The Forgotten Sibling

Chapter 12

"Whoa," Riley said, blinking.

"I know," Clauchice said, nodding. "Curious Catwings-us- decided to explore it one day and kind of got carried away," Hazefhur admitted.

"So they 'blocked' it off and only made it a backup in case if something happens to the main island."

"But in this case, the only way that we could potentially capture her is by going to that island," Lhrioun said.

"Let's go then!" Riley jumped off Hazefhur's back and twirled in the air.

"Not so fast," Clauchice said.

"That place is filled with vines, trapjaws, and poisonous stinging nettles," Klickhaze warned. "It can hurt you severely, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to go home with nasty lacerations on your body."

Riley sighed, but she nodded. "Fine. So how are we going to cross?"

"We could just go over the bridge very carefully," Hazefhur suggested.

"And have sticky sap that won't wash off our fur for weeks," Klickhaze snapped. "Not a good idea."

He glared at her. "Then what do you suggest?"

"The trees are the safest place in the jungle, since they're too high for vines to properly flourish but too tall but trapjaws and nettles to grow there," Klickhaze explained. "The best route to take is the trees."

"That's a good idea," Clauchice approved. "Climbing the trees is the best and quickest route to take."

Lhrioun turned toward Hazefhur. "Do you agree?"

Hazefhur nodded, although Clauchice could see how much it hurt him to admit he's wrong. "Yeah, it's a good plan."

Her brother and Klickhaze walked away with Riley behind them. Clauchice looked at Hazefhur. "What's going on? You usually don't care that Klickhaze outsmarts you."

His gaze was dark. "It's not that. I just..." He shook his head and looked up at the sky, his green eyes looking like emeralds reflecting the stars' light.

"I miss him too," Clauchice said gently. "Nothing is the same without him here."

"Why did he have to leave?" Hazefhur whispered. He looked at her and his eyes were shiny.

"I don't know," Clauchice said truthfully. "But we're doing this for him, even though he might not like it."

Hazefhur pulled the corner of his mouth in a smile. "You got that right. He'll throw a fit and whine that he didn't have the chance to do the actual thing."

Clauchice laughed, and the claws of sadness eased back. "And he'll wallow for days and refuse to talk to any of us."

Hazefhur smiled again, this time a real one. "It's always nice to talk about him. It helps keep his memory here."

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

Haphmoun woke up, blinking open her blue eyes. She'd been sleeping for a while now since Jhaufyther left, but now she noticed that her body was completely solid. She was shocked beyond words and had to pinch herself in order to see if this was real.

For the past few weeks, she'd been in terrible grief because her mate and best friend left due to him not being a good friend. Not to mention the fact that the killer Crystal is still out there, in hiding.

Since she's bonded with Jhaufyther, every single time he's being forgotten, the both of them will slowly start to dim. Haphmoun had been dimming these past few weeks, but today she was completely solid, no transparency anywhere.