Spirit Animals | Damaged

Chapter 18 | The Climb

This is a special chapter written in third person.

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Abeke was running out of breath fast, she'd been climbing this tree for an hour. She was so high up, the voices of Sal and the others were almost gone. Abeke grabbed the next branch, she really underestimated this tree's height.

As she took a long breath, she heard yells from the ground. Abeke twisted her head around. For a moment she froze, seeing how high up she was, but quickly refocused on the yells.

Rollan was scanning the sky for Essix, he knew she was nearby. But when he spun around he saw Olivia unconscious sprawled on a weird looking log.

Olivia didn't look so good, her hands had weird purple and green spots on them. Meilin gasped and ran over to her, examining her surroundings.

"This moss, it's-it's different." Meilin explained. Rollan reached for the moss, but Conor grabbed his arm.

"Whatever happened to Olivia, must've came from that moss, so don't touch it!" Meilin scolded.

Sal ran over pushing the kids gently out of the way. "Hmm...yes. This is a very poisonous moss. Olivia was very unlucky to have found it." Everyone turned to Olivia in shock. "I'm afraid there is no cure for such poison. It is up to Olivia's body to fight it." Sal explained, gently leaning Olivia against a tree.

Everyone fell quiet. Meilin watched Olivia, while Rollan watched Abeke. Abeke continued to climb even though she was sure something happened down at the ground. She kept mumbling to herself, "Just like practice, just like practice." But this was harder than practice.

This next branch looked different from the others. Abeke hesitated before she grabbed it. Her foot slipped a little making her automatically grab the closest branch. And then she heard a crunch.

Abeke watched in horror as the branch she grabbed began to split. If Abeke fell there was no way she would survive. She wanted to scream for help, but didn't. She removed her hand from the splitting branch and grabbed a more secure one. She moved her foot to a higher branch and continued to climb. That was close.

Rollan almost fell of his seat on the boulder when he saw Abeke stumble. Luckily she was quick to regain focus. He scooted back onto the rock, his heart still racing.

Meilin and Sal both kept a firm eye on Olivia. Her face twisted in pain every now and then. The spots on her hands had grown up to her elbows. If Olivia didn't fight harder she would lose this battle.

Sal lifted Olivia's head forwards and dribbled water down her throat. Poor Olivia. If he lost Olivia he would never forgive himself.

Jhi calmly licked Olivia's arm, the spots began to fade but were still there. Jhi could only lessen the pain, but couldn't do anything for the poison. Meilin was always very patient growing up, but seeing Olivia like this was weird. It almost reminded her of-she turned her head towards Rollan.

Abeke was now sweating and her hands were aching. But finally she spotted some type of weird fruit. This must be what Sal meant. She struggled to pull the fruit from the branch. It was about the size of her head. Once she pulled it off she carefully tucked it under her cloak and began her climb down.

Rollan had been watching an insect attempt to carry a large twig, when he saw Abeke reach the bottom. Abeke pulled out the fruit from under her cloak, "I got it!" She yelled panting.

The climb down felt incredibly short, but then again the tree was magic. Sal jumped up and grabbed the fruit form Abeke. "Conor get me a rock." He ordered firmly.

Conor ran to the nearest rock, he couldn't wait to get this cure ready. He missed Briggan so much, having Briggan not around him was torture.

Sal smashed open the fruit using the rock Conor handed him. The fruit cracked in 2 pieces, a red goo oozing from the middle. Conor handed Sal the bottle filled with the cure. Sal took a deep breath before carefully poring the red goo into the cure.

He nodded towards Connor, "Release Briggan." Conor's hands shook as he took the cure in his hand summoning Briggan. Briggan looked gravely ill, his eyes instead of being a bright blue were now a dull faded blue. Briggan held out his tongue and let his tongue lick the cure.

Everyone fell quiet, almost afraid nothing would happen. Briggan stumbled before falling to the ground. Conor almost gasped kneeling beside him. Briggan's infected cut was now heeled completely.

Conor grinned widely squeezing Briggan tightly. Briggan's bright blue eyes had returned, his tail now wagging. Everyone cheered Abeke patting Conor's back.

Sal had a small smile on his face, quickly turning back to Olivia. "If Olivia doesn't fight this poison soon, Nullet won't get the cure." Sal mumbled leaning Olivia against the tree again. "And Nullet really doesn't have long."

I'm sorry this chapter was so short but the next chapters will be back to normal.

-K <3