Talia

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I wake up as the sunlight reaches my face. When the sun is up, the starflowers don't light. And the frogflyers don't scream. I will never understand why they scream. It could be that they are scared of the dark, or maybe they just communicate. I wonder what Anzor and Banan did to Gifro. They are still sleeping. Banan looks like a sleeping baby. He sleeps soundless. Banan holds some of his cloak close to his face, like it is a cuddle cloth and he lies in a fetal position. This makes him seem smaller. When I notice his face, I startle. He sleeps with an evil smirk on his mouth, as if he is having a good dream. Anzor, on the other hand, snores more than ever. His mouth is open. Anzor lies with one of his arms under his head. And his hoodie is off. He must have pulled it off during the night. I think his red hair shows a contrast to his eyes. It looks messy. The top has a light red color. The longer it is, the darker it gets.

My eyes drift from one place to another. I have to find an option, a way to escape. I search all over their body to find weapons or something sharp. Obviously I don't find anything. They have learnt from their mistakes. For a moment I forget the rope and look for weapons somewhere else. When I go too far, the rope drags me back. The pull makes Banan and Anzor wake up.

"You always wake up so early," Anzor says and rubs his eyes. Banan stretches his body and yawns.

"Time to go," he announces. I'm ravenous. It feels like my stomach soon will break the silence. I regret rejecting the food in prison.

We walk into the forest. To my astonishment I see a bush with berries. The berries are in different colors and looks like a marble. Someone are green, others have a light blue color, like Anzors eyes. I walk to it and start to gather. As I am about to wolf it down, Anzor slaps them out of my hand.

"Hey!" I exclaim.

"They are one of the most poisoned berries on Quince you idiot." I was sure these berries are safe to eat. Somewhere in our biology books it says that the achromatic marble berries are poisoned, not those with colors. I quickly pick one of them and swallow it. Anzor run amuck. He puts his hands on my cheeks and looks at my face.

"Are you mad?" He shouts timid. Banan also comes. I smile at him.

"They are not poisonous. Relax." Anzor seems to calm down and let go of my face. He sighs. Then he looks in my eyes.

"Did you do that just to prove that I was wrong?" He implies. I give him a mysterious smile.

"Now that! That was amazing. I love that smile!" Banan compliments.

"You're too stubborn. How did you know that anyway?" Anzor asks and ignores Banan.

"School."

"You learn about things like that at school?" Anzor looks excited.

"What is school?" Banan asks. Both I and Anzor show him a look saying: Seriously? It's not like I have forgotten that they have abducted me. The only problem is that I don't have a clue about what to do. And I never get the chance to do anything without them watching me.

In the shadow of a tree I see something move. I focus on it. It looks like clothes, flapping with the wind. Anzor snap his fingers before my eyes. My stare and concentration fades. I look at Anzor for a second, but my eyes drift back. There is nothing. I must have imagined a person or an animal.

"Is something wrong?" Anzor asks. I shake my head.

I pick some more berries and eat it while we are walking. We walk for about an hour until we stop. The path separates into three other ways. Luckily there are signs telling us which path takes us where. We are going to Bju, but decide to rest for a while. I look up at the tall trees. Although the sun is up, these trees make everything dark and sad underneath their branches. I think it is amazing how much we in Quince, our world, have accomplished. Incredible people have invented medicine for almost every disease, and the cities in each land get bigger and bigger over the years. Yet, our technology isn't good enough to cut this forest down and make a road. It would take forever to remove it all.

"I'm hungry!" Anzor complains. Banan seems to get an idea. He points at Anzor and keeps eye contact with him, only to point at me. Anzor nods. Banan cuts the rope and runs deeper inside the forest, out of our sight.

"I've heard rumors about this forest," Anzor says with a scary and low voice. "People say that it lives some creatures in the dark, thirsting for blood. When someone walks inside, they are already dead. Travelers claim to have seen it. Others claim they have buried several skeletons that lied outside this forest." The wind makes me shiver. It's cold outside. Everything gets quiet. Even the birds, that were singing beautiful songs earlier, are silent. It doesn't feel like the sun shines on the outside. I can hear the bushes rustle, and sprigs break.

Suddenly some birds fly out of the bushes. I fix my look at Anzor, who also have noticed the unpleasant atmosphere. Behind him, in the shadow, I catch a glimpse of an indistinct figure. The closer it gets to Anzor, the more certain I am about who it is. It can't be mistaken for someone else, his curly hair that stops bellow his ears. Gifro holds an iron bar and are about to smash Anzors head with it.