The Ring

Chapter 17

                                            Addie's P.O.V.

     We walked. We didn't fly because I was short on pixie dust, and we only wanted to use it in case of an emergency. We weaved through the thick forest for an hour without talking. I was lost in my own thoughts, and I knew Ben was too. What's with him anyways? He's been acting weird all day. He seemed to take my wanting to leave well, but he seemed... distracted after dinner tonight. Is there something he's not telling me? Does he hate me? Stop it, Addie, you know he doesn't hate you. Still, I can't shake the feeling that there's something huge that he's not telling me.

                                             Peter's P.O.V.

     We haven't said anything since we left the hideout. But it's not like I'm ignoring her. I'm just trying to figure out what the hell we're going to do. There are so many "what ifs" flying around my mind, and I'm worried. "What if we can't find Tink?" "What if we find Tink, and she doesn't have the ring?" "What if we run into pirates?" Then there's the fact that I want her to know the truth. I want her to know who I really am! I want to tell her so bad, it hurts. But again, everyone will be safer if she doesn't know, and that's final. SMACK!

     "Ow! Damn!" My hand flies to my forehead, and I look up and see Addie hovering over me. Why am I on the ground?

                                                Addie's P.O.V.

    "BEN! Are you ok?!" I kneel over him and he just stares at me. "BEN!"

     "Ow... What the hell happened?...."

     "I don't really know... I pretty sure you just ran into that branch..." I tell him. We both look up and sure enough, a huge branch is hovering right above our heads, and there are a few pieces of bark dangling from it. He hit it so hard, he ACTUALLY chipped it. I lose it then, I'm rolling on the ground laughing so hard.

     "What's so funny?" Ben asks defensively.

     I can barely breathe, and honestly, I don't even know why that's so funny to me. Maybe this is just all of my worries bubbling out of me. Then out of nowhere, I think of my parents, Gram, my ring. My laughter slowly fades into quiet sobs. I try to keep very quiet, because I don't want Ben to see. Who are you kidding, Addie? Of course you want him to see! My head was right, I wanted Ben to just hold me, and tell me that everything was going to be alright. I'm not made of stone, and I finally realized how scared I was. But still, as much as I wanted him to hold me, I wanted to be brave. I had to be.

                                                      Peter's P.O.V.

     I know my face is as red as a fricken tomato when Addie tells me I ran into a branch. But I feel my face grow hotter as she rolls on the ground, laughing her butt off. I start laughing a little too, because hey, it was kind of funny. Just a little. But then her laughter is gone... and she's crying. Addie's crying... I've only seen her cry once, and that was after she'd almost drown. I felt so helpless right then. I'd known why she was crying the last time, I had been too. But this? This was so random. I didn't know what to do.

     "Addie?" I crawl over to her and put my hand on her back. She's facing away from me, and she's shaking. "Addie, what's the matter?" I whisper to her.

     "What? Nothing! Nothing!" Her voice breaks as she says this. She sits up really quick and rubs her eyes, obviously attempting to cover up the fact that she was crying. "Nothing's wrong, Ben. I'm fine. We should keep going." She stands up, dusts herself off, and starts to walk away. But I grab her arm.