Magnus Chase and the Wrath of Morpheus

Chapter 16

Well, I Was Happy for a Second

Walking through the woods with Alex by my side was nice. I felt like all my worries were left behind in the city and the only thing left was my friends and me having a nice day out. I forgot about the quest for a second and enjoyed the view. Occasionally we could see the shoreline of Wright's Pond through the trees, where the sun sparkled on the water's surface and our faces were bathing in the dimmed and green shimmering light falling through the leaves.

Different birds were sitting in the trees and bushes around us singing their songs, sounding so carefree, their songs of new beginnings and hope.

The fallen leaves and sticks on the soft ground made it more comfortable to walk and my feet started to hurt a little less. The backpack on my shoulders seemed lighter than before, and the straps didn't cut into my neck. For once in a very long time I felt free.

After a while however, the path ended and we had to walk through the woods without any guide, but I remembered my mother telling me that we needed to walk straight ahead and we'd end up at Spot Pond. So that's what we did too. After about an hour (I really don't know how long we were walking, my sense of time is horrible) we saw Spot Pond through the trees in front of us. Behind me Carter sped up his pace and started to look for a good place to put our tent.
We all followed him and arrived at a small forrest clearing.

"I think this is a good place!" Carter said, spreading his arm and turning in a circle to take in the smell of the wood and the moss.

"We even have our own pool with a diving board!" He gestured towards a plantless rock at the shoreside protruding out of the water.

"Now if you would be so kind to help me put up our tent, I admit I don't know how to build it..."

Surprisingly, I was the one who did most of the work. Everybody else just assisted me while Hector offered to cook dinner with some of the things we took with us from Brooklyn house, along with the camping supplies Carter pulled out of the duat.

I honestly think it's unfair that he just can put everything he wants inside his portable closet and get to it whenever and wherever he wants to. Yet, who am I to complain? After another hour we finished building the tent, and Hector provided us with a variety of dishes. We had sandwiches, take away left overs, and a bunch of other things he had found in our bags.

We put our jackets on the ground and sat down to eat. Even though we didn't really know what was going to happen the next day, we still tried to keep the mood up. While we were telling stories about other quests we were on, and all the funny things that had happened, the shadows were slowly getting longer and I decided that I wouldn't let the chance pass to go swim in the lake.

Once we were all finished eating I stood up and walked behind the tent to change into a new pair of underpants. (As my mother had taught me, I had packed a second and third pair of underwear.)

I took out my shirt and walked towards the rock sticking out of the water in nothing but underpants. Pointy little stones pricked my feet from below as I walked over the rock. I sat down at its end and let my feet dangle just inches above the surface of the lake, which now had a dark blue colour while the red light of the evening summer sun graced the little waves forming from a softly blowing breeze. I braced myself for the cold water and slid off the rock and into the lake. I closed my eyes and put my head under water. I shivered because it was still colder than I had expected. When I surfaced again I saw Alex standing in front of me. His green hair almost looked black in the dim light, his eyes reflected the water and seemed to sparkle.

"What are you looking at?" He asked and smiled amusedly. The left corner of his mouth turned up a bit and his eyebrows were slightly raised.

I didn't know what to answer so I did what everbody would've done and splashed his face with water.

He spluttered and protested loudly. "Hey not fair, I wasn't prepared!" He faked a move and I flinched. When nothing happened I slowly lifted my head up again, my shoulders still tense, my hands still ready to shield my face from a second attack.

But Alex had used my distraction to move close. He grabbed my face between his hands and kissed me. At first the unexpected affection surprised me but soon I gave in and lifted my arms up to wrap them around his neck. When I moved my hands down his back I heard him take a sharp breath.

My face felt hot from all the blood shooting up to my head and my knees got weak. Alex seemed to notice and held me tighter however it didn't help and I fell backwards into the water tearing him down with me. He wanted to pull back but I showed no mercy and didn't let go of him.

The cold water flushed over my head a second time but this time I didn't feel cold. All I felt was pure happiness coursing through my veins. With Alex by my side every day was a day worth staying, expecially on days like that one. When we both pushed up through the water again gasping for air I still felt as if I were on fire

I felt Alex's chest pressing against mine. He was breathing heavily and fought for air. My feet touched the ground again and I managed to stand still. Alex was now standing so close that I saw every little spot in his brown and amber eyes.

I knew that no matter where he would be, if I would be with him I would be home.
-------------------------------------------
When I woke up in the middle of the night next to Alex I remembered what had happened earlier that day.
After the sun went under we came out of the water and put on all our clothes just to take them off again because we needed to sleep. The next day would be hard, and we didn't want to be more tired than we already were, so we went to bed. We all fell asleep pretty quickly but for some reason my brain decided to wake me up again.

At first I didn't know what it was that woke me but suddenly I heard a crackle outside. I sat up and listened closer. There it was again. It sounded like somebody was walking around. I decided that it would be best to get up and see what was disturbing my sleep. In hindsight I can tell you that it was a pretty dumb idea, but you know who I am. Dumb ideas is the first thing I'd have to mention on my resume.

Once I put on my shirt, I stepped over a sleeping Halfborn and out of the tent.

I closed the zipper behind me and looked around. At first nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, but then something happened that made me question whether I was dreaming or really awake. I heard a whisper coming out of the woods. A whisper I have heard before. a voice I knew very well. The last time I've heard this voice was yesterday. The time before that was more than ten years ago.

"Who is this?" I asked. I already knew who's voice I heard but it couldn't be.

Out of the forest the voice answered. "Have you already forgotten me? How could you? Come here Magnus, come to me, son."

My voice cracked when I spoke, "Mom?" Something deep inside me knew that it couldn't be her but it was clearly her voice. She seemed afraid. I had to go and help her. "Mom wait for me!" I yelled and followed the voice into the woods.