The tip of a brush gently put a tiny stroke on a mixture of grey and blue of the canvas. Casey's eyes, not even for a second, leaving its surface, hazel orbs completely absorbed in the storm white paint was slowly creating.
The sun was well over horizon when she put everything away and stood up. Stretching her arms and back she, for a couple of seconds, stared at her work. Peaks of snowy mountains seemed to be trapped in two layers of clouds. Few rays of golden light, breaking through, dyed one side of the mountains, while the other was absorbed in blizzard. She didn't even know if it was possible, but adored the result.
"Done" – she smiled to herself. All that was left was to let the paint dry.
On her way to the bathroom she checked the time, there wasn't much time left until the Eramans arrived. According to her mother the older couple decided to join in for the little Ebott tour. Honestly speaking, she was glad they did, but at the same time felt uneasy about it. Taking that many humans so close to an Underground entrance wasn't her favorite idea, she knew she'd have to take paths further away from it.
She let out a sigh looking at her bare feet when warm water rushed down calming her nerves. Occasionally a colorful stain would appear under her feet as another paint spot cleared from her arms, neck and face.
Her gaze froze as she watched the process repeat few more times, yet she barely noticed. Her mind was stuck on the past. It's been more than a week since she last saw Sans, so long since they talked. Papyrus, on the other hand, had few days off, with Undyne being away.
She was happy to see him twice in such a short time, she adored him more each time. His naïve personality and childish stories and rambles that, somehow, had hints of maturity in them became dear to her. But now it felt weird when he was alone, as if something was missing, it felt empty.
"But why not the other way around?" – She muttered, angry at herself.
Papyrus was her best friend, since the day they talked and grew to know each other he had a special place in her life and now…
"Casey, they're already here, honey" – her mom's voice came in a half whisper. It was surprising she heard her at all.
Pushing all thoughts to the back of her mind the girl hurried to finish. It wouldn't be too polite to make the guests wait. It didn't take long for her to dry her hair and get dressed in a simple black tank top and a pair of dark red pants. After all there wasn't anything special planned, there was no need to put too much effort.
In about half an hour she was in front of their house where everyone else was waiting. The two siblings were sitting not too far from the front door, they didn't notice her presence, their eyes eagerly looking for something in the pages of a notebook the girl was holding. Unfortunately they weren't close enough for her to hear them clearly. Tearing her eyes from the small object Casey took a couple of steps forward. There lost in, at the first glance, confusing conversation were the parents. She didn't want to interrupt them, but stepped closer anyway. Luckily the tall man noticed the girl's approach, saving her from an uncomfortable situation.
"It's been a while, my girl. How have you been?" – His cheery voice called out.
Tugging few strands of hair behind an ear the girl smiled, twinkle in her hazel eyes evident even more. She felt more confident with her actions and picking up her pace she soon found herself right in front of the man.
"Quite well, sir, thank you" – she was about to ask him the same when her voice was drowned in a laughter causing her to jump a little. The older man seemed to be in a really good mood.
"Sir? That's a first" – he said between the chuckles – "I like her"
Casey couldn't help but smile. Even if they met only twice she felt like she could trust him with most things. She had a similar feeling about his wife too, though much weaker. Since the black-haired woman was mostly quiet the girl didn't have a chance to learn much about her, though she didn't mind. Everything will come in due time.
It wasn't long before their group grew in number, with the siblings now standing right next to Casey. She figured their father's loud voice distracted them from whatever they were doing.
As they walked towards the stables the young girl found herself between Lucy and Mrs. Eraman. The woman's calming voice soon sounded and her large black eyes rested on Casey's hazel ones.
"How did your date go?" – She questioned. The girl only tilted her head with a quiet hum, her gaze holding a somewhat puzzled expression.
"Last week, I mean. When you couldn't meet us" – she continued with a smile – "oh and please forgive us. I insisted on that without asking first"
For a couple of seconds Casey remained silent. Mrs. Eraman sounded sincere, but she could only guess whether the woman's words were true or she merely took the blame. She appreciated her gesture. But either way it didn't really matter, she'd let it rest.
"Don't worry about it" – she shook her head – "but who told you about a date?"
"Oh, Eilis did"
"Is that so?" – She glanced at her mother for a moment, a small smile present on her lips - "Well, she misunderstood, I simply promised a friend I'd meet him"
"I see" – the woman smiled wider. It was obvious that she didn't believe, but hinting at it would only lead to an awkward situation. After all she held no evidence.
"I mean" – Casey went on in a calm voice, her eyes watching the ground, as if talking to herself – "I barely know him"
"You mean you met up with a guy you barely know instead of us?" – Lucy was now looking up from her cell phone, her eyes filled with betrayal. Could she get even more dramatic?
"Aren't you the same?" – Casey's question caught her off guard, her eyes widened in disbelief, mouth opening and closing few time without making a sound as she threw few glances at her mother. But Casey couldn't see her response, never cared to check.
The younger girl was about to say something when Eilis' voice pierced through the hanging silence between them.
"Should we head out?" – She asked, though it felt more like an instruction.
Everyone nodded, each stepping to a horse, the siblings shared one.
"Did you get them from the town?" – Casey asked pointing at three unfamiliar horses, while getting on Cinis herself. The family nodded.
"Why are they keeping them anyway?" – Nye spoke up: indeed a rare occasion.
"Many people use horses instead of cars here, since there aren't many roads around, as you can see. But since people can't keep horses in the town they built stables outside of the main gates. There are few horses that belong to rich people there, but mainly they keep some so people can rent, sort of"
The words sounded, but Casey didn't hear it entirely, didn't even register who spoke. Her mind was flooded with thoughts and images, mental maps of the paths she could take to avoid the Underground entirely, but show something at least.
"There's a nice place in the south…" – she thought, staring at the mountain that was slowly inching closer – "southwest too"
"Are you going there a lot" – a calm male's voice reached her from the left. Glancing over she saw the siblings right next to her. Lucy was staring at the grey horse that was calmly following a familiar path, in awe. Nye, on the other hand, locked his gaze with its rider awaiting an answer.
"I try to" – Casey said almost instantly – "with the school starting soon I won't have as much time anymore"
"Don't you get lost? It's so big" – his sister had broken out of her daze.
"I did a couple of times, long ago. But now I try to use routes I know"
"Don't you explore?"
"I don't rush with it. When I find a new place I try to memorize it and get familiar before moving on"
"Why?"
"So I don't get lose" – Casey laughed and heard the adults grow silent.
She carefully glanced back only to find them whispering between each other, wide smiles painted on their faces. She didn't need to hear them to know what they were discussing or who, to be precise.
She chose to ignore them for the time, the other two seemed to have a similar idea. The one to talk the most during the ride was Lucy, obviously. If she wasn't bombarding Casey with questions she would talk about herself or her brother. Luckily she did keep quiet ever once in a while, giving the other two rare chances to rest their mind and collect their thoughts.
The group wasn't moving too fast, it was quite different from her usual pace. She didn't really mind though, that would just mean less time on the mountain and more chances to stay in and explore the few places she thought of.
It wasn't long for Lucy's rambling to stop completely as she stared at the large peak now towering over them. Apparently even she could run out of topics to talk about. Casey smiled slightly at that thought.
But her worry returned when she found herself at the base of the mountain already. A male's voice sounded from behind. Though it was present at, almost, all times, now it was louder and directed at her.
"So, where to now?" – Mr. Eraman asked getting closer. She looked forward narrowing her eyes, she'd rather keep them away altogether, but she knew she wouldn't be able to give a reason for it. If anything she'd only appear suspicious, she could make things worse for the ones she wanted to protect.
Why did she want to protect them so desperately? There didn't seem to be a reason, at least she couldn't think of one to save her life. She told herself it was because of their friendship, but deep down she knew that wasn't the case, not all of it at least. So why…?
"What would you like to see?" – She spoke pushing back the thoughts, hoping to lock them for now.
"You're the guide. I'm fine with anything you've got" – the man shrugged and the girl watched his wife nod, seemingly, in sync with his words.
She briefly glanced at both her mom and the two siblings, they didn't react in any way. So it really was up to her, in a way it was beneficial: no one could complain regardless of her choice.
"On we go then" – Casey mumbled, more to herself than anything turning right, where, she remembered, was a way up.
The path went on for a while, twisting between old and young trees. Sometimes it vanished from view and it seemed like they were lost with no way to move forward, sometimes for a moment other times for several minutes five people blindly followed a girl in hopes she'd lead them out. And each time she did.
At first, they questioned her knowledge quite a few times, sounding either scared, skeptical or plain desperate. Casey did her best to answer accordingly and it wasn't long before they grew silent, only occasionally chatting with each other.
With the pace they were moving at, it took them a little over an hour to reach their destination. The path widened, trees lined up in neat rows on both sides, as if forced out of the way. Dark brown, almost black, soil locked in between lanes of grass and moss lead further into darkening forest. But Casey took a turn to her left going down a small hill. There, not far from where the group was, a soft glimmer of water's surface peeked through thick branches: still and silent it wasn't easy to spot.
Mere seconds later they were beyond the green wall. A lake was spreading in front of them, its clear water reflecting the sky like a mirror. It wasn't too big, but the combination of blue, green, white and grey that dyed this place made it look unreal, in a way, as if it was part of a tale that shouldn't have existed it this world. The silence surrounding it made it serene and even more mesmerizing.
Steep cliffs rose high blocking access to the rest of the mountain, locking the small haven from the rest of the world. The part of woods they came through seemed to be the only way that didn't require rock climbing.
"This should be enough for today" – Casey though swiftly jumping down from the grey mount.
While taking some of the equipment off of Cinis she threw few glances at her companions that were now standing behind her, trying to take in everything around. At least that's what it looked like to her.
She smiled to herself seeing the reactions from others. The adults only exchanged few words with each other while pointing at the distance, Lucy froze by the shore, cold water grazing her feet every so often. Nye, on the other hand, looked unfazed, didn't say anything, didn't show anything. He sat down on a hollow log, staring at the barely visible waves. Despite that Casey knew he liked everything, maybe even more than others, he simply didn't show it. It was so obvious, emotions plainly written in his eyes waiting for someone to read them.
Casey stepped closer to the edge of water watching the scenery herself. It's been a while since she was here and now she realized how much she missed it. Stretching out she felt newfound energy boil within her, she wanted to explore everything all over again, reach the cliffs and beyond. With a wide smile painted on her lips she looked around.
"Like what you see?" – She asked. None from the group answered right away, but she knew they heard her. Small and short movements, that some never noticed, were made simultaneously with her voice evidenced that.
After a while it became obvious that for a while they weren't going to answer, so she left them be for the time being. Her mom had told how the family lived in a city all their lives. The town, the nature, all was new to them and to their delight all was pleasant and charming. She felt excitement to share what she so loved with other people, it was a refreshing feeling, something new for her… No that wasn't the case: she always wanted to do that, but the people surrounding her were never worthy, never good enough to see inside of her.
Glancing back one more time she walked further away. There a large rock stood by the shore, its sharp tip hanging over the water, few thin streams of ice cold water seeped through narrow cracks on its sides and dripped slowly into the lake.
She climbed up and stood on top of it, her gaze carefully scanning the area around. She missed that place.
But the smile that was decorating her soft features vanished as she glanced into the distance. There was someone else she wanted to see right there, next to her.
"Sans…" – she muttered under her breath, her eyes now fixed on thumbs rubbing against each other as thoughts of her friend flooded her mind.
She tried to understand why she missed him so much in just a week. That never happened with her, not even once, not with anyone. It scared her that even with her dad it took longer for her to feel something similar.
That was because she didn't get to spend enough time with the skeleton, wasn't it? Because he was a new friend she still had to share many experiences… Because he had never seen the surface before. Her eyes widened in realization, the answer was that simple, that was all she wanted: to show him the world.
Unfortunately it didn't make things easier in the slightest, didn't make the weak sting in her chest go away.
"Casey, you wanna join us?" – Her mother's voice returned her to reality and she looked down at her. She was standing so close, strangely she never noticed or heard her approach – "Lora just told me they prepared few thing for a small picnic, well, sort of. But most importantly they have food" – she continued laughing quietly before concern took over – "what's wrong?"
The question made the girl realize that she was still wearing the same expression, hurt and sad. She quickly shook her head and smiled.
"I just thought how nice it would've been if dad was here" – she lied, thought this time it felt wrong.
She felt like that should've been the case, she should've missed him more, yet she didn't… couldn't.
"Oh, honey. We just need to wait a bit longer, he'll be home soon"
Casey nodded, her soft voice muttering only two words: "I know". Somehow that made her feel better, much better.
In few seconds she was walking by the ginger woman, joking and laughing about silly things she saw on internet that day. They soon reached the small rocky area they stepped on when first exited the forest. Passing it they headed to an even clearing where the family was waiting. Short grass and rare flowers were covering the ground, a small blue blanket was placed as far from water as possible, which, despite their best efforts, wasn't much. Few mosquitoes could already be seen nearby, Casey could only hope they'd stay away.
Trying to stay optimistic she focused her attention on food. There wasn't much, just enough for a light snack. Judging by that they weren't going to stay there long, but she doubted that would be the end of it. Knowing Eilis, she would probably invite the family for dinner. Marvelous.
As much as she enjoyed their company at the moment she knew she'd crave for alone time once back home.
"Oh well. I'll worry about it when the times comes" – she thought shrugging to herself.
The two were noticed only when they were standing right next to the blanket and the older woman called out, in other words: way too late.
"Casey!" – Lucy's overly cheerful voice rang through air before the girl was dragged to the opposite side of the small banquet that was neatly arranged in front of them.
She was forced to sit between two siblings, though she never protested, so she couldn't complain. On the other hand maybe it would be better that way, maybe the black-haired girl could distract her confused mind. But it wasn't that easy, nothing ever was.
"So" – Lucy began crossing her legs like others – "about your friend that is definitely not your boyfriend" – she chirped the last word – "do you think we can meet him?"
Now she was curious? She didn't seem too fond of him earlier that day. Either way she was asking for an impossible, even if unintentionally. For some reason it angered Casey, but, as always, she didn't show anything. It wouldn't make things any better if she did.
"Sorry, it won't be possible for the time being" – she gave the two an apologetic look.
"Why not, you treasure him too much?" – Nye's question was unexpected. She'd never think he was interested in any way. And as if answering that question he added smiling – "come on, I just want to make a friend, since I don't really know anyone here yet"
Why did it feel like he was mocking her? That was strange.
"Personal reasons" – Casey stated shortly. Their smiles dropped when they realized they couldn't question her any further regarding that matter – "Why are you so curious anyway?"
"Last time you didn't even mention a friend" – the brother said munching on a sandwich – "and according to your mom she didn't know anything either, so we were curious"
"You didn't speak much either, Nye, but I'm not demanding anything, am I?" – As she spoke the two grew quiet and for a moment she thought the adults did too, but words came out before that thoughts registered – "and besides, you're asking me about someone else. I don't have the right to tell you anything, unless he allows me to"
"Honey" – a quiet whisper sounded after a long silence – "am I seeing things, or did that girl just shut our kids up?"
"To be fair, that wasn't much. Not this time at least" – Casey said in a small voice. She didn't expect that, or any kind of reaction from anyone, and frankly, it made her a bit uncomfortable.
She tried her best to ignore the other comments coming from the man and his children. It proved to be quiet easy after she realized they were mainly talking to each other seemingly forgetting from what the conversation even started. With the kids trying to explain themselves it, somehow, sounded a lot like complaining while their father laughed and teased them. At one point it became kind of annoying and funny at the same time, but Casey never showed it.
To distract herself from what was troubling she threw a couple of glances at her mother, but she was too preoccupied with her phone through the whole ordeal. Both of the older women had their eyes glued to the screens of their devices. They looked excited at one point and let out frustrated sighs or muffled curses the other, but almost never in sync. They seemed to be playing a game of some sort, actually Casey was sure they were.
She smiled a little looking at them. Her mom didn't really have many close friends despite her bright personality, she was, most often, found wrapped in her work. And now it was refreshing to see her relax and have fun.
"That's, probably, what she wants to see too" – she thought attempting to bite into the food she was holding only to find her hand empty – "right, I finished it… genius"
After a short hesitation and another chicken sandwich she got up.
For some reason she felt nervous at the thought of staying alone with people she didn't know that well. Even if there were only two of them and she had a great advantage in that area. It wasn't familiar, but unlike them she, at least, knew what to expect. Yet she'd rather go alone… she'd rather go with Sans.
* That's new.*
"Wanna go there?" – She finally asked pointing at cliffs in the distance, their sharp tops seemingly piercing the sky – "to the opposite side"
The siblings, now quiet, glanced at her, their gaze slowly following her stretched out arm. Without a sound they looked at each other as if asking for other's opinion and confirming that their thoughts were similar.
It took Lucy no more than a second to, practically, jump up in excitement. Predictable, yet, to everyone's delight, not any less amusing to watch. Nye was a lot calmer, but compared to his usual self, seemed eager too.
Casey let out a barely audible giggle when they reacted as she planned. Even though that wasn't too hard to predict, she felt proud of her accomplishment.
The two stood by the edge of the water almost too quickly, looking back at her as if telling to walk faster, which she didn't do. Her gaze traveled back and forth along the long grey wall as she looked for a path to take trough large rocks occupying the left shore. She remembered seeing one earlier and soon it was in her sight, its end peeking from, what it looked like, a wide crack.
Sharp rocks towered above the three students, numerous cracks covering their edges, threatening to crumble. The bottom of rocks on both sides was soaked in shallow water, small waves constantly bending the darkened line above the surface.
With her palm gently touching the uneven grey matter she walked further into ice cold water. Her gaze was locked on few small, round stones that indicated her destination as if the path could vanish.
Peeking from behind a corner she followed the road and sure enough it went on for a while. For only a moment she looked back, making sure two figures followed while the others talked among each other in the distance.
The silent conversation Lucy and Nye had on the way made her wonder if all siblings could do that. If it was easy for them to communicate without words and what the extent of it really was. She wanted to ask, for a moment she was going to, but held herself back when an image of constantly talking Lucy came to mind.
She concentrated on the task at hand: the road, blocking away all other unnecessary thoughts. The path was crooked, breaches of it coming into view every couple of minutes making it look like a labyrinth. Though, at first glance, it seemed like a trap with routs intertwining and looping around steep cliffs, leaving identical narrow paths to take, Casey knew it wouldn't be that hard to get through. Few times she stopped, to look around, to listen, to focus. At that moments the world seemed different, every little detail served as a guide, waiting for her to notice and read.
It felt like an eternity had passed when they were out, their parents waving from afar almost instantly. Their small forms blending with thick, dark forest behind. They returned the gesture mainly to make sure they won't freak out.
Casey looked around, there didn't seem to be much there. She was standing in a wide area, grey and white stone covering the ground, creating walls that separated everything within from the woods and the sun, or so it seemed. In a narrow crack in front of her she saw few golden rays shine illuminating the ground. There had to be an opening of some sort and she wanted to see it, she felt the glee of discovering something for the first time in forever. The path to her target was safe, rocks stood steady creating something resembling steps. She took a note how they were aligned, almost like on purpose as if part of something larger.
"How did you know where to go?" – A quiet voice sounded from behind reminding that she wasn't alone. Nye was pointing at the clutter of rocks they walked out not too long ago.
"Simple" – she shrugged, a proud smile covering her lips – "I made sure the water was always on the right and walked as close to it as possible"
"But, how. We couldn't see it, not even once"
"I could hear it"
"There was no sound of water" – he plainly stated, sounding somewhat confident.
He tried to hide the mixture of confusion and doubt in his voice. He really didn't hear anything, did he? It made an unknown, strange feeling rise in her when she realized she could guide them, teach them. She never thought she would want to.
"It's not something you can just hear randomly, you have to listen carefully" – she smiled, now warmer – "try to pay attention on our way back"
The boy didn't respond, only glanced back rubbing the back of his head.
"Where to now?" – Lucy's energy could be felt through her voice as she ran towards them.
"Come" – Casey stated shortly climbing a, relatively small rock not far from her – "if I'm correct we'll see something really nice soon"
"What do you mean if you're correct? You do know where we're going, right?" – The younger girl's voice turned somewhat worried as she asked a question after another.
Was there a problem? There wasn't anything dangerous ahead, so why worry now? Casey brought them that far, so she assumed they'd trust her by now. It made her feel uneasy, even when she didn't promise the two anything in particular she didn't want to disappoint them.
"Nope. Never been here before" – she simply said, her expression not giving away any of her worries – "but that's the fun part of exploring, isn't it?"
She didn't really care whether they'd stay with her or not, if they wanted to go back she'd lead them. She didn't expect them to understand, most people didn't. But Lucy beamed, climbing up to her.
Letting out a small chuckle, unexpected to herself, she turned around heading for what she saw upon reaching the curious place. After several minutes all three were on a higher ground. Leaving behind the narrow entrance and about dozen of rocks of different sizes that made a, gradually widening, path. Some of them were aligned so perfectly that it was hard to believe that it wasn't man made.
A large gap in tall cliffs was now in front of them, opening a window to the rest of the world.
Southern horizon was far ahead, bathed in warm colors of the afternoon sun. Only few small hills were present in the distance, surrounded by several houses with colorful roofs and a couple of dozen fields. Crops in most: fully grown.
Glimpses of a river partially painted the line between sky and earth, occasionally hiding its presence from view.
Casey's attention diverted and she jumped back a little, clutching her chest in attempt to calm her rapidly beating heart, when two voices engaged in a heated conversation too suddenly after dead silence. She had a hard time understanding half of what they said and after a short while gave up trying to.
Taking few steps back from the edge she scanned the wide square area that was trapped between two walls, each no less than ten meters long, their cracked surface: once flat and even. It, once again, seemed man-made, like a giant gateway. Her hand resting on the wall traced its every crack as she looked up, in hopes to find a clue. Her eyes widened darting down to her stomach when she felt something strange under her fingers. Crouching down she attempted to clean the area in search of something resembling an arc. As dust fell she saw traces of something familiar: circles, lines and arcs, familiar writings. All was faded, broken, yet she could see it, even if worse than last time. The arc she felt before traced up with two rows of writings on one side, far above her head it connected with another circle, this one larger, more complicated in its structure.
Casey took few steps back. With each she could see the scene before her more clearly.
It was huge, connecting about a dozen of rings with one large one. Some were barely bigger than her palm, others seemed endless with rows of glyphs following one another all the way to the center.
She glanced back for a brief moment, but after finding the opposite wall empty tuned back staring at the symbol.
"This is gonna be a pain to draw" – she groaned to herself after a while thinking about the time she'll spend writing – "Sans will definitely appreciate it though… He's gonna love it" – she smiled.
"Appreciate what?" – A young male's voice sounded few feet away from her.
Looking over she realized that their voices died a while ago, yet she didn't notice it.
* Oh right, I don't really care, what a relief. *
"You've been staring at that wall for a while now" – he continued returning her focus back to this realm. Hint of confusion was in his voice, which wasn't surprising considering how little they still could notice.
"Yap, for like twenty minutes to be exact" – Lucy said glancing at her phone.
"Wait, what? I know I took my time, but that much? Really?"
They nodded in response, their gaze flickering between her and the cliff. For a few moments Casey remained silent trying to figure out a believable explanation for it all. She mumbled few complains under her breath after coming up with none.
"So… what did you see?" – Nye's voice, once again, broke the silence.
"The carvings" – she uttered shortly, pointing forth.
He narrowed his eyes and stepped closer. A quiet 'where?' came soon after. So he really couldn't see, she remembered how long it took her to pay attention to everything, so that was normal, it had to be. But on the other hand she couldn't shake off the feeling that it was magic that allowed her to see. She made a mental note to ask Sans next time they met.
Letting out a small sigh she led the boy and his sister closer. Leaning on the rough stone she crouched, only now realizing how many cracks were covering it, making it almost impossible to make out any small detail. The idea of magic directly affecting her became stronger, it excited her, yet was still bizarre. But at that moment she was happy more than anything, happy to have met Papyrus when she did, now for another reason too.
"Look" – she half-whispered pointing at the arc she first noticed.
Following the tip of her finger as it outlined the ring and pointed at few, still visible, writings their black eyes widened in triumph as if they were the ones that actually found it.
Now a lot more lively they asked Casey to show more or encouraged each other to search for some. It was fun to watch them fuss about it as they walked or sometimes even sprinted from one side of the wall to the other, stood on tip toes or crouched to see better. In the end they didn't find much, especially compared to what was in front of Casey's eyes, but she never mentioned it pretending to see the same and the two seemed to be satisfied.
Sitting on the edge of the cliff the three, for a long while, discussed what it could've been, how old or new it was, who carved it in such a place and why. Random theories were born left and right, first serious and well thought out, then grew crazier with each new one. They were devoid of any logic and meaning, yet proved to be more intriguing and fun to dive into.
Some of the weirder theories came out of Casey's mouth, while she constantly reminded herself to choose each word and thought carefully. Obviously they wouldn't believe her if she accidentally said something about monsters or consider it a possibility at all, but even then she didn't want to risk it. If there were monsters under the mountain there bound to be legends.
The sun, now leaning lower over the west illuminated the world below in darkening light. Gold was slowly turning into fiery orange when Mrs. Eraman called her son with instructions to head back. Lucy mumbled few complains while trailing behind.
"Considering how long it took us to get here, this isn't a bad decision. We really should head back" – Casey responded and the black-haired girl froze for a moment stuttering. She seemed genuinely surprised by her response, or rather by the existence of one. Her voice was quiet and she wasn't too close to the hazel-eyed girl, that was enough for her to assume she wouldn't be heard.
"If you spend as much time in forest as I did, you'd hear too" – Casey said, Lucy only stared – "you already can, actually. You're just used to city noise and, I guess, block out many sound here as well"
"What the hell. Are you reading my mind or something?"
The girl laughed tucking few loose strands of wavy brown hair behind an ear. She glanced back and shrugged, a playful grin not ceasing.
"Could be. But trust me I didn't have to, your reaction told me enough"
Few drops of rain fell rushing them further, the conversation cut short. Entering the rocky labyrinth once more Casey hurried forth looking back every so often to make sure she was still followed, secretly wishing she was alone at that moment.
It was easier to navigate through numerous routs now that the rain made noise upon lake's surface and after few more minutes the little path leading down to cold water's edge opened up. Casey ran over not so steady rock, to say the least, and made her way to the shore as she watched few fish swim away from movement of each step.
The siblings rushed to their parents, their voices excited, but the words muffled for her. She felt exhausted both mentally and physically, even though she didn't move as much as she often did. Her mother noticed it asking if everything was alright, adding that she needed a sleep. Casey smiled and nodded, didn't speak. For some reason making a sound felt too troublesome, too tiring.
What she wanted the most was to get home and draw: the curves, the yet unknown symbols. Her mind hurried her to do so, warned that she'll forget, but she knew she simply couldn't. She chuckled thinking how weird magic was and how long it will take her to begin getting used to it.
The way back was much quicker, mainly because they were moving downwards. Most of the time it was quiet and serene, it let her mind roam and rest.
Occasionally she looked around to make sure they weren't lost, giving Cinis few directions along the way before leaving reality behind once again.
Before she knew it they were at the base of the mountain, out of the forest's shadow, yet the world was cloaked in haze more than before. The sun hid itself behind thick, grey clouds and mist lay motionless over the wide field.
They didn't linger for long, there was need to, no energy or desire. Why was everyone so tired was beyond her, but she decided not to question it.
It seemed to have only been a moment when Casey found herself by their doorstep thanking the Havens that their guests decided to take their leave.
After she and Eilis finished few, more important, tasks in the farm which included feeding animals and such they headed inside for dinner.
With all that done the young girl went to her room with two large pieces of paper. Setting one down on the floor she sat before it and began her work. Just like last time each form she could place with ease and, this time too, the parts she never saw came to her mind in a flash. She loved that feeling despite it being extremely trippy most of the time.
Once done with it she proceeded to what was immensely harder. She began to write, her hand moving before her mind could register the result. With each glyph added to the paper the image became clearer. She wanted to continue, to finish it, but not even halfway through she felt her eyes closing.
Clumsily putting on her pajamas she climbed into bed and curled into a ball. A smile grew on her face when a though of two skeletons crossed her mind. She wanted to see them, to see Sans, to show him what she had found. He'd be happy with it, she knew he would.
An image of his genuine, warm smile appeared for a split second before fading to black as sleep claimed her.