Descending from Ordinary

Chapter 12

"What?" Cole looked over Ace's shoulder, and Ace handed him the map. Cole studied it himself, not seeming any less confused than Ace. "This..."

"You think it's an enchanted map or something?" Mateus asked. "You know, an Enchanted map for an Enchanted forest?"

"No," Ace shook his head. "The format of the map hasn't changed. I reviewed the whole thing the first day and it's the same."

"Maybe we're in the wrong spot?" Jacob questioned.

Cole shook his head. "I don't think so..."

"Maybe it's just testing us," Jace suggested, simply. Everyone turned to him, listening intently. "They do that sometimes. You know, like, you have to be smart enough to make all of the right decisions and strong enough to get through all the challenges along the way. The Enchanted Forest is a place not just anyone should be able to get to, so I think this is how they're testing us. Obviously starting with our wits."

Ace and Jacob stood motionless, stunned by the number of logical words that effortlessly flew out of the brunette's mouth. He never struck Jacob as stupid, or even close to it, but...wow, he never struck him as a genius either. Well, Ace on the other hand...that was a different story.

"Did someone switch bodies with him?" Ace glanced around. "Because for once, I actually understood every word that came out of his mouth. And it made sense."

"Wow," Mateus laughed, walking over to pat Jace on the back. "Looks like we have some serious brains on our team!"

"It was pretty obvious, actually," Jace shrugged with a small grin.

"So," Cole contemplated. "We have to exit the right path in order to get to where we'll be able to continue following the map and get to the Forest?"

"I guess so...?" Jacob was unsure, but it sounded about right.

"Wait," Mateus added. "But what if, really, they both lead to where we need to go? One just has a greater chance of us, well, dying."

"Then we should go down the pretty one!" Jace exclaimed.

Ace held up a hand. "Yeah, I guess you ran out of smart juice already. It's pretty obvious that's what they want us to think so we'll go through there and get fucking murdered. Then we don't get to the Forest and none of their precious treasures gets touched."

"Yeah, but what if that's what they thought we would think so they reversed it?" Mateus asked.

"I'm hearing too many 'what if's..." Cole commented.

"So," Jacob joined. "We're supposed to avoid the dark one because it's not the path because they knew we'd go down that one since we'd naturally think the pretty one was a trap?"

"Um...yeah, I think so...?" Jace hesitated. "I dunno, they lost me like two minutes ago."

"The light path it is?" Cole asked.

"I still don't trust it. Seems too good to be true." Ace said.

"Then...the dark one...?" Mateus raised an eyebrow.

"If we're gonna be logical," Jacob said. "That really looks like somewhere a monster would live. And if we're trying to avoid those, then..."

"He has a point," Mateus agreed.

Cole ruffled his hair, clearly frustrated. "Then which way do we go?"

"For starters," Jacob stated. "No one request splitting up. That's one thing I won't do."