked over to the large window in my room and watched the moon and the twinkling of the stars. All I wanted was to remain in Walden and marry Gwen.
When will the pixies come?They said they would collect their payment, but it had been a full month—a full month of living a life, which I did not wish to ever be separated from, but I knew my time was clicking away as quickly as the second hand on a clock. I ran my fingers over my damp face. My hair was longer than I usually kept it, the wavy locks falling into my eyes. I moved them away and gazed out over the ocean. The reflection of the moon on the sea mesmerized me, and I was not able to look away.The countless stars that dotted the sky reminded me of Pixie Isle–their fake stars–but I only needed Gwen; she wasmystarlight.
One Month Before Present Day
“Man overboard!” one of the crew members called.
We’d been circling near the Misted Sea for a week with no luck. I looked over the side of the ship to see a man floating on a small wooden plank below us. He looked to be in awful shape.
Before I could order the crew to pull him out, William shouted, “Pull him up!”
I was proud of him as I watched him take the lead on our quest to rescue Gwen.
Where is Gwen, if not here?I wondered.
There had to be a way past the mists that constantly had us turned around.
The crew pulled the man out and onto the deck ofthe ship.
“Who are you?” I asked, standing over him. Someone was shoving a water flask at him, and he greedily took it.
“The name is Sands. Thank you for saving me from that bloody sea.” Then, he passed out.
“Is it safe to keep him here?” William asked as I entered the captain’s quarters that evening to discuss our course of action.
“We need to get him talking soon. We won’t trust him fully, but it appears he has been through much. We will pass judgment after we speak with him.”
“Alright.”
“I did want to tell you that you are doing well as our captain.”
“Thank you, but we have not found your lady love yet.”
“Stop it. Is it not at all possible to have a friendship with a lady?”
“No—not with one so pretty,” William said, stroking the beard he had been working on while aboard the ship.
