The scent of woodsmoke and baking bread usually filled Emilia Brightwood’s world. Her world was the cobbled streets of Oakhaven, the cheerful chatter of the market square, the comforting rhythm of her mother’s loom weaving tapestries with threads of gold and silver. Her life, until recently, had been a tapestry woven with the mundane threads of ordinary days. She knew the 

name of every baker in the village, the grumpy old cobbler who always grumbled about the price of leather, and the mischievous children who played hopscotch in the alleyways behind her home. She knew the precise number of cracks in the stone wall bordering her garden, the chirping melody of the sparrows nesting in the eaves of her house, and the comforting weight of her mother’s hand on her shoulder. 

Her best friend, Elara Skye, lived two doors down. They spent countless hours together, sharing secrets whispered under the shade of the ancient oak tree in the town square, their laughter echoing through the quiet streets. Emilia’s days were filled with the simple joy of youth: collecting wildflowers, practicing her calligraphy, and listening to her mother tell

stories of faraway lands and mythical creatures. Evenings were spent with her family, her father’s booming laugh mingling with the gentle hum of her mother’s loom and her brother and sister’s giggles. It was a life filled with quiet happiness, a life she cherished, a life she believed would always be. 

But the whispers started subtly, like the rustling of leaves in a gentle breeze. At first, they were just that–whispers. Strange glances exchanged across the market square. The hushed tones of adults, their words carefully veiled from the ears of children. Emilia dismissed them as the usual gossip that circulated through a small town, the kind of idle chatter that always found its way into every corner of Oakhaven. But the whispers grew louder, more insistent, weaving themselves into the fabric of her daily life, disrupting the tranquil pattern of her days. Emilia attempted to ignore these whispers and brush them off, so her peaceful days would stay as they were.

But the whispers grew into ceaseless talking. Even amongst her parents, Emilia sensed fear increasing. Emilia confronted Elara about the worried hustle that had suddenly been draped over the town. And to Emilia’s despair, Elara knew as little as Emilia about it.

Emilia sighed one morning as she lay down under the old oak tree. The breeze that rustled through the leaves of the forest around Oakhaven was usually soothing and promising. But the wind no longer sang calmness and promise into her mind. It was now giving a wary and longing sensation that Emilia wished would leave her. Elara was with her, her long, flowing brown hair swishing in the breeze. Emilia hoped Elara would understand the feeling she got, because she had been having it for a few days now. “E-Elara?” Emilia stuttered. Elara looked over. “Yes, Emilia?” “Whenever the wind blows, do you get a…a…a  feeling? Like I usually got a nice and calm feeling whenever the wind blew by. But, now, I am getting awary and longing feeling that I don’t like the feeling of.” Elararaised her eyebrows. “I don’t feel like that. Well, I do, but not when there’s wind. Usually, I just get a gut feeling like that sometimes.” Emilia’s heart trembled. Elara did not understand. Emilia felt alone and misunderstood when people did not understand her feelings or other dillemas. Like problems. People often did not understand Emilia’s problems that came up.

Emilia's strawberry blond braid felt heavy as she smiled up at Elara. “It’s just a ‘gut’ feeling I’m sure. Let’s go back home. It’s going to be supper soon,” Emilia said. Elara nodded. “Um, Elara?” Emilia said, her voice quiet and soft. “Yeah?” Elara said. “Do you think that something bad is happening?” Emilia asked. Elara looked surprised. “Well…I don’t know. Maybe. Hopefully not, though.” Emilia smiled. “Yes. Hopefully.” 

They made their way back home. Emilia grinned and waved at Elara until she was inside her house. Then, Emilia’s unsure feeling flooded back to her, and Emilia locked herself away in her room. She decided to read a book. Reading always helped her feel better. As did singing. But Emilia didn’t think she could sing or dance or anything. Her world seemed to be crashing down before her eyes. She was hardly happy at supper. And she didn’t eat much. Her mother’s loom was still humming in the corner as it weaved a new tapestry under her mother’s observing eye. And that observing eye caught Emilia’s upset mood. “Why, Emilia, dear, whatever is the matter?” Emilia’s  

 “Nothing, mother. It is just a concern,” Emilia replied. Emilia’s mother was quickly by Emilia’s side, her light dress swishing as she sat by Emilia. Emilia’s mother’s eyes were kind and soft, yet quiet and with pity. “Emilia, you must tell me this concern. I am distressed at seeing my perky young daughter in the valley of grump.

Or, in this case, the valley of anxiety.” Her mother’s kind and entrusting words softened Emilia’s worry. “Well, mother, everyone’s been whispering worriedly. And they have started to even not try to keep it that secret. The town square just doesn’t seem alive and that cheerful anymore. Everyone’s just nervous, nervous, nervous. And they don’t even explain why. What’s happening, Mother? Is something bad happening? I could help,” Emilia said. Her mother’s gaze softened, and Emilia saw a hint of sadness. “Emilia. You know how adults often keep secrets from children, and keep their worries and problems away from them?” Emilia nodded. “They do that to protect you. To help you not worry. To make sure you don’t start stressing over things. 

You are youthful, and you are delicate. You shouldn’t have too much worry in your heart right now. Even as adults it is for the better not to have our minds and hearts full of anxiety. Life is supposed to be fun, and dreamy. But there are things that you should be cautious about. And those things are quite scary.

 So you should be careful, and live your life as best as you can to the fullest. And you never know when the end will come, so enjoy the world that is around you.” Emilia’s mother sighed. “And I don’t want you to be scared, Emilia. So I cannot tell you exactly what’s going on. But I will tell you to be more careful of the world right now. There’s some danger that isn’t like much we’ve had before. But that is all I wish you to know,” Emilia’s mother gave her a weak smile. “Now, go off to be8pd. You need sleep for the days ahead.” 

The days passed by, and Emilia found it lucky that Oakhaven didn’t get much more brisk. Emilia always remembered her mother’s reassuring, yet slightly warning words. She still lay with Elara under the oak tree sometimes, but not nearly as much as before. Emilia wondered what the ‘danger’ her mother had mentioned at the end of her calm speech was.

Was it a stampede of wild animals coming this way? Was there something wrong in the forest? Was a terrible storm coming? Emilia wanted to know what it was. But Emilia knew her mother would most likely not tell her. She said she didn’t want Emilia to worry and that she would only tell her a little bit. This danger must be very serious if her mother told her to be careful of the world. Emilia’s mother almost never wanted Emilia to stop wandering the little bit of world she had. Emilia told Elara her continuous thoughts. Emilia was panicking. She was not only sweet and kind and curious, she was also dramatic at certain times. And this was a very good time to be nervous and dramatic. Emilia was pretty sure the danger was just some intense nature situation. It wasn’t until a very dangerous event of her life happened that she started to realize the danger.

It started at just another crisp fall morning as Emilia helped start to open the bakery her family owned.

“Hey, Emilia? Will you take the trash to the trash barrel in the back for me?” Emilia’s father asked. “Sure!” Emilia said. By ‘the trash barrel in the back,’ her dad meant one of the few trash cans in one of the back alleyways. Emilia entered one and put the little bag her dad had given her in the trash can and heard a rustling sound. She turned around and saw nothing. Probably a raccoon or another little animal. Emilia thought. She shrugged and remembered that her mom had needed some Shineberries. 

Emilia decided to get some from the nearby store. Emilia made a quick stop at the store and bought a bag of shining berries. After that, she decided to take a shortcut home. She took the back alleyways that

lead to her house next to the bakery. Emilia walked down the dim stretch of dirt road, shadows and darkness around every corner. Emilia turned one of those corners. She had just started walking down it when a man in a black cloak and a strange dark mask popped out from the corner. As did another. And two more. Four mysterious men in black cloaks and masks were advancing on her.

 Emilia let out a sharp gasp. “Hello?” Emilia said nervously. The men said nothing and walked closer to her. 

“Go away. Leave me alone!” Emilia cried, and hurried away from them down the next alleyway.

She ran, the strange men close behind. Emilia let out a distressed scream and dodged one of them, winding through another dirt path. The men were gaining on her. Her breath came out in ragged gasps as she ran as fast as her feet would carry her down the alleyways. She could tell she was coming up on the little alleyway where the girls played hopscotch. Her worried wails now came out in desperate shrieks as she ran. Finally, she reached the alleyway behind her house and dashed through it. The men were just behind her, but slowing down as she neared the brighter streets. She hurried from the shadowed corners of the alleyways and ran up to the door. She banged on it. “Let me in! Let me in!” Her brother, Aspen, who was only two years younger than her, opened the door. “What is it, Emilia?” He asked. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” Emilia said, panting. “Just let me inside, please.” 

Chapter 2:

The whispers that were quietly blowing through the town were getting more intense. Emilia was getting more worried and becoming inquisitive about the situation. The cool autumn sky was getting colder and more gray every day, since winter was going to come up. Emilia found it strange that it was already getting colder. It was only the beginning of autumn. Was that why all the adults were acting weird? That seemed quite an unnecessary thing to be so worried about. Emilia and Elara didn’t see each other much outside anymore. When they were able to hang out, they went inside most of the time. Elara was worrying about the fact that the parents were no longer letting them freely have fun together. Emilia was starting to lose it. She was fourteen! She didn’t need to be protected from important things like a little six year old!

She had told her parents about the encounter with the men in cloaks and they didn’t allow her to go out alone anymore. And she certainly was not allowed to go in the back alleyways. The only thing that seemed to not change was her mother’s reassuring spirit and her father’s fun but protective attitude, and her brother’s and sister’s smiles and fun games. Maybe things will only change for a little while.

Emilia thought.

 Perhaps the strange men and the unnatural weather and the now fearful town will soon go away and everything will be normal again. Emilia sighed. Her mother tried to help her feel better, but her kindness was morphing into pitying attempts of nervous words and untruthful smiles. Emilia couldn’t stand seeing her mother no longer uplifting, but untruthfully worried and sad.

Emilia hung in her room much more often, reading and humming and daydreaming about the day everything would be her wonderful, tranquil world once again. It was one day when everyone was coming out more and whispering less when Emilia had her second encounter. She was shopping with her family when mother watched her as she entered a shop. There she saw a man without a cloak, but dark clothing and that same mask over his face. His masked face followed her as she bought a few items. She wasn’t going to hurry out of the store. 

 She would not let this man see her afraid. There was the shopkeeper and some other people around her, so she doubted the man would be able to attack her. Thank goodness for that.

 She calmly walked out of the store and then hurried to her mother. “I saw one of the same men who tried to take me in the store. I don’t think anyone suspected him, though.” Emilia said. Her mother eyed the store. “I think we should go home,” she said. “It is almost mid-meal anyways.” So they left. They went back home. Safe, safe home. Emilia finished her chores for the day and hung in her room and played with her brother Aspen and her sister Hazel for the rest of the day until supper. After that, the starry night came. And the family went to bed, awaiting another day.

Emilia stayed up. Upset, she looked up at the waning moon through her window and wished that she was looking at the moon during a time when everything was happy and normally continuous. She smiled at the thought of everything being how it was. Her world was like a beautiful tapestry that had been ripped in half. She silently cried herself to sleep.

Emilia was running. What she was running from, she was unaware about. She was in a strange forest, running. Running far. Fear and panic was filling her mind, but she didn’t know why she was scared. She ran, as fast as she could, as fast as her feet would let her go. The forest seemed to spread whispers to each other like her village, but these whispers were whispers of promise and comfort. Emilia wondered how these trees could even whisper. The faint purple glow the forest had, the fireflies that danced in the night, and the rolling mist that spread around her made Emilia have a sense of familiarity. She still ran. She ran from a danger she knew not of, in a forest she knew not where. She didn’t even know how she was in that forest, but she still ran. She ran until she stumbled and stopped. She sat down, though her mind for some reason screamed at her not to. But her muscles burned, and her heart raced. She sat. She sat and suddenly wanted water more than anything. Why was she here, in this forest of mystery? Emilia wondered for the whole time she was in that forest. She wondered what was in the forest, why she had been running. Emilia lay down, resting her body. And the next thing she knew, she was not on the ground, but in her bed.

Emilia awoke in her bed and not the mossy ground of a forest. “Just a dream,” she said to herself. “I better get up and help with the bakery.” Little did Emilia know that the day would be terrifying. 

“Come on, Emilia! We have to go harvest tree sap, remember?” Hazel called up to her later that morning. “I know!” Emilia came down into the kitchen, where her mother was packing lunches, since they most likely would be outside for a while. The wind blew pretty hard, but it was light enough for her family to go and collect the sap they needed. The wind blew a sense of warning and briskness that Emilia noticed. She hoped it was her imagination. But it was not a made up mind game. Not long after Emilia and her family went sap collecting in the special part of the forest, Emilia heard cracking.

She shrieked and jumped out of the way of a large falling branch. More big branches fell, and Emilia’s family was hardly able to dodge them. “Let’s go back!” Emilia’s mother cried. The family agreed, and they managed to make it home safely. But ‘safety’ didn’t last long. Later that day, there was an earthquake. Earthquakes didn’t often happen where Emilia lived. She screamed, covering her head and ducking under the dining table. After that was over, a wildfire spread in the nearby field. The old oak tree almost went up in flames!  

Then, it rained. More like it poured. It poured hard rain. Very hard rain. For three days! Soon, the rivers started flooding. After all the sudden disasters were over, it became very cold and the sky became more gray and cloudy than ever.

Oakhaven was disordered and cluttered, and everything was wet and large branches had fallen all over. Emilia could tell that her parents were planning something, because that night, she heard them whispering in their room and acting like all the other adults and keeping their conversation away from Emilia’s ears. Their secretive words were ones Emilia could not make clear by leaning against her bedroom wall, her hand cupped over her ear. And all she could hear was the muffled speech her mother was doing. Emilia despised how her mother was starting to whisper and keep her words unheard so Emilia did not understand what they were doing. Emilia knew the world was now dangerous, and everyone secretive, and she did not like it.

Not one bit!