“I’ll go have a talk with Johnny Boy. Don’t worry, he loves you, he’s just more prone to losing his mind than the rest of us.”
“Go take a shower. That stuff reeks.” I shook a blob off my wrist. I looked down at my slime covered clothes and sighed. I didn’t have a change of clothes here. I’d have to go back to the cave to get them. “Hal, do you feel like walking back to the cave with me to get our stuff? I need some clean clothes.”
“I’m just gonna borrow some clothes from my long lost papa,” Alec joked. “I can portal out to the old homestead and get your stuff for you if you want.”
“No. I think the walk’ll do me good. Plus I want to
see
it. I want to see everything. You with me, Halli?”
“Yeah, I’m always with you, Paige. Let me go grab my jacket.” She started down the hallway but turned back to add, “You
have
to teach me that slime spell. Awesome.”
I walked with her back to our rooms so I could get my jacket, too. I touched Johnathan’s closed door as I walked past, pausing for a moment to see if I could hear him. No sound came from inside. I moved on to my room and retrieved my jacket. I almost decided not to wear it because when I whisked it around my shoulders, I caught a strong odor of the leaves from the trees Johnathan had destroyed. I braced myself against the wall as a small wave of dizziness swept over me. I cringed as thoughts of Trey, thoughts I would rather have stayed buried, came to my mind.
After a short recovery period, I decided it would be stupid to freeze just because of an odor.
The fresh air will get rid of the smell.
I put my arms through the sleeves and met Halli in the hall as I fastened the buttons.
“You okay?” Halli asked.
“Yeah, fine. I’m excited to see everything. Let’s go.”
I hurried past Johnathan’s door without a second glance.
The early afternoon autumn sun felt good on my face. The chill in the air felt good, too. I couldn’t believe the beauty of Moab. The mountains, rocks, and dirt really were red. Main Street looked much as I’d pictured in my head—small souvenir shops interspersed with hometown restaurants, a book store, small hotels, and lots of jeep rental places.
It didn’t take long to get outside of town. I was surprised I found this landscape beautiful, having come from the Pacific Northwest where you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing a forest of trees. There were no real trees in sight, only an occasional scrub oak clinging desperately to a cliff face or growing in the cracks of a huge, ancient rock wall. Sagebrush was even sparse there. But, the red sand and the striated rock-mountains were beautiful examples of ancient life.
How many thousands of years did it take to create each band of color flowing through these rocks?
It was like an artist’s paintbrush had created the landscape surrounding me.
Halli led the way to our cave home. I was a little shocked. Even though she and the others had tried to explain to me what it looked like, it was not what I had expected. The sight that met my eyes truly was just a humongous pile of enormous boulders in the middle of a flat expanse. Some of them looked like they’d grown from the ground and others looked like they’d fallen from the sky. I freaked out a little as we entered. I looked up at the boulders that seemed to be precariously balanced upon one another and wondered when one might shift and bring the entire thing down on top of us.
The rocks were almost perfectly arranged to separate the cave into small rooms. I followed Halli into our room and changed into semi-clean clothes. We packed up our dirt covered possessions and went back outside, backpacks bulging. I took a few steps then stopped short, Halli bumped into the back of me.
“Were these here a few minutes ago?” I squatted to get a closer look at the tire tracks and footprints.
She stooped to see what I looked at. “No. I don’t think so. The only tracks I’ve seen anywhere near here
“Go take a shower. That stuff reeks.” I shook a blob off my wrist. I looked down at my slime covered clothes and sighed. I didn’t have a change of clothes here. I’d have to go back to the cave to get them. “Hal, do you feel like walking back to the cave with me to get our stuff? I need some clean clothes.”
“I’m just gonna borrow some clothes from my long lost papa,” Alec joked. “I can portal out to the old homestead and get your stuff for you if you want.”
“No. I think the walk’ll do me good. Plus I want to
see
it. I want to see everything. You with me, Halli?”
“Yeah, I’m always with you, Paige. Let me go grab my jacket.” She started down the hallway but turned back to add, “You
have
to teach me that slime spell. Awesome.”
I walked with her back to our rooms so I could get my jacket, too. I touched Johnathan’s closed door as I walked past, pausing for a moment to see if I could hear him. No sound came from inside. I moved on to my room and retrieved my jacket. I almost decided not to wear it because when I whisked it around my shoulders, I caught a strong odor of the leaves from the trees Johnathan had destroyed. I braced myself against the wall as a small wave of dizziness swept over me. I cringed as thoughts of Trey, thoughts I would rather have stayed buried, came to my mind.
After a short recovery period, I decided it would be stupid to freeze just because of an odor.
The fresh air will get rid of the smell.
I put my arms through the sleeves and met Halli in the hall as I fastened the buttons.
“You okay?” Halli asked.
“Yeah, fine. I’m excited to see everything. Let’s go.”
I hurried past Johnathan’s door without a second glance.
The early afternoon autumn sun felt good on my face. The chill in the air felt good, too. I couldn’t believe the beauty of Moab. The mountains, rocks, and dirt really were red. Main Street looked much as I’d pictured in my head—small souvenir shops interspersed with hometown restaurants, a book store, small hotels, and lots of jeep rental places.
It didn’t take long to get outside of town. I was surprised I found this landscape beautiful, having come from the Pacific Northwest where you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing a forest of trees. There were no real trees in sight, only an occasional scrub oak clinging desperately to a cliff face or growing in the cracks of a huge, ancient rock wall. Sagebrush was even sparse there. But, the red sand and the striated rock-mountains were beautiful examples of ancient life.
How many thousands of years did it take to create each band of color flowing through these rocks?
It was like an artist’s paintbrush had created the landscape surrounding me.
Halli led the way to our cave home. I was a little shocked. Even though she and the others had tried to explain to me what it looked like, it was not what I had expected. The sight that met my eyes truly was just a humongous pile of enormous boulders in the middle of a flat expanse. Some of them looked like they’d grown from the ground and others looked like they’d fallen from the sky. I freaked out a little as we entered. I looked up at the boulders that seemed to be precariously balanced upon one another and wondered when one might shift and bring the entire thing down on top of us.
The rocks were almost perfectly arranged to separate the cave into small rooms. I followed Halli into our room and changed into semi-clean clothes. We packed up our dirt covered possessions and went back outside, backpacks bulging. I took a few steps then stopped short, Halli bumped into the back of me.
“Were these here a few minutes ago?” I squatted to get a closer look at the tire tracks and footprints.
She stooped to see what I looked at. “No. I don’t think so. The only tracks I’ve seen anywhere near here
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