Year Two: Rebels - Cara Wylde Page 0,65
that gave me such peace of mind that I felt like I was an entirely different person.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
El pulled me by the hand, and the next thing I knew, we were both standing in the middle of a swamp. It was of such an intense green that my etheric eyes hurt. Crepuscular light made the place look eerie and dangerous.
“This is what you’ve been looking for.” El released my hand and motioned at the endless marshes. “Akkadia Aeterna. As much as you can carry.”
“Oh my God.”
I recognized the flower. Aunt Katia had always given it to me already dried, or even grounded into a fine powder. In truth, the plant was tall, with round leaves and round, plump petals that came in different colors – red, purple, yellow. I didn’t know if the color meant anything, so I just started gathering flowers in all three colors, making a bouquet that grew and grew until it filled my arms. We ventured pretty far from where we’d initially landed. I followed El, as she seemed to know the way. When I was done picking Akkadia Aeterna, we were still surrounded by water and soft, mushy land.
“I need a bit of soil, but it has to be dry,” I said.
“Okay. Follow me.” Before she led me out of the marshes, though, she turned to face me. Her tone became very serious as she spoke again: “Promise me you will not stray from the path I choose. You might hear things… Ignore them. You might smell, or sense things. Ignore them and keep your eyes glued to me. This place is not safe. We have to stick together.”
I nodded. I had every intention to follow her lead and behave. So far, she’d been beyond helpful. She’d done everything, and all I’d had to do was tag along and be good. And, of course, I wasn’t going to risk losing the huge batch of Akkadia Aeterna I’d just managed to collect. My arms had started aching, and I had to remember that they weren’t my real, material arms. I was going to carry what I’d just looted from the Great Old Ones’ universe back home, no matter what. I just needed a tiny bit of dry soil, and then we could leave.
We walked for a while, and when I could finally feel solid ground under my feet, I let out a sigh of relief. I looked down and tried to figure out how I was supposed to grab what I needed when my hands were so unbearably full.
“Could you… get some for me?” I squeezed the multicolored flowers to my chest and made a grabby motion with my right hand. “And just place it in my hand. I know you can’t carry it back home.”
She crouched down and proceeded to scratch at the ground with her long, dainty fingers. As I waited, I couldn’t help but take a look around me. We were in a deep, jungle-like forest. The trees were so tall that they almost touched the heavy clouds above. There was some light at the edge of the forest, enough for me and El to see each other’s faces. Inside the forest, though, it seemed like night ruled eternal. I took a few steps toward the nearest tree. Its thick trunk was fascinating. It was as if the bark itself moved constantly, the ridges and dents in it forming symbols that changed every few seconds. I took another step, and another, until I found myself in a grove of such trees. I looked up at the sky, and a chill run down my spine when I realized I couldn’t see a thing.
“El?” Oh, I was so stupid! I’d done exactly what she’d told me not to do. “El? Where are you?”
“I’m here.” Her voice seemed to come from a significant distance. “Don’t move. I’ll come to you.”
I breathed in and out. Okay. All I had to do was wait. Normally, I wouldn’t have been so damn scared, but I knew that the last time I’d jumped to the cosmic beings’ universe, something had driven me insane. I was doing so good. I had what I needed, and El was going to bring me the soil. No, I wasn’t going to mess up now, when I was close to getting what I needed from this place. So far, it actually didn’t look scary at all. Okay, night had fallen quicker than I would’ve expected, the swamp seemed to be endless, and the trees