The Rocky Forest, Desmond, 10416 P.C.

The fire sang a happy beat, sending sparks scattering into the air like confetti. Tendrils of smoke drifted from the flame's fingertips off toward the starry sky as they danced, casting shadows on the stone walls that rose around them.

Todd stoked the fire with a stick, watching as the sparks exploded in all directions. The embers glowed, warming them as they shivered in damp clothing, and somehow it was comforting. He took a deep breath, glancing around the fire at the others. After the fright of falling down the cliff, they decided to bunk down for the night. The pool of water at the bottom of the cliff, only some twenty feet below, had softened the blow. Besides several bumps and bruises, they had managed to escape the incident unscathed — the bumps and bruises had come from Matthew's panic attack in the seven-foot deep water. It had taken both Todd and Stephanie to pull him out. Annabella decided that the bottom of the cliff was as good as any place to camp out, especially since no one seemed up to travelling after that.

When Annabella asked him how he had known the water had been below, Todd had struggled to come up with a proper answer. He hadn't known. The voice in his mind had just told him to trust and let go. He didn't understand it, so he didn't mention it. The voice came and went, only talking to him in dire situations. Who was the voice, and why was it helping him?

They were all exhausted. Jessie sat beside him, her head on his shoulder as she stared dully into the fire. Annabella was to his left, leaning against the cliff wall with her arms folded on her knees, fiddling with the knife she had used to cut up the branches they had scrounged up. Matthew lay on the other side of the fire, arms folded against his chest; Todd couldn't tell if he was sleeping or watching the stars. Stephanie sat near him, her knees pulled up to her chest for warmth. They were all rather quiet, each of them lost in their own thoughts. None of them seemed willing to sleep, however, and Todd didn't like the silence much. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how little he knew about those with him.

He shifted his gaze to Annabella. "So, Annabella... what are we gonna do when we find your parents?"

"If we find them," she replied without missing a beat. "And I don't know. Benjamin seemed to think it was a good idea, but I... I don't even know if I want to see them again."

Stephanie looked up. "Why not?"

"You know the history. They were cowards, siding with Motch and helping ruin Desmond. I don't want to be like them. I don't want to be associated with them. Why do you think I never go by my title? Princess Annabella Ezarah Raynia LaKline, daughter of Andre Evander LaKline the second, king of the south!" She waved the knife in the air for dramatics. "No. That's not me. The name I am trying to make for myself will never be associated with cowardice."

Todd hadn't realized how strongly she felt about it — nor had he ever heard her full name before. He wasn't about to tell her it fit. "What about your brother? He made a name for himself, I think."

"He did," Annabella agreed, "and then he died."

He didn't know how to respond to that.

Stephanie was the one to continue the conversation. "Todd, do you have siblings?"

He was surprised at the question. He hadn't ever thought to mention Cathy and Henry. They knew of his parents. "Yeah, I do. An older sister and a jerk for a brother-in-law." It was the understatement of the century, but he didn't elaborate on it. It occurred to him how little he had thought about Henry in the past month, and it felt like a small victory. Henry was like a distant memory, a dream. When Todd went home, he wondered if he'd be able to face down Henry for the abuse he had dealt him and Cathy.

Or, maybe that thought should have been if Todd went home.

"Nieces or nephews?" Stephanie pressed.

Todd shook his head. The thought of Henry being a dad was sickening. "No. Between my parent's deaths and me going to live with them, I doubt they were even thinking about that."

Stephanie nodded. She shifted her gaze to Jessie. "What about you, Jess?"

Jessie lifted her head from Todd's shoulder, looking at Stephanie with a frown. "What?"

"Do you have siblings?" Stephanie seemed very interested in their families, and Todd could understand why. She had never had one of her own.

If only she knew...

Jessie took a deep breath. "Sisters. Two of them. They're dead."

Todd put his arm around her shoulders, and she moved closer into his embrace. "I'm sorry."

"It happens," was all she said.

Stephanie turned. "Matthew?"

"Don't ask me about my family, please." Short and tight, his voice told Todd that he was still stressed over the water experience. It made sense for Matthew to not have known how to swim, but his aversion to it was incredibly strong. It had to stem from more than just the obvious.

Stephanie pressed her lips together, turning away and exchanging glances with the others. "Okay."

Todd fought to keep the conversation going. "Well, since we're getting to know each other, I guess... what's your favourite colour, Stephanie?"

"Favourite colour?" She furrowed her eyebrows. "That's... not really getting to know me."

"I think you can get to know a lot about someone by their favourite colour. See, like... well, my favourite colour is green. Like, a nice, dark, earthy kind of green. I like it because it reminds me of my mom. We used to do a lot of gardening together." He stopped, gnawing on his bottom lip. "It was also my dad's favourite colour, and the colour of my childhood bedroom." He hadn't thought about his childhood for a long time. He realized then how much he missed it. He missed his parents. Terribly. The ache burned in his chest.

Jessie shifted under his arm, glancing up at him. Was she reading the emotions on his face? "My favourite colour is red," she said softly, a small smile pulling at her lips. "It was my sister's favourite colour, actually. It reminds me of her. Monnie loved anything red. Strawberries. Roses."

"Monnie?" he questioned.

Jessie paused for a moment as if surprised she had revealed the name. "Monica. She was my twin." She opened her mouth as if to say more, but she licked her lips instead and settled back down under his arm, contented once more with silence. Todd found it interesting that Jessie had a twin she had never mentioned before. He didn't want to push for answers, though.

"I've never really thought about having a favourite colour," Stephanie admitted after several moments of silence. "I guess... I like purple. Like, a pastel kind of purple, like the kind you see in sunsets. Marcie and I used to sit and watch the sunsets sometimes. I miss that." She took a deep breath and glanced up. "Annabella?"

Annabella rubbed her arms, looking reluctant to answer but doing so anyway. "Aspen green." Short and to the point, as she often was.

Todd tried to encourage Matthew's involvement in the conversation. "What about you, Matthew?"

The other boy was definitely not in the mood for conversation. "I don't have a favourite colour."

"Pick one," Stephanie said.

"No."

"Come on, Matthew. Be conversational."

"I don't have a favourite colour and I don't feel like picking one. I haven't seen much colour in my life besides grey and red, and I never liked either of them."

Matthew's pointed response killed the conversation. Even after the night had fled and the sun showed them a path through the cavern back up to the surface, Todd still felt the weight of Matthew's words. He wished he could somehow relate to the other boy, but Matthew didn't seem to want to be related to. Stephanie pushed him to talk, and after a while, Todd wished she'd leave well enough alone since Matthew clearly wasn't willing or ready to open up. Stuff like that took time.

The next three days were filled with nothing but hiking and resting. Todd was beginning to get blisters on the soles of his feet, but he wasn't about to start complaining — Annabella wasn't the pitying kind. She led them with a firm purpose, using a compass to make sure they kept going in the right direction. It was incredibly boring half the time, and the other half was just terrifying. Todd was slowly learning to overcome his fear of heights — or, as Stephanie argued, his fear of lows. Yes, he finally admitted after a needlessly long discussion, it probably actually was the fear of falling from the heights and hitting the lows. Thankfully, their tumble off of that first cliff was the only true fall any of them took, besides their slip and slide adventure down a gravelly slope. That one was hardly worth mentioning.

The fourth day dawned darkly — a mist hung over the sky, blocking out the sun and dampening the air around them. Annabella said it was because they were close to the Misty Lake, which seemed to be their destination. Kind of. Apparently, there was some top-secret prison in the area they needed to find.

"Do we know what we're looking for?" Todd asked as they walked through the mist. "Is this top-secret prison above ground? Below ground? A building? A mine?"

"I don't know, Todd," Annabella replied shortly. "We'll figure that out when we find it."

"If we find it," Matthew interjected from the back of the group. At least he was becoming more conversational. "Something in the term 'top-secret' tells me it's going to be hard to find."

"Especially with this mist," Jessie mumbled.

"Hard doesn't mean impossible," Annabella said. "Benjamin was sure that it was around the Misty Lake somewhere, so we'll find the lake itself and circle around it."

"How big is this lake?" Matthew asked.

"A couple miles around, isn't it?" Todd said. "So, we've got lots of ground to cover."

"Exactly." Annabella seemed to walk faster with that acknowledgement. They hurried to keep up with her quick pace.