The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

In the Dead of Night

[Sophia]

Later that same night while I was trying to sleep, I heard my door open quietly and felt my shoulder being prodded.

"Sophie... Sophie...?"

"Hey..... are you still asleep?"

I groaned and turned over, opening one eye to see a blurry outline of the twins staring at me.

"Hm?"

"Hey, sorry... we didn't mean to wake you, but..."

"Can we... talk about something?"

They leaned back, giving me some space to sit up in my bed as I rubbed my eyes.

"Yeah, sure. What is it? Wait... did you come all the way here from the tree house? H-how did you know we live here?"

"Oh, Apollo showed us this place before."

"Yeah, he said we could come by any time if we needed anything. Or if you don't come to the tree house, we can find you here. Didn't he tell you that?"

"...Oh, yeah. Sorry, I don't know how I forgot that... Um... Okay, so why did you come up here then?" I asked.

"You see... we came here... to ask for your help."

"Um... with what?"

One of the boys reached into his pocket and pulled something out, unfurling his fingers to show me the Moonflower. The last one they had. Were they carrying this with them the entire time?

"You remember... back in the caves when we told you about the Moonflowers?"

"They used to grow everywhere, lighting up all the tunnels, until one day... they were just... gone."

"Someone... or, I guess... something destroyed them all. And... this was the last one we could save."

"We thought about replanting it, but then we thought whatever killed them in the first place would just come back for this one."

"And now that we're up here on the surface, we've been trying to find new spots to replant it in. We're hoping to figure out a way to grow them up here and restore everything we lost."

"Okay... so... why haven't you?" I asked.

"Because the Moonflowers can only grow in pure darkness," they answered simultaneously.

"It's what makes them so special. Normal plants need light to grow, but this one needs the opposite. You know... since they glow and all, they don't need light."

"Yeah, in fact any amount of light or even direct sunlight will instantly kill it. We haven't been able to find a good spot for this one because there's too much light."

"Huh... okay. So... why haven't you told us about this before?" I asked.

The twins glanced at each other.

"Well... because you're the only one whose seen them."

"We weren't sure about telling Teri and Apollo because... we weren't sure we could trust them. Not at first."

"And... you promised to protect us. That's why we came to you."

"Wait... you want to do this now?"

"Yes."

"We thought we'd have more time, but..."

"We're not sure how much longer the Moonflower will last like this. We need to replant it today or else we'll lose it forever."

"Plus... the forest looks..... really scary at night. And Apollo already told us that it's dangerous to go out there at night. That's... also why it took us so long to get here..."

"So we thought... since you know the forest so well... you could come with us and protect us in case something happens."

"Please?"

I looked down at the Moonflower in hand. It... certainly looked weaker than it did the first time I saw it. I didn't look into their eyes, but I glanced briefly at the twins' faces. I could tell... they were desperate. Despite my tiredness, I couldn't find the will to say no. I sighed.

"Okay... I'll help you. We'll make it quick. Meet me downstairs, and be quiet."

"Thanks, Sophie."

The twins crept out of the room, leaving me sitting on the edge of my bed wondering what the hell was I getting myself into? Was I really about to risk our own safety to replant a tiny flower?

Yeah... yeah, I was.

I could tell by the sound of their voice and the looks on their faces that this Moonflower... meant a lot to them. I shook the rest of sleep out of me and got ready, packing a few extra items in my satchel just in case...

The twins were waiting for me outside in the backyard, seemingly unbothered by the cold night air.

"Okay, so... do you guys have an idea about where you want to plant it?" I asked.

"Well, we tried looking for spots in the past, but none of them have worked."

"We just need to find an area that's in complete darkness where no light can touch it."

"Okay, got it. Let's get going then. I... might have a few ideas. Just follow me."

We climbed through the fence and headed down into the grove. I've only seen the forest in darkness a few times, and it doesn't get any better. It's just as creepy and eerie as you might think. When we made it to the tree house, I looked around for any suitable locations around the edge, but after some more thinking, I knew it wouldn't be good enough. I dug the courage to tell the twins we needed to go in further where the trees were denser. I knew of a few smaller areas that would have enough shade, but being out here in the darkness would make it much harder to find. We walked through and through, the twins on either side of me. They had better eyesight here in the darkness and could see everything easily. I have good night vision myself, but out here, I was... struggling a bit. I'm not sure how long we walked, it felt like ages. The few sounds I heard were our own footsteps crunching on the course first and dry leaves along with crickets chirping in the distance.

"Sophie... how much further are we gonna go?"

"If you wanna keep your flower in complete darkness, we're gonna need a good spot. Even though there's always plenty of shade here in the daytime, shadows move with the sun. I want to make sure no matter what direction the light is coming from, it won't get anywhere near the Moonflower."

"Yeah... good thinking."

We continued on. I tried to force myself not to get caught up in the creepy atmosphere, but... it was hard to ignore. Eventually, I saw something come into view and I brought the twins to come over and take a look. There was a large bush standing in-between two trees. There was a gap underneath the bush and after looking around it a little more, I told the twins that this would be the spot. I let them start digging a hold underneath the gap as I pulled some supplies out of my bag. I took out some string and tied it around both trees, just across the bush. Then I pulled out a long scrap of fabric and hung it over the string, the rest of it draping over the bush. A sort of cheap tent that would give the flower extra shade in case the bush wouldn't suffice. The twins finished planting and we all stepped back to admire our handiwork. It... actually didn't look too shabby. And even the twins believed that this would be enough. I was just relieved that we could get out of this forest so I could go back to bed.

As the twins thanked me and talked about coming back here often to check on the flower's status, my ears suddenly perked up.

The crickets stopped chirping.

The twins noticed it too and we were surrounded by a sudden silence. A very uncomfortable silence.

My arm drifted over to the opening of my satchel. We all looked around anxiously. Everything was still.

"Sophie?"

I held my hand up to quiet them.

"I think we should get home now. Just... stay quiet."

The twins nodded and we started moving slowly across the ground, heading in the direction of the tree house. I couldn't be sure how far we had gone, but I had this sense... that we needed to hurry. The twins stayed right behind me, eyes darting everywhere, looking for something they couldn't see. I could sense their fear, but I refused to let it get to me.

We heard a noise.

All of us froze.

"Sophie, what was that?"

"Shh..."

We stayed silent, listening to everything we could hear. But we heard nothing more. The twins got closer to me, leaning towards my shoulders. I tried to inhale steadily, but I exhaled shakily.

"C'mon, this way." I whispered. The twins crept behind me. I tried not to think, but all my senses were wide awake now. I hoped that... whatever it was I thought it was... wasn't.

We continued walking, but at a much slower pace. Until the twins suddenly grabbed my shoulders, pulling me to a stop.

"What the- What are you doing-"

"There."

I saw their faces. Stricken with terror as they stared at something way ahead of them with wide eyes. They were pointing to something in the distance. I tried to look where they were looking, and I suddenly froze with them. A cold shiver ran up my spine. Despite the fact that we were surrounded by darkness, there was an even darker shadow standing just before us.

It sensed us.

It was looking right at us.

And then it growled at us.

The twins and I shuddered as it opened its eyes, looking directly at us. Nothing but two deep red slits glaring straight through us and turning our blood cold.

"Sophie...?"

The arm that I hovered over my satchel instinctively shoved itself inside and I gripped something tightly, pulling it out slowly, hoping the monster before us wouldn't notice. We all heard it step forward, the shadow clearly moving and we all took a step back, too afraid to take our eyes off of it. The creature took another step towards us and barked.

There was a flash of bright light in my hand, and in an instant, I was holding a sword made entirely of blue crystal.

"Run!" I shouted to the twins.

The creature bolted and I swung my sword at it. The twins behind me bolted and ran as quickly as they could. The creature howled and barked at me as I swung my sword again and again, before I finally turned and followed the twins, pushing my legs as far as they could go. I heard the creature howl again as it picked itself up and started coming after us. The shot of adrenaline pushed me forward and I caught up to the twins in no time.

"Sophie, what is that?!"

"Just keep running!"

I glanced to my right and saw the face of the creature catching up to us. I took another swing at it and managed to push it back.

"Keep going, keep going!" I yelled to the twins as they took off.

The creature jumped around me, glaring its red eyes straight into mine. It tried to swipe at me and I jumped back, swinging my sword again and the creature took the hit. I slashed again and again, making the creature jump back. I quickly pulled myself around a tree and sprinted away, catching up to the twins again as we all heard a loud howl from behind us.

We raced through the darkness, eventually finding the tree house and sprinting away from it. Through the grove, up the hill and we all crashed into a familiar wall. The wire fence. I told the twins to be quiet as we clambered through the hole and squeezed into the backyard, where we all fell onto the grass, breathing heavily and feeling all our strength give out.

The sword in my hand retracted with a flash of light and it became nothing more than a blue crystal, glowing softly within the darkness. I looked at it for a moment while trying to catch my breath before shoving it back into my bag. When we all finally caught our breath, I brought the twins inside, reminding them again to be quiet. After calming them down and assuring they'd be safe here, I helped them get settled on the couch, just for the night. As I sneaked upstairs, hoping Apollo wasn't awake to hear any of what had happened, I noticed a strange pain on the side of my stomach. I touched the area, noticing a spot of blood on my fingers and cursed as I quickly stepped into the bathroom. Luckily, it was nothing more than a light scratch, so after cleaning the wound and slapping a bandage on it, I finally went back to bed. But it took me a long time to actually get to sleep.