After giving the three of them really helpful instructions—"Go get the Water of Life or get out of my sight"—from Merlin, he left them alone in the throne room. They stood together, looking at each other silently. Finally, Martin broke the silence. "What Story is the Water of Life from?"

"It's called the Water of Life Story," Mimi said. "The water supposedly could heal anyone and even restore the petrified. I'm not entirely comfortable with placing such a weapon in Merlin's hands."

"But you promised him," Philip reminded her. "And you swore that oath on the River Styx. You're stuck with him, and if we don't give him the Water of Life, we're in hot water."

"Philip's right," Martin agreed. "Like it or not, like him or not, we have to deliver the water to him because of your oaths."

Mimi sighed. "Unless we abandon him for good reason, I'm afraid you're right," she said. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have sworn those oaths."

"Don't worry about it," Philip said. "He didn't exactly leave you with much of a choice. It was my fault you got put into that position, anyway. So, how do we get the Water of Life?"

"We follow The Story's path," Mimi said, looking like it killed her to say that. "Instead of those who are supposed to." She looked at them accusingly. "Honestly, don't you two read?"

"I read," Philip said, holding his hands up innocently. "I just haven't read that one. You're going to have to be our guide for that."

Mimi nodded slowly. "Before we go, let me warn you that no matter what you do, do not turn around. Just keep your eyes straight ahead, and we'll be fine. Get it?"

Philip and Martin shared mildly concerned glances before nodding in synch. "Sounds good," Philip said. "I can keep looking straight ahead. It's no big deal."

Mimi gave him a piercing look. "Remember that when we get there," she said, and held out her hand. A Story door appeared in front of them. "Shall we go?"

. . . . . . . . . .

The Story door opened to a strange looking place on the edge of a bright forest, mountains ahead of them. Philip cocked his head at the sheer beauty of the area. "This place is amazing," he commented.

"The Water of Life grows the trees and freshens the air," Mimi answered. "That's what you're feeling. Stay alert; don't let it distract you from your task. Do you remember what you promised me?"

"Not to look behind us, I know," Philip said. Martin nodded, tugging on the sleeve of his too-large robes. "I guess we won't gain much from standing around, huh? Let's go."

The three of them set off down the path. It didn't take them very long to reach the foot of the mountain, leaving the forest behind them. Philip could see his breath, and they weren't even very high up yet. "We should probably put on warmer clothes," he advised the other two.

For some reason, Martin blushed. "I'm not ... very good at changing my clothes," he admitted. All Guardians possessed the magic to change their clothes and match their environments, but it seemed that wasn't Martin's specialty.

Philip scratched his head. "I, umm, don't really know what to say about that," he admitted. Then he removed his leather coat and handed it to Martin. "Here. Hold that. Ready, Mimi?"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" Mimi said, frowning, but she closed her eyes. Philip mirrored the action and together, their clothes morphed and changed. Soon, Mimi was wearing a bulky, wool cloak over her long sleeved tunic, and Philip had the same. He took off the cloak and handed it to Martin, instead taking back his coat.

Martin eyed the length of the cloak warily. "Philip, you are about two heads taller than me," he pointed out.

Sighing, Philip took the cloak from Martin and cut off six inches at the bottom. This time, he threw it at Martin. "Put it on and get over it," he ordered. "We've got water to retrieve."

"Question," Martin said as he pulled on the still-too-big cloak. "We do have something to carry the water in ... right?"

Philip would have slapped his forehead if it wouldn't have made him look like a total idiot. How could he have forgotten to get something to put the water in? Whoops.

Mimi held up a cup. "He didn't specify the amount," she said with a sly smile.

Philip wanted to throw his arms around her. Instead, he said, "You, Mimi, are a genius."

"Oh, hush," Mimi said. "I'm not the genius. You two are just the idiots. Now, come on." She took a step on the path.

The ground trembled beneath them, and Martin tumbled backwards. Philip grabbed the side of the mountain to support himself, and his jaw dropped as a grey hand wrapped around Mimi's waist and lifted her, kicking and yelling, into the air. "Mimi!" Philip shouted, looking to see what held her. Then a second hand wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his side, and lifted him up into the air as well. "Hey, let me go!"

Martin was on the ground, his mouth hanging open as he looked up at them. Philip squirmed until he could see the face of his captor. It was a twenty-or-so-foot tall troll, with grey skin and warts on both his face and hands. He held Philip closer to his face and sniffed, his nostrils probably big enough for Philip to fit into. Philip grimaced; that wasn't exactly a thought that he enjoyed. "What you here for?" the troll asked, and Philip tried not to look at the remains of his past meals in his rotted teeth.

Philip coughed at the rancid breath coming from the troll's mouth. Unable to come up with any sort of response, he was eternally grateful that Mimi spoke up. "We've come for the Water of Life," she said.

The troll turned to her, lowering Philip a little. Philip wished that the troll would loosen his grasp a little more. It was starting to make his ribs ache. "You want water?" the troll asked. "Why?"

"We are getting the water for the good of The Story," Mimi replied. "If you have a problem with that, then bite off my head."

Since the troll didn't bite off Mimi's head, Philip assumed he was alright with it. Still, he didn't let them go, and that made him nervous. "You Guardians," the troll said.

"Yes, we're Guardians," Mimi began.

"But we've turned against them," Philip added hastily. The troll's voice had a hint of disdain to it when he talked about the Guardians. "We're trying to change it so people of The Story can be in control of their own fates."

The troll held up Philip again, looking him directly in the eye. A strange film covered one of the troll's eyes, weeping grey tears. Philip guessed that he was blind in that eye. "You try and change?" he asked.

Philip nodded, Mimi mirroring the action. A glance down showed Martin still staring up at them, looking extremely concerned. Even with magic, there must not have been anything he could have done. Or he just couldn't think of anything. Philip wasn't entirely sure about Martin's ability to think sometimes. The troll was still considering Philip, probably wondering if he would taste good or not.

Without warning, the troll bent down and set Mimi and Philip back on the path. "You go get water," he told them. "You bring water back. And you help Story."

Philip and Mimi nodded in synch. "Thank you," Mimi added.

The troll smiled, and Philip winced again at the sight of his teeth. "If you lying, I kill you," he warned them.

"We're not," Philip assured him. "Don't worry about that. We wouldn't dream of lying to a troll."

The troll nodded and drew back, looking as if he were a part of the mountain when he sat down. It was no wonder they hadn't seen him coming. Martin squirmed as Philip looked at him. "I'm sorry," he burst out. "If I could have done something, I would've. But I didn't want to get torn apart by that thing ..."

"So you decided to let us get torn apart instead?" Philip said.

"Th-that ..." Martin shifted uncomfortably. "Of course not. I would've stepped in if he started eating you."

"You know what?" Philip said. "Let's get that water, before I lose my confidence in you completely. Ready, Mimi?"

Mimi nodded and went first. Philip followed close behind her, and Martin was only a pace or two back. The mountain's path wasn't too steep, but the stones littering the path made it a little unsteady. As they got further up the mountain, barely breaking a sweat, Philip started to notice figures on the sides of the path. "Mimi ... what are those?"

She didn't look back. "Keep your eyes forward," she ordered. "Remember what you promised me!"

Philip kept his eyes on Mimi's back. "Is that what happens when we look back?"

"You haven't even had the half of it yet," Mimi admitted. "Please, just keep looking at me."

It was when they were about three quarters up the slight path to the top of the mountain that Philip heard it. Voices were jeering at them, laughing and mocking without words. The very sound of it sent chills up and down his spine. "What is that?" he asked.

"It sounds like it's coming from behind us," Martin said, speaking for the first time.

"Martin, don't!" Mimi yelled, too late. Philip knew without turning around that Martin had looked back. There was a strange crunching sound, and Philip grimaced.

"Mimi—"

"Take three steps back. Without looking behind you," Mimi ordered.

Philip prepared to do so, but found that he couldn't. "Mimi ..."

"Take my hands," Mimi said. "And just keep looking at them. Please." She reached behind her, flexing her fingers.

Hesitating, Philip reached forward and put his hands into hers. She gave his hands a squeeze, but her voice was all business. "Three steps back. One ... two ... three."

Once they had taken the allotted steps, Philip had a better look of what had happened to Martin. The young Guardian had been turned to stone, his neck craned as he looked back, an expression of fearful apprehension marring his features, perfectly rendered into the stone. "Mimi, how could this happen?"

"This is what happens if you look back," Mimi answered, her voice soft. "The water reverses it, but if we both look back, we'll have to wait for The Story to take its natural course, and we'd lose the chance of getting the water for ourselves."

"So if we don't look back, and get the water, we can turn Martin back into a human?" Philip said. He didn't know why he wanted Martin back so badly; he'd just been reflecting on his lack of brains. Yet he found that, without Martin, he felt funny. Almost ... like he'd lost a part of him. Maybe the boy had grown on him more than he'd thought.

Mimi nodded. "We have to. I don't like the boy, but we brought him here. This is our fault. Are you ready to go on? And listen to me, whatever you do, don't listen to those voices. Just keep going. Please. Promise me; promise yourself."

"I promise," Philip said. "I won't do anything stupid. For Martin ... let's go on."

Still holding on to Mimi's hands, Philip followed her past the statue of Martin and they kept going. The voices were getting harder to ignore as they scrambled up the stony path, which was getting harder to traverse. Little rocks that may or may not have been former adventurers going for the water littered the path, tripping them and sending them sliding back down several times. The whole time, Philip kept his gaze on Mimi's hands, trying not to think about what would happen if he did look back. Mostly, he focused on the fact that Mimi would break his statue into a million pieces if he looked back.

At long last, they made it to the top. Mimi pulled Philip up behind her and they stood on a strangely-flat peak with a waterfall of clean water forming a pond in the middle. Trees grew amidst the green grass, and flowers cropped up in random spots that never seemed untidy. The air felt like a perfect spring day, not like the freezing cold Philip had been expecting.

Reclining against a tree was an unexpected figure. It took Philip a moment to recognize Chinese Guardian, Lu, his butterfly swords held firmly in his hands. They were as long as the tall, thin Guardian's forearms, with a guard on the hilt to prevent the weapons from being knocked from his hands. He tossed his neatly-cut black hair out of his black eyes and smiled. "Ni hao, Philip, Miriam. Have you come for the Water of Life?"

Philip stepped forward, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade. "Yes. I don't want to fight you, Lu. We'll just take it and leave."

"Oh, really?" Lu's thin eyebrows shot up. "Is that what you think? Unlike you, I will not abandon the Guardians."

"Abandon them?" Mimi flinched. "I ... I didn't. To be completely honest, Philip dragged me here."

"Ohh, so it's Philip's fault, hm?" Lu said. "Good try, Miriam. A very good try. You have come for the water, yes. Now ... you must fight me to get it." He stepped forward, holding both his blades, one above his shoulder, the other at his side. "Are you prepared, Philip Andric?"

"Yeah," Philip said, drawing his sword. "Let's do this, Lu. For the record, I don't want to hurt you. But you're forcing my hand."

Lu smirked. "I am the best at my style of sword fighting, Philip. You will not beat me so easily."

"Don't get overconfident, Lu," Philip warned him. "Let's do this thing."

Predictably, Lu made the first move. Unpredictably, he was wickedly fast. His right blade struck Philip's guard, knocking his sword out of the way for his left to follow up and cut Philip across the chest. The strike drew blood and sent some doubt through Philip. He'd never been a master of the blade like Lu, whose abilities were renowned throughout the Guardians. Philip's time was better spent in trying to decide how to tease the Guardians by changing things.

The blood stung Philip as it slid down his torso. His shirt flapped in the breeze where the sword had cut it, and it sent a shiver down his spine. A little more and Lu would have won in a single stroke. That didn't exactly give Philip much faith in his own swordsmanship. Mimi backed up, moving out of their way. Being unarmed, there was nothing she could do to help, anyway.

"You need to work on your skills," Lu commented, backing up and holding his swords in that annoying position again. It was like he was taunting Philip, just from the way he was standing.

"Yeah?" Philip said. "I do, actually." He dove out of the way of Lu's next strike, kicking the back of the Guardian's knee as he went down. Lu collapsed and Philip dove into the Water of Life. Immediately, his wound sealed up and he felt refreshed, emerging from the pond soaking wet.

Lu stood, no longer smirking or taunting. "So," he said. "You have some tactics after all. Good. I would hate to destroy a weakling."

Not falling for his taunts this time, Philip stayed with one foot in the water. It seemed to fill his body with energy, and he was starting to get why it was so coveted by Merlin. Just touching it made him feel more awake and ready to face a man with ten times more skill than he had. Even if he was probably going to die doing it. "Alright, buddy. Enough chitchat. Fight me," Philip said.

"Shi," Lu agreed, and jumped at him.

Philip rolled backwards, somehow not drowning in the process. Water sprayed everywhere as Lu landed where he had been only moments before. The Guardian's sword caught in the bottom of the pond and stuck. He tugged on it, ignoring Philip for a brief moment. Without thinking, Philip lunged forward, stabbing with his sword. He thought that Lu would use his second butterfly sword to defend himself. The Guardian's feet were firmly on dry land, untouched by the water, when Philip's sword pierced his chest and went through.

Philip stood there, unable to come to terms with what he'd done as Lu sagged, held up only by the sword through him. "I ... I didn't," Philip stammered, finally pulling back. His sword came free and Lu collapsed.

Mimi stood apart from Philip, staring at him. "Philip, you killed him," she said dumbly.

Philip stared at his bloodied sword, then at Lu's corpse. They had been passing acquaintances, not friends, but not strangers either. And Philip had blindly killed him. Why had he done it? Couldn't he have just knocked him out and stolen the water? Why hadn't Lu raised his blade?

Philip let his sword drop from his fingers. He didn't want it anymore. "Get the water," he said.

"Philip—"

"Miriam, get the water," Philip repeated. "You want to save Martin, don't you? Get the water."

As Mimi scooped water into the cup and hurried back down to the path, Philip picked up Lu's swords and started hacking at the ground with them. No longer did the grass and atmosphere seem beautiful; it was where Philip had become a murderer.

The least he could do was give Lu a proper burial.