Good, Evil, and the Gray Area (FIRST DRAFT)

Chapter 27

thank u heartbeat456 for the covers! they're awesome. i'll try to post them over there---> lets hope it works!

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I drew in a sharp breath. A half hour. That's not nearly as much time as I had hoped. I ran a hand through my slightly greasy blond hair. I really needed to wash it, but just hadn't had time. I really hadn't had time to do anything lately.

So now we had a choice. To head back right now, and get the venom into Ava so we wouldn't be taking any chances, or search for the antivenom, and run the risk of losing her.

I couldn't bear the thought of her dieing, even though she might've been dead a while back for all I knew. At least then I didn't know she was definitely dieing. At this point, she is dieing unless I do something to stop it.

A silent tear traced a path through the dust on my cheek. I looked up at Zahir. I had sat down on a tree stump, and hadn't even noticed that I was no longer standing. He was looking down at me with concern filled brown eyes. I gave him a watery smile.

"We need to get back. Now." I said, trying not to sound as desolate as I felt.

"What? What time is it?" He answered, shock registering on his features.

"We have a half hour." I said flatly.

"Oh. Okay, well I'll tell Abungu." He stood, not moving to do anything. Abungu tapped him on the shoulder, and looked at him curiously. He spit out a string of African. Abungu sighed, and replied. They carried on like that for a while, until I got impatient and yelled at Zahir. He looked at me sheepishly.

"Sorry. We're just trying to figure out what to do." He said.

"Well of course you are!" I said sarcastically, irritated. "Lets go. We'll find an antidote there, or come back here. Ava's dieing."

Zahir nodded silently. Abungu and I both placed a hand on his arm. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Then, we were surrounded by black.

Something hit my shoulder, and I flinched away. My fingers started to slip off Zahir, so I lunged toward him, panicking.

Then, we were through. My feet met the dead leaves and dirt of the forest floor, and I sighed in relief. Zahir was here, and so was Abungu. Everything was okay.

"Do you have the spider?" I asked, my stomach dropping at the thought of returning without it.

He nodded, and my limbs were suddenly jellylike in relief. "Okay. Lets get to Ava and let this spider bite her." I said, sounding kind of silly. In hindsight, we should've gotten the venom out of the spider first, and given it to Ava, not relied on the spider to bite her. At that point it seemed risky. Before, it had seemed like a genius idea.

We made our way through the forest to the cluster of tents that was the village. We hadn't teleported straight to it, not wanting to freak anyone out. Plus, no one knew exept the medicine men that teleporting was possible, let alone the fact that Zahir could do it.

I stepped into the medicine tent. It smelled of incense, and was comfortable and dry.

"Ava?" I asked. She was laying motionless, her eyes closed. I gasped, turning to the nurse."Is she- is she- is she alive?" I managed to spit out.