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Chapter 13

We sat there in the cave, trying to recuperate. We had a day and a half left before the Lurkers would “kill” the Serena illusion. Till then, we had to figure something out.
“JC?” I whispered. “JC?”
“Ugh…where am I?” muttered a confused JC.
“You’re in the cave,” Justin said softly.
“Justin!” JC exclaimed, fully awake now. “You’re back!”
“Thanks to you,” Justin said gratefully. “If it weren’t for you…I don’t even wanna think about it.”
JC smiled. “It’s ok. I just had to save you. You know, since we’ve been through so much and all…”
Justin smiled. “Wow. Thanks. I owe you my life.”
“Forget about it.”
“Guys?”
They looked at me. “What?”
“What are we gonna do?”
“I’m surprised they haven’t realized the illusion yet,” Justin said.
“Oh I think they already did,” I said knowingly. “That’s probably why there are so many Demons out tonight.”
“You think?” JC asked.
“Yeah. That creep can send out orders or something to people-I mean, NATIVES-here. It’s some kind of like power or something, I dunno.” I shrugged.
“Oh. I see.” JC looked thoughtful. “That’s encouraging.”
I smiled at his slight sarcasm. “Glad you thought so.”
“So are we gonna sleep or are we gonna let our energy drain?” Justin asked.
“I’m up for sleepin!” JC said wholeheartedly.
I let out a laugh. “I’m sure you are Jace.”
“C’mon you guys!!” Justin whined. “I’m tired!”
I smiled. “Ok, ok. Let’s sleep now. Baby’s tired.”
“Could ya help me here?” JC asked, pointing to his ankle.
Justin and I each put one of his arms over our shoulders and dragged him to the back and set him down.
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” we said simultaneously.
I sat down next to JC, and Justin sat down next to me. I could tell JC was almost already asleep. I smiled and closed my eyes. Slowly, my head grew heavy and it plunked down on Justin’s shoulder as I fell asleep also.
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“NOOOOOOOO!!”
His hands flew and everything came smashing down on the ground. “WITCH! THEY WILL PAY!! NO ONE MAKES A FOOL OUT OF ME!!”
<><><><><>
With a yawn, I sat up. Then I groaned. My back was killing me. Outside the cave was a bunch of palm trees.
‘Palm trees?’ I thought lazily. The last time we checked they were rotten logs. I elbowed Rena to wake her up.
“Mmm…wha? Justin? What?” she yawned.
“What’s with the trees?” I asked, pointing out to them.
She turned her head and her eyes widened. Rena scrambled to her feet and ran to the opening of the cave. “Shit. We’ve moved.”
“Moved? Moved where?” I asked, confused.
“The Land of Darkness is always moving…that’s why you should never leave something lying around you know…one second it’s on that rock…next minute it’s in a dragon’s nest…you never know. No one actually sees HOW…just knows,” she rambled.
“Rena?”
She looked up. “Hmm?”
“Shut up.”
At first she looked offended and she rolled her mahogany eyes and came back to sit.
“JC? JC wake up,” she whispered, shaking his shoulder.
“Ugh…” he muttered. Then JC mumbled something incoherent.
“JC…time to wake up,” she whispered again.
I rolled my eyes. Then I reached over and smacked him upside the head.
“Justin!” Rena cried, looking horrified. Then she hit my arm.
“Sorry! Jeez it’s not like you were gonna wake him up YOUR way,” I defended.
“Ow…who? What? Rena?”
“JC,” she said, scooting over towards him. “Wake up.”
Slowly, JC’s eyes were pried open. “Wha?” Then his eyes focused. “Are those palm trees?”
Rena giggled and I suddenly felt sick.
“The cave moved while we were sleeping,” she explained.
“Oh…yeah well, that’s normal,” he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
“C’mon you guys,” I interrupted. “We gotta get goin…I think Aladork has probably figured out your hologram by now.”
They laughed.
“Justin…watch what you say. You don’t know what’s listening,” she warned, smiling.
“What?” JC and I questioned. “Don’t you mean WHO?”
She shook her head seriously. “Here, trees have ears…”
I laughed. I could see JC start to smile.
“No shit guys. My aunt Chelsea was here before and almost got killed cuz the trees heard what she was doing…”
I stopped laughing.
“All right now let’s go,” Rena said, jumping up to her feet.
JC looked up at her.
“Can’t you just use your magic to heal it?”
JC looked embarrassed. “Oh yeah. I forgot about that.”
I watched as he pointed to his ankle and muttered, “Just last night I was jinxed, so just get my ankle fixed.”
Some pink sparkly stuff landed on his foot and it must’ve healed cuz he jumped up to his feet.
“Thank goodness!”
I shook my head and stood up. “I gotta figure out where to get that stuff…”
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“God Rena we’ve been walking for the past…hour!” I whined. “Can’t we like rest or something?”
“Justin, if we don’t get anywhere, then we don’t go home. Meaning that we stay here to be either eaten or become Demons,” she said firmly. “Do you want to be a Demon again?”
My insides froze with fear and I shook my head. It was one of the most horrifying experiences I have ever had. It was like being yourself…but not. You could see…you could hear…you could taste…but you couldn’t CONTROL. You were a prisoner to the stone. It controlled your movements and actions. You were stuck, a prisoner in your own mind to watch. I had almost witnessed turning Rena into one of them. And I was sure that they would’ve done the same to JC. Subconsciously, I shuddered. It was a fear that would never be replaced…only strengthened over time.
“C’mon Baby,” she whispered apologetically. “I’m sorry I brought that up…I know it was scary for you.”
I shook my head. “You have no idea…”
<><><><><>
“Yes…try that…dragons are my allies, don’t worry about it Danger…” His pebbly voice drifted through the room. “They will go down...no one messes with the Lurkers. Especially not ME.”
<><><><>
“Can you point up some food Jace?” I begged, dragging my feet on the sand.
JC turned around and smirked. “Why don’t we just take a rest?”
“PLEASE!”
Rena smiled. “Fine.”
I plopped down onto the soft ground, relieving my leg muscles of the prior stress. My eyes watched as Rena and JC conjured up some edible food (most food around this area was either for rats or demons) and laid it out like a picnic. My mouth watered. It had been a while since I had eaten, and my stomach was growling at the mere sight of food. JC had conjured up some ice cream, chips, pop, strawberries, chocolate fudge, sprinkles, bowls, spoons, napkins, and a knife. Rena, on the other hand, pointed up some salad, plates, forks, apples, bananas, orange juice, dressing, and sandwiches.
Laughing, I compared them.
“Look at all that junk food JC,” she scolded, shaking her head.
“Hey, at least it won’t digest fast,” JC smiled.
Rena rolled her beautiful violet eyes. “Guys…they’re all the same…”
So we ate. And ate. AND ate. I stuffed myself to the tolerable max, hoping I wouldn’t have to eat for a while.
“Yeah, then this gi-” JC halted his story, his eyes widened. “Oh no…”
“What?” Rena questioned immediately. “What?”
“Your magic…” he whispered fearfully. “Your illusion…”
My eyes widened. “Shit…”
Rena was obviously troubled. “Um…I…he probably noticed it was an illusion anyways.”
“What if he didn’t?” I asked.
“Ok guys finish up. We have a lot of walking to do.”
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“Signs of magic 1.257 meters away from the Lake of Despair m’lord,” Shadow relayed to his superior.
“Wonderful…put the trolls on duty,” his smile grew wickedly as he spoke, thinking of malicious thoughts. “We’ll put an end to this bigotry…”
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“Ok well…my aunts never told me anything about Lurkers’ capabilities…so I’m just gonna have to improvise I guess,” Rena admitted. “They can track us down…by magic.”
“Great,” Justin scoffed. “Not only do they have those cages, weird names, stupid goatees, and hideous clothing, but they have MAGIC too?”
“I’m assuming,” Rena said, rolling her eyes. “Now stop being a baby and think.”
“What were you saying about tracking us down?” I asked politely, attempting to halt the oncoming battle.
I succeeded.
“They can track us by watching where we use magic. Like…” she trailed off, hit with a sudden thought.
“DURING LUNCH!” Justin and I realized. ‘Dammit’
“Something tells me we’re gonna have to run for it,” Rena muttered.
<><><><><>
“Hey guys…” I trailed off, looking at the palm tree beside me.
“Hmm?”
“Weren’t we here before?” I asked them, looking around at the familiar landscape.
“DAMMIT! We’re back where we started!” Justin cursed, kicking the tree, eliciting a rat from the hollow trunk.
“Guys hush,” Rena scolded, looking around closely. “I think this place moved again.”
Justin rolled his ice blue eyes. “Great. How are we gonna get to the ring if we can’t stop the stupid place from moving?”
“We…we…”
He looked at her quizzically, and I stared questionably.
“I’m gonna have to cast a spell,” she said cautiously.
Justin and I glanced at each other. I nodded. It was necessary if we were gonna get out of here alive.
“Go ahead,” I said.
Rena nodded and pointed at a ring on her finger. I looked at it in curiosity. I never saw it there before…
The golden stardust shimmered, landing on the ring. It glowed like a light bulb, then returned to its original color. But enchanted.
“What’d you do?” Justin asked, taking the question right out of my mouth.
We looked at her.
“Well, I cast a spell that made this ring,” she flashed the fancy ring at us, “a compass.”
Justin looked…doubtful?
“That’s MY ring,” he said, staring at it.
‘What? HE owns THAT ring?’ I asked myself.
“I know Baby…but it’s the only way we can find the ring…it’s not like it’ll be destroyed or anything,” she assured him.
Justin took a breath and let it out slowly. “Fine.”
“Ok here’s how it works,” she started. “We say the destination, then one of these jewels will light up, and we walk that way. Easy enough, right?”
We nodded.
“Ok here goes. Center of the Land of Darkness,” Rena said to the ring.
The North and East jewels lit up.
“Here goes nothing…”
‘And everything’
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“Ok is that thing even WORKING?” I asked Rena, panting heavily.
We had been walking for at least 2 hours, following the instructions of the ring.
But too much was too much. I was ready to collapse.
“It should be…”
“HELP!!”
Our heads snapped to attention and we saw Justin get pulled away by a hideous monster.
I only caught a glimpse of it, but what I saw I didn’t like.
‘Why is it always Justin?’
We took off after him and once we were close enough, Rena lunged forward and grabbed Justin’s foot. I ran up and kicked the ugly brute with all I had. It howled in pain and loosened its grip on Justin, letting Rena slide him easily through the creature’s hands. Justin’s face was nothing but fear as she soothed him. I gave the beast another kick and it ran.
“What…the heck…was that?” I asked between breaths.
“I think that was a troll…I forgot what kind,” Rena admitted. “Too many to remember.”
“Ok…what do THESE guys do?” Justin asked.
I assumed that he wanted to prepare himself for any trouble.
“I think they might have some magic, I’m not too sure.”
“Ok I can see why you’re not a full witch yet,” I mumbled.
She threw a sharp look at me and I shut up. But from the corner of my eye I could see Justin smile.
“Ok c’mon let’s go we’ve got to- AAAAH!!”
Suddenly I was pressed to the earth, held down by something quite heavy. I looked up to see vines. Dirty forest green vines that were probably crawling with germs.
‘Vines aren’t supposed to be heavy’ I thought to myself. Then I saw that there were more trolls standing on the net, pulling it down on us.
“Rena you’re on my leg!” Justin called out.
“I can’t move!” she shot back.
I could hear the trolls’ grunts as they all started stomping on the net.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” we cried, covering our heads to get away from the clouding dust.
Slowly the net rose, with us still entrapped in it, then one end folded to meet the other end, trapping us inside. Then it turned upside down. I felt like I stepped into a net trap a little kid could set up with a tree- you know, the kind you always see on TV.
“What are they doing?!” Justin exclaimed wildly, squirming in our cramped space.
An elbow jammed into my side and I groaned in pain.
“Sorry!” Rena said, shifting to a possibly comfortable position.
“Can it get any worse than this?” Justin asked out loud.
We looked at him and shouted, “NO!”