[I do believe you got the best part of our split up, Tina, because you actually had beds. We had horses. Just horses.]
You guys are probably wondering how the horse thing worked, right? It worked amazing. The horse were saddled and ready to go. So, we hopped over e fence and stole them. Yeah, not the kindest idea but it worked. Once we were near a town [Venice, Florida], we ditched the horses and just found an old SUV. Walt drove and Sadie rode shotgun as I fell asleep in the backseat. My ba took a journey and flew away out into the night air. Suddenly, I was surrounded by whiteness and I was back in human form, walking on the white ground. A girl materialized beside me and immediately I recognized it as Zio: my old girlfriend from the Rez. I couldn't speak or move but I so badly wanted to fall to my knees and weep. She studied my face with a smile and gave me a small caress on the cheek. I closed my eyes and smiled for a moment but then she turned and beckoned me to follow her. Zio jogged beautifully and moved fluently as trees appeared and she dashed among the branches; jumping nimbly and smoothly. I followed her technique until we came to a branch over looking a room. I didn't know where it was but it was set up like an old fashioned hotel room. The door opened and Christina stepped through. I drank in the sight of her: her hair was soaked and her shirt looked heavy. She had a stack of papers in her hand and she laid one on the bedstand beside her. I was able to step into the room and move over to the paper. It was a dossier and the name on the top was that of my old friend; Rythiam Smith. I looked at the other papers in Tina's hand but after looking around them for a bit she put them face down on the nightstand. I watched as Zio came to me and hugged me. It felt real, but I knew it wasn't. She inclined her head then whispered in my ear.
"You need to find your friends," She said in the English which I taught her, "There will be a swamp in the forest. Use the portal anchor there but be careful; things dwell there."
I looked into her eyes once more and then kissed her forehead. As she dissappeared, I leaned over Christina's bed and kissed her neck. She couldn't see me but she might've felt it. I buried my face in her hair once more as the dream started to fade and I was sucked back to my own body in ba form.
I awoke with a start and shouted, "THE SWAMP!"
Walt screeched the car to a halt and Sadie swore, "Jake, don't scare me like that! Gods, what the hell?"
I crawled to the front seat as Walt started up the car again, "The others are in Philadelphia. In the swamp there is a portal anchor."
Sadie stared once at me then at Walt who said 'Got it,' and pulled off into a park. We got out and ditched the car in the parking lot. We ran down the trail that was wet with the morning dew and slippery with mud. The trail stopped after a while and we were lead into a hot forest. It didn't take long to find the thing however. It was a pillar on a mound of dirt. Remembering what Zio had said, I ordered my friends to be quiet. But as we approached, there was nothing. Gradually, we snuck to the pillar and I read the inscriptions on it while Sadie worked on the portal.
"It's supposed to honor crocodiles. Like something straight out of Crocodiliopolis. Why in the world would it be h-" I started but then the swamp exploded. Water shot up from everywhere like geysers and Sadie worked a bit faster as me and Walt protected her. Then there were crocodiles. There could've been ten or twenty but they snapped their teeth and came dangerously close. One in the back was bigger then the other and glowed with a reddish energy.
"Sobek," Walt murmured, "This is bad."
"Godlings!" The glowing croc stood up like a human and a staff came to its hands, "Who dares violate my shrine?!"
I tried playing it cool, "Lord Sobek, we mean no harm. All we ask is for-"
Sobek laughed before I could finish, "You underestimate me, Son of Bast! I work for Set! Set will be the new leader of the gods!"
I looked back at Sadie who was kneeling near the pillar waiting for a signal. As soon as I nodded, all hell broke loose. The crocs charged Walt who could hold his own, Sobek shot a torrent of water at me which I rolled out of the way from, and Sadie started to make a portal.
I tried for diplomatic, "Sobek, please, we can talk this out!"
The croc giant laughed and thrust his staff at me. I rolled to the side and pulled out my handgun. I shot two bullets which only staggered him and made sand flow out, but eventually it just refilled itself. I aimed it at his eye and pulled the trigger. There was a click and the mag fell out.
"What will you do now, godling?" Sobek laughed and again swiped his staff at me. This time, his staff caught my ankle and I fell to the ground. Sobek hit me again in the chest with the staff's grip and I wheezed. Walt was effectively holding his own and wading over to me. Sadie was close to opening the portal. But Sobek was already over me, and from the way he wound his staff up like a baseball bat up to my head, I knew I wouldn't live through it. I squeezed my eyes shut and gave my plan all my energy and thought. I concentrated hard as Sobek wound up. Walt called out. The portal opened. And I opened my eyes. Suddenly, Sobek was shocked and Walt staggered back. My eyes shone like suns, as told in the myths of Bast. I grabbed Sobek's staff and pulled it out of his hands with immense strength. In my hands, it was no longer a staff, but a 50. cal Sniper Rifle. I laughed insanely before I held it in one hand and pointed it right at Sobek's eye. He was too shocked to move and I growled.
"Bite me," my voice sounded magically magnified and like a boom. I pulled the trigger and there was an almighty KA-BOOM! as the crocodile god exploded into sand as he was blown away. I grabbed my shell-shocked friends and dragged them through the swirling sand portal.
The first thing I absorbed was her smell. As soon as we were let out of the portal I basically tackled her to the ground.
"Oh!" She yelped as she staggered back from me. We locked eyes and instantly I knew. The beautiful blue seemed to take me into her and the long, wavy red hair draped beautifully over her shoulders. Again, she said, "Jake..."
It was like a switch flicked on and we fiercely embraced each other. Our lips locked onto each other passionately and she tugged at my hair. I let out something like a moan and a whimper as Christina melted into my arms.
Very, very reluctantly, I pulled away and stared into Tina's eyes with a smile, "You're okay!"
She smiled and kissed me lightly again before saying, "I was busy."
I looked around. Zia and Carter were there but two other kids stood by them. A boy with a purple mouth mask and a leather jacket and a girl with green hair streaks. The boy smiled before saying:
"You little shit," Rythiam laughed and we hugged each other laughing.
"It's been ages, man!" I chuckled, "You're a magician?"
He smirked, "Hell to the yeah, man. I always knew you were! And you're girlfriend has been rambling on about you as well."
Christina blushed and laughed, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. I noticed Sadie and Zoey talking quietly about what I thought were colored hair streaks. Girls.
I remembered one last thing, "Oh, yeah, Christina," I said as I dug Sobek's staff out of the duat and pressed it into her hands, "This is for you. Sobek shot water out of it, big time. You could use it, likely."
Christina eyes widened at the staff but then she looked up at me and kissed me hard again. Walt and Rythiam both laughed and did an awkward bro fistbump. Nice.
"Mr. Lloyd," Christina murmured against my neck as I nibbled fondly on her ear. I don't know, Sam does it with Mia, "There might be a little bit of hope for you."
I pulled away and smiled, "Hope for what?"
Christina kissed me again before saying, "Hope for you to convince me dating is good."
"I'll try," I sighed before, yet again, we embraced again.
