change of plans

fer da week we travel to zendra cove, dhe piwate crew keeps ta demselves. dhey werk on fixin their boat best dhey can. i help throw buckets of wauter outta dhe big hole in da side, then i thought splashing some at a crewman would make us all laugh! we could all use one. but i was toldta kick rocks instead.. feh! whatever, it was boring to be quiet n thinkful to myself anyways. when it got quiet, i would ‘member my dream..
 
de odher nacht, i had one of da most realest feeling dreams ever. i was back home, in moonbright. i could see hebe outside her hut, stewing up somethin fwagrant in da cauldron she never washed, but i cant even take one step forwerd befoar im whisked away.
now im at a fork in de strasse.. one looks liek any ol dimmin girl, but her hair looks liek mine.. she smiles n walks away wiffout a werd. dhe other side is a wild n mangled thing, a creature wif no control. on its hands and at its feet are whats left of my friends.. but somehow bofh paths smell liek death. just then, another path appears and i hear many many voices chanting, growing louder. they say “survive… survive…” over n over as da blinding light at dhe end of da third path takes shape. a being wifh sharp claws holding a sword approaches.
its too much, too too much! i dunno what to do! i want to call out but cant breathe, im pounding my chest trying to open it n finally, somethin happens! my froat feels weird, n im suddenly able to take an extra big breath, and a huge “wwrrrooaaaarrrrr!” comes outta me!
when i open my teary eyes again, im back at de hut. i meet hebe’s gaze and she nods to me. no words, which was often her way. alls i wanna do is run to her, bury my face in her apron..but i know when i step, da dream will end.. n so it does. smells liek da early early morning, so i wait it out in my hammock til my friends wake. i can hear bricky’s energy hum in dhe hammock below me, but even if he dont sleep i wont worry him wif dis now. sure it was a scary dream, but hebe’s acknowledgement must mean it’ll all be ok. (they’ll all be ok..)
 
now, a whole week has passed. still no sign of mr. bloodyhooks, which dont bother me but im still curious. wifh da boat so messed up, youd think he’d wanna help fix it, unless he’s cutting hims losses. ah, well.
so liek evry morgen, today i run up on deck ta see if our view of da sea has changed, n it has! anovver darker blue sea is right up against da lighter blue sea we’re currently on, liek dhey cant mix! (are all seas liek dis?, i wumder). soon the shmells of tobias’ cookin flood da whole boat, drawing us all togevver. (‘cept fer drexla and mr v who were testing shiny new device.) ede n me wonder what we think zendra cove will look liek, or what kinda pepol live dere or if its all pirates. its hard to imagine without much to compare wifh, but thats what makes talkin to ede nice. she’s kinda liek me someways.
 
as i finish bwicky’s share of brekkfass (sorry ede i didnt think ta ask if you wanted some til after i eated it all..), my eyes wander around deck. luna is staring out ta sea …but in a moment her body changes, stiffens. that only seems ta happens when da visions take her, so i waste no time in rushing over ta spot her n make sure she dont fall if da boat shifts. but as soon as i grab onto her, im also glowing?? all over too, not just my eyes liek luna is. it dont hurt, so i stay to protec luna but i holler fer bricky n tobias to help. dhey bofh experiment and do a lil touch but neither of dem glow. thankfully soon luna is back and tells us of her new memory: she had been to zendra cove before, with her papa who was worried about somethin at da time but wouldnt tell luna about it. i wumder if we’ll find out when we get dhere.. how long ago was dhis again?
 
 
not long after, we come upon de cove. its liek a huge sorta-circle carving inland, wifh buildings on land as well as along da wauter. luna said most of da city is underwater actually. but somethin she didnt mention was all da buildings made out of many diff’rent shipwrecks n junk.
all da pirates on da boat start shuffling around hurredly, putting all sortsa stuff into barrels fer whatever reason, while da travelers have a big discussion about what ta do next. we musta looked weird sitting right out front fer as long as we did, so befoar we could agree on a plan – pow, bam! da boat is being shot at, and da force of whatever hit us lurches us all off our footing, but unlucky luna falls overboard n drops into de sea! in da same instant v calls out to us and dives after her. waiting while still being shot at wifh cannons feels liek time is froze. it takes too long fer an experienced swimmer liek v ta come back, so bricky hands me a rope tied to himself n dives in after dem bofh.. at least we know bricky can’t drown, so i have faith in my freunde n dig one set of claws deeper into da boat’s railing n wrap da rope around my ovver hand one moar times. drexla takes atom down too, n soon im relieved to feel a tug at da rope! tobias n me pull them all up in a barrel drexla magicked them all into, n we finally got our bearings enuff fer v ta steer us to shore. deres barely half a boat left at dis point, but on our way ta shore we notice a group of pepols walking in our direction.. (dey’re probly wifh da guys dat shot at us n wanna fight..)
 
while we hurry ta unload torvas n da wagon from da ship, bricky tells me a lil secret (hehehehe v also glows! glow-crew~ only hims legs, he says. somehow ta do wifh luna just liek me.) so we’re all ready ta go, pushing da wagon through sand into da forest while da pirates cant decide if dhey wanna stay wifh da boat or not. dhey trust da nice eelfolk dockhand who says its no worries ta leave it while dhey start on repairs, but once we’re all passed da treeline n observe da goons who were following us befoar. dhey eye da ship, n soon begin to raid it but not finding much. da biggest of dem shoves da nice dockhand into da wouter, n even kills one of his scouts when dey had no new infermation.
 
after making our way moar further into da forest, sarsoon covering our trail behind us, we decide ta keep going towards de tabaxi village while sarsoon stays here ta babysit de cart n bomb barrels. at one point we cross paths wifh a tabaxi n lenonin traveling to de cove fer da pwomise of better resources. tobias was de only one dhey noticed, so da rest of us listened from da shadows. one-a dem had scars all over deir body, n told how dhey’ve nowhere else after being deemed too weak fer da tabaxis.. hm. i sure hope im good enuff.
as we continue on, looking back we can see dat same group at da city gate telling da guards about who dey met.
 
dhis forest is real quiet.. pretty dark, too. some of us notice more n more bright yellah mushrooms along da path. my first thought is ta eat one, ta log it and da effects in ma book but luna cautions me. some of us don’t seem ta notice da mushrooms at all, liek golkir who takes luna fer a dance while i was in da middle of talkin ta her! no one can get through ta him til capt’n v slapped da music outta hims head. we now find we’ve been led deeper into de forest, where da magick mushrooms are ever bigger dhan befoar. when we thought we’d all lose it, drexla shoots holes in da canopy of trees wifh v’s new “gun” thingy and da sunlight burns all da mushies away from us!
 
we’re able ta travel safely fer several hours, only seeing a mushroom ev’ry once in a while. somehow it feels liek its watching us. i do my best ta be helpful fer luna, n we navigate da group toward a grassy meadow. luna’s eyes are glowing again. she says she can see bubbles of magicks all around here, but when she tries ta get closer its liek da grass zapps her of energy. i pull her back out of da toxic grass n somehow her energy is back and im glowing again. so luna has an idear. she calls v over, takes bofa our hands (v’s leggies are glowing blue!), n togevver we walk into da tall grass. its amazing, as we make our way further to de source of da bubbles da windswept grass becomes a vortex of sparkles n glow of all colors. in da center is a glyph, its cracked which is where all da bubbles are comin from. i can only watch in awe as luna reaches out, manifesting a key of purple, blue, and green in her hand. she drops it into da ground and da glyph fades away, and da forest’s ominous energy wifh it. i swear, i can hear da same echo as in my dream.. "survive.. survive.."
 
once we’re back outta de grass, – oh no, bricky! what der heck happened?! he’s in a buncha pieces, and only half put back togevver sittin at da base of a tree, so i make sure ta help him out while we tell all about what happened in da magick grass. apparently no one else saw da magick liek we did, and werent even allowed ta follow us in (das why bricky was all busted, poor guy lost a fight wifh grass).
drexla shares how a voice spoke ta her earlier, n it was probably a faerie since she also got sent a message written in flowers right outta de ground. but since luna banished da glyph, drexla says da fae energies are gone from dis forest. maybe we made it harder fer drexla ta contact da fae, but i dunno maybe das a good thing..