Milo (#2 of the Hyle pack)

the midnight meeting

14 years ago

It was the middle of the night, when the child woke up from unknown sounds and voices, coming from downstairs, inside the tiny wooden house he called home. The darkness almost made him doze off again, but then he heard it again. New, unfamiliar voices, coming from downstairs. The child thought about it for a while, but then made up his mind, as he slowly lifted the sheets from his bed, stepped out and tiptoed through his room, towards his bedroom door. He knew just where to step, to prevent the wood from cracking under his feet. If they found him eavesdropping on their conversation, he would get punished without a doubt. The child slowly opened his door and tiptoed further, making it to the top of the stairs. He sat himself down at the top step of the stairs as he listened to the voices talking downstairs.

“We went over there as soon as we got the message from Nika, but once we got there it was already too late, everybody was dead.” An unfamiliar voice stated.

“What happened to her? And the others who were with her?” It was the old voice of Karina, who asked the question.

“Their throats were all ripped apart, they had bled out in a matter of seconds. They never saw them coming, I think? Stupid wolves, just smart enough to know to go for their throats immediately, so they wouldn’t be able to cast out a spell if they were choking in their own blood.” The unknown voice stated again, his hatred laying hard on the word ‘wolves’ as he had spoken it out loud.

“And the child? Deas as well?” Karina asked, as it was being followed by a few seconds of silence.

“We did not find his body anywhere, so as far as we know, the child is missing. Gone and nowhere to be found, believe me, we tried to find him!” The sound of a glass being placed on the table sounded through the air.

“The irony of this situation really… the child that we abducted, gets abducted from us.” Karina let out a sigh, being followed by another few seconds of silence.

“Are there any packs in the neighborhood? Maybe they have the child in hiding somewhere?”

“No, this was not the work of a pack. What happened back there was sloppy, without any training or teamwork. These were definitely rogues. We searched for the child everywhere, he was just nowhere to be found. It is as if he has vanished from the face of the earth.” Someone cleared his throat, as a new voice mingled in the conversation, another female voice.

“So what happens to the prophecy? And the third child?” another deep sigh.

“without the second child, the prophecy is worthless. So there is no need in getting the third child. He was supposed to be the most challenging one to get, in the protection of a big pack, with a mother who already knows we would be coming for him one day. And now we have lost our entire case to some stupid rogue wolves, because Nika was simply at the wrong place, at the wrong time. It boils my blood just thinking about it.”

The child at the top of the stairs placed his head on his knees. Not entirely understanding what the grown-ups were discussing downstairs.

“What happens to Milo now?” Karina asked, a bit of worry in her voice, as his future was now unsure. She knew the rules of the council, they could easily kill of this small child if they had no plans for him anymore.

“Nothing, he will keep up with his training as we were doing before this evening. Without the other two, he is still very powerful as a wizard by himself. We will raise him to become a soldier, or, if he is strong enough, a future member of the council.”

The child’s eyes grew wide as he heard this. He did not want to be a soldier or a member of the council. The council were mean, unkind, they always punished others, who most of the times didn’t even do anything wrong to begin with. He did not want to punish anybody. He just wanted to live a simple life, filled with people he loved and who loved him in return.

When the child heard the sounds of chairs being pushed back, letting him know that the company was about to leave, he stood up and tiptoed back into the safety of his own room, where he climbed back into his bed and pulled the sheets over his small body. He turned his back towards the door and closed his eyes. If Karina would come in, she would not know the child was awake. He could slow down his breathing hard enough to make it look as if he was fast asleep. And sure enough, after fifteen minutes, his bedroom door opened, and the child could already tell by the sound of the footsteps, that it was his caretaker Karina, who had come to check up on him. The bed tilted just a little under the weight of the witch as she sat herself down on the edge of the bed, being followed by fingers running through the child’s white hair. Another sigh sounded through the room, as the child enjoyed this brief moment of body contact, a brief moment of parental love or affection.

“Thank God child.” Karina whispered, as her fingers kept running through the child’s white locks.

“Maybe this child’s disappearance is just what you needed.” She mumbled, being followed by a few moments of silence.

“I can’t even imagine the horror you must have lived through, if they would have found all three of you.” The old woman whispered, and it took all of the child’s determination not to turn around and ask the old woman ‘why?’. But the child just kept lying still, focusing on his breathing, and the fingers running through his hair. A feeling he did not get as much as he needed it, as much as any child craved for it. He knew his caretaker Karina adored him, and held him dear to her heart, it was just difficult for a witch to care and love another. It did happen, just not a lot.

The bed shifted again as the old woman stood up and walked towards the door, standing there for another minute as she watched the child, looking as he was asleep, before she slowly closed the door behind her. Placing the child in the darkness again, where he thought about all the words that he had just heard, words that made no sense to him at all.