"Are we there yet?” Sam asked for about the thousandth time that day.Kevin gritted his teeth. “No, we’re not. We won’t be there for another four days.”
“How much longer?” Sam whined, deliberately being annoying.
“SHUT UP!” Kevin exploded, glaring at Sam. His temple was throbbing.
Sam’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know why you’re yelling,” she said. “You just had to ask.” The tears
started falling, streaming down her cheek. She sniffed. “You don’t have to be so cruel.”Kevin pulled the horse to a stop. “That’s it. We’re stopping. I can’t put up with you any longer.”
“Regretting what you got into now?”
“No, because I want Augumentia.”
“You’re not going to get it,” Sam told him. “She won’t be keeping her promises. You should trust me.”
“Princess, you’re the last person I should trust. You want me to let you go.”
“Yeah, I do, but Serpienta isn’t going to give you what she promised you.”
“If you want to keep your sharp tongue, Princess, you’ll keep it silent,” Kevin warned.
Sam smiled as she watched him stalk off into the woods.
***
“We should start now,” Justin said, an hour after they had stopped. “It’s dark enough.”
Chris looked at Willow, who had been talking to Josh, and stood up. He and Willow walked a little away
from the others to discuss their spells. Ten minutes later, a silvery-white glow surrounded the five people. They
headed into the forest, moving silently over the forest floor.“I don’t like this forest,” Chris said.
“That’s only because you’re afraid of the dark,” Justin hissed.
“There’s nothing wrong with being afraid of the dark,” Chris defended himself.
“Not when you’re a child. But you’re a grown man, Chris. And you’re supposed to be an evil magician.”
“Still, the dark is scary.” Chris shivered.
“And we wondered why you weren’t evil,” Willow commented, shaking her head.
Silence fell over the group after that as they made their way through the dense forest.
I can’t believe you’re still afraid of the dark, his conscious said suddenly. After weeks of it’s silence,
Chris had gotten used to not having any voices in his head and jumped when he heard that.Everyone stopped. “Did you see something?” Willow asked. “Or hear anything?”
Chris shook his head, glad they couldn’t see the blush staining his cheeks. “No. I just- stepped on a twig
and scared myself.”“Don’t do that again,” Willow said. “You practically gave me a heart attack.” They started walking again.
See what you did, Chris told his conscious.
I didn’t do it. You jumped.
But you scared me, just all of a sudden popping up like that.
Chris, you should be used to be just suddenly saying random things.
But you’ve been silent for the past few weeks.
Did you actually think I was going to just stop talking to you?
Yes.
Sorry, but you’re not that lucky.
You said you’d leave me alone once Samantha was revealed to her brother.
And he had her and she was happy and all of those other things. She’s currently missing.
Then why haven’t you been bugging me for the past few weeks.
I was... busy.
Doing what?
His conscious laughed. Get your mind out of the gutter, Christopher. I don’t have those animalistic
desires humans have. I was watching over some other people. Oh, you’re being followed. Two of the men who helped kidnap Samantha want revenge for the death of their friend.Who? How far away are they? Do they want to kill us? Chris asked.
He was greeted with silence.
Chris gritted his teeth. Damn conscious.
***
“I see them,” Justin said, as they hid at the edge of the forest. “They’re asleep.”
“We should get Sam and turn back,” Willow said. “The forest would be the best place for us to hide. And
it would even be best if we traveled through it. We’d have the cover of the trees.”“But we could get lost,” Chris protested.
A growl deep enough for them to hear but not to carry across the wide road that divided the forest sounded
above them.They all looked up to see Nyx stretched out across one of the branches.
“Should we travel through the forest?” Justin asked the cat.
She tossed her head and purred, which Justin took to mean as yes.
“We stay in the forest,” Justin said. “I’m going to get Sam.” He pulled out his dagger and silently crossed
the road, walking to Sam’s side and kneeling beside her.He cut the rope that bound her to Kevin and picked her up. A smile crossed her lips but her eyes remained
closed.Justin passed the others while walking into the forest. They followed him.
They walked for about ten minutes before Justin stopped and lowered Sam to her feet. He cupped her face
in his hands and kissed her.Josh frowned at the sight of his sister kissing Justin, but didn’t protest.