Three Spirits, a dragon and  bear collapsed onto the sandy shore, gasping for breath. 

"Never again," Hiccup said. 

"That last whale, though," said Jack.

The three of them started laughing, and rolled onto their backs, sand coating their fronts. Merida patted Björn's head. He had swam from the Antartica peninsula to this South American island. He must have been really, really worn out.

A local came onto the beach, fishing net in hand. He shouted something in Spanish, and Hiccup responded in the same language. 

"How many languages do you know?" asked Jack.

"I'm fluent in seventeen languages and passable in sixteen others."

Jack flopped to the sand. "How much time do you even have?"

"Well, I have been a Spirit for, oh, about twelve, thirteen hundred years. I got a lot of free time."

"Obviously," Jack mumbled.

The local, a sun-weathered middle-aged man approached the group of Spirits warily. He asked something, and Hiccup responded. The local fisherman eyed Björn and Toothless warily. 

Hiccup asked the fisherman something in Spanish, and the fisherman pointed in the direction that he had come in. Hiccup thanked the man in Spanish, then helped Merida and Jack up.

"Alejo says that the closest place to civilization is that way, but it'll take a couple of hours to get there. Oh, and he doesn't want to get killed by the 'big scary lizard and bear.'"

"More walking," Merida groaned. Holding her skirt above her ankles, she started walking.

* * *

The town was exactly where Alejo said that it would be. He just never said that there would be bodies in the streets, and that every building would be turned to dust.

"Gothel was here," Jack mumbled, feeding the dust through his fingers.

"Aye," said Merida, looking around. "Björn, would ye mind looking for survivors?"

"There won't be any," Hiccup mumbled. "It feels like  death here."

Merida knew that Hiccup was right, she just didn't want to admit it. But Björn still looked, sniffing the ground. 

Some of the dust moved, but there was no wind. Toothless approached the little pile, purring softly. His nose barely touched it, and a green frog-thing yelped. Toothless glanced back at Hiccup, and shrugged.

"Is that..." Jack said.

The little frog-thing bounded away, but Toothless pounced on it. 

"Toothless, be nice," Hiccup scolded. The large dragon looked at his rider, and shifted his paw so that the little green thing could breathe.

"Wait," Jack said. "Merida, do you remember that I told you that Rapunzel had a Spirit Chameleon?"

"Aye. Do ye think that that's it?"

"Well, she did talk about Pascal a couple of times."

The chameleon perked up at his name. "Pascal?"

Pascal started squeaking, and Toothless made some weird noises.

"What are they saying?" Jack asked Hiccup.

"I speak human  languages, not animal ones."

Jack huffed. Björn started sniffing the air. He started moaning, and Merida walked over to him, and put a hand on his head. She froze, sensing what he did. 

"It's a trap,"she said. "We need to get out of here, now!"

Before anyone could do anything, high-pitched, girly laughter filled the dust-filled valley.

"At least one of you is kind of smart! 'It's a trap!' Honestly, your battle senses are so boring."

"Show yourself," Jack said, brandishing his staff. 

"Um, no. Sorry to disappoint, but my mistress requests your presence. Let me introduce myself. I am the Mara."

Silence.

"The Mara? Little goblin thing that sits on  your chest as you sleep and makes it hard for you to breathe and turns dreams into nightmares?"

More silence. 

The Mara groaned, sounding like a teenage girl. "No one appreciates good, old-fashioned goblins anymore. Normally, I would do something to you, but none of you guys are asleep." She started humming.

"What song is that?" asked Merida.

"The Party Pooper song. D'ya wanna hear it?"

"Um--"

"Every party needs a pooper, that's why we invited you," the Mara sang to an upbeat tune. "Party pooooooper, party pooooooper." She stopped. "That's pretty much the whole song. It's fun at parties!"

"I will... take your word for it," Hiccup said. 

"Now do you guys really  wanna be party poopers, and not come along, 'cause you honestly seem like that kind of people..."

"Who said that we were party poopers?" said Jack angrily. "I am going to have very firm words with them. We are the exact opposite  from party poopers."

"Jack," Merida mumbled, "what are ye doing."

"Just go with it," he mumbled. He then continued in a louder voice. "We do any and all activities at parties! We are the very life and soul."

The Mara oohed. "Wow. I'm just... Wow. If you guys are lying..."

Jack held up his hands. "All right, that's fair. Name an activity."

The Mara thought for a moment. "Come with me. I have just  the thing."

* * * 

"I have a bad feeling about this," Hiccup said. 

"Shut up," Jack whispered. "The Mara doesn't seem exactly..."

"The type of person with a couple of screws loose?"

Jack nodded. It was hard following a disembodied voice, but the Mara left a rough trail of breadcrumbs to follow. Literally, breadcrumbs.

"Here we are! Just walk through the tunnel, until you faceplant a wall, then turn left. You should be there before a daybreak."

"A  daybreak?" Merida asked. 

"Yup. I really need to go now. Good luck!"

The Mara's presence left. 

"A daybreak. Really helpful."

"Hey, Merida, can you do something with fire?" Hiccup asked. "I mean, your Spirit title is the Spirit of Fire."

"Aye." Merida summoned a ball of fire above her hand. "I can give each of you one."

Jack backed away. "I'm good, thanks."

Merida shrugged. "Yer loss. Here." She put her hand under Hiccup's, and he was holding a ball of fire when she removed her hand. "Sharing fire is easier than creating it. Shall we?"

She entered the dark tunnel, her fire ball illuminating about three feet in front of her clearly.

Hiccup entered. "It's incredibly bright. How is it done?"

Merida shrugged. "I've always been able to do it. Are ye coming, Jack?"

Jack entered the cave, giving himself plenty of bearth between him and the fire. "Are ye scared of a little flame, Frost?"

"'I live in fear of the fire,' said the snow," Jack mumbled. "'Whenever it comes then it's time I must go. With its yellow lick flames leaping higher and higher, I live in fear of the fire.'"

"Poetry, Jack?" asked Hiccup.

"Hey, Shel Silverstien's cool, okay?"

"I will take your word for it."

Jack rolled his eyes, and they continued walking. 

A/N: The Mara is awesome, don't you agree? And I updated this on time, too! Today is a day full of good things, mostly because you read this. (Aren't I vain? xD)

And for all of you ladies, please check out who this is dedicated to, because she is writing the BEST girl-stuff book, and I looooove it.

Vote, comment, and happy reading!

~Allie