I am in a dark place. A clear place, but dark place. My eyes open, without effort. That’s good, at least I am unhurt. But I see nothing. Nothing. I fear I have gone blind, when I hear a panicked voice near me.
“HELP!”
The urgency is so intense, I scramble around feeling for the voice. I am not on grass. No, not anymore. The lightning bolt took plenty care of that. The grass was vaporized, and the earth was flattened with the life sucked out of it. It is almost depressing to feel the dry, dead ground beneath me.
“Hello?” I call out uncertainly. My voice ends flat, as though we are no longer in an open area. Strange. Normally, any noise on these hills reverberates profusely. Are we still in the same position?
I try to stand up, my arched back unable to fully extend, because it hits a wall. Now that I think about it, I am in a very small, pitch dark place. A good place for panicking.
“HELP!”
I drop to the awful ground, swallow, and yell in my loudest voice, “ADAM?!”
“BEN, HELP ME!”
I scramble around, finally collapsing. “This is hopeless,” I mutter. I spread my palms outward… And contact Adam’s hand. Yes!
I give a hearty tug, but it doesn’t budge. “Ben,” Adam says weakly, “I’m trapped.” I figure he must be in the corner of this nasty place.
“I’ll get you out!” I reply confidently. I grip his torso, summoning strength I didn’t know I had. I pull, and I mean pull. Hard. The rest of his body pops out of some unseen crevice.
I hear his difficult breathing. I know I must have hurt him a bit, but there was no other choice. Before I can even say “I’m sorry,” he says, “Thank you.” I sigh in relief. “How did you do that?”
“It’s part of me being an Ultimate Adventurer,” I respond. Okay, maybe it was just adrenaline, but I’m trying to prove a point. I reach out, and touch him. Oops! My hand lands on his hair. His faux hawk is probably smashed.
“Hey!” he laughs. “That takes time.” I giggle, and for the moment it feels like old times.
“My father was a ghost,” I say, referring to the time when Adam asked about his appearance, since he was dead. “I realize only now that he never touched me. Cygnus allowed him to visit, providing the illusion of a normal life.”
Adam sighs. “Okay, I’m on board, but only if you use your magical powers to get us out of here.”
“Will do,” I laugh. I’m even more terrified now. I can’t tell if he truly has faith in me, or not, but either way I must try to remedy the situation. I close my eyes, even though it is pitch black. I imagine myself focusing my energy… And bursting through this prison riding a unicorn. Okay, not happening. I try again, instead picturing light incinerating this prison of darkness.
“Ah!” Adam says, more in surprise than pain. I crack one eye open… And immediately close it! There is a light so bright it is painful! I open my eyes again… And realize that our dark prison is gone. I can actually physically see it lying in pieces around us. It is like a pitch black glass, melting away before our eyes beneath the sunlight.
“That was crazy,” Adam admits. Then he looks into my hand. I am holding what seems to be a baton. It is pretty, but I don’t know how it got there.
On closer inspection, I realize it is a wand. I gasp in surprise.
In the next episode: The series comes to an end as Ben and his friends fight valiantly for what they believe is right.
Koshenya Says 