The Radiant Rangers

Chapter 8

"Oh Greymouth!" exclaimed Danielle's grandma in surprise. "Why, I've been to that small town before."

Cynthia and Juliet felt a sense of relief at the sound of this. Cynthia was glad they had found Danielle. She was a missing piece of their team. They still had to find three others, but to do this they needed to be prepared.

"Greymouth is about three to four hours away from here." said her grandma. "How far did you girls walk?"

Cynthia didn't realize how much time they had spent walking earlier. Her legs felt sore. Time had just flown by. Danielle's grandma opened up a large wooden drawer and pulled out a large rolled piece of paper. It was a world map. She walked over to the table and spread it out.

"I used to travel all over the world in my younger days." She chuckled. She spread out the crinkled map with her hands. Her hands were small like Danielle's, but wrinkled and old.

The map looked ancient. When Cynthia observed it she noticed there were thousands of places, islands, towns and cities. Most of which she had never seen before. The world was huge, mysterious and unknown.

Danielle's grandma pointed to Greymouth and looked at Danielle. "Take this map with you dear." She said, "get your friends home before nighttime so their parents don't have a fit! And don't get your good uniform dirty!"

Cynthia smirked when Danielle's grandma said this, she didn't have parents to worry about. Juliet, on the other hand, had parents that would worry about her. But since Juliet had so many brothers it was for hard her parents to keep track of them all.

"Alright." answered Danielle back quietly. She grabbed the map and crinkled it up. She shoved it into her skirt pocket without folding it up. "I'll be home by dinner time grandma."

Danielle slipped on her fuzzy brown boots and adjusted her glasses. "Come on guys, let's go." She said. Cynthia and Juliet put on their shoes and followed her out of the house. Juliet's blue converse were still covered in mud. Danielle lead them through the town once again on the way out. Cynthia and Juliet followed her as she took them towards the path that led back into the forest.

The forest path was wide and civilized. The tall trees helped to shape it, but the brilliant rays of sunshine still shined hotly from above. Once again, the three of them were on this path. The path gradually became twisty, snaking around the ancient trees. The tree roots were criss-crossed, gnarled and uneven.

Danielle had a map of this entire forest stored in her head. Her fuzzy brown boots had trodden these paths so many times that the soles were wearing thin, but she would never get tired of this place.

"Your town is really pretty." said Juliet to Danielle. Danielle glanced back and she smiled. "Thanks," she said. "I used to live in Queenstown, but moved in with my grandma once she came back to New Zealand."

"I used to live in Sweden." said Cynthia. "I like it much better here in New Zealand."

Danielle thought about what Cynthia had said. She wondered why Cynthia had moved to New Zealand in the first place but was too afraid to ask. She felt more comfortable talking to Juliet.

"Yeah it's super pretty here." said Juliet. "I'm glad you moved here man." She smiled and looked at Cynthia who was walking beside her silently. "We wouldn't have ever became friends if you would have stayed in Sweden by yourself!"