▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 13║▌║▌║█│▌

After a while, Gala finally floated down the stairs and called me back up. I looked at Gala with a skeptical face and asked her, “Do I not get any robes to wear like Sasha?”

She glanced at me side-eyed, and she wore a sly smile as she said, “Sorry, we don’t really have people do this often, so we just have one robe. Besides, you can just use your underwear, right?”

I felt a little disappointed. I really wanted a robe to remember the Fairy Forest by. I put my head down as I climbed back up the stairs to the enchanting pool of sap and mumbled, “I guess…”

As I walked up the stairs in a pouty manner, I could hear Gala let out a playful giggle behind me. I turned around and saw her holding one of her hands up to her mouth, covering up her smile, as she floated up behind me. My frustration immediately left when I saw her, and I continued up the stairs. When I finally got to the top of the stairs again, I saw that Sasha was already inside the pool of sap. Does this mean she is going to get more time than me in the pool? I hurriedly took my clothes off and ran into the sap with just my underwear. I want the full effects of the sap. I need all the help I can get out here with apparently things trying to kill us to get to John. The sap was thicker than water, but it was not hard to move in at the same time. The sap didn’t stick to my body as well. Whenever I lifted my arm up out of it, the sap would fall down it just like it was water. It was indeed a weird substance. As I waded in the pool of sap, I could feel some sort of energy growing inside of me. It was refreshing. I looked at Sasha, and she had her head held high as she waded inside of it. The gold light of the sap bouncing off of her pearly white skin made her even more beautiful than she was with the natural light in the forest. I started to turn red when I realized she was just wearing some robes, but then I remembered the incident from this morning. A shiver went up my spine as I tried to forget it, and I asked Sasha, “How are you feeling in here? I feel really refreshed.”

“It’s a weird feeling. I feel like my senses are peeking, and my body has become lighter. I feel like a fog has lifted from my eyes as well. It’s hard to explain.”

I turned back towards Gala who was floating there watching us. I asked her, “I know that the sap has different benefits to different species, so what are the benefits going to be for us?”

She smiled as she floated down and dipped her hand into the sap. She lifted it back out, and stared at the falling sap as she said, “I don’t really know. It’s true that it usually gives different benefits to different species, but that isn’t always the case. The sap really gives benefits based on the person’s attributes. If a person has no muscle mass then they won’t get ten times stronger. They will have a benefit elsewhere, like the mind or magic. Usually you can tell what benefit a person will get because every species has a certain attribute but there are exceptions to this rule though. I wouldn’t know what you would get anyway Cody. We only had two humans bathe in here before, and they both got different benefits. It looks like Sasha is getting the normal vampire benefit though, of getting an increase physical-attributes. Maybe you can get an increase in mental ability since you aren’t that muscular haha.”

I took kind of offense to this. I looked down at my arms. I wasn’t the swolest guy, but I wasn’t skinny either. I like to think of myself as cut. I could hear Sasha laugh beside me, and I shot her a look which she kindly shot back to me but with her ruby eyes. I looked back at Gala and rubbed my head as I said, “Well I don’t feel like I’m getting any smarter.”

Sasha retorted back, “Well, even if you did, you probably would still be an idiot haha.”

Gala laughed, which I didn’t appreciate, and told us, “Well, you two should get out now. The sap should have had enough time to do all that it’s going to do now. The rest is going to be up to you in fine tuning yourselves to the best of your ability.”

I reluctantly started to get out of the pool. I didn’t want to leave it. The sensation that it gives me is the best feeling I have had in my life. The feeling of refreshness, energy, and life. I never want tot leave it. Sasha started to push me out though, and I eventually climbed out and put my clothes on. I glanced at Sasha putting back on her clothes over her robe, and Gala promptly hit me over the head for Sasha. “That’s not for you to see yet.”

“What does she mean by yet?” I thought to myself.

Sasha asked what happened, and Gala, to my relief, told her it was nothing. We all traveled back down the stairs where the rest of the group was waiting for us, ready to go. We all shook the hand of Gala as she expressed words for us. When she got to me, I felt her put something in my hand, as she told me, “I feel something more in you Cody. Will you come to achieve it I wonder?”

Baffled at what she said, I looked down at my hand and saw a circular coin with a capital “A” on it. After we had all said our goodbyes, we began to exit the Fairy Forest.

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued║▌║▌║█│▌