-Tranquil-

                                                        (continued)

They parked in the driveway and sat in the car as Jaiden finished the retelling of his day. He went into the detail of the book and the strange alphabet. He told him about Mr. Reaber and how he picked out the notes. By the end of it, Marsh wore a puzzled face. Jaiden awaited some kind of reaction of disbelief.

“Jaid, this is insane,” he finally gasped.

“You don’t have to believe me, I’m going on my own,” Jaiden huffed, about to leave his car.

“No, it's not that,” Marsh interrupted concerned, “I’ve been taking the thrown out kiwis from a witch!” Marsh threw up his hands thinking about his mistakes.

“You… believe me? Wait. You take her garbage fruit?” Jaiden asked taken aback by both statements.

“I mean, I don't have any reason not to believe you,” he replied thoughtfully. Marsh looked to Jaiden with wondering eyes but didn’t say a thing.

“Well?” Jaiden prodded, expecting Marsh to be interrogating him for more information.

“‘Well’ what?”

“If you believe me don’t you have questions?”

“Obviously I have questions but you told me not to ask!”

“O-okay you get three.”

Marsh didn't even need a second to think about it, “Great! One: why was a book from another freaking dimension in your high school’s library? Two: do you have a crush on Rune? And three: does this mean there are more witches? What about other creatures? Like fairies? Or goblins?”

“I… I don’t have an answer for… any of those questions”

Jaiden opened his car door and Marsh followed out of the car.

“Can I ask another question since you didn't answer my other ones?”

Jaiden nodded.

“Can I go with you?”

“I already-”

“Not on your epic fantasy adventure, I just wanna see the waterfall.”

Jaiden was too tired to argue against it and he felt like he was running out of time. Regretfully, he shook his head ‘yes’ and spat, “Yeah, whatever.” They rushed into the house and retreated into their rooms. Jaiden went through his mental checklist of camping gear and other things that might come of use. He packed it all in a large hiking bag that he had shoved away in the garage. He even managed to find a small tent he could take. He even packed some extra food in case he couldn’t find anything edible. It was better for him to prepare for the worst-case scenario but he knew he wouldn’t be prepared for everything. Especially if he failed.

He took everything he needed out to his car, all of it fitting compactly in his backpack. As he rounded the corner he saw Marsh already at the car door.

“Oh, yeah,” Jaiden riked.

Marsh was startled by Jaidens sudden entrance and bounced nervously. He nonchalantly propped himself up on the side of the car.

“Hey… Jaid…” He gawked.

“Uh… Yeah. I’ll put this in the car and get a waterbottle real quick.”

“Uh-huh. Okay,” Marsh slid into the passenger seat of the car as Jaiden put his bulky bag in the trunk. He walked back inside, Marsh smirking from the car window.

“Weirdo,” Jaiden murmured.