My sincerest apologies to all my readers for taking so long to get this chapter out. I have been having some troubling issues with the Fanfiction app on Android, which has continuously lost me my work on this chapter, so after a series of failures, I've decided to just keep on using my computer instead once it became abundantly clear the problems are not going to go away. I also had to rewrite Chapter 17 several times because previous versions either dragged on too long and slowed down the pace of the story or they were much too short to be a whole chapter by themselves, and this ended up affecting Chapter 16's ending.
Anyway, I will not keep you waiting any longer. Please, read on...
Chapter 16 - Journey through Nàajaltik
Upon exiting the portal, Gwen nearly walked right into Kevin's back. Wondering what could have made him stop, she skirted around him and took in her first look of the Nàajaltik dimension. Her mouth fell open.
There was practically nothing to see. Aside from the portal's gateway behind her and the ledge she, Kevin and Charmcaster were standing on, there was a deeply-hued purple sky glimmering with ultraviolet light and a pitch-black chasm on either side of a jagged stone pathway that if not for the fact that it was connected to the ledge appeared as though it stood suspended in midair. The pathway itself looked so rough and haphazard in its shape that the only reasonable and sound explanation for the seeming wildness of its structure was that aeons of time had been its sole carver.
Largely unperturbed, because of her experience in travelling through far more dimensions than they had, Hope turned around to face Gwen and Kevin and noticed their slackjawed expressions with a small rise of amusement.
"Yes, this is what the Nàajaltik dimension looks like," she said to them. "The pathway is the first challenge. We're going to have to walk its entire length in order to reach the temple."
"Walk?!" Kevin exclaimed in horror as he gazed at the sharp turns and angles ahead, recognising with increasing anxiety as he looked farther onward that the path stretched on so completely to the horizon that if there was an end to it at all, then it was nowhere in sight. "Do we have to? Why can't you or Gwen just use your magic to get us across?"
Answering him, Hope conjured up a ball of blue-white fire and aimed it to soar over the path and threw it hard. Kevin and Gwen watched carefully as it flew along the first section. When it came to the first bend and crossed into open air to reach the next section, the two expected that nothing would impede it.
They were wrong.
Halfway on its crossing, the fireball halted suddenly. For a moment, it remained there until it throbbed once and began to disintegrate, fizzling and spattering down, reducing rapidly to a few bare sparks that vanished in a heartbeat.
"What was that? An invisible wall?" Gwen yelped.
Hope shook her head. "No. In this dimension, magic is bound to work only on or above solid land. The moment there is nothing underneath it, the magic will be negated. The same thing will also happen to anyone capable of flying, naturally or otherwise. They'd forget how to use their wings or their vehicle's engines would stop."
"Maybe we could jump over?" Kevin suggested.
"We could. There's nothing to stop us from doing that," Hope nodded. "But there are two problems."
Kevin groaned in response, muttering, "Here we go."
"A one-way walk from here to the temple will take us about eight hours, so we'd be tiring ourselves out long before we make any headway. And, unless one of us has any safety ropes or grappling hooks, we also can't save one another if we mistime our jumps since magic is not an option."
"How far down is the ground?" Gwen asked, gulping nervously as she tried to peer into the bleak depths of the chasm, scared of the answer she was going to be given.
It was the worst one she could think of.
"There is no ground. The dimension is a total, bottomless abyss. You will be falling for eternity, or to the end of your lifespan," Hope responded flatly.
Gwen and Kevin shuddered as they imagined the grim fate described to them. Eventually, Kevin stammered, "I think I'm gonna go with walking."
"Me too," Gwen seconded.
"Good. Now that we have that settled, I think we should get out three of those water bottles Max got for us," Hope recommended. "There's only one place along the path where we can rest safely, a waystation at the halfway point, so we've got a four-hour walk ahead of us."
Nearly gaping again at the casual mention of how long the walk was going to be, Kevin stumbled over to Gwen and unzipped the top of her rucksack open, and withdrew the bottles from its confines. Sealing the rucksack back up, he handed one bottle to Gwen, another to Hope and kept the last for himself.
Accepting hers, Hope spoke again, eyeing the two seriously. "There's one more thing. What we've learned from my uncle's book doesn't guarantee we know everything about Náajaltik. There may be dangers here we're not aware of, so stay sharp and be careful."
Kevin and Gwen nodded in understanding. From that, Hope estimated there was nothing else to be said for the moment and she turned all her thoughts to the pathway. She gathered her breath slowly, let it go in a quiet exhale, and walked towards it. At the precipice between ledge and path, she ignored the dread the black abyss below tried to instil in her and she took one step further, putting her foot firmly on the path. Hesitation never once tried to plague her after that, as she broke into a ceaseless, untroubled pace. Recognising the inner strength she was upholding, Gwen and Kevin followed.
: * :
The trek from the gateway to the temple was begun with such a long period of silence that, over time, the perpetual isolation resulting from it was fraying the team's raw nerves to their limits. With noone but themselves to talk or listen to, Hope, Kevin and Gwen attempted to seek a break in the monotony by conversing with each other but found they lacked the initiative for reasons of their own.
Kevin wanted to bring both the girls into a full-on group conversation. His every effort to do so was overruled by the fear it could lead to Hope and Gwen starting an argument, or worse a fight. Given what Hope had told him earlier about the dangers of travelling through Nàajaltik, known and unknown, he decided the pathway was obviously not the right place to stage one and kept to himself by trying to remember how one of his favourite songs went.
For Hope, her mind was vigilantly stuck to the mission, leaving the isolation the smallest windows of opportunity to get to her. Whenever it did, she cast cautious glances at Gwen and Kevin, mainly to ensure their safety. Worry shot up inside of her as she saw at times that Kevin was trying to establish a conversation between the three of them. Like him, she was concerned about what might occur if either she or Gwen were to lose their temper with the other, something that could cost them energy, time and perhaps life. Choosing to remain quiet and avoid any of those possibilities, she stuck her focus back to the mission and repeatedly processed what the later stages of their journey would entail.
Wavering between the apparent safety net that was her loneliness and the want to connect with either Kevin or Charmcaster, Gwen was discovering the silence between them all to be such a strongly oppressive barrier that every time she moved to speak, her self-encouraged attempts turned meek and hollow. She saw that it was the same with the others as occasionally she caught looks from the two of them, realising that they were also endeavouring to bring about a conversation. For a while, she wondered why it was so difficult for them to open up, until it gradually came to her what the exact problem was. It was her. They were afraid of her losing control of herself if something they said angered her. Admittedly, she could understand why, with what Charmcaster had described about the pathway and the abyss on either side, it was far too easy for an accident to happen, and even if one did not, an argument or a fight would crush their already-fragile morale into dust. No, she thought and drove any sense of alienation from her mind. No. It was best to keep things as they were.
Time drew on longer as the trio wearily trudged along the path, the short amount of hours growing steadily in number, but eventually Hope began to see their first milestone ahead in the distance as it definitively appeared in sight. Her morbid expression brightening, she pointed toward it with a relieved, powerful cry.
"The waystation. We're nearly there."
Responding to her, Kevin squinted his eyes as he tried to make out what it was she was seeing. What he saw was still a great long way away for them to get to, but it was unmistakably an actual building. From where he stood, he could see the next stretch of path connecting to the peak of a massive stone pillar that rose from the black depths of the abyss. Nestled on the flattened surface of that peak was the waystation which, because of the long amount of space between it and them, appeared small. The confirmation brought to Kevin a rejuvenating sense of triumph and he glanced, first to Hope and then to Gwen, with a beaming grin. His happiness faded as his eyes landed on his girlfriend. Gwen was teetering on the edge of the path, staring deeply into the blackness of the abyss.
"Gwen," he called, drawing Hope's attention from the waystation to the unnerving sight of her old rival's sudden and troubling behaviour.
Gwen appeared transfixed, looking as though there was something in the darkness below that was captivating her whole attention. Hope carefully balanced on her heels and angled to look at what it was. She saw nothing.
"Gwen, come away from there," she said.
But Gwen did not hear her and she continued to stare downwards. Their concern manifesting into pure fear, Hope and Kevin stepped closer to her and readied to pull her away from the edge. Then, suddenly, Gwen screamed and threw her arms forward, preparing to dive after whatever it was she was seeing, as if it had inexplicably raced away from her and she was desperate to catch it. Hope acted, waving her hands and conjuring multiple beams of energy that flung themselves at Gwen and wrapped around her wrists and midsection. Hope pulled hard on them and dragged Gwen back to her and Kevin. Kevin dashed forward and took her tightly into his embrace as Hope quickly undid the constraints and came to his side.
Tugging Gwen away seemed to have done the trick. No longer did she have that wide-eyed stare or the strong effect the abyss had on her. Recognising where she was, as if she had forgotten momentarily, Gwen pressed her face into Kevin's chest and broke into a fit of sobbing.
"It was Ben!" she exclaimed. "He told me he always knew I'd kill him. He - - - hates me for it and he promised to torment me my whole life until the day I die. Then he went away. I wanted to tell him I was sorry, I - - -
Sharing a glance of panic with him, Hope left Kevin to comfort Gwen as she headed over to the same spot Gwen had been standing at and looked down, closing off Gwen's crying and Kevin's ministrations from her ears. Before long, a figure appeared in the gloom. Her breath hitched as the figure became more defined as her concentration strengthened. Ben, his back to her, stood eerily hovering in space. She called his name, or at least she thought she had. Her lips had not moved but she heard her own voice echoing around her. Ben apparently had too, as he looked over his shoulder at her. His eyes flared with recognition of her, but not in the way she was expecting. To her shock, as the brief flinch passed, they held nothing but disgust and contempt for her. His lips curled, turning into a derisive sneer.
"Give you my heart? What makes you think you deserve it?" he scoffed coldly. "You've hurt people. You've hurt my family. You hurt me. You're nothing but - -
Hope shut her eyes, allowing the real world to reenter her senses. The voice of the figure vanished midway through its tirade. She pushed the emotional pain out of her chest with a restrained breath and opened her eyes again. The figure was gone. Resolute, she shifted away from the edge and walked back to Gwen and Kevin. Gwen's sobbing had calmed down to a manageable level that Kevin had the time to nod a signal to Hope that it was okay for her to approach.
"I think we know now why most people that travel here never came back alive and why the survivors returned either mad or haunted," Hope said, her voice feeling empty. "Staring into the depths for too long makes you see hallucinations. Strong hallucinations."
"Gwen saw Ben blaming her for his death," a worried Kevin answered. "What did you see?"
"Ben saying that I was too much of an evil person to deserve his love," Hope replied forlornly. "He's treated me like that before."
"That's the past," Kevin retorted, his face growing serious. "So don't you start believing he thinks of you that way now for one second. I've seen the real way he looks at you lately. I wouldn't be surprised if he thought you could get the fates to give him a day off from going hero."
"I have offered," Hope smiled, reminiscing fondly. "Not seriously, I mean, but out of fun. The fates don't grant anything without a high price."
"Yeah, that too, but seriously, Ben really wouldn't knock off the hero stuff on his worst day," Kevin joked for a moment, before letting the gravity of their situation return. "We'd better keep moving. We don't want any of those illusions coming back to get the best of us."
Hope shook her head in agreement, her face going dark as a remnant of the vision of the figure taunted her.
"No, we don't."
: * :
Gravely, the three moved on from the horrifying discovery of the abyss' trap. Needing someone with her, a traumatised Gwen was guided by Kevin the rest of the way to the waystation. Having kept his attention entirely on his girlfriend, it was not until they had travelled to within a stone's throw of it that Kevin was met with shock that his first impression of the waystation a distance back was far from reality.
The small building it had been then turned out not to be small at all. It was as massive in size as the pillar itself, its shape circling around the edges of the peak. Its walls of smooth, chiselled rock towered a mile high, reaching up to the large paved, dome-shaped roof that crowned the gargantuan structure. At the end of the path, a thin and open archway leading through the wall was waiting patiently for any traveller to enter, the only visible means of getting inside.
Unphased by the physical grandeur of the building and its height, Hope walked briskly into the archway. Her movement catching his attention, Kevin hurriedly pushed himself and Gwen into following her before she got too far ahead. Entering the passage took away a great deal of the awe he had felt, now that the sheer spectacle of the outer wall was not in view. All that surrounded him and Gwen as they walked was a plain, stone corridor that he guessed would not look out of place in a church or some old museum or school.
As they exited the passage and arrived inside the main chamber, the idea of where they were was revitalised in Kevin's mind. Aside from a small circle of dirt at the heart of the gigantic room, the floor was surfaced with a field of fresh, low-cut, sweet-scented grass that spread wholly all the way around to where the walls were standing. The ceiling above held its own pleasant surprise. Subverting expectations yet again by not looking like the ordinary rock of the domed roof, it had taken on the appearance of a living springtime sky, coloured a light and friendly blue and decorated with a sparse array of fluffy white clouds and a modest glow of sunlight.
The welcoming view of their surroundings also had an invigorating effect on Gwen. As if waking up from her misery, her eyes gleamed somewhat as she absorbed into them the beauty of the whole place. She smiled tinily, feeling a slight alleviation stirring within her.
Grateful that something was reviving her spirit, Kevin looked towards the circle of dirt and saw Hope was waiting for them there, her face appearing unmoved by the calming effect the room had on him and Gwen. Confused by her nonchalant behaviour, he began to get apprehensive again and he and Gwen made their way over to her.
"It's only artificial," Hope explained right when they joined her. "When I came in here, it was as barren as the world outside. Just stone and rock. Then it turned into Ledgerdomain."
"And is it still Ledgerdomain in your eyes?" Kevin glanced around, now regarding the area with suspicion.
"No. If you're seeing the same things I am, field of grass and blue sky, then it's treating us all with the same illusion," Hope replied.
"Why did it change from Ledgerdomain to this?" Gwen asked.
"I don't know. I was just feeling uncomfortable with seeing my home again, and it changed," Hope answered.
"Maybe that's it?" Kevin suggested. "Maybe the dimension's trying to be nice? You know, giving us a reward for making it this far? Making us comfy while we stay here before we head out again?"
"It could be that, or it's inflicting a different type of cruelty," Hope put forward.
"Yeah," Gwen agreed with her as she thought about the encounter with the apparition of Ben. "By making us remember home, it manipulates us into getting homesick and want to turn back."
"Or be driven mad by the memory of this place as we go on," Hope concluded. "Anyway, let's all ignore that for now and set up camp."
Going on to treat the fake world around them with disdain, Kevin and Gwen tugged at the straps holding the rucksacks to their shoulders off and set them firmly on the ground. From their food supply, Gwen retrieved two tins of Irish stew and a small package of powdered hot chocolate. Beside her, Kevin pulled out the three sleeping bags, a cooking pot and tripod, a steel kettle, three enamel mugs and bowls, a pair of tongs and a ladle, a box of matches, and a bag of charcoal. They exchanged items between the two of them; Gwen handed the Irish stew to Kevin, and he gave her the three mugs and steel kettle. Hope moved in to participate, taking the sleeping bags and setting them apart from each other and away from the soon-to-be campfire.
Kevin set to work, opening the bag of charcoal and pulled out ten lumps to place on the ground. He assembled them carefully, positioning four in a row to serve as the centre of the shape and dividing the remaining six into two separate rows of three, placing each one side to the side of the main row. He dusted off his hands and propped the tripod up to stand right above the charcoal. Leaving it aside for the moment, he turned to the cooking pot and the two tins of stew. He grabbed the first tin and applied the grip of his other hand to the catch, slowly but surely prising the lid off. Repeating the same action with the second tin, he emptied the contents of the two into the cooking pot, which he then placed on the tripod. Then he took a match from the box, ignited it and set the charcoal alight.
Before she started on brewing the hot chocolate, Gwen realised she could not use any of their water supply as the bottles were a required necessity for the whole journey and she searched her rucksack again to find anything to substitute it with. Luckily, she discovered a carton of long-life skim milk close to the bottom. Breathing out in quiet relief, she flipped the top of the kettle open and poured in three servings of the powdered chocolate, going on to add in the milk until the kettle was half-full. She shut the kettle with a snap, secured the tongs around it and lifted it up to rest in the flames.
In that strange and isolated waystation, the three travellers soon welcomed the steaming flavoursome aroma of boiled lamb, potatoes, vegetables and parsley accompanied by the inviting, lush and overpowering scent of hot chocolate. Realising how hungry they were as their stomachs grumbled in response to the stimulation, Kevin, Gwen and Hope fell susceptible to the cold of the still air surrounding them and they huddled closer to the fire, trying to keep warm. A few more minutes passed and the stew was ready. Kevin picked up the ladle again and scooped enough of the hot broth and food into the bowls until all of them were nearly full to the brim. As he worked, Gwen removed the kettle from the fire and set it down, uttering a spell to cool the metal surface. Clutching the handle, she poured the heated liquid out evenly between the mugs and left the kettle at the side of the fire to keep what remained inside it warm.
All the work done, the three each took to their share of the prepared meal and let the blissful taste and flavours soothe the weights holding their spirits down. Gwen displayed the most visible reaction. In a sudden moment, her depressing mood was practically extinguished and she gazed around the waystation with an unfocused and new light. Kevin and Hope's were more of a familiar nature; to them, the sensation they experienced was the ordinary but pleasing touch of sustenance filling their empty stomachs and giving their minds and bodies a portion of gradual comfort. Recognising that it was because they were not troubled with the pangs of guilt as she was, Gwen quietly withdrew back into herself.
After she was through with her food, Hope put her bowl and half-empty mug to the side and addressed the others. Kevin looked up immediately. Gwen jumped.
"We'll rest here for two hours, then we pack up and leave," Hope instructed.
Quietly, the both of them obeyed her order. As Kevin added more charcoal to the fire to keep it burning longer, Gwen walked over to the sleeping bags. Choosing which one of them was to be hers, she bent down on her knees and slipped her legs and then her body and arms inside its warm and comfortable folds. But the comfort brought her no joy or relief; instead, she turned over onto her side and closed her eyes, hoping that sleep would come. It did not, for in the seconds that followed, she was witness to the sounds of her companions making their way to the sleeping bags and wriggling their own bodies into them. From there, the only noise to be heard by her was the crackling of the nearby fire.
Sleep still did not arrive for her. She opened one eye, wondering to herself if Kevin and Charmcaster were having as much difficulty in trying to get some rest. The two of them were silent, not moving and hardly making a sound. Gwen knew that did not mean anything. She knew from memory that Ben exhibited similar behaviour when an issue was troubling him; many a time, when they were kids, she thought he had been sleeping, only for him to suddenly get up with his eyes wide awake, showing nothing at all of bleariness as he skulked off elsewhere to cope with what bothered him. Back when they were ten years old, it was often a proverbial flip of the coin if she would get up as well and follow him to help him get through it, but in the years since, it was a sure bet that she would.
Then, as clearly as she remembered the sounds when Ben had made them, she heard them for real. Someone was rustling in their sleeping bag, tossing and turning with a light moan. Gradually, the moan ceased and Gwen waited to see if the next indication Ben usually displayed after that was going to happen. Over in the span of ten seconds, it did. The person moved abruptly, hauling themselves out of the bag and walking a short distance away to sit down. Close by the fire, if Gwen had judged correctly. Afterwards, the person released a drawn-out sigh, much like Ben always did.
The sigh was feminine.
Charmcaster, she realised with a start, exhaling quietly. Okay, so she and Ben do have something in common.
Calmly, she tried going to sleep again when another rustling noise made itself known. In disbelief, Gwen paid attention to the new, quieter sounds as the only other person they could be coming from headed towards Charmcaster.
"Can't sleep?" Kevin asked.
"No. You?" Hope replied.
"Nope. Ben your reason?"
"Gwen yours?"
"Yeah," Kevin admitted, pausing. Gwen dared to glance over her shoulder and saw that he was taking a seat on the ground next to the sorceress. "That illusion of Ben really did a number on her."
"Mine did too," Hope said forlornly.
"Hey! Remember what I said. Ben doesn't see you that way anymore," Kevin exclaimed sharply.
"I know," Hope answered, her voice sounding like it was on the verge of breaking. "It's the way the illusion looked at me that I keep remembering. Like I'd always be this - - - monster to him."
Gwen's eyes widened as the sorceress threw her face into her hands. Cautiously, to avoid being noticed, she tested her connection into the metaphysical realm and sensed an emotion that numbed her to the core. Charmcaster was crying. Actually, genuinely crying and showing vulnerability in front of other people. Unable to contemplate what that signified, she turned her head back over, facing away from them, and intended to block out the rest of the conversation.
It didn't work.
Kevin spoke up again. "Do you know what he did while you were away in Ledgerdomain? He stuck up for you when all of us, Gwen, Julie, Kai and me, were in doubt."
"Really?" Hope asked.
"Yeah. He told us how much he cares about you, how much you mean to him. Always tried to prove what you have is real. He said he loves you, every time we pressed him for answers. And trust me on this, Hope, I've never seen Ben Tennyson act that stubborn for any other girl."
"Not even Julie?" Hope remarked curiously, sounding like she was raising an eyebrow.
"Not even Julie," Kevin affirmed.
Gwen had no idea what was bewildering her more; that her old rival was openly confessing her feelings or that her boyfriend was truly giving Charmcaster honest encouragement. Caught up in her stunned confusion, she did not realise silence had fallen between the two until Kevin started talking again, a small laugh escaping his throat.
"You know what's funny about us?" he asked Hope.
"What?" she replied interestingly.
"Back when we were kids. The two of us were always sworn enemies of the Tennysons," Kevin joked, exaggerating his answer with motions of his arms and a hammy deepening of his voice. Earning a light giggle from Hope, he continued speaking normally, "Always fighting Ben, Gwen and Max. With Ben and Gwen, we hated one more than the other; you Gwen, me Ben. And somehow, we've both ended up falling in love with the other one."
"Yeah. Along with making up for past wrongs," Hope admitted. "What a pair we make, huh?"
"Sounds about right. The two former idiots," Kevin teased.
"Hey, watch who you call an idiot," Hope chuckled in response.
"Come on," Kevin laughed. "Didn't the parts where I said former or called myself an idiot mean anything?"
"No."
Forcefully, Gwen attempted to stall her burgeoning emotions as they reacted to the conversation as it went on. Kevin and Charmcaster were carrying on like they had been friends for ages with little trace of ill will between them, as if the past two years of battling against each other had never happened.
But one feeling passed through all her barriers. Her guilt. By falling for Ghostfreak's words, she had been blind to any kind of rapport Charmcaster may have established with everyone else besides Ben. What had she missed while she was on her mad, furious crusade, and how much? If Charmcaster was truly being genuine about her turning over a new leaf in the name of love, then the answer was a lot. Her friends and family continuously expressed devotion, caring and support for the sorceress that, if for real, Charmcaster had taken the time and effort to legitimately earn. Also, she thought with a frown, her own actions towards Charmcaster would have driven those relationships along further.
She grimaced almost at once. All this thinking was getting her nowhere. She instantly put all the questions and feelings to a halt until there was nothing but a bare pang resonating in her chest. She remained that way, never quite managing to relax. Sometimes she listened to Kevin and Charmcaster talking, sometimes she did not. After an indeterminable while had passed, everything went quiet. For a moment, Gwen was tempted to find out why the conversation had stopped, eventually choosing not to bother with it. The reason made itself apparent however, as Kevin returned to his sleeping bag. Charmcaster, she guessed, had stayed by the fire. Finally, without the strange camaraderie to puzzle her, Gwen grew peaceful enough that she fell quietly asleep.
The serenity did not last long. In what felt like no time at all, Gwen was raised from her slumber by Kevin, who told her that the rest period was over and they had to get back on the journey. Feeling lethargic, from the brief amount of sleep she had, Gwen took a swig from her water bottle and stood up to help him with repacking their equipment as Hope put out the fire and crushed the remnants of the charcoal into the ground. In ten minutes, they were moving onward again, travelling along the exit passageway, and soon left the waystation behind them. Ahead of them, greeting the trio uncomfortably, was the suspended pathway and the pitch-black abyss of Nàajaltik.
: * :
Barely an hour into the resumed journey, the expedition grew long and tiresome once more. Having kept pace with the others since the beginning, maybe due to her lack of mental rest than anything else, Gwen fell behind as an unaware Kevin and Hope pushed on further ahead of her. Furtively at times, the redheaded girl glanced up at the two, remembering the compassion and sympathy there had been between them back at the waystation. As hard as it was for her to admit, if Charmcaster had changed, then she and Kevin did have a lot in common. Both had been the enemy mainly to one Tennyson for years, found themselves falling for another Tennyson, and sought to cultivate a newer, happier life through that love.
Gwen shook her head when she understood the self-confession that she was wrong was being entertained in and by her own mind. Regrettably, in some way, she knew she was still allowing her stubborn nature to control her decisions and opinions. Too hardheaded to accept anything other than the distrust she harboured towards Charmcaster, she seethed at herself. But as the trek stretched on, those lingering thoughts weakened and she chose again to listen rather than ignore.
"Hey, uh, Hex told me something," she heard Kevin say to Hope. "He looked into Ghostfreak's mind while they were fighting. It looks like Adwaita kinda hired him to kill you."
"Is that so?" Hope replied nonchalantly.
"You're not surprised," Kevin stated.
"No, I'm not. Knowing that he really wants me dead this time and went all-out the last time we fought, it's obvious he doesn't want any stone left unturned."
"Makes sense, but how does that make you feel?"
"Feel?"
"Well, you spent a lot of time liberating and defending your home from him. Don't you - - - you know - - - want to take it back from him again?"
She answered him after a few moments of heavy silence. "Not this time," she sighed dismally. "Uncle Hex kept telling me not to go back and try for years, saying it would get me killed one day. As you know, it almost did, and if Ben was anywhere close to the wreck I am now, then I can't keep sentencing him to wait and know whether I'm going to be coming back alive or not."
"I get that, but - - your home - - -
"My home is, and will be, with Ben," Hope declared with finality.
Impressed, Kevin fell quiet. Gwen on the other hand was both confused and astounded. Charmcaster had constantly been fighting back and forth in Ledgerdomain over the past few years, determined to keep the dimension of her birth and its people free of Adwaita and his tyranny. Admittedly, the part with Adwaita seeking to outright kill Charmcaster this time around was troubling, but keeping control of the throne was such an important priority of Charmcaster's that it appeared as though nothing could persuade her to abandon it. Now, it seemed there was something. Ben. Her mind still jumbled up in a whirl, Gwen endeavoured not to speak until she had that sorted out.
The three of them continued on, Kevin and Hope stirring up conversation at random intervals when either of them felt the luring impression to gaze into the black abyss starting to invade their senses. Unable to find a decent opportunity to do so herself, a gladdened Gwen sought refuge by listening in again. Most of what she overheard was basically trivial stuff, topics brought up on the spot to cancel out the weighted monotony. Some were of interest though, like when Charmcaster recounted in detail when she informed all of their friends who had been sent home earlier about the mission. The curious part of the story was the little snag Charmcaster had hit in attempting to reach Julie. For some reason, the silver-haired sorceress could not locate her anywhere at the Yamamoto residence. Worried, Charmcaster had moved on by choosing to get in touch with everyone else to find out where she had gone. To her surprise then, and at the present moment to Gwen and Kevin, Julie and Ship had been at Kai's motel room the whole time.
A minute after that story had been told, Kevin recalled something similar. Julie had been the only person to blatantly refuse Max's order to go home and rest, denying her tiredness strongly as she vowed to keep up the search in Hex's library for something to save Ben. Kevin himself timidly asked her at first if her perseverance was because she did not want to go home as being held prisoner by Gwen there possibly had left a bitter mark. Julie met that belief with a huff and she resumed her work as if she were at school, diving rapturously into her studies. Then, out of everyone in the room, Kai approached her and gently grasped her by the shoulder. Julie looked incensed for a moment and turned her head, her expression poised to snap verbally until she saw it was Kai who had interrupted her and her furious gaze softened a touch.
"Come on," Kai had said to her. "Even those with a totally wild nature in their souls need to rest."
Kevin concluded the moment by saying that Julie had stood there quietly for a while, staring at Kai like she wanted to defy her. Finally though she caved in and allowed Kai to walk her out of the house. In one last surprising turn, Ship obediently followed them after a call to do so came from Kai.
No sooner had he finished that he realised in his mind he had connected the two stories together and stopped right in his tracks. He glanced in turn at Hope and Gwen in bewilderment. A knowing look was flashing in Hope's eyes. Gwen's features were agape with shock.
In the end though, without a proper means of getting an answer, they were left to wonder about what might be going on between Julie and Kai for the remainder of the journey. Three hours went by without so much as another word when at last, with euphoria rising from beneath the depths of their souls, their destination appeared on the horizon.
For those who have been waiting for so long, I deeply apologise yet again. To make up for it, I will inform you all of this story's current progress. Chapters 17 and 18 will be out sooner than you think. After that, there are three more chapters. Chapter 19 is already in the works, with Chapters 20 and 21 planned out. 21 will be the final chapter of the story.
See you then.
