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He raised his finger to his lips, smiling at me, and I giggled, throwing my hand over my mouth to quiet the sound.

Walking hand in hand, we stayed silent until we were deep enough inside the woods and out of hearing range of the guards. Only then did he let go of my hand, his magic disappearing as easily as it had appeared.

I was sad to find my hand now empty, already missing the coolness of him.

But I didn’t stay sad for long.

My body perked up with excitement as I took in the trees around us, appearing ominous in the moonlight. The darkness a comfort for me, never scary, for I had light in my veins to protect me.

I asked Leo excitedly, “Want to play hide-and-seek? It’s my favorite game.”

He had yet to say a single word to me, but he nodded his head and took off running away from me.

I rested my forehead against the trunk of a tree and counted to thirty. “Ready or not, here I come!”

I ran through the woods laughing, while I followed the small trail of stars the prince had left in his wake. They were beautiful, twinkling off the grass and fallen leaves like morning dew.

Then they ended.

With no sign of Leo.

After a time, I began to worry when I still couldn’t find him.

What if I had misjudged these woods I was unfamiliar with?

“Leo!” I called, cupping my hands around my mouth. “Leee-oooh! If you’re cloaking yourself, that isn’t fair!”

I felt a vibration at my feet.

A shift in the soil beneath me.

I ran in the direction I felt the vibration coming from, sprinting through the woods, stopping every minute to make sure I was heading in the right direction, until I came upon a small rocky ravine twenty feet below me. A large pile of rocks covering the bottom.

The ground shook violently at my feet at the same time the pile of rocks heaved a few feet in the air, then slammed back to the ground.

I gasped, noting the way part of the ravine’s wall looked different from the rest.

There had been a rockslide.

The vibration shook me again, and it clicked inside my child-brain.

Leo.

I jumped off the edge, feet first, toward the pile of rocks at the bottom of the ravine, the ground rushing up to meet me.

My feet landed on a soft pool of light, dimming as soon as I found my balance.

I began grabbing rocks off the pile, throwing them to the side.

“Leo!” I yelled, fear starting to enter my bloodstream. “Leo! Can you hear me?”

The ground shook again as if in answer to my pleas.

He was buried too deep.

I didn’t know much about death, but I knew you needed air in your lungs to breathe, and underneath the rocks the prince wasn’t getting the air he needed.

I became frantic, shooting light out of my hands, breaking the rocks into smaller pieces.