The Amulet Of Nicmir (The Scripts Of Neptune, Book 1)

Chapter 18

Alrighty, so here's the deal. Crynia ain't dead, folks. You heard me right. I may or may not have played a very cruel April Fool's joke on you. Please don't kill me.

Kudos to jaypvie, who saw right through the fake. Who all fell for it? *cough* CCWinters *cough*

Anyway, without further ado, I present the real chapter 18. I promise it's significantly less sad than the trick.

***

Nyle wasn't sure which was more surprising: the fact that Crynia, a girl he hardly knew, had gotten him elected leader, or the recently acquired knowledge that there were two civilizations marked on the sunstone map in regions previously assumed to be an uninhabitable desert.

Sam loomed over his shoulder as he sat cross-legged on the riverbank, studying the web of glowing red lines cast by the sunstone in his hand. They intersected and curved like tunnels in an anthill, carving the land of Ahilia in impossible detail on the sheet.

It was a warm day, sunny but breezy, and Nyle had had to put rocks on the corners of the sheet to keep it still. As it was, there were wrinkles in the map, and it gave Nyle a headache trying to find where they were without a compass.

"What does it mean, O wise leader?" Sam asked, his voice low and mysterious.

"It means you're in my light." Nyle squinted over his shoulder at his friend and was less than surprised to see a ridiculous expression on Sam's face, his eyebrow arched, his mouth puckered in a serious frown. But the longer Nyle looked at him, fighting to keep his expression deadpan, the more Sam's mouth twitched, until he was full-on grinning.

"You're ridiculous," Nyle laughed, turning back to his map. He rubbed his left bicep, relieving a little of the ache that resulted from holding the sunstone aloft for a prolonged period.

"And proud," Sam said, straightening and cracking his signature lopsided grin.

"But seriously, you're in my light."

"Sorry." Sam moved a few feet to the left. "So...Crynia."

Nyle glanced up from the map to look at him, raising an eyebrow. "What about her?" he questioned.

Sam shrugged and frowned thoughtfully, leaning over to pluck a weed from the dried mud of the riverbank. "She's kinda pretty, don't you think?"

A slow grin spread over Nyle's features. "You like her, don't you?"

Sam reddened, and Nyle knew it had nothing to do with the sun. "I never said that. I just asked your opinion," he mumbled, discarding the weed. He squinted out at the river, the sun glancing off his sandy hair.

"But you don't deny it?" Nyle asked, flicking an eyebrow.

"I do deny it. Right now. I don't like her."