"What is that?" Sarphi asked. She had sneaked her way 8nder my arm and was peering inside Prin's throat with wide eyes. "That shouldn't be there."

"Well, that's a matter of opinion," I muttered and pulled back. "Prin, you need to calm down." I reached out and put Sarphi's hands on Prin's shoulders. "You need to focus on your breathing." If it was what I hoped, then it was definitely a good thing. If it wasn't, then I hoped that Prin's life wasn't in danger. If there was one threat to her life, it would probably be choking. I wasn't a doctor, but I was sure the constant screaming and panic wouldn't help.

Prin wasn't calming down. She was waving her hand, fanning herself even though there was now a frigid breeze passing through us. Her screams had died down though, turning to panicked noises. I didn't know how to describe the noises, other than it sounded as though she was asking for help with the absence of her tongue.

"Is this what Roseo wanted? It's torturing her," Sarphi said. She pulled Prin into a hug and stroked her hair soothingly, as Prin continued to let out those panicked vocalisations. But her movements slowed as Sarphi held her.

"It's likely." Aknon shrugged. "I take it that it's time for us to start making our way out of this place."

"Oh, I hope so." I couldn't wait to be out of here. Now that my mind was a little clearer, I was aware of just how long we'd been walking around here. It felt like we'd been here for a whole day, and we probably had. "Prin, Sarphi, can you guys walk ahead?" I turned to them with a smile and gestured for them to go forward.

I knew that Sarphi understood my reasoning, but she glared at me either way. She kept her arm around Prin and began leading the way, Senka running over to them and grabbing Prin's hand. It looked like Prin was carrying a little doll as the two walked several feet ahead.

I sighed as I put my dagger away, turning to Aknon with a worried expression before sighing again and trudging after the girls.

Aknon was a man who didn't like to express much, but I'd seen him break down more times during these four years than I had our whole life. I didn't blame him; it had been terrifying. We weren't brought up to fear the world, at least not by our babysitter. Our mother absolutely detested us and refused to let us leave the house. But the world was overwhelming when you've only been in a single building, or only been less than thirty feet away from the same old front door.

I kept thinking that he was going to talk, but he didn't. Prin kept making noises, sounding more and more like words the further away we got. Onyx was moving alongside Sarphi and Prin, occasionally running back to Aknon and I, making circles around us before darting back to the girls again.

I began humming and whistling whilst we walked, glancing around with paranoia. The environment was quiet, but I was extremely grateful for the sounds of the grasshoppers, or whatever they were.

"That's it. Aknon, Acer, Prin said my name!" Sarphi informed us after around an hour of walking, she was jumping up and down and letting out small squeals as Prin stood there with a blush on her cheeks. "Isn't it great?"

"So, you have your tongue back?" I questioned, even though I'd figured that out earlier, which was why I was so casual after analysing it for a few moments. It wasn't a life-threatening creature attacking her mouth, just the return of something which she should have in the first place. "That's good, I bet you're a great singer."

Aknon punched my shoulder with a scowl on his face. "I'm glad you got it back," was all he said before going back into his brooding silence. It felt like a shadow had been cast over him since he had first seen Roseo, or maybe it was before that, and I just hadn't noticed. I always thought that I was great at reading people, but that always seemed to falter with family.

I moved in front of Aknon and made my way to the girls, ignoring my previous train of thought as I wanted to hear more of Prin's practice. "It must be strange," I mused. "Having a tongue regrow. It's a miracle of course, but a fascinating one."

"Aren't miracles fascinating anyway?" Sarphi asked, seemingly annoyed that I'd interrupted them. "You don't come across them every day, they're peculiar and often magical."

"Like you," Prin said slowly. Her voice sounded childish, but I would expect nothing more from her at this point. It also sounded croaky and raspy, probably from the fact she used her voice far less than many others would.

I also didn't miss the fact that Sarphi blushed brightly and grinned, moving her head away from us. Onyx wagged his tail happily and he snaked his way between us, warm fur tickling our legs. I swear that his fur was so spiky it could be a weapon.

"Did you notice something strange or off?" I asked Sarphi in a whisper, knowing well that Prin could hear. I was just trying to avoid Aknon hearing me.

"Stranger than usual?" Sarphi retorted with a shake of her head. "Not really, he's just being a big old grump. It's nothing unusual for him. Maybe he's tried to connect dots which don't exist, that's something he does a lot."

I nodded my head and whistled, that was something he did quite often. But there was an unsettling feeling in the air. I could see some kind of change in the landscape far ahead. We would be getting out of the vast hunting grounds and into reality soon, so I doubted that was the feeling I was experiencing right now.

But I elected to ignore it. "Prin, say my name," I requested enthusiastically, shaking off the concern in my mind. I was doing what I did best, avoiding the problem.

The problem didn't go away.

The vast field was replaced by thick trees full of noises which caused me to jump every few seconds. My paranoia was high, and I was expecting a giant to come down and gobble us up at any given moment. Our group had gotten closer together barely having any personal space at all, but it was necessary for all our comfort. It was probably something else created by Roseo to attract the right kind of prey to their territory.

My dagger was in my hand again, and it reminded me that we had to get Prin one. She had brought some weapons from her little prison, but they were mainly handmade and not very good. For example, I saw a few forks which had been sharpened to an extremely sharp point, along with crochet tools which had been sharpened. I didn't know what they were called, but they looked like tent stakes.

The noises alongside us were most likely animals, but that didn't ease any of our nerves. It didn't help that Onyx was sniffing the ground once more, walking ahead of us and was whining every now and again.

Senka was seemingly asleep, although I wasn't sure how that worked once again. I didn't know, nor could I remember if she'd slept the last time we were resting, my mind still felt hazy when it came to the previous few days.

A deer came out of the forest in front of us, causing Prin to squeak in shock and fall backwards.

"Are you okay?" Sarphi asked. Her hold on Prin tightening so that Prin didn't fall backwards. "It's just a deer."

"Oh dear," I commented. "We're losing our minds."

Prin's lips twitched into a smile at my comment, but she otherwise shook her head and sighed. "Scary."

I nodded my head in agreement and looked behind me at Aknon. He was looking down at the ground, only glancing up when Prin squeaked. He was lost in thought, clearly, but he lowered his head once more when he noticed there was no threat.

"Aknon," I said sharply, causing his head to snap up again. "You know that keeping secrets never goes anywhere good." I meant keeping secrets in general, but I had to admit that I was a little insulted that he was keeping secrets. But I knew that I was very easily insulted when hit in the right spot.

"I know," Aknon replied, not saying anything else.

There was a tense silence between the rest of us. We were waiting for him to continue his sentence, which caused him to sigh once more.

"Look, I'd rather tell you once I've figured it out. Once I've done that, then I'll let you know if there's anything important."

"It has to be important," I argued. "You've barely said anything this entire time we've been travelling since we met up with that mermaid. I know that she was very pretty, but you can't' go back to see her."

"I don't want to go back and see her," Aknon snapped, shoving me rather harshly. "That's your job, falling in hopeless love with anything which moves or bats an eyelid at your existence."

I took a deep breath, not wanting to have this discussion again, as I'm sure we have had it at least once a month for the majority of our travels. "This doesn't have anything to do with that." I wanted to put a comforting hand on his arm, but since he shoved me, I wasn't sure if he wanted physical contact. "You've been told something, or you read something in your book, which you've not figured out."

"Didn't you say that Senka told you not to trust the book?" Sarphi asked. "We don't know what could happen if we listened to it. Didn't it like, not warn you against getting caught in a trap?"

Aknon let out a frustrated grunt and hit his hands off his legs. "Look, stop being mean about the book, okay? You get a shadow dog, and you get a talking doll." He gestured to Sarphi and I as he went on. "All I get is a book I can't trust, a book which has put something so strange in my mind that I want to rip out my brain through my nose and stand on it." He shoved past us and walked ahead, not sparing us a second glance.

"That book is trouble," Senka muttered quietly, her voice barely audible as her head stuck out of my bag, her arms crossed on the side of it. "Don't let it get to his head. It means well, but it's an experiment."

"An experiment?" Sarphi asked, bending down to look Senka in the eyes, lifting her up by her arm, causing her body to be squished by the fabric of the bag. "What do you mean?"

Senka complained as her body was lifted in the air, her legs kicking out. "Stop it, drop me. Stop it, Sarphi."

Sarphi did not stop, instead she began waving Senka around.

"Sarphi!" Senka yelled, her hands covering her mouth. I didn't know why, but I had a feeling I didn't want to find out. In the back of my mind, I wondered that if Senka was sick, would she simply create more yarn?

"Sarphi, she can't talk like that," Prin said softly, causing Sarphi to stop spinning the poor doll.

Senka looked very disorientated, as she hung there limply in the air, her legs swinging back and forth. She was making very concerning noises. "Just, I can't say anything, please. You can't trust what's been said. The book is still being developed, the magic inside of it is ancient, but it's not been used that way before. Someone really smart has to be trusted with it. He needs to be careful."