Tales of Lucidrid

Chapter 6

        Delilah woke up surprisingly before Genevieve. She got up, took a sip of water, put it back in her backpack, and shook Genevieve awake. "What??" Genevieve groaned. She realized she might have slept in and jumped up. Genevieve peaked outside the tent and saw the slightest sign of morning. "We better pack up!" Genevieve jumped out of the tent and started to grab everything she could find. After she packed up everything she ran into the boys tent and shook everyone awake.

Seconds later the boys came trudging out of their tent still looking half asleep. By then Delilah had already packed the blankets and was putting up the tent. Marcus walked over and started to help her take down the tent and stared at her almost the entire time. While her and Marcus were taking the tent down Jacob was helping Sean, looking more depressed than ever. He was looking intensely at the tent, huge bags under his eyes making it clear he barely slept.

Delilah and Jacob locked eyes for barely a second. Delilah's brown eyes about to burst into tears. She ran over to help Genevieve so she could avoid the boys but she knew she would have to deal with them eventually. Genevieve understood at once why Delilah was walking over to her. Delilah and Genevieve had packed up almost everything leaving the rest for the boys.

Once everything was packed up the group headed off. In about a day Delilah would have to lead the group to find someone who hasn't been seen in years. Delilah tried to stay on the bright side. Genevieve believed in her and Genevieve was the only one Delilah trusted. The leaves crunched under Delilah's feet. The sound of the whistling winds. Delilah remembered how her former hero Helen Mell had said "Follow the wind and I will be there."

A lightbulb almost appeared above Delilah's head as she realized what that meant. "I know how to find her!" Delilah said almost yelling. Everyone's heads jolted toward Delilah at that moment. "How?!" Genevieve said almost even louder than Delilah. "When I went to a book signing of Helen Mell she said 'Follow the wind and I will be there'! All we have to do is follow the direction the wind is coming from! It's so simple. How did I not realize this before?" Genevieve looked so excited she almost exploded. Her face turned red, her smile spreading from ear to ear, her nose all scrunched up.

"You're a genius!" Genevieve answered. "Helen loved the wind. Story says as a kid she had no friends because she was so introverted. One day Helen sat down near a big oak tree watching the other kids play when something strange happened. It started with a leaf floating above her head. One, then two, then three. Hundreds of leaves floated above her head. The leaves would make different shapes like animals. That's the day Helen became known as the friend of the wind. Ever since, all people saw her doing was playing in the wind and would get depressed if there was no wind."

"So we know how to find her" Jacob said "But what if the wind changes direction? Then what will we do?" Genevieve, Marcus, and Sean laughed. "That's easy." Sean answered. "The wind in Lucidrid won't change for months. It's how things work around here. No one knows why but it just happens. It makes it easier to track stuff, for example; a middle aged lady who is technically a hermit."

The whole group laughed at Sean's hermit remark, especially Genevieve. Delilah wished she had something like them but she didn't want to think about Jacob and Marcus so she tried not to think about it too much. It was almost lunch time so Delilah grabbed some apples for the group to eat and gave everyone one apple. All the apples were gone within seconds. Delilah was still hungry but she had to keep going. If she ate all the food now there wouldn't be enough for when the group needed it.

Delilah saw Jacob creep a little closer to her making Delilah feel uncomfortable but comfortable at the same time. She really liked him but things were so complicated. Next thing she knew Delilah felt Jacob's fingers interlock with hers. It gave Delilah a slight feeling of comfort and she squeezed his hand tighter. Marcus interlocked fingers with Delilah's free hand and she accepted. It felt awkward holding both hands at the same time, but the boy's big, strong, warm hands gave Delilah a feeling of safeness.

Genevieve gave a nasty look back at Marcus and he quickly let go of Delilah's hand. Jacob slightly smirked at the sight of Marcus so scared. Genevieve grabbed Marcus's arm and stopped him and Jacob. "We'll catch up!" Delilah yelled over to Genevieve. She nodded unsurely and kept going with Sean. The boys looked confused and stared at Delilah.

Delilah sighed and rolled her eyes. "You guys are being impossible!" Both the boys still looked extremely confused. "Can you both stop being so depressed, or mad, or any mood you are in. It's getting old and it's not helping me at all. I already have enough stress on my shoulders and you aren't helping! Can you just be happy and get along? Now go."

Jacob stuttered a bit trying to answer but then he just walked off. Marcus did almost the same exact thing. The only difference was how Marcus brushed back his silky dark hair. Delilah knew the happiness was most likely not gonna happen but she hoped they would at least speak to each other. Or anyone for that matter. If they really did care about her they would do anything to make her happy. Or at least that was what Delilah read in any romance novel ever.

Delilah caught back up to the group and stood next to Genevieve and Sean leaving some time for Marcus and Jacob to try and become non enemies. Maybe even friends. Delilah listened to them and from time to time she would hear something like, "Hey" or "So how was your day...?" It was small talk but at least they were talking some. It was better than silence.

Night fell and the group kept going. It was almost one am when Genevieve decided to settle down for the night. It would only take less than half the day to get to Helen Mell's home at this point. Delilah was excited but scared about tomorrow. It would be her turn to take the big lead. After everything was set up everyone crawled into their tents and fell asleep.