Traveler - The Price (Book 3)
Chapter 9

We realize the value of a moment when it becomes a memory, and we desperately need to live it again. When you’re stuck in the same place, you have to stop and believe that you are the author of your story and you can change everything. You just have to end that chapter and begin a new one.

We were walking through the darkness, without destination or purpose. Every step became harder and harder. I stopped. The pain was hard to bear, and it wasn’t just the leg injury.

“I can’t do this anymore” I said.

The others looked at me.

“What are you talking about, Jo?” asks Ivy.

“I just can’t go on. Too many people die in this process and don’t even know where we’re going or what we’re doing. It’s a waste of time! It’s bullshit! It’s all a stupidity! I didn’t ask for any of these, and I don’t know why it had been assigned to me this mission, without someone even asking me first! I just wanted a regular life!”

“Jo, calm down!” says Andy.

“Don’t tell me to calm down because you have to understand that we don’t stand a chance! We’re all next. We’re just not ready for something this big. I just can’t do this anymore!”

“You can’t just give up now!” says Ivy.

“Watch me! I’m done! Enough! What is too much, is too much! I have my limits too!” I shouted angrily.

I sat in the middle of the road. It was dark. I couldn’t see the moon anywhere, and the clouds were covering the stars. I felt a cold breeze. At that moment, I remembered my conversation with Aura, the one I was supposed to forget forever. I lifted my head unsure. I remembered everything I had done in the Underworld, everything I had spoken with Joana.

“Jo, don’t give up. It may take a year, a month, a day, but you have to come around and continue what you have started! Aaron didn’t die in vain!” says Deby.

“I can’t look at your wound now. It’s too dark” says Ivy. “How are you holding up with it?”

“Yes, he did” I replied without making any sense.

“What?” asks Ivy.

“For nothing… I remember…”

“You told us that your memory had come back” says Andy.

“Not just that. I remember where I have been, what I have done, how I got back, everything!”

I started telling them everything, among crying and hiccups. They were listening so caught by the story than we didn’t realize it was already morning. They told me about Ema, a thing that left me stupefied because I couldn’t believe that creature could have been a traitor. I told them about my meeting with Aura and everything finally made sense for them. I felt a lot guiltier about Aaron’s death because I knew I could have gone back in the Underworld and I couldn’t die for real when the griffin attacked me. I couldn’t accept the fact that he had died for nothing. I felt like my stupidity, and my unconsciousness had made me lose everything I loved the most in this world. How was I supposed to live with that burden? Something was poking through my soul, throwing thousands of needles in me.

“Come here. I have to look at your wound” says Ivy.

I hesitated a moment. It was hurting me extremely bad, and I couldn’t move the leg anymore. The infection started spreading, and I felt my body trembling of pain.

“No” I said.

“What the hell do you mean there, Jo? It will get infected if it hasn’t done that already!” shouts Ivy.

“I can’t die, remember?”

“Theoretically, you can. But what are you thinking? Stop being a martyr! It’s not your fault Aaron died! You didn’t know!” she says.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this! No…” says Deby.

“Yes, I’m doing it!” I say.

Andy and Ivy were looking lost at us. Their faces showed me they didn’t know me as well as Deby did.

“What are you talking about?” asks Ivy.

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s Jo! She’s mad! The madness itself! She wants to go back to the Underworld!” says Deby.

“How well you know me!” I said.

“Jo, this is madness!” shouts Andy. “I won’t let you do that!”

“Madness is our life now” I said. “You can’t stop me. I have to try. Anyway, it’s just a matter of time until I get there because the infection has spread already. If Aaron is still there, I want to talk to him. I’m sure that Joana welcomed him. I can’t leave things like this. I have to tell him the truth. I have to talk to him for the last time in different circumstances. I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye, and if I have it now, why to waste it?”

“Jo, I could have treated it in time! You didn’t say anything! You didn’t tell me it was so bad! Since when you had this in mind? From last night, no?” shouts Ivy angrily.

“There’s no chance to convince you not to do this?” asks Deby.

“You know damn well there isn’t!” I said.

“Jo… About Kate…” whispers Andy. “Did she replace out that I…?”

“No. I wasn’t sure either until tonight when you told me. Joana didn’t say anything, even if she probably knew that, she didn’t tell her. I think it was best this way. I saw you with the gun, but I still thought that Aaron shot her somehow…”

“I didn’t want to… I didn’t know…”

“She was happy, Andy. She was really at peace. She moved on happy.”

Andy nodded his head sadly. Deby gulped. She knew she was called my Protector to open a portal for me, every time I needed it. Then I remembered I was the key to open that box.

“Oh, God. Give me the box!” I said.

Ivy handed me the box, and I touched with my little finger the spot where I was supposed to put the key. A bright light appeared, and I just woke up with a map and an old piece of paper in my hands. I saw hope on their faces. It wasn’t a normal map, but one on which the main references were the cliffs, mountains, and lakes. A few towns were lost here and there. The place where we were supposed to go to make the spell was far away, and we had to walk through a tough road, with cliffs and woods. There weren’t a lot of towns on that map, but something was telling me that we had a lot of obstacles on our way. I handed the map to Ivy and the spell to Deby.

“I know you will manage without me” I said.

“How will you replace us?” asks Andy.

“I will think about you when I will come back. This is how I will arrive close to you. I hope that you will not hit me with the car again” I said ironically.

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea” says Andy.

“I don’t have anything to lose. I have to try because otherwise, I can’t move on. Anyway, I will get there, even if I want it or not” I said pointing at my wound.

“Just don’t do anything stupid again, Jo!” says Deby.

“I don’t know if that’s possible, but I support Deby’s idea” grumbles Andy.

“I don’t know how long it’s going to be, but I will be back. I have spent two days down there, but you’re saying here were three months. So, don’t wait for me too soon. And if I come back without memory again, you better tell me the truth from the first second!”

I walked a few steps away from them, and I cut my hand. I let the blood flow in a bottle. I put the bottle in my backpack, and I closed it.

“In case something goes wrong” I said.

They nodded affirmatively, and Deby started the spell, that was supposed to open the portal for me. In the next moment, we were attacked by griffins again. They were flying from all over the places, and I could count five of them. Deby was hit by one’s claws, and she had to stop the spell. Andy started shooting them, but they didn’t seem too affected by the bullets. They were different from the others. They were green and bigger. We stood up and started running in different directions, to confuse them. I felt a strong pain in my leg, and I fell behind some ruins, just after two steps. I didn’t get to take a breath, and I felt my mouth covered by a hand. I saw Ema behind me.

“We don’t have much time! You have to know I didn’t betray you for one second, but I had to get inside Aura’s circle because I have found out what you are. I knew you were going to come back and I had to get close to Aura and see what she knows.”

“I can’t believe this!” I said shocked.

“Quick, go to Deby and tell her these griffins are scared by lightning and thunder. You will buy some time. And tell them not to kill the help! And that I am sorry I didn’t tell them about you, but I couldn’t risk being seen with them again! Go! See you soon!”

I supported in my hands, and I stood up.

“Jo… I’m sorry about Aaron…”

I couldn’t say anything more because she ran through the woods. I came to my senses, and I pulled myself to get to Deby. I arrived hardly next to her.

“Lightning and thunder” I said.

“What?” she asks.

“Just bring them here. Quick!”

Deby listened to me, and I started shooting the griffins that were left, to cover her. I felt it was hot and I started shaking, and the sweat was flowing on me as if I was in a sauna.

One of them took Ivy in his claws and flew with her. When the thunder started, it dropped her and flew away. The same happened with the others. Ema didn’t lie to me, a thing that made me happy. Andy ran at Ivy and lifted her up. We got there too, but she was hit on her head, and she wouldn’t wake up.

“She will be okay” says Andy.

“Are you sure about this?” I ask.

“Yes, go now, before the griffins come back!”

“I can’t leave you like this!”

“We will handle it. We always do. You can’t help us now. You’re not in an excellent shape. Just be careful what stupid things you do down there...” he adds in a whisper.

“Ema isn’t a traitor. She told me how to get rid of the griffins. She’s still on our side. She found out what I was and she knew I would come back, so she infiltrated among Aura’s creatures. Don’t judge her and don’t hurt her! She’s taking a risk being there.”

I knew I had practically dropped a bomb, but there wasn’t enough time for us to chat. Deby was waiting for an answer.

“Let’s do it!” I finally said.

She started the spell again. A bright light appeared next to me, and I bent over it. I didn’t know how long was that journey, but I felt it wasn’t going to end. Then the white turned gray, then black, and finally, I didn’t know anything about myself.

I couldn’t leave the things as they were, especially when it was all my fault. I had left for the Underworld with a purpose, one that I hadn’t shared with the others. I didn’t want just to replace Aaron, but I wanted to replace a way to fix what I had broken. That was the main purpose I had left them my blood. He didn’t belong there, and I was aware of that. I had a change in mind, but I didn’t know if it was possible. However, I was planning to bargain with forces I didn’t understand, again. Until that moment, all that seemed impossible was possible, and if the magic existed, it was the same with the faith. I honestly believed that I was capable of doing more than I could have imagined.

Because in the end, we all want someone who chooses us instead of others, in any situation, under any circumstances. It was funny how I was ready to give everything up a couple of hours before that, and now I felt so motivated to fix things. I had realized a thing: even when I said I couldn’t do it anymore, I could have done a little more than that. It was about time not to underestimate my power and my will. I had decided to apply a thing I had learned in my childhood. I was going to follow my stubbornness on the highest edges, and I didn’t want to return empty-handed if I was going to return someday.