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I pull my hand away again, feeling my cheeks flush in embarrassment.
“Well, at least now we know how to cast the light,” Trek says as he pulls a leaf out of Hope’s hair. She lifts her hand and slaps his away as she glares at him, clearly still upset with him.
“Listen,” Shok says suddenly. “Can you hear that?” I frown, trying to hear something, but the only thing I can hear is the faint sound of what we are searching.
“Hear what?” Love asks as she looks up at Shok.
“It’s softer,” Drez mutters.
“Yes, it’s softer, which means it’s working,” Shok says as he looks around at all of us. “We need to continue, but with caution, as I think we might have some more surprises.”
“Stay close to me,” Drez says as Trek and Hope make their way to the front of the group. Love and Shok are behind us. Love starts to sing while Hope opens a path for us with her powers. I lift my hands, shining my light around the vegetation; that is, until I feel Drez placing his hand that is holding his sword in mine. The light that I was shining intensifies and brightens, showing every hollow and groove in the forest before us. We can hear scurrying from ahead, as if whatever was lying in wait decided to run away.
It is a slow trek, as the vegetation gets denser with each step we take. As soon as Hope pushes the vegetation back, it starts to grow back faster, and the sound is growing louder. “This isn’t working,” Hope says after another few steps, and we can see how exhausted she is from constantly using her gift to control the vegetation around us.
“There must be another way,” I murmur as I hear Love’s voice break. Looking back, I see Shok nudge her as he hands her water to drink.
“If you think of something, I’m all ears,” Hope murmurs.
I look up at Drez to see him looking around, a frown on his face. “What’s wrong?” I ask.
“There is something following us,” he mutters as he inclines his sword to his left, shining the light in the area. Immediately, there is scuttling, evidence that there is something following us.
“What if we join our gifts like I am doing with Drez? Maybe like that it will be stronger and quicker,” I suggest. If we can expand each other’s gifts, then we should be able to proceed at double the speed we are now.
“I’m up to try anything,” Hope says as she stops, waiting for me to join her. “So how are we going to do this?”
“I’m not sure,” I murmur. Now that I’m next to her, I have no idea how we can proceed so as to increase the reach of our powers.
“Try to do what you did with Drez,” Trek says as he stands with his back to us, his eyes on the foliage around us, looking for any unsuspecting attacks.
“That might work. Remember when the shadows attacked us at home and we cast light into the darkness, you through the earth to the plants and trees?” I ask.
“Yes, that will work,” Hope says as she places her hand in mine.
“Love, maybe the music can flow through us. That will have the energy of the song filtering through the plants and the earth, reaching the source of the sound sooner.” Love inclines her head but then nods as she comes to stand on my other side to hold my hand.
“Well, here goes nothing. One, two, three.” I can feel the energy flowing through me. It’s like little electrical pulses flowing through my veins. The sound of Love’s voice washes through my body like silk against my skin. Hope’s energy revitalizes me, giving me a fresh boost to face what awaits us. We start making our way forward instead of stopping every few steps like we were doing. The path seems to open for us.
“It’s working,” Trek says just as something comes flying towards us, but Trek lifts his arms, catching the boulder in the air before it can crash into us.
“On guard,” he yells as another one from the other side comes crashing towards us, but Shok stops this one with his battle-axe.
“Oh no they don’t,” Hope mutters, and suddenly there is a heave in the ground. “Hear me now, find those who wish us harm and detain them with your roots and branches.” Another boulder comes flying towards us, but then there is a gurgling sound and thrashing, as if whatever is out there is fighting against restraints.
“I’m going to see what it was,” Drez says as he starts making his way towards one of the sounds.
“No,” I call, but he does not hear me as he continues into the brush.
“Let’s carry on. He will catch up,” Trek says as he walks on.
“No. What if there is something else out there?” I look over my shoulder at Shok. “Shok, please go with him.”
“Sorry, sweetness. I need to make sure nothing comes at the three of you from behind.” He gives me a tentative smile as he searches the woods. “Don’t worry, he can take care of himself.” I reluctantly continue our trek forward, but I periodically look back to see if he is approaching. After walking for a while, I finally hear footsteps and see him coming out of the trees towards us. Silly man, placing himself in danger unnecessarily and without any backup.
As soon as I see that he is fine, I ignore him, instead looking forward and making sure that my energy penetrates the darkness and enhances my sisters. The sound has remained at a doable decibel. I know that is because of us, and if anything, it has quietened but hasn’t stopped. After walking for another ten minutes or so, we encounter burnt and broken trees and bushes. I hear Hope’s gasp of pain when she sees the dead trees and the trampled and burnt foliage in our path.
“We are getting close,” Drez states as we come across a dead deer that has been torn apart by what looks like claws. I feel my stomach tightening at the sight of the poor thing. It did not even have a chance. The unnecessary violence makes me sad at the evilness that is evident.
