Hope followed behind the Centaur, leaving the barn behind them as they walked under the moonlight. The sound of Chiron's hooves against the grass, somehowsoothed the girl's nerves.
She walked slightly behind, so she could stare at him without being noticed, at least that was what she thought. If she could have her phone with her, she would take one or two photos secretly for her personal doc.u.mentation.
After all, who would believe this honestly? Even if she showed it to someone else in her world. No one would believe the centaur that walked beside her was a real deal, an actual living, breathing creature.
Both of them fell into a deep silence, but this was a comfortable silence that Hope enjoyed. She didn't talk because Chiron said he would tell her a story about the stars and, as childish as it sounded, Hope was looking forward to it.
Knowing that there was someone looking after Kace and Lana, and knew Carina would take care of them. It was only a matter of time until both of them awake, this new understanding helped Hope relax a little.
"Do you know about the saying that the stars tell you stories about the past?" Chiron asked when they walked towards a big tree in the middle of the prairie.
Hope contemplated for a while before she answered, "I think I have heard something like that, but I don't know what thatmeans."
Chiron glanced at the young girl beside her, smiling warmly, and stopped walking. This made Hope stop as well.
"You must be curious how I know about what I said to you." Chiron gazed at the night sky. There were not many stars.
"You mean about Kace being my mate and about the resurrection? How do you know about all of that?" This was Serefina's trait that Hope was showing to the centaur. She didn't like to beat around the bush and asked away the question that she wanted to know whenever she had the chance.
Chiron raised his hand and pointed to one star that was brighter than the rest. "When you gaze up into the night sky, you are looking into the past. The bright star Sirius eight light years away, it means; the light hitting your eyes tonight has been traveling for eight years."
Hope was never a big fan of astronomy, but hearing how Chiron said it, it sounded interesting.
"There are many stars with ranges from sixty to one hundred twenty five light years away, when you see them, you are seeing the light from before you were born." Chiron put his hand down and gazed solemnly to the night sky. "That's how we know our history."
For Hope this was merely a fascinating theory about how people could see the light from the past, but for Chiron the centaur, they talked about this as if this was a matter of life and death.
However… "That is a beautiful theory, yet it doesn't answer my question," Hope stated carefully.
"There," Chiron pointed to another star in the sky, this one was not as bright as the first one he showedto Hope. "That star is what we call the guardian. The star of the guardian angel."
Hope watched the star with a dim light, this one was the farthest star from where she could see.
"That star had disappeared for centuries, but seventeen years ago, it made an appearance in the north sky," Chiron explained. "Over the years it's getting brighter."
Hope knew the story about the resurrection of the guardian angel, but she didn't know what the cause of their extinction was. "Do you know why the guardian angels are extinct?"
For other people, to know that they had a soul of another supernatural creature such as guardian angel, that was probably a mind-blowing revelation, but for Hope she had gotten used to this kind of information.
Especially since she was talking to a real centaur now, what else would she not believe? As crazy as it seemed, anything is possible from now on.
Chiron didn't answer her question immediately, he tilted his head and stared at the direction of the barn. "The answer is personal. You can ask your mate."
Hope concluded that the centaur knew more than he showed it to her. "I lost my friend, she is a witch."
"Witches hardly accepted here," Chiron said.
"Do you think the hunters captured her?" Hope's expression changed and panic surfaced vividly, overwhelmed her.
"The last hunter that survived from that night was sent home together with his friends' dead bodies, and no, I didn't see the witch among them," Chiron replied, his eyes were still staring at the barn.
"Do you know where I can find her? I came here to look for the priestess. Can you help me to meet her?" If the centaur didn't know how to find Lidya, maybe the priestess did. There was no harm of trying.
"She is there," the centaur pointed at the direction where mountain Uzustood on the horizon.
Hope was puzzled, "She is there?" But, the village was in the opposite direction… "Isn't she in the village?"
However, before Chiron could reply to her question, or Hope was able to demand for another explanation, there was an uproar from the direction of the barn.
It was a loud and vicious growl that Hope had not heard for these past two days.
"What happened there?" Hope started to run when Chiron had been a few meters away from her. With his physic, it was easy to outrun her.
From afar, Hope could hear Ethan and Ian were trying to talk something incoherently.
Chiron had reached the barn's door when Hope was still halfway there, but she managed to hear what the siblings were saying.
"She is here to help!"
"Calm down Kace!"
"Hope is fine!"
"She is fine!"
"Hope!"
Hope was out of breath when she reached the door and watched Kace who was being held back by Ethan and Ian, in his human form.
His bright ocean blue eyes focused on her when he caught the sight of the girl and, somehow, Hope could feel his angst and apprehension only by staring into his eyes.