‘to find a treasure of great worth.’ As soon as mister Yuri had finished his sentence the trees around them moved, showing several pathways. ‘which one do we follow?’ Tyler asked. Alanah walked towards the path closest to where they were standing and took a few steps on the path. Without warning the path suddenly closed, swallowing Alanah in a matter of seconds. Everyone was startled and staring at the thick trees that had appeared in place of the pathway. Alanah stuck her head out the those trees. ‘I’m guessing it’s not this way.’ she stated dryly. Caera let out a sigh of relief. She heard Kyiana do the same. Of course, Alanah was a ghost. She couldn’t be crushed, but still, at that time they hadn’t thought about that. ‘But wait,’ Kseniya noted. ‘what if that hadn’t been Alanah? What if it had been one of us? We would’ve been killed.’ Panic filled her with every word that came out of her mouth. ‘Shut up Kseniya.’ Devlin snarled at her annoyed. ‘You’re overreacting. I’m sure there was no way anyone would have been killed.’ Caera give Devlin a reprimanding glare. ‘Why are you being so mean to her?’ she asked him mentally. Devlin turned away from the group. ‘None of your business.’ he sent back to her.
‘Vampireboy is right.’ Alanah said. ‘Hey!’ Devlin snapped, but Alanah ignored him. ‘I wasn’t crushed or anything. The trees came up around me.’
‘So we wouldn’t have been killed instantly. Just locked in and left to starve.’ Kseniya said with her nose up in the air. Caera sighed. ‘Putting that matter aside...’ she said, turning to Alanah. ‘Could you check every path to see which one is the right one?’ Kseniya started protesting about being put to the background and how it was serious, how they might lose their lives along the way. Mister Yuri tried to calm her. Caera couldn’t believe the principal to be a person who would put the lives of her students in danger.
‘You’re the only one of us who wouldn’t be trapped.’ Kyiana agreed. Alanah shrugged. ‘I don’t mind.’ She moved to the next pathway and took a few steps. Again the path closed and the trees locked her in. She moved through the trees onto the next pathway and repeated her actions until there were only five more paths left.
‘This is pointless!’ Kseniya exclaimed. ‘We’re going to be stuck here for the rest of our lives!’
‘Relax, drama queen.’ Faolan sighed, rolling his eyes. ‘No wonder Devlin can’t stand her.’ he mentally sent to Caera, giving her a meaningful look.
‘This is the one!’ Alanah shouted for the third to last pathway. She was standing about a four meter on the path and it hadn’t closed. The trees were still positioned at the side of it.
‘Okay, let’s go.’ Devlin muttered and took the lead, walking past Alanah. He seemed quite annoyed. Caera looked at Kyiana, who shrugged, and then followed Devlin with the rest of the group right behind her.
After walking for a little while, following the path, as there were no other sidetracks to take, Kseniya spoke up again. ‘Can’t we take a break? My feet hurt.’ Caera took a look at her shoes.
‘Yeah, duh! Who in their right minds would wear high heels on an excursion like this?’ The entire group synchronised a sigh with rolling their eyes. The nagging nature of Kseniya had become a familiar aspect and no one really wanted to waste their breath on replying to her constant whining and complaining. It was too tiring to keep it up. ‘Do we even know where we are going?’ Kseniya continued, ignoring the remark on her shoes. ‘Or what we are looking for?’
‘Duh! A treasure of course.’ Alanah replied.
‘Wait,’ Caera said. ‘she’s right. We can’t really expect a treasure to be laying in the middle of the path open and exposed for everyone to just grab now, can we?’ Everyone agreed she had a point.
‘And what do you think a treasure looks like? Gold? Silver? Diamonds?’ Tyler added.
‘Yeah, it could be anything.’ Faolan agreed.
‘And maybe there will be another test or trick to obtaining it.’ Kyiana noted. ‘Just like when we had to find the right path.’
Mister Yuri kept to the background during the debate of the group on how to proceed. Caera too kept herself quiet, trying to think of an answer, when suddenly her vision turned a bit blurry.
‘It’s just a little further, Caera. You’re on the right track.’ A voice sounded in her head. ‘Just be yourself and you’ll see it.’ Faolan gave Caera a little nudge. ‘So what do you think?’ he asked her and everyone turned to look at her.
‘Why ask HER?’ Kseniya snorted. ‘Why would she know what to do next?’
‘It’s just a little further.’ Caera said absentmindedly. Kseniya had a point, Caera thought. If it wasn’t for the voices in her head, she didn’t have anything special about her. They still hadn’t found out what kind of monster she was and Caera felt the only monstruous element about her was her temper and those voices of which one was identified as the most evil villain in the Monster World. But the voice who had spoken to her just now was the friendly voice. She could easily tell them apart by now.
‘And how do you know that?’ Kseniya almost started yelling in frustration. ‘Was it that voice again?’
‘Kseniya, shut up.’ Devlin growled.
‘No, that voice could be trying to kill us all, and she’ll just let it happen. Maybe she’s working together with the Evil Witch. We shouldn’t listen to her.’ She went on, her voice getting pitch high, it almost hurt everyones ears.
‘Shut up, Kseniya, last warning.’ Devlin’s tone became so threatening even Faolan took a step back.
‘There are mirrors up ahead.’ Kyiana shouted, running back to the group, followed by Alanah and Tyler. Feeling the tension in the air the three of them stopped right in their tracks a few meters away from everyone. ‘What?’ Kyiana asked.
Caera hadn’t even noticed the trio leaving the group to check the path ahead. ‘Nothing. You said there were mirrors?’ She asked her best friend.
