Ian slid off the couch, appearing lifeless. Barley scooped the book and Zoey into his arms, backing away from Lily, who was frothing at the mouth with anger.

"Stay back, hostile!" yelled Barley. Zoey was confused as to which side she was on.

"Give. Me. My. Sister," Lily hissed.

"Lily!" Zoey shouted. "They're really nice!" Lily advanced, backing Barley up against the wall before tripping over Ian's outstretched leg. She crashed into the floor, slamming her nose against her bat. She got up without hesitating, crimson blood streaming from her nostrils. Zoey screamed.

"GET OUT OF OUR HOUSE!" Lily topped Zoey's volume.

A click came from upstairs. All fell silent.

The door creaked open. Tottering footsteps made their way out of the previously quiet room. Lily's rage melted away to reveal terror, as she went pale.

"Wuz goin' on?" Daddy was dead drunk, slurring his words together. He leaned over the railing that overlooked the living room and vomited. It splattered all over Ian's feet. A stench of beer filled the room. Daddy wiped his mouth, and then looked up, pointing to Barley. "Whoo izee?"He staggered down the stairs. Zoey saw a bottle of beer in each hand. His squinted eyes widened slightly as he saw Zoey and the book in Barley's arms.

"Gimme tha' book," he said, advancing. He smashed an empty bottle against the wall. Shards of glass cut open his hand in many places, but he ignored the blood dripping down his hand.

"Good sir, what if you hurt your daughter?" Barley was backed against the wall, attempting to maneuver himself away from the bloody drunk man brandishing his glass weapon. Zoey saw Lily stalking their father with her bat.

"She can go ta hell. She's only eva been a disappointmen'." Zoey's heart sped up as Daddy walked right up to Barley, but aimed his broken bottle at her instead. He traced her cheekbone with a sharp edge. A line of blood followed. "Ain't tha' right, sweethear-"

Crack.

Daddy's body hit the floor like a sack of bricks. Lily stood behind him. A spatter of blood remained on her bat. "I think I killed him," she whispered. She knelt by his side and touched the tip of her fingers to a small hollow in his skull. When she lifted them away, Zoey saw streaks of red come away with them. She struggled briefly and freed herself from Barley's grip. She ran up to the body and rested her ear against the chest. Zoey detected a faint heartbeat, but it grew weaker, and weaker, and weaker.

It stopped.

She lifted her head and made eye contact with Lily.

"He's gone," she told her.

Lily looked at her father's body with an expression of horror.

"I'm a...murderer. I killed my own father." Lily slumped forward, holding her face in her hands. Zoey climbed across her father and hugged her sister tightly. They sat there, embracing until Zoey heard the front door open and close. Peeling herself away from Lily, she took in the scene. Ian and Barley were gone...and they had taken her BOOK!

"Lily! We have to go find them! They have the book!" Lily looked at her panicked little sister. Zoey treasured that book, and Lily knew it.

"Go get dressed, Zoey. We'll find them."

…

Barley was running as fast as an elf could, holding another elf, two backpacks, a wizard's staff, and a book. Which is to say, not very fast. He wasn't exactly speedy in the first place either. Barley was, however, the champion weightlifter at New Mushroomton High School the year he graduated, so he wasn't in too much trouble trying to hold another 150 pounds in addition to himself. He had been running for, he checked his watch, ten minutes, and was still in the middle of the neighborhood Ian had transported them to. Hopefully, those girls wouldn't follow him and would leave him and Ian with the book.

Speaking of Ian, he still hadn't woken up, and he stunk! Human vomit encrusted his legs halfway to his knees. They would have to find a laundromat when Ian finally became conscious again. But right now, they needed somewhere to hide. Where could they hide in this foreign world?

"Barley!" Barley stopped abruptly and looked over his shoulder. Two silhouettes were following him down the street, sprinting to catch up to him. Aww, crap, he thought. Well, he couldn't lose them now. He waited for them to catch up and sighed defeatedly while he did. He was so close to escaping! If only Ian was awake. He would know what to do.

The two girls stopped in front of him. Barley couldn't see them too well, but he could make out a piece of cloth draped over Lily's arm, and her baseball bat in her hand. She seemed able to handle that thing pretty well. He shifted his weight so he was closer to Zoey and farther away from Lily. Zoey spoke first.

"You butthead! You took my book! That's mine!"

"I'm sorry, Zoey. Ian and I really need it." Barley tried to placate the steaming little girl.

"No, you don't! You can't go around taking people's stuff! I don't care if there's a weird old inscription in the back! It's my book!"

"We need it, Zoey! We're on a quest, and this book contains a vital clue!

"We'll come with you," Lily spoke for the first time.

"What?" Both Zoey and Barley were surprised at this idea.

"Think about it. It makes the most logical sense. You-" Lily pointed at Barley. "-need our book, and we need to leave this place far behind us. You need a place to hide, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Then it's settled. Follow us."

"Where are we going?" Zoey asked.

"You know the place."

"What? No! That's our hiding place!"

"He won't be able to rat us out."

"...Fine." Zoey turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. Lily followed her. Barley just stared. Lily looked back at him.

"Are you coming? Or are you going to get discovered tomorrow when it gets light again?"

Barley readjusted Ian, who was slung over his shoulder and followed Lily and Zoey.

…

Zoey and Lily knew exactly where they were going, but Barley had no clue what was happening. He followed the girls as fast as he could, but he was falling behind. They were about 10 yards in front of him, and the distance between them was increasing. He saw Lily stop Zoey, and she jogged back to him.

"Lemme take those backpacks."

"I'm good." Barley was still miffed at how Lily had knocked out Ian.

"Come on. Give me the backpacks, and we'll be able to go much faster. Throw in the book too."

"Really I'm okay." Barley kept trodding forward. Lily rolled her eyes, and then quickly snatched the backpack with the staff from his arms. "Give that back!" Lily back out of his reach.

"Dude. If we want to be out of the neighborhood and in the woods by dawn, we're gonna need to pick up the pace. Do you want to explain to the police why you're bright blue? I sure don't want to tell them why my dad is dead. So let's get out of here!" Barley sighed.

"Fine." He gave her the book and the other backpack. In turn, she handed him the piece of cloth she had.

"Jeans. For Ian," she explained. "I felt guilty because it's kind of my fault Dad barfed all over his good ones. They might be a little tight and/or short. They're my spare pair." Barley hung the jeans around his neck.

"Uh. Thanks."

"No problem." They walked together in silence until they caught up with Zoey. Lily handed over the staff-less backpack and the book to her. Ian began to grow heavy on Barley, so he switched shoulders. In this fashion, they trod on until the sky began to shift from black to purple. At this point, the quartet reached a fence. It was about 3 feet tall, so the only person who had trouble getting over it was Zoey. Beyond this fence was a thick pine forest, which Barley assumed they were aiming for.

"Let's hurry," said Zoey. "We want to be deep in the forest before anyone wakes up." Lily nodded in agreement. They made their way on, burying themselves in the dark green leaves of the forest until they were no longer visible. Barley estimated that at three or four miles in, Ian began to shift on his shoulder. Barley heard him moan. He stopped and took his brother off his shoulder, standing him up on the ground. Ian was pretty shaky but seemed to be able to keep his balance fairly well.

"Hold up guys!" he called ahead. "Hey, Ian. You okay?" he asked gently. Ian groaned and rubbed his head.

"I feel like I've been through a meat grinder," he replied. Barley chuckled.

"Can you walk? We kind of need to get to a hiding place, and we would be able to go a lot faster if you could walk by yourself. Ian looked down at his legs and wrinkled his nose.

"Why are my legs covered in nasty gunk?"

"Um, a dead guy threw up on you. I'll tell you about it when we get to the hiding place, but right now, we need to move."

"Alright, alright." Ian pressed a hand to his forehead and started walking. Ian and Barley quickly caught up to the others. "Why…?" Ian started, pointing to the sisters, then shook his head. "Explain it to me later." Ian took his backpack and staff from Lily, and Barley took his from Zoey. Zoey held on tight to the book. They continued walking till the sky turned bright blue above the canopy of needles high above their heads.

"How much farther is this?" Ian asked. "My head is throbbing." Lily looked back at him and grinned apologetically.

"Sorry about that, by the way."

"That was you?! Ugh. Barley, why are we hiking through a forest with the girl who knocked me out?"

"They can help us, and we can help them."

"What?"

"All will be explained when we reach our destination."

"Okay, okay."

"Hey, we're almost there!" Zoey called back, pointing to a clear brook, with fish and turtles living abundantly within. Lily led the four of them across the stepping stones. They walked towards a sheer cliff face about two hundred yards away. At the base, they stopped.

"Our objective is that little indent up there." Lily pointed to a dip in the rock about 50 feet above their head, near to the top of the cliff.

"And, uh, how are we supposed to get up there?" asked Barley. Lily boosted Zoey up on her shoulders to a foothold about 5 feet off the ground. Zoey began climbing up the cliff face, as agile as a spider monkey. It was obvious she had lots of practice. With one leap, Lily grabbed onto the crack in the rock, and, using considerable force, pulled her body up. She followed Zoey. Barley and Ian gaped. Ian shrugged and created an invisible bridge. He spiraled it around like a staircase, and quickly caught up to the sisters. Which left Barley. He stood on the ground, looking straight up at the sheer cliff he needed to climb. He took a deep breath and began his endeavor. He pulled himself up the first foothold, and slowly made his way up to where the indent was. He reached the hollow and pulled himself into the shallow, bowl-shaped impression. As he struggled to keep his balance, he noticed a thin channel tall enough to fit himself into leading through the rock directly to his right. He squeezed himself through the hollow, and it immediately widened. A light appeared around a corner. Barley turned and found a nice, sizable room stowed within the cliff. Lily, Zoey, and Ian sat around a flashlight. Barley could make out a couple of worn blankets stowed away in the corner.

"Hey, Ian. Nice of you to ditch me back there."

"Sorry." Ian looked down at the stone floor beneath him, slightly embarrassed.

"Nah, it's fine." Barley plopped down next to his brother. He suddenly remembered the pants Lily had given him earlier. He took them off his neck and handed them to Ian. Ian looked at him quizzically.

"Lily's," Barley told him, pointing at the girl. "She gave them to you."

"Oh. Thanks, Lily." Ian smiled at Lily. Lily brushed off his thanks.

"No problem. Besides, it's mostly my fault Dad threw up on yours."

"Uh. What?"

"He was unconscious for that part," Zoey told Lily.

"I recall."

"How much did I miss?"

"Kind of a lot," Barley said.

"Well, tell me, then!"

Zoey and Lily leapfrogged through the story, telling Ian as much as they could together. When they reached the part of their father's death, they fell silent, so Barley picked it up.

"Lily snuck up behind him and hit him on the head with her bat. She has quite an arm. The blow killed him. I tried to get out of there with you and the book, but I was very slow. Lily and Zoey caught up to me within ten minutes. We decided that since Lily could get into some serious trouble for the murder that it would be best if they stayed with us while we complete the quest. They took us here, and you woke up on the way. Now we gotta figure out our next move."

"First, we have to get this place set up," Lily said. "We have to clean the blankets, make the fire pit, make more spears, and find out what's in those backpacks you have." She pointed at the backpacks that Ian and Barley had placed in a craggy corner of the room.

"Spears?"

"Firepit?"

"How did you guys think we lived here?" Zoey asked.

"We didn't KNOW you lived here."

"Oh. Well, we come here during the summer, because that's when Daddy became abusive. He didn't even notice or care about us leaving and coming back," Zoey explained.

"We were actually going to leave tomorrow," Lily told them. "But then you showed up and last night happened, and well…" she trailed off.

To break the silence, Barley turned around, grabbed the backpacks, and dumped their contents onto the floor. Snatching the flashlight from its spot in the middle of the four of them, he shined it on the stuff.
"This was one of the steps, right?" He looked at Lily for confirmation. She gave him one silent nod. He continued, sorting out the little cardboard boxes from the foil-wrapped granola bars from the plastic packs in which resides dehydrated food. "Do you guys have a first-aid kit up here?"

"No. We don't really need one. The worst injury we've had was when Zoey cut open her knee two years back." Ian stood and walked to the darkest part of the cave. Barley presumed it was to change. Sure enough, Ian came back, carrying his vomit-soaked pants.

"They're a little short, but they fit fine. Thanks again, Lily." Barley looked at the exposed swath of Ian's legs. They were covered in violet rashes. I guess that's what being soaked in vomit does to you, Barley thought. Lily was too busy opening and sorting through the contents of the first-aid kit to respond.

"Weird brands," she muttered. "No Band-Aids, germolene, or wound honey."

"Well, we are from a different world," said Ian. "Something is bound to be different." Lily examined a tube of Cyclos healing gel under the flashlight. Suddenly, she packed the first-aid kit back up again and shoved all of the supplies into the backpacks.

"Guys, it's 3:00 PM." Lily pointed to her beat-up analog watch. " If we want to be done with the chores and have time to catch some food before sunset, we need to get moving." She stood up and lifted Zoey onto her shoulders. Zoey apparently knew what she was doing, and felt the ceiling as Lily walked around in circles.

"I've got it, Lily!" she shouted, and Lily stopped walking. Zoey pushed up against it, and a rock shifted out of its place, releasing a beam of sunshine into the cave. Zoey pulled herself out of the hole and stuck a hand back down into the hole. Lily handed up the blankets. She grabbed a collapsible knife, astoundingly similar to a Sprite Scout knife, Barley thought, and pushed herself up and out of the hole. Lily called back into the hole, saying "Follow us, guys! You gotta help with the chores, too!"