Child of the Moon.

~Chapter Seven~

Because they couldn't leave anyway, everyone fanned out and began to explore the mansion for anything that might pique their interest. Hector went to the library he'd hidden in when he was running from the mirror doubles. He'd always had a love for books; back in the Dark Kingdom, he had taken any books he could get his hands on whenever he could. His personal favorite was ancient poetry. Not many people knew about his love for literature, and he didn't share it often.

Hector spent hours in the library, going through every book on every shelf that he could read. He knew many languages - his duty as a political ambassador required it - but there were languages in the pages of some of the books that even he didn't know. He thought about taking them to Adira and asking if she knew anything. However, he figured she wouldn't appreciate being bothered about a couple of books that she probably couldn't read any more than Hector could.

The warrior didn't find anything that pointed to the history of the House of Yesterday's Tomorrows or anything like it. Most of the books were fairy tales or epics of many different cultures, and though they were fascinating in their own right, they wouldn't help Hector, and he'd never been overly fond of fiction anyway. The most peculiar books he found in the library were ones he recognized, such as a war strategy book he'd been made to read as part of his training. There were even a few books in the ancient language of the Dark Kingdom. They weren't anything particularly special - just history books and a few copies of biographies on important kings and queens - but it alarmed Hector that those books could be found in places other than his home. The Dark Kingdom was a secretive place that few outside of their alliances knew about, so how did this little mansion hundreds of miles away from the capital city get hold of their books?

Finally, after a couple hours, Hector decided he'd better go find the others. They were bound to start worrying about him soon - at least Rapunzel was.

Hector strolled down the colorful halls of the House of Yesterday's Tomorrows at a rather slow pace. He wasn't in any particular hurry, after all. He carried a few of the books he found in the library in his arms. Two were poetry books that he had surprisingly never read, and the third was a simple history book of the Dark Kingdom. He'd never really been one for sentiment, but still, he couldn't resist. Sometimes a little bit of sentiment can be good for the soul. But only a little.

Hector rounded another corner, when he suddenly couldn't breathe. He dropped his books and fell to his knees. No matter how much he tried, no air came into his lungs. It was as if it had been sucked out of him in an instant. His vision began to blur. His head throbbed with the lack of oxygen. All he could hear was his own heartbeat. His chest and lungs burned. Finally, the warrior couldn't fight the lack of air anymore and gave into the darkness that consumed his vision.

~*~

Eugene called out Hector's name again.

"Come on! Hector! Ugh, why am I always the one that has to come get you?! Hector!"

Eugene continued to call for the warrior, stopping every now and again to mumble to himself about the things he was going to do to the warrior once he found him. He began to search inside rooms and underneath tables in hopes of finding Hector sleeping. Eugene didn't consider this highly likely, seeing as Hector was a light sleeper, but it still couldn't hurt to check, could it?

The former thief peered down another hallway and stopped in his tracks.

Hector was lying face-down at the end of the hallway, twitching slightly. Books were splayed out in front of him. From where Eugene was standing, he didn't even appear to be breathing.

Eugene sprinted towards him and dropped to the ground, sliding next to Hector. He rolled him over none too gently and grabbed his shoulders firmly.

"Hector!" he said urgently, shaking him. "Hector, wake up! Wake up! Please, please wake up! Hector!"