29

Kaly, Pearson, and Ivy sprinted across the forest floor. Above them, the village still sprawled, even though they had run several miles. 

Ivy and Kaly ran in front, leading, as they could sense the artifacts. All three had activated their energy for speed and mobility, and Kaly had retracted her other set of arms. 

Ivy fell back, running next to Pearson, she reached up touching the four-leaf-clover necklace that Zoe had given her. She was silent for a while before eventually asking, "Hey, so do you ever see Zoe back at Crater? Is she okay?" 

Pearson thought about it for a while, "I'll see her walking around Crater occasionally, but we've never been friends, or have ever talked much. Colson doesn't ever bring her up whenever we talk, but I assume she's doing okay. I can't really give you anything more than that." 

"Oh." 

"Yeah, sorry."

After running for a few more minutes, Kaly slowed to a stop, holding up her hand. 

"What's happening?" Pearson asked, stopping. 

Kaly licked her finger and held it in the air, "Yeah, I thought so. There's a lot of wind." 

"Uh, Okay…" Pearson said. 

They were stopped in front of a set of massive trees, which blocked out most of the sky, dwarfing the forest around them in comparison. 

Kaly walked between them, saying, "Yeah, if we kept running that would've been bad."

Pearson and Ivy followed. They stepped out of the treeline into an area of towering cliffs and cascading waterfalls. 

Ivy inched close to the side of the cliff, peering down, seeing an enormous, bowl-shaped canyon below. The walls of the canyon were adorned with the faint outlines of grand structures—temples, statues, and pillars. Moss and vines had overtaken most of the stonework, but here and there, intricate carvings could still be seen. 

Among the waterfalls cascading from the cliffs, there were signs of ancient aqueducts, now broken and barely recognizable, once used to divert water to the civilization below. Pools of water gathered at the canyon floor, reflecting the dim light of the late afternoon. Among the waterfalls cascading from the cliffs, there were signs of ancient aqueducts used to divert water to the civilization below. Pools of water gathered at the canyon floor, reflecting the dim light of the late afternoon. 

All three of their heads snapped to the left. About half a mile away, on another cliffside, the glowing auras of several people were seen. 

"Oh, hey!" Pearson's voice filled with relief, "That's my group! I think I recognize some of their energies." 

Ivy squinted, her vision zooming in as much as possible, trying to see who they were. "I can't see who they are, can you?"

"No." Pearson shook his head. 

"I've got an idea!" Kaly said. "We stay close to them, and follow them until they find the next artifacts, and then we take 'em!"

"No!" Pearson snapped quickly. 

"Or…they probably already have some on them already!"

"Again, No!"

Kaly turned, staring at Pearson. He felt her cold eyes bore into him, and he tried his hardest not to look away. "Who asked you?" 

"I-uh I mean, we can't just steal-"

Kaly interrupted him, "WE aren't doing anything. And honestly, I feel like to you, our usefulness has just ran out. So I can't really trust you."

"What?"

"We aren't on the same team, Pearson! Remember…" 

Pearson looked at Ivy.

Kaly looked at Ivy. 

Ivy, who had a smirk on her lips, trying not to smile, quickly frowned, realizing they expected her to say something. "We'll figure something out." But despite her easy-going demeanor, there was something unsettling about Ivy's calmness, a subtle hint of calculation behind her large, innocent eyes as she added, "Besides, we can consider all options." She tilted her head with a smile, which Pearson felt was a little too casual for the conversation at hand. Pearson stared at her, momentarily, unsure what she meant. He walked past them to get a closer view of his allies in the distance.

Pearson shifted, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and a tingle shot up his spine. His body was trying to warn him of something. He whirled around, and just saw Kaly with her hands on her hips and a deadpan expression in her eyes. She looked through him like he wasn't even a person, just an obstacle—something to be dealt with. 'I really don't like having her behind me…' he thought back to several hours earlier. The unchanging look in Kaly's eyes as she put her hand through that boy's body. The same look someone would have swatting an annoying fly. 

Ivy's cheerful voice jolted him back. "Hey, Pearson, ready to go? We're gonna go over there."

He forced a smile, trying to shake off the unease. "Yeah, let's… get going." But as they fell into step, Pearson kept glancing back, unable to shake the feeling that, with Ivy and Kaly at his side, he was treading a dangerous line between ally and expendable pawn.

They advanced toward the figures in the distance. They were his allies—or at least, that was what he kept telling himself. But he was no longer sure what it meant to be on Ivy and Kaly's "team." He thought, 'What are the chances something bad is actually going to happen? They kicked her out of Crater for a reason, and now she seems to be best friends with that thing.' 

As the trio attempted to move over towards Pearson's old group, they watched as the silhouettes of their aura began to descend into the canyons. 

Kaly slowed to a stop, swearing under her breath at the sight, "They're really going to make us climb down there after them?"

"There's gotta be something down there," Ivy said walking to the cliff's edge, looking down the side, "I mean…I think if we jump…We could make it. Yeah we could definitely make it."

"I'm not doing that." Pearson shook his head. "I'm not about to bomb down the side of a cliff. That's insane."

"We have energy," Ivy protested. "I mean if we slide down the side, it would hurt a bit, but we should be fine."

Pearson looked at Kaly, who had a grimace on her face as she looked down the cliff. 

"We don't have time to climb down." Ivy reminded them. Her words hung in the air. 

Pearson let out a long sigh, thinking, 'How did I let myself get here?' Before asking, "Are you really sure?" 

"I've slid down the side of a cliff before." Ivy nodded confidently. "It's not so bad."

"Okay," Pearson breathed, his energy flaring up defensively, his body bracing itself for the imminent pain. 

The base of the canyon came at them quickly. 

The side of the cliff was layered with dirt, mud, and scraggley rock. 

Pearson managed to stay standing on the way down, while Kaly wasn't so lucky. She had attempted to run down the side, and halfway down, her foot had caught a root that was sticking out from a rock sending her crashing down. Her four arms flailed trying to save herself, but she was too far away from the cliff and she plummeted to the ground. 

The sound echoed off the walls of the canyon. 

Pearson landed at the canyon's base with a hard thud but managed to stay on his feet, skidding to a stop in a cloud of dust. He dusted himself off, breathing heavily, his body tense and aching from the descent. Ivy was beside him in moments, her hair wild and her expression triumphant.

"That wasn't so bad!" Ivy's voice carried a note of exhilaration, like she was already forgetting the bruises from the rough slide down.

Pearson looked over to check on Kaly, expecting her to have the same grin of accomplishment. Instead, he saw her sprawled on the dusty canyon floor, momentarily unmoving. Her energy flickered as she lay there. "Yo Kaly!" He called, the tension in his voice slipping out as he ran over. She groaned, rolling over with a frustrated grimace, one of her arms moving to clutch her side.

"Not… one word," Kaly muttered, glaring up at Pearson. Her face was set in a mixture of embarrassment and irritation. Despite the pain, she began pulling herself up, wincing as she tested her limbs.

Ivy's laughter echoed, lighthearted and amused. "You almost had it, Kaly!" She cackled, unfazed by Kaly's glare. "Guess the cliffside was steeper than I thought."

Kaly shot Ivy a pointed look, but Ivy's smile didn't waver. Pearson stepped back, still eyeing her cautiously as they regrouped. The trio was bruised and dirt-streaked. 

"Now that we're here," Ivy said, her tone bright but eyes sharp, "Let's catch up with them." 

"Ivy!" Kaly's energy flared around her, and she lunged at her, tackling her just as a boomerang glittering with blue energy sliced through the air where Ivy's head was just milliseconds prior. 

The boomerang ricocheted around before flying back around the corner of the canyon. 

Ivy blinked in confusion, "What the-"

"GAH!" Kaly screamed in absolute rage getting off of Ivy, her energy almost hissing from her pores as it grew around her. "They're attacking us!" She glared at Pearson. 

Pearson tensed, feeling the prickling heat of Kaly's unleashed energy even from a few feet away. She was radiating pure fury, her eyes ablaze as she glared between him and the direction the boomerang had come from. Her stance was tense, as if she were holding herself back from charging.

"Kaly, calm down!" Pearson said, his own energy flaring defensively, trying to brace himself against her volatile aura. "We don't even know who threw that!"

"Does it matter?" Kaly snarled, her gaze swinging back toward the edge of the canyon where the boomerang had disappeared. "They're making us follow them down a cliff, and now we're getting attacked?"

Ivy was on her feet again, brushing herself off with an amused look that only seemed to rile Kaly further. "Well, that was unexpected," she said, a mischievous glint in her eyes. 

Kaly clenched her fists, her energy wrapping around her in tendrils of light. "I say we take them out. You know they wouldn't hesitate to take us out if they got the chance."

Pearson grimaced, the discomfort creeping back in. "Look, let's just be smart about this. We're outnumbered, and I'd rather not rush in blind. We can find cover, assess what we're up against—"

"Oh, give me a break!" Kaly sneered, her eyes narrowing. 

Pearson braced himself, bringing his hands up to protect himself as Kaly stepped forward, but the attack never came as Kaly walked past him toward the corner of the cliff. Pearson looked at Ivy with wide confused eyes, but Ivy didn't even notice as she was jogging to catch up with Kaly. Her trident, Proteus, extended in her hand, ready for a fight.