Chapter 30

As Adair tied her makeshift rope to the box, she started to wonder what they would do if a creature came back up in the box instead of water. While she doubted that there was something down there, she wanted to have a contingency plan just in case there was. So she put down the box and asked Hank what he wanted to do if a creature came back up in the bucket. They discussed it for a bit and decided that if a creature came back up, Adair would drop the bucket back into the well, and they would cut their losses.

Now that they had a game plan in case there was a creature down there, Adair lifted the box over the side of the well and slowly let the bucket down the side of the well until they heard a splash. Adair was first relieved that she had made the rope long enough, and this is when she realized that it was a good thing that their box was not waterproof since they had no way for the box to be submerged if it happened to be waterproof.

When they both heard the splash, she and Hank became excited because it signified the potential of water in the well. She then let a bit more rope down and hoped it was enough for it to be completely submerged before she started to bring it back up. It was significantly more difficult bringing the box up, compared to letting it down. Adair had estimated what the weight should have been if she was pulling up water, but this was significantly heavier than she expected, so much so that Hank noticed her struggling and bit onto the rope and took over pulling the bucket back up.

Since Hank had taken over pulling up the bucket Adair looked over the edge to see what was making it so heavy when it was close to the top. Still, all she saw was a dark, almost black liquid inside the box that was continuously oozing through the grass rope surrounding the wood box and falling into the well below. When she saw this she started to question whether the water, or black liquid for that matter since she was unsure if it was actually water was actually that heavy or was there something inside the murky water that was hiding?

After contemplating for a bit, she decided that they needed to figure out if this liquid was drinkable or not, so she gave the signal to Hank to continue to pull the bucket from the well. When it reached the top and they pulled the bucket over the ledge, Adair waited for a bit, but as she watched the liquid continue to drain quickly, she went and got one of the glass bottles and filled it with the liquid to test if it was drinkable.

Adair looked at the black liquid that had spilled onto the brick ground and did not notice anything off with it. Even though it acted somewhat normal she did not have much hope for it since it appeared filled with mud and other undrinkable things, but who knew unless they tried it.

Both Hank and Adair talked about it for a bit though they both were worried because, for all they knew, this well could have been the sewage for the town, but they were running low on supplies, so they had very few options.

She became more and more worried, though, since as she watched the water leave the box, it almost seemed sluggish and not the way she expected water would normally react. This made her more and more worried that she was about to drink some long-lost person's bodily fluids, but at least the liquid did not smell, which gave her some hope. Also every food and liquid they had tried so far so overall their worry was more superficial than an actual worry.

After the remaining liquid in the box was emptied into a glass bottle, she put it over a fire. Adair then constantly watched the bottle to see if anything unique happened to it, but as she watched it, nothing seemed to happen. Even when it was at a roaring boil, the almost black liquid appeared the same as it always did.

Eventually, after both she and Hank watched it just boil, they talked about whether they still wanted to try this liquid. And in the end, they both decided that while it had the potential to be drinkable, the potential for it not to be drinkable was way higher than what they were hoping, so they decided not to try it until it became necessary to.

Since they decided not to try this liquid, they had to decide what to do next since their supplies were running low. First, they contemplated going back into the forest and searching for water there. Still, they did not see anything on their way out, so going back in, they would need to take a completely different route. Which, even if they did, they were not optimistic about finding anything.

There was also the threat of running into killer trees, and while Adair did not have her calendar still with her; she assumed that a storm should be happening soon, and going on search during a storm did not sound like a good idea. Especially since what if Hank got struck by lightning this time?

Then they talked about trying the liquid again and hoping that it was drinkable, but they decided that again, they would only do that as a last resort since if they got sick from the liquid, they had little to no options to heal from it.

Lastly, they talked about looking for a new village. While they did not have much hope for this option, especially if the new village only had black liquid in the well like their current village, then they were no better than where they started.

After hours of going back and forth they did decide to go with the last option, since the other two had major drawbacks, and they wanted to try their luck, so they packed up and set out through the tall grass. They went at a steady pace so as not to burn through their liquids too fast. Adair, being so small, also slowed them down quite a bit. And while she could ride on Hank's back, she did not want to lose her progress in relearning how to walk. So she insisted on walking until she got too tired.

They also rationed their remaining food so that it lased as long as possible. They also brought the black liquid in the jar just in case they ran out. They had one last resort to try. While the first few days were boring for her, until she saw her first wild animal. It was a small grey bird with a wingspan of just around 12 inches. It was alone, and she wondered why such a small bird was out here by itself, but she soon forgot about it as they saw another forest ahead of them.

Both Hank and Adair decided to change directions to avoid this forest as well. Because even though the trees looked smaller and younger than the trees in their previous forest. They did not have many good experiences within the last forest, and so they decided to stay out of it.

By this time, Adair also realized something was off with the weather. By now, they definitely should have been caught up in a storm. Adair and Hank both talked about it wherever they took breaks. They both found it weird that no storm had happened yet, and while they both shot theories back and forth between each other; they did not know why the storm had yet to occur. There were two lines of thought that they talked about. The first one was that maybe they were remembering the days wrong and the storm would happen soon. And the second one was that maybe the storm was only part of that specific forest they were in and not this half of the world.

Several weeks passed by this point, and still no storm had happened, but that was the least of Adair and Hank's worries because even with their rationing, they had just ate the last of their food supplies, and they only had a little over half of the bottle of water left. While they ran into more small animals along the way, the ones they tried to catch were too fast for the tired duo though.

They kept on traveling, taking fewer and fewer breaks, trying to find a village or someplace for them to find water or something. They both knew something had to be around to support all the small animals. Still, they had no idea where and the few times they tried to follow one of the small furry creatures, as soon as it noticed them, it decided to play dead, which allowed them to get some free food but it also gave them no help with finding water.

As they became thirstier, Adair kept on contemplating on using the crystal feather to ask for water, but she was still apprehensive towards the so-called god, and she decided that only if the black liquid did not work would she go ask the god for water.

On day three after finishing the last of the magical water, they both decided that they would soon have to drink the black liquid. They debated on who should drink it, and Adair persuaded Hank that she should be the one to drink it, because if Hank got sick then there was little that Adair could do, but if she got sick then Hank could carry her and potentially find help.