Hugo pov

Varian was in his tent, doing whatever he does with his alchemy. Nuru was teaching Yong about all the constellations, so they were all distracted. I slipped into the forest, hoping no one had noticed me. I continued walking until I was in a clearing. I bumped into someone.

"You're late," she said. Donella was a stickler for rules and punctuality. If I was even a second late, she'd scold me. But  she praised me when I was early. It was weird. "Well, tell me what happened. How far have you gotten?"

"I, um, I'm sorry I'm late." She nodded. "We haven't really gotten very far, I mean, we only have, like, 3 totems! There are 7!" I explained. She looked unconvinced.

"Are you sure? It's been half a year already. You're less than halfway, Hugo. I expected more."

"Well, how about you try it with 3 people on your tail all the time!" That launched us into a fight.

Nuru POV

I had just tucked Yong into his little sleeping bag, he had fallen asleep while we were stargazing, and walked out of the tent when I heard someone fighting. Words, though. I ran toward the sound and hid in a bush. I didn't expect what I saw, and yet, somehow I did.

"Why do you even care so much about the totems!?" I heard Hugo yell.

"Because if they get them, they'll release her!!!" I heard someone yell. Donella. Who was she talking about?

"Who?!"

"ULLA!!!" She yelled. Wasn't that the name of Varian's mom?

"Goggles' mom? Why do you want her trapped?" My questions were correct.

"Because... she... I don't want to talk about it, ok?"

"If you won't tell me why you want me to spy on them, I quit." What? What did he mean by 'quit'?

"Excuse me? I raised you! You can't just quit!"

"Yes. I. Can."

"Why would you even want to!?"

"Because, like I said, you don't tell me anything! And... I don't want to break his heart."

"Whose?"

"Varian."

HE CALLED HIM BY HIS NAME IT'S SERIOUS OH NO