Jackson sat in the pen, staring longingly at a plate of snacks not far. He reached through the bars, flailing his hand. "Hungreh," he whined. "Hung-y."
"I'm hungrah, too," Ben squeaked.
-o-
They were all pretty worn out. "Are we almost to the ocean?" Fraya panted, wiping sweat off her face.
Zavid shrugged. "I have no idea. Everything's all switched around."
"Did it used to be different?" Bree asked. Zavid nodded. "Then maybe we can..." She frowned, having no idea what to do.
"I smell saltwater!" Zavid exclaimed. "Come on!" He suddenly stopped. With an angry sigh, he rubbed his face. "I forgot the others."
"What?" Fraya squeaked.
"It's snack time," Zavid groaned. "They're probably starving. We'll come back later."
As they turned, Zavid accidentally kicked Bree. She went flying, rolling like a bowling ball. Zavid watched, eyes wide. "Oh, no! Are you alright?"
Bree sat up, spitting sand out of her mouth. "Yeah...I'm fineee."
When she elongated the 'fine', Zavid frowned. Something told him that they certainly weren't going to be ultra mature for much longer.
Asher whined. "What is Josephine doing?"
"Maybe she's planning to rid the world of all those Legos," Fraya joked.
Bree yelped when Adira bumped into her and accidentally knocked her over. "Whoops," Adira murmured. "Sorryyyyyyy."
Bree got up. "Why am I the only one who keeps getting accidentally hurt?"
"Probry because you are hurt-able," Asher answered.
"Probry?" Zavid muttered, raising an eyebrow.
Asher nodded. "Yeah, thas how you say it."
"Is not!" Fraya protested.
"Is too!" Asher said, sticking his tongue out.
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Is NOT!"
"Is TOO!"
"IS NOT!"
"IS TOO!"
"IS NOTTTTTTTTT!"
"IS TOOOOOOOO!"
"Is too!" Adira agreed.
Asher smirked at Fraya. "See?"
"Actually, it's not," Bree muttered. Fraya smirked back at Asher.
Great, Zavid thought. I'm stuck in a war between four little kids.
-o-
Thank goodness Zavid had ropes. Threatening to tie up the little kids got them to stop arguing over how to pronounce "probably". Good thing, too. They were still far from the Big House, it seemed like. If the Gods hadn't switched the camp around, they would've been there by now. Zavid only hoped the children weren't too hungry. On top of that, the cut Askira gave him earlier was starting to itch. Really bad. Like, really, really bad. Did she put itching powder on her dagger? It sure felt like it.
Asher was annoyed. Really annoyed. He could have won that argument with Fraya had Zavid not threatened to tie them. Rude.
Bree was pretty frustrated, too. Her knees were stinging from when they got scraped when Zavid dragged her along. And she was sore from getting hurt so much.
Adira was pretty excited for snacks. She hoped that they were sweet, too. Yum.
Fraya walked with a smirk on her face. Sure, she didn't necessarily win the argument, but she knew she would have. It was pretty obvious. Maybe.