The Lost ( A Sequel To The Forgotten )

Back To The Wild

The lunatic tent speeds in the same direction for a few minutes. We all scream like girls (this is a worse thing for the boys than the girls).

"We're flying over some plains!" Rolly yells. Suddenly, the tent stops, and we all go flying from wherever we were holding on for dear life. We all stand up, shaking a little bit.i

"It's not over," Tarna warns. "Be ready." I grab onto a table, prepared for the tent to hurl in a new direction. The tent stays still.

"It knows our every thought," Cass whispers. "Now that we're prepared, it won't move." The tent silently agrees. We stay put.

"It has to move," Person says nervously. "We're too high up. If we jump, we die." The tent floats, high in the air, and we wait. And wait.

"Okay," Tarna sighs. "Everyone get comfortable. This tent is going absolutely nowhere-" We're all thrown around as the tent blasts into movement. The screaming resumes. I realize the tent is flying downward when we all begin floating.

"We're going down!" Rolly screams.

"We're all gonna die!" Person screams.

"Those are terrible last words!" Tarna screams.

"Guys, we were good together. We solved riddles, we gave U.T. a good match. Guys, we're all gonna die. But we'll die together!" The others turn slowly to look at me.

"What?" I ask. "I thought we were working on last words." We hang in midair in silence. Then the tent shakes and we all resume screaming. We speed downward for a while more, and then we stop. All of us crash to the ground (except Cass, who wisely clung to the ceiling). Rolly crawls over to the tent door and looks out.

"We're only a few feet off the ground," he reports. "We'd better get off here or we'll die screaming." One by one, we hop out of the tent. When it's my turn to jump, I look down. We're above a grassy field, a few feet in the air. I jump down, and immediately kiss the grass. Cass is the last one to jump, and then we're all on the ground. The tent above us begins to spin, going faster and faster, and then it soars away. We all watch it fly away.

"I'm never flying in a magical tent again," Rolly says. We all nod in agreement.

"Okay, team," Tarna says, ready to take charge. "We all had a big distraction from our mission. We have to get back on track." We all groan.

"We just escaped a illegal, magical fair!" exclaims Cass. "I think we deserve a rest."

"Fine," Tarna agrees. "We'll set off tomorrow."

"Set off to where, exactly?" I ask.

"Back to the trees," Tarna replies, pointing. I follow her gesture and spot the slightest bit of trees, far in the distance. That's quite a walk.

We all mess around until the sun sets. It's good- very good- to be able to joke with Rolly and Tarna and Person again. And Shawn is a sight for sore eyes. He explains that he hadn't felt well ever since Axle captured him. And then he asked a peculiar question.

"Wive, do you still have Fred?" I pat my back, expecting to fell the twig's shape in its usual place. But it's not there.

"No," I answer. "Axle must have taken him." Shawn doesn't like that, but I assure him that everything will be okay. Shawn believes that Fred is extremely important to his health, and I've seen some evidence of that before. But Fred is just a twig, and anyway, Axle is a master with magic and weird stuff. If there is anything magical about Fred, she'll take care of it.

After a while, the sun goes down, and we all lay down to sleep. Axle is on my mind. Axle, the illegal trader. Axle, my aunt. I haven't told the others about my family ties, and I'm not sure if I will. It doesn't feel right, telling anyone. Not yet, anyway. While thinking about Axle, I think about my mom and her. My mom was kind and pretty, according to Axle. But my mom was strong when she needed to be. I wonder what my mom and Axle were fighting about in that big fight Axle told me about. What could possibly be so important that family members would hurt each other bad? I feel bad for both of them. I'd do almost anything to find one of my family members. And Axle said they were close, too. I stare up at the stars as if they'll explain everything.