Luka skystorm's Arc

Chapter 4 of 9

The falcon dropped through a break in the trees and landed in a wide clearing. Luka slid low in the saddle, his cape hanging over the space where his feet should be. Jaxon drifted down beside him and folded his small paws under his hood. "Someone here shares our curse," the cat said. "Their story will prove I'm not lying." But the clearing looked empty. Luka saw only grass and one narrow trail leading away. "Then where is this survivor?" he asked. Jaxon's ears flattened. He had no answer. Luka slumped. Jaxon's word was all he had, and words were not proof. He needed to hear another victim describe the same night, the same green light, the same theft of limbs. Without that, he could not trust the path back to the mansion. "You told me to come here," Luka said. "You gave me no name and no door to knock on." Jaxon looked away. "I felt the magic break others. I never met them. I only sensed where one might hide." A branch snapped at the edge of the trees. Luka spun the falcon toward the sound. Something large pushed through the brush, and he braced for the spiked gorilla's return. Instead a small elephant stepped into the clearing. Its neck stretched too long, curving like a question. It walked on three legs. The fourth was gone, taken clean at the shoulder, and the stump had healed smooth and pink. Luka stared at the missing leg. "You lost it," he said quietly. The little elephant stopped and studied him. Its trunk pointed at Luka's empty cape, then at Jaxon's hidden paws. "One night," it said. Its voice was young and thin. "A green fog came under the door. When it lifted, my leg was on the floor and I could not feel it." The calf's eyes filled. "The others said I dreamed it. No one believed me." Luka's chest tightened. He had lived that same silence for years. "I believe you," he said. "The same fog took my feet. And his paws." He nodded at Jaxon. The calf's trunk trembled. "Then it wasn't only me." Jaxon drifted closer, his green eyes soft. "Where did the fog come from?" The calf lifted its trunk toward the woods, in the direction of the mansion. "The big house. I was penned on its grounds that night." The answer landed hard. Three victims. One night. One house. Luka had his proof at last, spoken by a stranger who could not have known the pattern. Jaxon had told the truth. "Now I know where to go," Luka said. He gripped the saddle straps. The calf stepped back into the trees, still standing on three legs it did not choose. Luka turned the falcon toward the mansion. The curse was real, shared, and it had a home. He meant to burn it out.