3
A Life Sentence

We were suddenly slammed with the strong stench of moist dirt. I felt Ryder’s hand searching for mine as we fell; I grabbed it and held on for dear life. I could see the light of our rings flicker through the chunks of wet falling dirt. I tried to keep my mouth shut to keep the dirt out but I couldn’t help but scream. I could hear Ryder scream muffled cuss words all the way down. The tunnel curved catching our weight as we began to slide and a light appeared at the end of the tunnel or what I hoped to be the end of the tunnel.
“Hold on Jade!” Ryder yelled before we reached the light.
We flew out into the cool night air,
“Oh shit cakes!” Ryder screamed.
We fell into a pool of water letting go of our held hands. I reached the surface and sucked in deep breathes from shock of the sudden cold.
“Shit cakes? Really?” I laughed at Ryder as he caught his breath swimming next to me.
“What?” he replied defensively.
I giggled and began to take in the surroundings. There was a waterfall a few feet away falling into the pond we were in. I could feel a slight pull from the water current; I turned to see a flat ridge where the water pulled to and fell off into I assumed another pool. There was a single flat stone that sat just above the water in the middle of the pond. Moving light caught my eye from under the water.
“Ah!” Ryder screamed, “What is that?! You see that?”
“Yeah!” I said wading in the water and watched the glowing lights swim closer. The shape of the light took form of a fish, glowing blue!
“They’re fish!” I yelled.
“Glowing fish!? ... That’s actually pretty cool.” Ryder said, “They don’t sting do they?”
“I don’t know you chicken!”
“Hey… Someone here has to be the cautious one!”
“Oh yeah…. Real cautious,” I laughed.
We swam to the flat rock in the middle of the pond and got out. I was surprised to see Ryder still holding onto the sword.
“Holy cow, you haven’t let go of that thing?”
“Cautious! Remember?” he said.
I laughed. We tried to wring out our clothes without actually taking them off. I took off my shoes and shook them and Ryder copied. Not that it helped so much they still made a squishy sound every time I took a step. Ryder took off the backpack and took out all the wet supplies to let them dry. I secretly checked out Ryder never seeing him drenched before. His hair was going in all sorts of directions, his cheeks were bright pink, and his shirt clung to his chest. He looked even cuter and definitely more attractive. He looked at me quickly realizing I was staring,
“What?” he blurted, “Are you staring at me?”
“No! Why would I do such a thing?” I countered.
He looked away and continued wringing off water from the backpack.
“When do you think these rings will stop glowing?” he asked.
Our large diamond rings kept a constant light, almost like the fishes swimming around us.
“Why do you think the fish are glowing?” I asked.
“Good question…” he said.
I noticed the moon light was stronger here. Directly above us the full moon sat in the clear sky with no tree branches to block its view. We were safe here in the light. Tall trees hugged tightly around the edge of the pond and I couldn’t see beyond the ridge where the water fell from. Leaves fell silently from the trees and danced in the moonlight.
“It’s very pretty here,” I said, “this must be another sanctuary where the darkness cannot come.”
“I hope so.” Ryder said.
“Darkness is not welcome in my presence.” A deep voice boomed.
I jumped automatically latching onto Ryder’s arm as he shoved all the supplies back in the backpack and pulled it on. We stood and he had the sword at the ready.
“Whatever you do… do not cuss.” I whispered to Ryder.
“You got it Dr. Jones.” Ryder whispered back giving me a funny smile.
“How are you being funny now?!”
He didn’t respond but looked ahead of us toward the ridge. The glowing fish were gathering together and getting brighter. The fish had become one large light moving slowly to the surface; once it reached the surface it exploded like a massive firework you would see hundreds of feet up in the air. Both Ryder and I flinched back letting out a scream. The light particles flew back above the ridge and slowly but surely the light began to take shape. Four foot prints began to glow on the water’s surface.
“Okay…” Ryder said, “I don’t about you but those look like talons. Tell me you see talons.”
“Yep… those are definitely talons.” I whispered pulling tighter on Ryder’s arm.
Then unexpectedly Ryder pulled his arm out of my grip and wrapped his arm around me with his hand on my other shoulder pulling me close. He didn’t seem nervous or awkward about it; he looked confident which only made me like him more. I put my arm around his waist and held it there. I was so okay with this I had to focus on breathing letting another wave of giddiness pass.
The light continued to form and the footprints had grown so big I could sit inside them.
“Those are big…” I said.
Ryder nodded his head, “Uh huh.”
The night wind had picked up swirling the lights around and the legs began to form. The front two looked like they belonged to a bird and the back legs looked like they belonged to a lion. Soon we could see the body of a lion with a long lion’s tail; its mane was a mix of fur and feathers, then the light spanned out to the trees forming great glorious glowing wings.
I gasped and Ryder squeezed my arm. The wings fluttered and its feet shuffled on top of the waters surface. I could see the outline of the head and the light start to fill in the curled eagle’s beak, defining furrowed brows with feathery ears that pointed high, and finally the eyes. Its eagle eyes were fierce and penetrated right through me. I felt Ryder stiffen beside me.
“It’s a griffin…” I whispered realizing what it was or what my imagination knew it to be.
The blue glow faded and the creature became solid white like the last creature we encountered. A tremor of chills hit me like a brick wall from both shock and the very wet clothes I had on. Only then I realized Ryder’s teeth were chattering.

“Hello young Ryder and Jade,” the griffin’s voice boomed, deep and wise, “I see the light has chosen you for a very important task.” he said but his beak did not move,
“My comrade you met a few moments ago gave you wise information and I encourage you to remember it. The light has selected you two very special individuals to help save the lost souls trapped in this forest. Beware of the Rakshas! These demons are who you must save and bring into the light. Once you have surpassed this feat you will attain ability to then save the creatures of light. Be forewarned, the Rakshas are not what they seem! They feed on human flesh, they desecrate graves, possess human beings, have venomous claws, and shape shift. Only a few Rakshas are powerful enough to take the shape of a human. Until your powers have fully developed will you be able to fight these Rakshas.”
“Powers?” I said bewildered and confused.
“Fight?” said Ryder with a hint of excitement in his voice.
“Yes young Jade and Ryder. You will be warriors, equip with abilities that will help complete your task. You will fight to save us all trapped within this forest realm, including myself.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
The griffin stood tall on top of the pool of water with his chest out,
“I am the Commander of the Legion of Light.”
“Whoa…” Ryder whispered in awe.
I couldn’t help but smile at the huge griffin.
“I will fight! I will save you!” I cheered.
“Me too!” Ryder yelled.
“It gives me great joy to hear those words. Do not fear little ones, though you are young, your souls are strong, wise, and contain more power then you know. You must remain together through this. The only way to complete this task is with the both of you together. My comrades of Light will be there to guide you through obstacles and when you are surrounded by the thick shroud of darkness, call upon the Light and it will come. Now… raise the sword together with the hand that bears the ring and repeat after me.”
I turned to Ryder who pointed the sword toward the sky. Both our jaws were chattering uncontrollably. He looked at me and smiled,
“Come on Jade! We can do this!”
I smiled back and my heart exploded knowing he was just as excited as I was. I raised my hand with the glowing ring on my thumb and held the sword hilt with Ryder.
“Please intertwine fingers.” The griffin ordered.
“Oh.” I said and I knew I was blushing amidst the glowing light from the griffin and our rings.
Ryder carefully separated my fingers with his and we secured our grip around the hilt of the sword.
“Ready?” Ryder smiled.
“Ready.” I blushed back.
“Very good, now repeat after me….”
I was caught off guard when I noticed Ryder did not look away but kept staring at me. Instead of looking up at the sword I held his gaze with my nerves going crazy inside.
“Fly as I may…” the griffin’s voice boomed.
“Fly as I may,” Ryder and I said together and went on to say,
“Shine as I might, may first morning light pierce the dark shroud forthright, bring alight the soul within, and let light THEREIN!”
We looked up to see our rings shine brighter and the light like a beam shot straight up into the clear night sky. The light got so bright we both flinched away. It felt like the ring on my thumb was getting hot as the light grew stronger. I gasped to the searing sensation of the ring on my finger,
“Do not let go!” the griffin demanded.
My reflexes reacted to the pain and I held onto Ryder’s arm. He put his arm around my waist and I saw him grimace too. We held each other as we fought through it. The pain then tripled like my thumb was being cut off and I let out a scream. Suddenly the light exploded rippling out into the treetops and a wave of heat passed down our bodies drying us completely. I looked up to see our rings gone! In place of my ring was a white glossy scar and looked as though the ring exploded leaving white scorch marks in my skin. The white glossy lines then began to glow and move down my arm weaving intricate designs like the one’s on the sword we held.
“Whoa Ryder do you see that?!” I yelled.
He was gawking at his own arm, “Awesome!” he exclaimed.
We watched in awe as the lines weaved down to our elbows and disappeared into our skin and the intricate designs held a steady white glow.
“Will they always glow like this?” I asked.
“No my little ones…” the griffin’s voice boomed. He was standing closer to us with his head lowered to our level, “When you leave this realm the tattoos will vanish leaving your scar as a reminder… that you must return here to complete your task.”
“Very cool.” Ryder said. I thought the same.
Ryder lowered the sword and we let go of our intertwined grasp. I went to look at my hand and realized the same glowing tattoo was on my other arm!
“Wow! What does this mean? Do we have special powers now?” I asked the griffin.
“Yes you do. I must leave you now so that you may begin your journey,” the griffin rose and spread his massive wings, “Stay close to the light little ones. May darkness learn to gravel at your feet.”
Light exploded from the griffin and he disappeared into the light. The light then shot up into the sky and vanished leaving us in the moonlight with a rain storm of falling leaves.
“Wait! Geez…” Ryder shouted. He looked at me,
“He didn’t tell us how to use our powers against the Rakshas. Did you hear him? They possess humans! Poisonous claws! And EAT humans!! That’s a little extreme don’t you think?”
“Yeah, just a little.” I said sarcastically.
I looked at my hands again,
“I think we’re supposed to remember that thing we said that made the light go all crazy. How did it go again?”
“Fly as I may…” Ryder said.
“That’s right. Are we supposed to fly!?” I said excited.
“That would be sweet!” said Ryder.
“Shine as I might,” I said, “May first morning light pierce the dark shroud forthright.”
“Bring alight the soul within, and let light therein.” finished Ryder.
“Huh…” I pondered, “First morning light? Sunrise…. We’re supposed to bring these Rakshas into the sunrise? How in the crud are we gonna do that!”
Ryder laughed, “I have no freaking clue!.... I kinda just wanna get outta here and go home before we get into some heavy duty fighting with these Rakshas.”
“Jade!” A voice whispered startling me.
I jumped and looked to my right to see a glowing white owl perched in a tree, I gasped.
“Ya know I don’t wanna get in the water again either. It was freezing!” said Ryder apparently not noticing the awesome glowing white owl staring right at us.
“Ryder! Pay attention.” I said.
“What?” he looked up and saw the owl, “Oh! Whoa…”
“I don’t think we’re suppose to swim out of here….” I said and looked at Ryder.
“We are supposed to fly.” I said seriously.
Just then I got goose bumps and knew I had to be right. The owl gave a hoot,
“Jade… Ryder. Follow me.” The owl said.
The owl spread its beautiful wings and jumped into the night air over us and circled above the drop-off where the water fell into.
“We’re supposed to follow him?” Ryder said disbelieving.
“There must be a way….” I said.
I held my hands up clenching and unclenching my fists wanting to feel the power within them. I wanted to fly! I always did! Now I actually had a chance, like a bird but without wings.
“How!? Owl, tell us how!” I urged.
“You must will the power to your arms….” the owl said.
“WHOA!” Ryder exclaimed.
I looked to see Ryder’s tattooed hands and arms not only glowing but light falling from his arms.
“Come on Jade!” Ryder said with backpack on and holding the sword in hand.
He took a couple steps and jumped from the flat stone we stood on toward the owl ahead. It looked like he would belly flop into the water but his hands barely grazed the water’s surface and flew higher into the air!
“No way!!!” I yelled.
“Just do it already!” Ryder yelled back.
“Urg!” I grunted.
I took a couple steps back, ran and jumped just as Ryder did. Just before I hit the water my arms came alight and I torpedoed up barely missing Ryder by a few inches,
“Yikes Jade!!” Ryder yelled dodging out of the way.
I came to a sudden halt right before face planting into a tree with my arms spread out. Ryder flew up behind me and took my glowing hand in his,
“Come on Dr. Jones, I’ll show you how. Just hold on okay?” he said with a smile.
“Okay.” I said while my heart jumped with giddiness.
The owl circled around us with a hoot and began flying in another direction. Ryder pulled me with him and we followed the owl into the night trees. The owl began to gain speed and so did Ryder.
“Stay close! Keep your arms in! Do not stray from my path!” The owl warned.
I began to laugh as we flew through tight tunnels within the tree canopy. As odd as it sounds I could feel the pull and tug from Ryder’s power, like I was magnetized to him.

2
The Eidolon Forest


The clearing where the massive gate stood had been taped off with many ‘DO NOT ENTER’ signs. The gate had been covered with pictures of missing people and loved ones, with both fresh and dry bouquets of flowers lying on the ground below. Taped over a few of the trees were ‘Have you seen this person?’ flyers with phone numbers, etc. The place had been turned into a huge memorial site. No pictures of Ryder had been posted yet. Thank goodness.
I walked the length of the long wall and eventually found a board that had been sticking out of some thick bushes. Someone or something had pried it away trying to either get in or out. I shoved it aside and crawled through. It was just about sun down so the light was fading fast. I didn’t have proper hiking boots but I did have my sneakers. I wore khaki pants and a hoodie over a tank top with a backpack full of supplies and I put my brown shoulder length hair back in a ponytail and clipped my bangs back. I wanted to be prepared for anything. Once I crawled through the mossy brush and bushes I pulled out a spool of blue and white shiny rope from my backpack. For me it was pretty heavy but I didn’t know how much rope I’d need. I tied the end of the rope around a small tree and began to walk trailing the rope behind me.
The forest was very green, mossy, thick, damp, and straight out creepy. It was completely and utterly silent. That alone sent chills down my back. No slight breeze, no chirp of birds, not even a buzz of a bee. The air was thick with the scent of evergreen, pine, and wet dirt. There was no main trail if there had been the plants and moss had covered it a long time ago. It was like no one had been here in a century at least that’s what it felt like. What rays were left of the sun spilled through the netting of the treetops and glittered the forest floor. Those spots of sun on the mossy ground is where I walked, staying as close to the light as I could. But within five minutes of walking the sun had completely set and my rope had run out. I stopped and tied the end of the spool of rope around a tree. The only light was the light blue shroud of the oncoming night, everything that was green had now turned dark blue. It was getting darker fast and I was starting to panic just a little. So far there was nothing that looked out of place, no broken branches, no nothing, just trees, dirt, and plants. The only noise was the crunch of my footsteps and my heavy breathing. Someone could go crazy in here! I had to yell for him, even though the thought of it made my heart skitter with fear. I sighed.
“RYDER!!!!” I shouted slicing through the silence.
Then… rustling, a few feet ahead of me something small scurrying under the shrubbery. My heart stopped when I saw glints of light from the creature that was running away gleam through the shrubs.
“What in the?” I whispered to myself.
I quickly dug out a flashlight out from my backpack and a large zip lock bag full of red vines. I had to admit I was scared, it was going to get unnaturally dark and I couldn’t let my imagination take control. My mom always told me I had an over-active imagination. I took a bit of a red vine then dropped one behind me. I had to go further then the rope had taken me so a trail of red vines was all I could think of. I flicked on the flashlight and shined it ahead where I thought I had seen the creature but there was nothing, just shrubs. My mom was right; she had told me that she used to watch the forest at night from our back porch and saw flashes of light within the trees. I didn’t ever believe her although it would’ve been cool to see it myself but I never had until now. I pushed myself forward and kept walking. Periodically I’d shine the flashlight up into the trees trying to find the thinnest part of the canopy where I could see the stars. I wasn’t sure if there was a full moon or no moon, but any kind of light coming through was best to walk in. I slowed my breathing and kept it quiet. I was surprised how well I could control my nerves. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad?
After a few minutes I started to see shadows back in the trees. Or I thought I did, my eyes could’ve been playing tricks on me. Then a sliver of fear dripped down my spine,
“Jaaade….” A voice whispered.
I turned every direction with the flashlight and saw nothing… again. Someone had just whispered my name directly into my freaking ear.
“Who’s there?” I choked out.
I waited but there was still silence. I dropped another red vine and kept walking picking up the pace. Only a few more minutes of this and I had to get out! Where the heck was Ryder?
Another shadow moved in the corner of my eye and immediately I shined my flashlight at it. The creature froze and so did I.
“Oh Lord.” I whispered to myself.
The creature was on all fours, white skin tightly wrapped its warped body, it looked like a body of a dog but the head was a human skull… and red glowing eyes. I hadn’t known what real fear felt like until now. Warning sirens suddenly went off inside my head and the creature ran off. I hesitated and realized I couldn’t hear the thing’s footsteps, how could it walk around in complete silence? Hell, it could be floating for all I knew. That was it, I had had it, and I grabbed a hand full of red vines and ran as fast as I could without tripping dropping a red vine as I went. I wondered how the crud I wasn’t dead yet with those kinds of things walking around here.
I saw a shard of light, a faint silver glow through the darkened night trees. I turned off my flashlight and stepped through the clearing and found myself standing in front of a massive glowing tree. The tree shined brighter against the night even though only tiny silver moon beams shown through the massive canopy top of the great tree. I caught my breath and just stared. What kind of tree was this? I got this funny feeling though, that this tree was special somehow, that this tree was a tree of light. Mom never told me she saw a glowing tree. Maybe you couldn’t see it from the house?
I looked up where most of the thick branches grew out from the trunk and I knew that’s where I had to go. Dozens of small branches weaved up the tree looking like it would be easy to climb up. I stuffed the red vines back in my back pack and one branch at a time I made my way up the massive trunk, maybe this tree will lead to a clue as to where Ryder really was. Then the feeling finally hit of how stupid I really was for doing this. For all I knew I could end up dying out here, along with Ryder too. But I didn’t think Ryder would have gotten too far; I had only planned to search a short ways in from the entrance, which was also the exit. I hoped he was okay at least so we could make it back in one piece. I would be his personal hero, the thought of that made my heart flutter. I had to make up for hitting him in the face with the football anyway. The flashback re-played in my mind; how I smoothly caught the football and threw it right at Ryder and unfortunately hitting him directly in the eye. I giggled just a little.
As I climbed higher my anticipation grew, I was getting close to the top. I reached the large branches that grew out of the massive trunk. I had to be 30 feet up or so, this tree was tall and seemed even bigger now. I had to swing my leg up over a branch to get higher to see what was over the strange looking ledge. I grunted and pushed myself up.
I looked up to see Ryder’s face inches in front of mine,
“JADE?!” he yelled.
We both screamed and I suddenly lost my hold and started to fall. I reached up hoping my hand would catch something, anything! Then BAM! My head and body slammed hard into the tree. Ryder had caught my hand and held me there.
“Holy crap!” I squealed.
I looked up at Ryder; his face was full of surprise and relief.
“I gottchya.” He said trying to pull me up.
I grabbed the small branches that weaved in and out of the tree and climbed back up. I stood next to Ryder on what seemed to be the top center of the trunk where the cluster of thick branches grew out from. We were under the huge umbrella canopy of the glowing silver tree, a very thick layer of leaves and branches and only one or two moon beams seeped through. The only real light was coming from the tree itself, everything else was so dark blanketed by the night.
“This is really cool.” I murmured.
“Jade…” Ryder said, “How the hell did you find me? Did you come alone?”
I looked at Ryder, his hair was extra messy and his face was drained from his usual goofy expression, and he had patches of dirt all over with small scratches on his arms. He looked terrified and lost.
“Yeah, it’s just me.” I said,“You okay? You look like you’ve had the crap scared out of you.”
“You have no freaking idea! This is the shittiest idea I’ve ever had!” Ryder exclaimed while pacing in front of me. He sighed, “Well shit! Would you just tell me everything already? How long have you been looking? Does anyone else know you’re out here?”
I felt warning flags of fear go up in my mind with his language… out here.
“Ya know you really should watch your mouth, you are only twelve. And I wouldn’t be talking like that out here anyway, not during the night.” I warned him.
“How would you know?” he asked.
“Don’t you?! You’ve been out here longer then I have.”
“Yeah okay… I’m sorry, I’m alright, better now that your here.” Ryder surrendered, a little too easily I thought.
He looked at me apprehensively and I stared back waiting for whatever he was going to say. I wondered what kinds of things he had experienced out here. Had he seen the things I did? Then he stepped forward and pulled me into a hug and held me tight. I was caught off guard not sure what to do at first, then I freely wrapped my arms around him too. I felt his shoulders and back relax once my arms were around him. He smelled like dirt and wind, but then he still smelled good like he always did. I couldn’t tell if it was his shampoo or actual cologne. But I didn’t think twelve year old boys wore cologne.
“I’m glad you’re okay.” I said.
“Thanks…I guess.”
He let go of our hug and I looked at him confused,
“You guess?”
“Well… you don’t really like me do you?”
I laughed,
“Of course I like you. Wait, what do you mean? Like you as a friend or more then a friend?” I felt my cheeks get hot with embarrassment.
A smile curved into his lips. He put a hand on my shoulder,
“I’m glad you like me as a friend.” He said in monotone then took his hand away and looked out into the forest below in-between the intertwining branches.
“How did you find me?” He asked again.
“I followed the light and it led me to this tree. I had no idea you were up here. I felt like I might find something up here, at least it’s safer up here then the forest floor.”
“What do you mean you followed the light?”
“The light of the moon… I walked under the thinnest part of the canopy. The closer to the light the safer you are from whatever lives in the darkness. Remember the legend; the army of darkness and the army of light? Think of it that way. Or do you really not believe in ghosts? Isn’t that why you came here?”
“I…I wanted to see for myself.” There was an under tone in his voice, like he wasn’t telling me something.
“What did you see Ryder? I want to know what happened to you.”
“I don’t know how to explain it…” he turned and met my gaze, “I saw lots of moving shadows and eyes…”
“Eyes?”
“Most were red some where white, but I couldn’t see their face’s or it’s face’s… I couldn’t tell if it was human or not.”
“That’s creepy.” I said.
“What are you saying?! You seem to know more about this place then I do. Have you been here before?” Ryder said, not pleased with my reaction.
“No, course not! This is my first time! Don’t get mad just tell me what happened.”
“Geez! Okay… Well first I felt like I was being watched and then when I actually saw real eyes and I booked it. I’m telling you Jade, I’ve never ran that fast before in my life. I ran until I saw this tree, I thought I saw a light up here….”
“An actual light?” I asked.
“It was more like a shimmer of something… but there’s not anything up here.”
“But those things went away right?”
“Yeah…”
“How long ago?” I asked.
He sighed and looked away,
“It’s been a long night, that’s all I’m gonna say okay.”
“Alrighty then?… Do you want some food? I’ve only got granola bars and licorice.”
“Yeah! Let me have some of that!”
I slipped my back pack off and opened the big zipper. I handed him a couple of granola bars and a water bottle.
“Thank God.” He said happily tearing into the wrapper.
I sat down and Ryder sat down too and I noticed we were completely hidden from the forest floor; all we could see was the umbrella of leaves above us. I pulled out a rope of licorice and generously took a bite.
“You were serious! You consider licorice a survival food?” Ryder laughed.
“For me I do! Didn’t you come out here with anything? Where’s your bag?”
He looked away again,
“I had one…” he said.
“You had one? You mean you haven’t told me everything?!” I paused remembering to keep my voice down, “Ryder… What the hell happened to you? You can trust me you know. I won’t tell anyone…”
He looked at me for a long moment.
“Well?” I said impatient.
“Gimme this.” He said pulling my bag over to him.
I let him rummage through my stuff, I had nothing to hide. I’d let the subject drop for now but this wasn’t over.
“Let’s see here, you’ve got a couple flashlights, batteries, water bottles, matches, band-aids, neosporin, and candles. Candles, really?” Ryder said.
“Just in case something happens to the flashlights! Duh!”
“Right.” He said as he continued shuffling through my things.
“Whoa…what the?!” He pulled out a knife with his pointer finger and thumb, holding it like it was dainty.
“Jade?! Were you plannin on killin me too!?” he yelled still wide-eyed.
“Would you shut-up?!” I laughed, “It’s just a knife.”
“This is a big knife though!”
He pulled out the blade from the sheath and held it up so the blade reflected the silver glow of the tree.
“This looks like Rambo’s knife! Did you have to kill him get this?! Damn girl…”
We looked at each other for a moment. I honestly didn’t know what to say but I did like the attention he was giving me. He looked from the knife to me and back to the knife again.
“What?” I said blushing but a little irritated, “Stop looking at me like I’m a psycho!”
“No no, not that… You’re now officially the coolest girl I know.” He said pointing at me with the knife.
I smiled,
“All because I have a Rambo knife huh?”
“Do you actually know how to use this thing?” Ryder asked.
“If the situation called for it I think I would.” I replied.
“That’s bad-ass.” Ryder said pleased.
I laughed. I liked that he saw me as a bad-ass. I giggled feeling the sudden rush of giddiness.
It was quiet except for Ryder chomping down the second granola bar and pulling out some red vines.
“I think we should start heading back.” I said, looking over a branch down at the forest floor. It seemed like the night had gotten a pitch darker. The trees bent and twisted in and out of the darkness like the branches were trying to reach out to us in an ominous way.
“Do you know how to get back?” Ryder asked.
“Just follow the light… and the licorice.” I replied.
“The licorice?” he asked confused now standing next to me looking down into the blackness.
“Once I ran out of rope I left a trail of licorice.” I said.
“What if the monsters ate them up?” Ryder asked.
“Ghosts don’t eat food.”
“I guess we’ll find out won’t we?” said Ryder.
“Yeah we will.” I agreed.
I reached my hand out for him to hand me my bag but he swung it over his shoulders and slid his arms through the backpack loops,
“I’ll carry this.” Ryder said and smiled just slightly.
“Oh…” I said not expecting the sudden favor especially from Ryder, “Okay… that’s fine. Just don’t loose it…ya know like your last one.”
“Look I’m just trying to be nice here, kay?” he said with his hands up surrendering.
“No… you know what, we’re not leaving until you tell me the full story. The whole truthful story, specifically why you wanted to come down here in the first place and every single thing that happened to you since you’ve been here. It’s been a whole 24 hours for you so far!”
I pushed him lightly back away from the large branch ledge and more into the center of the trunk.
“No, I don’t want to tell you everything!” Ryder countered.
“Why?”
“Why do you want to know so bad Jade?”
“Cause, believe it or not I care!”
“You care? Why?”
“Because you….” I stopped myself luckily, from saying that I though he was special and chose different words instead,
“Because you’re my friend and I like my friends to be truthful with me! Why are you so afraid to tell me things?”
“I’m not afraid to tell you things!” Ryder spilled.
“You’re not?” I asked lowering my voice, “Then –”
“I don’t know! It’s personal, I don’t know if you…” He stopped and stared at me as if he just realized something.
“What, you don’t know if I… what?”
“You might understand… you might be the only one who would actually.” Ryder answered, bewildered.
“Okay…” I said. This was interesting, “I wanna hear it.” I said.
“Wait a sec… do you feel that?” Ryder asked.
“What? Feel what?” I felt a cool chill shiver up my spine.
Ryder walked past me and looked down the trunk below,
“A shadow…” he whispered.
“You can feel it?” I whispered and stood next to him looking down.
“Can’t you?” he asked.
“No.” I said.
“Get out your knife.” He said suddenly.
I hurried and opened the pack on his back and pulled out the knife. I buttoned the sheath to my belt loop and pulled out the knife.
“What is it?” I whispered to him.
I was going to hand the blade to him when a shadowy mass thickened on the forest floor right below us.
“You see that?” Ryder whispered to me.
“Yeah…”
The mass grew darker, black as the deepest night. The shadow morphed in and out of shapes and finally I could tell where the head was, it’s shoulders, and bumps of its spine on its back. An eerie chill spilled down my arms and warning bells were going off in my head. The hairs on my arms and neck stood up in fear.
“This is bad.” I whispered.
“Very bad…” Ryder added.
We watched in horror as it looked up at us and all I saw against the black holes of its empty eye sockets were red glowing eyes burning into my soul.
“Shit.” Ryder cussed sharply.
“No, don’t say-” I was cut off.
The creature had already started clawing its way up the tree toward us, faster then I thought possible.
“NO!” Ryder yelled turning into me, tackling me backwards.
My reflexes reacted as the red eyed creature leapt up toward us as we fell back. I swiped at it but missed just barely. We had fallen too far out of reach and I had moved my head just enough to feel the wind from its slicing claws centimeters from my face. The creature let out a horrible screech; it was nothing I had ever heard before worse then nails on a chalk board. The creature disappeared over the other side ledge of the tree and I felt pain shoot from my elbow and head as we slammed into the trunk. We both yelled in pain as we hit.
“Gah! My arm!” I said as more pain shot from my elbow to my shoulder.
“Did you get it?” Ryder breathed in my ear lying at my side with arms around me.
“No… that was too close!” I huffed.
Then I felt tiny cracks from under me.
“Oh no.” I said.
There was a gigantic CRACK and the trunk surface shifted under our weight.
“Oh dear sweet baby Jesus…” Ryder said staring wide-eyed at the long cracks that webbed out from under us. I didn’t have time to laugh the cracking noise wasn’t stopping.
“Hold on!” I screamed as the trunk gave way from under us.
It wasn’t as easy as it had looked in my mind. Ryder’s weight was heavier then I thought, but I tried anyway. I flung my left arm back, along with my body as hard as I could stabbing the knife into the side wall of the now hallow trunk. The sudden stop of falling made Ryder lose his grip of my shoulders,
“Ryder!” I screamed.
And miraculously as I had hoped I caught his hand in mine. He slammed into the mossy damp wall of the trunk,
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Ryder spat in a high pitch tone and grabbed onto my wrist with his other hand so both hands clung to my free arm. Luckily my bruised elbow didn’t hurt with the weight of Ryder dangling from it.
“Shut-up!” I demanded, “Stop it!”
“Alright, alright!” he replied, “This is insane! You are insane!”
“Not now Ryder!”
“I can’t believe you caught us!! Don’t let me go!”
“I won’t you moron! Try to climb up!”
“You’re like Tomb Raider, what’s her name? ... Lara Croft! You’re just like her!”
I couldn’t help but chuckle but a little breathless,
“That is my favorite game.” I said.
“You play video games too?” Ryder asked looking up at me shocked.
“Yes, you idiot! I’m not a total loser!” I shot back.
“NO! I know your not! Not anymore!”
“Great! I’m glad we got that covered! Would ya get a freakin move on it!? I don’t know how much longer I can just hang here with all your weight on me!”
“Okay!” he said.
He tried catching his foot on the wall somewhere but kept slipping against the wet moss and wood. Amid his struggling I started noticing the inside of the tree. It wasn’t pitch-black like I would have thought, the damp walls of tree emanated its own light; a silver bluish color a little more intense then what it was on the outside of the great tree. The silver bluish light got even more intense towards the bottom but the light was shrouded by the million black silhouettes of thick silky strands of spider webs making it impossible to see what was at the bottom. I saw round black shadows some bigger then others and the tiny spider legs that surrounded the tiny bodies. My skin began to crawl and itch,
“Oh my God!! Look at all those spiders!” I shrieked.
Ryder immediately looked down and noticed just how many tiny dots of them there were,
“Oooooh man! I hate spiders! You gotta get me outta here Jade! Now now now!” Ryder said squirming.
I grunted and huffed trying to pull him up with one arm,
“I can’t! You have to climb up! I’m not strong enough!” I breathed.
Ryder reached up and pulled on my pant leg and I heard the tiny rip of my khaki pocket,
“Ah crap!” I yelled.
“Let’s hope that belt of yours holds your pants up or this is gonna be real awkward.” Ryder said.
I grunted and strengthened my sweaty hand that gripped the knife handle. Good thing I didn’t bring a dinky pocket knife or else we’d be dead.
“Just put your feet around my ankle like a rope and try to pull up.” I panted.
I flexed my feet out and held them there while Ryder pulled his legs up and his shoes cut into my ankles.
“Now what?” Ryder asked.
“I’m going to pull up at the same time you’re gonna pull up, from your feet, understand?”
“Kay, then what?”
“You’re gonna reach around and get on my back, got it?” I took a breath, “This has to be quick okay I need my other hand.”
“Okay ready?” Ryder asked.
“Yeah, go!” I breathed.
I flex my feet as hard as I could with all his weight on top. With the help of his strength he popped up and quickly wrapped his arms around my neck letting go of my hand. I gasped with relief and reached up and held the knife handle with both hands.
“That’s loads better…” I said taking deep breathes.
“Ya know I feel like this should be reversed. I should’ve saved us and you should be dangling from my back. I am the guy after all.”
“Yeah well I was the smart one who brought the knife.”
“I guess I owe you now.” Ryder sighed.
“Heck yes you do! Sheesh! After all this! Holy cow!”
“Okay! I got it!”
We breathed while we dangled.
“Now what?” Ryder asked.
“I don’t know,” I cried, “Can you see anything above us to grab a hold of?” I asked.
Suddenly Ryder shrieked a horrible girl scream right into my ear making me grimace. He breathed fast,
“SPIDER!!! BIG! SPIDER!”
“Where?! Get it off!” I yelled back at him.
He screamed again and hit my back repeatedly.
“Owe! Owe! Owe!” I screamed.
“Sorry, that thing was huge!”
“Holy moley Ryder, you scream like a girl.” I said annoyed.
“I do not!” Ryder snapped.
My laugh was cut short when I felt the knife’s sturdy hold in the tree’s bark begin to feel not so sturdy. It slipped out of wall just a little but still held us making us gasp.
“Ooooh no.” I groaned.
“I can’t die like this!” Ryder cried.
Without anymore time to think the knife lost its hold. All I felt was ice cold terror as we fell backwards into the web covered glowing abyss of the hallow tree.
“I’VE GOT YOU JADE!” Ryder screamed wrapping his arms around my waist from under me.
I tried to stab the tree wall once, twice, and the third time the knife caught and flipped out of my hand,
“NO!” I screamed.
Automatically I clutched Ryder’s hands around me and closed my eyes.
“I’m sorry Jade!” Ryder cried above the loud air passing our ears.
All I could think of was that I was happy to have his arms around me before I died.
I expected to slam into solid earth with nice dark brown dirt scattered with rocks and tree roots to break us when we hit but the impact was soft, like hitting a mattress. We hit with a loud, “OOF!!” landing on our sides. It felt like the wind got knocked out of me but that was it, I was okay! We had landed on a huge pile of moss! I turned over to see if Ryder was okay but then realized I was covered in spider webs… and spiders, a lot of spiders. Ryder shrieked his girl scream and we both scrambled to our feet hitting and brushing our bodies clean of creepy crawlies. The spiders scurried away and disappeared into dark crevices of the tree bark. I caught my breath and looked around. It was like we were standing in a huge glowing room! There were random patches of moss everywhere, cob webs, roots, branches, and funny shaped shadows in the bark walls.
“Whoa.” Ryder whispered.
My attention was brought back to him. We had just survived a free fall that was at least 25 feet up. Maybe we wouldn’t have died but would have definitely broken something. Ryder noticed my staring and returned the stare and smiled. I couldn’t help myself and pulled him into a hug.
“WE’RE ALIVE!” I cheered feeling a little over whelmed.
Ryder laughed and squeezed me tight. It felt so good to have him close. I was surprised when he pushed me away leaving his hands on my shoulders and gave me a serious look.
He cleared his throat, “I am sorry I got you into this. I would’ve felt really bad if you died, even though I’d be dead too. I’d be a really guilty dead person.”
I smiled, “You didn’t ask me to come out here. I came on my own. You don’t have to feel bad, you don’t have to say sorry either.”
He dropped his arms to his sides and cleared his throat awkwardly,
“Why did you really come out here?” he asked.
“Um… I’ve always wanted to come here and I… I do like you Ryder,” I took a deep breath trying to control the sudden mass of butterflies in my stomach, “Maybe I like you a little more then a friend.”
Oh man, I couldn’t believe I had just said that!
“Oh.” Ryder said, taken back.
I twitched at my pant pockets and he pulled at the back-pack straps nervously… very awkward. He said ‘Oh’? That couldn’t be good I dreaded. My stomach suddenly felt like a bottomless pit of despair. What if he didn’t like me like that?
“I… I didn’t think you felt that way… Ever, actually,” Ryder admitted, “I like you too Jade, you are really cool. I didn’t realize how much stuff I didn’t know about you.”
I smiled. Thank goodness! My heart suddenly soared out of the bottomless pit of despair.
“Thanks.” I said trying to control another wave of giddiness.
What else should I have said? He was my first real crush; I didn’t know any other boy that was more gorgeous or more fascinating then Ryder.
“So…” Ryder said looking around embarrassed.
“Right..aa..” I said taking few steps around the moss patches.
“Now what?” Ryder asked.
I walked over another mossy patch to a shadowy corner with funny shaped shadows.
“Ryder, come over here.” I said.
“Wow, it really smells like rotten dirt down here.” He said and looked over my shoulder,
“What is that?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, looks funny huh?” I said.
I reached out into the shadows through the cob webs and gripped what felt like a handle.
“Yuck so many cob webs.” I squirmed wanting to pull back my hand but I resisted the urge. Instead I tried to pull the handle but it didn’t budge.
“I can’t pull it out…” I said trying to pull again.
Ryder stood next to me and gripped his hands around mine.
“One, two, three, pull!” He said.
We pulled and huffed together finally feeling it loosen from the ground. What sounded like tree roots breaking, the ground let go of the object we were trying to resurrect. We had pulled so hard we fell back. Well, I fell back onto Ryder and Ryder onto the ground. I could here our gasps echo all the way up the tree hallow.
We stared at a large sword I held up, the hilt and blade was engraved with tiny detailed designs.
“Wow…” Ryder whispered from under me.
I got up off of Ryder and we stood together staring at this amazing looking sword. I brushed my hand over the flat of the blade dusting it off. The blade began to glimmer from the intense silver glow of the tree hallow.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” I said in an excited disbelief.
“This is one serious sword.” Ryder said.
“Do you think this belonged to the king of light?” I asked.
“You mean the commander of the good army?” Ryder asked.
“Yeah, or maybe his general or something?”
“That would be way cool if it was.”
I looked at the spot where we pulled it from,
“I wonder if there’s more over there.” I murmured.
I handed Ryder the sword and walked over to the shadowy corner of the tree hallow. I brushed away cob webs and pulled out dead branches, clearing out debris until the shadows were gone and the silver light shined through. Then I saw two shimmery lights lying in the dirt and moss right next to the deep hole the sword had been stuck in,
“Ryder come here!!” I shouted in surprise.
Ryder ran over quickly,
“What is it!?”
“Rings…” I whispered.
We gawked at the two massive stone rings.
“Wait a minute, are those diamonds?” Ryder asked.
“I think so.” I answered.
“But they look untouched, like someone placed them there not too long ago.”
“No way, we have to be the first ones down here in centuries.” I said.
“Yeah but look at em,” Ryder said.
The rings had thick silver bands inlayed with one large clear-cut diamond, bigger then my thumbnail.
“Why are there two?” Ryder asked.
“Yeah… good question.” I said in awe.
What if the king had a queen that fought along side him? She must have been glorious and beautiful. I wished I could be a queen of light fighting off the darkness.
“Jade…” Ryder whispered.
“What?”
“I’ve got a really weird feeling.”
“Another shadowy thing?!” I said with a sudden rush of fear.
“No! No… this is different. It feels like these rings are meant for us.” He said.
“What? Don’t be crazy…”
Then Ryder reached down to pick up a ring but I grabbed his wrist,
“No! Don’t touch them!”
“What? Why?” Ryder asked.
He knelt down and slid the backpack off his shoulders and shifted closer to me. I noticed just how messy his hair was and his face and clothes were covered in dirt. He looked at me with his eyes filled with excitement. He looked so cute I couldn’t help but giggle.
“Why are you laughing?” he said seriously.
“Nothing, its just you’re so dirty.” I laughed.
“Ha ha, so are you Miss Bossy. Aren’t you going to pick one up?”
“No we shouldn’t touch them!” I said.
“Stop being a sissy pants.” He said and pulled his wrist out of my hand.
“They could be booby-trapped!” I said quickly.
“Oh yeah right! You’re not going all Indiana Jones on me now are ya? Wait… don’t tell me you’ve got a whip in that bag? You are kinda like a girl version of Indiana Jones. Maybe I should call you Dr. Jones” Ryder said with a smile.
“Ha ha very funny. Twelve year olds don’t use whips.” I answered.
“What is it with you and our age? We’re twelve so what?” Ryder asked.
“Don’t you ever feel like a sixteen year old stuck in a twelve your olds body?” I asked.
“A… yeah, all the time.”
“See what I mean?”
“I guess so…” Ryder said, “Come on Dr. Jones; don’t fail me now.”
He went to reach down again and suddenly pulled his hand back,
“Holy!!” he shouted echoing up the long tree shaft.
The ring he went to grab had floated up a few centimeters from the dirt and remained floating in place when he drew back his hand.
“Is this really happening?” Ryder whispered.
A sudden whirl of flashbacks of our adventures so far hit me like a ton of bricks. Was this really happening? Yes, of course it was!
“Seriously?” I said, “Yeah this is happening! We were attacked by a shadow monster, the tree is literally glowing, and now we’ve found floating rings and a sword! I think this is only the beginning!”
“Well okay! Geez woman! Then take the dang ring why don’t chya and see what happens.” Ryder half smiled. I think my freak out was entertaining him.
I looked at him for a moment both of us still crouched down in the dirt against the intense glowing walls of the tree.
“Fine.” I finally said.
I snatched the ring from out of the air then immediately I heard a sizzle at the same time I felt the ring burn my palm.
I let out a high pitched scream, “Owe!” dropping the ring.
The ring fell but didn’t hit the dirt, instead it floated up and stopped a few inches away from Ryder’s face.
“What the?” Ryder said curiously looking at the ring.
I rubbed my thumb over the fresh burn on my palm. There was a ring of red skin that was raised up; it wasn’t too bad of a burn.
“Geez, it burnt me!” I said holding up my palm facing him so he could see the red ring of skin.
“Oh yeah, hmm I don’t wanna touch it now.” Ryder replied.
“Why is it floating in front of you then? Maybe that one was meant for you and the other for me. Let’s see.” I said putting my burnt hand over the other ring.
Sure enough the ring that lay in the dirt began to rise slowly up to my hand. I closed my fist around it and felt sudden warmth. But there was more to it. I felt safe, stronger somehow, and that this was extremely right.
“Wow.” I whispered.
“What?” Ryder said anxious.
“Take yours!”
He did and I could tell he was feeling the same as I did from his expression, but what came next surprised me.
“What in the hell is going on here!” Ryder blurted, “I don’t understand!”
He shook his head holding the ring in one hand and the sword in the other, point down in the dirt,
“Jade we should get outta here.”
“But this is where we are supposed to be.” I said.
“That’s what’s freakin me out! It feels almost too right!” Ryder exclaimed.
“Just calm down! It’s going to be okay.” I reassured him.
I fumbled with the ring in my hand and automatically put my thumb through. It fit my right thumb perfectly. I noticed Ryder had put the ring on his thumb too.
“Does it fit?” I asked.
“Yeah. Aa… Jade?”
“What?”
“How the hell are we getting out of this log?”Ryder asked.
I looked up the long hallow tree and saw only the leaves and branches illuminated by the glowing tree through the small opening 30 feet above.
“I don’t know… but we’re going to find a way. We have to.” I said.
I saw another glimmer over in the dirt; it was my ‘Rambo’ knife that I had tried to stick in the wall of the tree when we were falling. I walked over, picked it up, and slid it into the sheath that was still buttoned to my belt.
Ryder had stood and walked over to me, I didn’t know what for but at that moment there was an insanely loud cracking noise. We both gasped and instinctively moved closer to each other. The noise came from the place we had found the sword and rings.
“Do you have one of those feelings?” I asked Ryder.
“No… this is different… I have no idea what this is.” He said.
The cracking noise continued, like the bark was coming apart and small branches were breaking.
“You think one of those monster things is trying to dig through the tree?” I asked.
“No way, this sucker is thick.” Ryder answered.
“What in the crud is that then?” I asked.
I took a step closer,
“No!” Ryder snapped grabbing hold of my arm.
“It’s okay!” I said, but he held a firm grip around my forearm.
“Just wait.” He said.
I stepped back to him and he let go. The cracking and breaking of wood got louder. Ryder held up the sword in a ready fighting position,
“Maybe you should get your knife back out.” Ryder suggested.
I went to unbutton the sheath when I noticed the ring on my thumb was glowing, bright and white. I looked to Ryder’s ring and it was glowing just as bright as mine,
“Look at your ring!”
Amid the noisy crunching and breaking Ryder noticed and his eyes went wide,
“Seriously! What in the hell is going on!?”
There was one more loud SNAP and there was an explosion, and with no time for reflexes I caught a mouth full of bark right in the face. We coughed, spit, and waved the dust particles away. The bark dust settled and I saw what looked to be carved into the wall of the tree, a carving of a small creature. Where the face should’ve been looked like a mask, an ancient mask, from I don’t know which era. The body looked like it belonged to a monkey.
“Whoa…” Ryder whispered.
“It’s a monkey!” I shouted surprised. I loved monkeys.
“A monkey?” Ryder said confused.
Then another crack,
“Oh no…” Ryder said, “Please tell me that monkey isn’t going to spring alive out of the tree and eat our brains.”
I whimpered as a vision of a crazed monkey eating our brains had uncontrollably popped up into my imagination. My stomach turned. The crack split wider right down the middle of the creature’s carved mask and a burst of light splintered through. I covered my eyes from the sudden bright light and Ryder had taken a step in front of me like he was protecting me. Was he trying to? If he was, that would be totally okay with me. I was already liking him more and more by the minute, and at that thought I knew it was bad I had these feeling already. I sighed.
Shadows of movement broke through the crack and started breaking away the rest of its wooden tomb. Ryder gasped and put his arm out in front of me keeping me behind him, it made me smile (even amid all this craziness). The creature had made a hole in the head of the tomb and jumped out from it and landed a few feet in front of us on all fours. Four of its paws, paws with claws I should say. It definitely wasn’t a monkey that was for sure. The animal body looked like it belonged to a lion, and the head of a… dragon? The dragon head looked like the ones my mom and I used to watch on TV, in those Asian festival parades, but its head was completely white. The creature looked completely symmetrical and proportionate somehow. Ryder took a slow step back and me along with him. It stood there frozen staring into our souls it seemed. A deep and intimidating voice erupted from the creature,
“Humans?” it said but its mouth didn’t move when it spoke,
“How did you enter this sanctuary?” It boomed.
Ryder didn’t speak so I used my courage,
“We fell.” I said taking a breath after realizing I’d been holding it for some time and I was squeezing the heck out of Ryder’s shirt clinging to him.
The creature took a step, stealthily and methodically closer.
“Stay back!” Ryder said pointing the sword at it.
“Do not be afraid human, I am not here to harm you.” It said.
Ryder lowered the sword but he was still very ridged.
“How is it you are able to wear the rings of light?” The creature asked.
We looked down at our rings that were still shining brightly; obviously they were the rings of light he was talking about.
“I don’t know,” said Ryder, “They came to us.”
“They came to you?” said the creature of white curiously.
“They floated to us…” Ryder added, not knowing how else to describe it.
The creature stared in silence a few moments longer and it moved carefully pacing in front of us, turning its head curiously.
I looked at Ryder; he had sweat on his brow and looked like he had to take a humungous dump. I stifled a sudden urge to laugh.
“Are you okay?” I whispered.
“Do you know what those shadow creatures are? It tried to kill us!” Ryder blurted.
I guessed he was holding back the urge to ask, how terrified was he I wondered?
The creature stopped and sat down like how a dog would sit and answered Ryder,
“Those shadow creatures as you call them are known as Rakshasa’s.” It answered carefully, “better known to you as a demon.; a demon of the darkest kind, very powerful full of illusion and tricks.” It finished deep and low.
I felt the hairs on my arms stand up and sprout goose-bumps.
“Great…” I muttered.
“Jade and Ryder…” It said loud and enunciated very well, but also sent chills up my spine to the fact that he knew our names without us telling him. He continued,
“You are young but I see your souls are old and wise. It seems that the light has chosen you for an important mission, one that has lain dormant for more than a century. Please step into the circle.”
My eyes went wide. Did he say mission?
Then a lump of moss began to slither and move down into the dirt and disappear beneath the ground revealing a glowing circle full of intricate designs.
“Shit.” Spat Ryder under his breath.
I nudged him hard. The creature spoke again,
“Be careful young Ryder, you must learn from your mistakes quickly here because your second may be your last.” Its voice boomed, “Listen to Jade’s warnings and act on them.” The creature moved his attention to me. I felt my body freeze up. He had something to say to me?
“Jade,” The creature said, “Never stray too far from Ryder; you’ll need him in times of great danger. Remember these things. Now please…. Step into the circle. You’ll now meet my master.”
Oh man, oh man, oh man…. His master? I was freaking out inside. Ryder was frozen and definitely not going anywhere and held the sword so tight his knuckles were white. I pushed him,
“Go!” I said.
Ryder moved and we stepped within the glowing circle. Ryder looked at me,
“What?” I asked annoyed.
“Pinch me please.”
I took a bit of flesh from his arm between my pointer and thumb finger, the one with the glowing ring and pinched as hard as I could adding a little twist.
“OWE!” he shrieked.
Just then the circle we stood on gave way and once again we felt the weight of gravity hit us as we free fell through the ground and into darkness.

1
The Legend


“Jade!” I felt someone’s hands on my arm, “Jade wake up!”
“Mom!” I moaned burying my head in my pillow.
“Come on, it’s almost time!” She said excited.
I pulled the covers off and forced my legs over the side of my mattress so my toes touched the carpet.
“There you go, now hurry. Come on.” Mom urged.
“Alright antsy pants, I’m up!”
I stood and grabbed a folded blanket at the foot of my bed and wrapped it around me. My eyes were still blurry from sleepiness, I reached out and grabbed the back of my Mom’s sweater and followed her out into the morning air of our backyard. The air was crisp and full of pine and evergreen. I felt the cold needles of grass in between my toes as we walked across the lawn.
“Jade be careful. You can’t sleep walk here. Open your eyes.”
I blinked the blurriness away and stepped up onto the big granite rock, one of many that lined the back edge of our backyard. When I say edge I mean literally, we didn’t have a back fence that separated our lawn from the two hundred foot drop off from our backyard rocks. Two hundred feet down the cliff spanned a forest, across the valley and into the back mountains. Not so much mountains but large hills. The forest was called the Eidolon Forest the legendary haunted forest that no one was allowed to enter, at least not anymore since the search parties started to go missing. Our city was called Melina which sat on the cliffs that viewed the forest below.
We watched as the sun slowly peeked over the tree-lined horizon. I wrapped my arms around my mom’s waist, she was soft and warm against my cheek. She put her hand on my shoulder and the other held a mug of her morning Postum. The sun’s rays touched each tree top like a wave lifting the morning fog from the trees burning away the darkness. The morning stars faded with the brightness of the rising sun but the moon still shined its waxing crescent. This was a tradition my mom believed to be good luck, it was also my favorite part of the day; watching the colors change, starting at light blue, yellow to burnt orange, red to pink, and finally the burning glory of the sun. The sun rays touched each tree top like it was cleansing the dark forest giving light to those that were lost. If you were to follow the light at first morning break it would guide you to the exit and back to the road that leads to the city; although there hasn’t been a story yet of anyone coming back.
“Do you think the spirits will find their way out?” I asked.
“I hope so, but those trees are so thick it would be hard for the sun to penetrate.”
“Do you believe in dark spirits Mom?”
“I’m sure they’re down there… keeping the light out.” She rubbed my arm reassuringly, “Don’t worry; they’ll never come here. As long as we stay above the forest we are safe.”
I hugged her tighter,
“I love you Mom.”
“I love you too honey. Now it’s time to get ready for school. I’ll start breakfast while you get ready.”
“Okay.”


I brushed my brown hair that came to my shoulders and made sure my bangs were curled perfectly. Since I was only in sixth grade my mom wouldn’t let me where make-up yet, only mascara and I liked to put silver glitter on by the corners of my eyes. It made me feel special, like I was full of a secret power. I threw on some clothes and I was ready before the English muffins popped out of the toaster. My mom made me a bacon and egg mc-muffin every morning before school. I considered her to be the best mom ever. It was about a twenty minute walk to school and I usually made it right before the first bell rang.
“Hi guys!” I yelled as I approached my group of friends waiting for the school doors to open.
“Hi Jade!” Liz cheered along with the others.
Liz was my best friend. She had dirty blonde hair that went a little past her shoulders, freckles, and had bright blue eyes.
“HI JADE!” Ryder yelled popping his head right in front of my face.
“Ack! Ryder?! Geez!” I said making him snicker.
Ryder had short black hair that always looked a little messy but shiny because of all the gel he put in it. He had warm amber eyes and to me he was the most beautiful boy I had ever seen. I always got really happy around him but I had to concentrate on toning it down so no one would notice I had a seriously huge crush on him. I didn’t want to get made fun of.
“Hmm… You smell like bacon! Do you got any on ya?” he asked hopeful.
“No! It’s all gone!”
He frowned.
“You’ve got sparkly stuff on your face.” he said getting closer.
“It’s called glitter.”
“You put it there?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Cuz I like it.”
“Why?”
“Cuz it’s cool!” I yelled pushing him away.
“I don’t have to wear glitter to feel cool. I KNOW I’m cool.” He smirked.
“If you wore glitter you’d be gay.” I commented.
The school bell rang before he could reply with a snappy come-back. Everyone laughed as we filed into the warm elementary hallways to our classroom.
“Good morning Mr. Stuart!” students cheered as we hung our coats on the wall. Mr. Stuart was in his late forties, had glasses, dark brown hair, and a bushy mustache. He was a good teacher and we all liked him.
Our desks were separated into fours clumped together throughout the classroom. I sat by my best friends, Lizzy, Rachel, and Denise.
“Alright, today is the one year mark since the Eidolon Forest was closed. Raise your hand if you knew that.” Mr. Stuart started.
About five hands out of thirty rose. I didn’t raise mine but Ryder and Denise raised theirs.
“Denise, can you tell us why they closed the forest?”
“Because so many people went missing, even the search parties.” She answered clearly. Denise was taller then most of the girls, skinny, and everyday she wore a t-shirt tucked into her jeans with a belt. We never asked why, it was just the way she was. She also had to be the funniest girl I knew.
“Right.” He agreed, “How many of you know the legend about the Eidolon Forest? And what the name means?”
Ryder didn’t raise his hand and neither did Denise, no one raised their hand. I knew a little from what my mom had told me but I wanted to hear Mr. Stuart tell the story.
“Jade? You look like you might know.” Mr. Stuart pointed out.
Everyone turned to look at me and I felt my cheeks flush with heat.
“Um… I know a little.” I squeaked.
“Please go ahead. Speak up.” Mr. Stuart urged.
“Um… My mom told me that centuries ago the forest used to be a meadow… and there was a war… a war between two armies one good and one very bad. In the end they all died, there were no survivors. And the land they died on was left to rot. As the centuries went by a forest grew over the dead bodies. I’ve heard people say that each tree is like a gravestone, that there are ghosts that still fight in the forest today. That the dark spirits won’t let the light leave, I mean the good spirits leave. That’s why is called Eidolon. Eidolon means apparition or ghost.”
“Wow, very good Jade. I’m impressed.” Mr. Stuart smiled at me.
I was surprised at myself. I gulped and exhaled, relieved that my time in the spotlight was over and people were looking away. My face turned a nice shade of pink as I cracked a smile. I caught Ryder giving me a skeptic glare, I smiled my pearly whites at him and I swear I saw him blush as he looked away quickly.
“That’s very good.” Mr. Stuart went on, “The Eidolon forest was once a very vast meadow, with no tree in sight. It’s rumored that the armies were from two types of people with very strong rulers. One was a very righteous and a virtuous people. The others were known as barbarians, even cannibals, who were ruthless and knew no mercy.”
“What’s a cannibal?” Jeff blurted out.
“People who eat other people, stupid!” Mary shot back.
“What? Uh! That’s gross!”
Mr. Stuart shook his head and continued,
“There is also a rumor that both armies knew magic, making their leaders very powerful. Both armies were equal in strength leaving no survivors. Their people who didn’t fight condemned the land as a death land, letting the earth take their dead. And as the centuries went by a forest began to grow. To get an idea of just how big the war was, just look out past the hills, everything that you see covered with trees is where dead bodies once laid.”
“That’s huge!” Miles blurted out.
“Na uh!” Jeff cried out.
“Yes huh!” Mr. Stuart corrected happily,
“Now there haven’t been any disappearances since the forest was closed a year ago. So please don’t go near the gate and if you hear about someone wanting to go in, please do not let them. This is not a joke. A lot of people have lost their lives to that forest. I urge you not to be one of them…. Raise your hand if you understand.”
All our hands were raised.
“Now I have to pass around a paper that all of you need to sign, saying that I have told you the story and you have agreed not to go into the forest.” He walked to his desk and picked up the signature page,
“While that is being passed around please get out last nights homework and we will correct it together.”


LATER AT RECESS


“Do you think there are really monsters out there?” Ryder asked us.
We all walked together tossing the nerf-football around as we made our way to the grass field.
“No way, that stuff doesn’t exist.” Caitlin said snootily.
Caitlin had long perfectly straight hair and was probably one of the smartest in the class. The problem was that she acted like she already knew she was brilliant.
“No they do. Like the ones that hide under his bed.” Denise said calmly.
Liz and I started to snicker.
“Man, you’ve been telling her about your nightmares too?” Parsons said cracking up.
“Shut up!” Ryder said laughing along with everyone else.
Parsons was Ryder’s best friend. We all called him by his last name except for Mr. Stuart. Parsons had glasses with blonde hair that parted down the middle and fell to his ears. He was smart too but he was also a jerk.
Why were all the smart ones jerks?
“Who dares me to go in there?” Ryder asked bravely.
“No Ryder! You can’t anyway, it’s all blocked off.” Liz said concerned.
“How do you know?”
“Mr. Stuart just told us!” Liz replied.
“I wanna go check it out.” Ryder said with intense curiosity completely ignoring Liz’s warning.
“You’re crazy man. I’m not goin down there.” Parsons replied.
“Yeah no way.” I said.
I lied. I really did want to go, if he was going I was going.
“You’re all just chicken.” Ryder said downfallen.
“Go long!” Ryder suddenly yelled to Parsons.
Parsons took off and everyone started to spread out across the field. I walked with Ryder and waited until he threw the football.
“Your not gonna go when its dark are you?” I asked.
“Why, you believe in ghosts?” he asked.
“Do you?” I asked, not wanting to answer him.
“I don’t know that’s why I wanna go. Why do you care?”
“I don’t! But you can’t go when it’s dark!” I said seriously concerned.
“I’m not! And I think you do care!” He said turning to me while the others played football without us. His attention fully was on me now.
“No I don’t!” I replied blushing.
“Why can’t I go when it’s dark?”
“Because!” I was panicking.
“Why are you blushing?”
“I’m not blushing!” I said as I pushed him away.
“Then tell me why!” he said pushing me back.
“Cuz there are things down there! ... When its dark.” I blurted out.
“BA hahahaha!” Ryder fell to the grass laughing,
“What? You’re so sure! Look at your face!” he laughed pointing.
I knew I was sweating and beat red with embarrassment but I was angry now.
“Shut up Ryder!” I said lightly kicking him as he got up.
“I knew you were a chicken!” he laughed.
“My mom told me about the stories!”
“I didn’t know your mom was stupid too?!”
I was so shocked I gasped. That was it. I had had it. My rage had reached boiling point.
“Jade, heads up!” Denise yelled a few yards away.
I turned and in one fluid movement I caught the football and threw it straight at Ryder as hard as I could. The ball flew in a perfect spiral and impaled him right into the eye. He didn’t even see it coming. I could hear gasps from my friends behind me and Parsons yelling, “Holy crap!” from across the field. Denise and Caitlin burst into laughter.
Ryder was on the ground holding his head yelling profanities a twelve year old shouldn’t yell.
“Do not call my mom stupid!” I said still fueled with anger.
I shoved him onto his stomach and straddled his back and forced him into a headlock.
“Gah!” Ryder gasped, “Jade! You’re insane!”
“Take it back!” I ordered.
“Can’t you take a joke?!” He choked trying to pry my arms away.
“You don’t talk about my mom that way!” I demanded.
I could feel my friends’ eyes on us, watching in amusement.
“Okay, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! You are just the stupid chicken!” Ryder breathed.
That didn’t make me want to free him.
“You are more stupid and chicken then I am and you know it!” I yelled.
Parsons knelt down and put his hand on my shoulder,
“Its time to let go now.” He said nodding with a small smile. He was enjoying this too much.
I let go and got up quickly. Parsons helped Ryder up saying something to make Ryder lash out, “Shut up man! I don’t hit girls okay!”
“You okay?” Liz asked me.
“Yeah…” I breathed.
“What was that about?” she asked.
“Well… I kinda snapped when he called my mom stupid.”
“Wow, I can’t believe he said that! Your mom is the nicest person on the planet.”
“Thanks Liz. She is the best. Ryder has no idea!”
I looked back at Ryder who was walking away with Parsons. He turned and gave me a hateful glare. I could see his right eye already swelling up.
“But that was cool right?” I said to Liz smiling.
She laughed, “Yeah!”
We walked together in the opposite direction from the boys.
“But I don’t think that’ll make him like you anymore…” She added.
My heart dropped,
“I didn’t mean to hit him in the eye! It was a freak accident!”
“It was a good one!” Denise chimed in, “But Liz is right; I don’t think hitting your crush directly in the eye with a football will help your chances. He’s probably got nerf flecks stuck in his eye.”
That made all three of us start to chuckle.
“But that was so mean what he said!” I pouted, “If he liked me at all he wouldn’t have said that about my mom. I hope those nerf flecks infect his eye!”
“I’m sure we’ll be hearing all about it later.” Denise smiled.


The two and a half hours left of school went by fast. Ryder didn’t care so much as to look at me for the rest of the day either. I felt bad about his eye. Mr. Stuart just laughed when he had asked Ryder about his red swollen eye. Mr. Stuart actually turned and winked at me. That may have set Ryder off a little and the topic about his desire to check out the forest didn’t come up again.
The next day Ryder wasn’t at school. I was worried… I was really worried. The other kids didn’t think much of it, neither did Mr. Stuart. I pulled Lizzy to the side during recess,
“Why isn’t Ryder here today?” I asked.
“I don’t know. He didn’t call or anything.” She answered. Ryder sometimes car-pooled with Liz to school since they lived so close to each other.
“That’s weird; do you think he’s sick?” I asked.
“No, he’s probably just skipping.” Lizzy said.
“Do you think he went into the forest like he said he was going to?”
“No! No way! If he did I’m going to kill him!” Lizzy said.
“Dang it!” I said. I wasn’t happy.
“No Jade! That’s not it. If your gonna worry all day like this we’ll knock on his door after school okay?”
“Okay…” I answered. But my heart was racing a mile minute. My nerves wouldn’t settle for the rest of the day. Something wasn’t right, I could feel it.

AFTER SCHOOL

Lizzy and I walked around the corner of our neighborhood to see two cop cars pulled up to Ryder’s house. You could say I was freaking out inside. He was missing, the words kept repeating in my mind.
“Oh no.” Lizzy said.
We walked quickly up to the door and Liz knocked. There were footsteps and muffled voices inside; the voices were strained and urgent. Ryder’s mom opened the door. She was pretty and tall with long shiny black hair but her eyes were red and puffy. She wore a long tunic sweater with leggings and slippers and had tissues wadded up in both her hands. She was a mother who had just lost her son. I had to hold back a sudden sting of tears. I had to keep it together.
“Hi Mrs. Shields,” Lizzy said, “Is Ry—”
“Oh girls! I’m so sorry….” She sniffed, “our Ryder has….” She choked back sobs and more tears leaked down her cheeks. I could see Ryder’s Dad inside standing with police officers with stern and troubled faces. Sitting at the table behind them was Ryder’s little brother Nick. His expression was vacant; he probably was still in shock that his big brother had disappeared.
“I’m so sorry Mrs. Shields.” said Lizzy.
I nodded. My nerves had taken what was left of my voice. I had no idea what to say. His mom didn’t know me very well either.
“We believe Ryder has gone missing within the Eidolon Forest.” Ryder’s dad said as he came up behind his wife with his hand on her shoulder as she sniffled.
“We’ll let you know if anything comes up okay girls?” Mr. Shields said.
We both nodded and Mr. Shields shut the door. We walked in silence for a moment.
My heart was pounding. I had to find him…. I had to. I would not be able to sleep tonight.
“Should we have said something?” asked Lizzy.
“About what?”
“That Ryder had talked about going in there.” Lizzy said.
“I don’t think so, they seem to already know. I don’t want to go back there.” I said.
“Yeah, we shouldn’t. This isn’t good…” said Lizzy, “I’m sorry Jade. You’re probably more messed up then I am about this. I know you really like him.”
Another sting of tears came but I swallowed it away and nodded in response.

I told my mom what had happened to Ryder. She was concerned and remembered that he’s the boy I liked and made me some tea to feel better. The tea didn’t help though; I had to get out of the house. I thought up a plan quickly. Next I knew I was in my room packing away supplies for a journey in the forest.
My plan went as follows; since it was Friday night I asked my mom if I could spend the night at Lizzy’s. It usually was always a yes. I went to Lizzy’s house and told her about my plan and changed into more suitable clothes to hike in. She was freaking out but I made her promise not to tell what I was doing until I didn’t come back by noon tomorrow. She actually promised. I was scared she would get too serious and really not let me leave but thankfully she did. So then I set off down the trail to the gate that held the Eidolon Forest inside.