‘Bye.’ Hels's final word echoed through the desert. There was a flash of light – Hels disappeared from view; Pheonix fell to her knees.
‘NO!’ she sobbed, her hands pressed against her face. ‘HELS! YOU WERE TOO YOUNG! What about the others? What can I tell them?’
Hels flickered back into view. ‘Sorry, Pheonix,’ she said. ‘But I'll be back. Remember me...’ She faded away again. Pheonix's hand found her mouth, and she collapsed onto the sandy floor of the desert.
‘Hels... be quick... please...’ she breathed. She could still hear her friend's last words. "No, they aren't her last," Pheonix said firmly. But she was only trying to convince herself. ‘She's coming back. She. Is. Coming. Back!’
For Pheonix, time seemed to pass at half the speed as it normally did. She didn’t move from her position, crouched in the sand, for hours.
Later that evening, there was a flash of light. Hels stepped out of a hole that had appeared in the sky, and looked around. In the distance, she saw a dark mound on the orange sand. She ran over to it, and knelt down.
It was Pheonix.
‘Are – are you okay?’ Hels whispered. Pheonix gave a weak nod.
‘You – you came back,’ she breathed. Hels chuckled.
‘I told you I would!’ she said, giving Pheonix her old smile. The other girl began to laugh, and after a few moments, she sat up.
‘So, where did you go?’ Pheonix asked. Hels bit her lip, and tried to recall where she was.
‘Well, there were rainbows everywhere,’ she said, after a few minutes. ‘It was beautiful. A meadow with blue skies, and then a frozen tundra, even a city… Then I saw someone. I think it was her, Pheonix. I think she took me.’ She grinned, and Pheonix’s eyes widened. ‘Ah well, who cares where I was? It was awesome. And I’m back now.’
‘Y-yeah, I guess. But – HER? Are you kidding?’ Pheonix said. She took Hels’s outstretched hand, and pulled herself onto her feet.
‘Nope. I’m telling the truth. Shall we start walking again?’ Hels asked. Pheonix nodded.
‘Yeah,’ she replied. ‘How far are we from our camp?’
Hels did a quick equation in her head. ‘About fifteen minutes,’ she said. Pheonix shrugged.
‘Well, we’d better get walking,’ she said. ‘Alex will be waiting for us. Plus, I don't know about you, but I am starving!’ Hels nodded.
'Same,' she agreed. As if on cue, Pheonix's stomach rumbled, and the two girls laughed.
The girls started walked west. As usual, they’d walked east of their camp, to fill up their water skins and bottles at the river parallel to their route. Every day at sunrise, they had breakfast, and then packed up their camp. Then they started walking north. At midday, they took a break to have lunch. At sunset, they ate a final meal, topped up on water for the night, then set up camp and built a fire.
The sky was dark. About five minutes into their walk, Pheonix turned to Hels. ‘What time is it?’ she asked. Hels checked her old pocket watch.
‘Erm, around half nine,’ she confirmed. Pheonix nodded, and the two kept on walking. After another ten minutes, they arrived at their camp. Alex was frowning.
‘Where were you?’ she asked sharply. ‘You were hours. I was worried. See, this is why we don’t collect water at midday!’
‘Alex – Hels got taken,’ Pheonix said. Alex raised an eyebrow.
