Reality Check

The Cave

Let It Happen (By Tame Impala)

"All this running around. Trying to cover my shadow. An ocean growing inside. All the others seem shallow . . ."

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Leaves and sticks crunched under the boys' feet as they followed their camp counselor into the forest, having just been told that they'd be hiking all day. The idea excited and relieved Kiel, who wanted some actual danger. All they'd done yesterday was hours upon hours of sports (which Kiel enjoyed), but they hadn't had the chance to go on the missions that Fowen had told them about.

Finally, they were leaving the campsite, which meant that him, Owen, and Orion could sneak off to find that cave. That was what he'd hoped they'd been able to do yesterday, but unfortunately, the opportunity had never come. By a stroke of luck, the opportunity had come this morning. He hoped that the girls camp was doing the same thing, or else they'd have to wait a lot longer for Bethany, Gwen, Kara, and Charm to show up.

While he was excited to finally get going with this, he couldn't simply push his worries away like he usually could. It bothered him that he wasn't sure exactly what to expect when they got to this cave. None of them were, not even Fowen. Kiel didn't care if he got into danger, because he normally enjoyed it. But if his friends got hurt? That was what he was more concerned about.

Not that he expressed any of this to Owen. Kiel didn't have to be his best friend to know that that boy was nervous, and he didn't want Owen to feel worse. From past experience, Kiel knew that hiding his fear from his friends had nearly killed him. But that wouldn't happen here. So Kiel kept his confident facade up, telling himself and Owen that everything would work out perfectly.

And it would! It was just a cave, and Kiel had been in plenty of caves before. What was the big deal? It'd be easy. Easier than many of the quests he'd been on, which was saying something. He doubted they'd even have much of a problem finding it. He was Kiel Gnomenfoot, after all! What couldn't he do?

All they needed to do was get that magical stone, and then they could use it to find Nobody. Kiel was a bit annoyed that his location spell hadn't worked to find the faceless man, but at least this stone was magical, too. That meant it was trustworthy, because magic never failed. He'd prove everyone wrong about that.

Kiel glanced at Orion, who was staring straight ahead, wearing a look of disapproval as he trudged next to Kiel and Owen. If the sidekick had any indication that he was nervous, he didn't show it. Or maybe he was pushing his nerves away, just like Kiel did. Kiel couldn't tell, especially with Orion, who wore the same expression majority of the time.

His backpack jostled against him as they went further into the woods, separating themselves further from the camp. Kiel glanced at Owen several times, trying to see what would be the right time to disperse from the group, but Owen only shook his head. They weren't far enough into the woods yet, Kiel guessed.

As much as Kiel wanted to get going, the others would probably notice right away if they left. And that couldn't happen.He just wasn't sure if he could spend more than thirty minutes doing this, when they really needed to get to that cave.

How hard could it be to slip away, anyway? It'd be easy. They were in a group of about twenty boys, and many of them were too distracted with the sights ahead of them to really listen to what the camp counselor was saying. There was a chance that they wouldn't notice if Kiel and his friends left, but there was also the camp counselor to deal with, who was watching the boys like a hawk.

It would definitely be easier to slip away if he could just cast a spell, since that always worked. Every time, actually. He'd flash them a wink and a grin, cast some spell that would knock their socks off, and then he and his friends could make a run for it. It would definitely work. But he knew he couldn't do that, for a number of reasons.