I thought for a second I had woken up myself when I realized it was because of the hushed talking coming from the direction of the door. I wearily sat up on my arms, accidentally knocking Peri off my stomach. He rolled slightly and fell off the cot before suddenly waking up on the floor in a blustered mess.

I giggled at him quietly while he tried to reorient himself, then I realized something. "Hey, where's Matri?"

    Peri groggily peered at me, then glanced around, alarmed. "He must of left, I guess. Weird."

"-you seen Craig then? Is he here?" Neve's voice trailed in, raised.

"Yes, but if you're intending to hurt him- hey!" My mom screeched angrily.

Neve suddenly appeared in front of me, fuming slightly, her eyes widened in surprise again. "Have you seen him?"

I knew immediately she was talking about Felix. "No, I d-don't know where he is."

She looked like she want to punch me, but then kinda just...crumpled. She leaned against a wall and let out a dry sob.

Everyone else was pretty much awake now as I spotted Oratio creeping sneakily around the edges of the room.

"Neve!" My mom said angrily. "You can't just barge in whenever you want."

"I don't know what to do anymore Lily." She admitted, sounding defeated.

My mom, her name is Lily, gave her a sympathetic look and pulled her up a chair. She sat down and my mom put a kettle on the fire. My mom's pretty good with that feel-good tea.

I sat down next to her, hoping she was chill now and wouldn't spontaneously attack me.

"Uh...how's the arrow wound?" I asked, trying to make small talk and mentally sweating.

Neve gave me a weird look. "What...?"

I took that as a good sign. "Uh, er, nevermind."

"Craig and his friends actually had some ideas as to where he went." My mom said, pulling out out her tea leaves and beginning the brewing.

Neve looked at me hopefully and Ryan took that moment to appear from behind our little tea counter.

"The apothecary you brought here to take care of Felix is our main suspect." Ryan explained, dragging a bleary Eryan up with her.

Neve blinked. "Who are you?"

"My sister." I added. "And a friend."

"She has a snake familiar, and it just so happen we were chased through the jungle by a similar snake just yesterday." Ryan continued. "I have heard from very reliable resources it was the same familiar."

    Lucy, from her shoulder, nodded earnestly.

    Neve looked like she was struggling with a mix of horror and disbelief. "Apophis? Why would she...?"

    "We don't know." I interrupted the two of them before Ryan could launch into her conspiracy theory. "It's all just guesses."

    "Anyway..." Eryan said, rubbing her eyes. "Good morning everyone."

    "Good morning." My mom answered happily. "Did everyone sleep well?"

    "Yep, you have a very comfy house." Ryan commented.

I frowned. "Where did she come from? That lady?"

Neve looked uncomfortable. "She said up North, near Zestos."

"Don't you think it's weird for someone with a snake familiar to live in the cold?"

Neve blinked. "You're right. You know, I think I'm gonna go talk to her..."

"Can I come?" I asked, standing up.

"Weren't you guys just saying she was super dangerous?" My mom pointed out.

"It's Felix mom, Felix!" I said, disappearing out the door behind Neve.

"Me too!" Eryan said. "Someone has to protect you."

Ryan shot up. "Excuse me."

She stared at Lily's confused face a bit before giving her a thumbs up and running out the door.

"I lended her one of the spare huts." Neve explained with her team of teens following behind her as she lead the way.

She opened the door and looked inside. I peered over her shoulder and looked in.

"I don't understand." Neve gasped.

The room was completely empty. The cot was clean of blankets or furs. It looked like there had been a fire lit at one point, but it had been extinguished.

"I told you!" Ryan screeched, pointing at everything.

"That...that subordinate little..." Neve muttered, hands balling up into fists. "I'm going to hunt her down and make her suffer."

She stormed out towards her hut. I was about to follow her to see where she went when Peri suddenly buzzed by and landed on my shoulder.

"Hey Craig, Craig. Stop for a second and listen to me." He said, and bit my ear.

"Hey!' I said, taking Peri onto my hand and away from my throbbing ear. "What?"

"I'm just saying we made it back to your home, right? Do we really need to go-"

"What are you saying?" I interrupted him, frowning. "We still have to go, Felix is my best friend Peri. He's just been kidnapped or something!"

Peri winced. "I know I know. I'm just. I'm worried about you kid."

"We'll be fine." I told him stubbornly.

"Well in that case, you should probably leave as soon as possible." Peri informed slowly. "I have some suspicions, that I'm not going to tell you about in case I'm wrong," He said hurriedly, "but if I'm right, we need to go immediately."

"Oh, okay. Like, tomorrow morning soon or like right now soon?" I asked, wondering what that meant.

Peri pursed his beak. "I mean like, right now would be great. I don't know everything I just know time is of the essence."

"What's he saying?" Eryan asked, staring at us.

"He's think he might know what happened to Felix but he's not going to tell me in case he's wrong but if he's right we should leave, like right now." I explained.

"Well let's go then." Ryan shrugged, getting ready to walk out.

"Wait wait." I stopped her. "We can't just leave, we need to get like, supplies and stuff, my mom-"

    Ryan threw a bag at me and I discovered it was full of various dried meat and fruit.

    "Where did you-?"

    "Bought it last night. You were asleep. On another note I'm officially broke."

    "We can stop at my place for more stuff, it's kinda on the way." Eryan added. "We can get you guys some proper weapons."

    "That sounds good." Peri agreed. "I say we listen to this one."

    I panicked slightly. "But...my mom. I just got back."

    "It's not like your never going to see her again. Felix on the other hand..." Peri pointed out.

    "You're right, you're right." I realized. "You guys go on, I'll catch up with you."

    I ran back to my hut real quick and ducked in to see my mom was cleaning up the tea mugs and looked like she was preparing to go out and hunt.

    "Hey." She looked up when we walked in. "Are you and your new friends gonna go do some more clue hunting?"

    "Yeah..." I said slowly, not liking the taste the lies left on my tongue. "Are you going out?"

    "Yep, I figured I'd let you hang out without me getting in the way. It's been a while since me and Maude got out there." She said, slipping on some boots.

    I stood there nervously in the doorway for a few seconds before running forward and giving her a quick hug. She tensed, but then ruffled my host gently.

    "Hey buddy, glad to see you too." She laughed, but it was strained, like she maybe suspected something was up.

    I let go. "Okay, see you later!"

    "Alligator..." She replied quietly, but happily.

    I left before I had the chance to regret anything. I felt terrible, but I just remembered I would see her again, in the meantime, Felix needed me.

    I ran to catch up with the others.