The Enderlox Trilogy III: Seto's Triumph

T H I R T E E N: Missing You

***SKY'S POV***

I'm startled to find neither Jason nor Ty in my tent when I wake up in the morning. I assume they're out stoking the fires for breakfast. But when I leave my tent, they are nowhere to be found. I step back into the shelter of my tent, hoping to find some evidence of where my two best friends have gone. After looking for a minute or two, I find a note taped to the front of the tent. Silly me, I hadn't seen it. I pull the note off the side of the canvas and read it.

Sky,

Went to go find some coal. We're running low. Wait up for us, okay?

Ty and Jason

The neat, rather girlish handwriting is undoubtedly Jason's, so I know it's authentic. I smile at the fact that for once, I know where my team members are, and step out of the tent again. The morning sun shines through the trees we're taking refuge beneath, warming my head and shoulders ever so slightly. I walk over to the supply pile, which holds most of our materials. Sure enough, only a few pieces of coal remain in the bag. I take what's left and use it to start up a fire. On that fire I place our little cooking rack thing, and I then place some raw pork chops on that. Breakfast food? Please, we don't need that here.

I begin working on my plan of action, how I'm going to get my team started on this mission. I'm still the leader, after all. I sit there, occasionally prodding the pork chops with a stick until I come up with a plan. I want some conformation, to make sure it's reasonable. I was hoping to get some from Ty or Jason, but obviously they aren't here. The next person I think of is Ashley, she's pretty reasonable.

I decide to go talk to her. Hastily, I stand up and walk over to the tent she put up last night. That girl Sierra should be in there, too. I find myself smiling as I walk, and soon there I am in front of the tent. I poke my head in, not wanting to wake anyone if they're sleeping.

To my surprise, not only are both Ashley and Sierra awake, but Seto is in the tent with them, talking to both of them.

"Come on guys, pack up. We leave in an hour."

"Where are we going?" Ashley asks, sounding a bit startled.

"To the squid base, to ask for help."

"From what I heard yesterday, don't you, like, hate the squids?" Sierra asks.

"Yep, we hate them. But Max told us that we need their help to succeed."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so get ready."

"Want to join us?" Seto asks, "If you've got the time, I mean."

"Well, I've got to wake everyone up first, but afterwards, okay." I say. "I'll have the others pack up the tents and such." I nod my head in acknowledgement and step out of the tent to wake the others. I put Woof and Quentin on pack up the tents duty, and have Solace go find Ty and Jason. I offer to take Nooch with me into Ashley's tent, but he says he's going to go with Solace. I hope he's not mad at me for never really talking to him before. He has a lot of potential, that kid. I've just never really recognized it. Joke's on me, I suppose.

I step back into Ashley's tent and sit down next to Seto. We talk for awhile, but then Ty pokes his head into the tent, signaling that it's time to go. We pack up the last of our stuff and get ready to go. I watch as Ty takes Ashley's hand, and surprisingly, as Seto takes Sierra's.

I begin to think back on Dawn, and everything we were before she left me. How happy we always were, how we thought we completed each other. But after awhile, we just drifted apart. And then we weren't anything anymore. It feels weird just thinking about her. Really weird.

Dismissing my thoughts of Dawn, I command the troops to set off, and we walk for hours. Finally, we're back at the Squid Base. We were here a few weeks ago, to steal Archangel Daniel's Flame Jewel. We used it to resurrect Seto, and that just threw us into this situation. It was worth it, though. For sure.

Anyway, we're here now. In the middle of a forest, bordering a river with outlet to the sea, is the base. It's made of obsidian, with many tall turrets on top of it. The base is impervious to explosions, and would take forever to break into. Thankfully, though, Jason remembers how we got in last time.

"Leave all of the weapons we have over here," I say, indicating a weapons cache that we had dug. "We are here for diplomatic reasons only, okay? No magic unless totally necessary." I direct that part to Seto and Sierra of course. Those two have been holding hands pretty much the whole time. They're really cute together, not going to lie.

We all dump our weapons and equipment, and we follow Jason inside the underground tunnel that leads into the base. For a few minutes, all is well. But soon, we turn to the room where the Flame Jewel was previously kept. I'm about to touch the door, to push it open, when something slimy wraps around my throat.

A tentacle.

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