The sun was low in the sky when they met up again. Tali and Ethan sat on the edge of one of the bridges in the town, dangling their feet off the edge. They tried using Ethan's windbreaker to wipe away their sweat but that proved rather useless. Tali felt fatigued and her mouth felt coarse and dry. Ethan wasn't doing much better. His cheeks were flushed and his breathing was somewhat difficult.

"Where the heck did Ben go?" Tali asked, holding her head in her hands. "He's just determined to make my life as miserable as possible, isn't he?"

"I think we better just call it a day," Ethan said, taking a deep breath. "We'll cross over the bridge, get some rest, and start again tomorrow."

"Really?" Tali asked. "Can't we just let him be? Is it really all that bad to let him be on this side of the bridge?"

"You don't understand," Ethan said, pushing himself up and resting his arms on his knees. "Pabi said it's vital that we keep the worlds separate. He said it would be catastrophic if the wrong people crossed the bridge."

"If you say so." Tali sighed. "Tomorrow we're bringing water with us. Lots of water."

"Agreed."

"Excuse me." Tali and Ethan looked up to see a bald man in pale-gray robes standing over them. "Could you please not sit on the bridge?" he asked. "It is disrespectful."

"Sorry," they both said. They scrambled to get up, brushing themselves off.

The man gave them a small bow. "Thank you," he said, before carrying on his way.

Ethan stretched his arms and back.  "Shall we go?"

"Gladly." Tali rubbed her eyes. She was feeling exhausted in more ways than one.

They followed the road out of the town a bit further than the way they came to avoid walking through the jungle in the twilight. They would still need to cut through the jungle eventually, but Ethan thought it would be safest to follow the road. Tali had hoped it would be cooler once the sun set but was disappointed that wasn't the case. The air was hot, humid, and still; the mosquitos alone were enough to drive her crazy. Her arms ached from all the swatting and her feet weren't feeling much better.

It had only taken ten minutes to get to Tanasi following the river but after twenty minutes on the road, there was no sign they were remotely close. "Are you sure you know how to get back?" Tali asked.

Ethan sighed. "Pabi took me back this way. There should be a marker on the side of the road showing us the way."

In her exhausted state, Tali couldn't help imagining a Copic marker stuck upright in the soil on the side of the road. "You don't sound so sure."

"Yeah, well, it's been eighteen years, all right?" Ethan snapped.

"Well, sorry," Tali shot back. "Didn't Pabi leave you with a map or something?"

"Oh, sure." Ethan's voice oozed with sarcasm. "I'll just pull it up on my phone. 'Okay, Google, tell me how to get to the bridge between the worlds.'"

"Okay, let's just stop," Tali said. "We're both tired and frustrated. Let's stop for a minute and get our bearings."

Ethan sighed. "Sorry, Gnat. You're right. I didn't mean to take it out on you." He sat down on the side of the road. He patted the dirt next to him, raising a small cloud of dust. "Let's rest a bit."

Tali complied, grateful for another chance to rest. "What I wouldn't give for a gallon of water right now."

"You said it." Ethan leaned back against the trunk of a palm tree. 

They sat there on the side of the road for several minutes in silence, their heavy breathing the only noise they made. As the world got darker the animals got noisier, as if lamenting the departure of the sun. Without thinking, Tali settled her head on Ethan's shoulder and stared at the opposite side of the road. Little lights winked in and out of her peripheral vision and she had the fleeting thought that she was hallucinating.

Suddenly, she realized what the lights were. She sat up and nudged Ethan in the ribs. "Ethan."

"What?" he mumbled. He sounded as if he had dozed off.

"Look." She pointed to the little bobbing lights on the other side of the road. "Fireflies."

"Fireflies?" He leaved forward and squinted, then bolted to his feet. "Gnat, you're a genius!"

"I am?"

Ethan helped Tali to her feet. "They must have crossed over the bridge. We must be close."

Tali peered at the little dancing lights. "Are you sure they aren't just part of the jungle?"

"Pretty sure. And if not, there's usually a high concentration of them around the bridge," Ethan said. "I've always wondered if they're attracted to magic."

"All right, fine." Tali was too tired to question the sanity of following fireflies home. "Let's go."

They left the road and began to follow the fireflies. As they cut through the vegetation, Tali stumbled and tripped in the blinding dark. Eventually, she grabbed Ethan's hand to steady herself and stay with him. More than once Tali felt a telltale prickle against her skin and each time she stopped to brush at the spot in a frenzy. She wasn't usually squeamish about insects, but who knew how big jungle insects were?

Tali's purse strap kept snagging on twigs and branches as they blazed their trail. Ethan kept going at a break-neck pace, tugging Tali to her feet every time she stumbled.

Just as the number of fireflies grew noticeably heavier, Tali's world was thrust upside-down. She was swept off her feet and hauled into the air. Ethan's arm was painfully ripped from her grasp. It took Tali one disoriented moment before she realized that she had been caught in a net.