Lost Amongst Many

Chapter 46

-Preston's POV-
I woke up in the niche that Mitchell sleeps in, totally unprepared to see Jerome staring at me, standing less than a foot away.

I jumped away, curling into the back of the nook. Jerome backed off, and Mitch showed his face.

"You're awake!"

"Yes?"

"Hungry?"

"A little."

I was starving.

He ran to my bag and grabbed the apple that Pete had bitten, just so it was not wasted.

I ate it, still unsure what had happened that I was in the niche.

"What happened? Why am I in here?"

"You got sick from the obsidian. Remember?"

"No."

"What? Really?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about. What obsidian? I went to bed in the stump and woke up here."

"It poured when you went to bed. You were here overnight and got worse. Kara took you to Seto."

"Seto? I do not recall seeing Seto... Or Kara. It rained?"

"It hailed."

"What is that?"

"Hail?"

"Yes."

"It acts like rain, but it's ice falling from the sky instead of rainwater. It's painful if you get hit with a piece."

"Interesting. If it was ice, how did I encounter obsidian?"

"It rained first, hen started to hail as the temperature dropped."

"Ah. Well then."

"You don't remember this?"

"No. Not a single moment."

"Preston, that's two days worth of memory. What do you remember?"

"Going to bed in the stump. I woke up here. I don't remember walking back here. And I respect space. I do not want to be in here. It is too high."

"High? You have a fear of heights? Preston, that's three feet."

"I am four foot five. That is too high for me."

"Preston, you can step out and touch the floor at your height."

"Mitchell. Too high."

"Oh my god, Preston. Step down."

I tentatively put my foot out, and was surprised to feel the ground beneath me. I stood up, and suddenly felt nauseous. I leaned into Mitch, who held me up.

"You okay?"

"I feel nauseous. My vision is spinning. Is this normal?"

"I don't think so. Here. Sit down and relax. That might help."

I sat down in a small pile of hay, and Mitch sat next to me.

"Better?"

"Well, my vision stopped spinning, so yes?"

"You probably got up too fast. That's vertigo."

"Vertigo?"

"Yeah. The loss of balance and spinning vision. There's a medical term for that."

"That word sounds ridiculous.  Vertigo is literally like meshing three words in one."

"Three? What?"

"Vert is green in French, I- the first person pronoun, and go, like you are traveling. So what Vertigo should mean is green first person traveller."

"I... I can't argue. I don't know how to argue with that."

"Then do not bother. Agree that the word vertigo is dumb."

"Okay? The word vertigo is dumb."

"Unless there is an actual green first person traveller somewhere... Then congratulations, Vertigo."

He laughed, and I heard Jerome laugh lowly across the den.

A shadow was cast over the entrance to the den, and I saw a snout. The snout became a bacca I recognized.

"Jade."

"Creeper." She said nonchalantly, giving a nod my way.

"Jerome, we have a problem."