CYRON (Completed)

Chapter 16 -W (Special Extra #3)

"Why, Mayu, why?!" Zoe shouted in frustration, pacing around in front of the big Incan Crown statue. "You just HAD to, didn't you?!" She had her fists balled up tightly. "You just- You just- UGH!" She sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree and sighed, rubbing her right hand thumb and middle finger on her temples. "Oh, Mayu... What am I gonna do with you?"

Mayu had always been really curious and awed about the world around her as a little kid. She was a very outgoing person, and loved to talk to perfect strangers in random places. But was it really random? She always seemed to meet the perfect people. And to Zoe, it had always seemed like Mayu had some sort of... Magical charm about her.

Though that side of her changed when she grew up. Now it seemed like there was some sort of... Vail in front of her, or something similar, covering her personality. Though all that depended on her mood.

Suddenly, she heard the bushes rustling of bushes, and the cracking of some sticks behind her.

She stood up quickly and toward it, already in a fighting stance, but sighed in relief when she saw who it was.

"Gabriel!" She exclaimed out loud.

He was fully dressed, wearing jeans and a black warm-looking coat. It looked weird for Zoe to see him fully dressed at that hour. She knew why though. He had been ready, keeping a watch on the Incan Crown statue portal. It was obvious he had just arrived, though.

"What yoo doo here now en de night?" He asked with a noticeable Spanish accent and a suspicious tone.

Zoe began to get nervous at that.

"Oh, I thought I'd go for a midnight stroll through the woods. It's beautiful here, you know?"

Even if Zoe was nervous, she was pretty good at keeping her voice, expression, and energy normal. Which, yes, helped a lot when lying. Though that wasn't entirely a lie. She was walking through the woods at night. And there was no denying that the island was a very beautiful one. But...

"Ok, ok. Why yoo here? At de portal? Where is Mayu?" Gabriel asked again, brushing off what Zoe said, obviously knowing it was pire bologna. (Bo-low-knee)

Zoe sighed. Of course he would know she was lying. This was Gabriel we were talking about.

"She... She fell through the portal." She managed to say, keeping a straight face.

It was hard. She was trying to keep it together.

There was a moment of silence as Gabriel's face contorted in confusion. But when he processed what he had heard, his expression changed dramatically.

"¿Que?" He asked, not bothering to say 'What?' in English.

"Just as I said. She accidentally fell through... She's really an idiot. You know? Just because the portal suddenly turned on for the first time in years, she jumped out in front of it to protect me. That's how she lost her balance and fell through..."

Another moment of silence. Zoe closed her eyes in anticipation.

"¡¿QUE?!" He raged, his face quickly turning red.

"I-I'm sorry." Zoe stuttered nervously.

"¿Como pudiste? ¿Como pudo haber pasado eso? ¡No—!"

He went on a rant in Spanish swinging his arms around in anger over his head. Normally Zoe would have understood him, but he was ranting so fast that she didn't understand a thing he was saying. She didn't need to though, it was apparent that he was angry as F*CK. Just like you should be after finding out that your granddaughter is now in a world stark raving mad with war!

Zoe didn't know what else to do, so she grabbed her backpack and started walking away.

"¡¿Donde te vas?!" Gabriel shouted after her.

Zoe paused. She had to get to the mainland. She didn't have much time to waste here. She could just walk away right now and be done with it. But... Why weren't her legs working? Why wasn't she walking? She heaved a big sigh. She just couldn't leave them now, not before telling everyone what happened, anyways. They were Mayu's family after all.

'Even when you're not here, you still have that magical charm about you...' Zoe chuckled. "I'm going back to the cabin, I have to tell everyone else what happened!" Zoe shouted, squeezing her backpack straps. 'Oh god...' She thought. 'This is gonna be hard... How do I start?'

*   *   *

      "You have to es-peack with us?" Asked Mayu's aunt, Tía Martina.

Zoe nodded.

"I do."

"Ok. But why at 2:30 in de morning?" Asked Tío Pedro.

"Is oviosly imortant." Abuela Sara said.

All of them looked tired, and were in their sleeping clothes.

Zoe took a deep breath and started talking.

"Basically—"

"Se trata de Mayu, ¿verdad?" (It's about Mayu, right?) Sara asked, not bothering to speak English.

Zoe was dumbfounded. How did she know? But then she smirked. Of course she knew.

"Por fin llego su hora... Siempre supe que esto pasaría." (Her time has finally come... I always knew this would happen.) Sara said, sighing.

Zoe stared at her, waiting for her to go on. Uncle Pedro and Tía Martina look at Sara, shifting uncomfortably.

"¿Sara?" They asked simultaneously.

Sara sighed.

"Les tengo que-" She stopped abruptly, cleared her throat, then started over in English. "I have to tell you all something."

~Chapter from Friday, January 25th, 2019–Saturday, February 9th, 2019

This is an old chapter. After talking to Sidgal about it, we decided I would rewrite Chapter 16 so that Zoe isn't still so far back in the story. Comments are welcome! We appreciate constructive criticism.

I decided to just call this chapter Special Extra #3 because I do not want to discard it, but it's not really part of the canon story. Details about this chapter could change in the official chapter 16.~