She was wearing a pair of tiny jean shorts and a bright pink T-shirt. Her blond hair was matted on one side and there were dirt smudges all over her arms, legs, and face.
Gabriel hesitated. “Like a Barbie doll that got run over by a garbage truck.”
“Wow. Really, Gabriel?”
He shrugged. “What do you want me to say?”
“Say something encouraging,” she snapped. “Something like you look like G.I. Jane.”
“But you don’t look like G.I. Jane. And why are you wearing pink?”
She looked down at her shirt. “What color should I wear?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a color that doesn’t scream helpless girl in the forest?”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Found it!” Nate stepped away from his backpack with a whip in his hand—an actual whip.
“Why on earth do you own a whip?”
“Why don’t you?”
Oh dear God.
Flicking his wrist, Nate let the whip sail. It lashed out and made a snapping noise before slapping against his wrist and drawing blood.
Nate dropped the whip and clutched his hand. “I’m a little out of practice.”
“With whip usage? I should hope so.” Heather crossed her dirty arms over her pink shirt.
Gabriel shook his head. “Why did you even bring a whip?”
“Because Tristan wouldn’t let me bring the Thor hammer. Besides, you never know when you’ll need a whip. What if we need to climb something really tall or swing across a deep chasm?”
“I seriously doubt we’ll be swinging across any chasms.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Nate straightened his shoulders. “I’m still bringing the whip. And you know what else I’m bringing?” He grabbed something from behind his backpack. “This.”
He placed an Indiana Jones style hat on his head. Retrieving his whip from the ground, he stood beside Heather with his hands on his hips and grinned at Gabriel. “Now how do I look?”
Gabriel stared at Indiana Jones and Garbage Truck Barbie.
Heaven help us all.
Scarlet exited the tent dressed in cargo pants and a black tank top with her hair pulled back and a knife in her hand.
“Now, that is how you dress for a hike to a deadly fountain.” Gabriel gestured to Scarlet.
“A tank top, Scarlet?” Heather looked at her chest. “Seriously?”
“It’s comfortable.”
“What’s the deal over here?” Tristan stopped rolling up sleeping bags. “Why is everyone standing around chatting and wasting time? And why is Heather wearing pink? Come on, people.”
Heather rolled her eyes and disappeared back inside the tent, reappearing a minute later with a dark gray T-shirt on.
“Better?” She cocked her head at Tristan.
“Yes. You’ve just extended your life by at least an hour.”
The morning sun warmed Scarlet’s face as she looked up at the happy sky. Warmth was nice, she decided. The sun, in general, was a happy constant, rising each morning and bringing newness with it. Why had she never seen the sun as such a beam of hope before?
She stretched her hands out and absently let the leaves of nearby trees brush against her fingers, green and soft, cool from the earlier dew, still living while attached to the great tree that brought them life day after day. Another leaf brushed her palm and she squeezed it briefly, releasing it before it was pulled from its life source by her greedy palm.
To her left, Tristan’s face was staring ahead, alert and beautiful in the daylight. Next to him, Nate adjusted his backpack as he weaved through trees. To her left, Gabriel walked along quietly, looking every few minutes at Heather by his side.
Heather scratched at her neck and twitched, then looked at Gabriel. “Am I acting crazy?”
Gabriel smiled. “Nah.”
It was a lie, but it was a beautiful lie.
Scarlet was grateful for beautiful lies.
Heather would be cured.
Gabriel would fall in love someday.
Tristan would understand Scarlet’s sacrifice.
Nate’s heart would heal from Molly’s death.
Beautiful lies, all of them.
They walked until the sun began to set and, finally, they found the Bluestone caves.
The mouth of the caves looked just like a cluster of boulders, but with bright green wines wrapped around them. The only thing that gave away the caves themselves were the glinting blue stones that jutted out from between the thick vines every few feet.
“This is it,” Scarlet said, bringing everyone to a stop.
Gabriel eyed the thorny tendrils that blocked the cave entrance like a giant green gate. “And these are the magic vines?”
The vines were as thick as Scarlet’s forearms, covered in thorns, and too overgrown and tangled to see through.
“Yep,” said Scarlet. “And they’re supposed to be deadly, too.”
“They don’t look very magical,” Nate said. “Or deadly.”
“The journal said the vines can only be cut with immortal blood, so,” Scarlet took a blood-coated knife from her belt, “let’s see if this works.” Raising her knife, she swung the blade down on the nearest vine and watched as it easily sliced in half.
Huh.
Heather made a face. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”
Scarlet frowned and was just about to shrug off the whole magical/deadly plant thing when the severed vine began to move. It grew new tendrils and pulled itself back together, mending the green gate until there was no longer a gap.
“Now that looks magical,” Nate said.
Scarlet took a deep breath. “All we have to do is cut through these vines as quickly as possible and enter the caves before they close back up.”
“And trap us inside,” Heather added with a shrug. “That’s not terrifying.”
Tristan was already handing out bloodstained weapons to everyone. “If we all swing at the same time, we should be able to make a wide enough hole for all of us to squeeze through before the vines grow back.” He gave a pointed look at Gabriel then nodded to Heather.
“Wha—what was that?” Heather lifted a brow. “What was that hey bro, make sure the blond chick doesn’t cut any body parts off look? Because I’ll have you know, I’m an expert with butcher knives.”
Tristan pointed at the weapon in Heather’s hand. “That’s a machete.”
Puckering her lips, Heather looked at the blade. “Aren’t they the same thing?”
“I’m going to pretend like you didn’t just say that. Everybody ready?” Tristan looked around to make sure everyone had their weapons raised. One…Two…Three.”
Everyone swung and pieces of the vine fell to the side as Team Awesome hurried through the vines and into the blackness beyond.
“Ow.” Nate sucked air through his teeth just as the vines started to move back together. He lifted his torn sleeve to show a bloody scratch on his shoulder.
“Watch out for the thorns.” He wiped the blood away. New blood bubbled from the wound. He wiped again. Still bleeding.
“Why aren’t you healing?” Gabriel asked.
Scarlet examined the thorns. “The thorns have blue tips. Maybe they work like Bluestone.”
“Perfect,” Gabriel said. “Killer plants.”
The vines continued slithering until the vine wall was completely reconstructed and had shut them inside the caves which, Scarlet now realized, were not completely dark.
A soft, blue glow illuminated the cave walls and softly pulsed, as if the caves were alive and breathing. The pulsing blue shimmered with each breath like glowing stardust and it was almost beautiful.
“Oh no. I’m seeing them again.” Heather sounded panicked. “I see more sparkles. Like everywhere, you guys. O-M-G, O-M-G—“