The Search for the Eoz Potion

24. No Man's Land

Hailey and Tellis walked in silence for most of the morning. Hailey couldn't stop thinking about Evan and how his lack of trust in the SG had led him to sympathize with the Prince. She didn't agree with him, and their meeting had her questioning her whole plan. Still, she felt she had no choice but to see it through.

Tellis found some fruit to eat not far from the cabin and stopped to have some breakfast. They chatted briefly about how they thought the others might be doing, but for the most part they ate in silence. When they started walking again, Hailey was still thinking about Evan, wondering if they would stumble upon him again as they walked. After a while, though, her thoughts drifted back to Claire. Was she okay? Had she gotten to the river? Had she found the potion? She thought about what she would do if she made it to No Man's Land only to find out she was wrong. Would she go back to find Claire? Would she go back to the portal and go home? These thoughts and others swirled around her head throughout the morning and after lunch.

As they walked, she noticed the sky becoming unusually dark. Around mid afternoon, thick gray clouds began to crawl across the sky and obscure most of the sunlight. The air was heavy and humid, and Hailey asked Tellis if they needed to be worried about more of the poison rain. She assured her, however, that that was not what this was. The poison rain clouds were pink. These were something different. The sky was almost completely dark and it was becoming harder to see. Still, Tellis led them on through the premature night.

When Zack explained to Aileen what had happened, she ran to Josef. When she saw how sick he looked, she fell to her knees beside where he was sleeping on the ground. Claire and Zack came up quickly behind her, and Claire was surprised to see that Aileen was not crying. She heard her mumbling something familiar under her breath, and it took her a minute or two to recognize it as the same foreign song the SG had been singing when they circled the prison back in Capital City. The same song that Josef had used to bring down the walls that imprisoned her she now sang to try to drive out the illness that was threatening his life.

The SG members that had flown in with her came up behind Zack and Claire. Having been so caught up in Aileen and Josef, Claire had not realized they were there as they started chanting the song as well. Their presence made Claire jump as she turned around to see them. The SG walked past her and Zack and knelt down next to Aileen. There were more of them than she realized at first, almost twenty or thirty. They all knelt in a row beside Josef. When they were all in place, Zack grabbed Claire by the hand and led her over to join them. She was not entirely sure what they were doing, and she didn't know if it could actually work to save Josef. She figured, however, it had to be better than doing nothing.

It was late in the afternoon when Hailey and Tellis finally reached the river, but it was as dark as midnight. Tellis stood on the riverbank with an uncharacteristic confused look on her face. The river was completely dried up, full of nothing but dirt and dust. All they saw before them was a deep, empty trench cut into the dry ground. It was the first time Hailey had seen Tellis less than confident. She had noticed how sure of things she always seemed. It was one of the things that bothered her most about her. But now Tellis seemed more human as she stared out at the river without any explanation for why it was in the condition it was.

In the distance, on the other side of the river, Hailey noticed two people walking. They were coming out of a broken down house that looked a lot like the log cabin she and Tellis had left that morning. The only difference was that there were holes rotted into the walls, the door was hanging from the hinges, and the roof looked like it had been burned away by a bad fire. The two people took slow, heavy steps as they seemed to be trying to find something. They had pale white faces with dark circles around their eyes, gray hair, and clothes as tattered as their home. Before Hailey had a chance to get a closer look, Tellis grabbed her by the wrist and ran to hide behind the nearest tree.

"What's going on?" Hailey shouted angrily.

Terrified, Tellis covered Hailey's mouth to keep them from being heard.

"Devils," Tellis whispered. Her eyes were wide and deep with fear. "They know we're here, and you don't want them finding you."

"What are they?"

"This used to be a pretty heavily populated part of Yllop," Tellis explained quickly and quietly as she looked out from behind the tree. "This is where the Evil Spirit lives. When he claimed this land he decimated it, took it over completely, including the people. I didn't think they'd be out this fast. They're incredibly strong, and dangerous."

Hailey could not understand why she wouldn't have told her sooner where they were headed. She was angry and felt that her lack of trust in Tellis had at last been justified. She had let them walk right into the most dangerous part of the Garden. But then she thought of something. Maybe she had let them come here because she too thought this might be where the potion was hidden. Regardless, Hailey stormed out from behind the tree and looked out onto the dried up river. She looked around for the devils, but they were now nowhere to be seen. As she was looking for them, however, Hailey noticed a maze of smaller trenches dug off of the river. She walked closer to get a better look and Tellis jumped out quickly behind her but left her alone when she realized the devils were gone. The smaller trenches were intricate and confusing and twisted around in and out of each other into the distance.

"It's a maze," Haiely said out loud to herself. "This must lead to the potion."

Tellis listened to her with a concerned look on her face, but she didn't say anything.

"This makes perfect sense," Hailey continued, turning to address Tellis with excitement. The doubt that had arisen in her after her meeting with Evan was now gone. "The Eoz Potion is hidden in the last place anyone would want to go looking for it, in the home of the Evil Spirit. It's protected by his devils and hidden at the end of this maze of paths. This is it."

Tellis tried hard to keep her skepticism about Hailey's idea to herself. She hid it behind an emotionless face and still, calm eyes. She hid it behind silence and slow breaths. She hid it behind patience. All of this Hailey took as acceptance. She ran to the river and jumped down to the floor. It was further down than she expected, and she lost her balance when she landed and stumbled forward and fell onto her face. Tellis ran to the edge of the trench and looked down at her. When she saw Hailey, she was already back on her feet and looking around and considering which of the smaller trenches she wanted to start down. Tellis closed her eyes, dropped her head, and took several deep breaths to calm her fears. Then she lifted her head and walked slowly down the bank of the dried up river to join Hailey. When she got to the bottom, Hailey had already chosen her path and had begun walking down it. Tellis looked up into the sky as if she were waiting for something, for someone. She didn't look too long, however, before running to catch up with Hailey.