In the thick of the moment, I didn't think we went that far downstream, but as Nimu points out, the river was faster than I thought and in the confusion of it all no one was really thinking too much about how far it was taking us.

"I hope they're all still waiting for us," Nimu says.

"You and me both."

I really hope we're not doing the old miss-each-other-by-a-hair maneuver because I might have to say screw it and go on without them.

But no, no, no, that's not the mentality of a leader. I have to be- God help me- optimistic and crap.

While I swallow this whole positive thinking pill, I keep my promise to Nimu and explain as much as I can about the pieces I keep finding. I leave out a lot of stuff but cover my bases enough for her to get a vague, general idea.

"So you already have three pieces, how many more do you need?" She asks.

"Not a clue, but they'll pop up."

As long as there's trouble there'll be a piece.

"What do you think they lead to?"

I shrug. "I dunno, something good I hope."

"May I see it?"

At this, I look at her and hesitate. Now, it's not that I don't trust her- because I do- it's just I have this irrational worry that if anyone but myself handles this puzzleamabob then they might lose it and the world will burst into flames or some shit like that. But I'm building trust here, so trying not to convey my previous delay, I hand it over like it's no big deal.

She's quiet for a bit as she inspects the object, studying it like it's some rare artifact instead of a common, glorified puzzle, key looking thing. I notice the increasing furrow of her brow as she looks it over.

"This is Tymos' doing, isn't it?" She asks, looking up from the object now.

God, how am I supposed to answer something so pointed? I knew I should have kept my mouth shut.

I'm usually a very good BS artist, but I can't seem to find anything to deflect the situation with her staring at me like that.

"I mean," I clear my voice and practically snatch the thing back to pocket it. "I can't rule it out."

Even with this open-ended response, Nimu has her mind made up.

"It is, this has his touch written all over it."

"But maybe," I begin half-heartedly. "This isn't his doing. I know, this seems like his MO, but we can't rule other possibilities out."

Nimu's not hearing it, though. She knows- just like I do- that these pieces are sent from him for some grander purpose in this stupid game. This discovery on her end just opens up a whole new can of worms- she might start piecing everything together. If there's one person in the entourage that could sniff out the truth, it's Nimu with her sharp eye and natural cynicism. As fun as that is, though, she doesn't realize how close to the water she's getting and, like a line from a song I know fondly, she better back away from the water before she drowns.

"No, this is exactly the type of thing Tymos would do," She scowls.

Knowing I won't be able to persuade her otherwise, I try to move on, not wanting to seem suspicious in doing so.

"Well, that's going to have to wait until we find the others. They seriously better be where we left them."

Thankfully, the topic of Tymos and his games is dropped and I can breathe a bit easier. I just hope she doesn't blabber on about the pieces to the others once we see them again because that's just what I'll need, everyone riding my ass about some mystery puzzle.

It feels like we have miles go before we're back where we started, but we have to keep pushing forward if we ever expect to get back.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of something. Leading further into the jungle, the familiar pair of ghostly footprints reappears, marching onwards to Tymos. I pause, looking at the trail being made in the soft earth. We have a chance to get this show back on the road and not waste any more time. Yeah, we haven't found the others yet, but every other time I've abandoned them they've found their way back to me somehow.

Nimu stops as well, giving me a puzzled look. "What is it?"

She wouldn't be cool with leaving the other three behind, I know that as fact, but she could just direct the others my way once she finds them upon her return.

Without answering her, I take a step forward and pause again. It's almost like something's holding me back, which is a strange feeling in and of itself because I never hesitate about things, I just act.

Nimu continues to press me for answers. "Joan, what's wrong?"

Blinking, I shake my head as if that'll straighten my hesitant thoughts.

I could just bolt right now, it'd be so easy...

But then my thoughts turn to the others. I had a mission to get on better terms with them- this will most definitely not help that cause- more importantly there's Dhisnaek. I just ran across my long-lost, didn't-even-know-he-existed, chill as fuck grandfather and the first thing I think about doing is ditching him?

Slapping both hands to my face, I let out a muffled groan as I try to rub the pressure away- a sure way to get pimples but who gives a crap about that out here?

After a second of careful thinking- I never expected to use those words to describe me- I drop my hands, heave a giant sigh, and turn away from the tracks right back in the direction we were traveling before.

I'm having one of the humane conscious moments again. Oh God, what am I becoming?

Not sure whether to blame it on the weather or what, but I keep on marching on as if nothing happened.

Nimu watches me for several long seconds, but finally, she asks what I'm sure was killing her to know.

"What was that about?"

Glancing at her, I shrug. "Just an enlightened moment."

Still frowning at me, I can sense she wants to say something else but she keeps quiet.

I'm trying to be a leader and dammit I'm sticking to my guns!

We go on for a bit longer until we spot something just beyond the foliage in our line-of-sight.

"Hey," I start, squinting into the near distance. "That looks like-"

"Lan," Nimu finishes.

As we get around the foliage, I'm better able to see him and Chasan and Dhisnaek right behind him. They haven't seemed to notice us yet as they're too busy peering over the edge of the chasm, down into the river, most likely looking for us.

Tapping Nimu on the arm to make her stop, I grin mischievously at her.

"We should sneak up behind them and scare the shit out of 'em."

But, of course, she has to be the voice of reason- a.k.a the boring one- and gives me a look of disapproval.

"And have one of them fall into the river? Not the brightest idea."

"Fine," I grumble.

So we go about it the "normal" way and make our presence known before catching them by surprise.

There's a variety of reaction between the three of them upon our arrival, though there is a common underlining sense of relief to see us safe. Lan is the most expressive of the three and goes to give Nimu a crushing hug as he rambles on about her almost dying. For me, he smiles brightly and shakes his head in amazement.

"That was pretty bold what you did, going in to help save Nimu."

I shrug nonchalantly. "Well, you know, being a superhero's kinda my part-time gig."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Nimu giving me a look.

"But you know," I add. "Nimu did save my ass as well so it's all fair."

"I'm so relieved you're safe," He breathes.

Chasan's reaction is more or less how one would expect Sir Douche to act.

"You don't ever think things through fully, do you?"

"If I didn't act first think second, you would be at the bottom of the sea right now," I curtly reply.

Surprisingly, Nimu comes to my defense on this one. "For once, her careless thinking resulted in a positive outcome."

I wanted to stick my tongue out like a little kid, but I show self-restraint and settle for a smug beam instead.

Dhisnaek's sorta the last to react to this scene. I don't know if it's 'cause he's older or whatever, but he finally catches up to the situation by placing a hand on my shoulder and giving me a relieved look.

"I never would have expected you to be the sporadic type, but I'm learning new things about you every day."

Grinning back at him, I shrug. "Eh, I'm a mystery/thriller novel, what can I say?"

All things considered, it could have been a lot worse. At least we'll still in one piece and back as a group again, now all I need to do is find those-

"Your head."

I frown at Dhisnaek. "What?"

He frowns back, staring at a specific spot on my head.

"Your head is bleeding."

Oh, yeah, that.

I attempt to brush it off.

"It's just a small thing of blood, I'm fine."

But like Nimu, he feels the need to fret over a thin trickle and jumps into action, asking for a cloth or anything he could use to wipe away the blood. While I fight back an eye roll, Lan steps closer to take a look at my minor scratch.

"What happened?" He asks with concern.

"Nothing, just a little banger in the water, I'll be fine. Now let's get-"

"Hold still," Dhisnaek applies light pressure to my injured temple with a handkerchief he pulled out.

Now I can't help but sigh in annoyance. Usually, I live for the attention, especially when I'm injured, but right now is not the time to be worrying over me about some stupid bump.

Swatting the cloth away, I step out of reach.

"I'm fine, I'm good. Now there are only 24 hours in a day, and God only knows how many hours of daylight, so let's forget about me and get a move on."

Though a bit taken back by my annoyance, he pulls back and nods.

"If you insist."

Right on cue, the footprints reappear to lead us to the madman who set me on this journey in the first place. So without further delay, we pick back up where we left off.

°°°

By midday, the sun, though blocked by the trees, is beating down on us mercilessly- factor in the regular stickiness of the jungle and you have a recipe for a cranky team and an uncomfortable journey.

"I think we ought to take a quick break," Lan suggests, pausing to lean against a tree. "Just a brief one."

"That sounds reasonable," Nimu agreed, wiping her glistening brow.

Though everything in me wants to tell them to stop being pussies and to push on, I haven't been feeling so hot either so I agree and we find a nice shelter of oversized leaves that protect us from the heat, though not as much the humidity.

Even before noon struck I've been uncomfortable, and I mean more than usual. It's like someone's set the brightness to 100 and it's giving me a killer headache. I've tried shielding my eyes and squinting, but it's still like having your phone on the brightest setting in a dark room. On top of that, add the humidity and a limited water supply, and my head is feeling like someone stuck cotton balls in there.

Sitting down, I hope that being at rest will improve my current situation because this headache isn't dying down.

As I rub my forehead, I stop as Nimu sits down next to me.

"What's up?" I ask. Usually people try to avoid sitting next to me unless something's up.

"How are you feeling?" She asks.

It's like she read my mind- or maybe she just happened to glance over and noticed how uncomfortable I am.

"Fine. Why?"

"No reason."

We go back to silence for only a moment before she brings up what she actually came over for.

"Can I see the pieces you have so far?"

Giving her a sideways glance, I mentally judge whether or not to pull them out.

"Whatcha need them for?"

"I want to see something," She explains patiently.

Finally, I sigh and pull all three golden pieces out, handing them to her before closing my eyes to gain some relief from the brightness.

I can hear her mumbling to herself, playing with the pieces as she talks softly to herself. I kind of don't want the other three to see the pieces because then questions would start popping up and I don't feel like being a broken record while trying to dance around the clauses given to me.

Even with my eyes closed, I can still see blotches of color flashing behind my eyelids matched with an acute throbbing sensation of my eyelids themselves. Not to mention, that headache of mine is gradually getting worse- it might be brought on by this heat.

Nimu's tap on my shoulder distracts me from the pain briefly as I crack open one eye to look at her- the brightness from that narrow opening irritating me further.

"Yeah?"

She frowns at me. "What's wrong? You've been acting strange."

I know in order to avoid questioning I have to open both eyes and act like nothing's wrong, even if it feels like my eyes are burning out of their sockets.

"Nothing. What's up?"

I don't like how she's studying me so intensely like she's trying to see through my bullshittery, so I try and look down. When I do, though, I notice the pieces in her hand are no longer separated but fitted together like pieces to a puzzle.

"How'd you do that?" I ask, keeping my voice low even though I'm surprised.

Holding it out for me, I study it while she casually explains.

"They seemed like they belonged together so I tried fitting them with one another. It seems they do connect."

She makes it sound so obvious, but I would never have thought of that.

"They seem to fit perfectly with each other but I still can't figure out what it's supposed to be," She finishes, staring at it curiously.

Though they are pieced together, it is still a mystery about what it's supposed to be. It's like one big, nearly completed loop- that's the best way I can describe it right now. It's a nice looking loop but its purpose is still unknown.

"There must be more pieces to attach," She says. "That means there are probably more out there."

Which means more problems to face...

Finally, it's too much for me to bear. The light is killing me- not to mention the gleam of the metal is practically blinding. I don't care who sees me, I squeeze both eyes shut, trying to block out the sunlight as well as the colorful burst behind my eyelids, but that headache is still there, as persistent as a racing heartbeat getting louder and louder with each thud.

I can hear Nimu talking to me, but I can't make out any of her words, it's like listening to someone try to speak underwater. Even though I can't hear her fully, I know she's probably asking if I'm alright, and in an effort to get my attention she touches my shoulder, but I knock her hand off.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I say, my voice sounding distant and foreign to me.

Now I can hear more muffled voice approaching. One of them sounds like Lan, the other like Dhisnaek's.

I'm really not in the mood for any more setbacks so I try brushing this off though it feels like my head is being screwed on so tight it's about to explode.

Forcing my eyes open once again, I'm greeted to a nearly whiteout, blurry scene before me. I can make out the blurry silhouettes of my group, but the moment I try to step forward I immediately regret the decision.

I can't even stop myself from falling forward, despite it feeling like being in slow-mo. Everything on me aches, especially my head (hell, even my eyeballs burn). Gritting my teeth, I try gaining control of the situation, pulling away from the hands trying to help me off the ground. I want to say I'm fine, but it's like my brain and mouth aren't talking to one another.

Achy, in pain, and uncomfortable as hell, my body finally throws in the towel and with that I'm out.