The three of us ended up having a nice lunch under the tree where I had been sitting. By that I mean me and Arthur ate while Lydia pretended not to watch since she's a ghost and ghosts don't eat food. Annoyingly, she was still very curious about how food tasted and spent half of the meal pestering us. [Yes, you do! . . . Don't even try to deny it, Ly. You wish you could still eat so you get jealous . . . Do to . . . Do to . . . DO TO! Okay, we can continue this later. I'm trying to tell a story, remember?] Ignore her. I do.

Where was I? [Ugh! See, now you've made me forget where I'm up to! Did I tell them about Naomie finding us? . . . Oh shit. Spoilers. Oops. I'll delete that later.]

So, after the very annoying meal which ended with both myself and my cousin wishing our ghost friend had a physical form so we could strangle her, we started to head back to the car. Arthur and Lydia had given up arguing over the maps and had instead given them to me to keep in the bag I was carrying. Why they did that, I still don't know, but I figured it was so they didn't start arguing again which was an idea I was totally on board with.

When reached the car after a few minutes of walking and I placed the bag at my feet before getting into the passenger seat. Arthur had just turned the key when we noticed someone walking towards us. They were shadow-like at first, but the shadow quickly became a familiar form.

"Naomie!" Lydia exclaimed.

"Quick! Hit her!"

Arthur gave me his 'what the actual fuck' face at my comment.

"What?" I asked. "It's a perfectly reasonable reaction."

"Uh-huh," he said. "Remind me again how you're not a psychopath." [Seriously, that was painful. Oh, don't give me that look!]

I huffed, turning away and crossing my arms. "We're I a psycho, my dear cousin, I'm sure you wouldn't notice." Arthur muttered something I chose not to hear before I spoke again. "We're in a car. Could you at least do something useful with it?"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Like drive away?"

We both turned to Lydia, though Arthur quickly gave me a look that told me his idea was the best idea. I huffed again as he changed gears, placing the car into drive. He pretended to not have seen Naomie and, instead, acted surprise when he had to drive around her. His acting skills were good and all, but I had certainly seen better. Strangely, the woman didn't try to stop us. Even so, just to be safe, my cousin took the long way back to our hotel.

When we got back to our room, I let Arthur and Lydia have their maps back before collapsing on my bed with a good book and chocolate milk. I needed a distraction if they were going to start battling again. I was so glad I did because they were at it for what felt like hours. [Yes, you were . . . Don't get sassy with me, young lady. That's my move]. I half-paid attention to their conversation and was able to make out snippets of the arguments that went something along these lines:

Arthur: "It's gotta be done here!"

Lydia: "Are you kidding? That won't work! Why don't we -"

Arthur: "Are you crazy?"

Lydia: "Well, when I lived in Atlantis, we needed to put the crystals in a certain pattern."

Arthur: "What would we even take with us if we went there? A magic wand?"

Lydia: "Ha. Ha. Ha. Look at how hilarious I find that."

Arthur: "I don't want to be stuck in the Spirit World!"

By this stage, I had long-since finished my second glass of milk and was halfway through my book. Even so, I decided that now was a good time to step in. I put my book on the bed beside me and sat upright, dangling my feet over the side of the bed. "What's this about going to the Spirit World?"

Lydia was kind enough to explain while Arthur sulked on the side. "It is quite possible, if we are too close to the portal to the Spirit World when it opens, that we will be sucked into it and trapped beyond the Veil."

"That would be bad, right?"

"Of course, it would be bad!" Arthur exclaimed, jumping up and shaking my shoulders. "It would be very bad to be stuck in the world of the dead!"

I gave him a sideways smile. "I thought we lived in the world of the dead."

For a second, I thought he would start laughing. The second passed. "I'm serious, Aurora! We would be trapped there with no way back at all."

I cringed internally. "Yeah, I got it. But you gotta lighten up a bit. All that negativity will bring about the end of the world." Quite literally.