Page 76 of Chasing Stripes

Jade nodded emphatically beside her sister. “We smelled them!”

Bartek crouched to their level, his tiger temporarily retreating. “What did they smell like?” he asked immediately.

“Like old books and something... burned,” Lily offered, her small nose wrinkling.

“And sad,” Jade added with the certainty only a child could possess. “They smelled sad.”

The adults exchanged confused glances. Hudson raised an eyebrow at Gloria, who shrugged slightly.

As Artemis carefully opened the journal, a folded letter fell out, addressed to her in her mother’s handwriting. The date on the letter showed it had been written just days before her parents’ accident. Bartek watched emotions cascade across her face as she unfolded it.

“‘My darling daughter,’“ she read aloud, voice trembling, “‘if you’re reading this, then the soul-tether we suspected has manifested. There are things about our family you must know before the eclipse...’“

She looked up, shock written across her features. “My mother knew about the possibility years ago.”

“How could she have known?” Bartek wondered, moving closer to provide silent support as Artemis clutched the letter.

Before she could continue reading, a strange sensation rippled through the air. The fine hairs on Bartek’s arms stood on end, and the golden marks across his skin began to pulse with an uncomfortable rhythm. Outside, the normal sounds of the forest—chirping crickets, rustling leaves—fell abruptly silent.

A faint auroral glow appeared in the sky beyond their windows, visible even through the glass.

“Something’s happening to the town’s magical field,” Hudson observed, moving to the window in alarm.

Throughout both the main house and private wing, magical items began activating without prompting. A protective charm hanging by the door spun rapidly. The enchanted clock on the mantle chimed despite the incorrect hour. Even the twins’ small collection of magical toys in the adjoining room began to glow and move.

Artemis and Bartek’s soul-tether brightened and pulsed rapidly, almost painfully, in response to the disruption. Golden light flared between them as if attempting to reinforce their connection against external influence.

“Someone’s testing the boundaries,” Gloria said grimly. “Preparing.”

Bartek reached for Artemis’s hand, their fingers interlacing as they shared a look of determined resolve. Whatever approached, they would face it together.

SIXTY-SEVEN

Bartek woke suddenly hours later, instantly alert. Something had disturbed his sleep—a sound, a scent, or perhaps just the primal instinct of a predator sensing danger. The space beside him in the bed lay empty, the sheets still warm from Artemis’s body.

“Artemis?” he called softly, reaching across the mattress.

No answer came. The golden connection indicated Artemis was somewhere distant, the pull creating an almost physical ache in his chest.

Bartek leaped from the bed, tiger senses extending to their limits. The house remained eerily silent—none of the usual small sounds of a family at rest. No creaking floorboards, no distant snoring from Hudson, no midnight wanderings from the twins.

“Artemis!” he called more loudly, stalking toward the balcony.

The twins appeared suddenly at his bedroom door, their matching faces pinched with fear.

“Outside,” Jade whispered, pointing toward the forest. “The bad shadows made your gold string hurt.”

The gold string—they could see the soul-tether. Bartek hadn’t realized the connection was visible to others, but children’s magic perception often surpassed adults’.

He grabbed pants and shoved his feet into boots, not bothering with a shirt. The golden marks covering his torso and arms glowed brighter as adrenaline surged through his system. One glance out the window confirmed his fears—the protective wards around the property had been breached. Magical barriers designed to keep intruders out hung in tatters, their ethereal structure visible to his enhanced sight.

“Stay here,” he ordered the twins, heading for the door.

“No!” they cried in unison, small faces stubborn. “We help Aunt Artemis!”

Bartek growled in frustration but had no time to argue. He activated the pride’s emergency alert system with a quick gesture over the carved panel near his door, then focused on the soul-tether pulling him toward the forest.

Outside in the moonlit yard, strange symbols had been burned into the grass—circular patterns surrounding runic characters Bartek didn’t recognize. The acrid smell of magical burning stung his nostrils.

---