Phantom Moon (Nora's part)

Untitled Part 5

"Nora, you don't actually hate him, and we all know it."

I glare at Lisa, but she just smirks back at me.

"No, I don't' know that. He's acting so weird, and I swear, if we survive the next little while, I'm going to murder him. And you're helping me hide the body."

Lisa taps her chin thoughtfully. "We could bury it, then Iz could grow a tree over it."

I laugh out loud, but Iz just stares at us blankly.

"I'm lost. What are we talking about again?"

"You idiot."

"Is Nora killing someone again? Because if she is, I'm out. I've got other things to do. Like, there was this tree at the hotel that wanted me to send a message to his brother in the Redwoods, and-"

"Sorry, Nora, looks like you're on your own. Have fun killing Ander."

"I will. It will be much better than trying to deal with all his emotions. Like, what the heck? How can one person have that many?"

"Just because you don't have emotions doesn't mean that no one can."

"I have emotions! I just don't think it's any of my business putting them out in the world! No one cares how I feel, anyway!"

"Yeah, she has emotions! What about anger? She is angry a lot. Especially at me."

I roll my eyes. "I have more emotions than just anger, Iz."

"Yeah, that's what I was saying! Lisa's the one that's saying you don't have any!"

"Ok, no more talking about emotions. Changing the subject now."

Iz looked out the window, looking for... something. "Hm... We could talk about... Trees! I like trees! But sometimes, they can be so needy."

"Iz! No! We are not talking about trees!"

"Aw, but I like trees."

Lisa crosses her arms and glares at me. "You can either talk about trees or you can explain your emotions. Your choice."

I sigh. "Fine, we can talk about trees."

"Yay!" Iz starts talking on and on about the different trees she came across, and their friends, their families, and the dog that last peed on them. It seemed to go on forever.

Lisa leans close and hisses in my ear. "This is your fault, Nora. If you could have just talked about emotions, we wouldn't have to deal with Iz talking about dog pee."

"Not happening. Deal with it."

Lisa punches my arm, and I punch her back, except harder.

Reese pulls into a parking lot, and miraculously, Iz actually shuts up. I assume it's because she's listening to the giant trees. I hope it's not about pee.

We climb out and head into the forest. I practically have to drag Iz behind me because she won't stop talking to trees. And bushes. And a tiny little sprout Reese stepped on. That last one lasted, like, fifteen minutes. It was ridiculous.

It goes on like that for a while until Jaxon stops.

"This should be far enough in."

I narrow my eyes at him, my paranoia kicking up again. "Far enough in for what?"

He smiles at me. "Oh, nothing. Let's just wait here for a while. You're probably getting sick of dragging Iz around anyway."

I can practically smell his lie. "Wait for what, exactly?"