by Jamie Ott
A few hours later, Forsi woke Jacko.
“Hey, Forsi. Glad to see you’re awake.”
Jacko looked up and saw that everyone was slowly rising from their groggy sleep.
“Ok, everyone?” asked Jacko and they all turned.
“Yeah,” they all muttered groggily.
“Should have listened to me about the food.”
Slowly, they awoke one by one and, for a few moments, no one said anything, not even Jacko who could barely contain his irritation with the group. Bouncy stood up and said, “Alright, guys, we gotta get going. We haven’t time to waste. Yes, we’re groggy, but that’s our fault,” but Bouncy waivered in his spot and then sat back down.
Eventually, everyone started to rise and, when little Forsi whined, “Where are we gonna fit?” Jacko replied, “Uh, you’re not coming with us.”
“Yes, I am!” she half screamed, half cried.
Jacko ran his hands through his hair and growled, “Will you guys help me out?”
“Look,” said Brain, “we may be small but that doesn’t mean we’re useless. We’ve been studying this place since we were born; there may be things we can help you with, along the way.”
“I don’t care. This is not what Manlo would have wanted. I’m not putting any more lives at risk; I don’t want to be responsible should any of you get hurt or worse.”
“Well, I’m not staying,” said Anle. “I’m the oldest and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“Yeah, I’m second oldest, and I am not staying either. You can’t make us,” Alica echoed.
“Yeah!” tripled Bordra.
“I don’t believe this!” Jacko exclaimed.
“Look, don’t get all pissy with us! Sissy’s our sister too. Not to mention they’ve got our father!” yelled little Forsi.
“There you have it,” said Truth. “We’re coming with you.”
“Anle, please,” said Jacko, but she remained silent.
“In the old days, warriors were even younger than we are, and sometimes smaller. Every man deserves a chance to fight. We may not look it, but we are men,” said Truth.
“What about us?” cried Dienla.
“We are woman warriors! We have as much right as the boys.”
“The only question, now, is how are we gonna travel?”
“I think Jacko has the right idea,” said Brain.
“How are we all gonna fit into the bike?” asked Grill.
“Derr,” said Bull. “We will multiply them. It might be wise to divide up, that way we can come after each other if any of us get abducted.”
“But how do we find this orchard so Jacko gets his blessing?”
“I still think we should find Dad first,” said Grill.
“There’s no way we can fight the demons alone, Grill. We want them back too, but we can’t just fight as we are now. We’re not strong enough. We need to find the stone so it can lead us to the orchard,” Anle said.
“I’ve got the stone. Dog and I got it while you all were bouncing off the walls, literally,” Jacko said with sarcasm.
After their discussion, they stood in front of Althenio’s house and concentrated on cloning Jacko’s bike by three. Fortunately, it didn’t take too long. The bikes appeared and Jacko was ready to take off until they informed him they didn’t even know how to ride them.
“So what did you clone my bike for? We don’t have time for this!”
“Because it seemed like a good idea,” said Brain. “We can get in and out of places, around forest and trees should we be attacked. Now just give us a few moments,” and Jacko threw his head down onto the handle bars in exasperation.
They all picked up bike riding pretty easily, except Anle who was slow to stop and go. Jacko was just grateful the bikes didn’t have clutches or else they would have been there for hours.
The first part of their journey was most annoying with the way the girls squealed like infants every so often. Next they almost had a pile up crash when Anle gave her bike too much gas and it rode off from under her, leaving Anle to fall butt-first onto the dirt, and the girls in her car screamed as it swerved off into a tree.
A few hours later, they had managed to put some distance between themselves and Althenio’s house. Anle was riding along pretty well at forty miles-per-hour with Jacko in the lead. Dienla and Bordra sat in the sidecar looking pretty uncertain as to her capabilities, as she almost swerved off the road several more times.
In the front, Jacko, Dog, Machine, and Grill rode in his original bike. Behind them, Bouncy steered a clone bike with the rest of the boys followed Anle and Alica who rode their clone bikes.
They rode on for many uneventful hours, only stopping when Jacko felt too hungry and weary to continue. He slowed down and pulled the bike to the side and Anle pulled up next to him.
“Are we stopping?” she yelled over the motor.
“Yes! Follow me,” he motioned to his right.
Jacko lead them onto a heavy layered patch of pea-green moss where they parked their bikes and conjured a large picnic blanket.
They sat in a circle and listened to Jacko who told them it was possible to eat heavenly food without the helium effect. “Manlo did, I saw him,” he said. When they asked why the food made them silly, Jacko supposed the reality of carbohydrates being various types of sugars, combined with the potency of heaven, was why food made them feel high and extremely giddy.
Together, they focused their wills to summon food that would be ineffectual. As Jacko commanded, the blanket was laid out with bowls of salad, and water. Machine whined about wanting real food. Fortunately, like Jacko, he was exceedingly surprised at how the food made him calm, nourished, and logical.
“This is the best salad I’ve ever had! It doesn’t need dressing, and, best, I don’t feel like grinning,” said Anle.
“The water is especially sweet and satisfying, like its coating my entire insides and making me feel whole,” said Bordra.
Jacko smiled.
When they had finished eating, they spread out in a large circle and took a nap. The girls slept on one side, and the boys slept on the other. Jacko wrapped a blanket over his head to block out the always blue sky of heaven and fell asleep, instantly.
Hamadryades