Justin and Sam moved silently through the forest, swiftly covering ground, moving in the direction they heard the noise. They hoped to discover what the noise was and be back in camp before the sun rose.
After walking for thirty minutes, a faint light, like that of a fire burning low in the distance, appeared in their view. And both knew that the noise they heard was from a camp.
Everyone was asleep in the camp when Justin and Sam appeared on the outskirts. The fire was burning low, and there were no guards posted. No one had even woken up at their approach.
What fools, Sam thought in disgust. Not to have a guard or at least have someone so trained that they awoke at the slightest sound.
She looked at Justin and knew that he was thinking the same thing. He grinned at her, then, almost as one, they walked into camp. Making as much noise as possible.
The five people in camp scrambled up and reached for their weapons. But it was of no use for them to fight. Justin and Sam, although not outnumbering them, had the great strength and intelligence. The five they attacked were tired, sluggish, and unprepared for anything.
Justin and Sam expertly disarmed the five guys and left them tied up. As they walked away, carrying a few daggers, a sword, and a few other supplies, the green-eyed leader was screaming at them.
Not paying attention to Kevin's words, they failed to notice that one thing he had screamed at them was a curse.***
Chris looked up guiltily as Willow approached. "Have you seen Justin or Sam?"
"No," Chris told her, looking back down at the ground.
"What are you looking at?" Willow asked, curiously.
"Nothing," Chris said, giggling.
Behind him, a pixie giggled.
Willow rolled her eyes. "Great, now you’re gonna be hyper. What is it with you and those damn pixies?"
"I like pixies," Chris defended his favorite of the creatures in the forest. He picked up the small pixie and showed it to Willow. "They're cute and make you happy."
"Chris, you don't need to be any happier." Willow grinned at him. "You're already happy enough."
"You can’t be too happy or hyper."
Willow shook her head. "C’mon, Chris, we need to get back to camp. We’ve got to discuss what we’re going to do about Sam and Justin."
Five minutes later, Willow and Chris walked back into camp, where the others- except Justin and Sam- were gathered, talking in soft voices.
"Any sign of them?" Kaylyn asked, looking at Willow and Chris.
"No." Willow looked around. "Have any of you seen anything?"
Everyone shook their heads no.
"Ok, we’ve either got to find them or go on." Willow glanced at them. "Knowing Sam, she’d want us to go on."
"But can they survive in this place?" JC asked.
"Of course. Sam could survive anywhere. We’ve learned the trick to surviving."
"And what’s that?" JC asked, interested in knowing how they survived living in a forest.
"Keep your wits about you and you’ll be fine. Know the plants that you can eat, know how to kill an animal and cook it, without being squeamish. Know magic."
"And does Sam know all of those things?" JC asked.
"Who’s the one who’s been our leader?"
"Got a point there. So we continue?"
Willow looked at her friends. "Is everyone agreed that we’ll continue?"
When everyone had nodded their heads in agreement, Willow stood up. "Then let’s go." She had taken Sam’s spot and was now the leader of the group.
***
"Do you know where we are?" Justin asked.
"No," Sam said, looking around at the towering trees surrounding her. "We’re not even close to camp. I can’t see the sun, so I can’t say what direction we’ve been traveling in, but I know we’re not even in the region."
"How did we get so lost?"
"The leader, last night, he was screaming a curse at us."
"Shit," Justin muttered under his breath. "So we’re lost because of a damn curse?"
"Yep."
"They were the same guys who kidnapped us that one night."
"I know. They’ve been following us."
Justin looked at her. "How do you know?"
Sam held up a small piece of cloth. It looked like it belonged to Lance’s cloak. "This was in there luggage. Lance commented that his cloak was ripped a week ago."
"So they’ve been following us this entire time." Justin closed his eyes with a sigh of frustration.
"I wonder how they were able to get follow so far without us noticing."
"More spells," Justin guessed. "I want to know why we’re being followed."
"We’ll find out soon enough," Sam said.
***
"How long will it take us to get up the mountain?" Kamryn asked Chris.
"A week or so," Chris told her. They, along with Lance, were in the back of the group.
"Why so long?" Lance asked.
"Because we can’t go straight up," Chris said, at the same time as Willow, who had overheard his question. Chris continued. "We’ll have to travel at a slight angle. There are cliffs that are impossible to climb. We’ll have to go around them."
"We’ll actually be heading that way," Willow said, pointing with her right hand up the mountain, to the right of where they were climbing now.
"Do you think Justin and Sam will be ok?" Joey asked Willow.
Willow glanced at him. "They’ll be fine. Trust me. Sam can survive anywhere, and they have Nyx with them. And Justin ain’t so bad at surviving himself. He’s been trained in battle and has probably been stuck out in the forest or something."
"And they won’t mind that we left them?"
"Sam won’t. I don’t know about Justin, but if things happen, like I think they will, he won’t be too mad." There was a twinkle in Willow’s green eyes and a smile tugged at her lips. "I think he’ll be more than happy that they got lost and we left without finding them."