Rules Are For Losers

Chapter 10 - Sorry I'm late

Ovann looked at her timepeace and huffed. She and Matt had looked through the whole forest for Penelope, and she was nowhere to be found. She didn't want to think like that, but could this possibly be some deliberate ploy of hers? Had she not wanted to come at all?

Ovann sighed, deeper this time. Matt sat nearby, silent, but looking unbothered. Ovann's eyes furrowed; why was he so relaxed? Because he knew this wasn't his fault? Because he knew she was the one who'd let Penelope go, and that she'd be blamed by the Head-

The Head would kick her out. She'd be back home. Ovann's brow tensed, and the more she worried, the more she began to sweat.

"Relax." Matohka said, spinning a long twig he'd found on the floor. For the first time, was smiling. Lightly, but still smiling.

"She's reappeared in the forest. I can sense her now."

He turned around to face a very worried Ovann, still grinning. "Though she'll have quite a lot of explaining to do, I reckon."

∞  

I gasp as I land on the ground with a thud. I'm surrounded by darkness, and it's really wet, and damp too, like it'd been raining hard before I landed. In fact, it still is, it seemed. My eyes, shut tight against an impact without my knowing, now open wide, and wider, my body controlled by a terror I didn't know I felt. Till now.

Where am I? My heart palpitates more with fear. Where have they taken me? Was this actually a trap? What if the hole I'd walked through so trustingly (so stupidly, I now reflect) actually led to... A dungeon? My demise? Why on Earth did I agree to this? I guess this is what happens when you trust-

I feel a small movement in the air next to me, like the slightest, unlikeliest breeze, and turn my head with a speed that would before have felt inhuman to me. What in Haedien could it be now? Haven't I been terrified enough?! Unless you count that time a childhood friend thought it would be funny to put fish in my tea, I don't think I've ever been petrified this long. Usually I get over things pretty easily. You know what, I'm going to get up no-

Dyeki suddenly appears in front of me. Agh, that look on her face... She looks pretty annoyed.

A part of me thinks: 'Wow. I must've really done something.' But it's kind of overshadowed by the part that's exhilarated about FINALLY getting an emotion out of this girl! Yes!

Maybe It'll be like a domino effect, and one emotion will follow another, and soon we can be besties, and she'll even be like a sis-

Dyeki moves closer, and closer, still giving me her annoyed look that means she's probably fuming inside. I gulp. "Hey, how's it going?" I ask nervously. She glares back. Wow.

How long have I been gone? It must have been a good while for Dyeki to be so uncharacteristically affected. Or maybe it's good. Maybe the girl needs to get some feeling into her. I only wish she'd say something.

Still unmovingly marble-faced, Dyeki offers me a snow-pale hand, and, with a nervous smile, I take it.

We walk back to camp, in stony silence. I kind of hope she'll ask me something, but maybe she figures I'm just trying to break her oath of silence or something, cause she doesn't.

I suddenly realise that when I get to camp, I'm in for a grilling. Ovann and Matt look like nice enough people, but who knows what they're like under pressure? I mean, me disappearing did kind of sabotage their whole mission for them. No Princess, no Peace, simple (I hope my nickname when we get back from this isn't Princess Peace or Her Healing Highness or something. Maybe The Maverick Maiden might be worthy. Penelope the Prodigious also has a ring to it). Anyway, my two companions would probably have gotten in huge trouble with Ghost Man (my new name for the Headmaster) if I really hadn't turned up. I slightly balk at the possibilities; I've known the sweetest little kids who turn into demons when provoked. Hopefully my guys forgive me.