"Thanks for helping me get ingredients, Ivory!" Preston said, smiling as they approached the base of the mountain.
"Of course! I'm happy to help." Ivory straightened her purple wire-framed glasses on her face. "What do you need again?"
"Blueberries. I remember there being a ton over here...Where did they go?" Preston looked around, confusion knitting his eyebrows into a frown. His eyes quickly moved across the surface of the mountain, checking for the berries.
"Maybe we'll find more further up!" Ivory said cheerfully.
"Yeah, maybe we will." His expression changes to a smile. "Hey, Ivory, race ya to the top!"
"The top...?" Ivory was hesitant. "This is Mt. Ebott...You know the legends."
"They're just legends, Ivy." Preston reassured her, calling her by her nickname and smiling. "Come on, let's go!"
"Okay..." She held her book under her arm and got into a running position.
"One...Two...Three...GO!"
The two children ran uphill. Preston was a little bit ahead of Ivory, his "Cape" (Which was just an apron tied 'round his neck) trailed behind him. Ivory grabbed the back of it and pulled herself past him, laughing.
He squeaked. "Hey! No fair!"
"Too late now!" She grinned, winking as she turned backwards to face him. They were nearing the top. She came to a stop, then started cheering.
"I won! I won!" The 11-year-old girl started to do a victory dance. She wasn't paying attention as what looked like a vine brushed past her ankle.
"Ivory, did you see that?" Preston held her still and looked at the ground by her feet.
"See what?" She tilted her head to the side, confused. Her eyes fell to her ankles, but the vine was gone.
"...Never mind. My eyes must be playing tricks on me."
"Maybe YOU'RE the one who needs glasses, Ramen!" Ivory called him by his nickname.
"Why do you keep calling me Ramen?!"
"You make good soup." Ivory shrugged.
"Whatever...Look at all these berries!" Preston pointed, grinning. Ivory turned to look.
The top of the mountain was shrouded in berry bushes. Birds flocked around them, trying to collect some to eat.
"Woah. It's so cool!" Ivory pulls her notebook from under her arm and sits on the ground, pulling out the pencil she held inside. She twirled it in her small fingers and then started to sketch the landscape.
As Preston turned his apron the right way and started to fill its pouch with blueberries, the vine from before wrapped around his ankle. It tightened its grip and started to pull him.
"I-IVY!" Preston yelped, tripping.
Ivory looked up and gasped. She threw her pencil into her book, shut it, then put it under her arm and pushed herself up. Preston's body slammed into the ground, his hands flailing. Ivory caught one and tried to pull him to his feet, but the vine continued to pull him away. He reached into his pouch and retrieved his frying pan, striking the vine with it. But the vine refused to break.
"Let go, Ivory!" Preston looked at her. Ivory stared into his eyes, seeing the fear. She shook her head.
"No, I'm not leaving you." Her glasses were at an angle, slightly lower than her eyes. She tightened her grip on his hand and dug her heels into the ground, trying to slow the vine.
It didn't work.
The vine dragged them towards a hole. Ivory still didn't let go, no matter how much Preston begged her to.
Down, down, down...
Everything went black.