Sigrid Sanders
Fiction
The starcatcher
Page 3 of 8

The black sky and its myriad stars flew by so fast Emma could see nothing at first but blurry streaks in the darkness. The night wind blew her hair out straight, whistled in her ears and brought tears to her eyes.

First they swooped up higher and higher, and then suddenly they plunged down so steeply that Emma felt as if she were on a roller coaster. She held onto the cape for dear life, but she did not scream. She didn't want the Starcatcher to know she was afraid.

The Starcatcher, however, wasn't paying attention to Emma at all. He was much too busy catching stars. As soon as he had one in the bag, he spotted another off to the left or the right, or up or down. Emma couldn't see exactly how he caught them. She tried - but it happened too fast. She remembered that he had said, "I can't be everywhere at once, you know," but as she clung desperately to his hurtling cape, darting this way and that way so quickly, it seemed as if he could.

After a while - it was hard to say how long it had been, maybe minutes, maybe hours - the Starcatcher slowed down a little and became less frantic.

"Sorry about the rush!" he called back. "Had to make up for lost time. But we can take it a little easier now." He made a big gliding turn to the right, and as he flew - still breathtakingly fast - he began to sing.

The Starcatcher's Song


Fly, fly, fly away high
Over the magical paths of the sky,
On the wings of a dream
By the light of a star
There is nothing impossible,
No place too far.

When the sun goes down in the western skies
And takes its light away,
Most people close their drowsy eyes
And wait for another day.
But those who can imagine things
Know better than to sleep,
To them the dark of evening brings
A universe in one brave leap.

They fly, fly, fly away high
Over the magical paths of the sky.
On the wings of a dream
By the light of a star
There is nothing impossible,
No place too far.

By daylight everything is real
And nothing comes out right,
But the sparkle of the stars reveals
The magic of the night.
Your troubles all can disappear,
Your dreams can all come true,
And if you listen you might hear
The starlight sing for you.

Fly, fly, fly away high
Over the magical paths of the sky,
On the wings of a dream
By the light of a star
There is nothing impossible,

No place too far.

Emma stopped being afraid and began to enjoy the ride. Instead of blurry streaks, she began to see the stars. Some of them were so close that she thought she could have reached out and touched one if she had dared let go.

"The Milky Way!" the Starcatcher called back over his shoulder. He pointed down to a wide undulating white ribbon of stardust. They dived toward it and slid through the stars as if they had been on a snow-covered hill. It was so dazzlingly bright that Emma had to squint her eyes, and as they slid down, they sent sprays of star-flakes flying into the air all around them.

They flew back up again, and passed a string of stars that Emma recognized as Scorpio, who whipped his tail at them threateningly, and then she saw the Twins, Castor and Pollux, who waved. When she was watching from her little hill, the constellations moved so slowly she couldn't see them move at all. But here, they all came alive. She watched the Swan sail gracefully by, and Draco the Dragon roared at them with a flaming breath. They passed the Winged Horse, the Water Snake, and the Mighty Hunter Orion, striding across the sky.
A comet streaked up beside them and swished its tail.

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