The World Unseen: Prologue

1412, during the Renaissance period, somewhere in Europe




With a flip of her dark cape, a woman slipped around the corner of the lightless alleyway.

Clutching the hood close around her face, she glimpsed behind her before squeezing herself through the hidden, half-closed door. A echoing thump was heard as the door blew shut, and the woman pulled a match from her cloak, struck it against the wall's rough wood, and lit a candle resting on the window sill.

The room was small, but sufficent. A wooden table lay in the middle, it's wood worn and faded with age. The walls were decorated with ancient-looking maps, and a few heirlooms littered a small chair in the corner. On the table were scattered tools and sketches, tiny wooden toys, and another candle. There was a small rug beneath the table, which was covered with dust bunnies and splattered with ink.

The woman walked into the room as if it was nothing new, breathing in deeply before walking towards the old table. The woman's eyes were locked on the one thing on the table that stood out. She took the object in her hands, and studied it carefully. Glints of rainbow colored light reflected and bounced off the walls, and the woman's eyes shone as she ran her fingers along the tiny details. She stood there, transfixed, for a moment before tucking the object away in her black cloak. Loud shouts were heard in the distance, and torchlight glared through the window.  The woman didn't look surprised, and she picked up the chair and moved it to the side. She yanked on the floorboard, her knuckles white, as the shouts grew louder. A loud snapping noise was heard as the floorboard was torn away , and the woman was able to easily remove the other three. Stomping and roaring of the soldiers outside filled the small room.

As the door was shoved open, the candlelight flickered gently, and before the men could even see the silouhette standing over the escape route, she vanished, the eerie glow of her yellow-green eyes lingering in the air.

----
2003

" How do you do that? " The 6-year-old girl marveled, watching her evenly young classmate glide her hand across the canvas. The girl stiffened when she saw the second girl had stopped what she was doing and was staring at her blankly, her mouth a straight line.

" Nevermind." the girl finished quickly, turning her body towards her own canvas, her face red and her eyes downturned.

" It's alright." She heard the girl say quietly.

" I guess it's just a natural gift." The girl whispered a minute later, her gray eyes focused on the intricate design she was forming on her canvas.

"Oh."she paused."You're awful quiet." The first girl said, her hand in her short red hair. " My mom says I'm not quiet enough." the girl giggled, tying the miniature smock around her tiny waist. The second girl laughed as well, a happy, jingly laugh.

" I think you and me are going to get along just fine." The second girl said, her eyes sparkling as she gave the first girl a wide smile.

-----
2004

Laura laughed that same laugh that day, as she looked at her friend sitting in the seat to her right.

" Junabelle May, you dork!" Laura said, lightly punching her friend in the arm. " You know that's impossible! Pigs can't fly, and they never will!" She giggled again.

A tall, black haired man looked at the two girls in the rearview mirror, and laughed. " You girls are so strange." He said, shaking his head.

The two girls and the man laughed for a moment more, and everything seemed perfect.

But that moment was shattered when suddenly, the car gave a sudden jerk and the windows shattered.

All Junie remembers of that night was the sirens and the tears. The blue lights and the piercing sound of the ambulances burned into her memory, and when she stood with her best friend at the funeral, she stayed for hours after everyone else had left.

And she cried when the next day at school, Laura collapsed in the middle of lunch, and as she walked Laura to the nurses office.

And Junie died inside when Laura whispered to her upon coming to,

"Junie...I can't...I can't see you....."