Grace's POV
"Do you think someone can actually help us?" Sky asked.
" Well I think so. I guess this is where the adventure begins." I replied.
Sky took the map and had a look at it. She is an expert at map reading as she had to learn it for an exam to join the army. Her whole family had at least one solider each generation for the past 50 years. Unfortunately she was not selected because of some issue. Maybe it was my praying, don't tell her that she will be devastated.
"You still use that skill. I have forgotten it so long ago." I said.
"Well you know it can come to use some day, like today. " She replied.
Well Chris was right whoever he is. This place is not like we think it is. All the things that were supposed to be small were big and the things that were supposed to be big were small. Strawberries were the size of a exercising balls and elephants the size of plushed animal.
"God what is this place? How are the elephants the height of our knees?" I asked.
"Well Chris just told so 'This place is not like think'. She replied.
"Ok let's move fast if we want to get out of this place." I said.
Walking the path was a deception. It wasn't a comfortable trail; it was merely the subtle depression in the sand where countless hooves had trod over generations. The air here was heavy and hot, smelling of dry dust and a hint of paint. As the smell of paint increased, mist started to form. It wasn't clean, it was thick, shimmering, and strangely white. The air grew immediately cooler, the heavy metallic odor replaced by the sharp, headache-inducing scent of industrial paint. The mist grew so did our headaches. This lasted for about half an hour. Then there it stood. Tall, black, metal gates three times the height of Sky and me together.
"Well, looks like we found the place the smell was coming from." I said and Sky just nodded in response.
On the gate was a letter, ' Stay here for tonight for it will snow. Here it only snows once a year, so morning it will be safe to go. As for the gates gently tap them thrice.-Chris'.
Before doing so we plucked two fully ripe blueberries. Entering the gate I felt a cold breeze hit the side of my body. The house was not so big neither small. It had what a typical house should have. This place felt abandoned. Well it was but, I had this feeling that before the owner did so it was loved. Anyway we wandered the house and finally found a bed we could crash on for the night. Coming back to reality from dreamland, I noticed the items of the room that we kept were scattered on the floor, like someone broke in and searched for valuable belongings.
"Sky wake up. Someone broke in and messed up the room." I said as I shook her from her sleep.
"Just five more minutes. Please" Sky said as she turned away from me.
"Get up you moron. Check if you have your phone at least." I said as I kicked her off the bed.
"God your like my mom Grace. And no I don't have my phone." She said calmly. But slowly I saw panick on her face.
"Wait wait wait.... I don't have my phone. Someone stole it." She shouted.
"Well lets take the remaining things and move. We have to get out of here, don't we" I asked her.
"But what about my phone, what about your phone, what about our phones?" She shouted as she started to sob.
"Girl it's just a freaking old phone. We can buy new ones once we escape." I reassured her.
She got and started packing the things. One thing about Sky was she bonds with everything she had like her books, her room, etc. So if she loses it, it feels like she lost someone special to her. Anyway we finished packing and went outside, and OH MY GOD it was like a tsunami of snow hit the land. Sky immediately went and dived into the snow. She was enjoying herself so I let her be. After some time we went on with our journey.
We kept low, running past the huge ice columns until the freezing cold eased. The map led us to an incredible sight: a gigantic, old tree piercing the sky, its green leaves bright against the snow. High up on a branch as thick as a road, was a wooden boat.
"That is just so random. How did a boat that big get stuck on a tree twice as big?" I asked.
"Well you know, I do love a mystery. Let's go up into the boat." Sky said.
I reluctantly agreed. Going up the ladder into the boat I felt like one wrong step could end my life. Slowly and steadily we entered the boat... or should I say a house. It had everything a typical house should have, like a bed, sofa, a TV and even a toilet. After exploring the house boat thing, Sky who was unusually quiet came up with an idea.
"Why don't we spend the night over here. It is getting darker by the minute outside." Sky asked
"I mean your right. This place looks abandoned anyway." I replied.
As we drifted into the place of unconsciousness the peace was rudely yanked away when someone shook both of us awake. It was a young man in a hunter's plaid, his gaze fixed intently on us. His boots were dusted from travel, his posture rigid, like a guardian waiting at the crossroads of a forbidden world.
"Excuse me but who are you?" Sky asked.
"The person who will make you sleep permanently." the guy answered casually.
"Well that's a bit rude. We were taking a nap, why did you wake us up? Do you like stay here or something?" Sky asked again.
"Actually yes, I do stay here. I actually thought you guys were the people hunting me down, so naturally I was kind of on the edge. Sorry" he replied.
"Well we are sorry as we too talked to rudely, right Sky." I said looking at her forcing her to apologize.
"It is no problem. I'm Ares. I have been stuck here for some time. Trying to get out of here is a mess." he said.
"I'm Grace and she is Sky, my bestie." I introduced ourselves.
"Actually we are on our way to Chris, whoever he is." Sky replied.
"Really. Think I can tag along. I lost the map he gave at the start." Ares asked with puppy eyes.
"Grace I need to talk to you in private." Sky said firmly.
"What is it?" I asked her after Ares left to give us privacy.
"I don't think we should trust him. I find something off about him." Sky said.
"Ares come on up now. You can join us on the journey to find Chris." I called for Ares as I ignored Sky's warning.
"Thank you Grace and Sky, I really mean it." he thanked us.