Between Two Worlds

“What exactly do you plan on doing?” I ask.

“You don’t travel to several different planets without learning a thing or two,” Kat says. She walks along the shoreline to some tall, thick, orange grass-like plants. After plucking several blades she gets to work.

“What are you doing?” I ask. I set the lantern down on the rocks and then curiously approach her.

“Weaving a small net. Might be a bit tricky but I am confident we can pull it off.” She says as she works. After several minutes she has a small, flat, disk-shaped basket. It isn’t very deep but twice the length of my arm. “Come help me carry this.” She says. “It’s going to take both of us to catch fish.”

“How is this going to work?” I ask, grabbing a hold of one side of the basket.

“You will hold one side and I will hold the other side, and we will lower it into the water, hold it there, drop some Pulsis Powder in the water, and as soon as some fish swim in, we will pull it up and in,” she says, walking slowly back to the rocky outcropping that led into the water.

“Sounds like a good plan, but that thing is made of grass. How will a fish stay in that and not break it?”

“Did you not learn anything down by the river?”

“So, it’s stronger than it looks?” I squat down, and with my free hand grab the lantern before standing back up again.

“It’s stronger than it looks.” She says as we slowly lower the handmade basket net into the water.

I hold the lantern out towards Kat. With her free hand, she opens the door, reaches in, grabs a small amount of powder, and sprinkles it on the water, right over our net. I set the lantern back down beside me and wait. It doesn’t take long before there are several fish gathered at the surface of the water. We slowly and carefully, pull the homemade net up and out of the water.

Kat grabs a hold of a fish in her free hand. “Go ahead and let go of the net.” She says.

“Won’t it hurt some of the aquatic life down there?” I ask, worried. I know what can happen if you don’t properly respect a planet. Earth is a prime example.

“No. Anything living down there will eat it. Don’t worry, we basically just fed the fish.” She says, dropping her end.

I drop my end of the net and watch as it floats for a while, before sinking, out of sight. “How did it sink like that? I thought the grass would float.”

“Not that grass.” Is all Kat says. She’s too busy working with the fish she kept back. She carefully pulls a scale off it, and then lowers the fish back into the water, releasing it. “Here we go! Our prize!” She says holding the scale up.

I walk back to where Kat left the backpack and dig through it. The last bit of daylight leaves me squinting for the small bag, I need. I fumble around a bit but finally produce it, just as Kat makes it to me. She drops the scale in, I zip it up and put it back into the pack. “Just in time to get ready for bed. I am exhausted. So, where do you want to camp, tonight?” I ask.

“I’m every bit as tired as you are.” She says, yawning. “How about we just camp here, tonight? Over there, where it’s dry, of course.” She points to the left.

I walk over to where she was pointing. “Sounds good to me. We can check the last clue in the morning and have all day to find it. I’m sure since it’s the last one it will be the hardest.” I say unhooking the sleeping bags. I toss her, her bag and then unroll my own. “After this is over, I swear I am sleeping for like a month straight,” I say yawning and laying on top of my bag.

“Sounds good to me. For now, get some rest. Our last task is most dangerous.” She says cryptically. She unrolls her sleeping bag, not far from mine and lays down on top of it.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve memorized the last task. Been trying to figure it out the whole time. And I’m pretty sure I have.”

“Okay, so, what does the last clue, say?” I ask.

“I’m hunting you while you search for clues, if you don’t follow the rules, you’ll end up dead. A tooth, a hair, or a claw, bring a piece of me or lose it all.”

“Oh, yeah. I remember that.” I shiver despite feeling warm. “What do you think it means?”

“I am pretty sure it’s talking about that creature. The thing that was in our camp, last night. We are going to have to bring, a tooth, hair, or claw of it.”

“How are we going to do that, without dying?” I ask.

“I have no idea.” She sighs.

I drift off to sleep, thinking about the creature. Plan after plan flashes through my mind, as I dream of the best way to capture it. But soon, dreams turn into nightmares, and I sit up panicked. It’s pitch black except for faint moonlight, allowing you to see shadows. and by the placement of the moon, it’s really early in the morning. I look over Kat’s direction, her snores confirm she is still asleep. I look back toward the water and see movement. Someone is here! Is that creature back again? Will it eat us this time? I don’t hear the singing. I squint into the faint moonlight and realize that whatever is out there is walking on two legs.