She gazed at the talisman, feeling a bit disoriented.

“What…why?” she remembered what had happened and felt the anger rise in her stomach. Bo just looked sad.

“I’m sorry. I…hexed you. Just to make you sleep. I shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t want you to get into trouble with the goblins, but I guess that happened anyway…”

“You left me alone!” she said angrily, “You abandoned me, and I woke up tied up, captured, in a cart, sold for….for meat!”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Bo replied, rubbing his hand through his hair, “I won’t do that again. We’ll stick together. We’ll…share the talisman so neither of us gets too bad. What…what can I do to make it better, Leena? What can I do?” His lips turned down, and he averted his gaze, sighing.

“I understand if you don’t trust me anymore. I didn’t deserve that anyway…Look, we’re going to a town not too far from here, up the coast. My friend is there; he is going to help us across the ocean. The darkness hasn't spread there nearly so badly. Can you stick with me until we get there at least? Can we stick together until we get there?” He pulled out the pink shell from his pocket, offering it to her.

She frowned at him.

“You ignore me most of the time, and now you’re asking if we can keep going? Where did the darkness come from? Where did you come from? Who are you? Why is my mom looking for me now? Why couldn’t she come herself? Why couldn’t she come earlier. And what is that fire from? You can’t answer anything?”

He shrunk back, pulling his hand away, cupping the shell.

“Well…I’m Bo. Bo Greenwood. I grew up…here, on this land but moved overseas when I was young to another place with more…um…elves. I lived with my uncle. And then…well…uhh…I met your mom, and there’s a lot of controversy at home, you know, what to do over the darkness…” he trailed off, shifting his seat uncomfortably.

“And well, we don’t really know where it comes from,” he confessed, “But we closed our borders to prevent the spread of it to the continent overseas, and you…you were stuck over here.”

“Oh. Are we….are we allowed to go there then?” she asked.

“Not…really. But we can figure out a way around that,” he said, ducking his head, “It’s going to be…dangerous, probably, but hopefully we can get through the border,” he replied.

“Is the fire going to help us?”

“What?”

“The fire that’s been helping me? The…friend?”

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He pursed his lips, and she saw agitation flit across his face before he responded with teeth gritted.

“Yeah. That’s a friend. Just ignore it. If you need help, you can ask me,” he said. She inclined her head.

“What is it?” He ran his hands through his hair, twisting up his face in frustration.

“I can’t really answer that one. That I can’t. I can’t say.”

“No, tell me,” she pressed, “Tell me who it is. What it is.”

“No! Shit! I can’t. That asshole hexed me,” he exploded, his face reddening by the second. He dropped the shell on the ground, his hands wide and waving. Leena cringed, shrinking back from him.

Ah! She had the talisman. She grabbed his hand and thrust it to his palm. She watched his face as it cycled through his anger, to grief, to horror, and ended with him apologizing profusely, picking up the shell and placing it in her hand.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I…Oh, hell, this is super bad. Let’s keep moving. We have to get out of here,” he said, “Will you stay with me for now at least? At least get across the ocean?” She felt a sadness fill her heart. It stayed.

“Yes. Let’s go,” she agreed.

He showed her the book he had. It was simple on the cover, just a red cloth cover with faded pages in between. The pages were mostly blank with some entries at the front. The entries varied in length. Some were a page or so; others were only a few lines. One line read:

“Didn’t see it coming. Never saw it coming. Sorry, Kala.”

“I carry this with me. It…It’s enchanted. When…when or if something happens to me, I want you to take a pen and write my name at the next entry. It will complete itself. Then give the book to my uncle. If you see him. Otherwise, I guess none of this really matters. It holds your last thoughts. I am not only here to get you, but I’m here to check the area out and see how bad it is. Might help with figuring out a way to fight it.”

She nodded, closing the book and handing it back to him. He put it back in his bag.

They ate as they walked. The orange mushroom-cheese thing was less foul tasting than she first guessed. It had more of a woodsy flavor to it, but it definitely was some kind of cheese. It still left her hungry.

Every little bit of time, or when one of them seemed to be lagging, they switched the talisman. It worked okay. Bo seemed more even keeled and even smiled at her. As for her, she felt like she was floating and sinking.

The darkness was strange. The moment the talisman left her, she felt less fine, but not invaded. As she walked, though, she sensed it, the darkness, creeping into her defenses. What defenses? She tried blocking her thoughts, the thoughts of distrust, the thoughts of anger, depression, utter desolation. They crept in anyway until she forgot what she was trying to do. The talisman was like a refreshing shower, a bright light, that scared away the darkness, cleared her thoughts, and redirected her focus.

She tried embracing parts of the darkness, in hopes she could take it, accept it, and let it go.

It took over faster, more vehemently.

And she felt it choke her, the greedy thing that it was.

What was it? A smog? A disease? It was definitely intangible, but it worked like a filter. It filtered the sunlight and turned it harsh. Filtered the water and turned it tepid and foul. What did Bo call it before…a miasma?

“Where did you get the talisman?” she asked, taking it from his hand, feeling the warm blessing of the dark dispelling.

“My uncle gave it to me,” he said, “But they aren’t common. Making them is pretty difficult. Only a few people have them, back at home, at least. There wasn’t really a…need until the darkness started spreading.”

“Can I get one?” she asked. He glanced at her.

“Yeah. Sure. When we get there, we can look into it,” he replied, blinking at her.

They walked to the ocean and along the shoreline until the sun disappeared.

“One more day,” Bo said, “And the town is just up the shoreline.” She smiled weakly at him.