Eulie: The Story

Chapter Five

“I don’t understand where we’re going,” Lyla said, a little sulky as we passed through the gate on the edge of town.

“You’ll see,” I replied, rolling my eyes.

“I’m thankful you didn’t join us for all these years out here,” Ryad sneered, and Lyla pulled a face that verged on unattractive, and for Lyla, that wasn’t easy.

“It’s really muddy here as well. I don’t like the feeling of grass between my toes.”

“I’m sorry the minister didn’t put pavement over every square inch of the town, Lyla,” Ryad said sarcastically. We reached the top of the hill in silence, and it was then that I heard Lyla draw in breath.

“That’s lisothore!” she said, pointing. I nodded.

“That’s where we’re going.”

“Are you crazy?” she asked. “Do you want to die?”

“Do you want to know what we were talking about or not?” I asked, getting a little irritated. The reason I never brought Lyla out here was that it was me and Ryad’s space, and her presence seemed to make the whole atmosphere uncomfortable. We finally reached the edge, though Lyla stood a few feet away.

“Put your hand in it,” Ryad said.

“I knew you didn’t like me but I never thought you wanted me dead!” Lyla squealed, stepping back.

“Fine. I’ll put my hand in.”

“I hate you but I don’t want you dead either!” Lyla said, as he edged towards the lisothore, arm outstretched. Ryad grinned.

“So you do care for me, Lyla,” he said in a jokey tone. I giggled and Lyla blushed bright red.

“Fine. Do it then,” she said, looking away. “It’s not like I care.” Ryad put his hand into the mass, jiggled it about a little, and then withdrew it, completely unharmed. I scrubbed the dirt away with a towel we’d decided to bring with us, and revealed Ryad’s hand, slightly off colour, but completely normal.

“I don’t understand!” Lyla said, eyes widening as she took a closer look. “What have you done?”

“The lisothore isn’t dangerous,” I said. “We found out only yesterday. Ryad fell in when we were racing,” I said, laughing as Ryad shrugged humorously.

“A fortunate mistake,” he added, but Lyla remained in shock.  “What?” It was like he’d just punched Lyla.

“Huh?” she asked, bewildered.

“Come on; get over it.”

“Ryad,” I said, frowning.

“It looks like she’s going to pass out though!” he replied, and that made Lyla come out of her trance enough to scowl at him.

“So what now?” Lyla asked, placing her hands on her tiny waist.

“What do you mean?” I said.

“Well, what are you going to do? Are you going to tell anyone?” I shrugged.

“That’s what we were discussing,” Ryad cut in coldly.

“It’s not like you can do anything now, can you?” asked Lyla. “I mean, you can’t swim in it.”

“For once, I agree with you. When I fell in yesterday, it was not easy fighting through that. I almost gave up,” Ryad said.

“Would something float on it? Like, a ball?” I wondered.

“I don’t think so. It’s not the right sort of texture. It may stick to the top.” I looked out across the open space of sheer brown mass. How far away was Riditum really? You could talk figures but that really meant nothing. It was then that I struck me. I wanted to go there. I wanted to meet my birth parents. I wasn’t sure why, but I knew I’d found out about the innocence of the lisothore for a reason, and this was it. I looked to Lyla and Ryad, who were both glaring at the ground with matching expressions on their faces. I tried not to laugh at how identical they were, before pondering whether I should tell them what I wanted. I decided it wasn’t worth keeping things from them.