Wyatt let out a breath, doing his best to inhale as Star, Isabell, and Torch ran behind him. The feeling of disbelief at himself conquered over all of his excess emotions. Knowing Jackson, the boy was about as useful as Royce when he tried to cook. Wyatt stopped to catch his breath, sweat running down the side of his neck. 

Star skidded to a stop next to him, her previous look of confusion replaced with a steely look of determination. 

Wyatt stared at his reflection in the puddle of water beside his feet. What stared back at him was a bloody, bandaged boy with a torn lip and a tortured expression of disappointment. He tore his gaze away, punching the tree next to him in anger. "I'm such a jerk."

Star sighed as she patted his shoulder. "If you're that angry, then why don't you use it to run a little faster? I'm sure the dead tree would appreciate that too."

Wyatt gave a her a sideways glance before nodding.

From behind him, Isabell pretended to throw up. "Can I open a portal instead? I don't wanna be here to witness whatever happens next to you two."

Star sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose before she nodded. "Fine. One more thing, Izzy."

The girl tilted her head.

Star frowned and punched Wyatt in the gut, scooting away from him. "We're not dating. Just comrades. If anything, I hate him."

Wyatt cringed and tried to regain the wind knocked out of him. 

Isabell grinned. "Sure, sure. Torch, drag your ass over here and help."

Torch sauntered over like he'd just won the lottery. "Finally. I get to show off."

Star rolled her eyes. "Hurry up."

Torch nodded as a small flame lit on his finger, smoke trailing from it. Wyatt watched as the smoke drifted to a spot in the sky and began to cloud around one specific area. 

Isabell took her bow off her shoulder and aimed for the middle of the smoke, releasing the arrow. The arrow hit the center, the smoke suddenly parting into a ring. 

Wyatt gawked at the black and purple portal in the middle of the sky.

The archer giggled. "Cool, right?"

Star laughed at Wyatt's expression. "Isabell has, as you probably know, Arrow Magic. The user can manipulate arrows to do special tasks besides killing. As for the portals..."

Isabell grinned. "I invented those. Had a little contract with this super hot blonde guy in a different dimension. He lent me some of the magic into my arrows so I can make these."

Wyatt blinked at the mention of a blonde. "Was his hair flat down? Kinda long and covered his eyes? Tall for his age? Wore a shirt that barely covered his stomach? Liked to wear tennis shoes?"

She rose an eyebrow at the sudden onslaught of questions. "No, his was spike up. Lots and lots of gel in that. Probably bleached his hair at some point, it looked a little pale. He was tall, and he was wearing armor when I met him. Literally wouldn't even take it off, even to sleep!" She stuck her tongue out. "Kind of a shame that I didn't see his abs."

He let out a dejected sigh. "Never mind. I thought it might have been one of my friends."

Isabell rolled her eyes. "Well, he was hot, so I trust him in the magic." She shoved Wyatt forward.

Wyatt flinched when the portal flashed white in front of eyes. "I don't think it's a steady portal..."

"Relax, buddy. I've only crippled once since I met him." Isabell pushed him closer to the portal. "Trust the man and his probably super hot body." Wyatt struggled to move away, making matters worse as Star and Torch began to help, shoving him.

"Trust these arrows, alright? They're my life and pride."

"No, wait, I- ahh!" He felt the force of the portal sucking him in and disappeared within the swirl of color. 

Wyatt felt as if his insides were being squeezed inside of his body. There was a whoosh of air, a sudden impact on his head that made him dizzy, and Wyatt found himself plummeting towards the same river he'd landed in when Royce shoved him off the cliff. 

There was a mighty splash and a flurry of bubbles that surrounded him for a few moments as he held his breath and swam up. Wyatt dragged himself out of the river, shivering and coughing up the water that had gone up his nose.

He looked up to see Star fall out of the portal, a sudden gust of air rushing from behind him and gathering around the girl to steady her fall. Another person soon followed suit, long black hair trailing behind her as she plummeted to the river with a whoop of excitement. 

Wyatt's eyes darted around to look for the fourth and remaining group member. He quickly blocked his vision when there was a magnificent burst of color that lit up the sky momentarily. It subsided quickly as the person cannon-balled into the river. 

Wyatt snorted slightly in amusement at the sheer courage the group had, closing his eyes. "Fast Forward."

He smiled as the water evaporated from his clothes. 

Star rolled her eyes. "What a show off."

Wyatt pouted. "I needed this."

Isabell fired an arrow that landed in front of his feet. Wyatt yelped and jumped back. "Come on, we gotta hurry before Jackson gets killed."

Star nodded as she looked up at the sky. "Turn left and just keep running. That'll take us to the edge of the cliff and, luckily, right under where we need to climb."

Torch groaned. "Woah, woah, woah. There's climbing involved with this?"

Isabell smirked faintly. "I thought we mentioned cliff more than once."

"Yeah, but you know. I thought a shady figure like Royce would live in a cave on the side of a cliff. You know, huddled in a tiny corner where he ate bean sprouts or something and watched water drip off the thingies hanging off the top of the cave?"

"Stalagmites?"

"Whatever. Same thing."

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "He's weird, but he's not that weird."

Star sighed impatiently. "Can we please just hurry up and go? I have a bad feeling."

Wyatt nodded as the four of them ran towards the edge of the cliff, hopping over logs and stumbling over rocks that stuck out haphazardly over the forest floor.

They looked up at the gloomy looking cliff, Royce's base at the very top.

"Did anyone bring equipment for climbing?" Wyatt pondered. 

The trio frowned. "We didn't know that it was a cliff. We always assumed that there was a path there," Star complained. 

Wyatt sighed slightly. "There's a path around this. Guess we have no choice but to go around."

Isabell laughed as she took out her iPod and began to walk to the right. "Let's go. I've managed to download ten hours worth of songs off this sketchy website."

Torch frowned. "Is it the weird Icelandic music again?"

She glared at him. "So?"

Star sighed. "C'mon guys. Let's hurry and save Jackson before those freaks on Hunter's team do anything else to him."

A small giggle erupted above them, some leaves falling to the ground in front of Wyatt. 

Wyatt's eyes widened as he looked up, spotting four figures in the tree before they all jumped down. 

Crimson smirked, one hand over her hip. Next to her stood Dagger, who was busy adjusting the strings on his hoodie. Erik was using his nails to scrape off the dried blood on his knife, a lollipop in his mouth and the faint trace of blue food coloring around his lips. 

Wyatt took a step back when he saw the fourth figure, her short hair hanging in slight curves around her face. "C-Cassie...?"

Cassie ignored him as she looked dead into the eyes of Star. "You know the plan, guys. Crimson will take care of Torch and Isabell. It is alright if they die. Erik and Dagger will capture Wyatt, alive. I'll make sure to kill Lite. Got it?"

Dagger nodded as Crimson scoffed and mumbled a few derogatory words under her breath. Erik looked up for the first time. "Repeat it again please? I was busy."

Cassie scowled before she tackled Star out of the group. "Listen carefully next time, kid!"

Wyatt tried to press back against Torch. "We have to stay together," he whispered slightly. 

A cold voice tickled his skin as two slender, bony hands clasped onto his upper arms with painful strength. "It's already too late, Clark."

He looked up to see two purple eyes and a blade parallel with the bridge of his nose.