The Magical Quest

Chapter 16

"Uh, do you guys think he's okay?" Becka asked, leaning over Luke, who had passed out, probably from the pain of his broken arm and bleeding nose. Jess winced. "Raj, can you do anything?" she asked. Luke mumbled something about Ewoks and then coughed. Raj placed his index finger on Luke's forehead, and after a few moments, said, "Yeah, could be worse. Minor concussion, bloody nose, broken arm, but that cut on his temple isn't too bad. We'll have to stay here a night or two for him to recover, but with some healing potions, he'll be strong enough to keep moving." Suddenly, Jess thought she heard a mewing noise, similar to Lily when distressed. "Wait, did you hear that?" she said. "Oh, yeah. It sounds like a very distressed Lily." Matthew remarked. "I'm standing right here!" Lily huffed indignantly. Jess turned and walked over to the cave, ignoring Fircone's sarcastic remarks of her being too brave. The mewing noise was coming from there. Inside, it was smelly and dark, but she stumbled across a nest of animal bones. Inside... "Guys, this complicates things..." she said. In the nest, there was a single Storm kitten. It was about the size of a corgi, with orange and black striped fur. Its ears were small and velvety, and its claws hadn't grown in yet. Aside from those differences, it looked exactly like an adult Storm. It was a female, since its tail wasn't as bushy. Jess carried it out for all to see. "Well..." Raj began, but didn't finish his sentence. Everyone stared at the kitten, who was swatting at Jess' hair, all of them uncertain of what to do. "I vote we leave it here." Thundra said shortly. "Um, no way. We can't just leave it here to die." Becka said, sounding irritated. Maia interjected before the two could start arguing. "We'll take it with us. When he wakes up, we'll explain what happened to Luke, and he can raise it." Everyone agreed. After they set up tents in the pit, they moved Luke to a more comfortable spot. Raj set the broken bone and gave him a few healing potions to speed up the healing process. The kitten was mewling. "What're we gonna feed that thing?" Fircone asked. "I'm going to try some milk." Jess mused, then rummaged through her pack and found a small bottle, and poured some milk in. The kitten drank eagerly. "Awww..." Fircone said, and attempted to pet it, but it snarled and snapped at his fingers. He then gave Jess an appraising look. She laughed and turned away. When night fell, Becka made a comment that was slightly annoying: "Who's gonna look after Luke?" "Let's draw straws. Shortest one has to take care of Luke tonight." Maia said, as if they were discussing who got which bunk at summer camp. After Thundra had cut some straws and hid the bottoms under her hand (she had refused to risk staying up another night and no one wanted to fight with her), they drew straws. Maia smiled when she got a long one. Lily, Matthew, Chris, Raj, and Harriet also got long ones. Finally, it was down to Jess and Fircone. Jess especially didn't want the job. She was no good at comforting people. Unfortunately, Fircone got the longer straw. "Thank you," Jess said, sarcastically.

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    "Hold still, would you?" Luke heard someone say as he returned to consciousness. He opened his eyes, and after his vision focused, he laughed. Unfortunately, more blood dripped out of his nose and into his mouth. Jess sighed and wiped the blood off his face. "You're an idiot, you know that?" she huffed. "By the way, to be perfectly frank, you're a mom now." "Wait, what?!" Luke yelped, causing his nose to start bleeding again. "The Storm that attacked you had a kitten. You're her mother now." Jess said. Luke groaned. Killing a monster that was trying to bite his head off was one thing, but killing a nursing mother? Totally different. He glanced at his lap. The Storm kitten, a female, as Jess had told him, was snoozing in his lap, purring. "So, what're you gonna name it?" Jess asked. Luke glanced at Jess, the kitten, and back at Jess. He had just realized that it was night, and the only reason he could see was the fact that Jess had lit a campfire. The kitten yawned and rolled over, revealing its fuzzy belly. Luke scratched its belly with his good hand. It purred, and reached up with a paw, and held his hand there. He smiled. "Millie." Luke said. The name had just come out of the blue; the kitten didn't remind him of anyone or anything in particular. Jess grunted and speared a puffy white thing on the end of a stick and began to cook it over the fire. For a few minutes, they sat in silence, Jess cooking her puffy white thing. Pretty soon, it was a warm, sticky mass. With great difficulty, Jess pulled the blobby mass off the stick, and sandwiched it between two crackers and a chocolate bar. "Um, what's the blobby white thing?" Luke asked, gesturing at the cracker/chocolate/white thing sandwich. Jess took a bite of her creation and grinned. "It's called a marshmallow. Want a s'more?" Luke didn't know what a s'more was, but he was guessing it was the thing Jess was eating, so he nodded. Jess broke the thing in half and stuffed one of the halves into Luke's mouth. At first, his teeth stuck together when he tried to chew, but the chocolate and marshmallow melted on his tongue. "Mmm. This is the best thing I've tasted since Pringles..." Luke said. Jess smirked. "I'm guessing you don't have marshmallows in your galaxy?" she asked. Luke shook his head. "Well, you'll find that here, we have inventions that make our lives easier, and more importantly, we have cool stuff you don't." Jess remarked, still smirking. Crickets chirped in the background as they sat in silence once more. Jess leaned back against the rocks, carving something in a piece of wood with a knife. "Uh, Jess? Just wondering, but do you consider me your friend?" Luke asked. Jess shrugged. "More of an ally. Never really a positive acquaintance." "Well, we're both powerful, and I'm pretty sure if we fought with, like, weapons and everything, we wouldn't be able to kill each other, so we might as well be friends. Agree?" Luke held out his good hand to shake hers. Jess frowned, but shook his hand. "Fine. Friends. Whatever." Woohoo, you did it! A voice cheered inside Luke's head. You have officially friendzoned the cute girl! The pessimistic side of him told the optimistic side to shut up. "Now I am going to go to sleep, and you are going to shut up." Jess said, and pulled a couple of blankets out of her pack. "Well, what if I feel like talking all night?" Luke asked, giving her a smug look. "Then, I will knock you unconscious." Jess grumbled. Luke tried not to laugh. After she fell asleep, Luke patted her shoulder. "At least you got out okay," he muttered.