Chapter 4: There's a She?!

            The siblings ambled anxiously along the stone brick street, which was laden down with moss and moisture. By the time they had walked less than three blocks, their shoes were sopping wet.

            “Ugh! Would it kill to hire some street cleaners?” Nikki spat disgustedly, lifting up a muddy, moss-covered foot. “Geez!”

            “Oh, come on! We’re the Order of the Stone!” Jesse encouraged. “Don’t be so whiny about such a small thing.”

            As the two were talking, they heard a bleat that abounded like a sick dog whining. One turn behind them, and they saw a llama, gray in color, and all alone. It had been following the siblings for as long as they could figure out.

            “Hey, look! A llama! You don’t see those back home,” Nikki crowed over the animal, reaching out to stroke its neck. Jesse looked a bit more skeptical, though.

            “Come on, let’s go. We need to find that key,” Jesse reminded Nikki of their task. She turned away, and they both started to leave, but the llama nosed Nikki’s shoulder, wanting more of her soft hand on its neck.

            “No, bad llama! Go away,” Jesse tried to push the llama away from his sister, but it struggled against him. “Alright, go on, shoo!” Jesse said in a louder voice. It backed up, then turned away resentfully. Relieved to have gotten rid of the llama, Jesse turned to go. But as he was walking off, he heard a spittake, the whistle of wind, and before he knew it, a huge glob of llama spit was stuck to his face, impacting quite hard.

            “Agh! Yuck! Get it off!” he choked to Nikki.

            “But we’re the Order of the Stone! We can handle such small things!” she joked. Her expression became nervous when Jesse flashed a furious glare at her. “Only kidding,” she added quickly. “Hang on, I got it.”

* * *

            Still trying to wipe the last of the sliminess of the spitball from his cheek, Jesse trudged on alongside Nikki, feeling more annoyed than anxious now. But anyone could become braver, provided they got spat on by a llama.

            Nikki sauntered nonchalantly along, avoiding thinking about her brother’s unfortunate situation too much. Now really wasn’t a time for laughing. She was moseying the mossy streets when she heard a tune. It was ever so quiet, but it was chilling to hear. She pricked her ears up a bit, trying to find a better hearing point. Someone, or something, was humming, and they were definitely getting closer.

            Nikki turned to Jesse to warn him, but he was already looking around, alert. At least he had learned his lesson from the mansion mishap. But the humming showed no signs of fading. Beginning to shake a bit, Nikki stepped closer to her brother, who did his best to pinpoint the noise.

            At last, the two siblings whipped their head in the same direction. There, up on a hill where the street dipped, was a girl about Jesse’s age. She was wearing a wedding dress that looked very out of shape. Her eyes were covered with short, wispy bangs. Her veil had tons of holes in it. And she didn’t move a muscle. She wasn’t humming anymore, either. Everything was completely still.

            Finally, Nikki broke the dead silence. “Um…hello? Are you--”

            “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” the girl suddenly screeched, her bangs flying up suddenly to reveal stitched-shut eye sockets with sticky blood pouring out. The kicker was when two giant shapes unfolded from behind her back. But they weren’t just shapes; they were wings! And they weren’t just wings; they were vex wings! The girl was a vex! And now she was shooting down the hill, heading straight for them!

            “OH HOLY SH—HMMMMMMF!” Jesse screamed, but was cut off when Nikki slapped a hand over his mouth as she leapt into his arms like a frightened cat and wrapped her arms around his neck and face. Jesse wasted no time turning tail and racing off, Nikki in his arms. Oh sure, he could have drawn his sword and fought, but he made his choice in the split second of their fear, and he knew fighting wouldn’t do squat.

            Jesse threw himself left and right, dodging all the obstacles he nearly ran blindly into. At one point, his foot caught a crevice in the street. He tripped and dropped Nikki, both of them tumbling down the slope they had been attempting to run over. Jesse toppled head over heels, again and again, over and over, faster and faster.

            Finally, at the end of the dip, Jesse and Nikki were tossed roughly off the street and onto the sidewalk, which wasn’t any softer. Jesse felt the skin on his forehead, elbow, and knee break, and felt the hot, sticky rush of blood trickle from his new wounds.

            When they came to a stop at last, Jesse laid on his back and tried to catch his breath. Who was that? No, WHAT was that? It was another vex, but a she?! How worse could their situation get? How did he and Nikki ever get stuck in—

            Nikki! He had been so frightened of the she-vex and in pain of his own scrapes, he had completely forgotten about the state of his sister! Was she okay? Was she hurt? Did that vex catch her?! Frantic at what might have happened, Jesse got to his feet, wincing at getting up so quickly when he was sore, and scoured the area for Nikki. At first, he didn’t see her. His throat tightened at the thought of losing her, but then he saw her on the other side of the street, underneath a lamp post, struggling to rise up. She had a long cut on her cheek, and her ankle was tweaked slightly, but she was alive. Heart slamming with relief, Jesse crossed the street in three bounds to her side.

            “Ngh! J-Jesse…?” she whimpered as he knelt down beside her and propped her up. A shiver rippled through her body, giving Jesse the signal to curl her up close in his arms.

            “Hey, it’s okay,” he coaxed, rubbing her back gently. “It’s all fine now. Shhhhh…”

            The quietness in his voice after what they just went through surprised him, but he was glad it calmed her down. Shutting her eyes, and tired from their exploration as well as their scaredy-sprint, Nikki fell asleep. She had the right idea, for Jesse felt his eyes beginning to droop too.

            “We’ll just rest for a moment,” he promised himself, closing his own eyes. “Then we’ll keep moving.” Hugging his little sister close, Jesse laid against the pole and slept.

Cute! <:3 It was horrifying at first, but now it's cute! Actually, first it was funny, then horrifying, then cute! Or was it horrifying, funny--agh! Forget it! I got through the chapter, and that's what matters. Can't wait to see you all in the next chapter!