Chapter  7

The Journey Begins

“Hey dude you ok?” Amber asked, softly placing one hand on Max’s shoulder.

    “Oh, um, yeah, yeah I'm good.” He said, turning his face away from her and staring at the ground.

Amber knew he wasn't telling the truth. “You know he only yelled at you because he was stressed at the moment.”

    “Well maybe if you’d stop dumping off all  your homework on him...”

    “Ok I'm sorry for that, but I stopped, he’s no longer doing it.”

“So what's stressing him out then?”

“Uh... I can’t tell you why.”

“What! Why! Is it because I'm too young? ‘Cause if thats the case, I’m only a year younger than you.”

“Let’s just say it’s a surprise, and he’s getting a bit overwhelmed at the moment.”

“Oh my god a surprise! He’s going to give me a surprise party? Oh yes!”

“Uh . . . when’s your birthday?”

“In a few weeks.”

“Oh well, you caught me, now the surprise is ruined. Darn, guess we can’t have it.”

“Oh no, no I'm a good actor I’ll act surprised trust me, look, see.” He said demonstrating his surprise faces.

“Hehe great,  so it’ll be between us.” She said with an awkward chuckle.

Max  nodded, “Alright!” He said with great excitement. Amber smiled, “Good. And here,” she took out a band-aid out of her pocket. “You might need it for that busted lip of yours.”

“Oh thanks.” He said beginning to peel it open.

“If you don’t mind me asking how did you get that cut and swollen eye?” She asked kindly.

“Well I kinda, sorta, mighta made a comment then spilled his Starbucks on a guy hehehe.” he said with a guilty face.

“You are a troublesome child you know.”

“Yeah I get that alot.”

“Wait a minute. You're the kid that yelled ‘ICE CREAM FIGHT!’”

“Yeah that was me too.”

“You’re too good.” She said patting his head. With that, she ran back to the group, leaving Max deep in thought with a band-aid.

* * *

“I need to take a breather.” Luna said getting up from the table. She spotted Dennis, who was talking with another girl, and was ready to tell him everything.

Jake noticed were Luna’s eyes were focused at and could tell by her face what she planned on doing. He got up and grabbed her arm.

“Luna before you tell him, just think about it. You’ll be putting him in danger.”

Luna second guessed herself. He was right. She would be putting her boyfriend in danger. “Fine, fine, I’m in, the faster we save your brother, the faster we can come back here.”

Jake smiled and followed her back to the table. Amber was back as well.

“Ok,” Kris began. “We all meet up at the abandoned house where we were last night.”

“When?” Zane asked.

“Will meet up at midnight.” Kris said.

“Why is it always midnight?” Amber asked.

“Well it’s easier to sneak out that way.” he answered. “ And with that the meeting is officially done. You may return to whatever you wish to do.  As soon as he said that, Luna got up and went to see Dennis. As for everyone else they didn't get up. Instead they just ate their lunch.

Jake couldn’t help but smile. A team! he thought. Friends! he continued. And Luna. . . he finished, biting his lower lip.

* * *

    “Hey babe.” Dennis said greeting Luna placing his arm around her shoulder.

    “Hey Denny.” she sighed resting her head on his body.

    “What's wrong? Was it that Jake! I don’t know why you were sitting next to him. He’s such a jerk.”

    “Oh no, no its not him.” She said softly, staring at the table in which the four sat.                                     

    Dennis was suspicious and, at the same time. jealous of this, but kept it to himself. Luna could feel his body tensing,

    “You ok?” she asked looking up at him.

    “Perfectly fine.” He said grinding his teeth.

* * *

    As Zane dug into his spicy bag of chips, Amber looked up to see a girl with a Starbucks cup of coffee in her hand. She immediately remembered that she tricked Max into thinking he’d have a surprise party.

    “Um... heheh, Zane?” Amber started.

    “Yeah?” Zane said suspiciously with a mouth  full of chips.

    Jake giggled.

Amber realized Zane was very stressed. Bringing up a party for Max wouldn’t be a good idea.

    “Can I have a chip?” She asked.

    “Sure.” he said handing her the fiery red chip.

She put the chip in . At first it tasted good, but then the fieriness kicked in. “Wow that’s . . .dat’s ha. . .HOT!” She dived for Jakes water and gulped it down. She was red and practically crying.

Jake, Zane, and Kris could not stop laughing. Luna noticed from a far Amber’s hands were literally on fire.

“OH GOD AMBER!” Luna shouted darting towards the table. She grabbed Zane’s bottle had threw it on Amber.

Everyone stopped laughing.

“Well I knew they were hot, but not that hot.” Zane said confused.

“No. It’s part of her powers. As I said earlier, they can be unpredictable.”

* * *

    Zane stared at his bedside alarm clock. The glowing blue numbers read 11:45. He flipped of the covers, fully dressed, and slipped on his sneakers. Zane knew that the abandoned house wasn't to far away but Zane was a guy of punctuality. He always was ontime and rather be early than late.

He peered over his shoulder to see Max sound a sleep. Max was like a brother to him. When Max first came to the orphanage he was five. He was always causing trouble so he was placed with Zane, the mature one in the home. At first they didn't get along, but after a while Zane wasn't so goody-two-shoes and Max wasn’t getting into as much trouble.

Zane wondered what if something happened to him, what would Max do. “Stop!” he whispered to himself. “I’ll be fine.” He grabbed his backpack and flipped it over his shoulder. He slowly crept out his door and into the hallway.  He slowly went down the stairs and entered the kitchen.

The moonlight shone brightly through the huge windows. He went to the big double door cabinets and opened them. It was full of all kinds of snacks. He grabbed a handful of each snack. He also grabbed a few water bottles.

He closed the cabinets doors and walked to the patio doors. He went around the backyard to the gate and opened it. He darted down the street and towards the abandoned house.

* * *

Luna opened her eyes and looked at the clock. She had dozed off and was fully dressed in bed. With a great sigh she dragged herself out of bed and moseyed out of her bedroom.

She had entered the main hall. Grabbing her purse she crept to the bathroom. She locked the door and flipped on the light. She stared at her face in the mirror then opened her purse pulling out make up. She put on her lipstick, mascara, blush and other beauty products on.

“If I'm gonna risk my life, I'm gonna do it looking good.” She muttered with a smile. When she finished she put everything back in her purse and flipping off the light leaving the bathroom. She took a deep breath and went out the front door locking it behind her.

* * *

    Jake stood with his ear against the wall, waiting for the sound of Mr.Gusterson snoring. He wrinkled his nose, “The guy sounds like a pig when he snores…”

 Jake grabbed the bag he prepared in advance to check he had everything he would need.

 He opened his window and climbed out into the cool night. He looked up at the moon, “I’ll save you soon Milo...” He pulled his hood up over his head.

Through the crack of Jake’s door, Dennis was peeping in to see what Jake was doing, “I gotcha now.” He whispered to himself. Dennis looked out the window saw which direction Jake was going and quietly followed behind.

* * *

Amber and Kris were already at the building sitting on the floor, for there was no where to really sit, waiting for the others. Amber’s eyes were closed as she rested her head against the wall while listening to music.

Kris tapped her shoulder. “Sup?” She pulled out her ear bud to hear Kris, “What is that you have at your ears?” He asked, pointing to the green, skull shaped buds coming out of her ears.

She looked at the bud, “Just something to listen to music through.”

“Can I hear?”

“Sure”

She put the earbud in his ear for him to hear. “Wow. This is cool. What are we listening to?”

“Very Good by Block B,” she yawned, “Or as my friends says, ‘that be some heavy metal type .’”

“It sounds really good.”

Amber rested her head on Kris’ shoulder from being so tired. She hadn’t even realized she had done so.

Kris’ heart jumped for a second as the song changed right at that moment. He didn’t know Amber listened to soft music as well. He grinned from ear to ear and stayed still so that she may rest. He was tired himself and wanted to sleep, but he needed to wait for the others.

The sound of the squeaky door hinges were heard from a few rooms over, “Hello?” Jake called out, not too loud so that nearby houses would be suspicious.

“In here.” Jake walked in and saw Amber sleeping next to Kris and Kris trying to conceal his smile, “Damn buddy, at a time like this?”

Kris smiled apologetically, “Sorry.” He softly shook Amber awake, “Jake’s here.” Amber straightened up quickly, “What? What’s up? I wasn’t asleep.” Jake chuckled and tossed her a soda, “Sure you weren’t. I think you need a little sugar bruh.” She happily took the can and opened it, “Thanks bruh.  Just what I need right now.”

Footsteps were heard and there stood Luna at the doorway, made up prettily. Jake’s heart was beating like a phonebook in a washing machine and the butterflies in his stomach were armed with machine guns.

Kris noticed Jake’s expression and starting-to-turn-pink cheeks. He kicked Jake to knock him back into his senses. “U-Uh hey Luna.” he said awkwardly with a smile and a wave. Luna sat down on the floor, “Are we missing anyone?” Zane came into the room with his bag slung over his shoulder, “Nope.”

“Aight guys. So what’s the game-plan?” Amber asked.

All four of them turned to Kris now.

Kris yawned. And took a moment to realize why they were staring at him. "Oh yeah! Heheh... So the way I came to this world was through a wishing well, which is a popular way to travel, but since I escaped that way, the shadow minions probably have them all patrolled. So there's  only one other way, the long, old fashion way."

"Which is?" Jake asked slightly anxious.

"We go into the old forest and cross the border there."

"Wait so there's a border between our world and your world?"

"Yes but not any mortal can enter or pass. They would need a spell or something on them for that moment."

The group pondered in silence of what they had to do."So do you know the spell?" Luna asked, breaking their silence.

Kris shook his head, "I haven't the slightest clue. Normally there should be a strange riddle of some sort. But it's ok I've never crossed the border so I wouldn't know for sure. Now did anyone bring supplies?"

"Oh I did!" Zane said zipping open his backpack full of goodies.

"Sweet." Amber said examining all the snacks she loved.

"I brought a first-aid kit, blankets, some spare clothes and that kinda stuff." Jake said.

"I'm sorry but I was running late and totally forgot about bringing something." Luna said sorrily, batting her eyes.

"It's ok Luna that's fine." Jake said, heart pounding once again.

"Ok we got supplies. Let's head out." Kris said going out the back door into the backyard of the house. "So if my calculations are correct, if we hop this fence and keep going north we'll hit the forest."

Everyone nodded and started to climb the fence. As they hopped down it was clear land with bright, over grown green grass with weeds everywhere.

As they walked across the weeds and high grass tickled their low leg and ankle causing them to hop up time to time.

After about fifteen minutes of walking they reached a fence.

"Let me guess. We have to hop this one too?" Luna moaned.

"Yes." Kris nodded starting to climb.

* * *

Dennis ducked low in the grass to avoid being seen by them. "What is Luna doing with these people! Especially Jake! I knew something was up." He hissed.

* * *

"Ok now the border should be . . . uh. . . right there!" Kris said pointing to the entrance to the forest. The ran up to it. It was a brown wooden line that stuck up about an inch or two and it went on for miles.

"Ok I'll go first." Kris said getting ready to walk over. He stepped forwarded and began to walk. As he walked through it looked as if he were walking through a bubble. The clear border shimmered. It was a success.

Amber glanced at Luna and noticed the freshly applied makeup.

"Are you seriously wearing makeup dude?"

"Yes why?"

"So you put on makeup to go into a dark spooky forest where no one can see it."

"So."

"Wait a minute you said you didn't have time to get anything because you were running late but you really were applying makeup!"

"Ok! If I'm gonna die I'm gonna die looking good."

"Amber she looks fine just leave her alone." Jake said defending Luna.

"Oh you're just siding with her because you have a huge crush on her!" Amber blurted out but soon realized what she said.

Jake blushed so hard and was beginning to sweat.

"Guys." Kris said

"Amber was that at all necessary?" Zane said irritated.

"Guys." Kris said again.

"Hey I'm sorry it just came out!"

"GUYS!"

Everyone, now silenced, looked at him. "We haven't even begun and you're already fighting."

"Sorry Kris, we'll stop but how will we cross the border?" Zane asked.

"Well you already have." Kris said with a grin."

The four looked down and saw that they had crossed the border without knowing.

"But how?" Jake questioned.

"It appears you aren't mortal. Now let's start walking.

* * *

Dennis waited till the began to walk as he began to hop the fence. Landing on his feet, he darted towards the border. He closely examined the border, curious for its purpose. He went to cross but when he did, the group disappeared right in front of him. The path began to move and twist into some strange, other direction. Even the trees seemed to move. The forest itself became less spooky. "What! Where did they go?"

Just then he heard swishing above him. As if something was darting across the sky. He looked up to see black lines swirling across the sky above him. "What the?" The shadow like things swiveled to the ground and grabbed Dennis. "Let me go!" He screamed but it was too late the shadow minions took off with Dennis. "AAAAAAHHHHH!"

* * *

"Did you hear that!" Luna said flipping around.

"Hear what?" Jake asked hoping she had forgotten what Amber had blurted out a few minutes back.

"It sounded like a poor little girl screaming."

"Oh Luna this isn't just any old forest it's the type of forest that plays tricks on and teases the people in it." Kris explained.

"Oh lovely." She said in a sarcastic tone.

"Hey if we can get through high school, we can get through this." Zane joked.

After about an hour of walking through the spooky forest, sounds of creatures echoing through the night could be heard. Trees always had strange, deep, scratches in them, as if a gargantuan beast came in with it’s enormous claws and scratched the trees. The stones had strange carvings and marking that were of a language they could not decipher.“U-Uh Kris?” Luna checked over her shoulder every second.

“Yes?”

“You know where we’re going right?”

“Of cou-”

“AHHH!” Luna shrieked and jumped off of the ground and into Jake’s arms.

“What! What was it!” Jake jumped back, still holding onto Luna. He was afraid that a monster was going to jump at them. The others were just as scared. Kris pulled the knife out from his shoe and Amber pulled out a pocket knife she had on her.

“Its a snail! Ahhh! I hate those things! get it away!”

“You’re joking…” Zane facepalmed himself, “And I was all worked up…”

“No those things are gross and scary!”

Amber picked up the tiny snail by the shell, “Aw this little thing? If anything, its kinda cute.”

Luna shrieked, “Don’t come close to me with one of those.”

Jake chuckled, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you away from the snails.”

Luna pouted, “I feel like you’re mocking me but thank you.”

Kris put the knife back into his shoe, “Now let’s continue. We should almost be at the passageway and we’ll officially be in the other world.”

“Wait we aren’t in the other world yet?”

Kris shook his head, “Nope. Right now we are between the two worlds. You could say this is where they overlap. When a mortal walks through, it goes into the illusion of a normal forest that will eventually lead them on a path back out. When a non-mortal walks through, they will see the forest as it is. But it is far less forgiving to non-mortals.”

“That’s just wonderful,” Luna whined, “How much more walking will there be before we cross then?”

“Luna, if you’re tired I’ll carry you on my back.” Jake offered.

Luna nodded, “Anything’s better than walking right now.”

Jake smiled and let her hop on his back, Yes! He cheered internally.

With that the group continued to walk.

* * *

As Jake carried Luna on his back, she looked around, observing the stones and trees. The strange markings seemed familiar to her. “Guys. These markings.” Luna got off of Jake’s back and went up to the stone. “They’re coming together to me. I don’t know if I’m right, but they seem to say something involving turning? Passing? Not?”

A low growl could be heard coming from the shadows beyond the stone Luna was reading. She slowly looked up and came face to face with a large pair of glowing green eyes.