The Laws of Paxia

27. Lime-green Wonderland

Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Lime-green wonderland.

  I’m sitting on a chair on the porch, watching the fantastic forest display in front of me. The air is filled with the smell of damp dirt and plants. Green fruit can be glimpsed through the vegetation and I wonder what they taste like. I can go out there and pick one, but I’ll wait until Marc gets back. I’m not scared of poisoned fruit anymore. I feel somewhat immune from poison after everything I’ve been through.

  Marc left the house. He decided to fetch the Danglers himself and didn’t give me any answer to my question. I’ll find out soon. He said he won’t be gone long. He was so eager to help me. It reminds me of Keith who always did everything to sneak away from responsibility.

  The familiar buzzing of Tarih is making me feel safe and strong. I can’t feel very far with it since it’s connecting to me from above, but it’s still better than nothing. I don’t like to be defenceless like I was on Crest. I also don’t want to be left with only counting on Tarih. These Danglers better be good!

  The sound from the forest is very relaxing. The sea and the leaves blowing in the wind makes me unwind. The best of all is the fact that I’m alone. The Petals guarded me every minute of the day and I can finally breathe now that I’m here without caring for someone else than myself.

  The stream scrubbed off all make-up the Petals insisted me to apply perfectly and it was weird to see my face in a mirror in its natural glory. I can at least find comfort in the useless fact that I now know more about makeup than Carolyn does.

  I wonder about Vita. I want to learn the skills of being a Shadow, but she’s not here to teach me yet. I get a feeling that I’ll need the ability so I want to master it perfectly. I wonder how my training will be like. Something tells me she won’t let me know until we visit Kria. Now is the time for Florem anyway. I have no idea what’s going to happen, but I hope I will understand more during the journey.

  This planet seems so peaceful, but I’ve learned that every world has a downside to it. I’m quite sure there is one despite what I’ve heard from Vita. I already knew that Crest is brutal so their animal-like side shocked me but didn’t surprise me.

  “Meryl, where are you?” Marc’s confused voice travels through the house and I roll my eyes at his anxiety. His footsteps can be heard as he searches through the house, more hurried than when he left. “I swear I didn’t make up your existence! Todder says I’m quite a fool and maybe I did inherit a bit of my Mom’s insanity…”

  “Marc, I’m out here,” I call for him calmly and wave to him through the glassless window as he passes through the hall.

  “… I’m sure it wasn’t just a dream.” He stops in his step and a relieved smile grows on his face. He hurries out to me with a box wrapped in brown paper in his hands. “These are your Danglers,” he claims proudly and drops the box on the sturdy garden table.

  He watches me expectantly with his brown eyes and I feel the strange sense of my heart tightening at the sight of his kind appearance. I shake away the odd feeling and turn my attention towards the box in front of me. I’m about to open it when he speaks up again.

  “How did you make it back out here?”

  “Oh, that,” I mutter. “I just use this necklace.” I pull up the purple stone and he inspects it with interest. “It attracts an invisible web that surrounds me and I’m able to let it move me around amongst other things.”

  “You have to tell me more about it later.”

  I nod and tear off the paper from the box. The box has the same brown colour and I lift of the lid expectantly to find out what danglers are. Inside lies a leather contraption in a deep green colour. I let my finger slide over the spaghetti-thin threads and it’s soft and comfortable against the fingertip.