The Lonely Thoughts of a Snail in Soil

A Crazy Idea

Chapter 3: A Crazy Idea

The Fae are the most complex of the Hidden races. Their need for beauty suppresses even their need for necessities, which makes them hard to track in terms of predictability. Their beauty pageants though are astounding, and are some of the most outrageous forms of showmanship I have seen.

--Excerpt from 'The Guide to the Realm of the Hidden.'

Lilly

Lilly found Hannah outside of the cafe looking absolutely frazzled. Maybe it was the cold brew she was drinking. Or the sugary donuts. It must have been something, because Lilly has never seen her look as jittery as this. What was going on? Why was she looking so... worried?

"Is Bill coming later?" Lilly asked, sitting down in the open air. The waiter came and she ordered a latte and a bagel. Hannah nodded. "What's up? You look, um, ragged?"

    "I have a plan. A crazy, stupid, ridiculous plan," Hannah sputtered out. "It's probably got a very high success rate of getting us a coach."

    "Whoa, you found us a coach?" Bill asked right as she finished her sentence. He too ordered quickly. Sitting in a chair, stretching his long legs, it was like the kid grew everyday. "Hopefully a good one."

    She sorta looked away, then back on her drink. "No, not a coach. But a potential coach."

    "Really? Who?"

    Hannah now really looked nervous. She pulled out her laptop from her backpack, did some typing, then pulled up a page. "I sorta scrolled all the way to the bottom of the exorcist page, and found a hero that caught my eye."

    Lilly and Bill both leaned forward and read the profile. Lilly felt her stomach leave her, as though something came and sucked up her entire body. The fae wasn't even sure she was reading it right.

    "Uh, Hannah, that says he's a necromancer," Lilly said.

    "Yeah."

    "Shouldn't we, uh, be concerned?"

    "Why?"

    Bill coughed. "Because weren't necromancers supposed to be gone? Like forever?"

    "Apparently not," Hannah responded, sorta building up her confidence, if a little slowly. "I don't know if it's real or not, but if he is, then maybe he's our best bet at obtaining a coach?"

    "A necromancer?" Lilly asked, very confused. Lilly, who loved her friend very much, didn't really... trust people. Not that she couldn't trust. But there were so many bad people out in the world. One wrong slip up, and that's it, you're done. And Lilly would know. She was tired of trying to trust people.

    That's why she wanted to be a hero. To make sure no one would mess with her again.

    "Think about it." Hannah sat forward, brushing aside her long white hair. "It says he needs work. That means he's available to at least help us. I tried to see if you can message him online, but you can't. We know where he's at. He can be found. Which means if we go beg, then our chances are high that he says yes."

    "But what if, he, you know, wants to kill us!" Lilly cried out, maybe too loud. She has always been very enthusiastic sometimes. It's hard to control. Hannah and Bill have accepted her brash behavior, however some people find it off putting, which also starts making her lose trust in those that start to get too close. "I heard the necromancers were ruthless to those who disagreed or angered them."

    "And they raise the dead!" Bill added, nodding furiously. "What if we become a part of his evil undead army?"

    "Oh please, I don't think heroes kill their potential patrons and add them to their armies."