Zilferia
The Gift Stealer

I sit up suddenly, startled. “W… where am I?...” I gasp before I remember. I am sitting in a dungeon with the real Vlad… and it’s pitch black. My eyes flicker back and forth, straining to see even a hint of light. I start panicking. I have always been afraid of the dark, especially when the darkness is so thick and stifling. My breaths start coming in rapid, small little wheezes. I hear Vlad in the dark, trying to comfort me.

“Crystal? What’s… oh. It’s okay. Nothing is in here but you and I. No one can hurt you. There’s nothing here…” As he tries to reassure me, I hear his footsteps shuffling over to me and I feel his hands hold one of mine between them. The warmth and gentle pressure helps a little as I struggle to keep myself from hyperventilating. He continues to talk to me, to try and comfort me, but I can’t understand what he’s saying through my hysteria.

I burst into tears. My heart is racing, sending waves of heat through my body. I start sweating, despite the chilly air around me. My head starts to feel light and I know I need to get more oxygen in with each breath, but that’s easier said than done. I fight to slow my heart, but there’s no stopping it from racing away. I close my eyes and feel the same panic. It doesn’t help since it’s dark either way. I soon pass out from the irrational terror.

This time when I awake, I open my eyes and it’s dark, but I soon see a light coming toward me. The flickering light reveals Patrick’s face. I’ve never felt more relieved to see the monster. I turn and see Vlad. His eyes look bloodshot, but he smiles at me. “Good luck. I’ll be waiting,” he says, reminding me of my plan. I nod and follow Patrick out of the cell as he grabs my arm yet again.

I blink as we reenter the light until my eyes readjust. I’m surprised as we pass my room. “Where are we going?” I ask.

Patrick smirks, and I can see in his eyes that he’s hiding something. “We’re just going to… test you. I want to see if you can solve a certain… problem I give you.”

I frown. Something isn’t right about this… I shake it off. I will do whatever he asks me. I won’t be here for long anyway. At least, that’s what I hope. Maybe I’ll take as long as possible to do whatever it is he asks me to do so I can buy more time for Nathan. I would do nothing at all to be even more cautious, but that might make things worse because of Patrick’s temper. I’ll need to tread carefully around him, that’s for sure.

We climb and reach a much larger room than the one I had before. The stone is also a lighter shade than the stone in the last room. I walk in and am surprised by the window on the south wall. Patrick seemed to be keeping me away from anything that could make it so someone could see me through before. I shrug. Oh well, the reason doesn’t really matter to me. I’m just happy I will be able to look at something other than the wall now. Patrick releases me and walks out the door without another word. George and Chet come into the room to guard me this time.

Neither of them say anything, so neither do I. We wait in silence for him to come back. While we wait, I continue to look around the room. There isn’t much in it- just a large table and a single chair in front of it, facing the door. There is a rug underneath both of them, but that is all decorating the room. There is nothing on the clean stone walls.

Patrick comes back soon, followed by four other Dragon Hunters. Patrick is carrying a large piece of paper while the four behind him struggle to carry a large metal contraption. The four place the… whatever it is, next to the table, then leave. Patrick sits me down in the chair and lays his paper out in front of me. It’s a drawing of the contraption that is now looming over me. I raise an eyebrow.

“What is this supposed to be?” I ask.

“This is the layout for this… machine. There is a problem with it. We need you to figure it out.” I stare at him.

“What? …Seriously? Then you don’t know me. I’m no good at mechanics. What is this thing even supposed to do?”

Patrick’s brow furrows as he contemplates what to tell me. “It… um… we’ll let you figure that one out. It will… be part of the equation.” I raise an eyebrow skeptically. It’s obvious he’s hiding something, but the question is… what? Wait a second… this is a perfect excuse to delay until Nathan comes and saves me! How am I supposed to make something work the way it’s supposed to when I don’t even know how it’s supposed to work in the first place? I grin in triumph.

Patrick looks a little confused at this, but he decides it doesn’t matter. As long as I do what he wants, he’s happy. With that, he leaves me alone with no idea what to do.

‡‡‡

“Do you know what we’re going to do yet?” Nathan asks. Thaddeus holds up his hand, telling him to wait until he finishes eating. He had come back over right after lunch, telling the impostor that he simply wanted to ask him when they could go home. He fidgets, waiting impatiently. Every second they waste is another second Crystal has to spend with a dangerous maniac. Thaddeus finally finishes his sandwich and takes a drink of milk. Nathan groans. It’s like he’s trying to take as long as possible!

He stands and puts his dishes in the sink, then sits back down. He looks up at Nathan, his eyes kind but serious. “Sit down!” he commands. “All your fidgeting and pacing is making me nauseous.”

He swallows hard and forces himself to sit. The very action feels almost like betrayal to Crystal, like he doesn’t care about her enough to rush to her side as soon as he can. He grits his teeth and waits for Thaddeus to speak, at the edge of his seat. He sighs at Nathan’s impatience. “Didn’t I teach you patience?” He laughs a little and shakes his head. “Well, I suppose your actions are only reasonable.”

He then loses what little tolerance he had left. “What is your plan?! We need to get this impostor off our tails!”

He sighs again, and Nathan knows he’s disappointed, but he doesn’t care. “Very well. There was only one way I could think of to keep the impostor from alerting Patrick to us catching on to his ruse. …We have to not capture or harm her in anyway… all we need to do is simply tell her that you are going home. That you two, as the over-all winners, will be able to go home first- that way, we won’t have to send Sierra, Lloyd, and Ham away before we can get rid of the fake Crystal. I am quite sure the impostor will then slip off back to the Dragon Hunters, since she does not know the way back here from First Earth. I imagine that the Vladimir impostor will help her to get away. We will then follow her as she heads back to the main building. Hopefully, we can slip in after her when she disables the protective spells and no one will ever know we got in. Of course, getting out may be a little more difficult, but our main concern is getting in quietly. It doesn’t matter how much noise and chaos we cause getting out.”

Nathan stares at him. That wasn’t at all what he was thinking. All he could think of was how to attack the impostor. He smiles a little at his reckless stupidity. Wow. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that… or anything even close, for that matter. …No wonder I could never beat Thaddeus at chess. He truly is a mastermind! Thinking ahead of just what needs to be done now… manipulating something that could cripple us into something that aids us… He shakes his head in awe, newly appreciating Thaddeus’s intelligence.

“Wait… did you say we?” he asks, thrown off guard once again.

Thaddeus smiles wearily. Nathan suddenly notices he hasn’t gotten much more sleep than he himself had since they discovered the truth about Crystal. “Yes. I intend to come with you, of course. You might need someone who can use magic, plus I’m not going to just stand by while my niece gets tortured by that fiend.” He laughs at the look on Nathan’s face at the word ‘magic.’ “Did you already forget that I can do magic? …I cast a spell not too long ago to keep our words veiled!”

He’s startled, then laughs at himself. I can’t believe I already forgot that! They don’t laugh long, though. Nathan thanks him, then starts to leave. As he steps out the door, Thaddeus’s hand on his shoulder stops him. “Don’t you want to know when to tell the fake Crystal when to leave?” Nathan laughs at himself again.

“Yes, of course! Sorry, I’m not thinking.” He chuckles as well, then tells him to inform the impostor to leave in the morning. Nathan thanks him again and heads back to the square, where he left Ham, Sierra, Lloyd, and the impostor. His heart feels lighter now that they have a plan, and he almost feels like skipping. He smiles. “Don’t worry, Crystal. We’re coming for you,” he whispers triumphantly.

‡‡‡

I’m worried. I have no clue as to what I should do, and Patrick’s reports say that Nathan still has no idea what’s going on, so apparently Gale wasn’t able to contact him. Not only that, but he’s leaving Zilferia tomorrow morning! I guess my plan didn’t work, I sigh as I stare at the paper with pictures on it that mean nothing to me. Now what am I going to do? …I can’t escape by myself, and Chet and Vlad are counting on me to get them out of here! …I don’t know that obeying Patrick will help too much now that there’s no reason to stall him… I hang my head in my hands and close my eyes. The hated feeling of hopelessness once again smothers me in its blanket of sorrow. I struggle to breathe through the pain of disappointment and hatred for Patrick.

Well, if there is no longer a reason to obey Patrick, then I’ll just see what I can do to stop his progress in this world. …Maybe for starters, I’ll tell him I figured out the problem with this machine, and make it so it will blow up or something. I don’t care anymore if I lose myself in the process of getting rid of Patrick and his Dragon Hunters. They must be taken care of, and I’m here, so it might as well be me. I take a deep breath and peer at the paper again. All of a sudden, something clicks inside my brain.

Whoa… is that what’s wrong with this machine? …No, it’s too simple. But… I think it is! I smile, glad that I finally figured it out. Then I frown. I don’t know what to tell Patrick to do to make it blow up, though… I don’t know much about engineering. …Well, maybe I’ll replace another way to destroy him and his whole operation… I don’t have much of a choice at the moment anyway. I’ll just replace another opportunity to strike… I look up to see the door opening. Patrick storms into the room, his foul mood seeming to darken the very air around him.

“What’s taking you so long?” he demands, slamming his hands down on the wooden table with a thump. “It’s been two days! Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

“Well, why couldn’t you figure it out?” I bite back, taunting him. “Why are you depending on a sixteen year old girl to think for you? …What, are you not smart enough to figure it out yourself?” Patrick’s face gets red with anger. He barely restrains himself from hitting me, although I can see on his face how much he would love to do so.

“I told you,” he growls through his clenched teeth, “this is a test. I want to see what you can and cannot do. …I already know the answer to the puzzle. I just wanted to see how long it will take you to figure it out.” With that, he spins around and storms toward the door, obviously fed up with me.

“Wait!” I call out before he shuts the door behind him. He stops and turns around.

“What is it?” he growls. Great, now I’ve put him in an even worse mood than before. I swallow and decide not to try and make anything up to tell him, since he says he already knows what the problem is anyway.

“I… I figured it out,” I squeak out uncertainly. He raises an eyebrow.

“Well, it’s about time!” And with that, he leaves. Now I’m the one who’s confused.

“Where’s he going?” I ask Chet and George. They both shrug, so I sigh and wait for him to come back. He comes back sooner than I thought, with three men behind him.

“Well then, if you really have figured it out, tell my men what it is.”

I nod, still confused as to what he’s getting at. I point to part of the picture. First I want to check as to what they want each part to do, even if they won’t tell me the purpose of the entire machine as a whole. “This is supposed to be connected to this, correct?” I ask. They nod. I check with a few other things, but soon Patrick gets impatient.

“Have you figured out the problem or not?” he spits out.

“Yes.” Turning to the actual thing next to the table, I point out a part that always had seemed a little… off to me. I pull a tube from part of the machine where it doesn’t need it and stick it through the top, connecting it to another one, then letting it emerge back to the front and reconnect everything where I took out the tube. I then take one of the spare tubes that they gave me and let it stick out the side, explaining that this is where the excess of whatever they are using this machine to suck up will go, and that they might want to get something under it to catch it.

I don’t really know what I just did, especially since I still don’t know what the machine is even supposed to do, besides have powerful suction and have somewhere for that… stuff… to go. I back away from it so the three can see what I did. They swarm over it for a couple minutes, and once they are done, one of them gives a slight nod to Patrick. He smiles wickedly and walks out of the room, leaving the three to carry the machine back out the door. Chet lends them a hand since they seem to be having a hard time. I watch, dumbfounded, as they leave and the door closes behind them.

“What the crap just happened?” I wonder out loud. George shrugs, just as lost as I am.

I sigh and sit back down in the uncomfortable chair and close my eyes. I don’t want to sleep, I just… ponder. I try to figure out what I’m going to do now to send word to Nathan before it’s too late, but my only plan didn’t work, so now I have no idea what to do. I think of him, already missing the sound of his laughter and even his stubbornness.

‡‡‡

…I sure hope the impostor really bought my story… Nathan can’t help but worry as he lies in bed, unable to sleep. Because Crystal really needs my help- I just know it! She’s in trouble… He glances over at ‘Crystal’ and watch as she sleeps. Well, I guess I’ll replace out tomorrow. The only way we can get to the real Crystal is with stealth and surprise. We won’t have surprise on our side if the impostor knows we’re coming… No. Thaddeus’s plan will work. It has to. Still, he can’t shake the feeling that the impostor won’t act exactly like they want her to. Sighing, he pushes these thoughts out of his head. Worrying about tomorrow won’t change anything. He rolls over and finally falls asleep.

When he wakes, the impostor is already gone. He smiles a little. She’d been slipping up even more than usual lately. Crystal wouldn’t just leave without him, she would make sure that he was ready to go. They were partners and they trusted each other with their lives… and that bond was something you just can’t duplicate.

He gets dressed and replaces his friends already eating breakfast. They are all very excited, and he understands their anticipation. Most people would think that it’s because they are going home, but it’s actually because they can’t wait to save Crystal- just like him; although he’s less excited than he is nervous and anxious. Still, he sits next to the fake Crystal and starts eating his breakfast. Ham, Lloyd, and Sierra still try to act normal by talking about seeing their families again, and the impostor just eats it up. Nathan grins a little, then quickly gets rid of it. Man, this impostor is so gullible! Well, that’s a good thing for us, but still! It’s a little sad!

When they finish eating, Thaddeus and ‘Vlad’ come up to their table and tell them what to expect today. “You will go one by one,” Thaddeus explains. “The winning team will go first. So the order will be Crystal, then Nathan, Sierra, Ham, and Lloyd will go after the rest of the contestants since he was out of the Games first. You will go with Vladimir to the portal in a few minutes, Crystal. We will leave you now so you can say your goodbyes.” Then they move on to the other contestants’ tables to tell them the news as well.

The goodbyes aren’t very heartfelt, since four of us will be seeing each other again in just a few minutes, and the other one doesn’t really know how Crystal would act saying goodbye.

‘Vlad’ comes back soon after they finish and has ‘Crystal’ go with him. Nathan grins. Perfect! Since they are both actually from the Dragon Hunters, ‘Vlad’ will probably just send her to a spot close to their main building! This couldn’t be better!

Sure enough, it doesn’t take long for Vlad to come back and get him. Nathan follows him, trying to act like he’s excited when really, he’s terrified. Thaddeus told him he made it so his portal will just put him in the forest a few feet away instead of sending him back to First Earth, but… what if it doesn’t work? How would he get back and save Crystal then? He shakes off this feeling of foreboding and keeps moving. He just has to trust Thaddeus.

They reach the spot sooner than he expected. ‘Vlad’ gestures to a large tree. “This is your portal.” Nathan nods, swallowing his fear. He steps forward and walks through the tree. There’s a slight tingling sensation, but it doesn’t last long. Next thing he knows, he’s standing behind a tree only two yards away from Vlad. He peers around it and watches as Vlad nods, satisfied, and heads back to the Square to get Sierra.

He tells her to travel through the same tree. She ends up next to Nathan. Her eyes widen with surprise, but she stays quiet. The same thing happens with Ham. Nathan watches intensely as Jake is lead to the same tree. He holds his breath, afraid that he might pop up here with them. After a minute, he doesn’t appear. He releases the breath he had been holding, relieved that it worked just like Thaddeus said it would. As Vlad leaves, he remembers what Thaddeus told him to do next.

“Let’s go,” he whispers to Ham and Sierra. They nod, and they start heading after where they assume the impostor went. After about ten minutes, Nathan’s afraid they made a mistake and went the wrong way, but soon after, they spot a person in the distance. She stops in a small clearing and looks around to see if she was followed. They quickly duck behind some trees.

Satisfied, ‘Crystal’ crouches down and concentrates. Next thing Nathan knows, he’s looking at a girl with long black hair as she begins walking away again. She’s wearing all black, and even her hands are covered- just like the other Dragon Hunters. They quietly follow her again, Nathan’s two friends treading carefully right behind him. They travel for a few more minutes before Thaddeus and Lloyd catch up to them. Their appearance is sudden, so Sierra almost yelps, but Nathan stops her in time. He’s not startled because he figured they would be coming soon. Thaddeus already told him that he would create another short-distance portal to put him and Lloyd right behind them. He releases Sierra, nods to Thaddeus and Lloyd, and continues after the impostor with single-minded determination. The other three are surprised at this, but Nathan barely notices.

The only thing he’s concerned about is Crystal.

‡‡‡

I stare at the wall, biting my lip with frustration. Patrick hasn’t come back yet, and Chet doesn’t know what’s going on either. Not only that, but it’s too late for me to stop Nathan from leaving. He left about an hour ago, which I know because the person who was impersonating me reported to Patrick as soon as she left. My impersonator will be back soon, apparently. I sigh and rest my head on the table. I feel like I should be crying, my heart wrenching with sorrow yet… I’m not. I’m puzzled, but I figure that I’m so sad and drained, I can’t cry. When I was on earth, I heard that happens sometimes. The person is kind of just too… numb to cry.

I close my eyes, trying to forget myself, my predicament, but mostly Nathan. Forgetting myself is surprisingly easy, but forgetting Nathan… as hard as I try, he just won’t disappear from my heart. …He’s as much a part of me as my family is, maybe more so. There’s just no forgetting him. I sob and feel my heart break at the thought of never seeing him again. A single tear slides down my cheek.

‡‡‡

…I wonder how she’s feeling right now… Nathan ponders, suddenly feeling bad. Since the fake Crystal thought he was gone, the real one must think that as well. ...She probably feels betrayed and abandoned. I’m sorry, he cries out with his mind, knowing she can’t hear him but trying anyway. It’s the only way… if you could know, then I would have told you, I promise! But don’t worry, our plan seems to be working… so far, at least.

He peers around at the forest, trying to replace the line of dead trees he saw in Crystal’s memories. He sighs. There’s still no sign of it, and it’s starting to get dark. Looking ahead again, he sees the Dragon Hunter stop. They slowly creep forward, staying as silent as possible. As they watch her, they see her again put her hand up to her ear and say something. They aren’t quite close enough to catch her words, but it doesn’t matter. He assumes she just asked for the spells to be lowered so she could walk through. They are getting closer and closer to their goal.

Nathan’s heart pounds in anxiety and impatience. He can’t wait to see the real Crystal again.

‡‡‡

When Patrick finally comes back, he wears a smug smile. I feel a rock of fear form in my gut, sending waves of pain throbbing through my body. I stand, trying to ignore the crippling terror.

“Well? What now? …I passed that test, didn’t I?”

“I believe so, but we… need it to be… tested. Yes, tested. And who better than you?” He sneers, grabbing my arm yet again to haul me out of the room. He waves for Chet and George to stay. The looks of concern shadowing their faces don’t help my fear.

He takes me down some stairs into a dark room. I squint, trying to see. When my eyes adjust, all I see is the machine with a chair in front of it. The tube that I had moved now has a suction cup on the end that sticks out in the front, and the one that I added has a small crystal tube similar to a test tube one would replace in a Chemist’s Lab attached to it. Patrick pushes me toward the machine, but when I see the restraints on the chair, my sense of danger shoots even higher. Panicking, I whirl around and try and charge past Patrick, but he catches my arm in a surprisingly strong grip.

I scream for help even though I know that no one who hears me will be able- or willing- to help. Patrick then hollers at the Dragon Hunters in the room to help him, and two more Dragon Hunters run up and grab both of my arms in their iron grip. I wriggle around, but I can’t break loose. I scream again, frustrated. I kick one in the leg and his hand disappears from my arm. I spin and kick the other in the chin, snapping his head back, but I am soon overwhelmed as four more guys pile on me and haul me to the chair. Now the only thing I can do is bite, so I swivel my head around and clench my jaw on some dude’s arm. He yelps and lets go, but it’s not enough. I manage to bite another hand before someone pinches a nerve in my neck. I instantly slump and my brain clouds. I can’t do anything but watch my own demise as they strap me into the chair.

I look up at Patrick, hyperventilating with panic. “What is this?” I scream desperately. “What are you going to do to me?!”

He’s breathing hard, as are the eight other guys standing around me. “We are going to make you an example,” Patrick grunts. “After this, you will not be a martyr, like you would be if we killed you.” Fear completely overwhelms me at this and I can no longer hide it. I have an idea of what he means to do. He grins at me and I can easily see how much of a maniac he is. A dangerous, intelligent maniac who now holds my life in his hands.

“…Prepare to lose your Gifts, Princess,” he laughs, putting the suction cup on my forehead. He starts toward the lever to start the machine. I fight to make my muscles move. They begin to twitch, but it’s too little too late. With a mighty yell, he pulls the lever down. My body instantly stiffens and my eyes roll back into my head.

Pain rushes through my body, feeling a lot like when the mermaid King tortured me, but somehow this… is even worse. I feel like my nails are being pulled out slowly and my whole body is being stabbed by burning needles. My back arches in pain and an unearthly scream erupts from my throat. It’s only ended by me losing my voice. I feel four distinct tugs on my heart before I pass out from the pain.

‡‡‡

“…What was that?” Sierra gasps, fear causing her voice to tremble. Nathan can’t replace it in him to reply, so Thaddeus tells her instead.

“That… was someone in pain. So much pain, that it cannot be measured or fathomed.”

“…Crystal,” Nathan chokes out, his heart heavy, each beat burning with pain. “No…” He drops to his knees in the grass. They were too late. Tears leak out from underneath his clenched eyelids. He buries his face in his hands and sobs, not caring that his friends can hear.

Thaddeus kneels in front of him and puts his hands on his shoulders. He turns away, refusing to be comforted. He had failed her. His best friend… his teammate.

“Nathan. Nathan it’s okay!”

“No it’s not!” He yells. “He’s killing her! I just know it! And you don’t even care!”

“No, he’s not,” Thaddeus says, his voice so calm it just angers him. “He couldn’t do that without starting a riot. He wants to subdue our spirits, not enflame them. He won’t kill her. He may hurt her, but he wouldn’t dare kill her, much as he might like to. She has too many powerful friends.”

He shakes his head, but his words somehow replace their way through the barrier around his heart. There may still be hope. He stands shakily and glares at him. “Then we will save her,” he states. Thaddeus nods, even though it wasn’t a question. It was a promise.

They march on and meet the porcupine-tiger. It growls at them, but Nathan growls back, so much hurt and anger in his voice that the creature backs off. The other four look at him, fear and amazement in their eyes, but he doesn’t care. He races toward the door leading inside with Lloyd following on his heels. It’s unlocked. The Dragon Hunter they were following had no idea they were coming, and didn’t bother to lock the door behind her. He grins, but it’s not a happy one. It’s more like the smile of an insane man- and maybe that’s what he is now, but it doesn’t bother him. As he runs, he follows the path Crystal memorized and ends up standing in front of two Dragon Hunters, panting. They both look at him, fear and surprise in their eyes.

“Let me through,” Nathan growls. They nod and unlock the door, then step aside. He walks forward and opens the door. The unconscious figure of his best friend is sprawled on the bed, her light brown, now bleached blond, hair forming a halo around her head. Admiration and sadness almost overwhelms him when he notes the state she’s in. Her face is clenched in pain, tears still fresh on her cheeks. He carefully picks her up and heads to the door. The two Dragon Hunters watch him, wide-eyed. The younger one then runs to catch up to him. He pulls off his hood, revealing a familiar face. “Chet,” Nathan realizes.

“Crystal said I could come along.” Nathan nods, remembering this. “…She… she also wanted Vlad to come with us,” he continues, edging away from Nathan, clearly afraid. He glances worriedly at Lloyd, who stands at Nathan’s back as the others catch up. He’s far beyond caring.

“Fine,” he grunts. “Go and get him- fast! Or we’ll leave you behind.” The boy nods and races off. Nathan sits down on a chair by Crystal’s cell with her on his lap. He gazes at her face and a few more tears are released from his eyes as he sees her pain. Her eyes wander under her eyelids like she’s having a nightmare. He gently brushes some hair off of her face. Her skin is hot to the touch, and her face is damp with sweat. He looks over at the other Dragon Hunter- George, he thinks. “What…” his voice breaks. He swallows, then continues. “…What did they do to her?” He pleads. He averts his eyes and stares hard at the ground.

“Patrick, he… he tricked her. And then… they took away her Gifts. She fought admirably, but alas, it was not enough.” Nathan stares at the wall, unable to breathe for a moment. He… he… that monster… His hands clench involuntarily in anger. Fury builds in him and he punches the wall, fighting down a scream of fury. George, Ham, Sierra, Lloyd, and Thaddeus back away, fearful. Hot tears stream down Nathan’s face. Crystal’s Gifts were a part of her. …How… how could they take that away? How would that not kill her?

“…She’s very strong,” Chet says. Nathan looks up and sees him with Vlad’s arm around his shoulders. He stares at him, not comprehending what he said. “It would take more than that machine or even Patrick to kill her.” He nods, feeling his anger cool slightly. He can now control the flame of rage, but he knows that it will never die. He would get revenge for what Patrick had done.

Lifting Crystal back into his arms, he stands and heads back out the door. His friends follow along behind him, keeping their distance. After they pass the porcupine-tiger again and get to the border line, a cackle of surprise and wicked happiness drifts through the air. Nathan shivers as he realizes just how much of a maniac this Patrick guy is. Fear causes his skin to crawl, and it doesn’t fade as they cross the border and the laughter disappears.

As they head back to the village, Lloyd lays a friendly hand on his shoulder and offers to help him carry Crystal, but he backs off after he barks at him that this is his burden, and he is happy to shoulder it. He nods and falls back behind Nathan. The cool night air does nothing to cool his anger, and his skin continues to prickle with anger, fear, and relief. In this manner, they head back to the village, triumphant and with their friend back.

Still, he has a feeling this isn’t over.