[Otto's POV]
"What?! Where am I? What was that?! ALEX?!" Otto called out as panic consumed her mind quickly. But no one answered. She was alone.
One second she was standing next to Alex, looking at this "Book of the Dead", the next thing she knew, she was staring at a lake. An enormous, black lake, reflecting the clear blue sky, surrounded by a mountain landscape and many pine trees.
While Otto was staring at it, the calm water of the lake had started rippling at the edge and a strange lump washed up on the shore.
She stared at it with big frightened eyes, frozen to the ground, too petrified to move. Was that a corpse? Had someone died here? Was this a dangerous place?
But before she could make up her mind on what to do, the corpse started to move. Soon it was standing on four wobbly legs. It gave her a look that made it clear that it was equally as frightened as she felt, then spotted a herd of similar looking creatures and ran off.
Was that a Wildebeest?! What was it doing here?
"Where am I?!" she thought, enough panic coursing through her to finally kick her into gear. She scrambled to her feet, turned away from the lake and found some tall grass to hide in.
There. Much better. Now she could focus on CALMING THE HELL DOWN!
She knew that panicking was the worst thing she could do, but she couldn't help it. She was shivering so badly that she could see the tall grass around her quiver along.
She most definitely hoped that Alex knew what had happened. Or even more precisely; she hoped that he'd be able to save her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Otto didn't know how much time had passed since she ducked into the tall grass, but she hadn't moved ever since. The panic-comity inside her head had decided that the best thing she could possibly do, was stay out of sight until help arrived.
So when a familiar male voice said: "Hey there, little girl, are you alright?" she automatically assumed Alex had managed to find her and had come to save her.
She quickly snapped her head towards the source of the voice, but her expression fell just as quickly when she discovered it wasn't Alex. Or, was it?
"You're not Alex," she asked the strangely familiar looking boy.
"You can call me Alex if you want to," the boy laughed. Otto blinked in confusion. This boy looked so much like Alex, certainly when he smiled, but his colour-palette was off.
His skin was a dark honey-colour, his eyes were a warm brown and his hair was the same colour as hers.
But he wasn't Alex. And saying it was OK to call him that didn't sit right with her either. So she glared at the honey-coloured boy and deliberately crawled a bit away from him.
"No?" he asked, as he looked awkward himself. "Ok, that's definitely a no. You look as if you can't decide between the fight or flight instinct. I definitely hope you're not thinking of hurting me."
Otto frowned even harder.
"Where is Alex?" she asked after a short silence. Why wasn't he here yet? What was taking him so long?! He should have been here by now!
"I have no idea who that is," Honey-boy said. "I'd love to know your name though?"
"You tell me yours first," she snapped in a hostile way, still glaring.
"Ooo-kay?" Honey-boy said doubtfully. "My name is Jack. Now what's yours?"
She eyed him warily yet again. A generic name like John or Tom? That had to be a lie.
"That's not your name," she said. Her comment seemed to throw him off.
"Why would you say that?" he asked, smiling awkwardly. When Alex made that expression, it usually was because she'd guessed something he was trying to hide.
"I was right then," she concluded. Honey-boy faltered.
"Ok, ok. Jack isn't my given name, but it is what everyone calls me. So it's not like I lied to you!" Honey-boy countered annoyed. "You know what? Screw this! I came running when I noticed a strange power surge, but this is ridiculous. You can be confused and panicked on your own for all I care!"
Honey-boy wasn't kidding. He'd already turned around and was walking away with an angry strut.
"OK! Ok! Ok! I'm sorry," she said as she hurriedly got up to her feet and ran after him. "Just, ... please don't leave me here alone?"
Jack's pace slowed until he stood still and looked over his shoulder at her sceptically.
"Ok, apology accepted," he said, still frowning. "Your name?"
"It's Otto," she said shyly as she played with the rim of her shirt. He raised an eyebrow at her.
"You want me to believe that you are a boy?" he asked.
"I am not a boy!" Otto remarked annoyed. "It's short for Odette. And don't you dare start calling me that! I hate that name."
She watched as Jack raised both his eyebrows this time, but sighed as he was obviously wondering what he'd gotten himself into.
"Come on," he said. "I'll take you to a safe place. I can't leave you behind in the Wildebeest-field, now can I?"
"So it really was a Wildebeest?" Otto asked.
"They sure are," he said. "Sweet animals, but once a herd panics they flatten everything in their path. So, let's get out of here."