A gift of magic

The quest: Part 2

***Picture of Beatrice ****

Now everyone could see what was happening. Two wolves came from behind the trees. At first, they couldn’t quite tell if they were wolves or wild dogs. Bea had always had trouble in knowing which was which. But she knew whether a wild dog or a wolf, it’s still dangerous. Studying about dangerous animals like wolves at green of high surely opened up her mind about the enormity of this. They started to increase. Soon, there were more of them than they could count. Some were grey and some black and brown. With their horrifying brown eyes that looked like they could pull your heart out of your chest, they stood there growling like beasts. 
“Bea!” shouted Cody trying to get her to wish something
The wild dogs started to surround them. Bea’s heart started to beat faster. She had prayed her whole life since studying about such dangerous animals and had never wanted to see one in real life, and certainly not this close up. Zac could see the fear on everyone’s face.
“Nobody screams.” He said in a whisper
One thing Bea learned about her father was that he was a brave person. She wouldn’t say a dare devil like Garry. He was the type of person who doesn’t panic in scary situations. For a moment, she was really scared until she remembered that she had the necklace of desires. One of the dogs was so close to attacking them when she held the necklace and wished for an invisible shield. When the wild dog or wolf attacked them, it hit on the shield and fell to the ground. The rest tried to do the same, but they too kept hitting on the shield. They kept of bucking and bucking. It didn’t look like they were leaving anytime soon.
“Have any more wishes?” asked Zac
Before she could answer, something came out from behind the trees. They couldn’t quite tell what it was at first since it was pretty dark now. As the sun had disappeared because of the necklace, they all forgot that it was summer. After some seconds, they could see a lion. It was a lioness. When the wolves noticed it, they stopped bucking and growling. It roared. The wolves started to run away. For a moment, no one said anything. Soon, it was only them and the lion, face to face. They were scared to move an inch because they had no idea what the lion would have done. The lion was not doing anything. It just stood in front of them looking at them. 
“This is awkward. Why isn’t it attacking us?” asked Bea
No one answered. The lion started to walk slowly towards them. They started to walk further away from the shield.  The lion wasn’t roaring. It was only growling like it was talking to them. It didn’t look like it wanted to attack them. It was just staring at them with an innocent face. Perhaps the most innocent face that any of them had ever seen on a lion.  Zac started to feel something. Like a connection towards the lion. It certainly didn’t seem like other lions. It was very different. It’s like it knew that humans were no harm to animals.
“Bea. Wish for the shield to go away.” Zac said
This made Bea to get an agape. She couldn’t believe what he was saying. Wishing for the shield to go away would only make the animal to attack them.
“Trust me.” He said
“Okay. My dad might be the bravest person I think I’ve ever seen in my life.” She thought
After a couple of seconds, she decided to obey her father. He started to move slowly closer and closer to the animal with his hand held out, like she wanted to pat it.
“Dad, be careful.” She said
The lion started to growl louder. This made Zac to freeze. But then, he continued on slowly getting closer and closer to the animal. When he had finally reached it, he touched its head and started to pat it. To everyone’s surprise, the lion didn’t respond violently. It actually looked like it liked it.
“Well. Would you just look at that.” Said Tom with amazement and a slight smile

“I wonder where it lives?” asked Bea
They were continuing on their journey. The lion was with them. Zac tried to tell it to go away. But he didn’t know how to speak lion. No matter how many times he said
“Shoo! Go away now.”
It wouldn’t listen. It’s like, it knew what he was telling it, but it didn’t want to obey. Zac finally gave up
“Well, it could be a great help.” He had said
They had started to continue following the river. Now, they could see the end of it.
“Right there. I see something.” Cody pointed out. “Isn’t that a banana tree?”
They began to walk closer to it.
“It is.” Said Tom
They had arrived at a part of the forest where there were banana trees everywhere. They began to gaze around, looking for the tree that looked like the biggest. 
“Over there.” Said Zac when he spotted the biggest
“Come on girl.” Said Cody to the lion
It was standing next to the banana tree that was behind them.
“Come on.” He said again. But it wasn’t moving.
The lion wasn’t like other lions. It was really strange. This just freaked Bea out. She felt like she was in wonderland. 
“I guess it doesn’t want to come with us.” Said Zac
“Yes, I think so to. Let’s go.” said Bea
All of a sudden, the lion ran off in another direction
They had found the banana tree. The next step they had to take was to go east from there, to get to the hillside. Bea’s phone started to ring. It was her mother.

“Hey, mom.” she said.
“Oh, I am so relieved to hear your voice.” Said her mom
“Don’t worry mom. We are fine.”
“Tell me everything.”
“There’s a lot to tell. It will be better if I tell you when I we get back. “
Right then, she remembered something. She couldn’t tell her mom any of this by the time she gets back because, she’ll be dead. “Mom, why didn’t you tell me that you and dad are going to go back to being dead when I stop the human race from ending?” she asked
“I was scared you might not want to stop it. I’m sorry. Are you mad?”
“No. Just sad I will never see you again.”

Beatrice couldn’t stop looking at her watch over and over. They had less than five hours. The time was moving by very fast. They were getting more and more tired. She kept on trying to wish on the necklace, but nothing was happening.
“Why won’t you work” She said looking like she was about to explode
After a couple of minutes, they could see the hillside. They were walking as fast as their feet could.
Bea couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she would never see her mother again. She really wished she had said good-bye to her properly. And for her father, she had only a few hours to be with him.
“I’m sorry my girl” said Zac. “I know it is not easy for you to face the fact that you are going to lose your mom and me again. But is just how things are supposed to be. When you wish for something that was once living to return to live, the rest of its kind is going to die in exchange for that wish. So it’s either both your mom and I live, and the rest of the world dies or we die, and the rest of the world lives” Bea just looked at him, with tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Look Bea.” He said before looking straight into her eyes. “You need to be focused and strong. I know you’re probably mad that your mom and I are going to return to the dead, but the most important thing now is you saving the human race”
They had arrived at the hillside. Cody thought he saw someone following them. He turned back to look but didn’t see anything. But he could swear he saw someone. He wasn’t able to see the person’s face or how he or she was dressed in time.
“You’re probably over reacting gifted genius.” Said Bea
They were about to look at the next step on the map when Tom shouted
“Guys!”
They could hear a sound that was coming from the bushes “Sssssssssssssssss!” 
It was a python. A real life python!!! How much dangerous could this quest get? There was no doubt that this might be the deadliest quest they all ever experienced. Every possible thing that Beatrice didn’t desire was happening one after another. She wondered how many other dangerous animals were in the forest. Probably enough to kill them all. Now, there was no doubt in her mind that she wished her mother wouldn’t have given her the necklace. Not that she blamed her mother. It was all her fault. All because of a wish of bringing someone from the dead. Now, she had dragged the people she loved the most into all this. They were probably going to die all because of her.
“This is what you get Bea. This is what you get.” She told herself
“Run!” shouted Tom
They did so. The snake was behind them. Looking hungry and ready to swallow. Beatrice gulped back her tears. This was certainly the scariest thing she ever experienced. Serena really did mean what she said about this not being easy. Cody shoved Bea to the side, were they hid behind the bush. But it was no use because the snake was still following them. It could feel their fear and could feel where they were. They started panting as the snake came near.  Beatrice was too scared to wish for anything. That’s when she remembered the words Zac told her. She had to save the human race from ending. She wished for the snake to turn into a statue. It started to become stiff and ended up turning into a statue with its mouth wide open. They both started panting even louder. This time, with relieve. Bea started crying. She was so scared she couldn’t really believe they were alright. Cody started comforting her.
“It’s alright.” He said hugging her
They both realized something. Where did Zac and Tom go? They had lost sight of them when running from the snake. It was hard to tell which way they ran to.
“Tom! Zac!” Screamed Cody
“Where could they have gone?” she asked
“I’ll look the other way.” Said Cody
“No.” Bea held his hand “It’s better if we stick together. We’ve already seen the danger of this forest.”
“How much time do we have left?”
Bea looked down at the watch on her risk.
“Approximately four hours and thirty minutes.” She said
You could tell by the way she said that she was really freaking out. She felt like there was no way possible to save the world from ending with that less time. I mean yes a nine year old girl did it a hundred years ago, but could she do it?
They rummaged. They started to yell and yell, but there was no answer. They also looked at any place they could possibly be, but they couldn’t find them.
“Do you have the map?” Asked Cody
“Yes.” She replied
“I think we’re wasting time. We have to keep on going without them. I’m pretty sure we just lost them. Nothing undesirable happened to them. They’ll be okay.”
With Zac and Tom nowhere to be found, they had to keep on going. But Beatrice couldn’t stop imagining where on earth they could possibly be or if they were fine.