Sharp picked her breakfast out of her teeth with a toothpick. “I don’t see the big deal. This means his power is much stronger now, not to mention more useful.”
This was all it took to change Piranha’s mind, their grimace morphing into a toothy grin. “We’re already friends, so what does it matter? I don’t have anything to hide from you.”
Willow’s arms were clamped around his chest, like he was protecting himself from exposure. He exhaled a weak laugh and said, “I guess I’d let ever let someone see my soul, it’d be you.”
I braved another sip of the coffee, hoping it would distract me from the burn in my cheeks. “You don’t have to get sappy about it.”
After a handful of other patrons stopped by our table to compliment last night’s show, we shared a final toast. If we were efficient by Sharp’s standards, we would make it to the doctor’s residence in Benzay before the next sunset.
The others waited outside with Sharp, who was scowling at a gold ring embedded with a timepiece. “There you are slowpoke,” she scolded, waving the time in front of my eyes. “We need to get moving, unless you want to be traveling through the Wilds at night.”
I rolled up the golden scroll and placed it in my satchel. “Sorry, I had to send a note to my moms.”
Willow popped up behind me. “Twinkle Swords is just anxious, but we’ll be there with time to spare. We should be able to see the forest as soon as we’re out of the limits of Summit Town. I can’t wait for you to see it for the first time!”
We headed down the path in our usual way: Willow and Piranha taking a significant lead, and Sharp and I following behind. Some days she tried to keep up with them, but others she kept pace with me, especially on days like today, when she sensed my uncertainties.
“Tell me, little chameleon,” she asked, using one of my many affectionate nicknames, “how are you feeling about meeting Gold-and-Silver? You seem worried.”
I kicked a rock off the path, which landed soundlessly in the grass. “I’m not worried about the doctor. I’m excited actually! But I can’t stop thinking about what Cherry said yesterday. What if it's dangerous to go into the Wilds at a time like this?”
“We’ll stay away from any trouble,” she said with a shrug. “I think it would be hard to best the four of us anyway, if it comes down to it.” She offered a reassuring smile, but it didn’t help. I forgot there was a part of Sharp that secretly hoped for danger, for a chance to prove her strength.
Suddenly, something captured her attention. For a moment she was quiet, listening to something I couldn’t.
I stopped walking. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s…nothing.” She ran a hand through her fine black hair, pushing it behind her left ear. “Do you remember what happened after I ate the Wild Fruit?”
“I try not to think about it much,” I answered, following her gaze. Up ahead, Piranha shot an arrow towards the treetops, and Willow tried and failed to catch it. Sharp’s gray eyes darted back and forth.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
She snapped back into focus. “I’m fine…it’s just…Can you keep this between us for now?”
“Of course,” I said, because I loved a good secret. She pointed at the others in the distance. Pir was talking about something, and it made Willow throw his head back in laughter.
Sharp whispered, “Piranha is talking about the hunt where they accidentally pinned a rabbit to a tree by its ears, which made them feel so bad they let the rabbit go free.”
It was a story I’d heard before, so it seemed like an irrelevant thing to notice. Then the implication dawned on me.
“You can hear them from all the way back here?”
She gestured back to Summit Town. “That’s not all. I can hear the town waking up. I can hear the people talking and cooking and walking on the pavement. It’s been that way ever since the Fruit.”
“Is it overwhelming?” I asked, unable to imagine such a cacophony. “Or have you adjusted to it?”
She pondered this for a second. “Neither? It was like…like I noticed my surroundings for the first time. Like my ears were blocked and I just didn’t know it.”
The crystalline road leading out of town sloped downward as we descended the other side of the Endless Mountains. Thick pines lined the path, and in the distance, I saw the point where the crystal transitioned back to red earth.
Willow shouted back, “We’re racing to the end of the crystal path! Last one there buys lunch!”
“Let us catch up first!” I hollered, but I knew I didn’t have a chance in this race without a little deception. Compared to my powerful friends, I was the slowest. As we scrambled down to meet them, I stepped behind Sharp, creating a blind spot to slip into the Unseen. I put all my effort into a dead sprint, hoping I could make it far enough ahead before they caught on.
I was lucky. A great deal of distance grew between us before anyone noticed I was gone, and by the time they did, it was too late to close the gap.
Finally, I was first.
“Goal!” I jumped in the air and reappeared to see my angry compatriots close behind me.
“Cur!” spat Piranha, trapping me in a headlock and flashing a wicked, fanged smile. “Cheater cheater, pumpkin eater!”
I phased through their grip and returned a few feet away.
“What? ARGH!” Piranha snarled and stumbled forward, hanging their arms dejectedly.
I faked a yawn. “You call it cheating, but I call it playing to my strengths. Otherwise, there's no way I’d ever win.”
“He got us good,” Sharp admitted. “I guess this means I’ll be the one buying lunch.”
“Works for me!” Willow flew upwards a few feet, looking out into the foggy horizon. “Damn it down the river. If it wasn’t so hazy, we would see the Wilds by now.”
“Just keep moving and the fog will lift soon.” Piranha pulled him down by the ankle.
We continued for another five minutes, while my flying nomad friend praised me for my trickery, swearing that it would be the last time he let me get away with it. It wasn’t the first time I’d tricked them, and now they would have to be even more on guard.
Like a curtain, the fog rose, revealing a grand scene. The sun emerged from the clouds, as if it was also curious to see the Wilds for the first time. The outer edges of the massive forest were buttery yellow and luminous green, and the colors closer to the center grew gradually darker. Its core was a mass of pitch black. The Deep Dark.
