Chapter Text
“Luna! Wait for me!” Noctis yelled. When they ran together, his short legs couldn’t keep up with her longer ones, slim and pale and shining in the weak autumn sunlight.
She laughed and spun around, her white skirt billowing around her like one of those white flowers she loved so much. “No, you should hurry up!” she called back and started running again.
Ravus, bringing up the rear, rolled his eyes and slunk after them. He was sixteen and had long since declared himself too old to play with his kid sister and her even younger friend, but Sylva had told him to look after them for the day while she had “adult talk” with Aulea and Regis. He seemed to be trying to tell them how much he disapproved of this chore with his whole body, from his slouched shoulders to his scowl to the way he dragged his feet.
Noctis rolled his eyes and started running again, straining to catch up to the white figure that darted through falling leaves. It wasn’t often his family came to Tenebrae to visit, and he wanted to spend as much time with Luna as he could for the precious few days before his parents dragged him back to Lucis.
If she would stop running away!
The ground was damp from rain that morning, and Noctis slipped on wet leaves that skidded under his foot. His feet flew out from under him, and then he was tumbling down a grassy hill. He tucked his arms against him. Instinct told him not to fight gravity.
Behind him, he heard Ravus shout, but it seemed very far away through the wind rushing in his ears and the impact of his own body hitting the earth over and over.
He finally rolled to a stop, covered in dirt and leaves with little bits of sticks in his hair. For a moment he didn’t move, listening to the rhythmic beat that he thought was his heart until two concerned faces appeared above him. He realized that what he’d heard was Luna and Ravus’ running feet.
“Oh, Noctis, are you all right?” Luna knelt beside him, her blue eyes full of concern and apology. “I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault.”
“No it isn’t,” Noctis said, refusing to let her take even perfunctory blame for his clumsiness. “I slipped.”
She started to pull him up by his shoulder but recoiled when he gasped in pain and cringed away. “You’re hurt?” she asked as he groaned. His back spasmed with pain.
“I’m fine,” he tried to assure her, but now Ravus was crouching down beside him with a concerned frown on his stupid, sulky face.
“Where does it hurt?” Ravus asked, voice crisp. He always tried to act like he was older than sixteen. It was obnoxious.
Ravus began to pat at Noctis’ shoulders and arms. Noctis pushed his hands away impatiently. “My arms are fine. It’s my back.”
“Can you sit up?”
Noctis tried, he really did, both to ease the worry that pinched Luna’s face and to show Ravus that he did not need help. But as soon as his spine curved, pain exploded in his back. He gasped and flopped back on the grass. He resolved not to try moving again. It hurt too much.
“We should get you to my mother,” Ravus said. With no further warning, he picked Noctis up like he was small and insignificant. Noctis would have complained if he weren’t so busy cringing. It really hurt!
Luna’s hand slipped into his and gave a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll get you home to rest, and I’m sure you’ll feel better soon,” she said, but there was worry in her eyes still.
“Sure,” Noctis said.
Ravus was eyeing the hill, which was too steep to comfortably climb while carrying an eight-year-old. “Maybe there’s another way up?” Luna suggested, her hand still in Noctis’.
“Maybe,” Ravus said. He was still frowning. “Perhaps-”
“Do you need help?”
The trio turned (not that Noctis had much choice in the matter). A pair of blond kids about Noctis’ age were standing just inside a denser line of trees. The shorter of the two had a round, friendly face full of freckles and chubby arms that poked out from under the strange robe thing he and the other one were wearing. Noctis didn’t much like the look of the other kid. There was a smug superiority in his face that reminded Noctis unpleasantly of Ravus, if Ravus had been transformed into an eight-year-old with attitude issues instead of a sixteen-year-old.
“And who are you?” Ravus asked, and yes, there was that pedantic edge Noctis hated so much.
The taller kid’s smug smile dissolved into a frown at Ravus’ tone. “Loqi,” he said shortly, “and this here is my brother, Prompto.” He laid a hand on the chubby kid’s shoulder.
Prompto smiled shyly.
“You don’t look alike,” Noctis said, because it was true. Other than a superficial similarity of being pale-skinned, blond, and blue-eyed, they had no other resemblance. That shallow description applied to Luna as well.
Loqi’s sour look became even more pronounced. “Not all siblings look identical,” he snapped.
“We’re adopted siblings,” Prompto explained. Loqi shot him a glare, and Prompto shrugged in confusion. “Well, we are.”
“But that’s none of their business!” Loqi insisted. “We’re brothers whether we’re adopted or look alike or whatever.”
“Of course,” Luna said, trying to smooth over the argument. “I’m Lunafreya. This is my brother Ravus and our friend Noctis.”
Ravus made a face at being described as Noctis’ friend, which was offensive, to be honest. Noctis had been perfectly nice to him except for that time yesterday when he had put a beetle in Ravus’ shoe, but the beetle escaped before Ravus even put his shoe on, so it’s not like that counted.
Loqi recovered his composure and was soon smiling again. “It looks like Noctis is hurt. My family lives nearby, if you want to come rest awhile,” he said.
Prompto shot Loqi a quick glance, and Loqi elbowed him. “Our father won’t mind,” Loqi insisted.
Ravus was still in his natural state. That is, wearing a frown. He glanced down at Noctis, then at the hill that he probably could climb up, but which was steep. He might jostle Noctis and make the injury worse. His lips parted in an almost imperceptible sigh. “All right,” he said. “Lead the way.”
“Of course. This way.” It was Loqi who spoke, but both boys turned and followed a narrow animal trail through the trees. There was only enough room to walk single file, so Luna had to let go of Noctis' hand. She chose to walk in front of Ravus and Noctis, and she tried to make conversation with Prompto.
“Hello. Prompto, was it?” she asked, giving him her friendly smile.
“Y-Yeah.”
“I’m Luna. How old are you?”
“Eight.”
“How old are you?” Loqi asked from the head of the line.
“Twelve,” Luna replied.
“Hm,” Loqi said thoughtfully. “That’s probably young enough, right, Prompto?”
“Young enough for what?” Ravus asked, his eyebrows pinching together.
“Young enough to hang out with us. But you’re too old.” Loqi made a face back at Ravus, who glared at him but continued to follow.
“I am not leaving my sister,” Ravus said.
Loqi snorted. “Of course not. Otherwise, who would carry the little guy?” He jerked his chin at Noctis, who resented being referred to as ‘little’. “How old is he, anyway?” Loqi smirked like he knew Noct was seething inside.
Noctis glared and refused to answer. Unfortunately, Luna jumped in to answer for him, at ease despite Loqi’s subtle goading. “He’s eight as well,” she said.
“Luna!” Noct protested, but she just looked over her shoulder at him and shrugged. There was no chance to chastise her further, because the trees opened up. Before them was a little cottage set back from the trees with smoke drifting up from a chimney like in a fairy tale, filling the air with the pleasant scent of wood smoke. There was a line of washing from which hung the gaudiest clothes Noctis had ever seen. There were a number of strange robes like the ones Loqi and Prompto wore, but bigger and in a hodge-podge of colours. The owner of the gaudy clothes was there as well, wearing a robe and multiple mismatched scarves as he picked up an equally ugly patterned shirt to hang on the line.
Both boys ran to the man, whose hair was the oddest shade of red-brown. “Uncle Ardyn!” they cried as they approached. But Ravus stopped dead. Noctis glanced up at him. Ravus was usually pale, but now his face was paper white. His eyes narrowed into slits at the homey scene before them. “Lunafreya, come here. We’re leaving,” he said in a clipped voice. He was already backing down the path.
Luna stopped and turned, her hands clasped behind her and a puzzled expression on her face. “What is it?” she asked, but she obeyed, skipping back to Ravus and peering up at him with worried blue eyes. “I thought we were going to let Noctis rest here?”
“I changed my mind. Better to take him home to Mother. She’ll be able to help him better than these . . . people.” The way Ravus said ‘people’ implied that he thought that they were anything but, which confused Noctis because they seemed normal enough, even if Loqi was a twit.
“But-” Luna began.
“Now, Lunafreya.”
That tone meant serious business, so Luna reluctantly fell in line.
Pain spasmed in his back when Ravus whirled back down the path. He wanted to tell Ravus to take it easy, but Ravus had gone rigid. It took a second for Noctis to understand through his pain-haze: Ravus was afraid.
He managed to catch a glimpse back into the clearing as Ravus darted back into the trees, Luna hot on his heels. Loqi was glaring after them, angry that they had decided not to come in after all, but Prompto looked strangely relieved. The red-haired man was watching with amusement, standing with his hands on his hips next to the line of dripping washing. An old man with a sour face came out of the cottage an instant before the trees cut them from view.
Ravus had apparently decided that the best course of action was to go back to the steep hill Noctis had rolled down and slog back up it. Noctis did not enjoy this, especially since he had to wrap both arms around Ravus’ neck to keep from being dropped as Ravus would brace one arm on the ground for balance.
“Be gentle with him!” Luna protested when Ravus slipped and nearly landed on top of Noctis.
“I’m trying, Lunafreya,” he grumbled, but they soon reached the top of the hill.
Ravus seemed to relax when minutes passed and no one chased them. Luna caught up, panting, but didn’t seem too upset by Ravus’ sudden change of mind. She craned her neck up to check on Noct, noted that he was pale, and frowned with worry.
Noctis wanted to tell her that he was fine, but his back hurt too much. It was a relief to reach town and head straight for the Nox Fleuret household.
Sylva and Aulea stood up in alarm when Luna clattered through the door and held it open so that Ravus could follow with Noctis in his arms.
“Children! What happened?” Sylva asked, and there was a flurry of activity around Noctis as Ravus set him down on the couch and he and Luna explained about his tumble down the big hill.
It was kind of nice to be fussed over, except that Sylva insisted on removing his shirt. Once she had, she smeared a stinky cream all over his back.
Noctis’ nose crinkled, and Sylva tutted at him. “Perhaps it smells bad, but it will help.”
Then Noctis was bundled into pyjamas and his father carried him up to bed. To “rest.” It was still daytime!
Noctis sulked in one of the many guest bedrooms in Sylva’s big house, surrounded by a mountain of feather pillows. He was in too much pain to get up and play the way he wanted to. So he tried to get comfortable, even though it was stuffy in the room with the window closed.
He was bored. Bored, bored, bored! He wanted to play with Luna and couldn’t because he was stuck in bed.
Stupid hill. Stupid clumsy feet.
There was a soft tap on the door, and then Luna’s blonde head poked in. “Oh good, you are awake,” she said, slipping through the door with a book in one arm and an unlit lantern in the other. “I thought I could read to you for a bit,” she said, holding up the book for him to see.
It looked like one of the big history books her mom made her read for her lessons. Noct wasn’t much interested in them, but being with Luna was better by far than being alone, so he nodded eagerly.
“That’d be nice. Thanks,” Noctis said, and Luna smiled. She skipped over to sit with him on the bed, setting the lantern on the small side table. She tucked her feet next to her and angled the book so that Noctis could see the pictures as she read.
Noctis didn’t care much for dry old stories about the Astrals, but he was grateful for the company, so he didn’t tell her to stop. As the sun slipped slowly out of sight, Luna got up briefly to light the lantern before returning to his side to continue reading.
He must have fallen asleep, for it was full dark when he awoke. Luna was gone, and the lamp had burned down. The sharp pain in his back had faded to a dull ache, so Sylva’s medicine seemed to have worked.
Luna must have gone to her own bed when he fell asleep. Noctis closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of the crisp autumn breeze through the open window ruffling his hair. Had Luna opened it at some point after he dozed off? He was sure it had been closed earlier.
Only a few moments later, there was a sharp rap on the door. Noctis opened his eyes a beat before Ravus swung the door open and swept inside. There was enough light streaming through the window from the full moon for Noctis to see Ravus’ pale eyes sweep the room and his face pinch with worry.
“Lunafreya isn’t in here?” Ravus asked. He paced across the floor like he was going to check the wardrobe to see if his sister was inside.
Noct sat up. “No. I fell asleep. She was gone when I woke up.”
Ravus cursed, alarming Noctis. He slid his feet to the floor and stood up cautiously. His back twinged harder this time, but at least he could walk.
“She isn’t in her room?” Noctis asked.
“No.” Ravus was agitated, pacing back and forth like he wasn’t sure where to look next. “Nor in the kitchen, the library, the garden, or Mother’s room. Nor is she with the dogs.”
Noctis took a step forward and stubbed his toe on something. It was the book Luna had been reading to him. Why would she leave it on the floor? The night stand was right there. Luna was careful with her things. She would never leave a book open face-down on the floor. She said it damaged the spine.
He bent to pick the book up, and his back screamed. He gasped and straightened, leaving the book where it was. It would have to stay there. Bending over hurt too much.
He was about to ask Ravus another question when the wind direction changed. Outside, he could faintly hear someone singing. A man with a jolly tone. It was late enough that it could just be a drunk man heading home from the tavern, but the words were strange.
“Come little children
I’ll take thee away
Into a land of enchantment.”
Ravus heard it too. His head snapped up and his face twisted. “Damn it, the witches have her!” And he ran out, leaving Noctis standing in confusion.
Outside, the song continued.
“Come little children
The time’s come to play
Here in my garden of shadows.”
There was nothing to do but follow Ravus.
He followed the sound of a fist striking wood and found Ravus pounding on Sylva’s door. “Mother, wake up! The witches of the Izunia house have taken Lunafreya!” He didn’t wait for an answer before pushing past Noctis and charging down the stairs. The front door banged shut after him as he raced out into the night without even a lantern.
Noctis raced after him, not even pausing for shoes, afraid that a hesitation would mean losing Ravus. Ravus seemed to know where he was going, and Noctis did not.
Ravus was older and faster. Noctis had to sprint just to keep him in sight, his back protesting his every step and small stones, sticks, and pine needles pricking his bare feet. Finally, desperate, he called out, “Ravus! Wait!” But Ravus gave no sign that he heard.
Noctis finally realized where they were going when he slipped and skidded down the big hill he’d tumbled down earlier.
They were going to Loqi and Prompto’s house.
Now that he knew the destination, it didn’t matter so much if he lost sight of Ravus. Which was good, because he did as soon as Ravus entered the treeline.
“Follow, sweet children
I’ll show thee the way
Through all the pain and the sorrows.”
The singing grew louder. It made Noctis dizzy if he focused on the words, so he tuned it out. Something bad had happened to Luna, and he had to save her.
Hands grabbed him before he could go charging into the clearing where the little cottage sat. One hand slapped over his mouth to keep him from screaming while the other arm held him in a crushing grip. His eyes watered from the pain in his back. He struggled, ignoring the waves of pain. He had to get to Luna!
He could see her. Luna. She stood on the front step of the cottage. In her white dress, she glowed in the firelight emanating through the open door. Then the red-haired man with the smile that put Noctis on edge ushered her inside and the door slammed closed. The clearing went dark except for the light of the full moon.
“It’s me, Noctis!” Ravus hissed in his ear.
Noctis stopped squirming, and Ravus released him. When he turned, he could barely see Ravus’ outline in the dark of the trees.
“What’s going on?” Noctis couldn’t help but babble questions, but he kept his voice low out of fear of being heard. “How do you know they’re witches? What do they want with Luna?”
Ravus hushed him and peeked through the branches to make sure no one else was coming out of the cottage. When he was sure that the coast was clear, he crept through the trees circling the house.
“I’ve heard stories of the men who live here,” Ravus whispered as they worked their way through the trees around the side of the cottage. “Besithia and Ardyn, their names are. Ever since they moved here, now and again a child will go missing on Daemon’s Night. Disappeared from their beds in the night with no evidence of force, never to be seen again. Besithia and Ardyn never have visitors, and they don’t engage with the townspeople at all.”
“That doesn’t make them witches,” Noctis pointed out.
Ravus sent him an impatient look over his shoulder. “They moved here before even my mother was born,” Ravus said flatly. “Ardyn has always looked the same, according to Mother. But Besithia ages and grows younger again. It’s not normal.”
A chill went over Noctis that had nothing to do with the cold October air. “But what do they want with Luna?” he asked again, a quaver in his voice.
“I don’t know,” Ravus replied. “But I’m going to get her out. Wait here.” He left the trees and darted across the open ground, bent half-over to avoid being seen through the open window. He used the line of washing for cover and skirted around the small vegetable patch, coming to a stop underneath the window. He eased up to peek through, and Noctis could only guess what he saw.
Alone, Noctis shivered from fear and cold. His bare feet were almost numb. He was scared, because Ravus was scared, and because Ravus’ story had unnerved him. But Luna was his friend. He couldn’t just stand around while she was in danger, even if Sylva and his parents were probably on their way. He couldn’t count on that. And he couldn’t let Ravus take on two men by himself.
He gulped, took a deep breath, and crept across the open ground to Ravus. His heart pounded in his ears. He was certain that the cottage door would be flung open at any moment. He would be caught and stuck in a stew pot or whatever the witches did with the kids they kidnapped—what they planned to do to Luna.
Ravus jumped and scowled when Noctis appeared at his side but didn’t send him away. He shifted sideways to make room for Noctis. Noctis had to stretch up on his toes to see through the window.
The interior of the cottage looked cozy at first glance with throws in the garish fabrics that Ardyn seemed to prefer draped over chairs and couches. The more he looked, though, the more unusual items he noticed scattered about. On the table was a thick tome bound in green-dyed leather that was peeling from age. On the spine was a bulging eye, which Noctis assumed to be fake until the pupil whirled around to take in the room.
Noctis gasped, and Ravus’ hand clamped over his mouth again.
Along one wall was a floor-to-ceiling shelf lined with jars. Some of the jars glowed as though fire and lightning were trapped inside. Others held objects floating in liquid, but Noctis couldn’t make out what they were.
The fireplace was unused in favour of a fire pit that had been built in the centre of the room. A hole had been ripped in the ceiling to let out the smoke. On the mantel of the cold fireplace was a line of human skulls too small to belong to adults.
Noctis gulped.
A large cauldron hung from a rod over the roaring fire in the fire pit. Ardyn and Besithia were gathered around it, talking among themselves as they stared into its bubbling depths.
And there, sitting in a chair in a dim corner, was Luna.
She sat so still that she was easily overlooked and could have been mistaken for a life-sized doll. Her hands were folded in her lap, and she stared straight ahead with a vacant expression. All of the personality and vitality she’d had earlier in the day was gone. Its absence frightened Noctis even more than the row of skulls.
There was no question that Luna had been bewitched.
“Loqi!” Besithia barked so suddenly that Noctis jumped in Ravus’ hold.
Loqi slunk into the room from a doorway that Noctis presumed led to the bedrooms. “Yes, Father?” he asked.
Besithia did not look away from the contents of the cauldron. “Bring me my spellbook.”
“Ardyn is right there. Can’t he get your book for you?” Loqi whined.
Besithia looked up, and the look he sent Loqi was pure poison. “You dare talk back to me?” he demanded. “Where would you be if I hadn’t picked you out of the gutter? This spell is for your sake too, you ungrateful boy. Now, bring me my book before I lose my patience.”
Ardyn looked amused even as he patted Besithia on the shoulder. “Now, now, Verstael. There’s no need to be cross with the poor child,” he said with a honeyed charm. “And Loqi, I’ve already done my part. I brought the girl.”
Noctis suddenly realized that Ardyn’s voice was the one that had been singing earlier. He’d stopped once he had Luna in his clutches.
Sullen, Loqi slunk across the room to pick the heavy tome off the table. The eye stared up at him as he carried it the two feet to Besithia, who accepted it without a word of thanks.
“Do we really have to kill the girl?” Prompto’s anxious voice came from somewhere out of sight. “She seemed nice earlier.”
Ravus’ hand fell away from Noctis’ mouth, and he began to creep down the side of the house. Noctis followed, but he could still hear the witches talking through the window. His heart pounded. Kill Luna? They couldn't!
Besithia seemed like an ill-tempered old man to Noctis’ ears. “Yes, Prompto. As I explained earlier,” he said with exaggerated patience. “We need her life force to add to ours. Obviously, she cannot live without it. Once we take it, she will die.”
“Don’t look so sad, Prompto,” Loqi said. Ravus had found a back door and was easing it open. It creaked, but the witches didn’t seem to hear over the roar of the fire and their own chatter. “She’s just a human. We are infinitely superior to her.”
If Prompto replied, Noctis couldn’t hear it. He eased through the door after Ravus into a narrow mud room cluttered with boots and gardening tools, along with a washing tub. They picked their way through carefully, knowing that if they knocked something over, the witches would hear and it would be all over for them.
Noctis wondered if Ravus had a plan. They had to get Luna out fast.
They edged along the narrow hallway, backs pressed to the wall as there was no door between the hallway and the main room where the witches were. The only thing blocking them from view were stacks of books that hadn’t been moved in so long that spiders had coated them in cobwebs.
The problem with all the dust and cobwebs was that Noctis had the immediate urge to sneeze. He covered his face with his arm in an attempt to stifle it, but the witches fell silent.
“What was that?” Besithia demanded.
Heeled boots clicked across the floor and Ardyn’s voice came from somewhere very close. “Perhaps a little kitty seeking shelter from the cold?”
“N-No, it was just me,” Prompto said. “Sorry.”
Noctis wasn’t sure why Prompto felt the need to take the blame, but he was grateful as Ardyn’s heels clacked away. “Now, Besithia,” he drawled, sneezing sounds forgotten. “Can’t we get on with it? You must have read the spell a dozen times by now.”
“I don’t want to make a mistake. You remember what happened in Niflheim.”
Ardyn was dismissive. “Yes, but Iedolas was notorious for rushing things. We’re much smarter.”
Besithia grumbled for a moment more, then started barking out demands for ingredients.
“Stinger of a Reapertail.”
“Eye of Yellowtooth.”
“Three rainbow frogs, freshly slain.”
At each demand, light-footed steps darted across the floor. Noctis guessed that it was Loqi and Prompto being the go-fers for this task. All the action was centred on the other side of the room, so Ravus took a risk moving from the hallway to the bookshelf. After a beat to make sure no one was watching, Noctis followed.
“I said fur of Garulessa, not Garula! Pay attention, boy!” and the sound of a blow had Noctis flinching.
“Well what do we have it for if we never use it?” Loqi whined but darted out of reach before Besithia could strike him again.
Ravus motioned for Noctis to come over to him. Noctis obeyed, and Ravus lifted him up onto the loft. Noctis ducked down among boxes and bottles that looked like they hadn’t been opened for centuries and grimaced as he wiped a sticky cobweb on his shirt. He had a better view of the witches from up here, and he waited for Ravus to join him.
However, Ravus hissed. “You stay up there where it’s safe. Once I get Lunafreya, throw a bunch of jars down at the witches and then run home. You hear me? Run home.”
Noctis nodded, but Ravus was already slipping around the bookshelf. He was still hidden from sight by stacks of crates for now, since the witches appeared to be disgusting slobs, but it wouldn’t be long before he would have to break cover.
“A handful of ground Seadevil scales.”
“How big a handful?” Prompto asked.
“Just bring me the jar,” Besithia said impatiently. He took the large dusty jar from Prompto and tossed a generous handful of powder into the cauldron, which fizzed and frothed at the addition. The potion began to glow green, casting an eerie glow over Besithia’s eager face and Ardyn’s bored one.
Besithia nodded, a satisfied smile on his face. “Perfect,” he muttered. Then, louder. “Time for the final ingredient, ‘a piece of thine own tongue.’”
Prompto’s eyes rounded. “What?” he asked.
Besithia was already biting a chunk from the end of his tongue. He spat it into the cauldron and wiped blood from his mouth, stepping aside so that Ardyn could do the same. The potion glowed brighter.
“Come now, Loqi, it’s your turn,” Ardyn said.
Loqi stepped forward. It took him a couple tries to bite through the tip of his tongue, and he grimaced as he stepped away.
“Now Prompto.”
Prompto shuffled backwards. “Do I have to?” he asked. “I mean, it's already got tongue bits from the three of you.” He broke off as Ardyn draped an arm around his shoulders and steered him toward the cauldron. Although Prompto didn’t resist, he shrank away from Ardyn’s hold.
He stared into the contents of the cauldron, then glanced at Luna with a look of pain.
“It won’t work for you if it doesn’t have a piece of you,” Besithia growled. “If you can’t do it yourself, I’ll help you.” And he pulled a small, wicked-looking knife from his belt.
Prompto whimpered and tried to back away, but Ardyn blocked him from behind. Loqi rolled his eyes as Prompto squirmed and Besithia tried to grab hold of Prompto’s tongue.
“Don’t be a baby, Prompto. It barely hurts, and we’ll get to live an extra fifty or sixty years!” Loqi said. His eyes gleamed in a way that frightened Noctis, though he couldn’t have explained why.
Ardyn held Prompto while Besithia cut the tip off his tongue. Prompto went still as soon as the knife neared his skin, not wanting to risk a more severe injury by struggling.
“There, see?” Ardyn cooed once Prompto’s tongue bit was in the cauldron. He stroked Prompto’s face in a way that was probably meant to be soothing but was actually just creepy. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
From the look on Prompto’s face, Noctis guessed that it had been every bit as bad as it looked.
He had been so focused on the drama happening near the cauldron that he had forgotten to track Ravus. He glanced where Ravus had been, and his heart dropped as he realized that Ravus wasn’t there. He shuffled closer to the loft railing, scanning shadowy corners, but he couldn’t find Ravus.
“The potion is ready!” Besithia announced. “Now, we must feed it to the girl.”
He dragged the spoon that he’d been using to stir the potion out of the cauldron. It was enormous, pitted and blackened with years of use. He scooped up some of the glowing green potion and turned toward Luna.
Without thinking, Noctis stood up and screamed, “Don’t touch her!”
The reaction was almost comical. Besithia jolted, spilling glowing green potion all over the floor and the front of Luna’s dress. Ardyn whirled, his eyes flashing with a strange light that had Noctis taking a step back, his heart clenching in fear. Ardyn took a step in Noctis’ direction, but in his alarm, Loqi fell over and Ardyn had to skip to the side to avoid trodding on him.
The only person who didn’t seem surprised to see Noctis was Prompto. He tilted his face up to stare at Noctis with dismay in his blue eyes. He mouthed the word ‘run’, echoing Ravus’ order.
Noctis didn’t run.
At least, he didn’t run away.
Luna had not moved. Her eyes stared glassily at nothing, and she did not care that scalding hot potion was blistering her skin and staining her dress.
Ravus bolted from behind another bookshelf and shoved Ardyn. Ardyn yelled in surprise. His feet tangled with Loqi and he went down, crushing Loqi beneath him.
Noctis remembered that he was supposed to throw things as Ravus charged Besithia, yelling for Besithia to return Luna. Noctis picked up a jar, slippery from dust and sticky with cobwebs, and threw it. He was too weak to hit Besithia, but Ardyn had to duck to avoid being hit in the head.
A beam of green light had Noctis gasping and ducking. Ravus screamed and fell to the twisted floorboards. The green light was coming from Besithia’s hand. His face twisted in fury as he kept the spell aimed on Ravus, who writhed and screamed on the floor.
Noctis cowered against the railing. He hadn’t realized that witches could do anything like what Besithia was doing to Ravus. It was horrible. He had to make it stop.
His hands shook as he crawled between two crates for extra cover. He grabbed a heavy vase from one of them and heaved it onto the railing. His back muscles contracted in sudden pain, and he gasped and let go of the vase. It overbalanced and fell before he was ready, missing Ardyn and Loqi by mere inches.
Ardyn kicked Loqi out of the way and started for the wooden ladder that led to the loft. “I think I need to catch the little kitty that’s messing about,” he laughed. His eyes were shining again. Red, like a demon.
Noctis staggered upright and looked around wildly, but there was nowhere to run. Ardyn was on the ladder, and it was too high for him to jump from the loft to the floor. Maybe Ravus could have done it, but Noctis definitely couldn’t.
The screaming stopped. Rather than relief, Noctis’ heart froze in terror. Forgetting Ardyn, he scrambled over to the railing. Ravus was pale and still on the floor, but he was choking for air. Alive. Thank the Astrals.
A hand grabbed Noctis’ collar and wrenched him backward. He shrieked and clawed at Ardyn’s wrist. His fingertips grew sticky with blood, but Ardyn showed no sign of pain and did not let go.
“I found our little kitty,” Ardyn sang, hauling Noctis down the ladder and tossing him to the floor next to Ravus.
The impact sent pain spasming through Noctis’ back to his extremities. He gasped and froze, waiting for the pain to subside. Sweat dripped from his face from fear, exertion, and pain.
Next to him, Ravus tried to push onto all fours. Ardyn kicked him in the side. Ravus grunted and collapsed back to the floor, curling around his injured side.
“Now, where did we leave off?” Ardyn said, ignoring Ravus and Noctis now that they were subdued.
Besithia sent them a scathing look. “Humans,” he muttered in the same tone one might say vermin. He straightened his cloak and examined Luna, noting the burn blisters on her arms from the potion. “She has been damaged.”
“No matter. It’s a superficial injury, and her life force won’t have been affected,” Ardyn replied.
“Hmm.” Besithia grumbled for a moment, then righted the spoon and dipped it back into the potion. “Loqi, Prompto, make sure the humans don’t interfere.”
With a smirk, Loqi came over and planted his foot on Ravus’ back, preventing him from getting up. Shuffling steps circled around to Noctis. He glared up as Prompto crouched next to him.
He almost choked when Prompto shoved something gooey and sickly sweet into his mouth. “Eat this,” Prompto whispered out the side of his mouth. “It’ll help with your back.”
Noctis wanted to ask why he should trust Prompto, but his mouth was too full. So full that he couldn’t help swallowing some even as he tried to spit it out.
Prompto’s face was tense, his eyes full of apology. He kept glancing up at Ardyn with something like fear.
“Yes!” Besithia crowed. It was so sudden that Noctis flinched.
Noctis squirmed around on the floor until he could see Luna, and his heart dropped. She was glowing, and not from moonlight. She wasn’t sitting by a window. Instead, she seemed to be glowing from within. Then the glow rose into the air. It was almost like steam, but glittery. Its appearance seemed to please the witches except Prompto, which frightened Noctis. This was what the witches wanted to happen.
What the witches wanted to happen was supposed to kill Luna.
Noctis sat up, surprised when he was actually able to. His back hurt, but not as much as before. Prompto hadn’t been lying after all. He also didn’t alert the adults that Noctis was moving. It was Loqi who tried to intervene.
“Hey-” Loqi began, angry, but didn’t get another word out before Noctis launched himself at him.
He and Loqi tumbled to the hard floorboards in a jangle of limbs. Noctis flung punches blindly, hitting any part of Loqi that he could. He was aware that the adults were yelling, but he sank his teeth into Loqi’s arm.
Loqi screamed and grabbed a fistful of Noctis’ hair. It hurt like Noctis’ skin was being ripped off, but he didn’t let go. What was a little pain compared to Luna's life?
Another, bigger hand hauled him up by the back of his shirt, still clinging to Loqi with his teeth. He tasted blood in his mouth. The force of gravity dragged Loqi away from him and he was forced to let go, panting, coppery blood dripping down his chin. He didn’t know or care if the blood was Loqi’s or his own.
He struggled and kicked, trying to hit Ardyn and get free. His feet only connected with empty air, and Ardyn’s hand was too far back for him to claw at. “Let me go!” he said. Rage burned in his chest. How dare they try to hurt Luna! She was sweet and kind. She’d never hurt anyone in her life. Ravus was right—the witches were evil. He had to save Luna.
In the corner near Luna, Ravus was on his feet and grappling with Besithia. Besithia used the enormous spoon to block Ravus’ punches and prevent Ravus from getting close.
Ravus’ face twisted in fury and frustration. He snatched an open jar off the table, left there in Besithia’s eagerness, and flung it at Besithia. The air clouded with powdered Seadevil scale and soon everyone was coughing.
Noctis’ eyes burned and ran. He coughed and sneezed, swiping at his eyes with his hands to try and clear it.
There was the crash of breaking glass. Ravus was throwing more jars. Anything he could reach. Desperation had overcome conscious thought and all he could think about was getting Luna out.
Besithia was forced backwards, protecting his face with his loose sleeve and brandishing the spoon like a club.
Ardyn spun, cursed. “Loqi! Dratted brat, where are you?” he demanded.
Noctis could see Loqi and Prompto cowering under a table, but neither one crawled out to help the witches or Noctis.
With another oath, Ardyn turned back to Besithia. Then his free hand began to glow green as malevolent light gathered there.
Remembering what had happened earlier, Noctis screamed, “Ravus, look out!”
Ravus didn’t even turn from clawing at Besithia’s face. The spell struck him right between the shoulder blades. He was flung forward into Besithia, knocking the old witch back into the wall. Ravus slid limply to the floor and didn’t move.
Terror turned Noctis’ blood to ice and all the fight left him. Ravus’ eyes were wide and staring. Noctis had never seen a dead person before. Both sets of his grandparents had died before he was born. But he instinctively knew that Ravus was dead. His eyes had gone as glassy as Luna’s, but there was no spark of life in them like there was in hers.
All of a sudden, he was alone.
Part of him knew then that he would die too. Noctis couldn’t fight two adults on his own. There was no hope of him saving Luna now. He and Luna would join Ravus soon.
Panting, Besithia straightened. He gave Ravus’ body a kick. “Nuisance,” he cursed.
Noctis was furious. To treat Ravus like that-!
But no matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t get free.
“Well, he’s taken care of,” Besithia said. He glanced at Luna and looked pleased. “And not all of the girl’s life force has escaped yet. Get rid of the human boy and partake, Ardyn.”
“Naturally. It would seem a shame to merely kill the boy after all the trouble he’s caused,” Ardyn mused. He dropped Noctis to the floor. This time the blood in his mouth was definitely his own: he bit his lip on impact. “I keep calling him ‘little kitty’. Might as well make it official, eh?” His tone changed. “Twist the bones and bend the back. Trim him of his baby fat. Give him fur as black as black!”
There was green light building in the palm of his hand. Noctis’ body braced. This was it. 'Sorry, Luna,' he thought. And then the light hit him.
The pain was so excruciating that he couldn’t even scream. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His bones popped and shattered under his skin. He was dimly aware of Prompto shouting for Ardyn to stop, but his voice cut in and out through the waves of pain.
Through eyes squeezed half shut and vision blurred by tears, Ardyn looked very big. Was Ardyn growing?
Noctis tried to crawl backward across the floor, but his legs tangled together. He flopped over on his side, limp with exhaustion. His muscles twitched with the after effects of pain, but most of it had passed, thank the Astrals.
His panting breaths told him that he wasn’t dead. Why wasn’t he dead?
Ardyn turned away from him and walked up to Luna. “Now that we’ve taken care of the interference . . . ”
He, Besithia, and Loqi circled Luna. Loqi’s face was bright with eagerness and excitement, and Noctis hated him.
‘Leave her alone!’ he wanted to scream, but all that came out was a weak, “Meow.”
The witches began to slurp up Luna’s life force like soup. Noctis tried to get up, to make a last effort to stop them, but he couldn’t.
Prompto knelt next to him. “Shhhh,” he whispered when Noctis made a weak attempt to bite him. Prompto was huge! Had Noctis been shrunk?
Prompto scooped Noctis into his arms and began to back away from his family, who were too preoccupied with Luna to notice. Luna, whose skin was growing saggy and grey. Once glossy and golden, her hair was now colourless and the texture of straw.
Noctis hadn’t saved her.
They reached the door without the witches noticing. Prompto held Noctis in one arm and reached behind him to open the door. It creaked when it opened, but the witches were busy gloating and congratulating each other. Prompto slipped out into the night and headed for the path, but the sight of many torches coming through the woods made him balk. He darted into the trees and crouched among the ferns, hidden from view as the townspeople stormed up to the house.
Noctis recognized many of them despite what little he could see through the fern fronds from his position on Prompto’s lap. Strangely, the dark was no longer a problem. What he could see, he saw clearly.
“Witches!” a voice bellowed, and Noctis’ heart constricted. He squirmed, but Prompto only held him tighter.
‘That’s my dad!” he wanted to say, but again his voice failed him.
Even so, Prompto seemed to understand. “It’s no good. He won’t recognize you,” he whispered in the dark. The ranting of the mob, who had driven Ardyn and Besithia out of the house, meant that they did not hear him. “I’m sorry. You’re a cat, now.”
Noctis looked down at himself in surprise. Instead of hands, he had paws covered in glossy black fur. And wait . . . was that a tail?
Noctis thought a word that his mother would scold him for if she knew. Ardyn thought it would be funny to turn him into a cat!
“Where is my son?” Regis demanded of Ardyn, who smirked even as the townspeople bound his hands behind him with thick rope. One of Regis’ arms was around Aulea, who sobbed into his shoulder.
Inside the house, Sylva was wailing over her children while one of her servants tried to comfort her. But there was no sign of Noctis.
“Ah! A full moon,” Ardyn remarked, smiling as the moon shone through the clouds. “You know what that means, don’t you, Verstael?”
“Naturally,” Besithia grumbled.
Loqi was hauled out of his hiding place and made to stand with the other witches. In unison, Ardyn and Besithia began to recite a spell, nudging Loqi who reluctantly joined in. “Thrice I with mercury purify and spit upon the tables. On Daemon’s Night when the moon is round, a virgin will summon us from under the ground. We shall be back!”
The mob went crazy, descending on the witches with pitchforks and makeshift clubs. Prompto trembled and gathered Noctis up, turning to run into the woods. Loqi’s screams and Ardyn’s manic laughter chased them through the dark until both were abruptly cut off.