I wake up to the sunlight shining on my face. I sit up, confused. Why was my room so big? And, where was my bed?
Then, it all came flooding back. I became a sacrifice, I got kicked out of the village, and I almost died last night.
I tried to stand up, but every part of me hurt, and I sat back down. The bruises have taken their toll.
I was alone in the cave. Where were the others? Did they leave me? Or were they just a hallucination?
Suddenly, I heard talking. I crawled to the opening of the cave. The others were outside, sitting on rocks, and Kiana was chasing a butterfly.
The forest looked different. Sure, it looked the same as last night. But, it looked brighter, and sun rays poked through the leaves. And, the trees didn't look so lifeless anymore.
I finally had the strength to get up, and walk over to them.
Casey finally noticed me. "Hey. Sleep well?"
I ignored the question, and rubbed my eyes. "What are you guys doing outside?"
"The Reaper doesn't come out in the daytime, so we can go outside." Blair said, kicking rocks.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Leon sitting on a tree stump. If they say that the Reaper doesn't come out in the daytime, the way he was looking around didn't seem to confirm it.
"Well, I guess I'll be leaving now. Goodbye." I said as I turned to walk away.
"Wait! You're leaving?" Casey asked, confused.
I turned around, and looked into his eyes. "Look, I appreciate how you stopped the Reaper from killing me. But, I never said I was staying. I can survive on my own."
"But, where would you go?"
For a minute, I hesitated. Where would I go? I certainly couldn't go back to Xera. And, Xera was the only town in this region.
Finally, I settled on saying, "That's for me to know, and you to never find out."
As I walked away, I heard Blair say, "Oh well. I guess you don't want to travel with us to the next town over."
After that, I stopped. What did she mean next town over? Xera was the only village around for miles. I looked over my shoulder to see Casey, Blair, and Kiana standing there. Leon got up suddenly, and punched Blair in the arm.
"Hey! That's only for us! You weren't supposed to tell anyone!!" he said angrily.
I turned around, intrigued. "Next town over? There's no other town except Xera around here." I told her.
Casey smirked. "What if we told you there's another village just past this forest?"
I crossed my arms, and glared a little. I knew for sure that there was no village. I learned that from my days in Xera, when I would look at mapbooks and atlases in the library, only to find out that Xera was isolated with no signs of human life outside its walls. But, the way they were talking about it. It seemed like they believed it. And, the mapbooks might just be lies.
I slowly walked towards them, stopping a few feet away from them. "Prove it."
Casey smiled, and pulled a piece of parchment from his back pocket. It was an old piece of paper, some corners of it withering away. It looked ripped, looking like it was pulled out of an atlas. I narrowed my eyes, a little curious, as I watched him unfold it and hand it to me.
I look over the piece of paper. It was a map, showing Xera. It looked like the one I read in one of the atlases. Except, it was expanded, showing more forest. Finally, my eyes landed on a drawing of a town. Below it, it said, "Syren".
"Syren?" I asked as I looked up at Casey's smirking face.
He nodded, confirming it. Leon looked at me with a mixture of fury and hatred.
"Don't think that we're taking you there." he growled.
Blair kicked him in the shins. "Of course we're taking her there, you numbskull!" she snapped over Leon's yelps of pain.
Casey ignored them, and said, "Before I was kicked out of Xera, I snuck into the Grand Council's study. I found this on the desk. It seemed like they knew about Syren, but was hiding it from any records."
I sighed. Of course. That sounded exactly like something they would do. "But, how come?"
"I don't know. Probably because they didn't want sacrifices defecting there."
"The journey to Syren is very long and difficult, though," Blair added, "It's just beyond this forest."
I widened my eyes, and pointed at the map. "This is all one forest?"
Blair nodded. "The Pinescreen Forest is a huge forest. No one's ever explored it all, and it probably takes decades to see it all."
Casey walked up to me, and slowly took the map from my hands. "The point is if we make it to Syren, we'll be safe, and most importantly, free. Syren doesn't follow the same rules as Xera, so they don't sacrifice people. As soon as we get there, we'll be welcome with open arms, and living out the rest of our lives there."
"If we even make it there…" Leon grumbled.
"So, you can walk away. Or you can join us, and have a better chance of surviving." Casey finished.
After he said that, they all looked at me expectantly (except Leon, who was fuming). Part of me wants to just leave them, but most of me wants to go with them. I may be stubborn but I'm not stupid. I could just go with them, and leave them when we get to Syren. And, I'd be protected from the Reaper if I go with them. Not fully, but a little.
I walked towards them, eyes narrowing. "Fine. I'll come with you. But, I'm leaving when we get to Syren."
"Fair enough." Casey said with a smile.
Suddenly, I felt arms around my waist. I looked down to see Kiana hugging me, looking up at me with a small smile. I couldn't help but smile back. There was so much about her that reminded me of Naomi. Blair put a hand on my shoulder, and smiled.
"Welcome to the family then, Nova."