The Next Day
The Not-So-Grimnight Forest
No Monsters Yet
On the third day of our quest, we found a field of flowers. Red flowers clustered together on the right, slowly turning orange, yellow, green, and blue, until they were finally a deep violet on the left.
“They’rebeautiful!” Delilah spread her arms wide and ran for the field.
Maximus blocked her path with one arm and scooped her up when her momentum carried her forward. Her legs briefly kicked the air before she realized she could go no further. “Careful,” he warned. “They might be cursed.”
Delilah’s face fell as she gazed at the lake of color. “But wasn’t the curse broken?”
Maximus shrugged his oversized shoulders. “Or poisonous.”
“I’ve got a book on flora from the region,” Fitz said, holding his hand out to Angelica.
During the shopping trip, she’d purchased the same bottomless bag she’d carried during their original quest. Some things stayed the same even as the rest of the world changed. She handed the bag to him, and Fitz fumbled around in it, pulling out book after endless book, until he found the one he wanted. “It might take me a while to find the right entry, so don’t get too close to the flowers until we know more about them.”
The field stretched as wide as the eye could see in all directions. The only way to continue would be to find a way around it or turn back the way we’d come. Perhaps that wasn’t a bad idea—we could follow the original route the minions had prepared, and we’d only lose a few days of travel.
Fitz found an overturned log to sit on. As he lowered himself, Delilah screamed at the top of her lungs, “Wait!”
Fitz froze in midair, crouched over, hovering a few inches above the log.
Delilah picked up a stray stick and poked the log. Since it was only a small stick, it snapped without affecting the log at all. She tossed the piece still in her hand away and shifted position.
“Can you hurry this up?” Fitz asked, straining to hold his position.
“You can stand,” Trey told him.
Fitz blinked, then straightened into a more comfortable stance.
Delilah pressed her boot against the log and pushed until it rolled over, then she crouched down to investigate the dirt. “No centipedes! You may sit.”
“Why so worried about one little insect? There are plenty of them all over the forest,” Angelica said. “I’m pretty sure I’ve even seen you eat a few.”
“I wassniffingthem,” Delilah corrected. “And I’m not worried about alittleinsect, I’m worried about the really, really big one that comes afterwards!”
“Technically, centipedes are arthropods, not insects,” Fitz corrected. “Though I admit, I’m not fond of the idea of one crawling up my back, so thank you for checking, Delilah.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied primly before flouncing away.
Fitz settled down on the non-centipede-riddled log and opened his book.
While he researched on the page, I stepped as close as I dared to the field. The rainbow flowers waved in the breeze, filling the air with a scent I didn’t recognize. Somewhere between a honeyed apple and a sour orange. Not necessarily unpleasant, but so many growing together overwhelmed the senses.
“Ugh, they reek,” Angelica complained. Out of her pink pouch she pulled a dainty cloth to wrap around the bottom half of her face.
“Can anyone describe what they look like without getting close?” Fitz asked.
“Besides the colors, you mean?” Delilah asked.
“Yes, I need petal number and shape, leaf shape, whatever you can find.”
The thick clusters of colors made it difficult to discern specific shapes. I stepped closer, peering at the closest line of flowers. “Star-shaped petals,” I called. “With spiky leaves.”
“Spiky as in sharp or spikey as in pointy?”
