The House By The River

Chapter Six

The six stood in front of the light, preparing themselves for whatever was on the other side.

"Who's going to go first?" Nessa asked, and everyone turned to look at Zoe. She threw her hands up by her head, clearly exasperated.

"Why do you always assume I want to be the first one to pull the dangerous stunt?" she asked, and Kat raised her eyebrows.

"Maybe because... I don't know... you're always the first one to pull the dangerous stunt!" she exclaimed, and Zoe, ever the mature one, stuck her tongue out.

"I swear that's becoming your thing, sticking your tongue out at people." Alex commented, smiling. Zoe shrugged.

"Maybe if you guys didn't do stuff that makes me stick my tongue out at you..." Zoe began, but was cut off.

"Are we going to go through or not?" Blaez asked, sounding impatient.

"Yeah, of course. Sorry, we get distracted easily." Aoife apologised, and Blaez nodded.

"I have just had a brilliant beyond brilliant idea!" Zoe squealed, and everyone turned to her expectantly.

"Let's go through together." Alex said, before Zoe had a chance to say her idea.

"That's what I was about to say!" Zoe exclaimed, grabbing Aoife and Blaez's hands and jumping through. The three fell to the ground and landed in a heap. Aoife got up, but was quickly knocked back down by Kat, Nessa and Alex tumbling through.

"You guys need to lose some weight." Zoe managed to say as she gasped for breath under the weight of the five people on top of her. Mutters of annoyance came back at her as, one by one, the group got up.

"Wow..." Aoife breathed, taking in the wonderous sight that met their eyes. Beautiful rolling hills in varing shades of green, reminiscent of a patchwork quilt. Dense woodlands of deep green and warm brown scattered here and there. Clumps of flowers, all the same bluish-purple bells. Cloudless blue skies stretching endlessly above them.

"Împărăția de Lup." Blaez murmured, his golden eyes wide and shining as he took in every detail of the stunning scenery.

"It's beautiful..." Kat whispered, and Nessa nodded slightly in agreement. Alex's eyes were glazed over blissfully as she tilted her head back and soaked up the sun's warm rays.

"Can we start looking already?" Zoe asked impatiently, seemingly unaffected by the beauty of the landscape. No one answered. Zoe shoved Aoife to get her attention. Aoife glared at Zoe indignantly.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"This place is pretty. I get it. But I want to start looking for Alba and Evie!" Zoe explained, waving her arms around impatiently.

"Okay. Let's go, guys." Aoife said, tapping everyone's shoulders to get them to move.

"Can we camp out tonight?" Nessa asked, doing the 'puppy eyes' face. Aoife raised her eyebrows.

"We don't have a tent." she commented, and Zoe laughed at her.

"We don't need a tent! We can sleep under the stars!" she exclaimed, smiling cheerfully.

"But we'll freeze!" Alex complained, and Kat shook her head.

"We can all stay close together to conserve heat." she explained, and Zoe nodded.

"It'll be fun!" she said, bouncing on her toes. "Besides, if you didn't want to put up with the weather, you shouldn't have come!" At that, Alex gave in.

"Fine. But if I get hypothermia, I'll blame you!" she said, and the girls caught the sharp undertone in her voice that showed she wasn't happy about the sleeping arrangements.

The girls began to walk off towards the nearest wooded area, and were about twenty metres in when-

"Aren't we forgetting something?" Kat asked, and Aoife nodded, frowning.

"I can't think what..." Nessa replied, and Zoe gasped.

"Blaez!" she exclaimed, sprinting back the way they'd come. It only took her seconds to travel the distance that normally would have taken her almost a minute.

She reached Blaez, who was still staring into the distance.

"Împărăția de Lup..." he kept muttering, his eyes clouded with confusion. "It can't be..." Zoe slid her hand into his, shaking his shoulder gently.

"Come on, everyone's waiting for you." she said gently, unable to think of anything but how sweet Blaez looked with his brow scrunched in a expression more befitting of a small child who was trying to figure out what a word was. Blaez didn't respond. Zoe waved her hand in front of his face, before clicking sharply between his eyes. Blaez jumped slightly and turned.

"What?" he asked, sounded slightly dazed. Zoe repeated what she had said moments before, and Blaez smiled apologetically at her. "Sorry. This place reminded me of something I heard when I was little." Zoe cocked her head to the side and indicated for him to tell her. Blaez raised his eyebrows at her.

"You think I'm going to tell a children's story while there are missing children to find?" he asked incredulously, and Zoe sighed, looking dejected.

"I like knowing stuff." she confessed. "Other people knowing things I don't makes me sad." Blaez smiled at her.

"I'll tell you later." he promised, and the two walked back towards the others, preparing to begin the search for Alba, Evie, Cana and Hollie.