Traveler - The Price (Book 3)
Chapter 12

Once again, we had a bunch of stuff with us, but we didn’t complain. It was way too better to wander around the empty streets than in the desert or woods. The others had walked on the hard part of the journey, and we were closer than ever to finish the mission. At least that was what Ivy was saying.

“I’m sorry about earlier” I say to her.

I sat next to her, and I started to wash a T-shirt in the little river that was flowing near us. The others were lying on the ground and resting.

“Jo, I have to admit that you freaked me out when I saw your reaction, and I don’t get scared easily. It was something in your eyes. For a second, I could swear I saw an orange spark in your eyes.”

I stared at her shocked. I didn’t know how to react.

“I have to tell you something. Honestly, I believe that things have gone way too crazy. I can’t say that I’m not happy that you brought Aaron back, but don’t you replace this a little bit exaggerated? Unusual? Mad? I mean, what sane person brings back a soul from the Underworld? And I can’t explain how is possible for him to be here, when I know we buried his body… Everything is going crazy! Isn’t anything normal? What if… I don’t know… what if he isn’t exactly him?”

“Ivy, I get you. I assure you he’s Aaron. But you have to put yourself into my place for one second and see the things the way I do. I have promised myself not to lose another person, and when I got the chance to respect my promise, I didn’t hesitate.”

“Don’t you think it’s too much?”

“Nothing is too much if you really want it.”

Ivy looked at me, but I wasn’t sure she understood what I said. She gathered her washed things and went back to the others. I remained there, thinking about what she had said. The cold water was flowing through my fingers. I went back in time for a few seconds, and I tried to live one moment from my life again back in Vals. The bonfires near the Orin Lake. People dancing, lights on, lanterns, scary stories, love stories or from our childhood. It was so damn beautiful. What was I doing here? How and when had changes so many things? When did the time become irrelevant? What about the seasons?

I woke up from that dreaming state, and I saw my T-shirt taken by the water. I didn’t bother to go after it because it was too far. I got up, and I sighed. What was wrong with me? I had anger issues. I couldn’t control myself and, from what Ivy was saying, my eyes were turning orange. What was the price I had to pay for doing the right thing? I put some cold water into my palms, and I washed my face. I returned to the others. Ivy had tied up the wet clothes on her backpack. It was hot outside, so they were about to dry quickly.

“Why don’t you get another car?” I ask. “It would make our journey easier.”

“Uh, we had another one, but it ended up just like the others” says Andy. “It seems like we have some difficulties in keeping a car in one piece, just like you had back in Vals with the phones.”

“Anyway, the last part of the road it must be made on foot” adds Deby.

Andy’s answer started some laughs from Deby and me. We told Aaron and Ivy about my phone thing, and they approved Andy. Our good mood was disturbed by some gunshots. In front of us, the windows of an old gas station broke, and a woman was thrown through them. She fell shot at our feet. It was a nymph. We took a defensive position and walked to the gas station. In this time, there were two more shots, and when we got closer, we saw a young woman who was putting some box of chocolates in her bag. When she saw us, she pointed the gun at us. Behind her appeared a nymph and I shot her quickly, without hesitation. The girl got scared, and she shot at me, but I managed to get away just in time. The bullet just scratched me.

Ivy ran to her and took her gun, but that girl was not going to give up that easily. She hit Ivy and pushed her over a shelf. She was a young girl, around sixteen years old, but there was maturity in her green eyes. He hair was long, dark and braided in a tail. She rushed to get back the gun, but Aaron pointed her.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t do that” he says.

“We both know you’re not going to shot me” she speaks.

She pushed a shelf over Aaron and Andy and took her gun. Deby wanted to stop her, but she was hit in the face with a can of tomatoes. She started running and got out from the gas station. While the others were coming to their senses, I followed the mysterious girl. She was running and shooting at me at the same time, but she couldn’t aim because she wasn’t standing. She was reminding me of me, of my old days, of my ambition. Although she was too young to be a part of that madness, there she was, shooting at me, after she had killed a few nymphs all by herself.

“Wait!” I shouted.

Of course, she didn’t stop, but she turned around, and at that moment she tripped and fell. Her gun slipped away. I threw on her, and I immobilized her. I had the gun in my hand, but I didn’t know what to do with it next. She saw my confusion.

“What? Don’t you have the courage to finish what you started?” she asks me.

“I didn’t start anything. I just want to talk. I don’t want to pull the trigger, so you better don’t do any stupidity.”

“I shot you” she said.

“You scratched me” I replied. “I have good reflexes. Also, I saw you are wearing my shirt.”

“This shred? Do you want it back?” she asks pulling it off.

“I don’t want it. I just want to know how it ended up on you and what are you doing here all by yourself.”

She kept looking at me with a tough face. I relaxed the tight squeeze, and she relaxed somehow too.

“Look what. I thought you had aimed me earlier, and the T-shirt I found on the shore of the river. Now can I go?”

“What are you doing here alone? Are there other people with you?”

“I’m alone, and that’s how I’m going to stay. I don’t like people. They’re traitors, mean and I prefer animals. Anything else?”

I looked lost at her. Then Aaron called me, and I turned around, and I saw the others running to us. The girl caught the right moment, and she hit me with her elbow in the face, then she ran away. Aaron rushed to get her.

“Wait!” I shouted. “Let her leave!”

“She shot you!” he said.

“It was an accident. She’s just a child. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. Anyway, I can’t die, remember?”

“That doesn’t mean you have to expose yourself!” shouts Deby.

“Or she knows damn well what she’s doing” says Ivy delayed. “She was strong.”

“She’s alone” I said.

Aaron pulled me up, and Ivy broke a shirt and covered my wound. It was a nasty scratch, but I didn’t need stitches.

“However, I don’t have the old scars anymore!” I said amused. “It’s time for some new ones!” I continued ironically.

Ivy made a face, and Aaron rolled his eyes. I saw Andy getting out from the gas station, with some boxes of chocolate. We all stared at him smiling.

“What? I wanted so badly to eat it!” he says innocently.

“We want that too!” says Ivy pulling two boxes from his hands, leaving him with another two.

She threw me one, and she kept the other. It was so long since I hadn’t tasted something sweet. I needed a moment to eat it properly. We walked around that area a little longer, but there was no sign of other nymphs or that girl, so we continued our way. This after we filled our bags with chocolate, of course. We looked like some children who had received presents from Santa, that was how we were enjoying it.

That child had awakened in me a tired feeling. She was all alone in the wasteland, but she was doing fine, and she wasn’t complaining. At least she seemed that way at first glance. I wanted to know her name or her story because she looked like an interesting and good person, even though she had attacked us brutally. I would have said that was because of the fear.

We were walking and eating chocolate. I felt the flavors different, more intense than before. I had learned to appreciate the food more and to be grateful. Every day, I was comparing to the old me, and I saw how I was changing every moment. This experience was a hit to me, which was meant to bring me back with my feet on the ground. It wasn’t like before, and I couldn’t take all for granted as I thought I could. If we found food, I tasted anything, without exceptions. I remembered how I was arguing with Crista when she bought pizza covered in pepper, even if she knew I didn’t like it. I would have eaten that pizza now!

Life teaches us to appreciate some things in a strange way. All the road she’s carrying us, they finally bring us to our destination. This destination isn’t a place, it’s just us, the best of us, a version that was created by walking on a long and hard journey. I was pleased with the person I had become, and I was proud I could appreciate for real what really mattered: the people around me and the little things that made a difference.