When stars begin to blink out of the night sky, Zosia and Tymek follow the trail into the forest and meet a frightened guardian who says someone is stealing them.
Zosia and Tymek loved the night sky best when the forest went quiet. From the roof of the garden shed, they could see the dark treetops swaying like a black sea and the stars scattered above them, bright and still. Or so Zosia had always thought.
She was the first to notice that one of them had gone out.
"Tymek," she whispered, gripping the edge of the roof. "Look. That star was there a moment ago."
Tymek squinted up at the sky. The brightest star in that corner was simply gone, leaving an empty patch of darkness behind it.
"Maybe it slipped behind a cloud," he said.
Zosia shook her head. The sky was clear as glass. She pulled a tiny notebook from her pocket and started marking each star that disappeared. One. Then another. And another, each one vanishing so quietly it felt wrong, as if the night itself was being picked apart thread by thread.
The next day they told Zosia's grandparents. Her grandmother only raised her eyebrows, but her grandfather smiled in that secretive way adults sometimes did when they knew more than they admitted.
"If stars are disappearing," he said, "you may be standing at the edge of a very unusual adventure."
That evening, armed with torches, binoculars, and a wrinkled sky map, Zosia and Tymek slipped into the forest behind the house. The trees closed around them, tall and close, their branches whispering overhead. Somewhere deeper in the dark, an owl called once, then fell silent.
They followed the faintest glimmer they could find until they reached an old oak with roots like knotted fingers. Zosia was just about to suggest turning back when a voice drifted out of the shadows.
"Help..."
A small glowing figure stood beside the trunk, wrapped in a blue hood. Silver sparks floated around him like spilled stardust, and his golden eyes were wet with tears.
Zosia stepped forward first, her heart thudding.
"Who are you?"
The figure lifted his head. "I am the Guardian of the Stars," he said, and his voice trembled. "Someone is stealing them from the sky."
Before Zosia could answer, the forest behind them went suddenly still. A branch snapped. Both children spun around.
Between the trees, something tall and dark had begun to move toward them, and a low, soft laugh slipped through the branches like smoke.