I won't let you down. I won't let you down... My head was in some kinda cloud now, flapping through this dense tropical not-so-paradise. I'd said my goodbyes after my first makeshift funeral, but after that, things started started to swim. I didn't think it was as much from the tears as it was this bleeping humidity, but I'd only barely acknowledged Fergus's instructions at the end.

It's southeast - thet way - straight on through. You'll get theah by midday if ya don't stop. His voice sort of tumbled around my brain like a wash machine set on low. The headache was getting worse as I continued on. Infra-red, I never got migraines like this before in the lab. Heh, not that I wanted to trade places. Nu-uh! Not this mammal.

Time passed as I flew on. My shoulders were aching up a storm and I was concentrating so hard on the way ahead that it turned out I went intervals without blinking. Needless to say, if the tears weren't a problem before, they were a problem now.

Without warning my antenna clicked and sparked, sending a violent spasm down my spine! I locked up it was so bad, and for a few seconds, everything was white. "Sonic interference, is it Christmas?" I was pretty sure I yammered. Well, that was cut short when I rammed face first into a massive tree trunk.

"Red light!" I squeaked, amid these really manic chuckles. I peeled myself away and took off, only to smash into yet another trunk. "Red light, again! I need immediate clearance! Immediate clearance!"

I literally had no idea what was going on, but I was flying blind due to the electricity clouding my senses. Sort of like the other night. I teetered through the air like some runaway seesaw, bouncing off of branches and retreating birds. Everything was suddenly so loud! My fried senses were tingling so much I couldn't even tell where anything was, and-

Wait, I could see! It was a miracle!

"Ohh noooo!"

Crash!

Guess not.

When I came to, my stomach and brain were doing flips an Olympic gymnast would be proud of. My vision was slowly starting to clear, at least I hoped it was because everything still looked pretty dark. I was on my back, lying on something soft. I blinked, but nothing cleared. Blinked again, same result.

Suddenly, my insides gave a violent lurch as I sat back up with a horrible realization. No, no, no! Am I blind? No, this can't be! My words from last night came back to me with stark, grim reality. When I sprung up my antenna struck again, and my whole form convulsed like some sick puppet display.

After everything that had happened to me - escape, near-death, losing friends, losing Dave, I couldn't be up for a White Canes Anonymous membership! Not now! I had to be close, right? What time was it? My panic was making my antenna overload - guess I really should start keeping better track of my emotions, huh - and it wasn't long before I was completely out of touch, relying on some freak primitive reaction.

"Hello?"

My head snapped up amid a very creepy sort of snarl from my throat. A voice out here? I sprang into the air, flapping madly towards the source. I was snapping and yammering like a deranged rabid dog. Suddenly, I heard screaming and a frightened voice proclaimed, "Bless your heart with magic light, I give the gift of fairy sight!"

Heart? Light? Fairy? Sight? Before I could lunge, bells and firecrackers went off in my head and the blackness slowly started to fade away. I gasped as my eyes focused on a small figure before me. Small and delicate-looking and surprisingly human. But... humans weren't that small, were they?

Heh. What a warped day...

"Aww, what a ssstrange little bug," was that my voice? I shook my head to clear it from the fuzzy, blanket-like feeling. The little bug thing smiled back. It seemed awfully excited for some reason. I sort of drifted back, catching hold of a branch as I looked around.

Wait, looked? Oh beetle corpses, I could see again!... Now, where was I? What even was this place? It was a big cavern-like beehive of branches... a hollow tree, maybe. But, for the moment, woow, now who replaced my wings with lead?

"Oh! Gravity works!" And for something like the fifth time in about 36 hours, things turned black for me.