Phi awoke slowly, drifting gently out of her dreams to the real world. For the first time in about a week she had been able to get a decent nights sleep, free of worrying and anxiety. She smiled gratefully, and rolled onto her side, leaning her head on Alex's chest and feeling Devic's (y) head nestled up against her back, Luke sleeping on the other side of Alex. It was early morning, the daylight barely breaking through the darkness of the night outside of their tent, and she could hear a bird chirping in the distance. The morning air was chilly so she stayed in her little pocket of warmth snuggled in between her husband and one of her sons but listened to see if anyone else was awake yet.
After a few moments, she heard the small crackling of a fire. Will must be up. He was the only one out of the two Tortallans that would start a campfire; Devic (o) always seemed to be drifting, never seeming to be paying attention to anything but yet hearing and seeing everything. What an odd man he had grown up to be...
She felt Alex stir and kissed him lightly as he opened his eyes, "Morning..."
He blinked, "What time is it?"
Phi shrugged, "The sun just came up, so it's early in the morning..."
Alex sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands and yawned, "Are the others awake?"
"I heard someone starting a fire, so I'm guessing so."
Alex nodded, "I'm gonna go outside and see if I can help out. You should stay here with the kids until they wake up."
Phi grinned, "Only if you insist..."
He smiled back at her, kissed her, then stood up, throwing on his shirt before he passed out through the door-flap on the tent. Phi lay down on her back, each of her boys moving closer in their sleep until they were eventually pressed up on either side of her. Phi smirked as Luke began to murmur something, then go back to snoring lightly. She felt herself slowly being lulled back to sleep and finally gave in to it, falling gently back asleep.
Alex breathed in the crisp morning air and walked over to join Will by a growing campfire in between their two tents. They had set up camp along the bank of a small stream and Devic (o) had managed to catch two fish and were cleaning them on a flat rock a few yards away. When he heard Alex approaching Devic glanced up and grinned dryly, "I know it is not exactly morning food, but I figured that it would be a nice change."
Alex smiled, sitting down on a fallen log next to Will, and replied back, "Nonsense, I've eaten much worse for breakfast."
Devic shook his head as if he didn't doubt it, stood up and sat down by the fire, sticking a long stick through the fish meat and hung it over the fire to cook. Will glanced down the riverbed, then up the sandy bank to where the forest loomed over them and frowned, "Have either of you seen or heard Trycos this morning?"
Devic scowled at the name, but shook his head, and Alex shrugged, "I just woke up, but I can't imagine that he has gone very far. He left just after we found this spot."
Devic growled under his breath, "Who knows how fast that man can travel...If he dares to play one of his games with us, I will not stand for it..."
Will raised his eyebrows, poking at the small blaze of the campfire with a small tree branch, "What do you mean?"
Alex frowned, "He's been known to give people an illusion or two when they have their guard down...or even when they don't. It's his way of having fun."
Devic cut in, "Although it was never very amusing for the rest of us."
Will was about to respond when they heard someone approaching from the forest. They all turned to watch as Trycos emerged, his hands behind his back. Alex scowled and Devic glared, and asked him gruffly as he descended down to the campsite, "And where, dare I ask, have you been all night?"
Trycos rolled his eyes, "Your gratitude is overwhelming..."
Alex scoffed, "You haven't done anything for us yet but get us lost!"
"You should not accuse Alexander, without gathering all the facts first." Trycos pulled out his hands from behind his back along with the heads of two spideren.
Alex paled and Devic's eyes widened then narrowed in suspicion, "Where did you get those?"
"From Spideren of course. They seemed to be following us. You are all very lucky that I was able to sense them and hunted them down before they ambushed you while you slept. It would have been such a waste to have you all die." Tyrcos grinned, as if something was amusing him, let out a small chuckle, then turned around, "Hurry and eat. We still have a way to go yet, and if we move quickly we should reach our destination by nightfall."
Devic poked his fish with one of his fingers to test how hot it was, "You still have yet to tell us exactly where we are going..."
"You do not need to know so you might as well not fret over it."
Will frowned, "If you are the only one who knows where we are going, how do we know you are not leading us into a trap?"
Trycos turned to the campfire and gave the young man a strange look, "Because I have not killed you yet. If I wanted to lead you into a trap, the trap would have already been sprung."
Alex gave a hoarse laugh, "That makes me feel so much better."
Trycos grinned, "Aww, is little Alexander afraid that I am going to hurt him?"
"I'm afraid for my family you ass!" Alex flushed with anger.
"Ah yes...the love of a husband and father...how quaint...You know, you were really much more interesting last time you came to Tortall. Now you are much too predictable."
"I guess you're just gonna have to find another way to amuse yourself this time."
"No, only the rules of the game have changed, not the objective. Now come, wake up Phiona and your children so that you can all eat. We will leave in an hour, which should give you sufficient time to take care of your business. I shall return in forty-five minutes. Makes sure that no one wanders off...especially the little ones." With that Trycos spun around on his heels and dissolved back into the shadows.
Alex was still bristling when Will turned to him and said softly, "You had better go wake up the others."
Devic was scowling, his scar accentuating his foul mood, "The nerve of him...Some day when he is not watching I will drive my sword straight through his gut." He pulled the fish, now cooked to a golden brown, off of the stick and began to cut them up into serving sizes of meat for breakfast.
Will shook his head as Alex headed over to his tent to wake Phi, Luke, and Devic(y), "Well, you must at least wait until Alex and Phi have made it safely back into their own world. After all, that is the whole point of us agreeing to travel with him in the first place..."
"Keep reminding me Will, or I might just kill him."
"Do not worry. That is why I am here."
Alex stepped inside of their tent, kneeling down next to Devic (y). He shook the boy's arm gently and spoke softly in English, "Hey Devic. It's breakfast time."
Devic's eyelids fluttered open and he rolled onto his back, one of his arms still tightly wrapped around his mom's, "Dad? What time is it?"
"I dunno, but we're going to need to go soon. Come on. I know you didn't get a lot of sleep...Maybe you and Luke can sleep on the way there..."
Devic sat up, untwined his arms from Phi's and rubbed his eyes sleepily. Alex gave him a encouraging clap on his shoulder and the boy rose, fumbling his way out of the tent and over to the campfire.
Phi had woken up from all the activity and as Alex watched Devic sit down by the others she shook Luke's arm, "Sweetie, wake up. Breakfast is ready."
The little boy's eyes shot open and after letting out a big yawn, he sprang into a sitting position, "What's for breakfast?"
"I don't know, go see what Devic and Will made for us. It smells like something good."
Luke grinned, stumbled to his feet groggily, then bounced outside, clamoring up onto the fallen log and taking a seat in between Devic (y) and Will. Alex turned towards Phi and sighed, falling on top of her slowly with exaggerated exhaustion. She smiled, stroking his hair, "What's the matter Alex?"
He nestled his chin onto her shoulder, "Trycos stopped by..."
"Well that explains the sigh..."
"He wants us to be ready to go in an hour for another exciting day of horseback riding until nightfall...and my butt's sore."
"I think all of ours are...After this, I don't think I'll ever need to ride another horse for as long as I live..." She glanced at him, "But if we only have an hour, shouldn't we go eat so that we'll have time to pack up?"
Alex moaned quietly and closed his eyes, "No...I wanna stay here with you..."
"Too bad, because I'm getting up."
He sighed again, but sat up and rose to his feet, "Somehow I knew you were going to say that." He offered her a hand up, which she accepted, and they walked outside together. When they reached the fire pit, Devic (o) handed them each a slice of fish that they quickly devoured.
For the next half an hour the group had their hands full with packing up camp, an exercise that seemed to be very difficult considering how little they had. After they were done with that, the boys had just waded into the stream and had begun to splash each other with water when Trycos reappeared, "Well, it looks as if you are all ready to go, so let us not waste any time."
Luke groaned as Alex walked over into the water, picked him up and placed him on the saddle before getting up himself and Phi grabbed Devic's (y) hand and after she had mounted up, gave the boy a boost up. Devic (o) and Will were already on their horses and led the way after Trycos, following him grudgingly back into the woods.
After a few hours, Alex decided that he should have a talk with Tom for two reasons: one, he needed some advise, and two, he was board out of his mind. 'Tom...You awake?'
'Hey, Alex! What's going on?'
It was soothing to hear his friend's voice, even if it was only in his head, and Alex relaxed, 'I was wondering what's your take on this whole situation. I'm assuming Phi filled you in?'
'Ya, she did...You haven't done anything stupid have you?'
'What do you mean? Oh, you're talking about Trycos? No, not yet, but I'm this close to teaming up with Devic and kick his ass.'
'I'll assume you were talking about the Devic that isn't your son and say that you'd better not do anything like that. No offense, but he would easily subdue you with his powers. Besides, there's too much at risk: Phi, the kids. He holds too much power over you, although I don't think he'll hurt you, after all it sounds like he needs you for something important.'
'Thanks for your encouragement...'
'Sorry Alex, but you're in a rough situation."
'All right...Well, I had better start paying attention again before someone thinks I've fallen asleep with my eyes open. Talk to you later.'
'I'm counting on it.'
Alex shook his head to clear it and his attention slowly returned to the path that was opening up before them; an overgrown and forgotten one, but definitely a path. Will was talking to Devic (o) in a lowered voice, his tone serious and questioning, "Devic, what will the King say when he hears that you left your men to return by themselves?"
"Probably nothing he has not already said. Our king is a good man Will, he will forgive me, and you will not be blamed at all of course."
"You just do not care, do you?"
Devic thought about his answer for his moment, then broke out in a cynical grin, "No, I can not say that I do."
Will sighed, muttering something under his breath as he shifted the weight of his quiver on his back and reached out to grab his horse's reins again.
As they rode on, Devic found himself wondering exactly where they were. Before they had found Trycos, they were traveling right along the Scanran boarder. However, they had been traveling nearly due north for almost two and a half days now so they were probably well over the territory line. Any peasant or city they ran across now would probably take one look at his and Will's crests on their tunics and run them out, mob them, or worse. Perhaps it was a good thing to be traveling through the forest. An image of a map he had been examining earlier entered his mind. They would run out of forest soon. At the pace they were traveling at, they would start to hit a series of foothills, mountains, valleys, and small patches of woodland by the end of the day.
Trycos interrupted his thoughts, "Yes, my target lives near the center of Scanra...and what a good memory you have, memorizing that map of yours so well Devic! A little obsessive are we?"
Devic clenched his teeth, "I will show you obsessive-"He fell silent at a stern glance from Will but left his fingers resting on the hilt of his sword as it lay comfortingly at his side.
As the day drew to a close and the sun slowly sunk beneath the horizon, the forest had disappeared, replacing itself with craggy moors and small thickets weaving through the valleys. A gray mountain range capped with snow loomed in the distance and encompassed the whole horizon. Devic (o) frowned. He had never been this far north before.
The early winter air was crisp and whipped at their faces as they crossed over the crest of one of the rolling hills. Devic (y) wrapped his arms around Phi's waist and buried his face in her sweater and Luke, who had miraculously managed to fall asleep, was nestled up against Alex's stomach.
As their horses trudged slowly back downhill, Trycos turned back to them with a triumphant smile on his face, "We are here. Dismount and set up camp. I will go ahead and make sure everything is as it should be."
Will, his curly dark brown hair flying in his face, jumped off his horse and looked around their new campsite disapprovingly as Devic (o) stepped off his own horse and started to remove its tack. Will walked back up about twenty yards to the top of their hill and gazed out into the distance before coming back down, "There is absolutely no way to hide our position from attacking forces, and this wind will certainly put a damper on any plans we had to build a fire."
Phi sighed wearily and helped Devic (y) get off their horse before brushing a rebellious strand of hair out of her eyes, "We'll just have to do the best we can I guess..."
Alex scowled but remained silent, and he and Devic (o) gave each other identical looks before returning to their business. Will nodded, "Of course, you are right. Perhaps we will be able to keep a fire going behind that rock over there, and our tents should be able to withstand this gale..."
Luke yawned again, stretched, and stared blinkingly up at Alex, "Daddy, I'm hungry..."
Will glanced over in their direction and grinned, "Let me guess, the little one wants some food?"
Phi nodded and said dryly, "How did you guess?"
"That child eats more than both my little sister and brother combined...He is so small I do not know where he puts it all!"
Phi smiled and sat down next to Will to help him set up a stone ring for the fire pit, "I didn't know you had siblings!"
"Oh yes, I am the oldest though, by far. My brother has just entered into his second year of training to be a page and my little sister is fourteen and helps my parents run their business; it is a fletching shop. I probably get my love of archery from them..."
Phi nodded, "What's Devic's family like?"
"Well-"Will was about to start speaking when Trycos reappeared.
The mage looked at them all, "You had better get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a rough day for you all..."
A/N: By the way, sorry this took so long. I've been busy with end of the school year projects, but enough of my excuses. Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter (Rubber Duck!).
After a few moments, she heard the small crackling of a fire. Will must be up. He was the only one out of the two Tortallans that would start a campfire; Devic (o) always seemed to be drifting, never seeming to be paying attention to anything but yet hearing and seeing everything. What an odd man he had grown up to be...
She felt Alex stir and kissed him lightly as he opened his eyes, "Morning..."
He blinked, "What time is it?"
Phi shrugged, "The sun just came up, so it's early in the morning..."
Alex sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands and yawned, "Are the others awake?"
"I heard someone starting a fire, so I'm guessing so."
Alex nodded, "I'm gonna go outside and see if I can help out. You should stay here with the kids until they wake up."
Phi grinned, "Only if you insist..."
He smiled back at her, kissed her, then stood up, throwing on his shirt before he passed out through the door-flap on the tent. Phi lay down on her back, each of her boys moving closer in their sleep until they were eventually pressed up on either side of her. Phi smirked as Luke began to murmur something, then go back to snoring lightly. She felt herself slowly being lulled back to sleep and finally gave in to it, falling gently back asleep.
Alex breathed in the crisp morning air and walked over to join Will by a growing campfire in between their two tents. They had set up camp along the bank of a small stream and Devic (o) had managed to catch two fish and were cleaning them on a flat rock a few yards away. When he heard Alex approaching Devic glanced up and grinned dryly, "I know it is not exactly morning food, but I figured that it would be a nice change."
Alex smiled, sitting down on a fallen log next to Will, and replied back, "Nonsense, I've eaten much worse for breakfast."
Devic shook his head as if he didn't doubt it, stood up and sat down by the fire, sticking a long stick through the fish meat and hung it over the fire to cook. Will glanced down the riverbed, then up the sandy bank to where the forest loomed over them and frowned, "Have either of you seen or heard Trycos this morning?"
Devic scowled at the name, but shook his head, and Alex shrugged, "I just woke up, but I can't imagine that he has gone very far. He left just after we found this spot."
Devic growled under his breath, "Who knows how fast that man can travel...If he dares to play one of his games with us, I will not stand for it..."
Will raised his eyebrows, poking at the small blaze of the campfire with a small tree branch, "What do you mean?"
Alex frowned, "He's been known to give people an illusion or two when they have their guard down...or even when they don't. It's his way of having fun."
Devic cut in, "Although it was never very amusing for the rest of us."
Will was about to respond when they heard someone approaching from the forest. They all turned to watch as Trycos emerged, his hands behind his back. Alex scowled and Devic glared, and asked him gruffly as he descended down to the campsite, "And where, dare I ask, have you been all night?"
Trycos rolled his eyes, "Your gratitude is overwhelming..."
Alex scoffed, "You haven't done anything for us yet but get us lost!"
"You should not accuse Alexander, without gathering all the facts first." Trycos pulled out his hands from behind his back along with the heads of two spideren.
Alex paled and Devic's eyes widened then narrowed in suspicion, "Where did you get those?"
"From Spideren of course. They seemed to be following us. You are all very lucky that I was able to sense them and hunted them down before they ambushed you while you slept. It would have been such a waste to have you all die." Tyrcos grinned, as if something was amusing him, let out a small chuckle, then turned around, "Hurry and eat. We still have a way to go yet, and if we move quickly we should reach our destination by nightfall."
Devic poked his fish with one of his fingers to test how hot it was, "You still have yet to tell us exactly where we are going..."
"You do not need to know so you might as well not fret over it."
Will frowned, "If you are the only one who knows where we are going, how do we know you are not leading us into a trap?"
Trycos turned to the campfire and gave the young man a strange look, "Because I have not killed you yet. If I wanted to lead you into a trap, the trap would have already been sprung."
Alex gave a hoarse laugh, "That makes me feel so much better."
Trycos grinned, "Aww, is little Alexander afraid that I am going to hurt him?"
"I'm afraid for my family you ass!" Alex flushed with anger.
"Ah yes...the love of a husband and father...how quaint...You know, you were really much more interesting last time you came to Tortall. Now you are much too predictable."
"I guess you're just gonna have to find another way to amuse yourself this time."
"No, only the rules of the game have changed, not the objective. Now come, wake up Phiona and your children so that you can all eat. We will leave in an hour, which should give you sufficient time to take care of your business. I shall return in forty-five minutes. Makes sure that no one wanders off...especially the little ones." With that Trycos spun around on his heels and dissolved back into the shadows.
Alex was still bristling when Will turned to him and said softly, "You had better go wake up the others."
Devic was scowling, his scar accentuating his foul mood, "The nerve of him...Some day when he is not watching I will drive my sword straight through his gut." He pulled the fish, now cooked to a golden brown, off of the stick and began to cut them up into serving sizes of meat for breakfast.
Will shook his head as Alex headed over to his tent to wake Phi, Luke, and Devic(y), "Well, you must at least wait until Alex and Phi have made it safely back into their own world. After all, that is the whole point of us agreeing to travel with him in the first place..."
"Keep reminding me Will, or I might just kill him."
"Do not worry. That is why I am here."
Alex stepped inside of their tent, kneeling down next to Devic (y). He shook the boy's arm gently and spoke softly in English, "Hey Devic. It's breakfast time."
Devic's eyelids fluttered open and he rolled onto his back, one of his arms still tightly wrapped around his mom's, "Dad? What time is it?"
"I dunno, but we're going to need to go soon. Come on. I know you didn't get a lot of sleep...Maybe you and Luke can sleep on the way there..."
Devic sat up, untwined his arms from Phi's and rubbed his eyes sleepily. Alex gave him a encouraging clap on his shoulder and the boy rose, fumbling his way out of the tent and over to the campfire.
Phi had woken up from all the activity and as Alex watched Devic sit down by the others she shook Luke's arm, "Sweetie, wake up. Breakfast is ready."
The little boy's eyes shot open and after letting out a big yawn, he sprang into a sitting position, "What's for breakfast?"
"I don't know, go see what Devic and Will made for us. It smells like something good."
Luke grinned, stumbled to his feet groggily, then bounced outside, clamoring up onto the fallen log and taking a seat in between Devic (y) and Will. Alex turned towards Phi and sighed, falling on top of her slowly with exaggerated exhaustion. She smiled, stroking his hair, "What's the matter Alex?"
He nestled his chin onto her shoulder, "Trycos stopped by..."
"Well that explains the sigh..."
"He wants us to be ready to go in an hour for another exciting day of horseback riding until nightfall...and my butt's sore."
"I think all of ours are...After this, I don't think I'll ever need to ride another horse for as long as I live..." She glanced at him, "But if we only have an hour, shouldn't we go eat so that we'll have time to pack up?"
Alex moaned quietly and closed his eyes, "No...I wanna stay here with you..."
"Too bad, because I'm getting up."
He sighed again, but sat up and rose to his feet, "Somehow I knew you were going to say that." He offered her a hand up, which she accepted, and they walked outside together. When they reached the fire pit, Devic (o) handed them each a slice of fish that they quickly devoured.
For the next half an hour the group had their hands full with packing up camp, an exercise that seemed to be very difficult considering how little they had. After they were done with that, the boys had just waded into the stream and had begun to splash each other with water when Trycos reappeared, "Well, it looks as if you are all ready to go, so let us not waste any time."
Luke groaned as Alex walked over into the water, picked him up and placed him on the saddle before getting up himself and Phi grabbed Devic's (y) hand and after she had mounted up, gave the boy a boost up. Devic (o) and Will were already on their horses and led the way after Trycos, following him grudgingly back into the woods.
After a few hours, Alex decided that he should have a talk with Tom for two reasons: one, he needed some advise, and two, he was board out of his mind. 'Tom...You awake?'
'Hey, Alex! What's going on?'
It was soothing to hear his friend's voice, even if it was only in his head, and Alex relaxed, 'I was wondering what's your take on this whole situation. I'm assuming Phi filled you in?'
'Ya, she did...You haven't done anything stupid have you?'
'What do you mean? Oh, you're talking about Trycos? No, not yet, but I'm this close to teaming up with Devic and kick his ass.'
'I'll assume you were talking about the Devic that isn't your son and say that you'd better not do anything like that. No offense, but he would easily subdue you with his powers. Besides, there's too much at risk: Phi, the kids. He holds too much power over you, although I don't think he'll hurt you, after all it sounds like he needs you for something important.'
'Thanks for your encouragement...'
'Sorry Alex, but you're in a rough situation."
'All right...Well, I had better start paying attention again before someone thinks I've fallen asleep with my eyes open. Talk to you later.'
'I'm counting on it.'
Alex shook his head to clear it and his attention slowly returned to the path that was opening up before them; an overgrown and forgotten one, but definitely a path. Will was talking to Devic (o) in a lowered voice, his tone serious and questioning, "Devic, what will the King say when he hears that you left your men to return by themselves?"
"Probably nothing he has not already said. Our king is a good man Will, he will forgive me, and you will not be blamed at all of course."
"You just do not care, do you?"
Devic thought about his answer for his moment, then broke out in a cynical grin, "No, I can not say that I do."
Will sighed, muttering something under his breath as he shifted the weight of his quiver on his back and reached out to grab his horse's reins again.
As they rode on, Devic found himself wondering exactly where they were. Before they had found Trycos, they were traveling right along the Scanran boarder. However, they had been traveling nearly due north for almost two and a half days now so they were probably well over the territory line. Any peasant or city they ran across now would probably take one look at his and Will's crests on their tunics and run them out, mob them, or worse. Perhaps it was a good thing to be traveling through the forest. An image of a map he had been examining earlier entered his mind. They would run out of forest soon. At the pace they were traveling at, they would start to hit a series of foothills, mountains, valleys, and small patches of woodland by the end of the day.
Trycos interrupted his thoughts, "Yes, my target lives near the center of Scanra...and what a good memory you have, memorizing that map of yours so well Devic! A little obsessive are we?"
Devic clenched his teeth, "I will show you obsessive-"He fell silent at a stern glance from Will but left his fingers resting on the hilt of his sword as it lay comfortingly at his side.
As the day drew to a close and the sun slowly sunk beneath the horizon, the forest had disappeared, replacing itself with craggy moors and small thickets weaving through the valleys. A gray mountain range capped with snow loomed in the distance and encompassed the whole horizon. Devic (o) frowned. He had never been this far north before.
The early winter air was crisp and whipped at their faces as they crossed over the crest of one of the rolling hills. Devic (y) wrapped his arms around Phi's waist and buried his face in her sweater and Luke, who had miraculously managed to fall asleep, was nestled up against Alex's stomach.
As their horses trudged slowly back downhill, Trycos turned back to them with a triumphant smile on his face, "We are here. Dismount and set up camp. I will go ahead and make sure everything is as it should be."
Will, his curly dark brown hair flying in his face, jumped off his horse and looked around their new campsite disapprovingly as Devic (o) stepped off his own horse and started to remove its tack. Will walked back up about twenty yards to the top of their hill and gazed out into the distance before coming back down, "There is absolutely no way to hide our position from attacking forces, and this wind will certainly put a damper on any plans we had to build a fire."
Phi sighed wearily and helped Devic (y) get off their horse before brushing a rebellious strand of hair out of her eyes, "We'll just have to do the best we can I guess..."
Alex scowled but remained silent, and he and Devic (o) gave each other identical looks before returning to their business. Will nodded, "Of course, you are right. Perhaps we will be able to keep a fire going behind that rock over there, and our tents should be able to withstand this gale..."
Luke yawned again, stretched, and stared blinkingly up at Alex, "Daddy, I'm hungry..."
Will glanced over in their direction and grinned, "Let me guess, the little one wants some food?"
Phi nodded and said dryly, "How did you guess?"
"That child eats more than both my little sister and brother combined...He is so small I do not know where he puts it all!"
Phi smiled and sat down next to Will to help him set up a stone ring for the fire pit, "I didn't know you had siblings!"
"Oh yes, I am the oldest though, by far. My brother has just entered into his second year of training to be a page and my little sister is fourteen and helps my parents run their business; it is a fletching shop. I probably get my love of archery from them..."
Phi nodded, "What's Devic's family like?"
"Well-"Will was about to start speaking when Trycos reappeared.
The mage looked at them all, "You had better get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a rough day for you all..."
A/N: By the way, sorry this took so long. I've been busy with end of the school year projects, but enough of my excuses. Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter (Rubber Duck!).