The Thanaton Syndrome

Chapter Thirty Nine: Pt. 1

Seth froze, sorrow filling every pore of his body. Jeremiah was already there, kneeling by his sister.

"You'll be fine, Jenna," he murmured.

"Yes," she said, leaning against him now for support. "I will, because you will get me the cure."

Jeremiah shook his head, and Seth felt the rolls of sadness. He protested, but Seth knew he didn't believe there was any hope. "It'll slip, you'll come with us, healthy and..."

"It's just goodbye for now." She closed her eyes, breathing heavily. "You'll get the cure."

Jeremiah paused, swallowing, then sighed. "I will. We all will, don't worry."

"Just..." Her eyes fluttered back open. "Hector, please, you have to save Hector."

Jeremiah nodded. "I will."

"No, he doesn't have much time. You have to hurry." Her breathing came in short bursts now as she tried to force out so many words with so little energy. "Don't let it kill him, Jere, please, don't..." Her voice cracked as she pleaded with him. "He doesn't have much time."

"I know," Jeremiah said, his voice taking on the slightest quiver. "I'll hurry, Jenna, don't worry."

She nodded, letting her eyes fall shut as she continued gripping his arm.After a few moments, her breathing slowed, and she went limp. Jeremiah looked up, pain in his eyes. "We have to go," He said. "I'll carry her."

Seth nodded, hurt to see Jenna gone, but all the more determined. She'd said their brother didn't have much time left, and this reminded him achingly of Lydia. The clock continued ticking.

He touched Jeremiah's shoulder. "We'll find this flower, okay?"

Jeremiah picked Jenna up, his face set. "That's right."

With that, they continued on, faster than before. Zander talked to Seth as they went, and Seth paid close attention, asking a question every so often. By mid-afternoon, they'd planned nearly all the basics in entering Fangalia, and the questers were spent. They'd jogged all day, with few stops.

Seth almost called for them all to stop and rest for a bit, but Zander stopped him.

"Just a little farther," he said. Seth almost protested, but something in the man's voice told him he knew something Seth didn't.

He called back to the questers, encouraging them and saying they'd stop in a short while.

They ran on. The forest began to take on the look of something closer to a jungle. Vines and leaves hung down from the trees, making it harder to see, but they ran on.

Just a few yards away, Seth saw a blanket of vines hanging down from the trees. Panting, he told himself they'd just go through that bit and then stop. They only had to go a little more.

He burst through the vines, then stumbled to a stop.

He'd run to the end of the forest, and into a dead end. Thorns and branches stood before him, standing at least ten feet high. Looking left and right, they also stretched out a far as he could see. He could see nothing through the wall of thorns. They were incredibly thick.

Catching his breath, he turned back to find the others looking at the wall, all in a mixture of amazement, wonder, and foreboding.

"Let's stop here," Seth said.

"That's one way to keep people out of your territory," Christian said, eying the wall with distaste. "How'll we get through?"

"It's a maze," Peter said. "We tried to cut straight through last time, but it didn't work well. We have to find our way through."

"I suggest we split up," Zander said. "That way we can each mark the dead ends, and ultimately all of us will find our ways through to the other end."

"Let's talk about this later," Seth said. The weariness of the group weighed down on him. "We'll get a few hours of rest, and then, maybe around midnight we'll head in. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded, and began digging through the packs for food.

As Seth sat down to eat the last of their stale bread, Zander approached him. "You sleep, Outlander, alright? I'll take watch."

Seth frowned taken aback. He didn't know that he liked Zander's tone, and suddenly wondered if he ought to trust him.

"Don't worry." Zander smiled, and Seth caught a wisp of the Fae Child's emotions—good-natured, slightly worried, and assuring.

"I think..." Seth glanced away, catching a look from Peter, who nodded. "Yes. Thank you, that's very kind."

The Fae Child chuckled and patted his shoulder. "If I wanted to do anything to you, I'd have done it."

Seth wanted to protest that they'd gone days with Spencer, but decided against it. He didn't see what good it would do. As Zander walked away, using an alert, practiced eye as he looked around, Seth grabbed his arm.

"Don't let us sleep too long," he said. "Only a few hours."

Zander nodded. "I'll wake you up."

After quickly eating, Seth lay down with the others. Before falling asleep, he did a brief headcount of all the questers. There were now thirteen of them—Piper, Jenna (if she counted), Jeremiah, Peter, Christian, Lena, Zander, Miriam, John, and the three archer recruits. Seth had met Zaccai, but not the two others. He got up, taking his blanket with him, and went to sleep by them.

They slept somewhat apart from the rest of the group, and Seth felt a small bit of remorse for not having given them any better welcome. They looked up as he approached, confusion spiking.

He smiled. "I'll sleep by you guys, is that alright?"

Zaccai nodded. "Sure."

"How're you doing?" Seth aimed the question to Zaccai.

Hope appeared on the boy's face. "I don't feel the mark anymore. He's given up on me."

"Good." He glanced at the other boys, saying, "I haven't met you guys properly yet. I'm Seth."

"Dan," one said.

"I'm Fletcher," the other said.

"How'd you get mixed up with the archers?"

"I came with Thomas," Dan said. "We both lived at Frell together, and joined a few months ago. He joined because of his dad, I think, but I did because of my little brother."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Seth was struck again by how much grief this disease had caused. "How old is he?"

"Fourteen months."

Seth grimaced. "Wow, I'm really sorry. We're going to get the cure, though, okay?"

Dan nodded. "That's the only reason I'm here."

Seth thought he caught the tiniest bit of resentment within those words, but decided to look past it. "So, what did your parents think?"

"Um, well, I snuck. They didn't want me to go, but I had to if my brother's to live." Guilt instantly hit Seth. If he'd known this, he never would have let Dan come, but there was no helping it anymore. Still, he made a mental note to try and watch out for the boy. If anything happened to him, when he was so young and still had a good, probably worried sick family at home, Seth somehow felt as though it were his fault. He'd encouraged the boys to come, after all.