Where Shadows Crawl

Chapter 17: The Forest. The Snake, and The Sword

After that night Kaiyo was barely ever seen. It was lucky if you managed to catch a glimpse of him. In reality, he was staying in the forest. The glimpses of him were the shadows he commands.

In the center of the forest, the lush green forest was hidden in feet of haunted-looking trees and leaves. Where the clear water was sparkling and clear, filled with fish, and right there on the lush grass was a certain white-haired boy who finally fell asleep after days of anxiety-filled insomnia. 

As the sun set on the horizon he opened his eyes for the first time in 24 hours. He slowly sat up feeling groggy and shakingly sat up. 

Rubbing his eyes and looking around him. The night was coming, the sky turned from blue to a purple hue fading into a dark blue. He looked around seeing most of the animals gathering to sleep the night away. 

The unicorns were ushering the foals to the herd and huddling around they all fall asleep. 

Kaiyo gave them a tired smile before getting up and leaving. Walking to the wall of vines at the edge of the lush grass, pushing the vines aside walking through. The slight rustling of the grass turned to the crunch of the dry dirt as he passed the last vine looking at the forest ahead. 

He gave a relieved exhale before walking towards the castle. He only got a few steps in before a scream caught his attention. 

"Ahhhhh!", a scream rang throughout the forest. 

"What the..." Kaiyo said to himself as he ran toward the scream. He continues running momentarily before pausing and looking at the giant webs scattered around. 

"Oh no", he whispers to himself pushing to run faster. He had avoided this section of the forest for a reason. The spiders avoided him and he avoided them in return. 

He run closer phasing into the shadows and staying hidden from whoever was crazy enough to enter this part of the forest. 

he kept going till he saw Harry and Ron speaking to the biggest of the spiders. He was silently watching from behind a tree using his ability to hide himself from the spiders surrounding the area. 

"What are they doing here?", Kaiyo whispers to himself. He watched as they tried to keep the spiders back and after getting fed up with watching he raised his hand and a black aura surrounded his hand.  

Shadow hounds emerged from the ground and attacked the spiders. From biting to ripping off their legs. 

"Harry? What's happening?", Ron asked gripping his friend for dear life. While Harry just stared at the hounds remembering his first Halloween in the castle. One of the hounds turned back to stare at the two. Ron grabbed Harry and started shaking while he stood there. He stared momentarily before reaching his arm as if in a daze before a loud honk drew their attention. 

"Harry look!", Ron yelled as the Ford Angelica drove in honking. He turns away hesitantly and runs into the car. 

"Let's go!", Harry yells as the car drives off. Kaiyo waits till the car is out of sight before phasing away along with the hounds. 

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Kaiyo returned to the castle walking along the candlelit hallways. He came across the youngest Weasley. Ginny was standing strangely in the hallway. 

"Weasley? What are you doing out at this time?", Kaiyo asked. Ginny seemed to freeze in place before turning around. She seemed to be in a trance, her eyes glazed over leaving her with glassy eyes. 

"Weasley?", Kaiyo asked walking closer but keeping a safe distance with a hand on the hilt of his knife. 

"So you're the foreign student. The student that was allowed to stay for the summer", A voice said from behind him. Kaiyo turned around in a hurry.