Ari didn't mean to shut her eyes. She did it on instinct like she would when she jumped into the community swimming pool during the hot summer months. Stepping through the rip was not like jumping into a swimming pool. It felt like Mr. Fawn had said, walking through fog. She could feel the moisture hit her cheeks, but it did not stick to her skin. A few more steps and the feeling was gone. A cold breeze replaced the feeling of moisture and Ari gasped as she opened her eyes. Stepping away from the rip, Ari took in the scenery with curiosity and amazement. The stark white trees enveloped them in a small clearing. The underbrush was a mixture of blues, purples and greens she didn't think could be named in her world. The sky looked as if it had been painted with watercolors of orange and red. She could identify everything, but it was all very different from home. She turned back around to look at the rip she had just come through, which she found was also in the base of a tree, but this tree had fallen a long time ago and there were strange, deep diagonal cuts along its bark. Ari turned to ask Mr. Fawn, who was still holding on tightly to her hand, what might have made those cuts when she screamed. She quickly let go of the hand that belonged to this creature that now stood before her. Standing a head taller than her and with a built, solid frame was a creature that looked like a man not much older than her with olive colored skin, thick brown hair and two horns that spiraled from its head. She stumbled backwards into the fallen tree and the creature put out its hands in order to instruct her to be quiet. "It's me!" the creature said. "It's Mr. Fawn." He had told her that he might change once they had come through the rip, but Ari had not expected such a dramatic transformation.

"Mr. Fawn?" Ari furrowed her brow in disbelief.

"Yeah," he said as he looked down at his hands and torso "although seeing as I'm not much of an elder anymore, how about you just call me Nathan?"

"Nathan?" Ari repeated quizzically.

"It's my first name," he said with a half smile.

"I don't think you actually ever told me that before" Ari said with a small chuckle, "but OK Nate..."

"Now wait a minute, I didn't say..." he started but then quickly silenced as one of his long pointed ears moved in the direction of a sound off in the woods. Nathan motioned to crouch down quickly and led her behind a bush. A few moments later when nothing else seems to move they both let out a breath.

"What now? We need to find Joseph quickly and get out of here" Ari whispered. The panic was surfacing again in her chest. She wanted desperately to appease her curious nature and explore this strange world, but she only came to save her brother. She forced herself to focus on where they went from here.

"Let's see if we can figure out which direction he was taken." Nathan walked back towards the opening of the rip and stared at the ground. Ari looked too but all she could see were their footprints imprinted in the grass, which looked more like thick moss or a shag rug to Ari rather than grass. She looked to Nathan to see if he was seeing anything different, but he looked puzzled.

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"What about those?" Ari pointed to the long jagged cuts in the trunk. Nathan approached them and ran a hand over the gashes in the tree.

"These aren't fresh, but if this was made by what I think, we may have a harder task ahead of us than I thought." He bowed his head and looked at the ground again. "I'm not getting any clues from here, but the farm I used to live on is not far from here and there is a small village beyond that. Maybe someone saw something."

"Ok," Ari shook her head and adjusted the bag on her back. Nathan went ahead of her through the trees and went toward the sound of rushing water in the distance. After several minutes, they found the source of the sound.

Nathan stopped by the small creek that was no wider than a canoe and said "This is the Valtas Creek, well the beginning of it anyways. It sprouts from a natural spring back that way and flows right past Schimbare, which is where we are headed. You can always tell if you're looking at the Valtas River, because it is the only one that shimmers." Ari's ears perked up at that and she looked down at the water. A ray of sunlight was beaming through the trees and hit the water perfectly as she peered. The water looked to her as if someone had poured a whole bottle of fine golden glitter into the water. It was a bit memorizing and then she noticed Nathan had taken off following the river's flow at a fast pace. Ari struggled to keep up with his long stride, but she ignored the sting in her shins. She knew she should ignore her curiosity, but she had questions and they had time to kill.

"You never did say what made those marks in the tree" she said loud enough so that he was sure to hear her.

"A crasem is the only thing that could have done that" he answered back across his shoulder, not slowing down his speed.

"I've heard you say that word before. What is it exactly?" Ari asked.

"The crasem of Aldatu were said to be the original protectors of the land and the first to inhabit it before all the other species. It is also said that they chose the first ruler and gave him his title and power. Eventually, they became a part of the ruler's army as well.

"What does a crasem look like?" Ari pushed.

Nathan stopped then and sat his pack on the ground. He fished around inside and eventually pulled out one of the books. He flipped through the pages until he found the one he was looking for. He handed it to Ari who hesitated to take it. "It's ok. The books are just books here. Plus, they will help with your insatiable curiosity" he said with a wry smile.

Ari stuck her tongue out at him, then looked back at the book and took it from him slowly. Nathan picked up his pack, slung it on his back and set off again. Ari looked at the page, "Wait, what's going on? I looked at all of these books and I know there wasn't any English in here. Now I can read the pages!"

"That's the magic of Aldatu. I thought I had written everything in English when I made the books, but apparently I had been writing in Aldatuan. I only noticed it when I went back." Nathan said. "I bet we speak it now too and don't even notice it."

Ari looked back at the page and read, 'A crasem is a reptile-like creature we first encountered in the northern region. The crasem named Baltho helped us cross the Tunic River. He told us of the crasem of Aldatu. Original protectors of the land and the first to inhabit it before all others. He also told us of how his father Liykin had been on the crasem council that chose the current ruler. These creatures have a sail that lines their back from the shoulders to their back legs, thick hair fills in the line from the sail to the tops of their heads and the tip of their tails. They have smooth skin but with what looks like swirls beneath a thin layer of see through skin. Definitely above-average intelligence.' A hand drawn picture of a crasem lay on the next page and Ari studied it. A lump formed in her throat as she noticed Nathan had drawn this crasem with piercing blue eyes.