The Destined

Chapter 12: Avani

    Avani   

We land. Hard. It hurts this time. I look around. It is a large clearing surrounded by forest. The sky booms with thunder, lightning clashing with the ground, making loud noises. The rain falls down hard in large, icy drops that feel like knives. Melissa and Anna instantly run up to me. We are all shivering, all soaking wet.

There'll be a forest. Go through the densest part. Follow north below the stars. Use your mind to kill the evil. Use your hands to kill the living. Never turn, keep going. Reach the lake, and then drink and you'll be saved. These words run through my head, chasing each other, jumbling each other up until I remain utterly confused. I look around. There definitely is a forest, surrounding us. Go through the densest part. I look around. It all looks the same.

"What do we do?" I ask. "We have to go through the densest part. It all looks the same, though."

The rain keeps falling. It feels like it could strip my skin off any second now.

"Let's just run into the woods!" Melissa yells over the sound of the rain. "We will worry about that later when the storm ends!"

I listen to her. We run towards the woods. Once we step inside, though, we realize it isn't a good idea. The rain doesn't fall here, because when I look up, the branches are so tangled and close together, nothing can get through. There are no leaves. The ground is muddy, and a low, grey fog looms close to the ground, making it hard to see in front of us.

I turn back, but the field is gone.

"What happened?" Anna asks, her voice hoarse. "Where's the field?"

"I don't know what happened." I say. There are only trees; more woods, descending further back. No field. No sounds or signs of the storm.

As shaken up as we are, we decide to keep going, keep walking forward. It isn't until we reach a less dense part of the forest when it starts to snow.

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I feel overwhelmed: the maze, Lotso's clue, and the fact that we have to fight and kill monsters. It is all just so much to take in.

All we continue to do is wander deeper into the forest. The snow keeps getting heavier. If we don't find shelter, we are going to freeze to death because the temperatures are just that cold.

We walk along a tall, grey wall. It's a mountain descending up into the sky, maybe even further. The pain from the cold hits me hard. Earlier I was just numb from the fall, but now, after the rain, and after my clothes have been soaking wet, it hurts all over. My head keeps spinning and throbbing. Anna and Melissa look in terrible shape, too.

"We need to find shelter – any kind of shelter – quick." I mumble between shivers. They nod in agreement, too cold to answer. We walk together, arms linked, supporting each other.

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After walking for another five minuets – which seems like forever – we stumble across what looks like a cave. It isn't much, and it isn't very deep, but it does into the mountain. All I could think of is, Shelter at last!

"Finally!" Melissa mutters. Relief crosses Anna's face. We run in. Actually, we stumble in. We sit down on the cold, hard floor. Right now, though, it seems soft and warm, definitely better than outside.

Less than an hour in this maze and we are already in terrible, horrible shape. There is absolutely no way we can survive in this condition. Anna's face is purple, and Melissa's is very pale. I'm pretty sure I look horrible too. This cannot be good. I tug on the sleeves of my school blazer, pulling them over my fingers. I also try to pull up my knee socks (which were always a bit long) up to my thighs. My teeth start chattering, even more than when I was outside.