“Why not?” she asked. Robert looked up at her, with his handprint-marked face, his eyes narrowing with anger.

  “Because if I find out someone is going to take her from me, I’ll get rid of them, and they’ll never be found.”

  “Robert, that’s a ghastly thing to say. You would sacrifice Siouxsie’s happiness for your own?”

  “She’s happy with me.” He said, the glaring losing its edge. “We don’t need anyone but each other.”

  “Is that the way she feels?”

  “Why wouldn’t she?”

  “What if your brother and I were to be married? Would you get rid of me?”

  “Are you getting married?” he asked with eagerness.

  “No,” she laughed. “I’m merely posing a question. Think about it. If I were to marry Ignatius and he started spending time alone with me, would you be angry about it?”

  “No, never! I like you!”

  “Then how do you know you want to stop Siouxsie from finding someone special?’

  “I don’t…I don’t know. I don’t know what I want.” Hoxley set her spear aside and knelt a bit to be lower to him. With both hands she reached down and pull the scarf from his face lower so that it sat around his neck. For what might have been off-putting to most to see half the boy’s pale issface covered in a hand-shaped purple wine mark and the other a pink puzzle of flesh from healed burns, she only smiled and lifted his chin so he wouldn’t keep looking at the ground.

  “I know why you stay away from others. You think they’ll make fun of you if they see the real you…because you’re a little different. Don’t keep those around you so far away. Tell me how you feel. Let me know.”

  “They never stay when they see the real me.” Said Robert “Nobody knows anything. They always get scared and leave. If I get rid of them first, then they don’t have a chance to get rid of me and I’m satisfied with that.” he confessed. “I wasn’t born ugly but now I am, and I can’t do anything to undo it I don’t know how. It’s easier this way.”

  “You can’t reject people your whole life or you’ll end up sad and alone and that’s nothing anyone should be. Robert, if I may say so I think you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met. I know you plant the flowers for the bumbles in Spellvale when you think no one is watching. I also know you like to play with the little witchlings when you think nobody is watching.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I have eyes and I’m good friends with your sister. If you did all those things in the open, then perhaps others would want to know a person who does such things.”

  “Even with my mark?”

  “There are plenty of others all across the land who have something about them that others might think is odd or different, but you can’t let those differences separate you from the rest of the world. Nothing worth having is ever going to be easy and if you give up before the journey even starts then you’ll never make it to the place you think you ultimately need to be.”

  “Hoxley, how did you get to be so wise?”

  “I don’t know anything. I’ve just been around long enough to see things through the eyes of others. I wish I could say there’s a grand answer to anything we think we know. If there is, I surely don’t know it. I keep putting one hoof in front of the other and try to make as little mess and be as friendly as I can manage to help others where I can.” Hoxley raised her hand a little to place it over the palm and finger of the mark on his face. “This is a mark of magic. Just because others don’t understand it at first doesn’t make it any less special.”

  Robert’s eyes welled up and he began to whimper at first, but then his emotions came flooding through into a full bawling cry. He pushed himself off the bale and threw his arms around her, crying into her chest.

  “It’s all my fault, Hoxley!” He cried with tears racing down his cheeks. “I didn’t mean to do it! I didn’t mean any of it! But it’s all my fault! They’re dead because of me!”

  “Shhhhhhhhh.” Hoxley calmed him, stroking his black hair as she talked into it. “Shhhhhhh it’s alright. I know you didn’t mean to do it.” His cries died down and she held him until he’d all but bawled himself out.

  “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to be mean to the prince. I don’t know why I did it. I wish I hadn’t done it.” He said as a whisper.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “What’s in the past is in the past, Robert.” She said. “I’m afraid there’s little that can be done. But as for the days ahead, you can help change things for the better by being the best version of yourself.”

  “How do I do that?” he asked, the tears finally slowing.

  “You can start by making things better here in the present. Right now, there’s a prince who thinks you hate him for no reason. He’s a long way from home. You, me, the shadow girl, Morell, Siouxsie, Ignatius, we all are. Maybe if you can help him feel a little less alone then maybe you will too. We all have differences. Look at me,” she said backing up to turnabout and flick her long tail. “I don’t wear dresses like girls do, I can’t wear hats like humans and witches do. My hair is woolen and doesn’t comb straight easily. But do you know what? That’s ok. I’m not made like anyone else. We’re all different and this is the way it’s supposed to be. I’m supposed to be what I am and that’s what I am. The best thing I can do is be the best me I can be. Some say I don’t look like a girl when I am. Some people will tell you hurtful things because maybe they’re hurting too and don’t know how to feel or act about it. The best thing we can do is be the best version of ourselves so that people want to be around us and share their hopes and dreams and loves. And should someone’s sour words hit our ears and try to get us down, you have to hold your chin high and know it’s not the end of the world because someone else is being a sour puss. Robert, I’ve known you for only a few summers now and I want you to know I understand what you feel and that if you ever feel down or bad about it you can always tell me and I promise to listen I want you to know…I see you. For everything you are and everything you can be. One day you’re going to use your fire to light this world and make it a little brighter for all of us.” With that, she took his pointed black hat and plopped it atop his head.

  “Do you really think so? You’re not telling me fibs to make me feel better?”

  “It’s true, Robert. All of it, but it won’t manifest until you make a change here.” She pointed a finger at his heart. “Whether you’re a faun or a witch or a prince or a thief or a girl made of shadows, that’s where it starts for all of us. We’re all different and that’s no reason for us not to get along. Master that, and you’ll have done your part.”

  “I wish you were the king of the world, Hoxley.”

  “Me? Why me?”

  “Everything would be wonderful and none of this would have happened to us.”

  “Perhaps. Bad things will always happen. Sometimes it’s our fault and sometimes things fall from the sky for no reason. But if we try to make the best of things and carry on, we’ll leave those bad times behind us. I know I’ll be better prepared to deal with those bad things if I have the magical Robert by my side. Your magic on top of that mountain was nothing short of breathtaking. If not for your help in fighting those terrible beasts I don’t know what we would have done.”

  “Siouxsie is the strong one. I just wanted to help, to keep the others away from danger.”

  “Then you’re already on the path to being the Robert I think everyone else will love.”

  “Thank you, Hoxley.” He finally smiled.

  “You’re very welcome.”

  “Where will we travel next?” he asked.

  “I suspect we’ll talk about that in the morning. We’ve traveled so far north that our destination is now as much to the south as it is to the west. Where is your sister?”

  “She’s out feeding her bats.”

  “Of course, she is. I’m going to be turning in soon.” she said. “You’re always welcome to stay but since there are nice warm witch-sized beds at the inn you brother has paid for you might want to use them.”

  “I think I will.” Said Robert. “Thank you for listening.”

  “I’m always here.” she said. “Get your sleep. We’re travelling again in the morning.” Robert nodded, grabbed his broom, and exited the stall. When he was out from under the crude roof, he launched into the night air and out of sight. Hoxley took a moment to manage the flood of emotions before taking another sip from her canteen. As she did so, more faint flutters could be heard just outside the reach of the light from the lantern.