14 Chapter 13

One big disintegrating brick wall spread out from one tree line to another. Slimy crimson roses climbed to the top. The real horror was depicted right in the middle of the wall. Between the cracks purple vines curled around the skeleton of a deer. Upside down flowers, as described in the book, grew from the empty eye sockets. A Big yellow fungus grew between the bones right where the heart must've been. With horror I looked around and saw one massive tree, it's branches grew straight into itself instead of growing upwards. I recognized the place as the part of the forest influenced by space magic, influencing the natural growth of fauna and flora. It looked weirder than I had expected. To be honest I didn't even know what I had expected. Derora and I turned to face each other, both with eyes big as plates.

"This is weird, lets all go home," I choked out. The air even seemed different. It had a dark dusty taste to it that would't go away. David gulped and nodded his head, " I agree with Leona."

Derora grabbed my arm and Jesper had no facial expressions. 

"No no no. We came all this way not even knowing if what stood in the book was true, and now we are standing between those pages. Don't you want to be the first person in centuries to time travel, I mean just think of all the places we could go like ancient Rome..."

"And get killed in the gladiator wars," I interrupted Derora.

"Okay we don't have to go there, just please stay."

I made it seem as if though I'm reconsidering the offer when I already decided I would stay. I looked at David with a face that said please-stay-with-me and he also gave in. At that moment Jesper had a test tube in his hand, and a cotton swab in the other. He walked towards the wall. Now more suspicions churned through my head. 

"Jesper what is that for?" I asked. he reached out to the slime dripping from the purple rose vines. He scrunched up his nose and I assumed it had a stench.

"Science," Jesper replied. I didn't think it was a good Idea, but kept my mouth shut. Jesper jabbed at the plant with the cotton swab, and suddenly it had him by his arm, tightening around each muscle with every curl. Jesper opened his mouth but no sound came out. None of us knew what to do, and we froze in shock. One of the roses in Jespers hand opened its petals revealing tiny razor sharp teeth where the pollen should be. The rose swallowed the test tube in Jespers hand whole. Another vine slithered between the leaves towards his legs. Jesper tried desperately to tug free, but the vines around his arm only tightened leaving his hand almost as purple as the plant itself. 

David got his conscious thinking back and grabbed a knife from his boot, I didn't even know was there, and started slicing at the plant. The sound of goop against metal made me cringe. After a few blows the vine was cut in two and the half around Jesper's arm slackened. He stumbled away from the wall and fell to the ground in a bundle. A rancid smell filled the air and made me nauseous. David wiped his knife against a fern and stuck it back into his boot. Immediately he sat beside Jesper trying to comfort him while the purple from the poor blood circulation, turned his arm blue. Derora and I joined them on the ground. It was the first time I've seen his weak side. And David's knife skills impressed but also scared me.

"Are you okay?" David asked. 

Jesper bit at his tiny moustache and his raspy voice shook as he spoke," Yeah man, I think so."

He wasn't okay. "Lets just move on," Jesper tried to stand up but his legs failed him. He immediatly fell back down on the ground. The second time he stood on shaky legs, but at least it didn't cave in underneath him. David locked his arm around Jesper's and we walked slowly away from the brick wall. I soon realized Jespers arm was bleeding a little, but it didn't look to serious. 

Soon we came across mice with six legs and tree's shedding blue daisies like a cherry blossom tree. I kneeled down into the soft grass between the daisies. Derora made snow angels between the blue petals, and her laugh echoed like wind chimes. Jesper grabbed a handful and stuffed it in his backpack then sat aside watching us lie between the soft petals. David stood under the tree with his hands forming a bowl to catch the falling flowers. He put one in Derora's and my hair. Playfully I threw a fistful into his face, and David did the same. We all (excluding Jesper) threw each other with petals. My mind and body started to feel fuzzy. The laughing around me didn't stop and sounded like echoes coming from far away. My vision turned fluffy around the corners. The trees around me started to move freely like water. Was this another trick of the forest, or was it my imagination?  Soon It felt like I was floating on clouds, or maybe sitting in a rocking boat and my eyes fell shut. 

Dirt covered my arms and legs when I opened my eyes. My stomach plunged and I stood up puking my guts out. Jesper stood against a tree laughing his ass off. Derora and David also stood up after a while, getting sick immediately. 

"I think the daisies are poisonous." Jesper said between laughing fits.

"Too late for that information," I grunted and tried to pick the flowers from my hair. 

"The three of you were rolling in the dirt like pigs while giggling!" Jesper burst out holding his stomach in laughter. 

"Not funny dude," David said miserably. Derora swayed on her feet. "I feel awful," she said. 

Jespers geese-like laughter suddenly stopped. His face was turning pale all of a sudden. I looked down at his arm and saw the blood streaming out of the wound.

"I think the rose vine's goop made his blood thinner. Some venom does that in order for the victim to die faster," David said in panic. He pulled his sweater over his head and tied it around Jespers arm. 

"We need to look for herbs that would help stop the bleeding, I saw some earlier," Derora said. She and David hurried away while I sat next to the bleeding mushroom boy, pressing the (now red) sweater on the wound. Jespers breaths became more ragged.

"We were... going to... start a war and... take over America," Whispered before blacking out. I gulped, but at least he was still breathing. What did Jesper mean by that anyway?  Suddenly I heard a droning sound above the tree tops. Through the mist I saw three black helicopters. The ones Derora warned us about. Why were they looking for us?  I glanced at Jesper already passed out. A dark thought hung over my head. Maybe Jesper knew about the helicopters all along. I saw yellow lights dancing between the tree's. They were definitely searching for us. What I was about to do was totally wrong, but I stood up and started running. Derora and David were two black figures in the mist. I sprinted towards them and grabbed their shirts. They looked confused but soon also heard the droning sound of the blades. 

We made a mistake.

A big one.

Running through one of the searching lights.

They saw us.

We ran, and ran.

David pulled us towards a gap between two rocks in a hill. It was big enough for us all to squeeze through. We plunged down into ankle deep icy water. 

"Where's Jesper Leona!?" David wanted to know. I felt a pang of guilt and I lied. "They took him. The people from the helicopters."  

"Well we have to go and get him!" David yelled and climbed back out halfway. "No!" Derora yelled pulling him back into darkness, "It's too risky! Jesper is injured, they will take him to the hospital!" To my relief David agreed. For now we had to focus on not getting caught. David pulled a flashlight from his pocket to see in the pitch dark. I saw that we stood in icy, clear water and my feet were already numb from the cold. The cave curved to the right and shining stones lit the way. 

A brighter light from behind lit the stone room. We heard the helicopters outside.

"Duck down!" I yelled. We all sat down in the cold water that crawled up my legs as the material got wet. Soon we heard people speaking Scottish from what I recognized. Derora signaled for us to follow her down the pathway. She looked bleak from fear. We reached a dead end, and the voices drifter closer. I was sure the people saw us running in here. Big wooden double doors blocked our pathway. Gold coated Lions-head handles stared at us. Derora and David tugged on the dark doors. The wood looked brittle but wouldn't budge. I pulled and pushed at the lion heads, but they made no move. My heart skipped a beat as I frantically searched my back pockets. My fingers grasped the cold metal and I tugged it out. Not far from us I heard a man plunging down into the cave. Derora's knuckles turned white around the handles. 

"Unlock it please," she whispered when she saw the Gold key in my hand. Out of shock I let it fall out of my hands into the water. Blindly I searched for it in the dark. The men were yelling something and I saw one coming around the corner. I grabbed it again and tried pushing it in the key hole. 

Finally the door creaked open. Derora pushed inside, and I had to drag David, paralyzed from shock, inside of the chamber. I closed the door just in time before another hand could make its way inside. 

A glassy stone globe resting on a pillar stood in the middle of the room. I had no idea what it was but it wasn't natural. Derora stepped backwards when when she saw what I was looking at. Her elbow pushed back a tiny stone figurine: A dog I recognized as Cerberus from Greek mythology. The flashlight made the tiny statue look like a monster projected on the wall. To be fair Cerberus was indeed a monster from the underworld. Derora tapped my shoulder. I glanced back at the glassy orb. It started to glow dimly. 

A loud electric zap made David grab my hand. The orb glowed a neon blue, but made no more noise. David immediately pulled his hand from of mine. Part of me didn't want him to leave it. 

The wall in front of us started showing neon blue numbers that looked like it was carved out of a laser beam. And that's when everything went wrong...