the trial by tale

the trial

"I don't feel too good," the girl says, lightheaded.

He groans. "Don't tell me you're scared of heights. Did you forget about the thing that's chasing us right now?"

"You're right," Chiara says weakly. She tries to stand but her knees buckle and she collapses.

"Okay, we're not wasting time on this," he says, picking her up. The Everboy runs across the bridge, carrying her easily. Behind them, they can hear the pumpkin-headed creature's bare feet slapping the stones.

Abruptly, the boy stops. He's reached a point where the bridge breaks off.

"We're so dead," he says, face white with terror.

"Wait," Chiara responds, brow furrowing. She can see a slightly translucent outline of the bridge continuing in front of them. Gingerly, she steps forward.

"Chiara, no!" he gasps, lunging for her. But her intuition was right - the bridge does continue. It's just invisible.

Beaming, she grabs his hand and strides forward, leaving the perplexed creature behind.

Chiara leads the boy onto solid terrain, triumphantly watching the monster turn back into the forest. He collapses to the ground, still in shock at being alive.

"Holy crap, you saved my life - again," he gasps. "I never would've realized the bridge was invisible. How can I ever repay you?"
A tiny smile spreads on her face before she forces a serious expression. She's in the middle of the Trial by Tale! This is no time for flirting with cute Everboys.

"No need to thank me," Chiara responds brusquely. "But I still don't know your name. And for some reason I don't recognize you, even though I thought I knew all of the Evers in this school."

He laughs. "Yeah, I bet you do. Uh, my name's Charlie."

She frowns. "Charlie? Odd name. Sounds kind of... foreign. Where are you from?"

Charlie chuckles nervously. "It's short for Charles. I'm from, uh... Far. Far away from here."
"What in the world do you mean? Like Borna Coric? I guess that explains the weird name-"
"No, Chiara, way further than that," he interrupts.

She stares at him. "You don't mean you're from the Pifflepaff Hills? Never met an Everboy from there..."

"Chiara, I'm not from the Woods," Charlie says firmly.

She gapes at him. "No way. You're a Reader?!"

He avoids her question and anxiously watches the darkening sky. "Night's really falling now. We've probably been in here for 3, maybe 4 hours? We need to get shelter fast before something notices us out in the open." He spots a dark turquoise cave. "Let's go there," Charlie decides, leading Chiara towards the opening.

Only then does she realize that she never let go of his hand after crossing the bridge, and her cheeks flush bright red.

"These are the Cyan Caves, right?" she mumbles, suddenly grateful for the thick darkness hiding her crimson face.

"Yep," he responds. "Not the safest place to be at night, but a lot better than being exposed out there. Okay, we can probably stay here."

Charlie sits on the ground and the two sink into a deep silence, only broken by the dripping of azure water from the cave ceiling's stalactites. Chiara fidgets, unable to quash her curiosity.

Right as she's gathering the courage to speak, he announces, "Chiara, I know you're really confused about who I am and why you don't recognize me, but I need you to trust me. I know we don't know each other very well, but I promise I'm not going to try to hurt you. Okay?"