Luna studied every inch of Rocco's face, momentarily forgetting how to breath when she looked into his blue eyes. "Dámn, you're hot."

Rocco chuckled at this, showcasing his dazzling smile once more. "Thanks, Dimples."

"Dimples", questioned Luna, her eyebrows raised slightly. "It's Luna but... I'll take it."

A shorter, more stern looking boy grabbed Rocco hastily. "Run now, flirt later!"

A puzzled Rocco looked up and saw a humongous Malumeq, its tongue already flying out, ready to attack.

Rocco grabbed a stunned Luna and they ran as fast as they could, nearly hurtling into the others, who had also started running.

Backed up against a tree, and nowhere else to go, everyone braced themselves for the pain they were about to experience.

A squelching sound startled them and when they opened their eyes, they saw an impaled Malumeq flailing around as it finally gave in to its wounds and fell to the ground with a deafening thud.

A much older man, probably much closer to Aurelie's age than Drea's, pulled the spear from out of the Malumeq's chest and dropped it to the ground. "Dámn that freaky horse. I just cleaned that spear."

Rocco grinned. "Aw, nice one, Glenn!"

Glenn just scowled. "You're cleanin' it today, kid."

Aurelie stepped forward. "Thank you, kind Sir. I am forever in your debt and I thank you for protecting us all. What can I do to repay you?"

Glenn opened his mouth, but a woman with light brown hair streaked with some smaller braids, placed a hand on his shoulder. "That won't be necessary. We were just passing through. You aren't the rebels looking to reverse the Tapestry law, are you?"

Aurelie seemed delighted to reveal all, but Drea stepped closer to them. "Why do you want to know?"

The woman chuckled. "Ah, sorry. I forget that most people don't challenge the law. I'm Deidre. These are my fellow rebels Glenn, Rocco and that grumpy one is Echo."

Echo rolled his eyes as Rocco laughed.

"We were actually hoping to help you on your quest. We've been working for years to reverse the law, but there's not much 4 nobodies can do", continued Deidre.

Drea's face softened. She turned to Aurelie, whose expression seemed to tell her everything without saying anything at all. "You can join us then. Aurelie's fine with it so... yeah. Welcome to... this", said Drea.

Deidre smiled brightly. "Oh, wonderful! Thank you so much. Truly."

"Marzi, get our new friends some food please", said Aurelie, to a rebel around Drea's age.

As the others calmed down from literally witnessing the murder of a giant horse with a snake like tongue and multiplying legs, however they managed to do that, some other rebels got to work disposing of it.

"That one was massive!", exclaimed Gigi. "I've never seen one that big before."

"Wait, you've seen them before?", questioned Shelley.

Gigi nodded. "Yeah. Where we live", she said, turning to Maaria. "Right, Maaria?"

Maaria nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Atleast 3 times a week."

Shelley's eyes widened. "Wow. That's crazy."

Gigi furrowed her eyebrows. "Why? What kind of creatures do you have lurking around in your area?"

"Termes", said Shelley. "They're like crows. But bigger and more deadly. They feed on wood and never leave a job unfinished", explained Shelley.

"We've had to chop down so many of our tree stumps to stop them from coming back", said Mikhail.

SJ nodded. "You've got scars from that attack last month, haven't you, Mikhail?"

Mikhail nodded. "They look cool though."

Holly grinned. "Love that positivity", she said. "We don't get any Termes or Malumeq's in our area. We know what they are but we just don't get them. Our crops don't grow at all in February."

"Really? Termes are bad but... no crops? How do you distribute food to the outlying sectors near you?", asked Shelley.

"We give them what we can and then hope our parents have food left over to take on the days we can visit them", replied Lyndi.

Duke frowned. "Compared to that, I'd take a Malumheck any day."

"Oh honey, it's not-", started Holly, before stopping when Lyndi shook her head.

Audrey listened intently, fascinated by the creatures that existed. She was confused as to why Lyndi signalled to Holly not to speak, or why everyone seemed a little sad. Sure those things didn't seem fun but it's not like they're dead, right?

Audrey noticed Luna getting up. "Oh, did you want to go somewhere?"

Luna nodded. "Yeah."

"Cool, let me just get my-"

"-No, uh, not with... I'm going to see if Rocco wants any more food", said Luna.

"Oh!", said Audrey. "Ok uh, yeah... ok. Cool."

Luna stood up and made her way over to Rocco, her eyes lighting up when he smiled at her.

Audrey frowned and picked at the log she was sitting on.

Noah sat down beside her, ignoring her groan. "Hey. I get I'm not as fun as Luna. But I'm still your group mate."

"You don't even like the group system", said Audrey. "To be honest, I'm surprised someone as 'vanilla' as you had the balls to join this quest."

"Say how you really feel", said Noah. "I just want to make a change, ok? It doesn't mean I don't want you guys around. There's a lot about me you don't know."

"Exactly! You choose to keep things from us. Just think how exciting life would be if you just opened up?"

Noah stayed silent for a moment. "Maybe you should take your own advice."

Before Audrey could respond, Drea approached them. "Aurelie needs help getting more logs for the fire. Are either of you down to go with him?"

"I will", said Noah. He stood up, but turned to face Audrey. "Boring or not, I'm still here for you."

Glenn grumbled an insult at a young rebel who accidentally bumped into him. "Watch where you're going you pubescent clutz!"

Deidre placed a hand on Glenn's shoulder once more. "Reign it in, ok? They're being really kind to us."

"They're being really clumsy", responded Glenn. "And look over there! Rocco's been here 5 minutes and he's already flirting with that one!"

Echo sighed. "I tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen. You know how Rocco is."

"Ah, live a little guys! Let him have his fun", said Deidre. "You remember what that is, don't you Glenn?"

Glenn rolled his eyes. "You're only being cheeky because you know I don't mess with you."

"As if you could mess with anyone, Glenn! You did your back in the other day just picking up a log!", exclaimed Deidre.

Echo coughed in an attempt to suppress his laugh, but it failed. Deidre saw this and smiled, glad she made the usually grumpy boy smile.

"How you two are in a relationship together is beyond me", said Echo. "Still, you make it work."

"Everyone!", exclaimed Aurelie. "Get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, the quest continues."

"Why the héll is everyone so dámn dramatic around here?", asked Naomi.

"Says the one who had to be carried back here after breaking a stiletto", said Gigi.

"Hey!", exclaimed Holly. "You will address the stiletto with respect, ok? Madame Stillette", joked Holly, doing her best to seem serious.

After a long moment of silence, Gigi burst out laughing, along with several others.

-

Hi!

It's really late here but I wanted to get this update out.

What are your thoughts on this chapter?

5 points to anyone who can tell me who Deidre is?

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