MISSION EUPHORBIA

014

“STOP IT! ” shescremed, her eyes shot open and then he screamed again, all around her, everything was frozen, including the person sitting in front of her.

***

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“No no no no no. I didn’t do this. I didn’t do this. I didn’t do this.” she said to herself “Naheem, stop this, undo this, stop joking” tears came to the brim of eyes, when she got no response.

“This can’t be happening, I’m normal”

She runs in the direction they came from, shouting their names “Myra, Avalon, Ty! Help”

“Reiss?!” she finally heard a shout in return, but no one was around her. She heard her name again then a gush of wind blew sand at her and Avalon landed in front of her, his white wings with specs of black stood proud for a second then they wrapped themselves around her like a shield and that’s how it felt, she felt safe, like nothing else mattered in the world. She was safe, her friends were safe, Myra, Vee, Ty, Na- She snapped out of the trance.

“Where is Myra? She needs to come now!”

“What happened? Where is Naheem? Did he hurt you?”

“No. I did something…Where is Myra? He could be dead!”

“What?” He doesn't wait for a response, he flies straight up, and spots the patch of forest covered in ice and flies off and picks Myra from where she was searching for Reiss and takes her to the ice. Reiss runs back in that direction and gets there just as the last of the ice is being melted off Naheem and Alex is there too. His face was different, not the usual boned expression, he almost looked worried. Naheem fell, a thud against the floor, motionless. Tears streamed down Reiss’ face.

“No, no,no” she shouted “Someone do something. Why are none of you doing anything?!”

“Shut up” Alex said, approaching his brother. He knelt beside him, planted a kiss on his forehead.He puts one hand on his heart and one on his brother’s and then he glowed, not like his brother had done earlier, it was similar but different. A black aura surrounded him and flowed down to his brother who slowly began to ragin his color and then

“Bloody f**k! That was cold!” His eyes shot open and he sat up shivering.

“Alexander exhales and hugs him, the only sounds that could be heard were the collective breathing of the group, the rustling of the leaves as the tree blew against them and the mating calls of hundreds of crickets. And then he stands up and walks away.

“It wasn’t her fault. I pushed her” Naheem calls out after his brother.

“I know” he doesn’t turn back. Her sobbing continues.

“Ah Princess, don’t cry. That was on me. Help me up please” she hurries to do so, offering herself as a crutch, he accepts “Now we know which of the elements you control. Water is fancy, your new nickname should be the ‘ice princess’ ” she doesn’t laugh.

“Thank you guys for melting me, I owe you a soda EACH!” she scoffs lightly at that. They follow behind them, back to camp, the sun had already risen when they got there.

“Let’s go” Alex said, holding a bag that didn’t exist when they initially got there.

“Can’t we wait a bit? Naheem is still weak”

“The i***t knew what he was doing. You all have ten minutes” he wanders off again.

“Your brother is an asshole” Reiss grunts, setting him down

“That’s how he shows his love. Your friends have been awfully quiet since I thawed, did something go down while I was buffering?

“No, but that’s their ish” she says rolling her eyes, looking away.

“Princess?” she doesn’t answer him “Reiss? Look at me” Nothing.

He grunts, moving into her line of vision. Tears are streaming down her face but she is soundless.

“It wasn’t your fau-”

“You could have died! I could have killed you!” she doesn’t realize her shouting reaches the other party. Avalon makes a move in their direction but Tyrone holds him back.

“But you didn’t, okay? I’m the one that pushed. I should be the one apologizing for all the harsh things I said. I didn’t mean them, but it works. You are so powerful and you have a good heart and you’re adorable to boot. I won’t be so careless with you anymore but we are going to do that again. We need to be stronger to save her, which is what we are all trying to do…” he trails off waiting for a response, but he doesn’t get any, which is response enough. He sighs “You’re my crutch till we reach the border, let’s go”

As if on cue, Alexander appears again and starts to head west and they follow suit. The walk is quiet and uneventful but 30 minutes into it, Naheem was the one being the crutch.

It’s obvious once they approach the border, though there is no gate or wall or boundary, the plants looked higher, the trees were taller, they seemed like they were looking for an escape in the sky or competing to see who would leave the Earth’s atmosphere first, there were prettier flowers, begging to be touched and you could feel it when you crossed, the air felt… sweeter, cleaner… pure.

“Wow” she exclaimed, looking around. “Why does this place look so different from…”

“Not every unnatural place looks this perfect. The West is blessed with as many beauties as it is with monsters. Just because something looks pretty doesn’t mean it is Reiss” Tyrone says, picking up a rock and tossing it a bright red flower with specs of gold specks. It opens and a mouth showcasing 3 rows of razor sharp teeth breaks the rock into pieces in seconds and swallows, then goes back to being pretty.

“Fierce ” she says, trying not to look absolutely terrified.

“In a few hours, we are going to reach the elven border, this should be the easiest town to pass. Elves are majorly mischievous, but harmless, unless you anger them, then you might as well be dead” Alex says, not missing a beat.He glances back, making eye contact with Reiss, she smiles, while his scowl deepened.

“Are you checking out my brother’s ass?” he asked, noticing the concentration on her face as she watched him walk ahead.

“Wha- No! What?!” she exclaimed, startled by his question. She sighs “I know he offered to help but he seems like he has a problem with me”

“Lex iss like that with every-”

“DUCK” Ty shouted diving at Reiss, pushing her to the floor.