The path we had chosen was winding, narrow, and filled with thwacking branches eager to meet our stunned faces.
"Are we any closer?" Madison said as she ducked from another incoming branch.
I swatted it away. "Closer to what?"
She let out more noises to show her displeasure. "I don't know. Anywhere but here." She dodged another branch.
"Would you shut up, I'm tired of hearing you whine," Bobby said from somewhere ahead of us.
Madison gasped. "Well, excuse me for voicing my opinion."
"No one cares about your opinion," Bobby snapped back.
Even I felt that was harsh, though I'd be lying if I said a small part of me didn't agree.
Bobby stopped, and moved somewhere out of view. Miller dropped down as a thick branch whacked Madison square in the face. She fell to the ground in agony.
"What the hell, Bobby?" She held her face and groaned.
"Are you okay?" I knelt down.
She shooed me away. "Don't touch me."
I didn't blame her. The last time I touched her I got carried away, and nearly drained her dry. I walked past her and met up with Miller.
"Find anything useful in that thing?"
He looked up from his book. "I wish. I've had to put one book aside, because I still can't read whatever language it's written in, and this one may be readable but it still makes no sense." He slammed the book shut, and put it in the sack.
"Well, if anyone can figure it out, it's you." I rubbed my hand against his shoulder and smiled.
His face turned red, and he turned from me as he walked away. "We should see where he went."
I looked back at Madison, still moping on the ground. "Are you coming?"
She pouted. "What's the point?"
I made my way back to her. "I think the point is making it out of here alive." I knelt down beside her. I pulled my hands away from her. "I know. Don't touch."
A sour look came over her face as she sighed. "I know that nerd-brain over there said time's funny here, but I still don't like knowing he's alone with that woman." She pulled her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
I wanted to reach out in comfort--for some reason, maybe the air is poisonous here--but held firm. I doubt I'd drain her this time, I didn't feel the hunger at all, but Madison was still weary of me. I could catch glimpses of fear whenever I stood nearby.
"It's going to be alright." My voice was as soothing as possible.
She held her legs tighter against her chest. "As if. We're in some messed up magic nightmare. Who knows if we'll ever get home." She hid her face from me, her strawberry-blonde hair hung over the side, sheltering her tears from view.
Consoling someone without touch, a near impossible task; more so if the one you're trying to console is a noted "enemy".
"I know," I said, fear masked in confidence. "If we can break my curse, I just know this will all work out." I leaned in, my expression one of hope--though behind it I wore one of doubt.
She turned to me, her hair parted ways to reveal her somber expression. The mascara ran down her face, her eyes glistened with tears. "I can't leave him with that woman. He'll never be free living under her." Her voice grew low. "I'll never be free."
Before I could react, or utter a thing, she turned her gaze from me, and wiped her eyes.
Madison rose off the ground, and straightened her outfit. "Come on, Adderall, those boys have been quiet too long. Better go see what mess they've gotten into now." She sniffled, and walked off. "Bobby's probably gotten himself killed, again."
A slight smile sprang from the corner of my mouth as I stood up. "I'll never be free", I wasn't entirely certain, but her words felt heavy, as if weighed down by some immense, unseen force. One she couldn't bear to shed.
She was right though, it was too quiet. I emerged from the narrow path and caught up with the others.
"What's going on?" I said to Miller, who stood silent next to me.
"I'm not sure. But we found something."
He turned and walked off, I followed after him, Madison trailed behind me. Bobby stood before us, back turned, he stared at something I couldn't quite see.
I pushed up next to him. "What's got you so quiet? Not that I'm complaining."
He motioned to something below us. I stared inquisitively at the dirt-covered oddity. Knelt down among the dirt, I wiped the strange finding off, and gasped at what we had uncovered.
A troubled journey
Wandered long
Those were the words I could not look away from. Etched into the ground beneath me. Carved deep into the raised stone platform buried below.
My mind raced with possibilities. Was this some kind of clue? Was it meant for me? Questions clouded my thoughts, until Miller crouched down next to me. His hand felt over the carving.
"The missing pieces..." He whispered under his breath.
"What?" I leaned in.
He turned to me. "Can you read it?"
I looked at him, my face wrung up with confusion. Could I read it? Could he not?
"Why can't you read it? It's plain as day."
Miller looked back at the carvings. "It's gibberish to me, but it's clearly important. Stone carvings buried mysteriously in the ground are usually pretty important." He smirked.
I half-smiled, and leaned down close. "Alright. Well, it says--"
"Hold that thought." He pulled his hand away from the dirt and wiped it on his sweater. He took out one of the books from his sack, and a writing utensil.
"What are you doing?" I said, peeking over his shoulder.
"Making a note of it."
"Why?"
"I think it might fit into the poem." He motioned to me to translate it.
I read the strange markings back to him, and he wrote the brief words on some faded paper, and placed the closed book back in his sack.
He stood. "I'm not sure where they might fit, but this could be a step in the right direction."
I rose from the stone carving. "So, there's gotta be more of these things, right?"
He nodded. "I think so."
I couldn't contain myself, I lunged forward, grabbed onto him, and hugged him tight. "I told you. I knew you could figure it out." I was ecstatic. "Thank you," I said before I released him.
He looked flushed as he cleared his throat. "Don't thank me yet, we don't know how many more of these we need to find. Or what order they go in."
"That doesn't matter. Not right now. We're on the right path." I closed my eyes and let the cool breeze tickle my skin, blowing my hair about. I smiled, opened my eyes, and turned to them. "Come on, let's keep going."
Onward we marched, into the dark depths of the unknown. We were all broken, and worn, but somewhere within all of us, I was certain there laid hope.
✴ 🎀 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎😍𝓊 𝓉🌸 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎❤𝓃𝑒 𝒻💗𝓇 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉❀ 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑒𝓃𝒹 💮𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇❢ 𝐼𝒻 𝓎💗𝓊 𝑒𝓃𝒿🍑𝓎𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝓋🌺𝓉𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓉☯𝓇𝓎 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 🍪𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓈❣ 𝐼'𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓇𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝒾𝓉. 𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝑒 𝓉🍑 𝒸🌺𝓂𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒶𝓈 𝓎💗𝓊 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹 ❁𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓎☯𝓊'𝓋𝑒 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒾𝓈𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝒶 𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉 💞𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓉🍩𝓇𝓎. 𝒟🍪𝓃'𝓉 𝒷𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝓎❢ 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎🏵𝓊 𝒶𝑔𝒶𝒾𝓃, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒽💙𝓅𝑒 𝓎💙𝓊 𝒸🍬𝓂𝑒 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝒻💙𝓇 𝓂🌺𝓇𝑒❢ 🎀 ✴