Mary Smith and The Three-Headed Dog

20. Fearless Trust In God

"If things ever get really bad, a powerful Seer can always summon Death for assistance. But it comes at a price..."

--Blaise Zabini

Chapter 20: Fearless Trust In God

Crucifix in one hand, wand in the other, we were sneaking off the castle grounds. "We have to hurry you guys!" I panted when we finally came up on the lake, "She's been out here a while now."

"Tell me again why we're helping any of those Huffle-jerks," Daphne huffed, clearly out of breath. "They don't even like you!"

"Daphne please!" I needed to think! I looked to my right, and then to my left. Was West always to the right? How does east and west work? "Which way is west?!"

Dean looked around before picking up a stick and walking up to the edge of the Black Lake. To the East turned into the Azure lake and to the west, it turned into the Deep Lake. Further north is the Opal Canal. Collectively, it's known as the Great Lake. The territories were mainly divided by the occupying creatures. From what I knew, the Mermaids, the Sea Jackals, and a giant squid occupied the Black Lake. I was disappointed to hear that mermaids, or Merpeople really, weren't like Disney Princess Ariel. They hate witches, wizards, and regular people even more.

"OrbiDEN," Dean muttered, tapping the tip of his wand to the forked end of the stick. "Seamus has been really obsessed with wilderness survival magic lately." Dean set the stick in the lake water. "Says it's important for real men to learn these things. Guess it came in handy huh." The stick spun around in the water a few times, bobbed back and forth, and then settled to the right. "That's our west."

I couldn't help but awe at Dean. He was more than a boy that kicked books. He was really...impressive. "That was amazing, Dean!"

Instead of shying away at the attention, he leaned into it with a smirk. "I try. I try."

Daphne snorted. "If you two are done fawning over each other, we should get going after Leanne?"

I didn't know what fawning meant but she was right. We needed to get moving. "You're right. Let's go!" And we were off on a run again.

"Not so fast!" Daphne begged, "Are you half-were or something?!"

I slowed down to a more reasonable speed where Dean and Daphne could keep up. I suppose it was a little difficult to run along this crisp dewy grass in our dress shoes. And I suppose it was important to keep a manageable pace. We had quite a way to go. The Great Lake is large.

The march was silent for a long time. A couple shivers ran up my spine as we skirted the edge of the forbidden forest, coming around the bend. For a long while, there was nothing but the crunch of frozen blades of grass beneath our feet, the accidental kick of a rock, and a large breath from one of the two behind me. The ground became rocky, less beaten, and less traveled. We were now on the other side of the forbidden forest entry and could no longer see the school. The tall trees blocked the view of our safety net. It made us feel like we were really out here now. We were really on our own. There was no one to spot us and turn us around now. The only thing visible behind us was the small sliver of beach where we began. The stick was far behind us.

I wonder how Leanne felt when she walked this far. Was there that same feeling for her of 'No going back now'? Did it steel her nerves or make her waver? Did she even come this far?

"Look," Daphne pointed. Ahead was a patch of very soft and muddy earth. In it were footprints. Small foot prints. They were Leanne's! They had to be! So, she had continued on. "Uh, oh. That isn't good." The closer we got, you could see a small smattering of smooth rocks in the mud. One had a shiny red smear on it.