Dropped Stitch

Time to Dance

[Fandom+ (1)]

Lyra woke up.

Again.

"Adipose dung," she mumbled. "Not again."

She heard laughing. "She's awake, silly worryboy!" A voice singsonged.

"Don't call me that," Another voice called, and Andesine moved into Lyra's range of vision. "You and your knocked out nearly dead human bullshcist," he grumbled.

"Don't you do that," Lyra scolded him, sitting up. "You were worried sick and you know it."

She was in a room that was, contrary to what she'd expected, painted with splashes of color. The ceiling was a swirl of stars, and the floor was painted with rivers, forests, deserts, and even small cities. Judging from the ten large palaces painted on the ground, it was a painting of Avalon. The walls were painted with blue and swarmed with humanoid Air elementals, birds, and flying insects.

"He was," A little girl chirped. She sat cross-legged on the floor, a grin stretched across her dark-skinned face. "I'm Circe."

"Rayl's boss, right?" Lyra asked.

Circe frowned. "Used to be," she remarked sourly. Lyra was about to ask what happened, but Andesine shook his head, holding a finger to his lips.

Lyra scrunched her mouth to one side and mouthed, You tell me what happened later.

"What'd you say?" Circe asked.

"I warned him about something of the utmost importance," Lyra replied, grinning. Circe nodded.

"Is it a secret?"

"Yup."

"Okay then. What is it?"

"I can't tell you. It's a secret."

"Why?"

"I already told you. It's a secret."

Circe nodded sagely. "Okay then," She repeated. "I need to tell you something." She glanced at Andesine suspiciously. "Alone."

"If you kill her, I'll make sure she's avenged," Andesine warned. "And not in a very nice way."

"Jeez, Andesine," Lyra said, rolling her eyes. "I can take care of myself."

"Especially with this," Circe said. She tossed Lyra a key, shiny new. It had on it an omega, a symbol Lyra only knew from one fandom.

"Percy Jackson," She mumbled. "Cool." She wrestled the key onto her ring. "Now go," she said, flapping a hand at Andesine. "I'll be fine with the creepy magic lady."

"Girl," Circe corrected her. "I'm never gonna be a lady."

"Right," Lyra said. "Anyways, I'll be fine."

"I'll be within screaming distance," Andesine said, and left.

"Well," Lyra said. "Thought he'd never leave. Honestly, I was going to start talking about shopping for bras or something."

"The boy's a bit thick," Circe said. "Also, he's an imaginary grown-up."

"Hm." Lyra nodded. "What am I, then? If he's grown up?"

"Something new," Circe replied. "Come, now. I must teach you the Infinite Secret." She waved her hand, revealing a flight of stairs leading deep into the earth.

[$^$]

Winter stared down at Ananda. The monster slid off his sword and fell silently to the ground below. In seconds, there was a sickening crunching sound as scavengers dug into the fresh feast. Ananda cringed.

"We should go," She whispered. "They'll come for us next."

"We'll hop a few trees and wait 'til dawn," Winter agreed quietly.

The two began to ascend the tree. Winter saw a place where two branches intersected and climbed over, making sure Ananda (who could not climb very well) got over in one piece. They both listened to the clicking sound of the scavengers and the distant howls from the monsters, held tense with fear.

Like spiders, the crawled from tree to tree. Luckily, the small rustling noises they made went unnoticed by predators. Probably, they figured that it was another, even bigger monster.

Finally, they stopped, practically collapsing amongst the boughs of an ancient, gnarled tree that they didn't recognize. They were just about to tie themselves in when Winter spotted the gleamings of sunlight on the horizon. Sure enough, screeches were heard from overhead as the more nocturnal creatures returned to their caves.

After a while, Winter looked down. No predators' glassy eyes glared back at him. He nudged Ananda, who had been falling asleep, and nodded. "Let's go get Cassi back."

He pushed the memories of last night's chat to the back of his mind. There was no way Cassi would die.