The Boy Who Died at Midnight
Noah tightened his grip on Lena’s hand.
“Run.”
She didn’t ask questions.
She simply ran beside him as they dashed through Ravenshire Park, weaving between trees and empty walking paths.
“Who are they?” Lena shouted.
“I’ll explain later!”
“They’ve been hunting me for centuries.”
“They?”
“The people who made sure I stayed cursed.”
Lena’s heart pounded.
“This isn’t possible...”
“It wasn’t supposed to be.”
Behind them, the branches snapped.
Someone was following.
Fast.
Too fast.
Noah glanced over his shoulder.
Three figures dressed in long black cloaks moved through the forest without making a sound.
Their faces were hidden beneath silver masks.
“The Keepers...” Noah whispered.
“They found me.”
The two reached an abandoned greenhouse at the edge of the park.
Noah quickly pulled Lena inside.
The old glass walls were covered in vines, making it difficult to see from outside.
He locked the rusted door.
Lena bent over, trying to catch her breath.
“Now...”
She looked up at him.
“...start explaining.”
Noah leaned against the wall.
“Three hundred years ago, I wasn’t cursed by accident.”
“I was chosen.”
“Chosen for what?”
He reached into his coat and pulled out the old pocket watch.
“My grandmother gave me this.”
“She told me never to let it leave my side.”
“I didn’t listen.”
“What happened?”
“I opened it.”
Lena frowned.
“It opens?”
“It wasn’t supposed to.”
He carefully pressed a tiny button hidden beneath the watch.
Click.
The back cover opened.
Inside was an ancient symbol carved into silver.
A circle surrounded by twelve stars.
At its center...
A single eye.
The moment Lena looked at it...
Her head exploded with pain.
She gasped.
Images flashed through her mind.
A burning castle.
A boy screaming beneath a blood-red moon.
A woman crying as she handed him the watch.
Then...
Darkness.
Lena stumbled backward.
“What...”
“...was that?”
Noah quickly closed the watch.
“You saw something?”
She nodded, still shaking.
“I don’t understand it.”
“Neither do I.”
Outside...
The cloaked figures surrounded the greenhouse.
One of them stepped forward.
He removed his silver mask.
His eyes were completely black.
“Noah Blackwood.”
His voice echoed unnaturally.
“You’ve hidden long enough.”
Noah’s expression hardened.
“What do you want?”
“The girl.”
“No.”
“You know the rules.”
“No one is allowed to remember you.”
Lena stepped beside Noah.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
The man smiled.
“Then you’ll die with him.”
Suddenly...
Every window of the greenhouse shattered.
Glass exploded into the air.
The three cloaked hunters rushed inside.
Noah grabbed Lena’s wrist.
“Stay behind me!”
One hunter lunged forward.
Noah dodged the attack, but another blocked the exit.
The third raised his hand.
Dark shadows swirled around his fingers.
Lena stared in horror.
“Magic...”
“It’s real.”
The shadow shot toward Noah like a spear.
Without thinking...
Lena jumped in front of him.
“No!”
The shadow struck her chest.
A blinding white light burst from her body.
The greenhouse shook violently.
The hunters were thrown backward as if struck by an invisible force.
The windows shattered again.
The ground cracked beneath their feet.
The white light wrapped around Lena like glowing wings before disappearing.
Silence.
Noah looked at her in disbelief.
“You...”
One of the hunters slowly stood.
His eyes were filled with fear.
“It can’t be...”
“The Guardian has awakened.”
The hunters immediately retreated into the shadows without another word.
Within seconds...
They were gone.
Lena looked down at her trembling hands.
“What just happened?”
Noah stared at her, speechless.
For three hundred years, he had searched for someone who could break his curse.
He had never imagined...
She would possess a power even older than the curse itself.
