When Alex picked up the pack labelled with her name, she had to stifle a grunt—it was much heavier than she’d expected. She watched in bafflement when the much smaller Pipsqueak lifted her own bag with ease, and even the always-whining Skyla didn’t complain when she strapped hers to her back. Alex resisted the temptation to see if someone had put rocks in her pack as a joke as she heaved it across her shoulders.
“This assignment is about teamwork,” Hunter instructed the group. “You’ll need to utilise the skills you’ve already learned while being innovative enough to adapt to an unknown environment.” Hunter pointed to the tree where they’d picked up the bags. Just above head height was an arrow lodged in its bark. “This arrow is specially made to transport you to your destination. Once there, you’ll need to follow a set of instructions giving you tasks to complete before the weekend is over. After you’ve finished, you’ll find another arrow which will return you here tomorrow evening. You may arrive earlier or later depending on how well you follow the instructions, but you can be sure of one thing: the only way for you to get back here is by completing the tasks and finishing the assignment.”
This is so going to end badly, Alex thought.
“Any questions?” Hunter asked. He may have given them an opening but it was clear he didn’t think there was anything left to say.
Alex, however, had many questions—the most prominent of which was whether she could stay behind and let everyone else enjoy the ‘fun’ field trip without her. But since she already knew the answer, she didn’t waste her breath.
Her other concern involved being away from the protective wards of the academy. What if Aven discovered she was gone and decided to come after her? But she figured Hunter had to have spoken with Darrius about the trip, and the headmaster would never let her leave if he thought she would be in any danger. Besides, she was too tired to start up a conversation that was sure to arouse the curiosity of her classmates. Definitely not worth it.
“You can leave when you’re ready,” Hunter said when no one responded. “I’ll see you all tomorrow evening.”
“You’re not coming with us?” Alex blurted out. Weren’t they going to be supervised?
“Are you afraid of the dark, Alex?”
“What? No—I just—”
“Then I see no need for me to accompany you,” Hunter said, cutting her off.
She wondered how he might have responded if she’d lied and claimed she was scared of the dark, but he probably would have just given the same answer.
“Whatever,” Alex mumbled, lacking the energy to argue her point. It seemed they would, in fact, be camping unsupervised. Flipping fantastic. An image of the bloodthirsty Hyroa came to Alex’s mind and she shuddered, but then she forced herself to remember that they were rare creatures and the likelihood of running into another one was slim to none. Hopefully.
“Right, then,” Hunter said when he could see that Alex had let the matter drop. “The sooner you leave, the sooner you’ll return. I recommend you make use of the daylight. Night falls quickly where you’re going.”
Shuddering, Alex dutifully followed her classmates and stepped up to touch the Bubbler-infused arrow. With a whirl of colourful motion she was whisked away from the Ezera Forest only to land shakily in her new environment.
Someone reached out to help steady her and she turned to send them a grateful smile.
“You good?” Kaiden asked.
“Yeah, thanks,” she said, and he removed his hand from her arm.
“Come check this out, Alex!” Jordan called.
She glanced towards her friend and gasped at the sight in front of her. “Wow,” she whispered, peering out over what seemed to be the entire world.
They’d landed high up in the middle of a cluster of mountains, with three-hundred-and-sixty-degree views all around. Way off in the distance, the land smoothed out until all traces of the woodsy scenery transformed into a never-ending yellow sparseness.
Blink waved a piece of paper around, breaking Alex’s wandering gaze. “Do you guys want the good news or the bad news?”
“Good news,” Declan said, speaking for everyone.
“According to the Ghost-Master’s map here, it looks like we’re in the Durungan Ranges,” Blink told them.
Alex wasn’t sure how that was good news. She didn’t know much about the mountain range that spanned the width of Medora, but she guessed it would make for a challenging weekend expedition.
“What’s the bad news?” Declan asked.
Blink sent him a lopsided smile. “Bro, we’re in the Durungan Ranges. That’s, like, so hard-core.”
“But you said that was the good news,” Alex spoke up, confused. “How is that both good and bad news? And what are we supposed to do here?”
“Well, Alexerina,” Blink said, and Alex shot him a warning look at the nickname, “if I’m reading this ultra-military-style map right, it looks like we have to traverse the Ranges. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hungry just thinking about it. Who else agrees that we should break for a snack?”
“Give that to me,” Pipsqueak demanded, snatching the paper from him and striding over to the rest of the group.
Alex looked over the smaller girl’s shoulder at the basic map Hunter had drawn for them.
“We can’t walk that far by tomorrow night!” Alex exclaimed.
“I’m sure we don’t have to walk the entire way,” Jordan said, looking at her in a way that silently reminded her of Medora’s advanced technology.
“I know that. But still…” Alex trailed off, not sure how to recover from her outburst. Fortunately, everyone else was too busy perusing the map to notice.
“This is obviously Hunter’s first instruction for us,” Tom said. “I say we take an inventory of what supplies we have in our packs and start walking until we find our next clue.”
It was a good suggestion so they sat around in a circle and unloaded their bags to inspect the contents. It turned out that their items were almost identical. Each pack held a waterproof sleeping bag, a bottle of water, an assortment of energy bars and dehydrated foods, an emergency medical kit, a compass, a box of matches and a hunting knife.
Each pack also had one item that was unique to its owner. Kaiden’s was a bow with a single arrow; Declan’s was a self-inflating raft; Tom’s bag contained a banjo-like stringed instrument; Pipsqueak was pleased to discover a fluffy pillow amongst her possessions; Skyla was equally pleased with the hand-held mirror and makeup collection she’d been given; Blink looked overjoyed with the extra food rations in his pack; Jordan pulled a long, sturdy-looking rope out of his bag; and Alex… well, there was a reason her bag felt so weighty. At the very bottom of her pack, she found a large and extremely heavy book titled, A Collection of Children’s Stories.
“Seriously?” she said, heaving the tome from her bag to show the others. They sniggered at the look on her face. “Oh, come on! Don’t tell me I have to lug this thing over these mountains? Pip, do you want to swap?”
Pipsqueak snorted. “Keep dreaming, Alex. That’s what I’ll be doing on my lovely, soft pillow later tonight.”