Marella’s POV
“Are you okay?” Linh asked.
“Yep!” I managed while wringing out my hair. Training with Linh never went as smoothly as it did in my daydreams—not that I thought about her much or anything. I still hadn’t mastered my Pyrokinesis. I still hadn’t plucked up the courage to tell Linh I liked her. Things weren't going well for me.
“Here, let me help.” Linh closed her eyes and drew the water out of my hair and clothes.
“Ready to try one last time?” I asked.
“Of course,” Linh told me. She put on an enthusiastic smile, but I could see the tiredness behind it.
“Or we can get you home,” I told her. “I’m getting kinda tired.”
Linh couldn’t quite hide her relief. “Great.” She searched for something in her pocket, and her smile fell. “My home crystal is gone.”
“We can use my Leapmaster,” I offered. “Your house should be on it.”
+++
I walked up to the pathfinder, trying to gather confidence. Something about the way Linh was looking at me made me feel weak in the knees.
“Choirmere,” I called to the Leapmaster. Mustering whatever courage I could, I grabbed Linh’s hand and walked into the beam of light.
+++
“Where are we?” I asked. “This doesn’t look like how I’d imagined Choirmere.”
“That’s because my house isn’t called Choirmere,” Linh told me. “It’s Choralmere.”
“Oops,” was all I could really say. “What now?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have my crystal—do you?”
I shook my head slowly, trying not to panic. “I must’ve left it in my room.”
“How will we get home?” Linh asked.
“Well, this place can’t totally be abandoned,” I said. “Maybe we can ask somebody for help.”
Linh and I walked deeper into the overgrown path. Dark-barked trees surrounded us, and tall ferns blocked parts of the road. The place looked almost human. Were Linh and I still in the Lost Cities?
Suddenly, Linh stopped in her tracks.
[A/N: “Linh” autocorrected to “Lunch”, which is really funny if you consider what comes next.]
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Do you smell that?” Linh peered deeper into the woods. “It almost smells like food.” [A/N: This came from a joke about Auntie Em’s (from PJO) when we were trying to plan the rest of the fanfic. We were considering an Aunty Em cameo, but decided against it.]
Linh and I practically ran towards the smell. Not only were we scrambling to get home, but we were also really hungry.
As we walked, the smell got thicker. I detected barbeque, cementing the idea that whoever lived here was not elvin.
I heard a crack come from somewhere in the trees. Instinctively, I grabbed Linh’s hand. She glanced down and her eyes widened, but she said nothing.
“I think it was just a bird, Marella,” Linh teased, though she still looked nervous.
“Why would this place be on a Leapmaster?” I asked, shivering. “It’s totally creepy.”
Linh suddenly grabbed my arm with her other hand. “I see it!” she shouted.
“It” was apparently an abandoned-looking house. Its paint was peeling, ruined toys and trash was piled in the yard, and overgrown plants covered almost everything.
“Should we go inside?” I whispered.
Linh’s eyes went wider than I thought was possible. “Are you crazy?”
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, steering her towards the house. I tried to ignore the goosebumps traveling down my forearm. “What could go wrong?” I asked.
Linh sighed. “Fine. But let’s find where that smell is coming from, first. I’m hungry.”
After a while of digging and following the smell, Linh and I found a crate. I was hoping for something delicious, such as flavored air or another elvin snack, but instead found a bunch of rotting hot dogs. I’ll spare you the details.
“Maybe there’s some food inside,” I said hopefully, but I didn’t think it mattered. At this rate, I would die of fear before hunger.
I pushed open the front door, and it opened with a huff of musty air. I took a deep breath (which didn’t taste too good), and led Linh inside.
“So,” I tried to keep the mood light. “How’s your day been?”
“Just perfect,” Linh answered.
I was mid-laugh when I heard a creak and paused.
“Did you hear that?” Linh whispered.
I nodded. “Do you want to investigate?”
“I think that would be the right thing to do. This place could be a Neverseen hideout for all we know.” Linh gripped my hand, and I tried to ignore the electricity coursing through me.
“Yeah,” I managed,” “let’s go find some villains.”
+++
We’d only walked a few steps before I detected movement.
Linh shrieked, throwing herself into my arms. I started in surprise, and Linh pulled away, blushing.
“Sorry,” She muttered.
“It’s fine,” I told her. I’m pretty sure my face was matching the color of my flames. Speaking of which…
I lit a fireball in my palm. “Now we can see,” I told her.
Linh smiled, which looked quite odd through the light of the fire I was holding.
The wind tore through the house, making me wish I brought an extra-thick cape. I snuggled closer to Linh for extra warmth.
Linh suddenly gasped. “Look!”
She was pointing at a Leapmaster—or what was left of a Leapmaster. Broken crystals littered the floor, and most of the hanging crystals were cracked.
“Choralmere,” I tried. A crystal lowered to the sunlight, and Linh squealed in excitement. A few seconds passed, but the beam of light didn’t appear.
“What’s wrong with it?” I wondered, and I walked up to the crystal to examine it. Or, part of a crystal. Only the top and part of the side was left.
“We can just take some crystals off the Leapmaster,” Linh told me. “Hopefully one of them has something that can take us home.”
I sincerely doubted it, but I didn’t want to crush her hopefulness. Linh was cute when she was hopeful. Don’t tell her I said that.
“Great idea!” I nodded a little too enthusiastically, feeling my cheeks warm. I reached above my head and tugged on a crystal. It came loose in one pull.
Linh raised an eyebrow at me. “I didn’t think the crystal would come off that easily.”
I shrugged. “Maybe I’m just really strong.”
“It must be that.” It might have been my imagination, but I could've sworn that Linh was blushing.
+++
“Woah,” Linh walked around the first location we leaped to with an expression of awe on her face.
I had to agree. With twinkling lights and crystal-clear pools, the place was beautiful. However, it would not get us home.
“The water feels so calm here,” Linh closed her eyes. She reached down to touch it, but I grabbed her hand.
“I don’t trust this place,” I warned.
Linh seemed to be more focused on our intertwined hands than how dangerous this random place could be.
Suddenly, she snapped to attention. “Marella, don’t move.”
“What?!” I shrieked.
“Something’s moving behind you.”
I dared to peek, catching movement in a nearby bush from the corner of my eye.
“Any chance it’s a bunny?” I asked.
“Scatter!” was Linh’s only answer as the creature bounded toward us.
It couldn’t have been more than six inches tall, with a gray body and wings. Recognition pulled at me.
“I think it’s an imp,” I told her, my heart returning to its normal pace. Well, as normal as my heart can be while I’m holding hands with Linh.
“Um,” I murmured intelligently.
Linh smiled knowingly, which allowed me to function about eighty percent less.
Linh sat down on the grass, motioning me to sit next to her. Our knees touched, sending goosebumps up my leg.
“Marella?” Linh asked.
“Linh,” I responded. Something in her voice made my body turn up a few degrees. Then she leaned over and kissed me.
For a moment, I just sat there frozen. I had spent so long thinking of this moment—not that I had thought about it all the time—but my daydreams were nothing compared to this moment.
Linh enveloped me in her arms, and I sank into her embrace. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer. It felt like there was nobody in the world but us, sitting in wet grass under the star-filled sky. Until my hand hit something that was hard and rather cold.
I frowned, breaking the kiss.
Linh looked up at me, her cheeks still pink. “What is it?”
“I think… I think it’s our leaping crystal.”
Linh looked momentarily disappointed. “Oh.”
“We don’t have to leave,” I offered.
The End
