The serpent's cave.'
'Wow, I like this adventure, already.' Grey told her.
They all looked at her; how could she be the only one who knows this and the only who knew how to get there? Three days, two nights; they haven't any more time.
'Okay....' Her dad had melted the ice.
'As much as we will all like to hear the answers, we can't, we all volunteered, we have three days, and we should make good use of this night.'
'That is true, beside we have someone knows the place and the story, it is good for us.' Lincoln's dad told them.
'Alright, everyone; go to bed, you too Kristine, try and sleep, you have a load of work ahead of you.' Her dad announced.
Everyone took their positions and soon fell asleep but yet she felt still; one person.
'you should sleep too, the morning is approaching.' She told as she stood up to return the book into Anna's bag pack.
'What happened last June.....' she heard him.
'This isn't the right time, to talk about it.' She cut him off, she wasn't ready to listen to him explain why he broke off their engagement before it even started.
'I know you are confused with everything, you know right now but believe it or not, we are all depending on the pact you share with the spirits of the past, your past.'
She shook her head and she lay down and turned her back to him.
'This isn't normal, I am just mad.'
He stood and lay down.
'Maybe this madness only has this time, we have to rely on it or we all die.' He said as she stretched her back.
She rests on her back and then closed her eyes but sleep didn't come.
Although, her eyes were closed, her body resting but her mind was totally awake.
She opened her eyes when she felt an ant climbing her but when she opened her eyes, she looked around her but she didn't find anything and then she looked at the wall of the cave close to the place the children slept; there were ant climbing the wall.
Wait, what now?
Have she so much absorbed the thing around her, that even the water slipping down the cave outside; she could feel it, well this was pure madness.
'This isn't madness.'
She looked round and back and front and then she looked at the opening of cave, there was a dim light moving close to her and then it close the face of a woman that looked much like her but only older appearing. She took a better look.
'Kerry Perry?'
'In your sub-consciousness, you awoke my spirit.'
She straightened her back; she wasn't ready to talk with the woman; who was going to wipe out the whole of her race.
'You called me, I am the good part of Kerry.'
'You are not the real Kerry?'
'No, I know you are confused, I can only appear to you in your confused state, what you feel is only a way to lead you to your fate.'
'But what will I find there?'
'You will know.' The light faded.
She will know, is it that now she has become god, she was just a human being.
And God was God.
Morning came, she didn't know how she survived it but as soon as she heard Annie and Anna telling her; it was time to leave, she got up.
Soon, they were set, this time, the road was bright and they could see clearly enough but they didn't know exactly where they were going.
'George, where is the compass?' Mr. Copeland asked her father.
George brought it out from his bag pack but when they placed it in his palm; the arrow didn't move; the compass wasn't working.
'What is it?' Lincoln asked them.
Her dad shook his head and put the compass back into his bag.
'Are you kidding me?' Susan exclaimed.
'So, what are we supposed to do now?' Jack asked.
'Don't worry, you Grandpa and I used to camp round here.' She heard her mother.
'Mom, then.....' Kristine started.
'We will figure it out.' Her dad assured her.
She watched as her mom moved towards the trees and her dad walked to her. Then they turned back to look at them.
'What is it?' Mrs. Copeland asked.
'The beach is close by.' Her mom said with a smile; she could smell salt water.
'Really?' Susan ventured ahead with excitement; it has been a while since she went to the beach could really use one right now.
'So, which way do we go?' Lincoln's father asked.
'North.' Her dad said.
They continued the journey; in a file, the way they had been before the rain and they continued walking ahead.
Finally, they came to the beach; it was 9 by her watch; they have been walking for three hours and the children were already tired and hungry; she could tell be their sluggishness and quietness.
Kristine looked round and turned at the scattering sounds she heard; she looked only to see Susan already removing her bag from her shoulders and her hands running through her clothes.
'What are you doing?' she asked her.
Susan's hand stopped at her shirt; about to take it off.
'What does it look like I am doing?' She asked with a smile. 'I am going for a swim; to wash off my body.'
Kristine looked at her frowning; everyone else watched her. 'Are you saying you go into any beach you see especially in this situation when anything can happen?'
Susan didn't believe this lady. 'I'm hot, smell of earth and dirt, is it a crime for me to go into a beach, as soon as I come across one to keep clean?'
Kristine rolled her eyes; she was tired of this lady.
'We have to be cautious, beside every one of us here want to have a bath, why the hurry?'
'Maybe they don't have the courage to reach there first, besides what could happen, other human beings are fine here.' She said as she pulled her clothes up her head, dropping it to the ground.
'Kristine, what is the matter?' Her mom asked her.
Kristine looked at her parents and her cousins; before looked at Lincoln's family and at the three young ones.
'I know I am not crazy but something does not feel right here.'
Susan scoffed. 'Right? You only know what is wrong for us now, right? You don't worry too much, I'm just going to go for a quick swim and will be back.' She said reaching for her buttons on her waistband.
'I trust Aunt Kris, if she say no, we shouldn't.' Sonia said as her cousins nod their heads.
Susan just shrugged; and was about to pull her trousers down but Kristine held her.
'This isn't funny and it's not right.'
Susan tried to move out of her drip. 'This is right; I don't see how swimming is a crime now.'
But Kristine didn't let her go.
She struggled; then looked at Lincoln doing nothing. 'Lin, tell her to leave my hand.'
'I can't let you do this.' Kristine answered still holding her; then Sonia and Jack held her as well; feeling too much hands on her body; she struggled more and then suddenly, they heard a voice coming towards them.
'Is there a problem?' the man asked in white shirt and black shorts.
'No, there is no problem; we are fine.' Mr. Copeland told him; Mrs. Copeland picked up Susan's bag and shirt.
The man looked at Susan; who stopped struggling and was staring at him. 'I just thought I heard struggling; so I came to clarify; are you sure you are okay?' he asked again.
Then her father nod; 'We are fine.' He assured him.
He was about to turned and leave but he stopped and faced them with a smile; that Kristine recognized as unexpected.
'By the way, we run a spa close-by and I am going to get fired if I don't get customers.'
Susan smiled brightly. 'A spa, I am in.' she said moving out of the children's grip; apparently their hands were too small to hold her back; Lincoln held her hand back before she moved close to the man.
'A spa in this vicinity?' her mother asked.
'Who runs this place?' Kristine asked him; after the man nod with a smile.
All the while, the man got here; he hadn't even looked in her direction; she was standing beside Susan; how can he not acknowledge her presence.
They waited for him to answer but he didn't, he just looked at them.
'She asked you a question.' Lincoln told the man.
'Who?' He looked at Lincoln.
Lincoln exchanged glances with her and the parents there.
'Lin, see now; she has annoyed the man with her nuisances.' Susan said.
Kristine looked at her mother. 'Mom, please....'
Her mother just nod.
'Who runs the spa?'
'It is owned by Mr. Valentine Cameos.'
'I know that man.' Susan announced.
Kristine sighed and turned back to face Susan. 'Susan, if I convince you that this place, you are wrong in going there, will you stay with us?'
Susan just shrugged; she could care less.
Kristine turned to her parents and the others.
'Kerry Perry knows we are here, I can feel it, because I am here or my spirit is here, there is an invisible shield between us and this non-human form.'
'How do you know he is non-human;' Susan asked.
'If a human being lived here, we would see a hound dog and Kerry Perry hates dogs.'
'How do you know?' Mrs. Copeland asked.
'I don't know but if he were a human walking, he would be wearing boots or shoes; not barefooted.'
Susan shook her head.
'I am still not convinced.'
She turned to her parents; 'Dad; Mr. Copeland; please tell him to show you a sort of identification.'
Mr. Copeland popped the question but the man looked at them for a second and then moved a step towards then before he turned back.
Kristine felt a kick on her leg.
'What happened?' her dad asked him.
He stopped and looked back with a smile on his face; 'I have to get back, excuse me.' He said and immediately; he walked faster and round the block. He was gone.
'Aunt Kris, are you okay?' Anne asked her.
She just nod. She put her hand on her leg and rubbed the part that hurt.
'What happened? Grey asked her.
'When he moved closer; he kicked me; you couldn't have seen it.' She said straightened up.
'What about the beach?' Grey asked her.
She shakes her head. 'Not a good idea; we will find a good place.'
She looked at Sonia and Anna; they were unmoving. She bent towards them.
'What happened girls?' she asked.
Mrs. Copeland gave Susan her bag pack and shirt.
'He is a jelly fish.' Sonia said.
'He had no footprints.' Anna added; scared.
'How do you know; girls?' Her mother asked them.
'Jelly fishes are always on the air; and they have scales that is why.....'
'That is why, he didn't put on shoes.' Grey and Annie finished the puzzle.
Mr. and Mrs. Copeland raise them in their arms;
'Grandma; grandpa, we are not five.' Anna told them for the both of them.
'But you are nine; more reason; we should worry about you.'
Kristine wanted to laugh; now they saw the gravity of the situation; why they shouldn't have come in the first place; she sighed; she can only smile when this is over and everyone here; was back where they belonged.
'Kristine, where are we going now?' Lincoln asked when no one said anything for few minutes.
'East, towards the sun.' she pointed.
They were almost there, she could feel it. It was starting to get dark and the children were tired; so they made camp and rested; while the fire settled bringing out cracks; 'Are you okay, Aunt Kris?' Sonia asked her.
She just nodded. She hadn't noticed she turned her back to them.
Her mother moved close to her and touched her shoulder.
'Honey, all these will pass, in the next two days, it will be over.'
Kristine looked at her; how, really?
Her mother didn't know the answer to that question but she said something else.
'I don't know mom, I am mad, I am mad and now even Anna, Annie, Grey and Sonia are mad and very soon you will all be, I don't want that to happen.'
'Sweetie, tell us, calmly, so that we can reduce the burden on you; we are all having fun and you are the only seeing the things; tell us how to help you.' Mr. Copeland and his wife moved close to her; she felt someone's hand on her back; when she looked up; it was her dad reassuring her, to go on.
She sighed. 'Kerry Perry doesn't like us.'
Susan scoffs 'tell us, something we don't know.'
'Tell us what you found out.' Mrs. Copeland asked her.
'She is living close by but now she has decided to test how united we can stand.'
'That was why she tricked Susan.' Jack pointed out.
'Yes, but it's not over.'
