Keegan wanted to accept Mateo, but his inner voice (the voice in his head) interfered with his decision. He sat in bed in his room with his silky sheets over his knees. Frustrated, he knocked his phone off the dresser in between both hotel beds. Keegan did not like being quarantined, but he understood why he was.
A chill passed over his head. The presence, though, felt different—less demonic.
Keegan searched the room. The curtains before the window blew gracefully, even though the AC wasn’t on. He rubbed his hands together and asked, “Who’s there?”
Something tugged at his ear. It jerked it, causing Keegan to fall off his bed. He landed on top of his phone—a cheap Samsung. “What do you want?” he said. To understand the spirit, he would probably need a Ouija board or a spirit box.
The being’s ghostly hands grabbed his shirt collar. Keegan felt his feet lifting off the floor. He shivered, feeling fearful.
From out of nowhere, the door to his room flew open. Evie, Charlotte, and Sam rushed inside.
Sam glared and yelled, “Drop him, Faelyn!” at the spirit.
Keegan felt it releasing his collar and fell back onto his phone. He hit his funny bone, and boy, did that hurt. Keegan clutched his elbow. “Faelyn?” he inquired. Was he really dealing with Mateo’s father—the jerk who used to show off all the time when he was younger?
Sam was the only one who saw and heard Faelyn. The ghost was beyond mad.
Keegan yelled at him. “What are you doing back in my life?”
Faelyn never met Keegan. They were distant from each other when they were younger. Nevertheless, Keegan always spied on him.
Faelyn pointed at him. “For your information, dude, you’re killing my son! Did you really think I wasn’t going to do anything? What if that was your daughter in his shoes?”
“What’s he saying?” Keegan angrily asked Sam.
He crossed his arms. “He’s asking what you would do if Evie were in Mateo’s shoes.”
“And he has every right to ask that,” said Charlotte. She hugged Evie to her side.
Keegan shut down. He didn’t want anything wrong to happen to his daughter. She was Daddy’s little girl.
Sam’s foot started to tap. He squeezed in front of his family members. “Euphorbia told me, Mr. Madison, and I’m going to pass her message down to you, that no doubt about it, Maria and Mateo are going to have a little girl. Euphorbia’s seen her with her time-traveling powers. Mateo will love that little girl just as much as you love Evie. Do you want her to grow up without a dad?”
Keegan’s head hurt. He clutched it and begged, “Don’t patronize me! You’re just a kid! What do you know about love?”
“Darling, please.” Charlotte let Evie go. “Give Mateo a chance, and give his little girl a chance to have a dad. After everything that’s happened to him, Mateo needs some light in his life.”
“No, he needs to be punished!” Keegan protested. “Who, in their right mind, gets a twenty-one-year-old pregnant?”
Evie jumped in. “He didn’t mean to, Daddy. It was an accident.”
Sam nodded. He crept closer to Keegan like a cat stalking a mouse. “Euphorbia also told me Mateo and Maria have not messed around since the banquet.” He knew a little girl was present, but he had to say this for Keegan to understand. “Mateo is scared now. He never wants to do it again.”
Charlotte slapped her palms over Evie’s ears but already heard Sam’s remark. The adults did not need to hide it from her. She was old enough to know how babies were made.
Keegan considered Sam’s words. Really? That freak of a counselor had not made a move on Maria since the night Isabella was conceived? Perhaps he did have a heart, after all? Argh, the internal conflict was killing him!
“Please, don’t let my son die,” Faelyn begged. “Just accept him. He’s made mistakes, yes, but he’s a good man. He’s not one of those bad boys you see in cliché novels.”
Sam glanced from him to Keegan. “Faelyn says that even though Mateo’s naïve, he’s not a bad boy. He’s a good man. Everyone else in the family sees this. Why can’t you?”
For an eleven-year-old, Sam was quite wise, in Keegan’s opinion. He took a deep breath and looked Evie and Charlotte in their eyes.
“Okay, fine. Take me to Mateo. I will see what I can do.”
***
The basilisk, Euphorbia, Evie’s group members, and Ms. Julie waited for the family members outside beside the village’s maple tree.
Villagers screamed when they saw the monster. They dove into their houses and slammed the doors shut.
The basilisk whimpered. It wished that the villagers could see its good side. It had one when its master wasn’t giving it orders.
Keegan gestured at it. “Wait, are we going to ride that thing?”
Sam nodded. “Sure are. The basilisk is big, but it’s fast.” He hopped onto the serpent’s head and placed his hands behind his back. “Come on, Mr. Madison. Don’t be a chicken.”
“I’m no chicken!” Keegan snapped, clenching his fists.
Sam could not help but smile. “Really? You seemed pretty weirded out by Faelyn, you conceited ape.”
“Oooh!” Keegan’s face burned with embarrassment.
Ms. Julie and Evie’s group members chuckled. It was always amusing to watch a child burn an adult.
The basilisk plopped one of its tails down before Keegan. It shook its head slightly to move Sam’s legs away from its eyes. It couldn’t go anywhere if it couldn’t see.
Evie tried to help her dad. She offered him her hand, but he slapped it away. “I’ve got it.”
However, Keegan tripped over the basilisk’s tail. He fell onto it and wrapped his arms around its scales. A few drops of sweat trickled down his temples, cheeks, and neck.
Charlotte easily climbed the serpent’s tail. She used it like a rock-climbing structure. Before Keegan knew it, she was up top with Sam and plopped down beside him.
Euphorbia fluttered before Keegan’s face. She tilted his chin up with her little hand. Amused, she gave it a few boops.
Sam’s blue eyes caught Faelyn hovering beside the basilisk’s second tail. The ghost rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Keegan was so annoying. It was as if he’d never ridden a basilisk before. He refused to remove his arms from around the creature’s tail.
Evie came within reach of her group members before she joined her family. She and Ashlynn hooked hands. “I’m sorry that things are so awful right now,” she apologized.
Ashlynn shrugged. “Hey, it’s okay. You never know what camp is going to throw at you.”
Evie glanced at Ms. Julie. “Ms. Julie, can my group members come, too? Please. After all, Mateo is our counselor.”
“Um…” Ms. Julie’s voice trailed, but then she saw the desperation in Ashlynn, Amanda, Emrys, and Tate’s faces.
Amanda rocked back and forth on her heels. “Please? We’re aspiring rangers, too.”
Tate grabbed hold of Emrys. He brought him to his chest and rubbed his knuckle on his head. “Besides, Emrys here misses Mateo’s burns. Right, Emrys?”
Emrys released himself. “I do not!” Evie, though, saw him blushing. She would never understand why some boys thought they were so cool.
Ms. Julie thought long and hard about Evie’s plea. She kneeled to the children. “Ashlynn, Amanda, Emrys, and Tate, you understand what’s going on is a family matter, right?”
Ashlynn shrugged. “So?” She moved her body from side to side to stretch. “We’ve done nothing to help. Absolutely nothing. It’s about time we did.”
“Oh please, Ms. Julie.” Amanda slapped her palms together.
Emrys flipped his black locks. “Sam probably needs some boys to hang out with, anyway.” He nudged Tate in the ribs. “Right, Tate?”
Tate said nothing. He was still a little shy.
Ms. Julie sighed deeply. “Okay, fine. You guys have a lot more going on than the other groups.”
Now it was Evie’s turn to shrug. “Besides, more people mean more protection. If Mateo is going to succeed with his mission, he needs all of us.”
Ashlynn flicked her friend’s nose. “No, not Mateo, but Ranger Anthony. We’re helping the most famous Pinta Country ranger, Evie!”
Excited, Amanda batted her hands together. “How often does this happen?” Just thinking about Mateo, she blushed. She had to admit that his glamor was one of the reasons she wanted to tag along. How embarrassing.
Ms. Julie interrupted her romantic thoughts: “Just be careful.”
“We will, Ms. Julie,” Evie and Ashlynn said simultaneously.
“Hey! Don’t forget me!” Evie and her friends moved off when John swooped down from the canopy. He hovered over the center of the circle. A bare patch of dirt was under him. There were three tranquilizer guns in his claws. “I have our weapons. If anyone tries to touch Mateo, we will put them to sleep. Eh?”
Keegan shivered at the sight of the guns. He still recalled the tingling sensation in his neck when John accidentally shot him.
“Oh, perfect, John!” Evie cheered. “Sam and I have a plan for the tranquilizers, anyway. Right, Sam?” She winked at her long-lost uncle.
He returned it. “Sure do, Evie.”
Ms. Julie met eyes with the basilisk. “Mr. Basilisk, do you think you can carry four more?”
Of course, it could! The basilisk was thirty feet long. It nodded at the ranger and offered the children its second tail. They hopped onto it individually and grasped the serpent’s spikes for balance.
It nodded at its crew, then slid toward the cave that led into Paperblank Forest. It accidentally ducked Keegan’s face in the stream, covering it in water and algae.
John chuckled slightly. Keegan deserved a nice dunk after everything he said to Mateo.
Evie, her friends, and family members waved goodbye to Ms. Julie.
“Bye, Ms. Julie!” the children called.
She waved back. “Bye! Be safe!” She lowered her hand. “What brave kids. They are going to make amazing rangers one day.”
Evie was right. More people meant more protection. Mateo needed it all. He was so close to becoming the Green Guardian, meaning he was now the main target for the hunter and his army—the army of the cursed and undead.
Ms. Julie plopped down on one of the maple tree’s branches. She thought for a minute, letting the warm air tickle her tan skin, and eventually called, “Crystal!”
“I’m here, Ms. Julie,” said a familiar, high-pitched voice. Crystal, the unicorn, emerged from behind some flower-filled bushes. She trotted to Ms. Julie and stopped beside her.
Ms. Julie scratched her behind her ear. “I need you to follow the basilisk and watch that family and Evie’s friends.”
“No problem,” Crystal said with a flip of her mane. “What will you do—stay here and continue to look pretty?”
“I have a camp to run!” Ms. Julie snapped. “My tribe is also very busy at the moment.”
“I’m kidding,” Crystal laughed. “You need to learn to take a joke. Have you had any contact with them yet?”
“Not yet,” Ms. Julie replied, “but they should call soon and update me on the battle plan. Until they’re ready, I need you to pop your wings and fly.”
Crystal friendlily scoffed. “Okay, okay.” She shook her head. “Why are all you rangers so serious nowadays?” She nipped at her white hair because a horsefly was on it and then backed away from Ms. Julie.
The unicorn’s horn glowed white. Sparkles escaped it and circled her body from head to toe. A pair of gorgeous, feathery wings popped out of her back. The wings were big enough to wrap around her whole body. They were angel-like and mystical beyond comparison.
Dirt bursts up from the ground as Crystal flapped them. Her wings took her into the sky. “Danger is my middle name, Juliette.”
Ms. Julie rolled her eyes. “Crystal, I already told you… I like to be called ‘Julie’.”
“Sure you do. Good luck, ma’am. We’ll be waiting for you.” Crystal flew through the maple tree’s branches and leaves, dropping quite a few. She climbed higher into the sky, nervous and excited about what lay ahead. Within seconds, she soared over Paperblank’s treetops.
Crystal loved feeling the wind in her feathers. She flew in an arch, letting the sun's rays blanket her back. She needed to stretch and prepare for the battle. One day, Mateo himself would be able to fly with her. The Guardian looked after all inhabitants of the Paperblank Forest, whether they were human or not, but it was also sacred for them to fly with the alicorns.
Crystal folded her wings. She dove nose first back toward the forest. Her lips flapped as she smiled stupidly. Her mane waved like a kite flying over a beach, but this kite was free and ready to move to the next one.
At the maple tree, Ms. Julie hopped down from the branch where she had been resting. She looked over her shoulder to ensure nobody was looking and waved her hands in a circle. A light blue doorway—a portal—appeared before her. It was the size of her and reminiscent of the portal Evie witnessed the morning before she came to camp.
Ms. Julie nodded to herself. She put one foot before her and ducked into the doorway. She waited too long. She needed to know the status of her tribe before Crystal could get too far. Evie, her family members, and her friends were not a big enough army to take on the hunter’s cursed one. Ms. Julie had to do everything she could to protect the Guardian’s Tree and Mateo’s transformation before it was too late. Hers and the basilisk's tribe were counting on her.
Just traveling through the portal, Ms. Julie felt hope. The long, wormhole-like tunnel glowed a bright cyan. Ms. Julie brushed her fingertips across the light energy. She watched as the tunnel’s exit drew closer and closer.
To herself, she said, “It’s time to save the Paperblank Forest.”
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