Cassie’s thirteenth birthday party. They pulled out all the stops for this one. Everyone indulged in the best candy, junk food, and soda they’d hoarded. Smores by the campfire, party games, dancing music, movie marathon, and everything they could think of.
Paul provided candles, turning thirteen individual unwrapped snack cakes into a ‘birthday cake.’ They sang a song blessing the day for her together, Lea’s voice the most enchanting, while Rana surprised all with her tuneful contralto. Daniel, on the other hand, couldn’t hold a note to save his life. Cassie blew out the candles in one breath as the others applauded. Wendi threw the bat girl in the air thirteen times to raucous cheering.
They laughed, had tons of fun, and had a contest to stay awake the longest. The others fell one by one as the night wore on.
As of today, they were all official teenagers. He felt then and remembered it later as their last genuinely carefree celebration. As much as he told himself this marked the beginning of a new adventure, adulthood—he couldn’t stop thinking of it as the end.
The end of their collective childhood.
Their guardians were gone, both the good T.O. and the oppressive Eastwood Facility. No matter how they’d been treated or imprisoned, that world of humans protected them for three years from the dangers of the Wilderness. Now they had to take care of themselves and rely on one another. From here on, it’d be more difficult, more dangerous, and near impossible to maintain what scraps of innocence they’d harbored through childhood.
And so, Paul drifted from the merriment to stand watch beside Rana, who often kept her lone eyes peeled while the others relaxed. She said nothing to him, which he took as a sign of esteem.
“Wield me?” He reached for her. The frog girl nodded, took his hand in her own, and he shifted into a candlestick.
Two islands collided in a void, and Paul crossed into the realm of Rana’s mind.
Rana’s inner world seemed the most alien of the minds he’d visited by far. No house, nor structure of any kind interrupted the landscape. Swamp in all directions.
The Green Swamp.
Or so she’d called it. A weak fog obscured the distant island borders. Lone-standing trees and rotting logs served as landmarks. A thick layer of weeds covered every surface, obscuring the water’s depth and any solid ground.
Paul had never found Rana here and didn’t waste effort searching. He waded up to his knees in mud, not daring to go further.
However, he saw through Rana’s eyes without a problem. When Rana used her powers, Paul felt magic well from her core to her skin, where she secreted it as slime. In the same way, she sensed when and how he made candles. In Eastwood, with his permission, she’d directed his magic to great effect. She’d saved their lives.
She never attempted to use his Pathfinding, though. He wished she would. Maybe she’d be better at that too.
“Rana, there’s something I’ve got to get off my chest. I-I’m sorry I got us into this mess.”
Her voice came to him as if distant, though here they were as close as two friends could be. “You don’t have to apologize. It was my mistake and my responsibility.”
‘Mistake.’ He couldn’t let her take the blame. “But it’s my fault you got captured. It’s my fault you couldn’t go after the adults while they were no more than a world or two away… I’m such an idiot.”
Paul long since recognized Rana tried to save him because he could’ve tracked down Daniel and the young angel’s Portal Ring by Pathfinding. The three of them would’ve reached the T.O. fast on a fresh trail. This thought made Paul’s terrible decision-making after the Eastwood Event seem all the worse. He felt he owed her an explanation.
She said nothing, letting Paul puke up the bile he’d been drowning in. “After everything went wrong, everyone was lost and confused and sad, but I was even more worthless—I was selfish. I wandered about in the open, not caring who heard me crying until I got caught. I’d never felt so alone.
“You know, Rana, when you came to get me… before I opened my big mouth and ruined the rescue, I was so happy to see you. Even while being carted off to the Facility, I was glad I wasn’t by myself anymore.” Paul felt ashamed of himself but, at the same time, relieved he’d said it.
When he finished, she replied, “I said it was my mistake. Not that I regretted it.”
Paul heard something drip onto his chest and noticed he was crying. He wiped away the tears as they cooled and hardened on his cheek. He wasn’t a boy anymore. He needed to take responsibility as well. Their lives were in his hands, and he couldn’t make the same mistake again.
Cassie’s thirteenth birthday party. They pulled out all the stops for this one. Everyone indulged in the best candy, junk food, and soda they’d hoarded. Smores by the campfire, party games, dancing music, movie marathon, and everything they could think of.
Paul provided candles, turning thirteen individual unwrapped snack cakes into a ‘birthday cake.’ They sang a song blessing the day for her together, Lea’s voice the most enchanting, while Rana surprised all with her tuneful contralto. Daniel, on the other hand, couldn’t hold a note to save his life. Cassie blew out the candles in one breath as the others applauded. Wendi threw the bat girl in the air thirteen times to raucous cheering.
They laughed, had tons of fun, and had a contest to stay awake the longest. The others fell one by one as the night wore on.
As of today, they were all official teenagers. He felt then and remembered it later as their last genuinely carefree celebration. As much as he told himself this marked the beginning of a new adventure, adulthood—he couldn’t stop thinking of it as the end.
The end of their collective childhood.
Their guardians were gone, both the good T.O. and the oppressive Eastwood Facility. No matter how they’d been treated or imprisoned, that world of humans protected them for three years from the dangers of the Wilderness. Now they had to take care of themselves and rely on one another. From here on, it’d be more difficult, more dangerous, and near impossible to maintain what scraps of innocence they’d harbored through childhood.
And so, Paul drifted from the merriment to stand watch beside Rana, who often kept her lone eyes peeled while the others relaxed. She said nothing to him, which he took as a sign of esteem.
“Wield me?” He reached for her. The frog girl nodded, took his hand in her own, and he shifted into a candlestick.
Two islands collided in a void, and Paul crossed into the realm of Rana’s mind.
Rana’s inner world seemed the most alien of the minds he’d visited by far. No house, nor structure of any kind interrupted the landscape. Swamp in all directions.
The Green Swamp.
Or so she’d called it. A weak fog obscured the distant island borders. Lone-standing trees and rotting logs served as landmarks. A thick layer of weeds covered every surface, obscuring the water’s depth and any solid ground.
Paul had never found Rana here and didn’t waste effort searching. He waded up to his knees in mud, not daring to go further.
However, he saw through Rana’s eyes without a problem. When Rana used her powers, Paul felt magic well from her core to her skin, where she secreted it as slime. In the same way, she sensed when and how he made candles. In Eastwood, with his permission, she’d directed his magic to great effect. She’d saved their lives.
She never attempted to use his Pathfinding, though. He wished she would. Maybe she’d be better at that too.
“Rana, there’s something I’ve got to get off my chest. I-I’m sorry I got us into this mess.”
Her voice came to him as if distant, though here they were as close as two friends could be. “You don’t have to apologize. It was my mistake and my responsibility.”
‘Mistake.’ He couldn’t let her take the blame. “But it’s my fault you got captured. It’s my fault you couldn’t go after the adults while they were no more than a world or two away… I’m such an idiot.”
Paul long since recognized Rana tried to save him because he could’ve tracked down Daniel and the young angel’s Portal Ring by Pathfinding. The three of them would’ve reached the T.O. fast on a fresh trail. This thought made Paul’s terrible decision-making after the Eastwood Event seem all the worse. He felt he owed her an explanation.
She said nothing, letting Paul puke up the bile he’d been drowning in. “After everything went wrong, everyone was lost and confused and sad, but I was even more worthless—I was selfish. I wandered about in the open, not caring who heard me crying until I got caught. I’d never felt so alone.
“You know, Rana, when you came to get me… before I opened my big mouth and ruined the rescue, I was so happy to see you. Even while being carted off to the Facility, I was glad I wasn’t by myself anymore.” Paul felt ashamed of himself but, at the same time, relieved he’d said it.
When he finished, she replied, “I said it was my mistake. Not that I regretted it.”
Paul heard something drip onto his chest and noticed he was crying. He wiped away the tears as they cooled and hardened on his cheek. He wasn’t a boy anymore. He needed to take responsibility as well. Their lives were in his hands, and he couldn’t make the same mistake again.
