Walt Disney College

Chapter 77~ The Map

Merida could've spent her Thursday doing many things, yet she had decided to decipher Jim's map. She had spent a good two minutes on it before getting bored and started messing around with some paint and paper.

She did tell Mowgli and Jim she'd give them the map tomorrow though, and if it's one thing her mother was always telling her, it was 'keep your promises Merida, you'd want someone to do the same for you'.

She looked to the left and saw the map pinned to the board. There were weird symbols on it and they all seemed to be labelled, but Merida just hadn't seen anything like it. Instead of seas and oceans, the bumps on the right side of the map seemed to be...clouds?

"Where'd he get a map like this eh?" Merida muttered to herself.

Merida just couldn't get it, and she had bragged to Jim that she'd be able to do it too. She put aside her paintbrush and pulled the map off the board. She rolled it up and stuffed it down her dress. She knew who she needed to go to.

◈▣◈

Zarina was crushing some herbs for her potions assignment in the library, careful not to blow anything up this time. Her roommate, Vidia, had refused to let her do potions again in their dorm room after the last incident.

Someone walked into the library, and Zarina looked up. It was Lily the Good Witch. She looked different. Her green eyes were dull and she looked more worried than Zarina had ever seen her before.

"Lily?" she called, "are you okay?"

Lily looked at her and her eyes turned into the size of saucers, as if she'd been caught.

"Yes! I'm fine, absolutely fine!"

She said it almost as if she was angry, and she hurried out of the library as soon as she had came.

Zarina frowned, wondering if she had said something wrong. There was not enough time to ponder over it though, for Merida had burst through the doors, earning a withering glare from the librarian.

"Zarina!" she yelled, waving wildly.

Zarina smiled, even though the librarian's glare intensified.

"Hey Merida, what's up?"

She watched in amusement as Merida stuffed her hand down her dress and pulled out a map. She spread it out on the table, pushing Zarina's potion things aside.

"This. I need your help." Merida pointed at a certain part of the map. "These aren't seas, are they?"

Zarina squinted at the map herself. "No. Those are clouds. They seem to be above the college, just guessing by looking at the latitude. They also seem to stretch over the Mediterranean. Hey..." Zarina pulled the map closer towards her. "This isn't a regular map. Maps don't show the clouds do they. Is this...what's this?"

"They're, um..." Merida didn't want Zarina knowing everything. "I think it's a cave."

That wasn't really a lie. It was a cave, but it led out to a shore that Merida couldn't locate on the globe. She wondered how long it would be before Zarina noticed—

"Wait, is that—"

Merida quickly snatched the map away from her, rolling it up frantically.

"Thanks Zarina. I just wanted to know if they were clouds. Jim...he drew this you see? He thought I'd like to, um...look at it."

Zarina's confused look disappeared and she smiled instead. "Jim Hawkins? You guys hang out a lot now, don't you? Kim mustn't like that."

Merida shook her head, hoping her cheeks were not turning the same colour as her hair.