Chapter 8
As soon as Adam, Sally, Cindy and Saline were gone, Watch, Bryce, Tira and Amy got a move on. It was only eleven-thirty, but their adventures had always had a tendency to draw themselves out.
It was an hour walk to the caves and there were a lot of them to search through. They could cross out two of them at least: one had once been filled with hyeets and the other was once a tunnel to the last surviving piece of Lemuria. One had caved in and the other was sealed.
Their group had fewer supplies, but instead of food they had stocked up on flares, flashlights and batteries. Watch carried a couple Bic lighters; he had learned that the simple objects were of great use in tight jams and he made sure he didn't go anywhere without at least two in his pocket. As for dealing with Naia, they figured they could rely on their good looks and charms. 'Or at least Bryce could,' thought Watch as he noticed Amy's stares. Dealing with other creatures was far from their minds.
"We should take the back pathway to the reservoir," Bryce decided, the alien gun tucked into his belt.
"Isn't that overgrown?" Watch asked quietly. He was distracted and knew Bryce was probably questioning why.
"A little," Bryce remarked, giving Watch a look. "But it's the quickest route. We should be there in under an hour. Plus we'll be concealed by the trees instead of being out in the open."
For a few minutes there was no talking other than Bryce's occasional coughing fits; Watch was busy theorizing about Amy, Bryce was theorizing what Watch was thinking, Amy was probably dreaming about Bryce, and Tira was always quiet, but most definitely worrying about Watch. It was when they found the path – with difficulty – that talking resumed.
"This may not be a good route," Tira said softly. The four of them stood at the entrance and looked down the indistinguishable path. The forest was dense; not a place for someone claustrophobic.
"It'll take another hour to walk around the forest and find another path," Watch told her, "But it will be safer. We'll probably get lost using this route."
"Not with a compass," Bryce protested. He looked at Watch. "This is the fastest and safest route and we're already here," he coaxed. But Bryce was not one for trying to convince people of his point of view; he did what he wanted. And now he stepped on to the path, determined to have his way whether anyone else came or not.
Watch had come out of his shell. "You're not going alone; you know we wouldn't let you. I just hope you understand you're dragging us into possible danger." He stepped past Bryce and began the hike to Naia's supposed location. Bryce seemed offended by his words.
"I have no problem dealing with this on my own," he told Watch with an air of self-importance. "And how's it any more dangerous than the path we usually take?" he demanded, looking at Watch as he walked into the distance. Bryce realized he wasn't going to get an answer and decided to just head toward the reservoir. The girls followed him.
The boys cooled down in a few minutes. It was difficult not to with all the hard work they had to put into climbing over fallen trunks and squeezing passed sharp branches. Watch talked quietly with Tira, but he also returned to his thoughtful demeanor. Bryce began to talk to Amy; it was her new favorite hobby.
"You can stay at my house from now on," Bryce said and gave her a slight smile. She wondered if there was a touch of mischievous in it; she thought there might have been.
"Thank you," she said almost silently. Bryce had that effect on her. Suddenly he stopped, still continuing to look at her and her at him. For a moment, nothing else existed besides them; not the overgrown path which was looking more and more like part of the forest, not the forest itself or all the annoying flesh-craving bugs that lived in it.
He leaned close to her. Amy held her breath. "I'm glad you came here," he said softly, his words hugging her in a warm, happy cloud. She turned red.
Bryce turned from her and began to walk away. She tried briefly to deconstruct the encounter that just occurred, but once Bryce was several paces ahead she got moving, in sudden fear that the forest would swallow her. In such little time the trees had closed in around them, hinting at a threat to squeeze and squash them in between their thick trunks. There was more silence for a while.
"How many books did you say were in the series, Amy?" Watch asked suddenly.
Amy's head shot up; surprised that Watch was conversing with her. He didn't seem to like her very much. Unless…
"Twenty-four," she repeated.
"Which one was the thirteenth?"
Amy thought for only a moment again. "Adam, Sally and Cindy's science teacher, Mr. Snakol, turned out to be an alien."
"Ah," said Watch. "I can't quite remember: which adventure did we have after that?"
Amy wasn't stupid. "Halloween," she said. "And after that the No ones came to town – it was when Tira came - and after that there was the Time Toy and the adventure only you have recollection of."
Watch looked back at her and came to a stop – she had hit a bit of a sore spot and she knew it. Amy stopped as well, while Bryce and Tira continued walking ahead of them but not before Bryce turned and winked at her; for comfort perhaps.
"I'm sorry," she said once the other two were several steps ahead of Watch. She briefly looked him in the eye. There was silence.
"You don't like me, do you?" she asked.
"Why would you say that?" Watch said. He, however, had been looking at her the entire time. Staring her down.
Amy looked downward. "You always ask people you don't like a lot of questions," she said and continued walking, moving around Watch as she approached him. She hadn't looked at him to see his reaction. He continued walking once she was a few paces in front of him.
Bryce and Tira came to an abrupt stop ahead of her at that moment though and motioned for her and Watch to halt. After a moment of silence, Amy noticed the noise immediately and then remembered her wish. She seemed to hear much clearer than the others who had their ears cocked in the air, straining to listen. The noise came from their left. It was fairly far away and was definitely a creature that was walking, a creature intelligent enough to know they knew it was there. It stopped suddenly.
Amy and Watch made their way to Bryce and Tira once they were motioned to do so.
"I bet it's the creatures from the boardwalk," Bryce muttered.
"What do you want to do?" Watch asked as he studied his friend.
Bryce looked in the direction of where the noise had been and touched his bruised throat. It looked painful. "I think there's only one; it's probably cocky, maybe for a good reason. I say we curve a little to our right and call it a day."
No one objected, so off they went. They were only fifteen minutes into their walk in the forest and already they were having a problem with the wildlife, and that included the trees which were closing in further and further. Amy decided to keep an extra sharp watch and listen for dangers; it was probably the heightened fear contributing to her sharpened senses and not that wish. What reason would Ann Templeton possibly have to give a complete stranger a wish? Amy wondered about this more and more. At any rate it was a good thing she made the decision to keep an ear out.
"Oh my god," Amy gasped a minute later. Everyone turned to her and followed her frantic gaze in all directions. "They're all around," she managed to get out. Immediately Bryce pushed Amy forward, into Watch.
"Take them ahead," Bryce ordered, pulling his gun out and played with the setting on a round knob - probably switching it from stun to kill. Watch plowed forward with the girls behind him as Bryce started north to surprise the enemy. Watch tried to go straight, so if Bryce got lost they could go back, or he could find them, or something. He just kept moving, suddenly thinking how stupid it was for them to split up. When he had done the math back there it had made sense: Bryce had a weapon and was going to hurt the bad guy, or guys, he had no weapon and had to protect the girls. Now it made no sense. The creatures would probably go after them. The vulnerable ones. The ones making a horrendous amount of noise.
Even Watch heard the creatures now. They were still all around them, no doubt following the stupid humans within their ever-shrinking hunting circle. He heard four distinct creatures; there could be more though. Watch wondered where Bryce was and cursed himself for trusting his James-Bond-I'm-the-only-defense-this-world-has delusion; he should know how to behave in a dangerous situation, he had grown up in Spooksville!
In the midst of all the chaos, between worrying about when the creatures were going to strike and hurrying the girls along even more, Watch fell. He felt stupid for it and even more so when he realized he had done it in the middle of a tiny clearing; a tiny bit of light amidst a place where night always reigned. Now the creatures could see them better than ever. He tried to get up, but his right ankle protested. It was stuck in a damn tree trunk that lay concealed beneath the unmanaged grass and foliage.
"Go!" he shouted at Tira who refused to move. Finally Bryce appeared; he suddenly came up from behind Tira and yanked her with him, but the two fell over in the process of getting away; humans were not cut out for this terrain. He was so worried about Tira's safety he hadn't realized Amy worrying about his. She was desperately trying to pull him up after freeing his foot, but he had at least forty pounds on her. He tried to help her help him and in a matter of mere moments they were finally both standing. Thankfully his ankle wasn't hurt – it had just been stuck – but despite the fact he had been freed from the trunk, he and Amy were surrounded by what Watch assumed were the creatures from the boardwalk; complete with loose skin and a dead, but hungry, look in their eyes. A brief glance over in the direction of Tira and Bryce's fall told him they were trapped as well, but he knew Bryce would have a plan in the works. He still had his gun. It was hidden in wait behind his back.
Maybe they were the same creatures from the boardwalk and had learned a thing or two about hunting that morning or else these particular ones were just smarter, but either way it was clear that they were hunting for food and weren't going to waste time giving the humans a chance to fight back. The one creature, it seemed to be the leader, held up it's crossbow at the opposite edge of the clearing, which was only fifteen feet away, and took aim. At that moment Watch could swear everything slowed. Amy looked at the creatures and then at him. Bryce sat up and gasped in alarm when he saw what was happening. Tira squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her hands against her face. As the leader pulled its bow back and let go, Amy stepped in front of Watch and planted her feet firmly in ground.
She was their fairy.
The arrow, meant for Watch, entered Amy between two ribs on her right side. It partially exited her body - Watch could see the tip protrude through her dark orange tank top which was now soaked dark red. He caught her as she fell into him and collapsed, and then lowered her to her knees. It was too painful to place her on her back with the long wooden rod impaling her. She was already coughing up blood that ran freely over the arms supporting her and Watch knew the arrow had pierced her lung. She would drown in her own blood. Watch gaped at her in horror. Everything going on around him was ignored; the approaching of the creatures, Bryce's desperate fight to save them all. No. Just him and Tira. Amy was dead now. He gently lowered her lifeless body to the ground at that point.
The last thing he remembered was a knock in the head.