I'll be here forever

chapter 61

We'd gone over the plan about a hundred times.

The first order of business was the mystery of the person diving down, and never coming back up. Because they hadn't come up for air, I had to assume that they had some sort of underwater-breathing ability. So by using the map that Leo for some reason had in his toolbelt, I pointed across the river- based on the strength of the current, I deduced the place where the person that killed Festus would be most likely to surface from underwater after swimming through it.

The second problem we encountered was crossing the river. It was moving swiftly, the current strong, and we didn't have Festus to fly us over anymore. We ended up creating a shitty makeshift raft, using a hollowed-out, rotting tree. And in this we crossed the river. If I'm being honest, I thought it was going to break and let us drown about halfway through- but it didn't. We made it. And we moved determinedly forward.

Leo's manner worried me. He was always cracking jokes, making fun of me, of himself, of anything really, even in impossible situations. I had always admired his ability to find the humor in something that seemed so hopeless. Not this time. He was quiet. Too quiet. The entire time, he didn't say a word, his face set in stone. And while I understood, it unnerved me.

When we reached the place where I felt the murderer would resurface, we made our plan.

Once they surfaced, we'd lie in wait for them, waiting until they were far enough away not to run back into the river. Because if they did that, we might lose them. We couldn't afford that, because it was very unlikely that we'd be able to find them again.

Then, I would step to the front, distracting them, and Leo would walk around and sneak up from behind- a classic strategy, but effective nonetheless.

And then... then we would take justice, for our friend.

I warned Leo to keep his cool. He couldn't light himself on fire, not if we wanted this to work. If this person managed to take down Festus and make it out alive, they were clearly dangerous. We needed to be careful.

We had just gone over the plan once more when we heard them. They weren't making too much of an attempt to stay quiet- probably figured they'd lost us on the other side of the river. I could hear them limping, stumbling through the underbrush, breathing heavily. Getting closer.

And then I spied them- just barely, filtering through the trees. I felt immeasurably angry, just thinking about them.

I motioned for Leo to get ready; he did, shuffling backward slightly, and then-

A crack sounded.

Leo stepped on a stick. It might as well as been as loud as a firecracker. Leo reached forward and gripped my wrist tightly, for balance or reassurance, I didn't know.

The sound echoed through the forest- I crossed my fingers and hoped the person didn't hear it.

They froze, and my hope fluttered away. Then he stepped into view.

He looked horrible. His hair was shaggy, dark, and long, sticks and leaves stuck in it. His shirt, which might have been white once... was no longer white. It was ripped in many places, covered in dried blood, and oil, and mud, and gods knows what else. Down his arms and in between the rips in his shirt I could see too many scars to count, some new, some old and some just-healed. Despite that, he was muscular, lean. Tall, and scary.

And the way he was standing made me nervous. He just looked dangerous, and my gut told me something was very, very wrong, and to leave immediately. I wish I would've listened. He was standing like a very experienced fighter, his right hand twitching, like it wished it had a sword. And his head was tilted downward, his hair falling in his eyes, focused on something on the ground, so I couldn't quite see his face.

"Come out. I know you're there," he called suddenly, sounding almost annoyed. I startled. His voice sounded strangely familiar- I swore that I knew it from somewhere.

But neither Leo nor I moved. Both of us felt that it wouldn't be healthy to challenge this person, even though we wanted justice for Festus. I wasn't sure what exactly I had expected, but it wasn't him. Every part of me wanted to run far away.

"Fucking cowards," he muttered under his breath, and my sudden feeling of rage overpowered my instinct. Leo's grip tightened even more on my wrist, then let go, and he moved, and I knew that he was on his way to carry out his part of the plan. It was up to me.

I stepped out of the bushes and set myself in front of him, and I wanted him to look up and meet my eyes, just to convince myself that I didn't know him. Because I knew his voice. I swear I did.

But he didn't. He didn't look up. In fact, he didn't even move, when I was sure he knew that I was right in front of him.

The image of Festus's cold, dead body rose to the front of my mind- and I was angry. I was angry at myself, for being too cocky, thinking that nothing could possibly beat Festus. I was agree at Leo, for having the idea to land in the first place. But mostly, I was angry at him. He killed Festus. He killed my friend. Our friend. And he had the nerve to act like this? To call me a coward?