Don't Mess With Time

Chapter Thirty

A/N: There is a lot of inconsistency on when things might be happening in comparison, but I'll iron that out by saying the order of when people were disqualified at the end of the Trial by Tale! I did this to kind of get you fully immersed in how it would feel to have no idea what's going on with everyone else and everything around you!

Hester raced through the forest, her mind focused on one person and one person only.

And she tried not to think about how she could still feel where Anadil's lips had grazed her own.

It had been more than fifteen minutes and she still couldn't get the fiery tingling to go away.

She found that she didn't particularly want to.

She skidded into the small clearing with one large tree standing in the middle.

The one they'd agreed to meet at.

~

Anadil was starting to think that Hester wasn't going to show.

She knew the wolves had growled less than a minute ago, but that didn't do anything to calm her nerves.

Suddenly, she heard the crunching of boots and her head shot up.

She wasn't taking any chances, so she allowed her finger to glow bright green as she waited for whoever it was to show their face.

She couldn't believe that it could be Hester.

But then a very familiar form burst into the clearing.

The form's bright red hair glinted in the light and their dark black eyes glowed.

It was her, no matter how hard it was for Anadil to believe it.

"Ani!" she called, looking around.

Anadil realized she was hidden in the depths of the tree's dark branches and she lowered herself down.

Hester caught sight of her immediately and rushed forward.

She looked Anadil up and down for any sign of injury and the albino tried not to focus on how fast her heart was beating.

She'd come, even though Anadil had almost messed everything up.

"Ani, I-"

Hester was cut off as Anadil covered her mouth with her hand.

She'd heard movement behind them and her finger glowed.

Hester's eyes shot to the forest and she was distracted from what she'd been dying to tell Anadil.

~

Hort's arms felt sluggish as he forced them to raise and punch at the mistwalkers.

The ghostly forms seemed shocked that Hort could do anything but walk toward his fate.

The mistwalkers shrieked as Hort's furry fist connected with the first one and then his foot came into contact with the second.

Ravan was shocked and his head was a bit fuzzy, but he realized that Hort had just saved him from elimination (because of course the teachers wouldn't let real mistwalkers into the blue forest).

Hort sagged as he finished fighting the dark forms that now lay on the ground.

Ravan grabbed onto the exhausted Never beside him.

He groaned and Ravan had to carry off a half asleep wolfman that was somehow maintaining his form, which made Ravan grumble about how heavy the other Neverboy was.