Changeling Witch

The Second Glyph

Hunter tried to go after Edric, but the gate zapped him. Electric. Of course this stupid thing is electric.

"This fucking ISLAND!" he yelled, kicking at a rock and instantly regretting it. He sat down heavily, glaring out at the landscape.

The more he stared, the more his anger faded, getting replaced by mild depression.

Eda was in the clutches of a ravenous beast. So was one of his best friends, and her older sister. And the guy who he'd just started to become friends with was probably running off to his doom.

All because Hunter couldn't handle being in a baby class---which he probably needed, anyways.

"You were supposed to teach me magic," he murmured to nobody in particular, pulling out his sketchpad. "But I guess I'm never gonna learn more than this."

He drew a light glyph in the air and tapped it, sending the little sphere floating up into the air.

As Hunter gloomily watched it scatter into the stars, he noticed a shape start to appear.

"Wait a second." He stood up, squinting. "Is that..."

The shape revealed itself in its entirety, confirming Hunter's suspicions.

A light glyph? But what does it mean?

A snowflake landed on his glove.

Hunter inhaled sharply as he saw the little pattern in it.

"Oh my god," he whispered as it melted away.

He quickly grabbed a stick and caught another snowflake, copying the pattern. "It means that magic is a gift from the island."

Hunter tapped the pattern---no, the glyph---and a little pillar of ice shot from it.

A grin spread across his face. "It means that magic is everywhere."

The idea that was starting to come to mind was much better than his previous one---or so he hoped. He drew the ice glyph bigger this time, making it almost the size of the gate around him.

Hunter carefully climbed up onto the rock and leaped into the air. "Magic is everywhere!"

He landed square on the glyph, letting it propel him out of the gate. Even landing face-first into the snow didn't damper his glee.

"MY SECOND SPELL!" Hunter crowed, sitting up and throwing his hands into the air. "Thank you, snow! Thank you, island! Thank you, Eda!"

Wait---Eda!

"Okay, celebration can wait," he told himself, getting to his feet. "I've got a friend and a mentor to save."

.................

Hunter slowly inched into the Slitherbeast's cave, thanking the snow once again. It hadn't been that hard to find the tracks, which meant that finding the others was a snap.

The Slitherbeast had attached its victims to the cave wall with a goo-like substance, and thankfully, it didn't seem to notice Hunter creeping up to them.

"Don't worry," Emira said, sounding like she was mostly trying to convince herself. "We're gonna be just fine."

A bunch of bones fell from the ceiling and slid down to the bottom of the cave.

"Nope, we're gonna die," Amity sighed.

Hunter grabbed a skull and held it over his face, then popped into their view. "That's right," he said in a spooky voice. "Death is here." He tossed the skull away. "Kidding! Hunter's here, ready to save your asses!"