Forlot - Books 1-3 {Completed}

Chapter Forty

We headed out of the library. I was to the left side of Karla, and Maxine was to the right side of her. Karla held our hands, so we would not slip off the dark path and fall to our doom.

I noticed Maxine wielding the sword. "How can you hold that sword with no problem?" I asked, wondering how she could when I could not.

"It is not hard," Maxine answered. "The sword is very light. Not heavy at all."

"Really?" I was in disbelief. "I tried picking it up earlier."

"And how did that go?"

I ran my free hand through my hair. "Not good. I had a good grip on the handle, but it felt pretty heavy. Plus, I was weak at the time."

"Well, you do not seem weak now." She held out the sword, keeping the sharp end of it away from Karla. "Take it. You are going to need it more."

I shook my head. "No, I—"

"Take the sword," Karla piped in. "You are the hero. You need a useful weapon of some sort, and a sword is an excellent example."

I let out a heavy sigh. "Okay, okay."

There was no use to convince them that I did not want the sword. Not anymore. I was a little nervous that it would be heavy, causing me to drop it, and it would fall right on my toes.

Man, that would hurt like the dickens!

Maxine handed me the sword, and I took it, gripping it tightly...

Clank!

It slipped from my grasp and clattered to the floor. Thankfully, I moved my feet out of harm's way just in the nick of time.

Karla picked up the sword. "Come on, Nigel. You cannot be much of a weakling," she said. "You are better than that." She handed the sword back to Maxine. "You are the hero."

"Would you stop reminding me?" I insisted.

"Stop reminding you of what?"

"That I am supposedly the hero. The one who is going to save you and the shadow people."

She frowned. "I read you the legend."

"You could have made it up."

"I would never make up such things!"

"Then you have mistaken me for the real hero!"

"You are the true hero!"

"Knock it off!" Maxine shouted and got between us. "Listen, I have no clue as to what is happening and what will happen. I am still lost on the matter. I just want to get out of this place and go home." She looked at me. "So does Nigel." She looked at Karla. "So does Karla. Now is not the time to fight. We have to take action as soon as possible. I do not care if Nigel is the hero or not. We need to focus on leaving the shadow realm."

Karla slowly nodded. "You are right. We do not have much time left. Especially for Nigel. He only has fifteen minutes to live."

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"I told you when you first came here. If you stay in Nerquina for too long, then you will pass. You will fade away like the wind."

"...we have to do something! And fast!"

Maxine placed her shadowy hands on my shoulders. "Calm down, Nigel," she said. "Take deep breaths. You are not going to die. The readers will keep on reading the book, so you will not be a goner."

I put a hand on my chest. I could feel my heart beat rapidly. My legs shook. I felt dizzy, like I was about to collapse.

"After all, you killed Katherine," Karla mentioned.

"I am sorry," I said. "I did not mean to set you two on fire. It was an accident."

"Pfft. It is alright. She was not my sister anyway, and she put you through heck. But speaking of which..." She took a step towards me. "...how did you manage to catch us on fire?"

"Well...first of all, it was an accident. I had no intentions."

"Yeah, I got that part."

"I was on the floor. I had just made a small amount of fire on the match. I was about to show Katherine, hoping to scare her a bit, when Maxine fell back and hit me against my knee. I let out a yelp, and the match flew out of my grasp. It must have landed near you and Katherine."

Karla crossed her arms. "Do you not think that is a little...?"

"I swear. That is what happened. Ask our readers! They read that part."

She sighed. "Alright, I believe you."

"Thank you."

Karla took our hands again, and we continued on our way. I did not know where our next destination was, but we had to find a way to escape this horror realm.

Before it was too late.

For me.

"Say, Karla," Maxine spoke. "You have not explained to me and Nigel why you told me that you are the daughter of Oberious. Yet you told Nigel that you are an orphan."

"It is a long story," she replied. "A long and sad story. One that I particularly do not like to talk about."

"But—"

"Besides, this chapter is coming to a close. I do not have enough time to explain my reasoning right now. You will have to wait until later."

While the shadow girls were chatting, I suddenly heard a voice in the distance.

A female voice.

Saying my name over and over.

"Nigel...Nigel...Nigel..."

"Ah!" I cried. I dropped to my knees and cradled my head in my hands. I was getting a splitting headache. "M-Maxine...K-Karla..."

No response from them.

Did they not notice that I was in pain?

I then felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up...

...and saw the shadow with the green eyes.

Looking down at me.