Chapter Five
The moss Ellie had put on my hand had completely ridden my skin of any signs of burns or scarring. I noticed this as she led me through the meadow just outside the forest. Looking back, I noticed the roman-style pillars rising high in the sky.
“What are those?” I asked.
“What?” Ellie didn’t bother to look back.
“Those pillar things.”
“Nothing. Hurry up, it’s getting dark,” she said. The green rabbit was flung across her back, giving off a shimmer of sparkling dust as it was bounced up and down. “You obviously haven’t seen a fire plant before. Didn’t you know they were explosives? We used them to capture prey.”
“We? As in, there’s more of you?” I felt a shiver run through my body.
Ellie nodded. “Yes. They’ll be surprised to find another Anti-Lucid.”
I shook my head in confusion. “An Anti-Lucid?”
We approached the cliff at the other end of the meadow, the setting sun casting a warm glow on the metallic pyramid up ahead. What was this thing? The upper half floating in the air and the colossal size mixed together to create the most bizarre structure I’ve ever seen before. I wondered what served its purpose; it didn’t really seem to be anything more than a landmark. It represented something having to do with children, with the tall statue of the boy and girl looking out over the swampy flatland.
“Yes, the Anti-Lucid,” Ellie confirmed. She stood at the edge of the drop-off and leaned forward to take a look. “There’s some footholds in the dirt. You should be able to get down there in no problem.”
She hauled her body over the edge, followed by the sounds of her grunts of effort. I ran to the edge and peered over to find that she was climbing down the side of the cliff with ease, grasping tiny groves in the dirt with her fingertips and feet. The pale-green rabbit was on the ground below, and I then knew that she must have thrown it over beforehand. Taking a moment to look up, she said, “Come on! We can’t wait much longer. The patrols will be out soon.”
The patrols? But she was obviously in a hurry, so I didn’t bother to ask her what that meant. I waited until she was down so I wouldn’t spew dirt in her face with my feet. She jumped the last few feet and grabbed the limp rabbit, flinging it on her shoulder. Cuffing her hands around her mouth, she called, “Hurry up!”
I nodded to her in reply. I began to go over the cliff when I hesitated, realizing for the first time how far up I was. I must have been at least two stories up from the flatland below. Taking a couple deep breaths to ease my nerves, I began to descend down the side of the cliff. I felt both my feet take holds on a couple nicks in the dirt, holding onto the edge with my hands. I then found a couple dents a little down, and I held onto both with my hands. Then, extending my arms, I released my feet from the footholds and felt for more nicks in the side farther down.
I repeated this process, following a mental beat in my head. Grab, extend arms, foothold, grab . . .
“You know,” I gasped about halfway down, “for a dream this place is pretty concrete.”
“Well, you won’t convince me that you’re the Lucid unless you win the Tascaque,” Ellie hollered.
“What?” I asked, trying to ignore my trembling limbs. I looked down to find that I still had a long ways to go. I noticed that I was beginning to lose my energy, my chest taking in huge amounts of air.
“Just focus!” she screamed. “Your almost there! Don’t fall because you’re too busy talking to me!”
This dream-Ellie is definitely more annoying than the real one, I thought angrily. Wait ‘till I show her. I’m the Lucid.
