The Skelitin Saga: Volume One

Chpt. 05 | Endangering Figure #2

"It's right up here!" Simon called back to Gray, who's short brown hair was damp with sweat as he dragged Scary up the hill.

It had been at least an hour since they'd left the Big Drop. And just about 45 minutes since Simon "forgot" to help him carry Scary.

"You got this, bring it home!" Simon cheered him on, waving his arms like one of those wiggling inflatables at a rental car place. And yet... Gray still couldn't see a house.

Gray set Scary down and gulped down all the air he could get. "Hey... Simon. You see... that... bird... up there?" He called up the hill.

Simon glanced around. "What bird?"

Gray pointed upwards with his middle finger. "That bird,"

Simon blinked curiously, and squinted in the direction Gray pointed. Gray rolled his eyes. You weren't nearly this stupid in the book.

He started to grab Scary's limp body again, but then he decided to take a longer break.

With his hands on his knees, Gray took slow breaths, trying to slow his heart rate. By this point he'd left his house hours ago, and hadn't stopped walking since. And now that his adrenaline had stopped pumping through his body, Gray felt more tired than he'd ever felt in his life.

That's when he saw a rock.

Now, a regular rock was easy to overlook. But this wasn't an ordinary rock. It was perfectly oval, and smooth, with a large carving on its face.

"What's this?" He muttered.

"What's what?" Simon called, standing on his toes, as if that would help him see the rock from thirty feet away.

"This!" Gray pointed, just to make fun of him. Then he leaned down to pick it up, but when his palm touched it's smooth surface, pain exploded in his hand. CRACK!

Gray screamed out in anguish and cradled his limp hand. Simon sped to his side in a split second and looked at him, worried. "What happened?"

"I touched the thing, and... and it bit me or something," Gray choked through clenched teeth. "I think it broke my hand,"

"Oh it's probably not that bad," Simon shook his hand vigorously.

Gray fell to his knees and howled for mercy. Simon looked at the hand, confused. "Oh. Yeah that's broken for sure,"

Gray shot him a murderous look through his tears.

Simon looked down and swiped his foot around in the dirt. "I don't see anything..."

"It's behind you," Gray sobbed, trying to find a position that he could hold his hand, so that it wouldn't hurt.

Simon turned around and spotted the stone, peeking out of the dirt and grass. "Hey!" He cheered. "It's the Venso Rock!"

Gray looked at it, dumbfounded. "That was in the book. It was your weapon of choice," Even though it had just caused him an immense amount of pain, Gray couldn't help but feel a bit starstruck. "Did you lose it?"

"Yeah," Simon nodded. "After Dare blasted me from the forest, Snakeye hunted me down. I fought him with it. But towards the end, he knocked me down and I lost it in the river down that way. They never put that part in the book, though. You never saw what happened to me," Simon dug out the stone, and carefully turned it over in his hand. "I wonder how it got here,"

Gray had always wanted to touch the Venso Rock. Turns out that wasn't his smartest idea. But at least it all made sense now.

As the book said: "The rock itself was indestructible, it couldn't be melted, crushed, broken, or even eroded. It's power was defensive. Any force dealt to it, would be tenfolded and stored for later use,"