“How you are feeling, Charlie?” Greg laughed.

She pulled her hat down to block the morning sun from her face, “Why did you let me drink that much?”

“I didn’t want you to finish off my moonshine,” He grumbled as he threw the last of the gold bars into a glorified wheelbarrow, “I’ve got to make more now.”

“Try to make it less shitty for the next woman that needs it,” She winked.

“How did you sleep?”

“Well, I didn’t quite wake up in a ditch, but it feels like it,” Charlie rubbed her face, “Where’s L?”

“Don’t know. Might be getting Meryl.”

“Meryl?”

“My horse. You’re borrowing it,” He winked, “I hope you’re the one to bring it back.”

“You big flirt,” She laughed.

Charlie walked into the tall grass and crossed her arms. She didn’t want to seem crazy talking to herself when she was talking to Adiona but knew no other way to get the messages to appear. She still needed to remind herself to acknowledge the odd internal secretary.

“Good morning, Adi. What’d I miss last night?”

> You have one message from Squirt and eight other notifications.

“Eight?” She whistled, “Okay, Squirt first.”

She awed at the chirper squeaks. She couldn’t understand what he said, but felt he knew she was safe. She wondered if he also got messages from her and whispered sweet things to send to him in hope that he would receive them. When Adiona didn’t respond, she moved onto the next topic.

“Okay. I’ve got… objectives? I haven’t looked into that in a while. Probably should.”

> You have four objectives.

>

> Primary objective: Survive.

>

> Secondary objectives: Find Davon’s siblings, Reach attunement center in Vlaminer, and meet ERROR.

“Okay. Anything else I should be aware of, all-knowing Adi?”

> You are at full health, full mana, and ERROR stamina. Stamina and health regeneration reduced from infection.

“Good to know,” She sighed, “Map?”

A red dot on the large map showed her location with a red “x” on Vlaminer. A small, dotted line grew between them to connect.

“Adi, did you do that for me?” She grinned.

> Functionalities are updated to user preference.

“Whose Adi?”

Charlie jumped and turned around to see Lake. He crossed his arms over a recent addition to his wardrobe.

“Did you take a shirt from Greg?”

“Yes,” He raised an eyebrow, “Are you okay after… last night?”

Charlie remembered everything. Her body throbbed from their activities. She was drenched in water and vomited at least once, to her knowledge.

“Did I do anything stupid?” She mumbled, “I woke up outside with all my clothes on, so I couldn’t have been too bad.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

Charlie tapped a finger against her chin. He stoically waited for her to answer. Then she blushed and turned away from him. Lake placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I’ve got to ask Greg a question!” She walked off.

“Wait!” He held up a needle and thread, “Let’s fix—”

She swiped it from his hand and stuffed in her pocket. The belt around her pants was enough and she’d fix the ripped seam later. For now, she wanted to ignore the awkward conversation he wanted to have.

“Greg!” She shouted, “Question for you!”

The blacksmith stepped out of his barn, “What’s happening?”

Charlie walked away from frowning Lake.

“I’m wondering if you’ve seen any Leonie?” She held up a hand to explain, “This place is in between where I’m going and a pride I was with. There’s some members that have gone missing over the years. I said I’d help look for them.”

“There was one here about a week ago,” He pointed towards Lake, “He brought one by. Big lion fellow with a turtle.”

Her heart stopped as an anxious wave washed over her. She didn’t know what to expect, but a lion with a turtle meant one of two things.

Her face fell, “What?”

Either the man she was with lied to her or she already found a member of Davon’s family.

“Yeah. Some lion and a tiny green woman,” Greg shrugged, “Talk to him about it.”

Charlie took a deep breath. There was no way he could’ve known that Davon was her friend. Though, knowing the lion, he would ask. The tiny green woman would have been Gabby. The blacksmith didn’t mention Puddles or Piper, though.

“Was there a girl made completely of water? Or an extremely attractive woman?”

He narrowed his eyes, “What? No.”

“Okay,” She nodded, “Do you know where the lion was going?”

“He didn’t talk much. Wasn’t a big fan of the place,” The blacksmith shrugged, “Or me.”

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

Charlie didn’t think her new friend, that protected her and nursed her back to a reasonable health, wouldn’t tell her if he saw her friends. Then again, she didn’t really know him. She wasn’t sure what his name was. She nervously walked back towards Lake with a different attitude.

Charlie trembled slightly at the thought of being caught in another ploy. What if this man wasn’t actually helping her? She had no way of truly knowing.

“What’s wrong?” Lake asked as he approached a clearly distressed Charlie.

“Greg said you brought a group of people here the other day. Is that true?”

“Yes.”

The normal banter between them shattered. He did not like how accusing tone.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You were sleeping when I ran into them.”

She knew that was only an excuse, and a flimsy one at that. He pursed his lips as complex emotions crossed her face. She wasn’t sure what to feel at that moment. She admitted she liked him, which she did, but he could be hiding his true self like so many others.

“L,” Charlie closed her eyes, “Be honest with me.”

Her words compelled him like a spell. She sounded disappointed in him. He didn’t like the effect it had on him. He cast a simple spell to see if she had cast one on him. When he realized she hadn’t, he cleared his throat. He held her hands in his and waited to see if she would cast a spell to force the truth from him.

“What is it, my goddess?”

“Were they looking for me?”

Lake hesitated but didn’t speak. He tried to brush her hair from her face as he thought of what to say. She took his silence as his answer and smacked his hand away.

“Goddammit!” She ripped her hands away from, “I knew it.”

“Knew what?”

“That this whole thing—” She waved up and down at him, “—was too good to be true.”

“Charlie, I didn’t know when—”

“Don’t lie to me!”

> Command spell cast.

Lake flinched. He felt the spell but didn't understand what it was. Whatever she cast slammed his mouth shut and he felt the unnerving urge to only speak the truth. It gripped him to his core like Ocean herself commanded him to speak.

“When I saw them, I didn’t know you were the person they were looking for,” His icy blue eyes peered into her, “I had my suspicions, but I didn’t want to bring you to them if you weren’t. I was worried about your health.”

“I told you I was worried about them –that I was trying to find them!” She took a deep breath, “When did you know?”

“When I saw your initials yesterday and you told him your name. It was the same name they mentioned.”

“You knew yesterday,” She laughed sarcastically, “And you still didn’t tell me?!”

Lake did not like her disgusted expression when she looked at him. He reached towards her and she stepped back.

“Charlie—”

“No. You don’t get to act hurt after lying to me. I worried that they were dead!” Her eyes grew, “God! I should have known. You’re the reason Squirt calmed down.”

“That’s because—”

“Just save it,” She frowned, “I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

Lake stepped towards her, “Will you at least let me explain?”

“No.”

“Why are you mad at me?” He scoffed, “I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“Really?” She crossed her arms and became more combative, “So, not mentioning someone might be looking for me? Keeping my friends from finding me? Not telling me you knew before we made out? Not telling me before we had sex? Or after? You don’t think any of that was wrong?”

“You don’t understand. You’re supposed to end up with me!” He took a deep breath and ran his hands through his pale hair to calm himself, “It just made it easier to keep you safe.”

“Really?” She laughed darkly, “Because clearly letting me trust you was all you wanted to get me to sleep with you.”

“Charlie, I had no idea that—”

“You had no idea that I wouldn’t think about it? You were being that sweet out of the kindness of your heart?” She snorted, “I knew it. Too damn good to be true.”

She turned away from him and took a few steps. His arm lingered in the air from when he reached towards her. After she angrily huffed for a minute, she decided to let him have it.

“When were you going to tell me?”

Lake didn’t reply because he honestly didn’t know. Even the night before he identified her so many times during her sleep and never got any information. The only new information was only her first name: Charlie

“Great! Of course!” She exasperatedly threw her hands up when he didn’t say anything, “Is this just another kidnapping, then? Only not robots this time?”

“Charlie, let me explain,” Lake stepped towards her, “You are supposed to be with me.”

Lake knew that Ocean ordered Puddles to bring her to him. He knew that Charlie would have been with him in the end, no matter what. He thought she should know this as well.

But Charlie did not.

“The first guy I actually like in a while is a psycho,” She scoffed, “Just perfect!”

He grabbed her arm, “It’s not like that!”

“Let go of me!”

Lake flinched at the command and dropped her arm immediately. Charlie put enough space between them where she felt comfortable enough to yell at him. She knew he was powerful enough to hurt her and needed distance from him.

“Great fucking choices, Charlie,” She scolded herself before she turned to him, “How many days?”

“Three. Maybe four.”

“Are you serious?”

“Charlie, please—”

“Shut up!”

The spell froze the words in his throat. She didn’t say anything as she walked towards the small cart. He followed behind her and silently pleaded with her to let him talk. Greg stepped out of the barn and looked between them.

“What happened?” He furrowed his brow.

“He’s a filthy liar,” She grabbed her bag off the cart, “And I’m leaving. Alone.”

“You don’t have any weapons,” The blacksmith said, “You’ll die out there.”

“I’ll probably die if I keep going with him,” Charlie said coldly.

Greg looked between them decided not to get involved in their fight. If the god was allowing her blasphemous attitude, there was only one other thing he could do to help her.

“I can’t just let you leave,” He rubbed the back of his neck, “Take something if you must go.”

He felt the intense glare of the god in the other side of her. It sent a cold shiver down his spine.

“Then give me a sword,” She snorted, “I won’t know how to use it properly anyway.”

“Do you even know where you’re going?” He looked to Lake, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“He thinks being quiet after I told him to shut up will make me less mad at him,” She laughed, “It won’t work. I’m pissed.”

The blacksmith raised an eyebrow, “Don’t you want to stop her?”

Lake wanted to scream but the words wouldn’t leave his lips. It felt like a nightmare to watch her turn from a magnetic flirt to this angry woman. The transformation horrified him almost as much as her dominance over him.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” She rolled her eyes.

“Okay… ” The confused man ushered her towards the barn, "At least let me get you a weapon."

Charlie grabbed the first sword she saw and stuck her hand towards the blacksmith.

“Greg, thanks for stitching me up and letting me get drunk. Appreciate it.”

“That one isn’t sharpened.”

“Doesn’t matter, I can’t use it anyway. I just want to get the hell out of here.”

Lake grabbed her arm and squeezed it until she let go of the sword. She glared at him.

“I will give you four words.”

“Charlie, please,” The begging tone of his own voice surprised him, “Don’t go.”

“I’m leaving,” Charlie ripped her arm away, “Don’t follow me.”

Greg stepped in front of her to block her from the exit. She tried to pass him, but he moved to block her each time. He grabbed her by the shoulders and held her in place.

“Great,” She scoffed, “Are you in on it too?”

“You’re a tiny woman that’s making a mistake because she’s angry,” He furrowed his brow, “I’m not going to let you die because of that. Take the horse.”

“So, I’ll be forced back here? No.”

“Then keep the damn horse!”

“No!” She swatted his arms away, “When I make it in range of my friends, they’ll be able to find me. I’ve just got to live until then!”

“At least take a sheath and belt for the sword. I won’t sleep at night until you at least pretend to be prepared.”

“Fine!”

Charlie walked over and grabbed the closest one. Lake moved to help her, but she threw his hands off. She walked over and let Greg tie it together instead while glaring at the god.

“Take whatever food you want from the house.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll starve, Charlie.”

“I’ll be fine.”

She threw her bag over her shoulder and stepped from the barn. Lake grabbed her wrist to try and stop her. She looked into his eyes as he tried to say anything. He fought against her spell.

“What?”

As if her question lifted the command, his frozen chest was able to move again. He spoke as quickly as he could.

“I—I didn’t know,” He winced as the words broke out, “I didn’t want to hurt you. I’m sorry. Just let me—”

She hid her face with her hat, “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you.”

“Charlie—”

“Don’t follow me.”

“I have to.”

Charlie shook her head and pulled away. Her icy grey eyes glared at him as he tried to think of what to say next.

“Stay here.”

The command forcefully rooted his feet to the ground. She took a few steps away before she flicked a hand upward and pretended to bring up a screen. With that thought, her map popped up.