Chapter 6: Return to Okoboji
Jake sat down on the couch with a yawn.
Needless to say, he hadn't gotten much sleep at all the previous night. It was almost 7:30 in the morning, and he had arrived at the shop about a half an hour prior. Since then, Jake, along with Lao Shi and Fu Dog, had been running all over the place trying to put their plans in order.
Lao Shi, who hadn't slept a wink after Jake's intrusion the night before, had decided that they were to leave around noon.
Jake had been busy calling his friends to inform them of the recent discovery. Trixie, Spud, and Rose all agreed to help out on the mission to retrieve the book, and they agreed to be at the shop by 11:00 am at the latest.
Fu Dog had been working on the plans for the actual mission. He'd taken a great deal of effort to find potions, devices, and other such things that they could use to once again reach the bottom of the lake. He had even taken the time to draw a quick picture of his plans, which were then ridiculed thoroughly by Jake.
"Hey," Fu Dog defended his sketch, "what are you? Some kind of critic?"
"Fu," Jake continued with the criticism, "I look like some kind of wannabe gangster."
Fu Dog shot him a grumpy look. "Look, I tried alright? I just feel like we need to blend in."
"Alright," Jake shrugged moving on to his next piece of criticism, "so what's up with the random monster in the background?"
"It's a magical lake," Fu Dog replied stubbornly, "who knows what kind of evils live within its depths?"
The next couple hours were spent packing and going over the plans to make sure there weren't any flaws. Jake knew as well as anybody that Fu Dog's plans weren't always the greatest.
Soon, Rose showed up, and not too long after, Trixie and Spud joined her.
Jake carefully informed them of their current plans and was opened to suggestions for making them better. Then, everyone ate a quick lunch and packed some snacks for the trip. They once again would be making the trip by flight.
By noon, everyone was filled in, filled up, and ready to go on another journey to West Lake Okoboji.
XX
They arrived at the lake a little after 9:00 pm, a full two hours later than Fu Dog had predicted. Of course, no one was really surprised.
Since all of the hotels in the area were booked for summer travelers, they had decided to camp out like they had when they had gone to Lake Louise. Only this time, it was actually warm outside.
Nevertheless, they built a campfire just like any other campout. The more they blended in, the easier their mission would become. Of course, they didn't quite know what the opinions of the magical world were in the Midwest, but they imagined that it would be best to get as little attention as possible.
After they set up the tents, everyone sat down around the campfire to rest. It was almost 10:00, and at this point, they were all tired from the trip, especially Jake and Lao Shi, who had spent the day flying.
Spud then proceeded to rip open a bag of marshmallows, some of which went flying in all directions.
"It's time for s'mooooooooreeees," he shouted happily. "Now who has the chocolate?" Spud ripped through the bags of supplies they had brought. "I'm sure they're in here somewhere….I packed them myself."
"So Jakey," Trixie turned her attention away from Spud's s'more search, "how did you suddenly remember that you saw the book at the bottom of the lake? Why couldn't have you remembered it when you got the letter from the council? You know…save us a bit of trouble and all."
Jake sighed and thought about it for a second. "I guess…I guess I just forgot about it. At the time, we had more important things to focus on. I was only told that I needed to retrieve the stone. So when I got all the way down to the deepest point in the lake, I didn't think much of it when I saw a book. I was looking for a stone."
"Ohhhhh," Spud said through a mouthful of chocolate, "so it was like one of those times where you're looking for one thing, but then you actually end up finding something else instead?"
"I guess you could put it like that," Jake nodded thoughtfully. "That does end up happening to me a lot actually now that I'm thinking about it."
"Boy, I want one of those s'mores!" Trixie reached over and grabbed a marshmallow from the bag.
"Me too actually," Rose added, and soon everyone else reached for the marshmallow bag as well.
"So what are our plans for tomorrow then?" Jake took a bite out of his marshmallow and turned to look at Fu.
"We went over most of the plans this morning," Fu shrugged thinking back to his sketch.
"But not everything," Jake replied. "Like you know how you usually have some crazy invention that's supposed to get me to the deepest point of the lake safely, yet effectively, but instead I usually end up almost drowning and losing my life?"
"Yeah," the animal guardian shoved a handful of chocolate into his mouth, "so what?"
"So what is it?" Jake asked. "The crazy life-threatening invention I mean?"
"Well, kid, if I told you it would ruin the surprise," Fu Dog replied with a shrug.
"But I need to know," Jake insisted, "I'd kind of like to be prepared ahead of time. If I'm gonna die, I'd kind of like to call my mom one last time."
"Eh," Fu Dog stood up to stretch his legs, "I think it would be better if you found out tomorrow," he began to walk toward one of the tents. "I don't want to give you nightmares or anything." He disappeared into the tent.
"Fu Dog?" Jake shouted after him. "Fu Dog!"
Jake growled and began to mumble to himself.
Lao Shi sighed and glanced down at his watch. "I think it would be best if we all got some sleep," he told them. "We may possibly have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
Everyone nodded in agreement and headed off to their tents for the night.
XX
Sorry that this is a day late. I could go on with some excuses, but the main reason is that I was just flat out lazy yesterday. Lolz.
Pretty chill chapter. You'd think that they would be go go go and not have time for marshmallows and campfires, but there is a reason they aren't pushing themselves to go faster. Which isn't really a secret but I might say something about it in the next chapter. Just in case any of you were wondering about that.
Also, this appears short, but again, it's the same length as the others. Just longer paragraphs and such.
Oh! And by the way, the sketch that Fu Dog drew in this chapter, I actually drew that. Lol. If anyone wants to see it lemme know kays?
Thanks for reading!
~ada
