The Search for the Eoz Potion

10. The Restoration of the Garden of Yllop

The Searchers and the SG walked about the land as a murmur of excitement at the help they were receiving slowly grew among them. Zack had left the girls to help the other members of the SG get situated. Claire and Hailey were so nervous and confused about what was happening that they didn't expect to get much sleep, if any. One of the other Searchers who had been in the carriage with them found them and they talked briefly about how little they understood about what was going on. Yes, they were relieved to have a place to sleep, but they were still unclear about what the morning would bring. As they tried to figure all this out, they spotted Zack moving among the others. They called out for him and chased him down before he could start talking with the other Searchers' Guides.

"Can you go over this plan with us one more time?" Claire asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry. We ran through it all pretty fast back there. We had to get out of the forest, though. We didn't have much choice."

"Well, maybe we could get the long version now?" Hailey asked.

"Like Josef said, Tellis Oliver helped form the Searchers' Guides, she helped Josef."

"He said she was the old general?" Claire asked.

At first, Zack looked like he didn't want to talk, but he realized that if they were going to help them, there were things they should know. Still, as he spoke, the light in his eyes dimmed a bit and the look on his face became more serious.

"She was, but she saw the light. She stopped expelling people from Yllop and instead started helping them find the potion. She knew the HRA was trying to seal off the portal. It was a plan she helped come up with when she was with them. She told us all about it and we've been working on what to do about it. We just didn't think it would all happen so fast. So we need to break her and the other Guides out. We've all got friends in there. Josef has family."

"And this Prince, or whatever?" Hailey asked.

"I don't have a lot of details on that plan," Zack admitted. "That was something Josef and Tellis were working on. Tellis isn't just a general. She's like a spiritual leader for the SG."

Unimpressed by the explanation, and feeling like Zack wasn't telling her everything, Hailey decided to change the subject. She had been wondering since she met him if he was the same Zack Miller Dr. Hampton had told them about. Was he the boy they sent to Yllop to find the potion and had never come back? If so, she wanted to know why.

"Do you know Dr. Hampton?" Hailey asked directly.

Her straightforwardness on the topic horrified Claire who gasped out loud when Hailey asked the question.

"He sent you too," Zack said after a short silence, his head hanging.

"Why didn't you go back?" Hailey asked.

"I haven't found the potion yet," he said, as though shocked that he needed to explain. "I won't go back until I do. My dad's counting on me."

Hailey and Claire looked at him and could not help but think about Faith. How long would they stay searching? It wasn't something they had thought about before. They were starting to realize that they had just assumed they would walk through the portal and the potion would be waiting right there for them. They knew they might have to look around a little, but they did not anticipate flying through the air and jumping from moving vehicles.

Then Claire broke the awkward silence with something that caught Hailey off guard.

"I would do the same thing for my dad. He's all I have."

Zack nodded to let her know he heard her, but his emotions would not let him speak. Sensing that he wanted to ask, Claire offered the information.

"My parents are divorced. My brother lives with my mom."