Bo didn’t ask any questions as he tossed her a piece of bread for breakfast. It was a rough night for Leena, and she almost felt more tired than she was the day before.

They started trekking through the woods. Bo left the hut as it was.

“I don’t have any other places to stay from here on,” he said to her, “We will have to make camp for the night later.”

There were no birds singing, and the forest was quiet, so only the shuffling of their feet and the sound of their breaths were heard. The sun was bright, but it was cold and damp on the ground. The sky cast no shadow through the trees, causing the woods to seem more like an eerie flat drawing rather than a full-grown forest.

“How far are we going?” she asked.

“Well. It’s…a few days to the ocean at this pace,” he replied, stepping over a particularly large root.

“Oh. Then you said we had to cross it, right?”

“Yes.”

“How long does that take?”

“I don’t know. A few days.”

“And then how long until I can see my mom?”

“I don’t know,” he hissed suddenly, “I don’t know, so stop asking questions.” Leena pursed her lips together, seeing Bo’s eyes flash anger in his outburst.

She decided to stay silent for a while.

Every once in a while, she heard Bo mumble something, but she couldn’t make it out. He stopped unexpectedly, and she nearly ran into him.

His head turned slowly around, and he held his hand out at her. She turned her head around, listening.

Then Leena heard something. It was like a quiet murmur. Glancing at Bo, she saw him squirm a bit.

“What-“

“Listen,” he whispered harshly, cutting her off. He glanced around anxiously. Leena only saw the trees, the dead leaves, twisted branches, and mud. There was nothing here, but the murmur left her cold. Then there was soft, evil laughter.

It started quietly, in her right ear, almost nonexistent. It grew slowly with each breath; each chuckle created a tendril of fear to grip her soul and squeeze. She turned her gaze to Bo for reassurance.

His face was firm, his fists were clenched, and an angry scowl carved itself into his face. There was something peculiar about him, and it seemed wrong.

“Are you okay?” Leena whispered, shrinking back from him.

He seemed to realize she was there.

“Sorry,” he whispered back, relaxing a bit, “Just wait a bit. Be quiet.” She bit her lip and felt for the knife she kept with her.

The laughter started to become a shrill shriek, and Leena clamped her hands to her ears. It pierced through like a knife, and she felt a scream at the back of her throat. She tried to swallow it.

Then the laughter stopped.

She let out the scream, piercing the silence like an arrow. Bo whipped around with eyes wide.

“What the hell, Leena! Run! Run!” he yelled as he dashed off ahead of her. She ran with him, dead leaves kicking up in the air behind her.

“What’s happening?” she panted, her ears picking up the sound of laughter again.

“Pixies! Just run! Run!” he screamed at her. She struggled to keep up with him through the forest. He was so fast. His feet were light and nimble as he navigated, and she felt heavy and slow.

Then she tripped.

A jolt of panic shot down her spine as she watched the ground close in on her face in slow motion. The palms of her hands hit the ground. One of her fingers jammed awkwardly into the dirt. She gritted her teeth and struggled to get up, feeling more like a fish than a human.

She heard her name.

She saw Bo turn around for her.

She saw something grab him, tackling him to the ground. Wait, no, it was a lot of somethings.

He wrestled with them, rolling around on the ground, throwing them off. There were a lot of them, maybe ten or fifteen throwing themselves at him.

Small little creatures, no bigger than a cat, were leaping at him with sharp finger-like claws and sharp, flashing white teeth. Their clothes were raggedy, brown and dingy, and some were not even clothed. Dirt covered their small dark-purplish colored bodies, and a sound like monkeys screaming echoed from their throats. They had ropes.

Leena saw one of them manage to loop Bo around the waist, pulling him to the ground. Bo managed to grab one and hurl it away from him into a tree. It recovered quickly and dashed back to him, screeching with high pitched laughter.

“No!” she screamed. She felt for her knife. What could she do? What could she do? She scrambled up, charging in wildly.

Leena tried to stab one of them, but it slipped away from her and all she got was earth. The knife sank down deep to the hilt, and she struggled to pull it out.

“No escape! No escape!” the creatures started to chant.

“Leena, get out of here!” Bo called as one of the creatures managed to get one of his hands.

“No, no…” she moaned, feeling helpless as she watched Bo get overwhelmed. She couldn’t let it end here. She had to help him. He was in trouble!

She felt at the talisman in her pocket. An energy hummed through her starting at her fingertips and ending at her toes. It felt blue, like soft waters and ethereal like light. A confidence swelled within her spirit, and she started to feel a strange tingling sensation in her hand.

She looked at her hand. It sparkled with bright light, like a million stars were contained within her palm.

She looked at Bo, struggling with the pixies.

“Okay, here I go!” she yelled, pumping her legs to jump into the fray.

She grabbed a pixie off of Bo’s foot, her star-like fingers wrapping across its back.

It shrieked, scratching at her with all its limbs like a pissed off cat. She backed up, dropping it. It hissed at her and scampered off into the forest.

The screeching of the pixies fell silent. In eerie unison, they all turned their heads to look at her, bea Leena backed away as they all turned at once towards her.

“Light one! Light one!” they screeched. Bo was shouting something. Leena felt both of her hands buzz as they ran at her, gnashing their little teeth and brandishing their little claws. She held up her hands in defense, closing her eyes, expecting dozens of tiny scratches to assault her body.

A warm feeling enveloped her instead. She felt the tingling in her hands dissipate and the terrified buzz in her head faded away. All she heard was a soft roar.

Fire.

Her body tensed a bit as she opened her eyes and saw the forest lit with flames. The pixies were gone, and Bo was struggling to get out of his bindings, calling out to her.

Fire.

She watched as walls of smokeless flames slowly died, fading from red to orange to yellow. Little wisps of flames floated by her face, brushing her cheek with warmth, but they did not burn her.

“Leena!” Bo shouted at her, “Leena! Come here!” She suddenly heard him, and she rushed over to him, avoiding places where the fire was still lit.

“Argh!” he grumbled, “You just had to stay quiet! What is wrong with you! Get me out of here!”

“I’m s-sorry! I’m trying!” she said, an errant tear running down her cheek.

He stood up quickly, brushing himself off and straightening his clothes. Leena wiped away her tears of frustration, still kneeling on the ground and trembling a bit from the experience.

Silence reigned again.

Bo sighed. He knelt down again to her level.

“It’s okay. They’re gone now,” he said, more gently, “Here, take a bit of water. Let’s take a rest after…after we’ve moved on for a bit.”

She nodded, allowing him to help pull her up.

“What…What was the fire? Where did it come from?” she asked. Bo rolled his eyes.

“There’s no fire. Just…let’s go. Let’s get out of here.”

“But I saw fire-“

“It’s nothing!” he said more harshly, glaring at her with wide blue eyes. Leena pressed her lips into a line.

She followed him silently.