The Thanaton Syndrome

Chapter Twenty Nine: Pt. 2

"How did it go?" She asked.

"Um, fine," he replied, not positive himself how he thought it had gone. "Overwhelming, I suppose. Lots of new information."

"Well, better to know than not to know," she said. Seth didn't know if he agreed with her on that one, but went along with it anyway.

"I have instructions to take you to your room again," she said, "but you have every right to head back to the bathing houses after I drop you off. Tova's sending you off in about half an hour."

When they arrived back at his room, he felt torn over whether to take her up on her offer of the bathing houses, or to get a little extra sleep. He remembered Piper telling him, back at the Paramount Palace, that you didn't get much sleep on quests and that statement had proven true so far. Though Spencer often provided enough opportunity to sleep, Seth had found it incredibly difficult to sleep comfortably and without strange dreams waking him up and nagging at him.

Glancing at his bed, though, he decided he wouldn't be able to get to sleep very well after he'd already woken up. He could probably sleep a little better now that they'd gotten out of the tunnels. Besides, who knew when he could get another bath?

He quickly made a trip back to the bathing houses, where he found a sleepy Jeremiah and a few other questers.

"What do you say we go convince old Spence to stay an extra day?" Jeremiah said.

"Hm." Seth pretended to think. "Spencer might just say yes. It's Tova I'm worried about."

Jeremiah nodded with a sigh and headed away. Seth took another quick bath and started to head back. Before escaping the bathrooms though, he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror. The mirror was hidden away a bit, so Seth could understand why he'd missed it before, but he could barely quench the yelp that escaped him as he caught sight of his reflection.

He looked so different. He looked wild and unkept, even after two baths, and his face had thinned immensely after only...what was it now, three weeks? He couldn't help but think that if he went back to school now, no one would recognize him. The snowflake necklace around his neck reminded him of Lydia, and he wondered if he ever would go back to his old school.

"Admiring the view?"

He jumped and turned as he saw Jeremiah in the reflection. "Dude, could you just leave me alone?"

"Oh, my bad, sorry." Jeremiah hurried away smirking, calling after him, "I guess I'll just give you and the mirror a moment alone."

Seth shook his head, unable to keep back a small laugh, and followed Jeremiah out of the bathing houses.

Fifteen minutes later, Seth stood outside the tree with the other questers, waiting for Tova and Spencer to be done speaking before they left. He adjusted his pack on his shoulders, unused to the weight and feel of it since the Fae Children had repacked it for him. Glancing up, he saw Spencer and Tova shake hands.

Spencer turned to the rest of them. "To the boats!" He said. "From here, we go to Frell. We should arrive in just a couple days. There lies our last stop until we head straight for Fangalia—and the cure."

Someone cheered, and everyone got into the boats. It was amazing what one night spent at the Arboris of Lucias could do to them all. The mood genuinely felt lifted and more cheerful.

Seth got into a boat with Christian, Lena, Jenna, and another man he'd never met before. The man nodded at him.

"Marcus," he said.

"Seth," Seth replied, nodding in return.

The man chuckled. "I know. Everyone knows that, Outlander." Seth felt tempted to ask why they kept calling him "outlander" then, but thought it'd sound rude.

After that, they started rowing. They didn't have to go far before reaching the beach across from the tree.

"Leave the boats here," Zander called. "They will use them later."

After getting all their things, and looking back one last time at the mythical tree in the distance, they headed through the ivy doorway, back into the forest they'd come from.

Spencer and Zander both headed a certain direction, and everyone else followed. People didn't speak much, mostly happy to be back in the fresh, sun lit air. Once again, Seth was appalled by the wonderful feel of hiking through the forest, with birds tweeting and other creatures chattering in the distance. Looking around at all the other questers hiking around him, Jeremiah constantly talking to the assortment of creatures who tagged along with him, Seth felt content.

After a few hours, though, the toll of hiking through the forest began to catch up to him. His arms and legs were covered in scratches, and he grew tired of stepping over and under and around all the different logs and plants sprouting out everywhere. The insects who used to be so lovely transformed into a bit of a nuisance as he needed to keep swatting them out of his face. The sun beat down on them, making it more tiresome and difficult to make it through the woods, particularly for the questers who hadn't been in the sun for a solid two weeks.

Looking around, Seth noticed everyone's energy, so high that morning, had sunk as they struggled through the rough terrain. Even Jeremiah's chatters had begun to die down.

"We gotta stop," Spencer said, bringing everyone to a halt. "Let's have an early lunch everyone. Time to refuel."

They did feel better after lunch, but Spencer ended up stopping for snack breaks three more times that day. At dinner, they stopped altogether and set up the new tents the Fae Children had given them.

Dinner, which they had early, consisted of more meats and breads packed from the Fae Children and stories from Zander, which continued on afterwards while questers eagerly listened and asked questions. Though Seth enjoyed the questers' company, as well as Zander's stories, he slipped away to his tent after dinner to get a quiet moment to himself and ponder everything Tova had said.

Absentmindedly, he started digging through his pack. He hadn't gotten a chance to see everything the Fae Children had packed for him yet.

Near the bottom, he found Asher Pemwhor's journal, which he felt self conscious about the Fae Children seeing, before finding a crumpled up piece of paper. He pulled it out and unfolded it, thinking it looked vaguely familiar.

He suppressed a small sigh when he saw the letters inside. It was the newspaper he'd brought from the Outland, and had now forgotten multiple times. He should probably just get rid of it, except...

He ran his hand over it, instantly bringing back all the emotions of joking with Priscilla and Nathan, and then the desperation of losing Nathan to the disease, quickly followed by the panic and confusion of entering Alaisia. It all hit him like a whirlwind, and he found himself suddenly reading the words, reminding himself of home.

After a few moments, he sat up straight with a sharp intake of breath. Slowly, he looked back down, and read again, murmuring out loud to himself.

"Now moving to an interview with the head scientist at the research department, who claims we come closer to a cure everyday." Blah, blah, blah, all the usual... "Golfer on the side, retired IT technician, and now full time scientist— Asher Pemwhor."