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The sound of crickets was seeping through the walls of the small bedroom when Willow blinked her eyes open, trying to adjust her vision to the darkness that the dead of night brought. The Connecticut moon wasn’t quite as bright as the one she was used to seeing on the Boiling Isles-- its brightness increased for fifteen days before hitting its peak, Hunter had read and shared with the group, before proceeding to dim for the next fifteen-- and the only light inside the room came from a small nightlight plugged into an outlet near the door. It was by the light of this small electric device that the young witch, upon slipping her gold-framed glasses onto her face, made her way towards the hallway.
Luz’s home in the human realm was still an unfamiliar place to her, to all of them. She took a deep breath as she quietly opened the door and stepped into the hall, making sure to be as quiet as she could while closing the door once again. A moment to herself, that’s all that she needed. A moment to recollect her thoughts, to remind herself that… That she wasn’t home.
She wasn’t stepping out of her own bedroom into the hallway she had known since she was a child, she wouldn’t be greeted by her parents when she entered the kitchen. No, she was stepping out into a strange new hallway, a new location altogether…
“Titan,” she muttered softly, beginning to shuffle down the hall as best she could, hand keeping to the wall for what little guidance it could provide, “this isn’t going to be easy…”
After several long minutes, Willow finally made it to the living room. The small amounts of moonlight-- waxing gibbous, Hunter had said this stage was-- filtered into the room through the windows, easily guiding her to the front door.
As quietly as she possibly could, she reached out to unlock the door… Only to find that it was already unlocked. She frowned to herself before opening the door-- they could cross that bridge when they came to it, right?-- and entering into the cool night air.
Everything was different here. The streets were quiet, lit in the night by tall poles whose sole purpose was to illuminate the way-- and not doing a terribly good job of it, she noted; the lights themselves were extremely dim when they weren’t flickering-- the air had a chilly bite to it, and all of the sounds she heard here were far different from what she normally heard on the Isles. She missed it all, dearly. She’d had no idea just how much she would miss it, not until she was gone.
Gone with no discernible way back.
She tried to hold on to Luz’s optimism-- there was a way back, and they’d find it sooner rather than later-- but it was extremely hard to, especially at this point. She had seen how long it had taken for Luz to finally get back to her own realm; how could it possibly be any easier to go from a world with no magic back to the Boiling Isles?
“Willow? Is that you?”
Willow nearly jumped at the sound of the voice that seemed to come out of nowhere, pausing for a minute to collect her thoughts. The voice was a familiar one, she knew it well. But where…?
“Hunter?”
“Up here,” his voice replied, “on the roof.”
She blinked, looking up. “What are you doing up there? How did you even get up there?”
He let out a half-hearted chuckle at the second question. “The trellis on the side of the house. Wanna join me?”
“Only if you’re in the mood to have a companion.”
“If that companion is someone like you, I’m always in the mood.”
Willow flushed slightly before nodding. “Alright. I’ll be right up.”
She knew the trellis that he had brought up; she had helped Camila with tidying up the gardens earlier that day. She hurried over, starting to climb and smiling softly when Hunter offered a helping hand for the rest of the way up. Once she had gotten situated on top of the roof, mimicking his sitting position, she looked out over the stretch of land and sky ahead of her. Camila’s yard, the street, the house across the way… And the sky. A dark expanse freckled with stars and that practically-full moon.
“It’s neat, isn’t it?” Hunter asked softly, smiling a little, “it’s like a whole different world during the nighttime.”
Willow nodded her agreement. “It really is… Beautiful, in its own special way.”
Just like you, she thought but didn’t add out loud. Unbeknownst to her, he was having a similar thought, but about her.
“... Did you know that some of the stars form shapes?” he asked after a moment, his tone growing eager suddenly, “Luz told me all about it, and Camila lent me one of her books about it. Look!”
He pulled out a small pocket guide-- “A Guide to the Night Sky,” the title read-- and opened it to a random page, glancing between the chart inside and the sky in front of him. And then his expression lit up.
“There!” he exclaimed, showing her the page before pointing towards the stars, “ursa major, the Big Dipper.”
He traced the shape in the sky for Willow and she watched, smiling when she saw for herself. “That’s really neat…”
She began flipping through the pages, looking at the other shapes and images before pausing and looking at Hunter. “... Why are you up here, though? In the middle of the night?”
Hunter sighed softly before looking away. “Just had a few nightmares, is all. Nothing to worry about.”
“Nightmares? About…”
His silence was all the confirmation that Willow needed. She reached to put a hand on his knee, quiet for a moment. “Do you want to talk about it?”
A shake of the head and Willow decided not to press any further.
“... Being up here right now is helping a little,” he finally said, his voice quiet, “the fresh air and cool breeze… Trying to find all of the pictures from the book… You being with me helps a little, too.”
Willow gave a tiny smile. “Good. ‘Cause I’m not leaving your side anytime soon.”
Hunter laughed gently, nudging her with his elbow. “I guess I’ll have to hold you to your word on that one.”
She nodded before letting her smile widen a little bit. “Okay, so… How about you show me more of those shapes in the stars?”
“That, I will gladly do.”