Forgotten

two

Jackson yawned, cracking open his eyes to see sunrise peeking through the side of the tent. He has barely slept last night, wondering if he should have just gone without Nina. His sister was important to him, after his parents died, he was all she had to grow up with. And all she had talked about in that time was going to find the magic she was so strongly convinced she had seen. For her thirteenth birthday, he had finally agreed to go with her to find her magic. Nina has demanded to come, though he still didn't know why, she hated the bush. But Kauna hadn't let that put her mood down. He was practically running after for the first few hours, and only Nina constant complaints had slowed them down, she convinced him to turn them all around and go home, and Kauna was crushed. Jackson sighed.
I need to apologise to her he thought,  and yawned again, stretching his long limbs and getting out of the tent.
"Kauna? Hey I'm really sorry I know you really wanted to do
this..." Jackson stopped outside the tent, noticing the open flaps and the absence of his sister.
Shit!
"Kauna!" he spun around but there was no one anywhere near where they were. Jackson ran to his tent and shook it nearly hard enough for the frame to collapse
"Nina, get up! Kaunas gone" he yelled, panicked.
He packed his bag in record time, hoisting both his and his sisters onto his back to find her.
"hurry up, we have to go now!" Nina finally finished packing and stood up, yawning.
"where did she go?" she asked and Jackson groaned.
"she went looking for magic. God, I'm so stupid!" he rubbed his temples and looked around for the tiny flowers she was leading them to follow.
"okay, she would have gone that way, if she left last night then..."
Jackson groaned and put his head in his hands.
"she'll be miles away by now. I shouldve been watching her." he said to himself. Nina looked out to the flowers and nodded.
"okay, well we'll find her, so let's just follow there, she'll probably be somewhere waiting for us." she said, walking through the bushes that Kauna had disappeared into earlier that morning. Jackson shook his head.
She really doesn't know her at all. Kauna won't have stopped once, not until she found what she was looking for.

Kauna had walked for about another half an hour before the flowers had stopped growing. But she didn't need much direction. There was several thick trees, beaches knotting and twisted around each other until no one could even see through them. She immediately knew this was what she was looking for.
Kauna cautiously stepped on a lower branch and waited, hoping it would hold her weight. But the tree branch curled back, crackling and shrinking until there was a clear pathway for her to continue. Kauna beamed. Of course magic was real, she had seen it before, she was seeing it now
I knew it
Kauna stepped past the trees excitement growing inside her, and looked around
Wow
The place was amazing, there was a smooth black rock over the ground, with grass, trees and flowers stretching out to cover half of it, a small blue half frozen pool of water, spiked of ice poking up into the air like trees, towards the rising sun, and on the other side, a bubbling pool of lava and strange geode crystals over the rock. She stood staring for a while, a huge smile on her face. Kauna was just about step further in, when she felt someone grab the back of her jacket and pull her out of the small paradise. The trees knotted back together but they didn't seem to notice
"you, are in so much trouble! You can't sneak out into a forest in the middle of the woods, alone, at night!" Jackson said angrily but still crushed her in a hug.
"but I found it! There was a place with rocks and ice and lava and trees! It's just behind here, when I got up too it the trees moved away, and-"
"oh, grow up! There's no such thing as magic." Nina snapped, cutting her off. She hadn't had the best morning, after being woken up at the crack of dawn, and hurried to get ready, Jackson dragged her through more of the forest, even though they had planned to go home, just because his little sister had decided to go running off looking for fairies. Jackson glared at her but Kauna didn't even pay attention
"Jackson I saw it, it's real I swear" she pleaded but Nina rolled her eyes.
"come on we were meant to be going back. Jackson you need to be back at the blacksmiths." she pointed out and he sighed. Torn between choosing her or his sister. Nina knew what the answer would be.
"alright, if we walk fast we can get back quicker." he said dejectedly and stood up. Kauna protested and he gave her a silent look.
"why? Why can't we just go without her! She didn't even have to come." Kauna said grabbing onto Jackson's arm but he paid no attention.
"Kauna, no. We're going home. You already ran off and you knew you shouldn't." he said and started walking back the way he came. Nina followed but Kauna Waited a second, turning back to the tangled trees, and holding one of the branches
He would have believed me if he saw.
She looked around once more and went after two the others.
Kauna felt like someone was watching her throughout the walk, but it wasn't uncomfortable. She felt like someone was looking out for her, and so she didn't say anything to Jackson. He would just worry about her, as always.

An hour later, Nina had to stop again, claiming she needed another break. Kauna sighed and walked up to the rock overlooking a small ledge, sitting down and ignoring Nina. Her thoughts drifted back to the place she had seen through the trees. There were intricate designs with everything, the ice looked like if had been carved with swirly designs, and she still wanted to go back. When she was older though, then she would come without Jackson, and definitely without Nina. Kauna picked up a stick and walked towards the edge, sitting cross-legged in front, and sketching the view into the dirt.
Behind her, Nina was in a bad mood still.
"I'm not saying you have to completely love her, but you act like you hate her. Nina if we're going to get married then my sister is going to be part of your life." Jackson said to her and she sighed.
"alright fine, I'll be nice." she agreed and looked over to the teen over at the edge.
Jackson smiled at her
"thank you." he said and they stood up.
"Kauna, we're going to keep going, you ready?" he called and she jumped up, kicking the dirt so her drawing dissapeared.
Yes, finally!" she said and ran around the rock to get back on path. But her foot slipped on a pebble and she fell sideways, grazing her arm on the rock and slippinf over the ledge, a yell escaping her.