A New Form

Chapter 8

The birds chirped calmly. The grass felt wavy, the soil below it soft and warm.

Squinting, I rubbed my eyes with my paws.
Opening my eyes, I saw a faint green figure in front of me.
As my eyes began to adjust to the light, I began to notice that it was Bill.

"Hey, you're finally awake!" he screamed loudly in relief. "SOPHIA! Mark's finally awake!"

"H-hey, Bill." I stuttered, getting up on my four feet. What happened? What time is it?"
"Uh... where do I start? Well, you see, we set up a little camp near the old lighthouse.
He then pointed his little green fingers to the town lighthouse that I saw blown up in the news earlier.

I looked around some more. I seemed to be in the middle of a campsite, in a patch of grass. Some of the buildings were just tents, though a house in the corner of a roundabout looked like it was made from logs.

"By the way, it's Sunday, I think it's ten o'clock, and, uhh, your tent is over there." He pointed to a green tent actually quite near from here.

"Where's Sophia?" I asked.
"She's over there across your house."
"Got it. See you later."
"See ya."

I sprinted to my tent. Opening the flaps, I saw my mom looking over the camping stove with a mildly disappointed look.
The tent itself was a bit small but good enough. There where 3 sleeping bags on the floor, as well as a grey lump on one of the bags. I guessed that the lump was Izzy.

"Hello." my mom said. "Are you feeling better now?"
"Yeah, thanks for saving my life." I smiled at her.
"Denada (You're welcome), Marcos! Anyways, here's your breakfast."
She passed me a plastic plate with some bacon and an orange.
"What's with the orange?" I asked.
"I was going to have pancakes, but then I set the camping stove on fire." she told me.
I chuckled at the thought.

Just then, I heard a yawn behind me.
"Why, hello, there, sleepyhead." I said to my sister, teasing her.
"No, I don't wanna go to school!" she yelled into her pillow.

She got up, looking around frantically, only to see me and Mom.
"Oh, it's the weekend, isn't it?" she said. "IS IT?"
"Of course it is!" I replied, preventing her from repeating it again.
"Huh." she murmured. "I should go take a look around, though I'm hungry!"

My mom gave her a plate of breakfast.
We quietly chewed on our breakfast. Just as I finished, my mom said the words "A-ha!" and then dropped a familiar piece of paper. She then put her paw there and then pushed it to me.

It was that note made by 'Ewmay'.
"I saw you holding this yesterday." Mom told me. "I think it's your's, is it?"
"Yeah. Thanks, Mom."

Reading it again, I remembered the verses from the poem:

Mighty, this gem is, but without it's brothers and sisters, it might not shine.
This gem was given to you because hard times have fallen, and that's no good.
However, take care of things, and connect the dots, and the gem will be fine.
But if the evil rises and connects the dots for you... well, that, again, is no good.

—Take care, Ewmay

Then, I suddenly remembered something.

The bracelet...
It contained a gem from the poem, right?
Then, if the gem was glowing when I drank that milk, that could only mean one thing.

"I DRANK A GEM!" I screamed, grabbing the attention of my entire family, as well as some neighbors outside.

Everyone looked at me with faces of severe confusion. An entire minute of silence began.

...

Izzy was the first one to speak up.
"W-w-WHAT?" she asked, at a loss.

"A-haha..." I said, embarrassed. "Oh, look at that! I have to go to, uhhh...I mean, yeah! The restroom!" See you later!"

I began to casually walk out of the tent, and then sped off to Sophia's tent, holding the poem in my mouth.