Chapter 11
Michelle's POV
"Hey, guys!" Carmen said when she and her group were standing in front of us. "What are you doing here?"
"I'd prefer to ask you first," I told her; I was peering closer at her to make sure it was really her. It was, so I lightened up a bit.
"Oh, okay then," she started, clearing her throat. "Well, we're traveling to Arcane Mountain, because we're trying to get on Serena's floating island."
"So are we!" Lucy exclaimed, gaping at Carmen, who was equally surprised.
"Don't tell me," she said to us. "Your town was cursed by the Wild World Witch, so you're going to ask Serena for help with removing the curse?" Now we were all shocked.
"Yes!" Coco replied, her jaw dropping open. "That's exactly why we're here! How did you know?"
"We're here for the same reason," Lobo spoke up. "Navine plagued our town with disease, killing everyone but us, because we left town."
"How dreadful!" Lucy said.
"Yes, yes it was," Alice replied, nodding.
"Wow, we have a lot in common," I said. "Too much in common, in fact. It's kind of creepy almost." We let out small giggles.
"Yeah, you're right," Rosie agreed. "Weird..."
~
Emily's POV
"Well, since we have the same problem, how about we find the same solution together?" I suggested, extending my hand to Carmen.
"Great idea," Carmen replied, gladly taking my hand, and giving it a faint squeeze, "Yeah, let's do it!" We walked through the rest of the forest, looking over our shoulders, and watching our backs every so often to make sure that we all stayed together, and that no monsters of any kind were stalking us. Dawn was now rising up from the horizon, her incandescent beams of radiant light reflecting off the trees, the clouds, and us, as we emerged from the other end of the forest. I rubbed my eyes as they adjusted to the sunlight once again. We were now standing next to Arcane Mountain. It was about two hundred fifty feet tall, but instead of being pointy at the top, the surface was flat. A narrow walkway spiraled around the mountain, which meant that we wouldn't have to climb it like we expected. I looked up, and about five feet about the mountain, was Serena's floating island. We approached the mountain, ready to begin on the walkway towards the top, when we noticed a small, dark cave at the very bottom.
"That's probably where Navine lives," Coco said, shivering as a gust of wind went by. "Tortimer warned us about her."
"What if she's watching us right now?" Rosie asked, staring at the cave with widening eyes.
"She could be," Carmen said. "But she might not be in there right now."
"Yeah, she could be out wrecking havoc on other towns at the moment," Bob muttered as we hid behind a few bushes.
"Well, the start of the walkway is on the other side of the mountain, behind the cave," Anthony told us. "That's good, since we can start without her seeing us, should she be home right now. Come on, let's go." We crept behind bushes, and snuck past trees, until we found ourselves on the opposite side of the mountain, running up on the walkway.
~
Michelle's POV
We ran a few feet up the mountain, but then we started to feel tired, so we went back to walking. It was hot outside, so we walked in the shady part of the walkway as the sun was beating down on us. I was starting to feel a bit dizzy from walking in a constant spiral upwards. This was the longest we've traveled since we left on our journey. By sunset, we were only ten feet shy of reaching the top.
"It looks like we're all really tired," I said. "So, maybe we could stop, and rest here for the night."
"That sounds good," Carmen replied. "That way we'll be fully rested to make it to the top first thing in the morning." Rosie and I made ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner, then we set up our things, and we all fell asleep in a big circle, almost piled on top of each other. I could barely sleep, because I couldn't wait to reach the top of the mountain, and move on to Serena's island.