Chapter 11

      Acacia had no idea what had happened. One second, she and Claris were about to be eaten by the CFCs, and the next, she was standing in the middle of a dark forest, with Claris beside her. She had obviously transported as she was a Transporter, but the surge of energy that had flared on her palm had played a huge part in that.

      Suddenly, hands grabbed Acacia and Claris’s shoulder before dragging them back into a thick bush. Acacia turned to find Annice’s terrified face. Annice quickly out a finger to her lips and pointed towards the spot where they were standing just now. A CFC was there, sniffing the air through an invisible nose.

      Claris clutched her chest, panic showing haphazardly in her eyes. “How did it follow us here?” Acacia whispered, so softly that she wasn’t sure if Annice heard her.

      “One of them must’ve been at the end of the maze, and when you landed here, it saw you and came over,” Annice hissed. “They can also sense body heat, through some sort of cavity in their teeth, so you should stop rubbing you hands together to warm yourself up.”

      Acacia wanted to ask how Annice knew all these things, but now seriously wasn’t the time. The forest was unbearably chilly, and the sticks and wet leaves on the ground and in the bush pricked at her exposed skin, leaving a cold trail behind.

      Claris tugged on Acacia’s shirt sleeve, pointing at the tree that was directly beside the bush. They could climb up there, away from the CFC’s range, and—basically—from danger. Acacia poked Annice’s thigh, indicating the giant, sprawling tree, and Annice seemed to get it.

      But the understanding that dawned in her eyes was quickly erased by rejection and a ‘thatisacompletelyinsaneplan’ glare. Claris had already started climbing up the tree, so silently that Acacia didn’t notice at first. Even so, the silence meant that any slip up—one snap of a twig or a rustle of leaves—would be loud and clear, and probably get the CFC’s attention.

      Acacia followed Claris, leaving Annice with no choice but to do the same. Claris had already reached a thick branch by then and had draped a vine over the ledge for Acacia and Annice. Annice stared at the vine for a while, before scampering up the tree towards a large fern that’s green hues matched her skirt.

      Claris scowled, but didn’t argue. Not that she could if she wanted to. Acacia huddled with Claris on the thick branch, silently wishing that the forest floor didn’t look so far away from her. The CFC shifted towards their tree, not noticing that its prey was above it.

      Without a warning, a thin branch above Claris came crashing down from above. It ponked onto Claris’s leg, making her yelp so loudly that Acacia was sure her eardrums burst. The CFC glanced upwards, and revealed its bloody teeth, and the girls even saw a black tongue snake out from the gap between two teeth and lick its lips. Gross.

      Claris reached down to massage her foreleg, releasing her hold on the branch. Which meant she wasn’t ready when another CFC barged out of the maze end and shoved the first CFC aside. Aaaaaaaaand very unfortunately rammed into the tree the girls were on.

      Claris slipped off, and Acacia’s arm instinctively shot out to grab her. Claris was actually quite light, for a ten-year-old girl, but Acacia was about the same weight, and even though Acacia’s grip on the hole in the branch was pretty fierce, there was a ninety-nine percent chance that they could both go tumbling down to a certain death—from the fall or the CFCs.

      Acacia’s heart was pounding deafeningly in her ears as Claris fumbled to get on the branch again before the CFCs’ realized that ‘jumping’ was a word in the Dyian dictionary.

      Magically, a rope appeared beside Claris for both girls to climb. Looking up, Acacia realized that it wasn’t a rope, but a tail. Sticking out from a patch of ferns above them.

      Annice’s tail, to be clear. A long, extendable, furry, life-saving tail. Okay, maybe now wasn’t the time to dream about Annice’s wonderful tail, but Acacia wanted to grab it and hug it. Or maybe she really wanted to hug Annice. Either way, she grabbed onto the extended tail and started to clamber up with Claris behind her.

      The CFC wasn’t having any of that.

      It slid to the base of the tree, leaving a trail of bubbling, sizzling black slime in its wake. It then pressed its body against the tree’s trunk and sort of melted into the bark. The black shadow where the melted shadow was raced up towards Acacia and Claris.

      Time seemed to slow as the CFC popped out of the tree trunk in front of Claris and readied to pounce, roaring and jaws open wide. That was when Annice’s voice cut through the noise of the CFCs.

      “HOLD ON!” Acacia tightened her grip on Annice’s tail just as it shot up towards the patch of ferns Annice probably was at.

      The CFC chose that exact moment to pounce—barely missing the tip of Annice’s tail by a few inches—before plunging to the forest floor and splatting face-first like the CFC outside the maze, with black, slimy droplets everywhere. On top of the other CFC.

      Annice grabbed Acacia and Claris’s hand as they reached the ferns. For a while, they just squatted on the branch, trying to catch their breath and marvelling that they were all still alive. Claris then threw her arms around Annice. “How did you guys end up here?” she asked.

      “I washed up on the beach,” all three girls said. Annice frowned. “That’s too big of a coincidence,” Annice commented. “All three of us on the same island. Maybe there’s some sort of magnetic force that attracts people stuck at sea?”

      “At least it’s a good coincidence,” Acacia snapped. She was tired of Annice who kept pointing out the obviously obvious. Even though she had technically saved her and Claris’s life earlier on.

      All of a sudden, four masked people about Annice’s height leaped down from the branches above them, pressing soaking wet cloths against Acacia, Claris and Annice’s mouths and noses.

      The damp cloth stunk horribly like a skunk’s fart. When Acacia inhaled, the bitter liquid tickled her sinuses, making her eyelids droop and her brain to shut down. The last thing she saw was Claris and Annice meeting the same fate and one of the masked ninja-dressed people shout, “Move them!” before she fell backwards into someone’s arms, drifting off into a deep sleep.