The Destiny Detour

Direction

Lillya

The portal had sucked the smoke and mist with it before it closed, but remnants of fire still smoldered in the branches of their trees. The girls had to come down eventually. Jadelynn dropped out of her tree first. One by one, the rest of the girls thudded to the ground like soot-smeared, frightened monkeys. Lillya was already on the ground, and she did not bother standing. Her hands were shaking, so she wrapped her arms around herself and tucked her trembling hands under her elbows. Pepper rested his head in her lap. Ruby was sobbing. The rest looked stunned.

"I think they're gone," whispered Ivyliss, because somebody had to say something.

"What if they come back?" choked Ruby through her tears.

"What were those things?" Jadelynn asked dully.

Everybody's eyes gravitated to Pepper. The attackers had looked just like him. Nobody wanted to say it. Had anybody seen the people but Lillya? Aunt Issabeth had. Lillya tried to call for her, but her voice would not cooperate.

"Are we all here?" asked Iris. "Is everybody ok?"

"There's only five of us," Ruby panicked.

"You're not counting yourself," Jadelynn snapped back.

"Aunt I—Issabeth," Lillya stuttered, hardly raising her voice high enough to be heard by her fellow trainees, let alone the missing woman.

"It sucked her up," blubbered a frantic Ruby. "That black tear thing. It took her."

"Calm down, Ruby!" Jadelynn snapped. Her tone was not calming. "She's here. Somewhere."

She had to be. The girls searched as far as they were willing to venture, calling her name and looking behind the nearest trees for signs of her. Pepper did not even rise to look, which sent chills through Lillya's heart. Eventually the girls stopped their search, reconvening in a dejected, soot-streaked huddle around Lillya and Pepper.

"Maybe this is just a test," suggested an expressionless Jadelynn.

Nobody believed that.

"I did not make fire powder that strong," mumbled Pippa out of nowhere. "I didn't."

"What are you talking about?" said Lillya. She wished she could stop trembling.

Pippa opened a pouch and peered inside. "I've made it a hundred times before. It's never done anything like that."

"Good thing it did," muttered Jadelynn. "Those creatures would have killed us all."

"But I didn't do it," insisted Pippa. "Look. Look at these purple crystals."

She thrust out a handful of the powder. It was filled with dull purple rocks.

"Who added these?" she accused.

Nobody took the credit. Blame? Lillya had half an idea, but just the half inside her brain where nothing was connected to anything else. Somebody had modified that fire powder. Without the malfunctioning fire powder, they would not have burned breakfast or changed direction to head toward the orchard. Had the powder saved their lives or put them in danger?

"Pippa, calm down," ordered Jadelynn. "And put away the super-charged fire powder, ok?"

"What are we going to do?" sniffled Ruby.

Five girls looked Lillya's way. Most of them were older and far more capable of taking care of themselves in the wilderness. Jadelynn was the natural leader. Ivyliss was the oldest. Still, there were odd times when they all defaulted to Lillya like she had the answers. She did not feel like she had stellar leadership qualities, nor did she like being in charge, but Papa said it was just one of those things people expected from her.