VIOLET
I didn't expect it all to happen as fast as it did. Ethan was barking out orders, one after the other, and everyone could hear him clearly. They shook their heads and scrambled to leave. But I couldn't.
I couldn't hear anyting.
I wouldn't move.
It was all so blurry. The colors of the trees mixed in with the backdrop of the now darkened sky, and everyone else swirled around me in all sorts of colors. In the midst of the spinning, the surge of heat that had originated in my stomach finally reached the tips of my fingers.
Then Ethan slapped me. It didn't hurt at first. But when he came into focus before me and I was able to stare into his light blue eyes, the sting burned across my face and lips.
"You made me do it," he said. His breathing was heavy and deep and I could see a tinge of guilt in his wide-eyed expression. He was scared, just like me, but was better at hiding it. He reached for my hand and started pulling me towards the trees.
But I yanked myself away. "I need to find Jericho." My brother.
Frizz appeared beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. "He's the one who found it."
ETHAN
She turned and started running faster than I could blink.
Ethan cursed the ground and turned on Frizz. "Why didn't you say that in the first place? Why? You idiot." He paced the ground as Leo, Thayer, Cosmo, and Margot waited by the trail towards Big Tree. The gang just stared at him, waiting for more orders. Nemo on the other hand knelt by the rocks beside the water to clean his glasses. "Damn it Thayer, get him out of the water!"
Thayer shifted quickly and pulled Nemo from the rocky floor. "Get up here idiot," he said and let Nemo climb onto his back.
Ethan froze and looked back to Frizz. She looked all dirty and scared; the mud all over her dress from when she fell, and grass in her hair from running through the high grass field that surrounds Big Tree. She looked expectantly up at him, awaiting an order. "Has anyone heard about this outsider back at Big Tree?" Ethan asked her.
She shook her head 'no'. "Jericho ran straight back from where he found the outsider. He was on his way back when he ran into me in through the garden. He was so shook up Ethan." Her eyes started to get shiny and wet. Ethan turned away from her and tried to focus on what to do next.
"We have to go see it," Cosmo said.
Thayer stepped forward and had a stern look on his face. "What was he doing on the border anyway?"
Ethan shook his head, and raised a hand for Thayer to quit speaking. "Wait, screw what he was doing. Ok? We have to go see for ourselves. I can't think with all of you freaking out like this."
"What about Jericho? What if he tells some of the others at home?" asked Leo.
"No, last I saw, he was headed towards Doc's," said Frizz.
Ethan stepped back and smoothed damp hair out of his face. He looked back towards the direction Violet had ran. He laughed to himself. "That's where she went." He realized then that Violet had been able to read her brother like a book. Jericho hadn't been running home. He was going to hide at Doc's.
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