Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
THE GIRL WHO FOLLOWED THE STARS
Mira has always been told curiosity was a dangerous thing. She had never believed it. At least,not until the night the stars began falling. It started with a sound.
Chime.
Mira lifted her head from her book.
She was sitting beside her bedroom window, wrapped in a blanket while rain whispered against the glass. Her candle flickered beside her, casting warm shadows across the room.
Chime.
There it was again. Mira frowned. It wasn’t the sound of a bell. It was softer. Almost like glass singing. She pushed aside the curtains. Outside, the village was completely still. Then she saw it. A tiny gold light drifted across the night sky. Mira’s eyes widened. Another appeared. Then another.
Hundred of tiny lights began moving between the clouds, falling slowly towards the forest beyond the village.
“Stars…”
She pressed her forehead against the window.
Stars didn’t fall like that. And they certainly didn’t disappear into the forest. Mira grabbed her cloak. Five minutes later, she was climbing out of her bedroom window. The forest was forbidden after sunset. Which,naturally, made Mira want to enter even more. She followed the strange golden lights through the trees, her boots crunching softly over the fallen leaves.
“Just five minutes,” she whispered.
Five minutes became ten. Then twenty. The deeper she walked, the stranger the forest became.The trees seemed taller. The air grew warmer. And the ordinary sounds of the nights slowly disappeared.
No crickets.
No owls.
Nothing.
Mira stopped.
“Okay….”
She looked around.
“This is probably where a sensible person turns around.”
A golden light floated past her nose.
Mira stared at it.
“....I’m not a sensible person.”
She followed. The light led her to the clearing. In the middle stood an enormous stone arch covered in silver lines. Mira had never seen it before. Yet somehow it looked familiar. She stepped closer. There were words carved into the stones. Mira brushed away the moss. Her breath caught.
WHEN THE LAST STAR FALLS,
THE VEIL WILL OPEN.
‘What does that mean?’
The moment she spoke, the forest trembled. The golden lights suddenly rushed towards the arch. Mira stumbled backwards. The vines began glowing. A deep blue light appeared inside the arch.
Then—
CRACK.
A doorway opened where there had been nothing but empty air. Beyond it was a world Mira had never imagined. A sky filled with enormous silver moons. Floating islands. Crystal towers. Waterfalls that seemed to pour upward into the clouds. And thousands of glowing stars drifting through the air like fireflies. Mira stood in complete wonder.
“The hidden kingdom….”
Then someone spoke behind her.
“You really shouldn’t be here.”
Mira froze. Slowly, she turned. A boy stood beneath the trees. He looked around her age, with dark, slightly messy hair and striking blue eyes that seemed almost silver beneath the moonlight. He was really handsome and cute. A black cloak hung over his shoulders, and a strange silver symbol glowed faintly on his hands. He looked annoyed….Very annoyed.
Mira blinked.
“Who are you”
“Someone who knows when to stay away from things that can kill him.”
She frowned.
“That’s a very dramatic way of saying hello.”
His expression didn’t change.
“And you’re very calm for someone standing beside a doorway to a forbidden kingdom.”
Mira glanced back at the glowing portal, then back at him.
“You’re the one who followed me.”
“I was following the stars.”
“So was i.”
“I noticed”
There was something strange about the way he looked at her. Not fear. Not anger. Recognition. Like he had seen her before. Mira folded her arms.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
The boy’s expression suddenly hardened.
“Because i know what happens when someone crosses that doorway”
“What?”
He stepped closer.
“Sometimes….”
His eyes moved towards the portal.
“....the kingdom let’s them come back.”
Mira swallowed.
“And sometimes?”
The boy looked directly at her.
“Sometimes it doesn’t.”
Behind them, the portal suddenly flashed. Powerful gust of wind swept through the clearing. Mira’s cloak flew behind her. The silver symbol on the boy’s hand began glowing brighter. And somewhere beyond the portal, something enormous roared. Mira stared into the magical kingdom. The boy grabbed her wrist.
“Run”
Mira looked at him.
“Why”
He glared at her.
“Do you want to die”
The roar came again much closer this time. Mira turned toward the portal. Two enormous golden eyes opened in the darkness beyond it.
And then—
The stars went out.
