The next morning, Zara awoke with the sun. She had been having a dream that Andy was watching her while she slept, and for some reason that made her wake with a smile. She stood up and stretched and looked around the woods. Yesterday, when they left the little lake, their regular clothes replaced themselves. Draco's voice in their heads told them that the way to return to those clothes was to rub their charm while thinking of them.
She walked away from the campsite, looking up at the sky, the sun just beginning to rise. She wandered a little ways off into the woods, and found herself in a small clearing, with a perfect view of the rising sun. Her breath rushed away from her and flew up into the majestic beauty of the splashes of oranges, reds, and yellows dashed across the early morning sky.
"'Morning," someone greeted from off to Zara's right.
She jumped and turned to see Andy standing there. She smiled at him. "Good morning."
"So, what are you? A dragon princess now?" he asked, stepping out from the shadows of the trees. He walked over next to Zara and looked up at the sky. Zara could see the reflections of the sky on his face. She smiled, in spite of herself.
"I don't know. What are you? My protector or something?" she replied.
He looked at her. "Wasn't I already?"
She laughed and looked down. "I guess so. But now I get to be a kick- butt fighter with a cool sword."
From back in the camp they could hear Bowen and the others waking.
The thoughts of her dream floated back into Zara's head, and she had to be sure. "How long have you been up?" Zara asked Andy.
He shrugged. "Long enough I guess to see the sun come up."
Zara bit her lip and looked down.
"Zara! Andy! Where are you? Come on, we've got to eat so we can get moving!" Bowen called through the camp.
Zara and Andy turned and headed back to the campsite. As they approached, they could see that Qwen and Josh were just getting up. They seemed upset to be waking up, and suddenly Zara laughed at herself for thinking that. She realized for the first time that ever since she was little, as soon as the sun sank over the horizon she was ready for bed, and as soon as it started to come back up, she would wake up. Andy seemed to always be up for the sunrise, which made sense for him. And Qwen and Josh were the night and evening people.
"Where are we going now?" Linda whined.
"Well I don't know," Bowen mocked her.
Zara took a deep breath. "Why don't we go to the Old Forest?" she asked.
Bowen looked at her. "Old Forest?"
"The Forest of Gandor?" Andy offered.
"Forest of Gandor?" Now Brother Gilbert stepped forward. "Where did you hear about the Forest of Gandor?"
The four kids looked at each other. "Well," Qwen started, then shook her head. "Just never mind. Can we go there?"
Bowen ignored her and looked at Brother Gilbert. "What is this Forest?"
"It's highly magical. In the old days, dragons roamed it freely with no chance of being hunted," he replied.
Bowen looked at Qwen. "Why do you want to go there?" he asked.
The kids looked at each other again. "Let's not discuss that right now," Zara said, stepping forward. "Can we just get on our way?" She looked at Brother Gilbert. "Is it far from here?"
He shook his head. "No, miss. Just a day's walk; two at the most."
She nodded her head as if that settled everything. "That's not so bad, now is it? Let's head off for it, then."
Bowen held up his hands. "Just hold it right there, Highness. We're not going anywhere until you tell me why you are so gung ho to go to this What-cha-ma-call-it Forest."
"Forest of Gandor, and I don't think you'd believe us," Zara replied.
Bowen raised his eyebrows. "Try me."
Zara—and every one of the Four Chosen (for that is what they are called, you see) —could see that Bowen was getting quite upset by this time. Zara cleared her throat.
"Well, yesterday, at the waterfall, we were swimming and all of a sudden. . ." Zara continued to tell the tale of the encounter with Draco and the dresses and the spell and by the time it was over, everyone had sat down and Brother Gilbert had started a nice fire. Once Zara was finished, everyone just sort of stared at her and Zara began to feel rather uncomfortable.
Finally, Bowen moved. "And you expect me to believe all that?"
Zara shrugged. "I didn't want to tell you. You made me."
"Can you prove it?" Kara asked. Everyone stared at her. She shifted. "Who's to say they're not telling the truth? Less amazing things have happened to us."
Brother Gilbert nodded. "That story does ring true. The Spell is in many books."
Bowen sighed. "Can you prove it?" he asked.
The Four Chosen stood up and stared nervously at each other. The boys did have charms; they had pocket watches. The explanation for them being with the boys since their birth was easily made since both were orphaned at birth, Josh not being the direct son of Bowen and Kara.
Andy's watch was an ordinary pocket watch, except that the front and back of it was a mysterious orange and yellow, and the face of the watch was that of the rising sun. Josh's was deep blue and light purple on the front and back, while the face of his watch was the setting sun.
Each of the Four Chosen placed their hand on their own charm and closed their eyes. The vision of them in their proper form floated before their eyes and in a few seconds, they opened their eyes to see the incredible sight.
The light again appeared, and it crept toward them along the ground, leaving trails of fresh flowers. More remarkable was that the flowers were the colors of whatever light they sprang from. Hence, if the light was deep purple, the flowers from it were deep purple. Red light, red flowers, etc. Andy's light was a magnificent golden color, with orange thrown in, and Josh's was a deep blue with light purple swirls, coming in at the edges and spreading forth.
It entered the bodies of the Four Chosen and filled them with such a feeling that they had never felt before. They felt so alive and so—so—right, for lack of a better word. Indeed, whenever that light filled their bodies forever after, they always felt as if they had finally fulfilled their destiny, or were in Heaven and still on this earth.
Zara watched as the light crept up her body and seemed to seep into her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation for a while, but when it stopped a few moments later, she opened her eyes. The light had gone now, leaving the Four Chosen in their proper forms, and leaving everyone else with their jaw on the forest floor.
"The Legend is true!" Brother Gilbert cried. "The Dragons shall be restored!" With this, he jumped up, flung his arms toward the heavens, leaned his head back, and began to spin and shout out of happiness.
Bowen and Kara stood motionless, and with Brother Gilbert in his stupor of happiness, the only one—besides the Four Chosen—in her right mind (or as close as she could get) was Linda.
Zara stared at the people before her and waited for their response. Brother Gilbert had given her a bit of hope, and now she waited for Bowen and Kara's response. She had forgotten about Linda, but then again she rarely thought about the nuisance of a woman. Zara didn't think her very nice and tired to not keep her thoughts on her. Besides, whenever she thought of Linda, Harry would come back to her mind and she would get sad.
Zara certainly noticed her now.
The middle-aged woman stood up with a look of pure hatred and mistrust on her face. She pointed her finger at them and said in a voice dripping with evil, "Black magic! The Devil is working within you!"
Zara was frightened now, despite her awareness of her powers. Linda always had sort of frightened her, and now Zara took a small step back.
"No, no my dear, good lady!" Brother Gilbert cried, still quite delirious from discovering that the Dragons would return, as you could probably tell from his calling Linda "my dear, good lady." "They are not working for the Devil! Quite the opposite! They are Zara and Qwen, the Divine Sisters who will return the Dragons!"
Linda looked at him and started to back away from the group. "You've been placed under a spell!" She shot a mistrusting look at the Four Chosen. "Devil Spawn! All of you!" With that, she turned and ran into the woods, leaving everyone but Bowen and Kara staring after her.
Gwen felt relieved. She had never liked Linda, and now she was glad she was gone. She hoped that once the dragons were back, they'd eat her.
"Well?" Zara suddenly spoke. No one mentioned Linda. No one really cared. "Bowen? Kara? What do you have to say?"
Kara was the first to respond. The edges of her mouth twitched until finally she was smiling. "I think that's incredible," she said. "I say we head immediately to Gandor!"
Now everyone was staring at Bowen. He looked around, then back at the Four Chosen. He nodded. "I guess I have to believe it. Well, let's start out for Gandor after breakfast. It shouldn't be much of a walk."
And so the boys went off to fish while Zara, Gwen and Kara were left with leftover rabbit from the previous night to heat up a little over the fire. Zara and Kara talked back and forth, but Gwen didn't pay attention. She was in more of a thinking mood than a talking mood.
She was trying to think about the whole "Divine Sisters" thing. Did that meant that she and Zara really were sisters? The thought almost made her as angry as she was when Sir Eryk had beaten her up. But the more that her mind toyed with the thought, the less it disturbed her. That left her with the Qwen issue. She supposed it would be all right for people to call her Qwen—she rather liked the name.
As I said, she was trying to think about all of that, but instead she couldn't get her mind off Josh. And she had no idea why. Every time she would start thinking of something important, up he would come and he wouldn't go away. She found herself thinking of what it would be like to kiss him, and she didn't want to be thinking of that, but whenever she tried to make him go away, he would just come back stronger than ever.
Finally, the boys arrived with a few fish that they cooked and Qwen talked with Josh. At least it helped to keep him off her mind. Once the meal was finished, Qwen told everyone to call her just that, and everyone started talking about the road ahead.
"Gil, is the journey hard?" Bowen asked.
Brother Gilbert shook his head. "No. From what I understand, it's rather easy."
"From what you understand?" Kara asked.
Gilbert nodded. "I've only read of the journey in books, mind you."
"That's great. Really helpful. Thanks," Andy said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, we should head out now," Bowen said, standing up and gathering up their things. Not everyone had finished eating, but no one argued as they stood up and marched off toward the direction that Brother Gilbert pointed out.
They traveled for a good part of the day, resting only when the sun was high in the sky and sent its sizzling soldier rays down to sear the travelers' backs. Qwen found her strength unwavering as they marched through forest upon field until they finally reached a river, an omen which Gilbert said meant "only a few more hours, at most."
The sun was falling from the sky when they reached that river, and they sat down on its banks and decided to sleep. The fish from that morning had all been eaten, and what was left was now rotting where they left it back at the first forest. So, Bowen, Kara, Andy, and Zara took out the fishing poles and started to fish. Brother Gilbert decided to take a walk and write some of their remarkable journey.
Qwen was starting to feel more alive with each passing second that the sun sank beneath the sky. Josh seemed antsy as well, and was heading off for the forest to take a stroll when Qwen ran up to him.
"Can I walk with you?" she asked. He shrugged and they walked into the forest together.
They walked with their heads turned to the west, watching what they could of the sunset through the curtain of leaves.
"I wonder what happened to Linda," Josh wondered aloud.
Qwen shrugged. "I don't really care. It would be funny if some giant rabbit eats her or something."
Josh laughed. "Yeah, and then some squirrel fish-slaps Linda."
For the next five minutes they planned out evil fates for Linda, caused by seemingly harmless animals.
"And the field mice come and they nibble off her eyelashes, then they chew on her lips while moles bury her up to her knees in dirt. Then more rabbits come and they nibble on her elbows," Josh said with a passion.
"Yeah, then ducks come and they bite her and quack at her and birds fly overhead and give her little, uh, presents while the squirrels hold her mouth open," Qwen giggled.
"Then the moles pull her out of the dirt and the ducks nibble on her toes and then the mice bite her kneecaps. Then beetles come and they sit on her, because, you know, she's afraid of bugs," Josh said.
Josh and Qwen laughed some more before Qwen said, "We're evil. I swear we are."
"Maybe we are the Devil's Spawn," he joked.
"Yeah, pretty soon I'm going to start growing horns," Qwen said, rolling her eyes.
"And turning all red," Josh pointed out.
Qwen nodded before suddenly scratching her arm. "Ow! My arm itches! Ow."
"And that hurts?" Josh asked.
"Yes, and I'm scratching it," Qwen said.
They walked on for a few more minutes before they heard Bowen calling them back for dinner.
"Let's go," Josh said, turning back.
They walked back to the campsite and sat down to eat the fish.
"I caught my first fish today!" Zara cried proudly.
"Woo hoo!" Qwen said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
Zara looked putout. "Well it was fun for me," she said quietly.
"Pass the ale, would you please?" Brother Gilbert asked.
The meal passed by quickly and when it was over, they all sat around the fire and told stories and sang songs.
Qwen was sitting between Josh and Zara, and Qwen decided to stretch. She stretched and when she did she made the noises that sounded like a baby, as she always did. Zara squealed with delight.
"That's so cute!" Zara cried.
Qwen gave her a look and continued to stretch. "No it's not," she said in that babyish voice.
Zara beamed. "Yes it is!"
Qwen picked up a fish bone and threw it at Zara. Zara moved away from the bone so quickly that she fell off the log. Qwen burst out laughing and so did everyone else. Brother Gilbert took out his pen and paper and declared, "I'm going to write this down!"
Qwen threw more fish bones at him and cried, "No you're not!"
"Yes, I am!" Brother Gilbert replied. He started to write and Qwen watched him carefully from her seat. Gilbert started to chuckle.
"What? What are you writing?!" Qwen demanded.
Gilbert shook his head. "Nothing!"
"Tell me!" When Gilbert refused again, Qwen threw herself on him and grabbed his paper. She ran away from him with it and put it in her pocket. Gilbert picked himself back up, still chuckling and everyone continued to laugh and tell stories and joke until late in the night. Zara was falling asleep, and so was Andy. They leaned into each other and fell asleep.
Soon, everyone retired to bed and Qwen went to sleep, pictures of Josh on her mind.
She walked away from the campsite, looking up at the sky, the sun just beginning to rise. She wandered a little ways off into the woods, and found herself in a small clearing, with a perfect view of the rising sun. Her breath rushed away from her and flew up into the majestic beauty of the splashes of oranges, reds, and yellows dashed across the early morning sky.
"'Morning," someone greeted from off to Zara's right.
She jumped and turned to see Andy standing there. She smiled at him. "Good morning."
"So, what are you? A dragon princess now?" he asked, stepping out from the shadows of the trees. He walked over next to Zara and looked up at the sky. Zara could see the reflections of the sky on his face. She smiled, in spite of herself.
"I don't know. What are you? My protector or something?" she replied.
He looked at her. "Wasn't I already?"
She laughed and looked down. "I guess so. But now I get to be a kick- butt fighter with a cool sword."
From back in the camp they could hear Bowen and the others waking.
The thoughts of her dream floated back into Zara's head, and she had to be sure. "How long have you been up?" Zara asked Andy.
He shrugged. "Long enough I guess to see the sun come up."
Zara bit her lip and looked down.
"Zara! Andy! Where are you? Come on, we've got to eat so we can get moving!" Bowen called through the camp.
Zara and Andy turned and headed back to the campsite. As they approached, they could see that Qwen and Josh were just getting up. They seemed upset to be waking up, and suddenly Zara laughed at herself for thinking that. She realized for the first time that ever since she was little, as soon as the sun sank over the horizon she was ready for bed, and as soon as it started to come back up, she would wake up. Andy seemed to always be up for the sunrise, which made sense for him. And Qwen and Josh were the night and evening people.
"Where are we going now?" Linda whined.
"Well I don't know," Bowen mocked her.
Zara took a deep breath. "Why don't we go to the Old Forest?" she asked.
Bowen looked at her. "Old Forest?"
"The Forest of Gandor?" Andy offered.
"Forest of Gandor?" Now Brother Gilbert stepped forward. "Where did you hear about the Forest of Gandor?"
The four kids looked at each other. "Well," Qwen started, then shook her head. "Just never mind. Can we go there?"
Bowen ignored her and looked at Brother Gilbert. "What is this Forest?"
"It's highly magical. In the old days, dragons roamed it freely with no chance of being hunted," he replied.
Bowen looked at Qwen. "Why do you want to go there?" he asked.
The kids looked at each other again. "Let's not discuss that right now," Zara said, stepping forward. "Can we just get on our way?" She looked at Brother Gilbert. "Is it far from here?"
He shook his head. "No, miss. Just a day's walk; two at the most."
She nodded her head as if that settled everything. "That's not so bad, now is it? Let's head off for it, then."
Bowen held up his hands. "Just hold it right there, Highness. We're not going anywhere until you tell me why you are so gung ho to go to this What-cha-ma-call-it Forest."
"Forest of Gandor, and I don't think you'd believe us," Zara replied.
Bowen raised his eyebrows. "Try me."
Zara—and every one of the Four Chosen (for that is what they are called, you see) —could see that Bowen was getting quite upset by this time. Zara cleared her throat.
"Well, yesterday, at the waterfall, we were swimming and all of a sudden. . ." Zara continued to tell the tale of the encounter with Draco and the dresses and the spell and by the time it was over, everyone had sat down and Brother Gilbert had started a nice fire. Once Zara was finished, everyone just sort of stared at her and Zara began to feel rather uncomfortable.
Finally, Bowen moved. "And you expect me to believe all that?"
Zara shrugged. "I didn't want to tell you. You made me."
"Can you prove it?" Kara asked. Everyone stared at her. She shifted. "Who's to say they're not telling the truth? Less amazing things have happened to us."
Brother Gilbert nodded. "That story does ring true. The Spell is in many books."
Bowen sighed. "Can you prove it?" he asked.
The Four Chosen stood up and stared nervously at each other. The boys did have charms; they had pocket watches. The explanation for them being with the boys since their birth was easily made since both were orphaned at birth, Josh not being the direct son of Bowen and Kara.
Andy's watch was an ordinary pocket watch, except that the front and back of it was a mysterious orange and yellow, and the face of the watch was that of the rising sun. Josh's was deep blue and light purple on the front and back, while the face of his watch was the setting sun.
Each of the Four Chosen placed their hand on their own charm and closed their eyes. The vision of them in their proper form floated before their eyes and in a few seconds, they opened their eyes to see the incredible sight.
The light again appeared, and it crept toward them along the ground, leaving trails of fresh flowers. More remarkable was that the flowers were the colors of whatever light they sprang from. Hence, if the light was deep purple, the flowers from it were deep purple. Red light, red flowers, etc. Andy's light was a magnificent golden color, with orange thrown in, and Josh's was a deep blue with light purple swirls, coming in at the edges and spreading forth.
It entered the bodies of the Four Chosen and filled them with such a feeling that they had never felt before. They felt so alive and so—so—right, for lack of a better word. Indeed, whenever that light filled their bodies forever after, they always felt as if they had finally fulfilled their destiny, or were in Heaven and still on this earth.
Zara watched as the light crept up her body and seemed to seep into her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation for a while, but when it stopped a few moments later, she opened her eyes. The light had gone now, leaving the Four Chosen in their proper forms, and leaving everyone else with their jaw on the forest floor.
"The Legend is true!" Brother Gilbert cried. "The Dragons shall be restored!" With this, he jumped up, flung his arms toward the heavens, leaned his head back, and began to spin and shout out of happiness.
Bowen and Kara stood motionless, and with Brother Gilbert in his stupor of happiness, the only one—besides the Four Chosen—in her right mind (or as close as she could get) was Linda.
Zara stared at the people before her and waited for their response. Brother Gilbert had given her a bit of hope, and now she waited for Bowen and Kara's response. She had forgotten about Linda, but then again she rarely thought about the nuisance of a woman. Zara didn't think her very nice and tired to not keep her thoughts on her. Besides, whenever she thought of Linda, Harry would come back to her mind and she would get sad.
Zara certainly noticed her now.
The middle-aged woman stood up with a look of pure hatred and mistrust on her face. She pointed her finger at them and said in a voice dripping with evil, "Black magic! The Devil is working within you!"
Zara was frightened now, despite her awareness of her powers. Linda always had sort of frightened her, and now Zara took a small step back.
"No, no my dear, good lady!" Brother Gilbert cried, still quite delirious from discovering that the Dragons would return, as you could probably tell from his calling Linda "my dear, good lady." "They are not working for the Devil! Quite the opposite! They are Zara and Qwen, the Divine Sisters who will return the Dragons!"
Linda looked at him and started to back away from the group. "You've been placed under a spell!" She shot a mistrusting look at the Four Chosen. "Devil Spawn! All of you!" With that, she turned and ran into the woods, leaving everyone but Bowen and Kara staring after her.
Gwen felt relieved. She had never liked Linda, and now she was glad she was gone. She hoped that once the dragons were back, they'd eat her.
"Well?" Zara suddenly spoke. No one mentioned Linda. No one really cared. "Bowen? Kara? What do you have to say?"
Kara was the first to respond. The edges of her mouth twitched until finally she was smiling. "I think that's incredible," she said. "I say we head immediately to Gandor!"
Now everyone was staring at Bowen. He looked around, then back at the Four Chosen. He nodded. "I guess I have to believe it. Well, let's start out for Gandor after breakfast. It shouldn't be much of a walk."
And so the boys went off to fish while Zara, Gwen and Kara were left with leftover rabbit from the previous night to heat up a little over the fire. Zara and Kara talked back and forth, but Gwen didn't pay attention. She was in more of a thinking mood than a talking mood.
She was trying to think about the whole "Divine Sisters" thing. Did that meant that she and Zara really were sisters? The thought almost made her as angry as she was when Sir Eryk had beaten her up. But the more that her mind toyed with the thought, the less it disturbed her. That left her with the Qwen issue. She supposed it would be all right for people to call her Qwen—she rather liked the name.
As I said, she was trying to think about all of that, but instead she couldn't get her mind off Josh. And she had no idea why. Every time she would start thinking of something important, up he would come and he wouldn't go away. She found herself thinking of what it would be like to kiss him, and she didn't want to be thinking of that, but whenever she tried to make him go away, he would just come back stronger than ever.
Finally, the boys arrived with a few fish that they cooked and Qwen talked with Josh. At least it helped to keep him off her mind. Once the meal was finished, Qwen told everyone to call her just that, and everyone started talking about the road ahead.
"Gil, is the journey hard?" Bowen asked.
Brother Gilbert shook his head. "No. From what I understand, it's rather easy."
"From what you understand?" Kara asked.
Gilbert nodded. "I've only read of the journey in books, mind you."
"That's great. Really helpful. Thanks," Andy said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, we should head out now," Bowen said, standing up and gathering up their things. Not everyone had finished eating, but no one argued as they stood up and marched off toward the direction that Brother Gilbert pointed out.
They traveled for a good part of the day, resting only when the sun was high in the sky and sent its sizzling soldier rays down to sear the travelers' backs. Qwen found her strength unwavering as they marched through forest upon field until they finally reached a river, an omen which Gilbert said meant "only a few more hours, at most."
The sun was falling from the sky when they reached that river, and they sat down on its banks and decided to sleep. The fish from that morning had all been eaten, and what was left was now rotting where they left it back at the first forest. So, Bowen, Kara, Andy, and Zara took out the fishing poles and started to fish. Brother Gilbert decided to take a walk and write some of their remarkable journey.
Qwen was starting to feel more alive with each passing second that the sun sank beneath the sky. Josh seemed antsy as well, and was heading off for the forest to take a stroll when Qwen ran up to him.
"Can I walk with you?" she asked. He shrugged and they walked into the forest together.
They walked with their heads turned to the west, watching what they could of the sunset through the curtain of leaves.
"I wonder what happened to Linda," Josh wondered aloud.
Qwen shrugged. "I don't really care. It would be funny if some giant rabbit eats her or something."
Josh laughed. "Yeah, and then some squirrel fish-slaps Linda."
For the next five minutes they planned out evil fates for Linda, caused by seemingly harmless animals.
"And the field mice come and they nibble off her eyelashes, then they chew on her lips while moles bury her up to her knees in dirt. Then more rabbits come and they nibble on her elbows," Josh said with a passion.
"Yeah, then ducks come and they bite her and quack at her and birds fly overhead and give her little, uh, presents while the squirrels hold her mouth open," Qwen giggled.
"Then the moles pull her out of the dirt and the ducks nibble on her toes and then the mice bite her kneecaps. Then beetles come and they sit on her, because, you know, she's afraid of bugs," Josh said.
Josh and Qwen laughed some more before Qwen said, "We're evil. I swear we are."
"Maybe we are the Devil's Spawn," he joked.
"Yeah, pretty soon I'm going to start growing horns," Qwen said, rolling her eyes.
"And turning all red," Josh pointed out.
Qwen nodded before suddenly scratching her arm. "Ow! My arm itches! Ow."
"And that hurts?" Josh asked.
"Yes, and I'm scratching it," Qwen said.
They walked on for a few more minutes before they heard Bowen calling them back for dinner.
"Let's go," Josh said, turning back.
They walked back to the campsite and sat down to eat the fish.
"I caught my first fish today!" Zara cried proudly.
"Woo hoo!" Qwen said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
Zara looked putout. "Well it was fun for me," she said quietly.
"Pass the ale, would you please?" Brother Gilbert asked.
The meal passed by quickly and when it was over, they all sat around the fire and told stories and sang songs.
Qwen was sitting between Josh and Zara, and Qwen decided to stretch. She stretched and when she did she made the noises that sounded like a baby, as she always did. Zara squealed with delight.
"That's so cute!" Zara cried.
Qwen gave her a look and continued to stretch. "No it's not," she said in that babyish voice.
Zara beamed. "Yes it is!"
Qwen picked up a fish bone and threw it at Zara. Zara moved away from the bone so quickly that she fell off the log. Qwen burst out laughing and so did everyone else. Brother Gilbert took out his pen and paper and declared, "I'm going to write this down!"
Qwen threw more fish bones at him and cried, "No you're not!"
"Yes, I am!" Brother Gilbert replied. He started to write and Qwen watched him carefully from her seat. Gilbert started to chuckle.
"What? What are you writing?!" Qwen demanded.
Gilbert shook his head. "Nothing!"
"Tell me!" When Gilbert refused again, Qwen threw herself on him and grabbed his paper. She ran away from him with it and put it in her pocket. Gilbert picked himself back up, still chuckling and everyone continued to laugh and tell stories and joke until late in the night. Zara was falling asleep, and so was Andy. They leaned into each other and fell asleep.
Soon, everyone retired to bed and Qwen went to sleep, pictures of Josh on her mind.