Evolved [Book 2 of the Life Hearts Trilogy]

Unrest in the Alliances - Blue

The next morning, I headed to Ren's tower to check on him. He wasn't there, so I checked the Fairy Fort, where he and his allies were in the middle of a meeting. They were discussing a name for their alliance.

"The people down south have got Southlanders, there's Team B.E.S.T, there's the Scottage, what's our name?" Cleo was saying.

"What if we're the Castle Alliance?" Bigb suggested.

"Or the Forest Fairies?" Lizzy suggested hopefully.

"I wanna be a Forest Fairy!" Ren said, which brought to mind images of him with butterfly wings and a magical wand. I giggled.

"Ooh, we're the Forest Fairy Castle Alliance!" Cleo said. Big brain, Cleo. Wow.

They all agreed to call it the Castle Alliance for short.

Lightning cracked the sky, signaling the selection of another Boogeyman.

They went to their separate homes to avoid the possibility of one of them being the Boogeyman and killing someone else in the Castle Alliance.

3...

2...

1...

Oh, no.

Ren had the Glow. He gasped in fear and choked, "no..."

I hurried to check on the rest of the alliance. Cleo and Lizzy were safe. Bigb was not.

That was two people in the Castle Alliance who were Boogeymen. This would not end well.

When I went to them, the Southlanders were talking in relieved voices about how none of them were Boogeymen. Thankfully, it was true. None of them had the Glow.

They all went separate ways to work on separate things. Grian stayed to strengthen the wall. Jimmy went to mine copper. Martyn went to spy on Team B.E.S.T. for some reason. Impulse and Mumbo went to make a ghast farm so they could make end crystals.

Wait, hadn't Impulse and Mumbo been the two names that I managed to read off of Pix's list? If Pix really was traveling between Realms, and there really was an end crystal war in Hermitcraft, then Mumbo and Impulse really had something going on with end crystals.

I went back to Ren's new tower after that. He was headed to the Fairy Fort, probably to talk to Lizzy.

Lizzy would not let him in for a minute. "Are you the Boogeyman?"

"No," Ren lied.

"Are you sure?" Lizzy said, narrowing her eyes.

"No," Ren said, hanging his head.

Lizzy put a comforting hand on his shoulder and promised not to tell the other members of the Castle Alliance unless he decided to.

Ren went back to his tower and started digging a huge hole in the ground under his tower, probably for a trap.

I wandered around nearby, making sure that no one was there to see that Ren was planning to kill someone. When he covered his hole with wood and headed over the river and through the woods to the Fairy Fort, I assumed that Lizzy had called a meeting.

"Okay, is anyone the Boogeyman?" Bigb said once the whole Alliance was there.

You, I thought.

"Nope," said Cleo

"No," said Lizzy.

They all looked at Ren.

Ren hung his head. "Yes."