“You guys are already losing your edge; you’d been screwed if I were a cyborg monster.” He walked around the fire and stood beside Caleb. “So, can I rejoin you and have some of whatever meat you’re cooking?”

Caleb released the handle of his sword and glared up at Trey for a moment. He then glanced over to Spence and Morgan. “Have you been following us?”

“Not really. But Titus instructed us to follow the river until we came to the Forbidden Forest. I had planned on camping alone again tonight, but I saw your fire as soon as I entered the woods. Turns out you weren’t too far ahead of me.”

Caleb sighed. “Have you learned anything?”

Trey stared at the ground. “Yeah. Like I said yesterday, I was a jerk. I just lost my head being in this hellhole of a world. I guess I didn’t like not being in control or being the big man on campus, like at school. But as you said, this isn’t high school anymore. This is our new real world, and we must stick together to get back to ours. You won’t have any more trouble out of me.”

Spence scrutinized Trey closely, searching for any hint of insincerity. He actually seemed…humble. He had saved their lives the day before, and now he had apologized for his actions twice. Could he have really changed? He looked at Morgan and saw the surprise on her face too. She met his gaze and gave the slightest of shrugs.

“Trey, I’m going to take you at your word. You did save our lives yesterday. You can join us. But if there is any drama, any drama at all, you’re on your own for good,” Caleb said.

Trey smiled and sat beside Caleb.

“Here, you two share this one, and Trey and I will take the other.” Caleb handed a rabbit kabob to Spence.

Spence greedily grabbed the stick. He plucked a thigh and leg from the end and handed the stick to Morgan. His mouth watered even before the meat touched his lips. He had never eaten rabbit before, but it was now his favorite meat ever. The exterior was slightly crispy, but the meat inside was still juicy and succulent. It lacked salt or seasoning, but the meat was more flavorful than anything he had eaten in the past four days.

He turned to Morgan, who grasped the stick and stared at the meat as if it were rancid. “It’s OK, bae. This is survival now. We can’t fight the next monster on empty stomachs. Try it.”

Morgan stared at Spence with her mouth hanging open. “Bae? Seriously? You think you know me like that?”

“Hey, we slept in the same bed last night,” Spence responded, then ate another big bite of meat.

“Dork,” Morgan said but flashed a grin. She gingerly removed the other thigh and leg, returned the stick to Spence, and grasped the meat with both hands. She slowly raised it to her nose and sniffed it a couple of times. She then cautiously lowered it to her mouth and bit off a tiny bite. She chewed experimentally with her front teeth and then swallowed. “Dang.” She tore off a sizable chunk and chewed it much more vigorously.

“Wow, look at that,” Caleb said. “Good job!”

“Woohoo! That a girl,” Trey said.

“She even killed these, Trey,” Caleb replied.

Morgan transferred the meat to her left hand and held out her right, extending her middle finger to Trey and Caleb. But she continued eating while doing so.

The four devoured the rabbit pieces and retrieved wineskins from their packs to wash them down with warm water. “We’ll have to find more water tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll locate the elves early,” Caleb said.

“Oh, how are your hands, Trey?” Morgan asked.

Trey held his hands up and showed his palms to the others. They were red but didn’t appear severely burned. “Well, it hurt like a mother but turns out it was more the shocking than the heat. They’re still a little sore, though.”

The four relaxed against their packs, lost in thought for several minutes.

“Damn.”

“What?” Spence asked Trey.

“I just thought how cool it would be to be able to post this adventure on Facebook. Yesterday would have been, ‘OMG! Worst day ever! My buds got their asses kicked by a robotic Cyclops. I had to lay the smack down on it and send it floating down the river to be eaten by monsters. LOL.’”

All four erupted into laughter, and Morgan actually snorted a couple of times. “Well, you know it didn’t really happen unless you post it on Facebook.”

Spence had to admit that Trey wasn’t completely brainless—just most of the time. “And we could have blown up Instagram and Snapchat with our selfies with the wolfosaurus!” Spence added.

“Hashtag, worst week ever,” Morgan said.

“Of course, we would have had to post pictures of the rabbit before we ate it too. Because you know the social media rule of posting pictures of your meals whenever possible,” Trey added.

“You know one thing good about this world?” Morgan said when the chuckles had faded. “Look around. No pollution. No bottles, beer cans, and trash littering the riverbank or the woods. And there is no smog in the air or even jet contrails.”

“But also, no Internet and television,” Spence replied.

“I’m starting to think it’s not a bad thing, either. I mean, what would we have all done the past four days at home? Go to school, come home, surf the net, watch TV,” Morgan said.

“Porn.”

“I really don’t want to know what you would be doing, Sticky,” Morgan said to Trey.

“Hey, they have Goth porn too!”

“Idiot,” Morgan replied.

“What if we never get to go home again?” Spence asked.

“That probably means we’ll be dead,” Caleb answered. “I think this is pretty much an all-or-nothing deal.”

The mood instantly sobered. Despite Spence having already faced death twice, listening to Caleb speak about it so matter-of-factly was strange to hear. They were just four kids in a strange world fighting monsters on a convoluted quest. How could they even survive, much less succeed? Spence wanted to lighten the mood again. “Hey, Trey, we’ve been playing a game, with one of us asking a question and everyone having to answer it.”

Trey shook his head and turned to Caleb. “Is he for real?”

Caleb nodded. “Yep. We’re on one big road trip…to hell.”

The others all laughed. Spence wasn’t upset, though. He knew or strongly believed they were only busting his chops. “Middle name. Mine is Eugene.”

Trey laughed. “Spence, ole buddy, I’m honestly trying hard to be good here, but now you’re just poking the grizzly bear with a stick.”

Spence’s heart skipped a few beats, but he was determined not to be a spaz. He breathed deeply and grinned. “Hey, it’s a family name. It belonged to my grandfather, a Vietnam War vet. He’s my hero.”

“OK. I’ll let it slide, Spence Eugene Underwood,” Trey said, shaking his head and hiding his mouth behind the back of his hand. “Mine is Ethan. Trey Ethan Morrison—a studly name, any way you slice it.”

“I’ll tell mine, but keep in mind, any laughter will result in someone getting skewered and roasted over the fire. “Nicole. Morgan Nicole Turner.”

“Nicole? That’s pretty sexy,” Spence said.

“Come here, Spence,” Morgan said, reaching out for him.

Spence scooted away, nearly bumping into Caleb, and everyone laughed. He was proud of himself for suggesting the game. It was working better than he had hoped at lifting the mood.

“Caleb Jackson Stone,” Caleb said.

“Family name too?” Spence asked.

“My mother’s maiden name. I’ve thought about changing it over the years, but she did give birth to me.”

The four fell silent again. It seemed like most subjects led to awkward, painful moments for at least one. Then Spence suddenly realized he was still hungry. The rabbit had been fantastic but didn’t fill him. He sat up and rummaged through his pack for a snack. He hadn’t been genuinely full since Argos. His pack of bread was nearly empty. Then he found another, smaller package at the bottom, which he hadn’t noticed before but assumed was more dry bread. He unwrapped it and found small, yellowish squares resembling cornbread. He didn’t bother sniffing and took a bite out of one. The square was denser and moister than cornbread and was slightly sweet. It might have been because he hadn’t eaten sweets since entering Nibiru, but the new food tasted unbelievably delicious. He finished the square, and it satisfied his hunger and seemed to replenish his energy. He suddenly felt like he could fight another monster.

“Have you all tried any of this?” he asked excitedly, holding one of the squares up in the firelight.

The others searched their packs but didn’t find any of the strange bread. Spence gave them each a small square, which they devoured. In a few minutes, they were all raving about it.

“Wow, that’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten!” Morgan exclaimed.

“Right up there with pot brownies,” Trey said.

“How many of those do you have?” Caleb asked.

Spence examined the package. There were three, but he didn’t want to reveal that for some reason. He rewrapped the package and returned it to his pack. “Just one.”

“What, you get the magic staff and the magic food too?” Trey asked.

“Hey, I can’t help what was in my pack. And I shared it with you guys,” Spence said defensively. But he realized how important something that seemingly nutritious was. “Besides, when my staff is recharging, I’m defenseless.”

“That stuff is like drinking a 5-Hour Energy combined with a Monster,” Caleb said. “I could hike all night or fight something.”

“Well, maybe it will give Spence enough energy to stay awake tonight.” Trey rummaged again through his small pack.

“Stay awake? When did he fall asleep?” Caleb asked, sitting upright.

“He was sleeping sitting up two nights ago. I got cold, woke up, and realized the fire was almost burned out. Then I saw ole Spence sitting straight up sound asleep on the other side. He finally woke and got up to throw more wood on the fire. That’s when I decided to see if I could borrow his cursed staff.”

Caleb’s gaze swung from Trey to Spence. “Is that true?”

Spence’s heart pounded as fast as it had while clinging to the tree above the river with the Cyclops preparing to send him into its deadly waters. His hands began sweating, and his face felt flushed. “Uh…I…well—”

“Damn it, Spence! You freakin’ idiot! Our first night in the wild, and you couldn’t stay awake for a few hours?” Caleb shouted. His voice sounded even louder in the silent forest.

“I…I…didn’t mean to!” Tears welled up in Spence’s eyes. He couldn’t cry. Not here. Not now. “And I stayed awake last night.”

“What if it hadn’t just been Trey? What if it had been the wolfosaurus, the Cyclops, or any monster? We would have all died in our freakin’ sleep!” Caleb’s hands balled into fists on the ground.

“No wonder you don’t have any friends,” Morgan said. She didn’t hide her disgust. “Friends don’t let each other down like that. All you had to do was stay awake. You didn’t try to get up and walk around? Rub water on your face?”

First Caleb and now Morgan. Spence had foolishly thought they had become friends. He had felt like he was part of a group, part of something bigger than just him. Now, they were just as mean as Trey. This was like his supposed friends kicking him out of the guild in Warcraft, except this was real life. He was back in gym class, being pummeled in dodgeball. Surprisingly, Trey wasn’t jumping in. He just sat there, taking it all in with a smug look. Tears pooled at the corners of Spence’s eyes and threatened to race down his cheeks in seconds.

He slung his pack over his back, grabbed his staff, and stood. “Screw you, Caleb! Screw all of you! I’ve saved all your butts twice with my staff. And this is the thanks I get? Sure, I messed up. I’m sorry; I’m not used to fighting monsters and hiking twelve hours a day! I hope none of you ever makes a mistake. Good luck on your quest without me!” Spence turned and stomped into the darkness.