The water was extremely warm. Bart had expected as much since he felt the heat emitting from above the water but Charlotte looked surprised the moment they hit the water. They started to swim to the bottom where a white light was shining from a cave under the waterfall. Bart felt the urge to take his time and look at the beauty of the life in this pond. The deeper they swam the more prominent the glowing of the fish became. The fish were all different sizes, some large, some tiny, and some huge. They didn’t seem afraid as some of the fish swam right up next to Bart and Charlotte. Some even swam along with them towards the bottom for a few seconds. When Bart looked over at Charlotte, he could tell she was amazed. Her eyes were wide and her head was swaying back and forth as she tried to look at every creature. Bart could still here the battle raging above him and he felt a little guilty for leaving Jason behind. This would be the second time he left someone behind and it was a habit that he was not trying to get into. He started to wonder if Jason’s friends had come to help. Bart never asked about them and he didn’t know if they were even nearby. As bad as he wanted to start swimming back and help Jason, he knew he had to keep going. Arianna didn’t open the passage for nothing and he had to make it to Zathya at all costs. When Bart and Charlotte finally reached the cave they paused. Bart didn’t need mind wielding to realize what Charlotte was thinking. They were scared. Both of them were, but Bart started to feel himself losing breath and he knew that fear was the least of his and her worries. Then Charlotte grabbed his hand and they looked at each other. They nodded and swam through the bright light.
What happened next, Bart wasn’t entirely sure. He felt a small electrical surge go through his body, he couldn’t see for at least a full minute, and the heat started to rise quickly. Then, just as quickly as the light blinded him and the heat toasted him, it all vanished and he was lying on his back inside of a cave. When he opened his eyes and sat up, he could see an exit ahead of him. He looked behind him and there was a wall of water and somehow it wasn’t flooding into the cave as if it was behind a glass barrier. He stood up and dusted himself off as he walked towards the water. The heat was still there and Bart could feel it on his face as he got closer. It was still crystal clear and Bart could still see the fish on the other side of wall. He stuck his hand out slowly and to his surprise, he could put his whole hand into the water. As he smiled he thought of how amazing this place was.
“Charlotte,” he called out after turning back around. She was just getting up and brushing herself off. At first Bart hadn’t noticed it but as he looked at her he realized she wasn’t wet at all. Her hair still looked just as dry as when they were above the water. He touched himself and realized his clothes were just as dry and somehow even after he just stuck his hand in the water, his hand was dry again. “Crazy,” he said completely astonished by everything around them.
“What are you hiding?” Charlotte suddenly asked him. Her gaze was cutting knives at him and he knew it was because she didn’t believe a word he had said about the “magic trick”.
“Nothing, I don’t remember the whole conversation, that’s all,” he said casually. She continued to squint her eyes and stare at Bart but since she stayed silent Bart assumed she was going to let it go for now. “Well I guess we should just start walking then,” he suggested. After a couple seconds of some harsh staring, Charlotte sighed and agreed. “Really wish Jason was here right about now,” he said starting to regret not running into Arianna sooner. Directly in front of them was the exit to the cave, with no visible features on the other side. Just like when they were swimming down to the cave, a bright white light was shining from the exit. Behind them was the pond from which they came.
“We can do this,” Bart said finding his confidence. “We have to do this.” The two friends looked at each other and Bart could tell that Charlotte was a little hesitant. Of course he believed she had a right to be, but he knew that he couldn’t show his hesitance anymore. He had to be a leader. He couldn’t let anyone else down. His mother, Victoria, Jonah, Mr. Cole, and Jason were all casualties of his failures. Now was his time to make amends. He turned to her and gave her a smile that was clearly a way of hiding his fear. She didn’t catch on and she smiled back. Together they stepped into the light once more.
Once the light stopped blinding him, Bart opened his eyes to find himself standing on a beach with his back to a giant body of water. When he looked behind him, the cave was nowhere to be found. Only water stretched out as far as Bart could see.
“How is Jason going to get here if the cave is gone?” Charlotte asked but Bart didn’t have an answer. He didn’t know what had happened to the cave and he had no idea, like Charlotte, what Jason was going to do. Then again, he wasn’t even sure if Jason survived the attack by the two brothers and their men, but there was no time for those kinds of thoughts now. Bart turned back towards inland and saw Charlotte already heading up the hill of sand that stood before them.
“Way to wait for me,” he said sarcastically, jogging after her. She paused at the top of the hill.
“Bart, hurry,” she shouted. Bart started to run not knowing what to expect when he got to the top of the hill. Would it be dragons? Maybe they were on that Zathya Island and there were elves on the other side of the hill. He rushed up to the top and when he got there, he paused also. There were no dragons, elves, or dwarves standing before him. Instead he saw a huge city full of small buildings. It stretched far to the left of them, so far that Bart couldn’t see where the city ended. Ahead of them, the city expanded just as far, with fewer buildings the further away he looked. However, it was what was to the right that caught Bart’s eye and clearly Charlotte’s too. They saw that the city again spread out extremely far but at the end of the city there was a giant tree line. The trees towered over the buildings, and the forest stretched out just as far as the city did. Above the tree line, though, was what looked like the very top of a tower. Bart could only see a little of the tower itself, but at the top was a huge golden man with his hands stretched out down by his sides. He was holding two of, what appeared to be, swords and his head was looking up.
“I’ll bet anything that’s the Kingdom,” Bart said smiling. Charlotte didn’t even say a word. She just continued to look on. Bart took a deep breath and looked back towards the city. “We’ve got a long trip ahead of us, Char,” he said with a sigh. “We should probably get moving.”
“This place is amazing,” she said in response. Bart nodded and then took one last look at the tree line and the golden man.
“Yeah…it is.” The two of them started down the hill and towards the city.
Once they were in the city, the peaceful sounds of the ocean were gone and replaced by loud chatter of hundreds of people scurrying throughout what seemed to be a large market. The road that stretched throughout the entire market was nothing but dirt. There were buildings and kiosks everywhere and people trying to sell all sorts of items from books, to jewelry, to food, and more. One guy tried to sell Charlotte a necklace that had a dragon pendant on the end and a red ruby in its mouth. However, when the clerk found out the two had no money he quickly and rudely forced them away from his stand. Bart now wished he had turned that stick into some cash.
“Get out of here free loaders,” he bellowed shooing them along claiming that they would scare his “dedicated” customers away.
“Not very polite,” Charlotte said as they got away from the jewelry stand. Bart laughed it off. They two kept making their way towards the tree line which was nowhere in sight until Bart came across the food section of the market.
“I haven’t eaten in days,” he said, just now realizing that he hadn’t eaten any food since the last dinner they had with Victoria the night of the attack. If his stomach had been growling, he didn’t even notice. Probably because of all the running and fire being thrown at me he thought to himself. This market had tons of different foods to offer, but Bart wasn’t sure he even wanted what they had. One stand said “Dragon burgers”, another said “Sea Snake Pasta”, and another was “Zathyan loam Cake”. None of these sounded even the slightest bit tasty to Bart.
“This all sounds gross,” Charlotte said, putting Bart’s thoughts into words.
“Yeah, who you telling,” he added. The two friends were dying for some food but they weren’t entirely too sure they wanted to try these Zathyan delicacies. “I don’t want to get some kind of stomach sickness eating ‘Zathyan Soil Cake’, do you?” Charlotte just shook her head.
“Besides, even if we wanted to, we couldn’t,” Charlotte said as she pulled her pockets inside out. “I’m broke.” Bart reached in his pocket and only found one penny and a lint ball.
“Yeah,” he said sadly.
“You are hungry, hungry I said,” whispered an unfamiliar voice behind them. Bart turned around quickly to see who spoke and was surprised to see an elderly man standing there with bags full of groceries. His face was extremely wrinkled and his eyes were wide. He had a full beard and no hair on the top of his head.
“Do we know you?” Bart asked clearly suspicious of the man. The man just smiled and shook his head no.
“No, nor do I know you,” he said with a grin. “But children should never go hungry, never.” Bart looked at Charlotte who shrugged.
“Okay, well if you would be so kind as to lend us a few dollars, we can be on our way,” Bart said, still not too sure as whether or not he trusted this man. Charlotte moved closer to Bart but stayed behind him.
“Well first things first. We do not use dollars in Zathya my friends. The currency here is golden coins, just coins. Secondly, I have used up my days supply of coins therefore, if you wish to eat, you must accompany me to my home, to my home that is.” Now Bart was sure he didn’t trust him. Ever since he was little his mother told him to not talk to strangers. Going home with one was definitely out of the question.
“I think we can find some food somewhere,” Bart said quickly trying to turn the man down and leave.
“Suit yourself, but I must confess that I am a great cook and be warned the market closes shortly, since it is almost dark. Finding food elsewhere is nearly impossible after dark unless you are some sort of hunter, a hunter I say.” The old man started to walk away and Bart was left there with Charlotte, the Dragon Burgers, and the Soil Cake.
“Bart, it’s sounding like we don’t really have a choice,” Charlotte whispered.
“I don’t trust that guy, Char. He just comes off a little too weird for me. I mean did you hear how he was repeating things?”
“No Bart, I couldn’t hear him over the sound of my own stomach,” she exclaimed sarcastically. Bart knew she was right about their stomachs. His sounded like there was some kind of war going on inside and his stomach was losing. Since he was tired of dealing with wars he agreed with Charlotte.
“Fine,” he said finally and the two of them sprinted after the old man. They caught up to him at his front door. “Wait, sir!” They stopped a few feet from the door to catch their breath. “We’ll take you up on your offer,” Bart said finally. The old man smiled.
“Well come on in,” he said and he opened the door. Inside the house was relatively small, with only four rooms. There was a dining room with a wooden dining table in the middle, there was a kitchen that was extremely small, a living room with a bunch of chairs and some kind of makeshift couch, and then there was one bedroom and one small room. Bart looked around while Charlotte followed the man into the dining room. There was a bunch of old antiques everywhere and on the walls there were paintings, tons of paintings.
“You have a nice home here Mr. um, what’s your name?” Bart said walking into the dining room.
“Oh thank you,” the man said as he left the room. “And just call me Mr. Phinnly.” Bart’s eyes nearly popped out of his head once he heard the name. Charlotte must’ve been thinking the same thing because she turned around and looked dead at Bart. She mouthed the word how and Bart just shrugged.
“Um, Mr. Phinnly, do you by any chance have a brother or something?” Bart asked.
“Nope, I was an only child, I was,” he responded. Bart wasn’t sure what this meant, but he knew that it was too much of a coincidence for him to ignore. Then Charlotte spoke up.
“Did you have a son?” she asked her voice a little shaky. Bart waited for the reply just as anxiously as Charlotte.
“Had one I did,” he said. “His name was Jason, why?” Bart nearly passed out from the news, and Charlotte backed away from the table and bumped into Bart. Was this even possible? Bart was sure there had to be a mistake. Either that, or this guy was lying about who he was.
“What do you mean, had?” Bart asked finally.
“Well he died of course,” Mr. Phinnly responded. Bart looked at Charlotte who had her hands over her mouth to avoid making any sounds that might be alarming. This man was either lying, delusional, or both, but Bart knew Jason didn’t die, at least not when this man thought he did. He was just with him. “Why do you ask?” Mr. Phinnly asked coming into the dining room with three plates. Bart looked to Charlotte and then back at Mr. Phinnly. How do you explain to a man his son is still alive? Bart cleared his throat.
“Mr. Phinnly, sir,” he said softly.
“Yes?” He looked back and forth between the two of them and noticed how shocked and disturbed they looked, which confused him. “What’s the problem here?” he asked.
“Your son, Jason…Your son is still alive.” Mr. Phinnly’s looked completely confused by Bart’s statement. “I know it can be hard to hear…” but Mr. Phinnly just started laughing. Bart again looked to Charlotte who was just as baffled as he was to see this man laughing at the news of his sons continued life.
“Something funny, sir?” Charlotte asked delicately. Mr. Phinnly just kept laughing until he finally put the plates down and wiped away the tears that the laughing caused.
“Nice joke, but my son is dead,” he said still slightly laughing.
“Sir I know him to be alive, we were just with him,” Bart said prompting Mr. Phinnly to frown.
“Listen boy, I know for a fact Jason is dead, I know it, so what angle are you playing at, what angle?” Bart looked at him confused and then at Charlotte. Clearly Mr. Phinnly was starting to get upset.
“Sir, how do you know he’s dead?” Charlotte said looking for answers. Mr. Phinnly looked at her and then back to Bart. Then he finally spoke, no longer with smirks and laughter, but with complete seriousness.
“Because I killed him.”
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