Michael watched Alie carefully over the next few days. The battle in the Marketplace had changed her. She became more withdrawn. She smiled much less often. Several times, he caught her staring off into the jungle, back toward the acres of scorched earth, as if its memory haunted her.
It unsettled him.
It didn't help that they were low on food and had to eat mostly bananas and some other strange fruit that grew wildly nearby, or that the heat and humidity of the jungle seemed determined to boil him alive. At least they had found a source of fresh water, so all wasn't completely lost.
He could forget about getting home, though. Even though they had no idea where they were, one thing they could say with certainty was that they were far, far away from Safeton.
Even the usually cheery Darrel had lost the pep in his step. He often muttered to himself about losing his one chance at striking it rich, and having a "stupid conscience." Under different circumstances, Michael might have found a bit of humor in the thief's misery.
At least they weren't dead, he reminded himself at least a dozen times a day. Or locked in prison.
The small waterfall they'd discovered on the second day had been a welcome surprise. A unanimous vote decided that they would camp beside its waters, and no one had mentioned leaving since. Why would they? The waters were refreshing and cool, a sweet relief from the intoxicating heat. And what lay in wait for them if they left? More Evil? The mysterious and utterly terrifying Commander Sole? No one wanted anything to do with either of those any time soon.
Forsaking propriety in favor of relief, they'd all stripped down to their underwear (though Alie had imagined herself a relatively modest swimsuit) and lounged in the pool at the waterfall's base. If he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend that he was out on vacation with Alie and his family, off at some nice resort on a tropical island.
Almost.
One thing kept breaking the illusion: magic. Dozens of glistening butterflies, their wings doused in heavy coats of golden magic, constantly fluttered between the tree line and the water's edge. They kept their distance at first, hugging the branches higher up in the trees. But with a few admiring coos from Alie, they had ventured closer and closer over the past day. They seemed especially attracted to the Ultimate and the stone in Darrel's pack, refusing to leave either alone unless someone shooed them away.
Alie said they must be the only bits of magic left in the world. She couldn't feel any more of it anywhere else.
One of the butterflies rested atop Alie's damp head, contentedly perched with wings flat against her skull. It made her look like she wore some sort of gaudy hair accessory.
Darrel tried for the tenth time to squirt it with water. But Alie lifted another imagined shield to block the water's path, protecting the butterfly's delicate wings.
Her use of magic was greatly improving. She didn't even have to open her eyes anymore to know when Darrel tried to squirt her. Her awakened sixth sense creeped Michael out.
"Leave it alone, Darrel," Alie warned patiently, like a mother gently correcting a child.
"I wont hurt it," Darrel grinned. "It's just a little water."
"It doesn't want to get wet," she informed.
He rolled his eyes. "What, you talk to butterflies, now?"
Alie tilted her head in thought. The butterfly atop her head barely twitched. "Not with words," she decided. "They talk with emotion."
Michael lifted an eyebrow. Had he lost himself in his own thoughts and come back to hear Alie explaining the plot line to another one of her fantasy novels?
Darrel gave her a deadpanned stare. "Butterflies might be magic, but they still can't communicate."
"You can't feel it?" Scrunching her brows, she pointed to a cluster of butterflies gathered on a tree nearby. "That one is happy because it found especially sweet nectar this morning for breakfast." Of another, she said, "That one won't leave the trees because it feels safer in the shade. And that one thinks you snore too loud and smell like feet."
Michael burst out laughing.
Darrel flushed pink, but quickly recovered with a wave of his hand through his hair and a small chuckle. "That's the smell of adventure, my dear."
"Well, your sense of adventure needs soap," she stated flatly.
Darrel threw up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. I'll bathe under the falls tonight."
"Scrub twice," she grinned.
"Jeez. Fine. But only because the butterfly insisted."
Alie giggled. But soon, the laughter faded from her eyes. Her smile slipped into a solemn, saddened dread. "The butterflies are scared," she said after a while, in a quiet voice. "The corruption in this world is hunting them. They don't know how much time they have left. And once they're gone, this world will fall to the same fate as the Unknown World."
Though Michael didn't understand how Alie connected to magic, or how much it was affecting her, he believed that she felt the fear she had described. He could see the truth of it reflected in her eyes.
Darrel leaned back against a rock and sighed. "Well, I guess we're going to have to use the crystal to get out of here, then. Because I have no idea where a portal in this world is. If there even still is one."
"We don't know where the crystal will take us," Michael reminded. "What if it drops us into a sea of Evil?"
"Then we fight them, the same way we did in the Marketplace," Alie answered. Her expression turned hard, her eyes flashing with determination. "But we've stayed here long enough. The Realm needs us."
"Oh, no," Darrel laughed mockingly. "You two go have fun. But leave me out of it. I've fought enough Evil."
"Where would you even go?" Alie challenged. "You're a wanted man. Our disappearance from the Marketplace wouldn't have gone unnoticed. And Commander Sole will probably be on the lookout for us. You can't use the crystal without me, so you'd be stuck traveling world to world by portals. That would make you easier to track."
Darrel opened his mouth, but no sound came out. After a moment, he closed it again and glared at the surface of the water, brooding. .
"You're safest with us, popping from world to world randomly with the crystal," she went on. "Even if we run into a bit of trouble, you wouldn't be fighting alone. Michael and I have your back."
"I appreciate that," Darrel said, "but I really just want to disappear somewhere until this whole thing blows over."
"This isn't going to blow over. Didn't you see the way Commander Sole came after us? He knew about the crystal. He must have. He saw its powers. He even counteracted them somehow. Something tells me he won't rest until the crystal is in his hands."
Darrel scowled. "Then we shouldn't use the crystal. It makes us a target."
"If we use the crystal, he won't be able to catch us. The moment he hears about us being in one world, we'll already be in the next. He'll be chasing our shadows."
"And what exactly will we be doing?" Michael asked. His stomach tensed. For Alie to have this many counter arguments, she had to have been thinking about this for a while. Perhaps it had been the only thing on her mind since arriving in the jungle.
"Fighting the Evil," she replied. "Destroying those dark portal things. Finding out where they come from."
A sparkle of mischief flashed across Darrel's eyes. "Sounds dangerous."
"The whole realm is going to end up like this world if we don't stop it. We have a responsibility to act."
"You took up that responsibility," Darrel quickly reminded. "Even if I decide to tag along, I want to make it explicitly clear that mantle is on you and you alone."
"And what about getting home?" Michael brought up.
Alie turned stone cold eyes to him. They weren't angry, or confrontational. They just wouldn't take no for an answer. "The crystal is your best chance at getting back to Safeton, or a world close to it," she reasoned. "It could take months to get there otherwise. And we're on the run, too. Eventually, we'll get caught if we chart a path through portals. But using the crystal, one day or another, we'll just end up where we need to be."
Michael met her determined stare. "And you'll go home if we end up in Safeton? Even if we end up there tomorrow?"
She lifted her chin. She wanted to stay resilient, to refuse to back down. But she knew she couldn't drag him through the realm forever. With a hard swallow, she gave a small nod. "Yes. I'll go home if the crystal takes us to Safeton."
"You promise?" He held out his pinky.
She knew better than to pinky swear unless she meant what she said. It had been their rule since childhood. To them, breaking a pinky promise was like destroying their friendship.
Alie hesitated. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Her pinky wrapped around his.
He refused to let her go. "I'm doing this for your own good, you know. This isn't your realm. You don't have to put your life on the line for it."
Alie's hand slipped slowly back into the water when he finally released her finger. The sorrow returned to her eyes, casting a shadow over her face. "I'm aware."
"I'm responsible for you. I'll go with you on this quest you seem hellbent to complete, but I'm getting you back home safe and sound whether you save the realm or not."
Darrel gave an unimpressed snort. "What are you, her father?"
Michael ignored him. "Maybe the realm is your first priority, but you are mine. Understand?"
She blinked. Her lashes glistened with water. Her eyes gazed into his soul. Her countenance softened.
She cared about him. He knew that. It was moments like these that told him so. The way she watched him promised that she would give anything to soothe his unease. "I understand," she said.
He nodded in approval. Looking for more danger wasn't what he wanted, but as long as Alie promised to go back home, he could afford to follow along with her plan.
Darrel glanced back and forth between the two of them, his brows furrowed together. "I feel like I missed something," he said, frowning.
"We're leaving," Alie announced, rising. The butterfly atop her head took to the air, off to rejoin the others.
Darrel blinked in surprise. "What, now? What about that shower you said I needed so badly?"
"Better hurry up," she called over her shoulder. Magic gleamed around her as her swimsuit transformed back into the traveling ensemble she had made for herself. A flick of her wet hair instantly dried it, and she tied it back away from her face with a band around her wrist. She shooed away the butterflies lounging on Darrel's pack and pulled out the crystal, stirring the magic within it to life at the gentle stroke of her fingers.
Darrel turned to Michael, annoyed and confused. "Who made her the boss around here?"
Michael shrugged and rose, grabbing the towel Alie had imagined for him and rubbing his head dry. "She's the Ultimate Wielder, or so you keep saying. What did you expect?"
Darrel gave a short huff. "She was cuter when the title didn't go to her head."
Michael had to agree. He much preferred the soft, cautious version of his friend. But he had also never seen her so determined to do anything before. The purpose and drive she exhibited was something she had never showed in anything. Only her books held such priority in her life.
Despite his fear of what lay ahead for her, he couldn't help feeling a bit proud of her growth.
It didn't take long for them to gather up their things. Alie summoned up a gate from the crystal, freezing the butterflies fluttering around her in mid air. As they all stepped through into the next world, Michael swallowed down the nausea building in his gut, and kept his chin up for the sake of his best friend.
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Note from the author:
Hello! I know this week's chapter is a bit on the shorter side (so sorry!!), but as its really a transitional chapter, I didn't feel like it needed a lot of elaboration. The sooner we can get back to the action, the better, right?
If you enjoyed this chapter, consider giving it a vote or leaving a comment! I always love to hear from you!!
-Liz