image [https://imgur.com/n1jY6TD.jpg]

Chilly air rushed through the valley. Droplets of rain were just starting to sprinkle down.

We hadn't found shelter and the storm would get to us long before we could get back to our rock overhang.

We were frantically searching for anything around that could keep us dry. Things weren't looking good. If we didn't find shelter soon, Indena's wounds might open up.

"Hey! What's that?"

Indena pointed to the wreckage of a car!

It looked really old and rusty, so it probably wouldn't be driving anytime soon. Luckily, the doors were unlocked.

We both hopped into the front seats. It smelled like old rubber. There was some kind of ash on the chairs, so we dusted them off and shut ourselves in tight. Just in time too, there was a huge cloudburst outside!

Water fell from the sky like angels had dropped giant buckets over the land. It was so strong that some trees were almost getting uprooted in the heavy watery wind.

"It's a freaking tornado out there!" Indena shouted.

"No," I said. "This is a cloudburst. It's just a lot of rain all at once. I studied this for a little."

My studies of the weather were supposed to help me learn to fly, but I guess it paid off in other ways too.

"Whatever. How are we going to travel in this?"

Cloudbursts are usually quick. They only last a few seconds to minutes. In fact, I predict it will end right about…now!

Yes! I was on the money!

"Oh thank the gods it's over." Indena relaxed in her seat.

The cloudburst might have ended, but the rain was still coming down hard enough to be an issue. We decided to wait it out for a little while.

"Why do you think there's a car here?" She asked.

"I don't know."

The car was a wreck, but the more I looked at it, there was only some minor damage on the frame. I had a feeling that some of the internal components might have still been intact, but that was iffy unless I could look under the hood.

"Hey, check that map of yours. Maybe we can figure something out since we have a minute."

I maximized the map, then started giving it a combing through. I wasn't seeing any shelter or anything. The car did stand out on the map though. It looked a little like a rectangular box.

We could have gone back to that cave, but the rain was getting really bad and the wind could probably blow me away. So getting there would have been a lot of work. By that same logic, the overhang wasn't a great idea either.

“Find anything?” Indena asked.

“No,” I said.

She wanted to take a look. I realized I could project the map out of my eyes, so I did.

“Wow, that’s handy…” She mumbled, taking a good look at the map projection. “Ah-ha!” She announced, pointing at a weird snaking trail on the map. Then she pointed to it in real life. “Look, that’s cobblestone.”

“Like, the stuff you mine out of the stone with a pickaxe?”

“No, you dits! Like a collection of rocks that make a path.”

Isn’t that what I kinda said? Well, maybe she just didn’t hear me right over the patter of raindrops.

If we bum rushed it, we could get on the path and find out where it went. I say that now, but it's not like this path was going to magically stop the rain while we were traveling.

"Where there's a path, people have to be nearby," she claimed, spreading some hope that things could get better. "Once the rain dies down, we can follow it."

"Sounds good to me."

~☆☆☆~

We waited an awful long time, but the rain was only getting worse. I was starting to get a little sleepy, so I took a short nap.

Little did I know, Indena would wake me up mere minutes later in a panic.

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean, what's wrong?!" She pointed to a big moose looking in at us through her window. It might have been my imagination, but was it glowing blue? Kinda like a ghost or something. "Do something, nature girl!"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Was she calling me nature girl because the wolves respected me and I know a about the weather? I don't think that I could deal with a moose.

"Haaaaa!" The moose cried out, then it slammed its antlers against the car door!

"Oh damn it!" Indena swore again!

The moose kept bashing its antlers against the door, nearly breaking it off the hinges.

Indena forced me out of my side door, then she jumped out too. Now we were in the rain again.

It looked like the moose really didn't like that car, because he kept attacking it even after we got out. That thing was so strong that it was pulverizing the old steel frame! Wow!

"It's distracted. Let's get the hell outta' dodge!"

The storm wasn't too bad at the moment, so we could travel, but the path was really wet and muddy.

The cruddy path was so slippery, I almost fell twice trying to walk along it. Indena caught me both times. Messing up my dress in the mud would have been the absolute worst!

She held my hand the second time I almost fell, then I clung close to her arm and we kept moving. We probably went about a kilometer before I noticed something come up on my map.

The map was showing a few squares just ahead of us. Each of them had a different colour. The biggest square looked green, and the others had pale or brown on them.

"I think there's something up ahead!"

Low and behold, it was a house!

The house looked old. It was like a log cabin with cobblestone at the base of the building. Moss covered the sinking roof, probably barely holding it together. It might not have been too bad of a place if the roof got fixed.

Over the doorway was something smeared in brownish red. It looked a little like words, but it was hard to tell what it said since it was old and faded.

“Looks like blood,” Indena claimed.

“B-blood?” I shivered, cowering behind her leg.

Indena tried to pry me off of her leg, but I wasn’t letting go.

“Take it easy! You’re gonna’ see some blood if those nails dig any deeper.” She peeled me off once I loosened my grip. “This isn’t human blood.” She pointed to a stone structure not too far from the house with an animal skull on it. “That’s a sacrificial altar. The blood was probably from that animal.”

Sacrifices didn’t make this seem any better, animal or not. But I guess that was slightly better than it being a person's blood.

But the real question was, why would someone put animal blood over their doorway? Seemed like a weird way to paint the walls. Creepy, actually.

“They’re probably superstitious.” She went up to the wooden door. “Let’s just hope they’re friendly.”

“I hope so. Then we could stay in their house till the rain died down.”

The rain started to pick up. Indena was frantically knocking on the door, but the wooden door creaked open on its own.

“Too spooky!” I closed my eyes in case a ghost flew out!

“Hey, that hurts!” I was holding her stomach pretty tightly, my nails were digging into her again. “Nobody lives here anymore, so don’t freak out. Head inside!”

“Ghosts might live there!” I cried out. “We can’t go in.”

She assured me that ghosts probably wouldn’t live here, and if they did, she said they had poor taste.

But spooky places like this were where ghosts lived, because nobody else would bother them here. That’s why they tried to scare people off by going ‘BOO!’

“I’m scarier than a ghost.” Her irises lit up bright orange. “So if they try anything, I’ll kick they’re invisible butts.”

I guess that made me feel a little better, since she promised to protect me.

We both started to head inside. This place looked dusty and decrepit, but otherwise untouched.

The house was really well furnished, but everything was a little dusty. luckily, most of the furniture was wrapped in plastic. A little old timey, but it had that log cabin kinda vibe, so it actually seemed pretty nice.

It was a bit hard to see, so I engaged my night vision and continued to look around in the darker areas. Indena lit a fire over her hand to see better as well.

A good thing was that no water was leaking in, so I think we've found our shelter.

Both of us managed to wander into the kitchen from two separate paths. The first place we both dove to was the somewhat modern looking fridge. It had some food! How old was this stuff?

The fridge itself wasn't working, but another lucky find was that all the food inside had been magically preserved, so we had lots of things to eat!

"Want me to cook something?" she asked. "Fix up my arm and we're in business."

I had some IP regenerate since I took a nap, so I healed the last of her wounds.

She used her magical fire to simulate a stove. The stew she was cooking actually smelled really good. She kept throwing in all kinds of spices and herbs to make it smell even better. My expectations skyrocketed with every new pinch of flavour she added.

“I’m not really good at cooking, but hopefully this tastes better than all the other stuff we’ve been eating.”

She poured out some in a bowl, then handed it to me.

It tasted…meh.

Like I’m not picky, but the meat was really dry, and chewy, even though it was bathing in a pool of liquid. I think it was too watery, actually.

That’s when flavour hit, and it hit strong.

She put a lot of spices in, but all of it had collected into a flavourful mush of ingredients at the very bottom under everything.

This was a really weird meal.

“What do you think?” She was looking at me with a nervous brow, but the rest of her had that usual angry look.

“It’s good.” Was that really how I felt about this?

The nervous look faded, now she just looked angry again.

“And that means…?” her brow furrowed, and she rolled her hand around.

Did she want me to critique her food? What was I, a food critic? I guess I could tell her about how the meat was dry and chewy, I could also tell her about the power packed spicy soup water…not to mention that organic material gathering at the bottom.

She took a spoonful of the soup and tried it out for herself. Her cheeks rose up to her eyes, and her mouth puckered.

“Yuck, this is horrible. You didn’t have to lie to me.”

“But, I didn’t lie. I liked the spicy soup.”

Mmm…I’m not sure if that was true. This definitely wouldn't be my first pick. Maybe it wasn’t her thing to make stew? Or maybe she was just harsh on her own work.

Either way, I guess I kinda liked it…mostly.

We both didn’t have much choice anyways. Food was food. There was some jam and honey, but those would be for dessert.

Oh, you know something? Uncle never let me mix sweet things into my meal. I bet it would taste even more awesome! Sweet things always taste really good, so they must make everything else taste good too.

I grabbed out a jar of honey and brought it over to the stew.

POP!

It made a 'pop' sound as I twisted off the cap. I went to pour in the honey, but Indena grabbed the bottle before I could.

“What the hey?!” I reacted.

She glared at me with deadly eyes. “Don’t you dare do something so disgusting.”

Yikes, she meant business. I guess this wasn’t such a good idea. Or maybe...she wanted to keep the secrets of a delicious meal all to herself? She must have known that honey would enhance the flavour.

When she wasn't looking, I'd have to try and put some in, just to see.