My Life As a Teenage Zombie

Midsummer's Daydream

"You again," Chris says as she opens the door. "What is it this time?"

"I need you to take me to the Cloven Forest."

"And I need a new pair of earrings," she replies, then slams the door shut. This little...

I start knocking on the door right away, and she opens it.

"Oh, you again."

"Yes, me again! Give me your damn door now!"

She narrows her gaze at me. "You do know I normally charge for its use, right? It's a two-of-a-kind item. Either pay up or get lost."

"Fine," I reply, taking out my wallet. "How much?"

"Five thousand dollars."

"I'll give you a twenty."

"Done."

She leads me into her basement. I just wave at a tired-looking Savannah while we pass her by.

"You'll want her to come with," Chris says. "I'm busy, and won't be here to open the door for you. Savannah can open it from the other side."

"But you can't?"

She snorts. "Of course I can. I just don't travel with losers." Don't kill her. Don't kill her. Don't kill her.

Savannah joins me, albeit after some protesting, and Chris opens the door. "Don't let him do anything stupid. We can't piss the fair folk off any further."

"You've pissed them off before?"

She glares at me. "When we killed one of their high elves, yes."

"Woops."

Chris all but pushes us through the door after that, and we enter a forest that looks like it's mid-autumn. Oh, I guess it is that late already. Time sure passed by fast. There are very, very large mushrooms all around us, and they're all glowing some strange colors - mostly shades of blue and green. It's nighttime, so I guess we're somewhere in Europe. England? That's where all the fairy stories originate, right?

"Okay, first rule," Savannah starts, still grumpy. "Don't eat anything they offer you."

"Why not?"

"The fair folk like to mess with their food. You might turn into something you're not gonna like." She then takes off, and walks down the little beaten-in path surrounded by mushrooms.

"Couldn't she have just taken us directly to Titania?"

"No. If that was possible, the portal would've taken us there. It's been enchanted."

"Oh." I just keep looking at her. Something happened to throw her off. Serena's death? I've been focused on everything else, and haven't really remembered to remember that those two were friends, too. "Are you okay?"

"Let's not get into any personal stuff."

"Okay."

Then we walk for a few more minutes, and she sighs. I don't ask anything, so she sighs again, more loudly this time. "My feet hurt."

"I'm not carrying you."

"Piggyback, at least?"

Now it was my turn to sigh. I crouch down, and she throws herself on my back. Before she can even saddle herself in, I take off running as fast as I can, feeling Carson's additional power making me go faster. Savannah barely manages to cling to my shoulders hard enough to avoid being thrown off. She just keeps chanting, "Slower! Slower!"