The Darkness

Lesson 3: Expect the Unexpected

That morning I woke to the sound of leafs rustling in the wind. I opened my eyes to see Clash staring at me. I jumped, knocking my head on the branch above me, losing my balance and falling out of the tree. I tried to flap my wings, but like my other limbs they were heavy with sleep. I braced myself for the impact, closing my eyes. Some how, I bounced off the ground into the lake. When I swam to the water's edge, I heard Bodil laughing his head off.

"That was great!" Bodil said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Oh my god! Bodil, I thought you said this was a net!" Double cried.

"More like a trampoline!" He replied.

"Thanks." I replied.

"Holy crap, sorry Starlight. I didn't know what Bidil was planning." Clash said, jumping down from the tree.

"Hmph!" Bodil said, rolling up the trampoline. After wringing the water out of my wings, I flapped them in attempt to dry myself off, but to no avail.

"Its okay guys, its all good, except Bodil." I replied, stretching.

"What?!" Bodil yelled.

"Ya, you're going to get it later." I said. "Wait, where's Ghost?"

"He is umm...kind of hanging in a snare trap right now." Double said, smoothing his hair.

"What? Why?!" I asked.

"Well, we didn't want him to ruin the prank, but we didn't know that was a trampoline...soo....ya." Clash replied, fluffing his tuft of hair.

"Come on, lets go!" Bodil cheered. He lead us through the rain forest, weaving through the trees until we got to a small clearing lit with torches. There were about twenty stakes in a circle. Bodil unrolled the trampoline and started to tie the ends to the stakes. After he got halfway around, it started to become more difficult to stretch the lines and tie them around the stakes. When Bodil tried to tie the last corner to the sake it got so taught he was launched into the bushes.

"Ha! That's what you get!" A voice called from above. I looked up to see Ghost hanging from large jungle tree high above the trampoline.

"Says the one hanging upside down." Bodil replied, spitting out leafs.

"Says the one who's too weak to secure a piece of elastic to a pole!" Ghost called. Clash, Double and I burst out laughing, and Bodil's face tinted pink.

"Well not like Starlight could either." Bodil sputtered.

"Oooohhh! Wanna bet?" I asked.

"Sure! If I win, you need to drink one of my troll potions every hour for a day." Bodil challenged, a wild smile on his face.

"Is that the stuff you spiked me with during the Oreo mod showcase?" Double said in despair. That stuff gave him such intense nausea the world's colors blended together in a color smoothie, and the thought of experiencing it in real life gave me the shivers.

"Yup, but that was just one of them." One? There was more?

"Okay, if I win...you need to wear a pink suit with a pink bow in your hair for a day.."

"Why?!" He asked appalled.

"I told you I would get you back." He shivered.

"Fine." He said, shaking my hand. I walked around to where the last tie hung idly, unmoving. I could feel their testing gazes. I walked up to the elastic and pulled. It didn't come close to the stake.

"Give up?" Bodil asked.

I started to fight with the elastic, desperate not to succumb to Bodil's potions. Then it occurred to me, hello, levitation. I released the elastic and focused on it, turning it silver. I stretched it with my powers, but fiddled with tying it to the stake. I heard the others gasp. The only maneuver I know is to make things float, I obviously needed practice. I could cross the strand, but I couldn't keep them crossed and loop one through the middle.

"Okay, fine. I give up, just please tie it." I said in defeat. When I looked up at him he was looking at me over his eyeglasses. I looked back at the trampoline to see that, because I was pulling on the final strand, the others were coming undone. Bodil ran up to an opposite strand and desperately tried to get it to stay.

"Starlight, truce if you help me!" Bodil offered, straining to tie the elastic.

"Okay, truce!" I said, levitating the whole trampoline. Sweat started to perspire on my forehead as I concentrated. Clash and Double were also tying strands to stakes.

"Okay, finished." Double panted. I laid down on my back taking deep breaths as I wiped the sweat from my brow.

"So whats the plan here?" I asked, referring to the trampoline.

"Basically you need to jump, flap your wings and see what happens." Clash said, taking deep breaths.

"And you can get Ghost down when you get up there." Bodil said, breathing heavily. I sat up and took off my hoddie. It was making me hot. I crawled onto the trampoline and jumped until I was at least twenty feet in the air. I slowly opened my wings, getting a feel for them catching air. I quickly figured out that I didn't go as high when my wings were open as I jumped, so I started jumping up with them closed and opening them at the highest point. That's when I noticed I was gliding. On my next jump I leaned forward in mid air, gliding over the group and landing in the clearing opening.

"Hey! I didn't land on my face!" I cheered.

"I'm happy for you, but what about me?" Ghost asked.

"Umm...hang on, I'll try something." I said, getting back on the trampoline. I bent my wings back in a streamline and levitated the center of the trampoline down until it touched the ground. Then I released my power and launched myself into the air, but I started to glow. I suddenly started rocketing towards the sky like a shooting star, and I flew right through the rope that was suspending Ghost. I heard him cry out from shock as I rushed past him, spiraling into the air surrounded by my own energy. Eventually, the energy vanished, and the ground below me started to grow. I opened my wings and started to glide, floating gracefully to the ground.