"We had been walking forever! Well...maybe not forever but it seems like it, when do we finally make a break", Alex thought in annoyance. "And there are so many bugs!Eww." Uncharacteristically, Alex kept her complains to herself and trudged along behind her older brother, Justin, who led the way, with the map in his hands. "Why am I complaining? I deserve every minute of this and more. It is my fault that we are in this mess, my fault that our parents don't know us and it is my fault that Justin is risking his live with me to fix up MY mess", she thought. Somwhere behind her was the 'guide' with his parrot. They were fighting about something, again. Why was he here again? Alex gave a mental shrug and stepped up the pace to keep up with her brother who was walking as fast as he could. He felt times pushing force as keenly as she did. It was almost sundown and Alex's legs were burning and her stomach growled obnoxiously. Thump! Suddenly Alex walked squarely into Justin's back as the older Russo stopped at the edge of a small clearing.
"I think we should stop for the night. It'll be too dangerous to walk after dark." His little sister nodded in agreement. " I'm gonna go check a few miles in each direction. You know, set up a perimeter to make sure it's safe here. I'll be back soon. "Whatever Mr. Genius. You do that. I'll get camp set up." Alex's words sounded harsh but her tone was light and Justin knew she wasn't trying to be mean.
Alex watched him go as he dissappeared into the forest then looked at her surroundings. She took out her wand -because wizardry with only their hands didn't work in the forest- and said "Inferno Campus Composius", with that a lot of branches came together to a camp fire and a thing that looked like a roof under which they can sleep in the night. Smiling slightly at her accomplishment, Alex moved forward towards the fire. A rustling behind her caused the young wizard to stop mid-step and turn around. Archie, their guide, blundered into the clearing with a look of annoyance on his face and the girl turned parrot on his shoulder. From the best that Alex could understand, the two had been fighting for most of the journey. Archie's fingers and ears showed proof of this because they were bloody from bird bites. "She must be a mean woman".
"What's going on? Why have we stopped?" Archie asked a bit angrily. "Justin and I decided that it is time to stop, it's almost dark." Alex answered. The red parrot squalled loudly and Archie winced as he nodded his head. "She's right. We can't stop. We're going to walk all night if we have to but we're getting that stone!" "Listen, no one knows the importance of getting the Stone more than me and my brother. And you wouldn't even be out this far if it wasn't for us so you'll follow our lead."
Archie's normally friendly seeming face turned sinister and he stepped forward, looming over her. She had never realized how much taller he was, untill now and she was suddenly aware of the fact that she was alone, with him. When he began searching for something in his pocket, Alex tried to step back but he roughly grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him.
"Ow!" She screeched but he ignored her. When he looked into her eyes with this cold look, chills were send down her spine. "You, wizard bitch, are only here because of MY map! But in one point you are right. I wouldn't be this far without you and your brother. Now that I'm almost there, I don't need the both of you anymore." Archie grabbed her wand and threw it far away. He smirked at her in a way that made her shiver. And then Alex saw the thing that he was searching for, in his hands: a knife. Her eyes went big in fear, she tried to yank her arm free but he tightened his grip even more, she hissed in pain, and he pulled her back (R cken) against a tree. Archie is quite strong, she can't use her powers without her wand and now the way backward was blocked, too. She was trapped. There was no way out.
"And when I'm finished with you, I will get ridd of your beloved brother, too." Tears were welling up in her eyes. "It's my fault! Max will dissappear when time has cought up with him, mom and dad will never be together again and Justin will be killed. And all of this is only my fault! As always.", she thought. Now the tears are floating down her cheeks. He reached out with the knife and Alex closed her eyes. And just as she thought it was over, a flash of light hit Archie's hand and the knife flew far away. "What the hell?!" He turned around and out of nowhere there was standing Justin with a look that Alex had never seen on his face before. His jaw was tightened and his eyes burned with anger and hate. The greyish blue was gone, his eyes had now a dark collour of green, as always when he gets really angry and that only happens when it comes to his younger siblings.
Justin walked to Archie and punched him so hard in his face that he fell to the ground and hold his bleeding nose. But that wasn't sattishfiing enough for him, so he kicked him in the stomach before he picked him up and punched him severell times in his face and stomach again. Justin was breathing heavilly."Don't EVER touch my sister again!" He hit him one last time and then said a spell that send Archie to Gorogs Palace, the worse place for wizards and ex-wizards that did bad things.
Justin looked arround and his look softened immideately when he saw his sister. Alex ran up to him and hugged him. "Are you okay?",he asked. "Yes, thank you for saving me." She released the hold and looked up at her brother. "I've never seen you like this before, Justin, were did all this anger come from?" "Are you kidding me?! He was hurting you, wanted to kill you and you were crying, how can I not be angry at this?", he said in a soft tone. Alex smiled up at him and then they sat down in front of the fire and looked at it. They weren't talking for like half an hour and it got dark.
Then Alex broke the silence. "Justin, what if we don't get the stone in time and we can't save everyone?". "Don't worry about that, we will". "What makes you so sure about that?". " Because it's you and I, how can we not?". She looked sadly into the fire and he could see that tears were welling up in her dark brown eyes that he always thought are so beautiful. He didn't like it when his siblings were crying, so he tried to cheer her up. "Hey um, you know you haven't made.., wait," he looked on his arm as if he was looking on a swatch, "yes, you haven't made fun of me the entyer day." That made her giggle. "I knew I forgott something, with what should I start, I could-" he cut her off "No no it's okay like that, let's try it." And then they got sleepy and got under the roof to sleep until the morning sun would wake them up.