One of the good things about being a freelancer was the ability to choose your own hours and place of work. Sadie had rolled out of bed around noon. It had taken her about an hour to get dressed, and it was after one before she arrived at a little cafe full of sunlight and inspiration.She picked out a booth in the corner, curled up into her pile of cozy sweaters, ordered a chai tea, and clicked open her laptop.
Six hours later, the table in front of her was splattered with liquid and had visible crumbs. Her last drink was cooling in front of her as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
A notification flashed onto her screen. It was an email from her client. They couldn't expect her to answer it at this hour. The once comfy chair was starting to make her back ache. She needed to go home. Gingerly, she closed her laptop, left a few dollars on the table, and walked out.
She'd made this walk home dozens of times, but tonight something felt different. It was quieter, for one thing. There weren't many people around. Then, suddenly, it wasn't quiet any more. The noise was very faint at first.
Click.
Clickclick.
Click.
Slowly, Sadie glanced around, looking for whatever could be in the shadows. She'd heard the stories. She'd seen the news. Something dropped in her stomach even before she saw the flash of movement in a nearby alleyway. She started walking again, faster now. It was the wrong choice.
Clickclickclickclick.
Clickclickclickclick.
She looked back again. It was a spider. It was a giant spider as big as she was. Lamplight reflected off of its thick black carapace and its stark white mammalian fangs. She ran.
Clickclickclickclick.
She pumped her arms. She swerved between cars. It was hard. She wasn't usually athletic, so after a few seconds her breath was starting to burn. Then, her boots caught on a crack in the sidewalk and she went flying straight into the ground. She was barely thinking at this point. Her mind was a screaming blur of wordless panic and adrenaline, but something on the sidewalk managed to catch her eye. It was round, and lovely blue green on a strand of silver, and it was... glowing? Without really thinking, she picked it up, and that was when she began to glow, too.
The outfit didn't really register as much as the fact that she suddenly felt much better did. She got back up again and started running again. This time was different. This time, blocks were flying by like they were nothing. She could breathe properly. This was all right after all. She turned a corner and paused to listen
Clickclick.
Click.
Okay. All right. Not terrible. She ran another block, and... silence.
Breathing heavily, she put her back to a nearby brick wall an slid down it. It was only then that she got a closer look at what she was holding. It had holes in it, like a primitive instrument, and it was on a silver chain. It was very smooth and fit perfectly into her palms.
Her palms, which were white. Gloves? She took a moment to check out her outfit. She was wearing a loose skirt with a smattering of scales, and a bodice with a curled texture, and pearls, and the gloves, of course. There were symbols on her bracelets and on her shoes. It wasn't something she'd seen a lot, but... Neptune. She just knew it was the symbol of Neptune.
This was all very pretty, and it had gotten her out of trouble with that spider thing, which was nice, but still. She stared at her warped reflection in the instrument, the ocarina, that strange mental nudge told her.
Her reflection's brows knitted together. Her reflection blinked.
"...What?"
Word Count: 643
