1 Prologue (2/2)

Will groaned. McDonald's was all they had for the past week of travel, he didn't know how many more cheeseburgers his stomach could handle.

What Will truly wanted was his mom's famous spaghetti she made from scratch, or her chicken ala' king. There were a lot of things he'd wish to have from his mom, but most of all it'd be to ask her where she'd been for these few years.

Isabella Carter was the most kind and caring mother on the face of the planet. Everything she did whether it be her smile or frown had always been out of love. She cleaned, packed foods, made an amazing dinner. Though she would also ensure Will sat at the table after those amazing dinners until all of his homework was taken care of. If his room was a mess, he'd hear about it from her. She was very caring and concerned. Anything anyone would expect from a model mother. Though not all of what he missed was cuisine or her concern for his well being, but also her movie nights on Fridays or anything else they did together as a family.

Two years ago, Isabella left Will at the house to go shopping. Usually she asked if he'd like to come with, but that time she wanted to go alone. If that wasn't strange enough, she usually was back within an hour at most. When Jonathan returned home from work and saw she was gone, he did nothing. No phone calls, no missing persons reports, he just packed up the house and they had left the next day without looking back. They had been moving ever since.

Will supposed he should have felt resentment towards his father. He had done absolutely nothing to try to find her. Though the look in Jonathan's eyes that day told him that there was a reason, that maybe there was more to the story. Will left the thought alone, knowing his father would tell him one day, or maybe he even knew where she was and when she was returning. The look in Jonathan's eyes that day had warned Will not to ask questions.

Taking his minds off of such depressing thoughts, Will turned his gaze to the window. What greeted him was the usual convenient stores one would find in a decent sized city; a massive amount of fast food joints, a few high end grocery stores, a few book stores and surprisingly a few video store outlets. Will rolled his eyes, 'It's like we never left,' he thought as he remembered the last few places they moved to. It was always the same sized city, never bigger, never smaller and almost exactly the same in the layout. Will was about to return his gaze to his kindle when something caught his attention.

An odd group of men walking in what looked like a formation. What made them stand out was not the fact of their organization, but rather what they were wearing. There were five of them in the group, each one had a pitch black cloak on hiding any identifying features. It was somewhat a windy night as they drove past and Will was able to see one of the cloaks swaying in the wind. Underneath the cloak was a black hilted sword. Not at all adorned, but still unusual to see in this day in age.

”They must be having a renaissance festival or something around this area,” Will muttered to himself. Who knows, maybe he might check it out if he got bored enough. Will and Bianca had always wanted to check out a festival one day. Maybe he would go and take a selfie with a knight to make her jealous. He chuckled at the thought.

Lost in thought, Will hadn't noticed that the car had cone to a stop at a light. While they were waiting, he could have sworn one of the cloaked figures was staring at him. It was pretty late at night though and any traffic could be subject to speculation, though what happened next raised Will's warning light in his head.

As one cloaked figure looked at Will, they all turned to face him. Though they were thirty or so feet away, he could feel a slight chill enter their heated car. Watching the figures watching him, Will was slightly disturbed when they started walking towards the car.

'They could just be crossing the street,' Will thought as he tried to rationalize the situation. 'Maybe the festival just got over and they're going home.' Satisfied with his explanation, Will returned his gaze to his Kindle.

The light seemed to have been taking forever as Will tried to focus on his book. The longer it took, the colder the car became. Feeling goose bumps raise on his arm, Will instinctively looked out the window, All five of the black cloaks were almost to the car. Now he knew there was no mistake. These people were heading straight for him, bringing the eerie chill ever closer.

Finally the light turned green and Jonathan hit the gas hard. ”We're skipping dinner tonight,” he said to Will's surprise. ”I think it would be best just to get indoors and hit the sack.” Will noticed his dad tried to put on a cheerful voice, though when he looked in the rear view mirror, he noticed the seriousness in his eyes.

Will looked in the back window, just fast enough to make out the cloaked figures before Jonathan turned the corner. As they got further away, Will's chill went down a little.

He would have thought the cloaked figures were just his imagination from all of the traveling, though he couldn't get the look in Jonathan's eyes out of his mind. That and the fact that they were going forty five in a thirty. Will kept his eyes glued to the window out of paranoia. He saw fewer businesses now, and it seemed like they were getting closer to the housing district. To distract himself from everything going on in his mind, Will decided it would be best if he just counted down the street signs until they finally reached theirs. He couldn't wait to finally be out of the car for the first time in a week.