The Forgotten Kingdom

Chapter 7:

It had been four days since the last attack. The Malum seemed to have retreated from Malhye's border back to wherever they had come from, which was still a mystery to the Origins. JJ had finally decided it was once again safe for the group of teenagers to emerge from the cave and go back to living in their beloved houses. 

Owen liked how everything was going back to normal. He was sure if he spent another minute in that cave with Emery, Ollie, Hefina, JJ and Desmond, he'd kill one of them. He preferred waking up in his warm bed, wrapped up tightly in his blankets, instead of on a hard stone floor that made his back ache. He liked making his breakfast in his kitchen instead of eating rations from his rucksack. But most of all, he liked messing around with his friends out in the open.

Ollie also liked seeing things going back to normality. Change made them uneasy. It made them feel confused and unsure of what to do. At least if they had a schedule to stick to then they knew what they should be doing. They liked having structure to their days even if it didn't look like structure to everyone else.

//<//

The plateau halfway up the mountain overlooking the village had become their new hangout spot. Barely anyone knew of the place so the group of four could laze around up there for the majority of the day without being bothered by any of the village children wondering if they wanted to play with them, which they didn't.

"What's their name?" Hefina asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled between herself and the Phantom. She nodded towards Fish who was sleeping soundly on the grass.

"Fish," Owen replied.

"That's a funny name," Hefina giggled.

"I know," Owen joined in on her laughter. 

"What are you reading?" Owen asked Ollie, noticing they had a red covered book in front of them. 

"Romeo and Juliet," Ollie replied, not taking their eyes away from the book.

"I would never have guessed you like Classical literature," Hefina commented

"Well I do," Ollie said "I think they're quite good,"

"Me too," Hefina agreed "It's funny to see what they were thinking about in the past," 

"Yea," Ollie nodded "I never would've guessed you like Classical literature,"

Hefina smiled at Ollie quoting her to herself.

"I love this song!" Emery squealed, reaching over to the small light green radio to turn it up.

"Yes!" Ollie exclaimed, instantly recognising the tune.

Owen watched his friends jump up from where they had been sitting and laying down for the past forty minutes to dance around in the grass while singing their hearts out to the Queen song. Before the moment was over, he grabbed his camcorder from his bag and recorded them dancing and singing.

Ollie had always loved Queen. They were their favourite band of all time. The Inchling constantly annoyed their friends with facts about Queen and by playing their songs on repeat all of the time. Neither Owen or Emery really minded, unless it was in the early hours of the morning that is.

Owen didn't really listen to a lot of Queen and Emery only listened to one song called Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy. It was a good song. It was a nice beat to it that made anyone want to get up and start dancing the minute it drifted into their ears. The song was like a dancing virus. Hefina giggled as she watched the Elytrian and Inchling dance and sing like nobody in the world was watching them, which was semi-true. Hefina and Owen were the only two to witness the event.