One week later.
"Hey Annie, are you done yet?" asked Maddie as she smiled and she walked to where Annie was packing up her tent as she looked up at Maddie.
"Yes I am done" said Annie as she smiled.
"Alright then, come on Curtis is being more pushy than usual" said Maddie as she rolled her eyes and Annie just laughed, Maddie always had something to say about Curtis, and they were mostly not good things at all.
"Oh come on Maddie, you always have something to say about Curtis, and they are mostly bad than good" said Annie as she laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, but you know the truth, you do, he can be very annoying" said Maddie as she carried Annie's bag for her.
"Sure, but it seems that today he has something very important planned or something" said Annie as she smiled and she thanked Maddie for carrying her bag for her, she hated to admit it, but it was just to heavy for her, she wondered when she would totally get better.
"It better be something very important, or else he is only making a big fuss about nothing" said Maddie as she yawned.
"Come on, let's go see what that dry book is yapping about this time" said Maddie as she rubbed her eyes and she started to walk, it was not like she did not have a good night's sleep, but this time, she was just tired from everything going on right now.
"Don't call him that, he has lots of personality" said Annie as she followed after Maddie.
"Yeah, only you would think that Annie, only you" said Maddie as she laughed.
For the past week it was the same thing, they would wake up in the morning, have breakfast, then pack up their tents, and then start walking in the hot sun again, and then they would stop and set up camp again, it was a very, very boring routine that all of them were starting to get tired of routine.
"But that's the truth" said Annie.
"Yeah, yeah Annie, of course you are too innocent to think that it is, but he is such a pain in the neck" said Maddie as she sighed.
"Anyway, let's be quick, before that guy named Curtis shouts at us for being late, but then of course he would never shout at you, his lovely Annie, but me and him still have some unfinished business" said Maddie as she shook her head.
"I thought you guys settled that already" said Annie as she frowned.
"Only in words Annie, only in words, it is obvious that we still both have doubt in each other… but I mean, what can we say? We are here, and we are here" said Maddie as she saw Matt as he was walking towards them.
"Are you guys ready?" asked Matt.
"Yes we are" said Maddie as she smiled and she gave Matt her and Annie's bags.
"So where is Curtis?" asked Maddie.
"Come on, him and Prince Oliver are waiting for us nearby" said Matt as he led the way, while Annie and Maddie were packing up their tents, the guys made their way to where Curtis had led them to, he had left earlier to go who knew where, but when he returned, he asked that Ollie and Matt followed him, while Maddie and Annie stayed behind.
"You know, I wonder what the book is up to now" said Maddie as she followed after Matt as Annie was walking beside her, they made their way through the trees as Matt turned right and they followed after him.
"Well I have no idea as well" said Matt as they walked through the trees as they sat Curtis and Ollie as they seemed to be talking.
"Well here we are Curtis, now can you tell us why you woke us up so early?" asked Maddie as Curtis turned to look at her, Annie and Matt as Ollie turned to look at her as well, and he smiled at her.
"Because we have been progressing slowly for the past few days, and at this rate, we will not get anywhere" said Curtis as he explained.
"Mhmm, and so the way to progress more is to wake up earlier?" asked Maddie.
"Yes, exactly like that" replied Curtis.
"Anyway, that is enough talk, let's go" said Curtis as Matt put Annie's bag, Maddie's bag and his bag behind him as he followed after Curtis and they walked for a while in silence.
As Annie looked around, she noticed that the path they were following was getting more and more narrow, and more rocky, there were more rocky formations around, it seemed that they had entered a rocky terrain.
Annie could not help but think that if an earthquake was to strike, all the rocks that were piled up together would end up crashing down, that was a very horrible thought for Annie, so she decided not to think about it anymore.
"Where are we going Curtis?" asked Ollie as he looked around in awe, he wanted to touch all these rocks, they looked smooth, and they were pale in colour, he wondered if they were crystals in disguise, then that would be very cool.
He wanted to stop and touch them, but he could see that Curtis was very serious right now, so there was no option for him to.
"We have reached the mountain highland" said Curtis as he replied plainly.
"We have?" asked Maddie in surprise, now that explained the rocks.
"Yes, we have" said Curtis as he continued on, until they reached what would seem like a dead end.
"A dead end?" asked Annie.
"No, we still have up" said Curtis as he pointed up.
"Umm, sorry to break it to you Curtis, but that is way too high and steep, we cannot possibly climb that without getting hurt" said Maddie as there was no way she was climbing up there, that looked way too dangerous, high and steep.
"Well if you want us to go any further, we need to get up" said Curtis, he had packed climbing gear in his bag, but he had a better idea for how they could get up there.
"So how exactly are we getting up Curtis?" asked Ollie.
"We don't have magic, just to remind you" said Maddie as she smiled sarcastically at Curtis as he did not look at her at all.
"Matt" said Curtis.
"Huh?" asked Annie, Maddie and Ollie as they could not understand what Curtis was saying.
"Me?" asked Matt as he looked at Curtis.
"Yes you Matt, you are the only one strong enough to get up there without getting hurt" said Curtis.
"Okay" said Matt as he had to agree with Curtis that was true.
"How much do you think that you can carry at once?" asked Curtis.
"Umm… judging from how far high that is… I think I can only go once, that looked very steep" said Matt as he looked up.
"Alright then, you need to go up first, drop those bags, and then come back down and help Annie up first" said Curtis.
"Okay then" said Matt as he walked ahead.
"Be careful" said Annie as Matt held his grip firmly on one of the loose rocks, and he lifted himself up as he swiftly moved from rock to rock, and in no time he was on top.
"That was fast" said Ollie in surprise.
"Tell me about it" said Maddie as now she considered them lucky for having Matt here with them.
Matt removed the bags from his back and he placed them on the ground as he slowly let himself down, he felt his fingers being grazed, it didn't hurt, it only felt weird and hot, but it was back to normal in an instant.
"Annie, just stay put when you get up there" said Curtis as he looked at Annie/
"Okay" said Annie as Matt walked towards her and he offered her his hand as she took it, and she was caught by surprise when Matt suddenly lifted her with one arm under her legs and his other hand supporting her back, Annie's hand instinctively held Matt's neck.
Annie looked at Matt as he remained indifferent, she felt like she was going to turn red any second now, the way he carried her was so swift and unexpected that she was take off guard.
Matt made sure that he had a good footing as he got ready to lunge forward, luckily for him, it was like Annie weighed nothing at all.
"Be careful Matt" said Maddie In worry.
"I will" replied Matt as he pushed himself up with Annie in his arms as Annie impulsively closed her eyes as she did not want to look down, and she felt the cold wind on her face as before she knew it Matt landed firmly on the ground.
"You can open your eyes now" said Matt.
"Oh…" said Annie as she opened her eyes and she snapped out of her thoughts as she quickly let go of Matt, he had still not spoken to her, and well, things were awkward.
"Thank you" said Annie.
"You are welcome" said Matt as he got ready to go back down again.
"Matt…" called Annie as Matt stopped and he turned around.