A young girl with a flashlight looks at a glowing blue jellyfish in a tank inside a dark, old observatory at night. Illustration.
The Glow in the Glass In the sleepy town of Larkspur Hollow, where fog clung to the trees like secrets and the stars seemed to whisper, the old observatory on the hill had long been forgotten. Its dome, once a beacon of curiosity, now stood cracked and rusted, a relic of a time when science and wonder danced hand in hand. Twelve-year-old Mira Langley had always been drawn to mysteries. Her bedroom was a shrine to unsolved puzzlesâmaps with red string, newspaper clippings, and a magnifying glass that had once belonged to her grandfather. So when she saw the flickering light in the observatory window one evening, she knew she had to investigate. It wasnât just any light. It pulsedâsoftly, rhythmically, like a heartbeat. And it glowed in hues no ordinary bulb could produce: lavender, seafoam, and a strange, electric blue. The next day, Mira packed her backpack with essentials: a flashlight, her notebook, a granola bar, and a lockpick set sheâd âborrowedâ from her older brotherâs drawer. She told her parents she was going to the library. Technically, she wasnât lyingâshe just didnât mention which one. The observatory groaned as she pushed open the door. Dust motes danced in the beam of her flashlight. The air smelled of rust and old paper. She stepped carefully, her sneakers crunching on broken glass and fallen leaves. In the center of the room stood a glass tank, about the size of a bathtub. Inside it floated a creature unlike anything sheâd ever seen. It was jelly-like, See more
