"Dad, we have followed our quest, and it has led us to victory!" she heard him say to his father, which causes her to smile and chuckle a bit. Ian opens the door, only to reveal....
The front of New Mushroomton High School. Ian had a look of confusion on his face as he climbs out from the ladder. Madi and Barley follow, and they had the same expressions. The elf girl mutters a 'what' to herself. Then, a bus driver honks on their horn, telling the three teens to move out of the way. Echo jumps at the sound, and the older teen ushers the younger one's to move to the sidewalk, right next to a construction site. "We're back home?" Ian said. "I don't get it, why would the thing lead us here?" Madi asks, placing the baby dragon down on the sidewalk. "No, this doesn't make any sense. We took the Path of Peril, we followed the ravens and we followed the water. Unless it said to stay away from the water" Barley said, examining the small stone. The younger teens look at him as he does that. "Don't worry, I can figure this out" he tells them.
"Figure out what? We're back to where we started" Ian tells his brother, confused and frustrated at the same time. "But it has to be here. There was a gauntlet, unless it was coincidently made for an entirely different quest, which is a possibility" Barley replied. "What?" the younger brother said to him. "No, no, this has to be where the Phoenix Gem is. I followed my gut" said the older brother. Madi looks between them and said "okay, guys, lets just relax a bit. I'm sure that we can figure something-" Before she could continue, however, Ian mutters an 'oh no', loud enough for the teen girl and older teen to hear. "What" Barley said, turning to his brother. "The gem is in the mountain. The mountain that we could've been two hours ago if we just...if we just stayed on the expressway" he tells him, anger rising in his voice. "No, the expressway's too obvious. You can never take the obvious-" Barley was going to say, but Ian stopped him. "If I hadn't listened to you, okay!" he shouted, making Madi jump and step back, Echo moving behind her. The older teen jumps at his outburst as well. "I can't believe this. You act like you know what you're doing, but you don't have a clue, and, and that's because you are a screwup! And now you screwed up the one thing I never had!" Ian said to his older brother, leaving him speechless and surprised by his words.
Madi moves in front of the elf boy and said "Ian, this isn't his or anyone's fault here. I'm just as confused and frustrated as you are, but this isn't going to-" Before she can say anymore, he says to her "so what, Madi! This whole thing wouldn't have happened if we hadn't taken that path!" "Look, listen, your upset, I get it. But you just need to-" she said, but once again, she was interrupted. "No, you don't. This isn't helping, Madi, nothing that you've done is helping. Seriously, I don't even know why you even bothered to come along" he tells her. Madi was surprised to hear him say that, her eyes open widely. Surely he didn't mean those things, did he? She watches him turn to Wilden and grabs onto the leash. "Ian, please, if I can just-" she was going to say, but the teen boy interrupted her. "Madi, please just...don't right now" he tells her, handing her his staff and started walking away from her, Echo, and Barley, with his father close behind him.
"Ian, where are you going?" Barley asks. "To spend whatever little time we have with Dad" Ian tells him. "Ian, wait. Ian" Madi said to him, but he ignored her. While the older brother tried to call the younger one back, the elf girl watches him go off over the hill, her eyes starting to brim with tears. She grips onto the staff, kind of leaning against it. Echo looks at the direction where Ian left, and then looking up at the girl, letting out a sad chirp. She jumps onto Madi's shoulders and gives her a gentle lick on the cheek. The elf girl looks at the baby dragon and smiled, but only for a little bit, as she continues to look towards the hill, a tear finally falling down her cheek.
Oh no, everybody is upset. Where's the happiness, people 😢😭
Will everyone reconcile? What's going to happen between Madi and Ian? Find out next time in the chapter. See ya later, and have a good day/night!!
Also, sorry if this one's short. The next one maybe short too. But don't worry, rest assured the next two chapters after that will be longer