Bloodstream

Chapter Thirteen: The Light That Blinds Us

"You mean you want us to go out in those woods at this time of night?" Jake asked, looking horrified, I couldn't help but silently agree with him- although I wouldn't voice that opinion out loud, I knew what Marcy was like with calling me out on being afraid.

"Yes." The raven haired girl replied, "But don't worry, one of us gets a torch." She smiled, turning on said torch and making what looked like a bat signal by shining the torch on her hand and letting the shadow form on a tree.

"But what if one of us gets separated from the group and we can't find them?" Jake pestered, the question sounding more like an excuse to not go, rather than an actual concern for our safety.

"If you think you are lost, just scream as loud as you can." She explained, "These woods are pretty small, someone'll be bound to hear you…" She paused, turning the torch on beneath her chin, "Or something." I smiled as I saw Jake practically shiver with fright.

"I dunno, Marceline." Phoebe began, "It's dark and one of us could be easily injured on a root or something."

"Pfft…" Marceline scoffed, much to Phoebe's annoyance. "Just be careful where you step and you'll be fine. Besides, since when did a few rolled ankles hurt anyone?"

"I agree with Marceline, this sounds fun." Rainy chimed in, "It'll be exciting, something different that can allow us to go home with a story to tell." She turned to Jake, "Come on, Jake, it'll be great."

He groaned, "I still don't like this idea…" He shifted his gaze to Marceline, "What's this game again?"

She rolled her eyes at my yellow-haired brother, "How many times do I have to explain it?" Upon seeing that Jake was not going to reply she just grunted and launched into her fourth description of the rules. "It's called spotlight. One of us holds a torch and has to walk around searching for the others, when the torch bearer thinks they have found one of the hiders they must shine their torch over them and yell 'spotlight'. Pretty simple."

"Well…" Jake scratched his head in thought, "I say we put it to vote, that way we can decide fairly whether or not this game is safe enough."

"Hm, fair enough." Marceline replied, "Obviously, I'm voting that we play."

"I say it's too scar- I mean dangerous." Jake quickly corrected himself.

"I agree with Jake." Phoebe said seriously, "If one of us gets hurt it'll ruin the rest of the trip for them."

Rainy then chimed in, "I think it'll be fun, and as long as we set a few boundaries it'll ensure that no one gets lost. I'm in." She paused for a moment, noticing Beemo sitting on the beach and sifting through photos on his camera. "What do you think?"

There was a moment of silence before Beemo realised he was being talked to, "Oh, uh- I don't really mind. It's cool either way."

"So that leaves you, Finn." Phoebe said turning to me. "You get to decide whether or not we are playing this game."

"Oh, I dunno." I said, looking at Phoebe. I wanted to play the game, it sounded like fun, but I agreed with Phoebe's point that it was fairly likely that one of us would end up with a twisted ankle. Just as I was about to voice my opinion Marceline spoke up.

"Come on, Finny." She said with a teasing grin, "You're not gonna chicken out, are you? I thought you weren't afraid of anything."

Phoebe shot Marceline a glare, she had picked up on the fact that the raven haired girl was trying to manipulate me into playing- I had too of course, but that didn't stop me from immediately changing my mind. I wasn't gonna let Marceline get another one over me.

I met the bass player's amused stare with one of my own, "I say that we should play." I said confidently, trying to ignore Phoebe's astonishment at me actually agreeing with Marceline. "But," I paused, "We should make things a little more interesting."

"How so?" Marceline said with a devilish smile, one that seemed to bring out my inner demon.

"Finn…" Phoebe began, "No one's gonna think any less of you if you don't want to play."

I barely even acknowledged Phoebe's words, my cocky attitude too far gone to back out now. "Just between you and me," I began, looking toward Marceline, "Whoever gets caught first has to dive head first into the ocean."

"But it's freezing!" Jake pointed out.

"And that's what makes it all the more fun." Marceline countered, "Well that settles it then, we're gonna be playing spotlight." She suddenly tossed the torch toward Jake, "Since you're the oldest, you can be the seeker, now give as sixty seconds!"

With that Marceline and I immediately turned and dashed off toward the forest, a rather annoyed Phoebe quickly following suit- I would have to smooth things over with her later, but for now, all that mattered was kicking Marceline's ass.

I grinned, giving myself a mental pat on the back as congratulations for finding such an amazing hiding spot. There was no way Marceline could have possibly bested me.

I was perched on a rather thin branch that swayed dangerously in the wind, but I knew it would hold- these trees had to endure much worse during storms. Now I know, up in a tree wasn't exactly the most original hiding place, in fact, I had set off planning not to use a tree for that very reason, they would be the first places that Jake would check. However when I came across this tree, I knew it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

When looking at the thing from a distance, it looked impossible to climb, its outer branches just twigs that extended out into a thick cover of leaves, I myself had been fooled by this until I passed by the base of the trunk. I had looked up and seen a singular branch that would be large enough to support my weight hidden amongst the foliage.

I had swung myself up, silently cheering when I found that the branch didn't snap and then edged my way out as far I believed the branch could reasonably hold me. There was no way Jake would find me up here unless he walked right up to the base of the trunk and then shined the torch up among the branches.

I shifted my legs a bit, trying to give myself a more comfortable position while making as little noise as possible. I knew that the sounds of the wind rustling the leaves would mask any minor movements, but I wanted to be safe anyways- I just had this weird feeling that someone was close and that even if I breathed too loudly, they would know exactly where I was. Damn, I was paranoid sometimes.

I wondered where everyone else was, Beemo probably wasn't in a tree- he was a bit short to reach the branches. I internally laughed as I pictured the little dude jumping up and down, trying to reach a branch way overhead. In all honesty he was the one that I picked to be found first, he was barely even paying attention when the rules were read out and I figured he'd get scared and surrender.

Then there was Rainy, who I didn't actually know very well- she seemed rather excited to play, but I reasoned that she might give herself away to help Jake, who was no doubt scared out of his wits as he walked around the dark forest, probably jumping at the slightest sound.

Marceline was definitely bringing her A game, there was no way she would let me win that bet without putting up a decent fight- in fact, I was pretty sure she would be giving everything whether or not we made the bet. She just seemed to like winning a lot.

Suddenly I felt guilt build up in my stomach as I remembered Phoebe. She hadn't looked like the happiest girl in the world when I had let Marceline influence me into voting that we play the game- but if it was just that I had done then it would have been easily fixable. But then I had practically ignored her…

Damn it! I had gotten so caught up with my competitive spirit and wanting to challenge Marceline that I had pretty much forgotten about everyone else. I would need to make sure I apologised to Phoebe for my being an ass. I just hoped things wouldn't become awkward again, we had gotten so much closer over the past few days.

"Boo."

I almost fell off the branch as I felt the hand grab my shoulder. I span around in a whirlwind, barely containing my yelp of surprise as I moved. Without even thinking I swung out at the person who had intruded on my hiding place, feeling my arm vibrate as my fist made contact with their shoulder.

"Well that was rude." Marceline smiled, removing my fist from where it still contacted her skin. "First you steal my hiding place and then you assault me… I might have to kick you out of this tree."

"What!?" I yelled, quickly remembering that we were supposed to be hiding, "I was clearly up here first." I continued in a harsh whisper.

Marceline moved her foot backwards and revealed an 'M' that had been carved into the branch that we were both perched on. "See? M for Marceline, this is my spot."

How she had managed to sneak up behind me and carve and M into the tree was beyond me, but I could see that there was no way I was gonna get her out of the tree without physically pushing her- and I had a fairly strong feeling that a fight would not end well for me.

"I guess we'll just have to share then." I said plainly.

"Hm." Marceline put a hand to her chin in mock thought, "I suppose that would be alright, although I would have to contact my landlord, and there's the rent of course…"

"Shut up." I laughed, playfully punching her again, "If we keep talking someone is bound to find us."

"Nah, they're probably all way too far away to hear something that quiet." She replied, "But…"

"What do you mean but?" I asked, worry building up in my chest as I saw Marceline's devilish grin form on her pale face.

"But this will be loud enough."

I had no time to react before Marceline yelled at the top of her lungs, "Come, one and all to witness the wonderful! Amazing! Fiiiiiiiiin Mert-"

I leapt forward, covering Marceline's mouth with my hand in an effort to stop her shouting, but I moved a bit too fast, taking the raven haired girl by surprise and sending us both tumbling out of the tree and falling to the ground with a thump.

"A-are you alright?" I asked hastily, staring into Marcy's dark eyes. I had never noticed that they were like that before- they didn't seem to have Irises, just overly large pupils.

"I-I think so." Marceline replied. Wait… did she just stutter? Never in the short amount of time that I had known the bassist had I ever heard her stutter. "But you're kinda, you know, on top of me."

"Oh shit." I cursed, quickly rolling to the side and onto the grass next to her. "Uh, sorry." I quickly added.

Marceline just gave a rather shallow laugh, a lot more forced than what I was used to hearing from her. "I'll be fine."

"That's good." I said dumbly, internally calling myself an idiot for saying something so awkwardly pointless.

I looked over to where Marcy sat, trying to think of something to say that would lessen the weirdness of the situation. Not managing to come up with anything, I just continued to stare at her thin frame in an awkward silence.

Her hair covered most of her face, falling down her shoulders and back like some waterfall of shadows. It was a lot tamer than Phoebe's fiery curls, almost completely straight despite the fact that she had fallen out of a tree.

"Over here, dummy!" I heard the voice of Rainy call from a surprisingly close distance, shattering the quiet that had fallen over Marceline and I.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Jake sighed, seemingly exhausted from running.

"Can't you go any faster?" I felt another twinge of guilt as I heard Phoebe.

"Running's hard." He complained, he was getting closer. "It's like some kind of fancy leg magic."

I couldn't help but laugh out loud at that, my step-brother was one of the strangest people I had ever met.

"It looks like we've been caught, Finny." Marceline said plainly, not bothering to get up from where she was seated on the forest floor. It was strange, I honestly expected her to get up and sprint off as soon as she heard Jake approaching… but she just sat there.

"I guess we have." I replied, trying to hide the confusion in my tone as our backs were both hit by the light from my step-brother's torch.

"Spotlight!" He called

We arrived back at the beach shortly afterward, nobody really saying anything. Marceline and I had both agreed that our bet had ended in a draw- which was also rather strange as I expected Marceline to insist that I had been found first. I honestly didn't believe her pride would allow her to just be content with a draw.

But ignoring her sudden burst of humbleness, there was something else that I felt was rather off… not specifically to do with Marceline, or Phoebe, or Jake, or Rainy…

"Oh shit!" I exclaimed, startling everyone around me. "We forgot Beemo."

"Oh glob." Jake's face suddenly paled, "I knew this was a bad idea, I told you it was a bad idea- if anyone of your parents find out that I lost a kid…"

Suddenly Beemo emerged from beneath one of the unmade tents, oversized camera in hand. "Oh, where were you guys?" He asked, still checking his camera. When he looked up at our astonished faces he went a bit red and nervously pushed his blue hair to the side. "What?" He added, "I was just under there to edit these photos." He explained, quite confused at our disbelief.

"You won." Jake said, still at a loss for words.

"I won what?" Beemo replied innocently.

The little bastard had won the whole game without even knowing that he was playing.

*Gasp* Plot twist!

So this was a more exciting chapter compared to the last few- well, at least I thought so anyway. We had an almost-argument between Phoebe and Finn, thanks to the human boy's rivalry with Marcy... and speaking of Marcy, there was a bit of an awkward moment there- that's always fun to write, and then we had the underdog victory from Beemo in spotlight. Cool stuff.

I hope you guys all enjoyed this chapter, but if you didn't, or just want to praise my excellent writing (I can dream too!), make sure to leave a review so I know what I'm doing well- and more importantly what I can improve on. As always-

Thanks for reading! ~LivingTorch