THE GHOST OF WARBOROUGH HALL

"Life is the first gift, love the second, and understanding the third."

– Marge Piercy, 1936 -

CHAPTER SEVEN:

I stood rooted to the spot where I had met the Ghost. I looked down at the mud on which she had stepped on, and it looked like it was undisturbed.

Impossible!

The fog had curiously dissipated, but the very air around me chilled me to my bones. I looked up to see the low moon winking in and out of angry, dark clouds. Soon I felt fat droplets of rain fall upon my face. I was about to run for the manor when I saw a scrunched up piece of paper wedged between the branches of a yew tree. I pocketed it to examine later.

Suddenly, a gust of wind nearly knocked me flat on the ground. I sputtered, and tried to stand up, my eyes stinging as the icy rain got on my lashes. Another gust of wind blew, this time blowing my hair sideways, as if a great bird had flown above me towards the direction of the park. I squinted, but amidst the swirl of sleety rain I only saw a flash of blue before it was swallowed up by the dark.

I ran in the direction of the park, and immediately found myself ankle deep in a puddle. I had taken no more than three steps when I slipped in the mud. I cried out as I fell to my hands and knees.

The air around me sparked with an invisible static.

I knew I could not go further into the woods. Wherever that dragon went, it was already long gone. I crawled back to my feet and took one final look at the darkness before I walked back to the manor, shoulders hunched against the rain and the cold.

When I got back to my bedroom, I immediately turned the bath on. I got out of my sopping wet clothes and dropped them unthinkingly to the floor, rubbing my shivering body for warmth. I sneezed as the heady steam battled with the cold still clutching at my head. Once the tub was full, I immediately went in and submerged myself, the water spilling over the sides. I breathed in the scent of roses from the foams around me and I soon stopped shivering, my muscles relaxing in the water.

But my head was still full of questions.

I took a deep breath and went under the water, blocking out all sight and sound so that I was left with just my thoughts.

First, there was the question of dragons. I had seen its form, but not seen the creature itself. Was I hallucinating? Ghosts are easier to explain away, but something as large as a dragon? All evidence, all events – it pointed to their existence.

Perhaps they are real, after all.

I emerged from the water to take a breath, and then went under again.

Silence enveloped me.

The ghost. I could no longer tell if the figure I saw – and spoke with – was solid or incorporeal. In the fog that surrounded us it was hard to tell, but I could clearly remember those blue eyes. And that face… so gaunt and pale she appeared to me like a wraith from the underworld, her voice as frail as the winter sun.

Miss Hofferson? I had asked.

Yes, and no, she had replied.

What did she mean by that?

I emerged to take a breath, and went under once again.

She had disappeared, almost in front of my eyes.

Just like the governess – the ghost disappeared under her nose too, that day at the meadows.

How could she have disappeared in front of my eyes?

I heard the lullaby in my ear. Just a tune, no words. The lullaby I heard the first night I slept at Warborough Hall. The lullaby I heard at the Portrait corridor. The lullaby that the Ghost was humming.

The Ghost.

A doppelganger?

A poltergeist?

Or Miss Hofferson herself?

I reached back up for air and drowsily leaned back against the tub. I sniffed back a sneeze that threatened to explode. And then I remembered something.

The paper!

I wiped the soap from my eyes and looked around. To my horror, I found my coat drenched and lying in a puddle of rose-scented water. I scrambled and nearly slipped as I reached for it, and as I picked it up I was dismayed to find it absolutely dripping wet. I carefully took the piece of paper from one of the pockets and found it stuck to something. I peeled it off, and the blood drained from face when I realised what it was stuck to.

It was the packet of dried grass, from the curiosity box.

Ah crap.

Miss Hofferson is going to kill me!

I very carefully laid both the scrunched up piece of paper and the paper packet on the sink to dry, and then climbed back in the water as I cursed at my clumsiness. My god, if I wasn't the most thick-headed girl in the whole of Earth…

I went back in the water for another hour, stewing in my thoughts and self-abhorrence, and I would have been happy to stay there for another hour, but my skin had started to prune and the water far too lukewarm for comfort. I stepped out and wrapped myself in a lush bathrobe. I prodded the pieces of paper to check how it's drying up, and winced when I saw that it was starting to wrinkle and curl.

The housekeeper was going to be knocking at my door any moment, I was sure, so I decided to prepare for the inevitable summons. I dressed quickly and waited. The rain had once more turned to mist, and the sun was blearily blinking down upon the grounds. It seemed as if the whole world had an underwater clarity to it.

I sneezed before I rubbed my eyes. Reality seemed to have a strange hold over Warborough Hall.

I sat in my room and waited. And waited. And waited. But Astrid did not send for me that morning, or the next, or even the next. Neither the housekeeper nor the gardener would tell me where she was. Not even Lisa knew. All they told me was that "the Lady would be back any time now", so I "best stay put and wait."

And so I could not ask her about the dragon or the Ghost, or the curiosity box and her story. All I could do was decipher the notebook I found in the box and read up on dragons and the occult and transcribe what was left of our last session while I waited for her to return. Once I went to the village to snoop around, but was disappointed when I found the older residents - those who would have known Miss Hofferson in her youth - extremely reserved when asked about what they knew of "the family" and "the big house".

When the scrunched up piece of paper dried up, I was dismayed to find that while there was writing on it, the water had made it largely illegible. The damp had warped and diluted the sentences beyond recognition. All I could make out were a few S's here and there.

The packet, on the other hand, was a different story. The grass had turned to mush and stained the packet once it had dried considerably. I sighed miserably: It was beyond saving. I would just have to bite the bullet and face Miss Hofferson's wrath when she finds out.

I sought Paul to ask him to identify the plant within. He took a smidgen and rubbed it between his fingers, sniffed it, and raised his eyebrows. He told me that it was a type of wildflower- and there were patches of it growing everywhere in the woods.

"But you won't find this in my garden", he said proudly to me, and it made me wonder why Astrid's mother kept dried wildflower in her curiosity box.

I seemed to have also developed a heady cold, but it was nothing that I could die from. And so on days when the lead-coloured sky did not empty its heavy bowels upon us, I would walk around the grounds and the woods, stuffed nose and all, as I tried to trace the path that the Ghost must have taken, or the direction that the bird-like dragon had flown. I revelled in the atmosphere that surrounded me, for there was a thick fog that descended once more upon the estate. Once or twice, when I was so deep in the woods that I had to squint to see the path, I could almost believe in ghosts and shadows moving in the swirling mist. I sometimes heard unnamed sounds all around me, only to find a deer stopping in its tracks to regard me curiously.

Perhaps the most interesting things that happened in Miss Hofferson's absence were the feelings of being watched and followed. Outside (and especially when I was alone in the woods), I would sometimes feel something large following me. Mind you, it wasn't really a foreboding feeling. Quite the opposite, actually. I felt like it was protecting me. As if the entity was a friend. There was one time when I burped loudly, thinking that I was all alone in front of the lake, when I felt something nuzzle my back as the air around me sparked with a strange static quality. I swear I almost heard a snigger.

It was different inside, however. I felt like I was being watched by a darker, more curious entity. It made me uncomfortable, though it didn't feel entirely sinister. Just…curiouser. I would sometimes be bent over my writing desk and feel the prickly breath of somebody looking over my shoulder, only to look around and find that I was all alone in my room. I would walk past hallways and hear doors closing behind me. Footsteps would follow me. The lullaby would entangle itself in my web of dreams so that I awoke every morning with the tune on my lips.

I also welcomed these frightening events, believe it or not. Don't ask me why though. Maybe I was just going mad.

It had started to rain once again on the fifth night as I sat in my room, my feet pointed towards the heater. I was thoroughly engrossed in the blank scraps of paper from the curiosity box, trying to figure out what it was for. I tried putting it against heat, but no invisible writing appeared. It was rather odd for these scraps to be part of the collection – it felt like it didn't belong there. My next step was trying to figure out if it was torn from the old notebook that lay open in my other hand, or…

My phone suddenly rang loudly from my desk.

"Son of a -!" I dropped the scrap of paper in surprise. It felt like my heart was thudding straight out of my chest. For a moment, I stared at the phone as if it was an alien thing, since I had pretty much given up on ever getting any mobile coverage here and so had forgotten that I even had a phone. I eventually came to my senses and scrambled to my feet, answering it upon its sixth ring.

"Hello?"

"… Ruffnut?"

Oh my god! "Fishlegs!" I yelled through my stuffed nose. "Holy crap Fishlegs your phone call got through! I can't believe -"

"What? Can… can you say that again?" He shouted. The line started to crack.

"I said: I can't believe your phone call went through!"

"You're kind of breaking up Ruff," he interrupted. "Listen, I just wan… say I g.. your letter, and I…" Silence.

"What? Hey! Are you still there?"

"… and it's amaz… th… I need to do more research on… their son was…"

Then the line went dead. I stared at my phone in disbelief. I was positive he was just about to tell me what he had found out about the Haddocks – and about the son no less – and the line just had to go dead? I couldn't believe it! I screeched in frustration and started swearing at my phone. No! Piece of shit. This can't be happening!

There was an urgent knock at my door. I walked over to it still swearing and yanked it open.

"What do you want - Oh, sorry Lisa."

The nurse had stepped back in alarm at my outburst. "I heard you shouting and thought that something had happened."

I sighed. "Sorry. Um, yeah. Nothing happened. I just got a phone call, from a good friend, and he was just about to tell me something awesome, but the reception here is so bad that he got cut off before he even got to the good parts."

"Oh dear. I'm surprised you even received his call."

I shrugged.

"I guess it was a very important phone call?"

"Yep, I'm… pretty bummed out."

She smiled sympathetically. "If he's serious, he will ask again. Don't you worry."

I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion. And then I realised what she was implying. "Oh no! Oh, god, no. He's just a friend."

"Oh!" She exclaimed, blushing at her mistake. "I'm so sorry." She looked at me apologetically. "If it is any consolation, I also came by to inform you that Miss Hofferson has returned."

I immediately perked up, then sneezed. My heady cold had not gotten better. "When did she get back?" I asked thickly. "Will she see me now?"

"She just arrived about half an hour ago, however she is tired from her journey. I will assume she will ask to see you tomorrow."

I frowned in disappointment. "Well, alright. Did she say where she went?"

"She did not say."

"Can you say where she went?"

"No."

"You can't, or won't? Or may not?" I added as an afterthought.

"Can't," she repeated. "I honestly do not know where she went."

I squinted my eyes at her, but decided to let it go. I had no choice but to believe her.

I closed the door after our conversation with more questions in my head than ever before. I looked back down at the phone in my hands and wondered how I would be able to get hold of Fish again.

As Lisa predicted, Miss Hofferson called for me the following morning, though at a later hour than usual. We met at the library, and upon entering I was greatly surprised to see her looking so much more fragile in the short period of time that I did not see her. She looked thinner, her lips chapped. Her skin looked taut over her bones, and she seemed to be exhausted. Despite all these, though, her eyes looked more alive than before. It was as if she had been revitalised by her absence… or perhaps I was finally, truly seeing her soul, revealed by what old age is stripping away.

"I apologise for my sudden absence, Miss Thorston," she said once I was seated.

"It's okay, I was kept busy," I settled in the couch a little more comfortably. "Where did you go?"

"I will tell you later. Did anything happen while I was away?"

Where do I even start?

"I think I've finally seen a dragon," I began, my eyes watching her carefully for amusement or shock.

But her face, instead, brightened. "Indeed?"

I hesitated. "Well, let me rephrase that. I think I saw a dragon. It was big, and bird-like... it could have been blue but it was much too dark to be sure. And I only saw its silhouette... and, uh… yeah. No." I bit my lip. "I… haven't actually seen the dragon. Just thought I saw one."

"Ah. But you must have seen a Deadly Nadder."

"Or maybe it's all in my head."

She gazed at me. "You still do not believe?"

I was silent. I did not know how to answer that – I was still far too conflicted inside.

"It is funny, is it not?" She murmured. "The human mind, once conditioned, will find it hard to let learned knowledge go, even when presented with truth. The only thing that never truly changes is instinct in its deepest, purest form." She leaned closer to me. "I cannot tell you if what you had seen was a dragon or not. Only you can answer this. But if all else fails, if everything else does not make sense – trust in your instinct. Trust in yourself."

I let her words swirl in my head for a while.

She sat back. "Anything else?"

I paused. "Yeah," I responded after a while. "You were there."

This time she raised an eyebrow. "Indeed?"

"You tell me."

She pressed her lips together amusedly.

"Was it you?"

"Yes, and no."

Her answer knocked back the sarcastic response that I had readied on my lips. I blinked at her. "I… beg your pardon?"

"I have a knack for sleepwalking, Miss Thorston. Always did ever since I was a young girl. So if I told you she was me, would you believe me?"

I paused. "I… suppose?"

"But?"

I sighed. "But even if you had sleepwalked, you would not have gotten far."

"Why?"

I gestured to the walking stick leaning against her armchair.

"Would it be better if I told you she was a ghost?"

I hesitated, and she hummed.

"Think about it, Miss Thorston."

I groaned. "I hate riddles."

She chuckled. "May I ask you something? You will sooner believe in ghosts than dragons?"

A "no" was ready upon my lips, but then I stopped myself, because it was not the truth. I was more ready to believe in ghosts than dragons. It was, perhaps, because it was the more probable of the two.

And so I replied a "yes", and she hummed once more. In disappointment? In amusement? I was not sure.

"Think about it," she repeated.

I leaned forward and fixed her an intent look. "And you, Miss Hofferson? Will you tell me where you went to this past six days?"

"I went all around the country," she readily responded. "Stormfly was feeling a little moody – she desperately wanted to fly with me. And I had to check on the welfare of the dragons in the surrounding areas."

"Stormfly?"

"Oh, I apologise. Stormfly - my dragon."

"And there are dragons... in surrounding areas?"

"Yes."

I blinked, and she looked back at me, daring me to challenge her. I decided to be wise and kept my mouth shut. I had, after all, seen the silhouette of a huge creature not a week ago…

Miss Hofferson drew the shawls closer to her thin body. "Shall we begin our session? We have lost enough time as it is."

She took a breath, and barely had I poised my pen upon my notebook, when she began to weave her magic once more.

"Hiccup led Astrid by the hand through the woods, and she soon found herself standing in the clearing in the middle of the park – the very same clearing where she first spoke to the boy. She put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows impatiently.

"Wait here, he said. He cupped a hand over his mouth, but then lowered it again as he self-consciously looked back at her. And don't laugh.

"As long as you do not do anything stupid, she reassured him. What are -?

"Her voice was cut off abruptly by the sound of Hiccup yowling into the woods. It was horrible, and unbelievably loud, and she pressed her hands to her ears to subdue the sound until the echoes had ceased completely.

"Hiccup, if you had told me you wanted to sing I wouldn't have agreed to come here.

"I wasn't singing! He said prickly. I was calling Toothless.

"Yeah, right, and that was supposed to be a dragon's call? You sounded like a cat in heat!

"I did not!

"Did to.

A crash was suddenly heard from nearby, and Astrid immediately whipped around in the direction of the sound.

"What… was that?

"Hiccup grinned proudly. That would be Toothless! Hey bud! He walked towards a tree and looked up. Come on down, bud, she's a friend.

"Astrid looked up at the boughs, but could see nothing. Who are you talking to? She asked incredulously.

"Hiccup looked back at her. That would be Toothless. You see him? That big black reptile up there. More like an overgrown cat though than a dragon if you ask me… ow! He yelped when a branch suddenly fell on top of his head. Hey! Not funny! He shouted up at… nothing Astrid could see.

"Astrid looked back at him as if he had completely lost his mind. Hiccup… there's nothing there.

"His grin faltered. You can't see him?

"What is it exactly am I supposed to be seeing?

"I told you, that big black dragon up there.

"Astrid squinted up and, seeing nothing, gave Hiccup an exasperated look. Is this some kind of a joke?

"No, he said faintly. No it's not.

"Astrid glared at him and clenched her fists. But when she saw him gravely looking back at her, she dropped her hands to her side. Hiccup? There's… there's nothing up there.

"This can't be, he muttered, looking back up the tree. You're with me, and you're still young. You should be able to see him.

"Astrid slowly moved closer to him, her eyes betraying her confusion and fear. Hiccup?

"He sighed. He appeared to listen to something, sighed once more, then looked at Astrid. It's nothing. I'm just… I'm just being... you know, the usual.

"Astrid shrugged. Don't worry, she said, trying to cheer him up, I've gotten so used to your weirdness, that it'll be weird if you suddenly stopped being weird.

"The comment earned her a small smile.

"However, for some reason not entirely related to the boy, she felt chilled, anxious… and a little jumpy. There was a voice in the back of her mind telling her to run away, to run as fast as she could, for there was a wild creature yet unnamed and very dangerous lurking nearby. She fought to push the feeling down.

"Let's go home, she murmured, her eyes darting here and there, looking for the danger that she could feel.

"Hiccup was completely oblivious to her anxiety. Yeah, he mumbled, Alright. They started walking back to the manor, and in the silence Astrid thought she could hear the soft crunch of footsteps following them. She stopped and looked back.

"Did you hear that?

"Hear what?

Silence.

"Astrid's blue eyes scanned the woods, and after a minute she started walking again, though Hiccup noticed that she was walking faster this time, and wondered if she saw a glimpse of the dragon. He tried to keep up.

"Astrid?

"It's nothing, she muttered. I guess I'm just a little jumpy.

"They walked on, but just as the manor came into view, she heard a crash behind them. She spun around, wishing heartily that she had taken her axe with her, when a huge, black shadow flickered faintly in the sunlight and appeared to bound straight at her.

"Astrid shrieked in surprise, backed away, and stumbled. Hiccup gasped and moved in front of her, his arms outstretched, hissing a reprimand at something that Astrid could not see.

"Toothless! Bad dragon – no slobbering. No pouncing. No!

She pulled herself up and wildly looked around, trying to catch the black creature that very nearly tackled her to the ground not a moment ago.

"Astrid! Astrid, hey, are you alright? Hiccup asked, cautiously making his way to her. His other hand was now stretched towards her, knowing better than to make any sudden movement to a very panicked creature.

"I saw… I saw… Astrid's heart raced as she spun around in circles.

"What did you see? Tell me: what did you see?

"A black shadow, she said. Faintly, in the sun. It was about to attack us, but then it just… disappeared.

"You don't see it anymore?

"Astrid shook her head.

"Hiccup laughed, and she misunderstood it as him laughing at her. She marched up and punched him in the arm. Hard.

"Ow! What was that for? No, Toothless! He suddenly hissed, his hand once more held up to something that she could not see.

"Who are you talking to?

"Toothless, I told you -

"No, stop it!

"What?

"Astrid growled. Hiccup suddenly laughed once more.

"You saw him!

"Stop laughing at me!

"No! I am not laughing at you.

"Then you're making a fool out of me, she said, and she hated how her voice quivered with hurt.

"Astrid, no! Listen, I believe you. Because you've just seen Toothless -

"Astrid snarled. Enough!

"But you did! How can you otherwise explain the shadow?

"The shadow was nothi –

"It wasn't nothing. Don't you see, Astrid? Hiccup grinned excitedly at her. You just saw your first dragon!

"I said enough!

"Can I just try something?

"No.

"Please? Give me your hand.

"Astrid slapped his arm away. No, she growled.

"Hiccup looked at her, wounded. I… I thought we were friends.

"Astrid glared at him. I said stop it, Hiccup.

"But -

"Stop it! Just – just - aurgh! She brought her hands up and growled up to the heavens in the most unladylike way imaginable before she angrily fled back home. He watched her make her way back to the manor, rubbed his neck and glared at the dragon sitting innocently next to him.

"Oh, very good, Toothless. You just had to be an excitable puppy today, didn't you? Hiccup grumbled.

"The dragon grumbled back.

"And what's with the stalking?

"Astrid snuck around the kitchen door and had to supress a scream when a pale hand grasped her arm and pulled her to the pantry.

"It was the Ghost.

"I saw it, she said excitedly.

"What? Astrid asked, trying to still her racing heart.

"The dragon.

"Astrid scoffed and made to get away, but the Ghost pulled her back in. You're not going to tell me about it?

"Astrid stiffened. Please, don't make a fool out of me too.

"The Ghost paused. You didn't see it?

"She angrily tried to pull her arm back, but the Ghost simply tightened her grip. You did not see it?

"No, I didn't see it! Astrid hissed. I didn't see any dragon. All I saw was… was… She growled. Please, don't make a fool out of me too.

"I'm not, Astrid, the Ghost whispered. I only saw it from one of the rooms upstairs, from afar, just as you and Hiccup were walking out the woods. I saw it bound towards you, saw you stumble back… I thought you saw it too.

"Astrid looked at the Ghost. I saw only a shadow of something about to pounce at me, she said hesitantly. But when I got back on my feet, it was only Hiccup and me once more.

"The Ghost released her arm and frowned in thought. Astrid was about to say more when a most unwelcome voice called from beyond the pantry door.

"Astrid? Hiccup entered the kitchen, and both Astrid and the Ghost ducked, shuffling back to where the bags of grains were kept. Astrid cursed her recent growth spurt: This hiding place was starting to prove uncomfortable now that she was taller.

"Astrid?

"She held her breath, not making a sound.

"You need to give me chance to explain. Hiccup hissed.

"She could feel the Ghost shuddering next to her in suppressed laughter. She glared at her in the darkness.

"Astrid where are you?

"Silence. How did the boy know she was hiding in the kitchen?

"Astrid?

"He was standing near the pantry doors. A few more steps and...

"That's Miss Hofferson to you, boy!

"Hiccup jumped at the voice and spun on his heels to face the cook, who suddenly seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. She heaved a basket of vegetables from the garden onto the kitchen table.

"He fumbled through his words.

"I… I…

"Who do you think you are, calling our little Miss by her Christian name?

"Oh… um… oh, of course! Of course, it's Miss Hofferson! He laughed nervously. Not… not Astrid. I mean, she's the lady of the house after all – So she should be called Miss Hofferson. Don't you worry, I won't be calling her Astrid ever again.

"You just did.

"… oh yeah.

"The cook raised a bemused eyebrow. Get out of here, she jabbed a thumb to the door, and Hiccup quickly left, glad to be away from the woman's glare.

"The cook hummed a tune, and when she was sure that Hiccup was out of earshot, began to laugh aloud. You can come out now, miss. The boy's gone.

"Astrid slowly opened the pantry door and brushed herself down. How did you know I was hiding in there?

"The cook gave her a deadpanned look. I have known you since you were a babe, and I know all your antics and hiding places. Of course I know.

"Astrid sighed resignedly.

"Besides, your dress was peeking out from under the door.

"Astrid quickly glanced down.

"Good thing Hiccup wasn't looking at the floor, hmm? Next time you should hide better!

"Astrid groaned. Thanks.

"Why were you hiding from him anyway?

"He was pestering me.

"The cook smiled down at her knowingly. Ah.

"'Ah' what?

"It is true then.

"What is?

"There is nothing like young love.

"Astrid gaped at her, then growled irritably as she ran away. The cook laughed. And youth is wasted on the young! She called after her.

"Astrid did not run into the boy again for the rest of the day, and she made sure she did not run into him the following day, or the next, even though he was trying so hard to get her attention. She visited neighbouring estates with her father to keep herself busy, and after four days her anger abated, though her embarrassment still remained.

"The Ghost could not understand why she was acting like so. Just give him a chance to speak with you. It might even give you peace.

"Astrid gave the Ghost a flat 'no'. Besides, ladies did not go around making friends with blacksmith's apprentices. That was unbecoming of a lady. That was just inviting all sorts of bad.

"On the fifth day, she decided to visit her favourite training grounds in the woods. She went the long way around, skirting the stables and the gardens and the forge to avoid accidentally bumping into Hiccup. As she neared her favourite tree, however, she was disappointed to hear his voice echoing in the woods. She sighed grouchily and was about to turn back when she heard him say her name. She hugged her axe close against her body and hid behind a tree to listen.

"… if only I'd remembered that one thing, she'd be able to see you right now.

"A strange warble responded to him.

"I mean, she could hear you. And she saw you, though very faintly– just sit still will you? I'll never get this saddle on you properly.

"Saddle?

"Astrid heard another strange croon, and then a loud, dry, inhuman snort.

"Yeah, yeah. Most people never learn to see dragons. But I think she can learn. And you saw her. You sensed her before I even knew she was – keep still you useless reptile!

"She heard what sounded like slap, heard Hiccup yelp, and then a strange sniggering.

"What in heaven's name is going on?

"… She just needs to believe. Hiccup said quietly. Ah, that should do it. You ready, bud? He asked in a lively voice, sounding like he was trying get someone excited. Yeah? No, are you really ready? Yeah? Yeah! Come on! Come on!

"She heard a strange barking sound, and curiosity overcame her. But just as she swerved around the tree, a cloud of dust suddenly blew from the middle of the clearing. She shut her eyes tightly and coughed out the dirt that clung to her throat. When she could finally open her eyes, she saw the trees and the shrubs in the clearing swaying in the sudden wind, as if something had launched up to the sky at an incredible speed.

"She looked up and saw a black speck quickly being swallowed up by the gathering clouds. She looked up to the sky even though the black speck had disappeared a long time ago. She looked up and thought. And thought. And thought.

"Astrid Hofferson was a Hofferson through and through: She did not believe in anything she could not easily perceive.

"But this time, understanding dawned on her.

"Stubborn, hot-headed child she may have been, but she was not going reject something she knew she truly saw just because it went against everything she knew was real. No. She was going to tackle it head on, fearlessly and curiously. It was exactly like when she first perceived the Ghost.

"And this time, she was not going to tell her father."

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Oh my god did anyone see that new teaser? Of course you have! Everyone's just talking about how hot Hiccup got (and yes Hiccup does look mighty fine), but honestly there were only two things running through my head the entire time I was watching it: 1. Hot damn that water looks so real I can't believe it's not butter, 2. Omg Toothless you cute little snapper – you look so happy and free and just absolutely thrilled to be flying with your best bud, and that happiness was so infectious and liberating that I felt like I've just flown through the skies too.

Well done Dreamworks. Well done *wipes tears*

Anyway: Fyeah 5000+ words! (I honestly couldn't stop writing – this was originally 6000+ words too yikes!)

Fyeah Fishlegs!

And fyeah Toothless, you cute little wingman of a reptile you!

Thank you once again to everyone who has followed, faved, and reviewed the story so far :)

Nightlightbee: Oh man I know what you mean… most of the stories I've been following have not been updated in a while either :( I've been waiting for the next chapter to my favourite HTTYD fic for a long, looong time now. It's an M-rated fic though, so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to plug it here since this is T-rated :\

Sweettea8: Thanks :) haha did you nearly die too when the teaser came out? Just wait, we'll ALL die once they release an extended trailer, and then come back to life when HTTYD2 hits cinemas, then die again when HTTYD3 news is released, then come back to life again when they release a teaser for that. At this rate we'll all be zombies by the time HTTYD3 comes out XD And yep, I will be uploading the lemons – and they will absolutely be Hiccstrid :)

RedLavender08: *hugs* I'm sorry for your loss. I'm here if you ever need someone to talk to.

Tyra: Oh wow really? I am… gosh, I am so flattered. Thank you so much sweetie! *squee!*

hpnarutardsjedipirate1234: As you wish! *claps hands* *Chapter 7 poofs into existence*

Cat Eyed Blunder: Thank you so much for your reviews! Glad you like the quotes – It's really fun looking around for the perfect quote that best foreshadows each chapter. And about the "He stood up, leaned in, and pressed a finger to her lips" line: I, uh… didn't really mean to be sneaky! Hahaha! Now that you mention it, it does sound like he was going to lean in and give her a kiss. Knowing Astrid, though, that kiss would have quickly turned *ahem* muddy ;)

NEXT CHAPTER: In which a Christmas party happens - and you're invited ;P