good-luck-cat

The sun was starting to rise by the time the four of them broke through the treeline and into an open green field. Despite everything, they'd made good time; none of them had wanted to stay in the forest a single minute longer than they had to. But they'd paid for it. Miriam looked dead on her feet, and Gavin's arm was swollen and starting to discolor despite the makeshift sling Howie had made for it. Hayley's legs shuddered under her with each step, her cuts and scratches twinging with each flex. Howie was in the best shape of any of them, and even he was starting to flag, the arm that held his Pokégear drooping down and his blinks turn

"We need to find a way back to the road." Howie's voice was high and strained, coming between rapid pants. They'd been running for what felt like hours, but they were no closer to getting out. In fact, the trees were becoming thicker and taller as they progressed, and the ground was growing wild with untamed vegetation. "They're trying to push us in. They want to trap us here." Hayley shook her head, her wet hair sticking against the sides of her face. The gash on her leg flared and burned with each step, dimmed only by the icy pounding of the rain. "How do we get out?" "I don't know." They skidded to a stop in the mud as another line of tree

"Do we really need to sleep in this creepy forest?" Hayley stifled a groan as she unclipped her rolled-up tent from her backpack. "Well, we haven't made it all the way through yet," (thanks to somebody who had to keep stopping for a break every fifteen minutes), "so yeah." "Can't we just keep going?" Miriam persisted. "I want to get back to a real city." "It's going to get dark soon," Hayley said. "We won't be able to see. Besides, it's another day of walking between the forest and Rustboro anyway." Miriam moaned and slumped against a tree, sinking to the ground. "This sucks. I can't sleep here. I can feel things looking at me." "Then go in y

Hayley's watch alarm woke her early the next morning. She sat up, yawned, and started to stretch, but the movement was cut short as she felt an angry pull and sting across the skin on the back of her neck. She groaned—sunburn. She'd been sure to slather on plenty of sunscreen before leaving yesterday, but she must have sweated it off. Her pale skin had always burned far too easily. After a bit of probing, she found that patches of skin across her nose and cheeks had also grown pink and stiff, but that seemed to be the extent of it. She sighed as she reached into her bag for her sunscreen and squeezed a dollop into her hands, applying it

"I'm going to miss you so much!" Hayley gave a small hurk as Connie pulled her into a tight hug, crushing her windpipe with her shoulder. "I can't believe we aren't doing this together! It's so unfair!" Hayley wriggled out of Connie's grasp before she could choke, her face flushed from near-suffocation. How the heck was she so strong? "It's okay for three months," she said, rubbing her neck. "That's not much longer than summer camp. It won't be so bad." "Yeah, except you're stuck with Miri and I'm stuck with Clarissa." Connie pointed her finger down her throat in a "gag me" motion, before quickly glancing behind her to make sure Clarissa and

The next morning, Connie went home to prepare for their graduation, saying something about needing to find shoes that matched their gowns—Hayley had never understood much about fashion and didn't bother asking her to elaborate. After repacking her tent and showering, Hayley found herself once again with too much time on her hands. She checked her supplies for a seventh time, made herself Pecha berry waffles, and then went back to scouring the net for articles about the Magby family. It felt like she'd already read every last one, but she pored through each of them again, just in case there was something she'd missed. It was kind of weir

Connie wasn't at school the next day, but she didn't let that stop her from talking Hayley's ear off. Bzzt! "this minun just nuzzled my leg! aaaaaaaaaa!" Bzzt! "have you ever seen a spoink up close they are SO SO bouncy" Bzzt! "VULPIX BABIES!" Bzzt! "omg hayley this budew I can't even" Hayley's phone buzzed all through rehearsal like an angry Beedrill, threatening to vibrate right out of her pocket with the force of Connie's text messages. Normally she would have worried about a teacher seeing and confiscating her phone, but all the adults had their hands full trying to keep the chaos of excited students from boiling over into a small riot,

It stood on two legs like a human, but with a tapered tail, beaked snout, and odd puffy head that set it decidedly apart. It was covered in smooth red scales everywhere except for its yellow snout and a bare patch on its stomach. And it was short, standing not much taller than her knee, but it met her gaze proudly with its slitted yellow eyes, head upturned to stare straight at her. It looked kind of funny, she thought; somewhere between a duck and a lizard. The two of them stared at each other, frozen in time, until it finally folded its arms, cocked its head, and shot a puff of shimmering embers towards the floor. The embers disappeared int

Hayley had barely pulled her shoes clear of the locker when the metal door slammed shut with a clang! "I changed my mind." Hayley looked over to see Connie's flushed, beaming face. Her eyes were shining behind her red-rimmed glasses and her normally sleek black hair was in disarray from her sprinting. She pulled her hand back from the locker and thrust a rumpled sheet of paper towards Hayley. "So, I know I said I really really wanted to start with a Pichu, but—look!" Hayley took the paper from her and looked it over, squinting slightly. It was a black-and-white printout of a round, blubbery seal with stubby paws and enormous eyes. "What

Nilanwe's toes pressed against the first of the stone steps leading up to the tomb. The locals called it "Shroud Hearth Barrow," and there was nothing special about it, but her heart hammered like she was facing down Alduin's maw. The wind that blew from the south, carrying with it the moisture and scent of vegetation from the lake, emitted a keening whine as it passed through the corridors and crevices of the barrow. Was it an omen? Or had it always sounded so unearthly, and she was only now noticing it? "Are you coming?" She chewed the inside of her lip as Etienne's voice reached her. "They're only stairs, you know. We just came down seven