"Laura," I said as I turned to her. "What the hell was that?" We couldn't see anything this deep into the maze, but we sure as hell heard the noise. Laura hunched over a little and pressed the fingertips of her hands together in a manner reminiscent of an evil scientist.
"Ooooh, just a departing gift for the brothers!" she said with a smirk. Church was still wiping off the slime of the portal when he reacted to what Laura had said.
"Uh… did you destroy my house?" he asked. Laura threw her head back with a laugh and went to Church. She helped clean him off.
"No no, mi pequeño durmiente! Of course not! That was a flashbang potion! Although I'm going to be honest, I hadn't used it before and wasn't sure how strong it would be, and now we know!" Church let out a sigh of relief as Patti lay down on the ground to clean herself with her tongue.
"Jay, is it okay for Patti to, like… ingest that stuff?" I asked. Jay gave me a shrug, and Laura looked to her side and said something.
"Lucy says it's fine. She says it probably tastes like…" Laura paused to listen to her invisible game guide. "What? Really? I guess it tastes like mint?" We all just stood there as Patti licked away furiously. Church hesitantly raised a hand to his mouth and gently touched his tongue to the goop. His eyebrows went up, and he began to lick it as well. Even Laura was sniffing her arm now. As I looked at her, I saw the extra information and gave it a look now that I finally had a moment to breathe.
Laura Vale - Colombian - Hexarchist- Age: 29 - Current Race: Witch - Home Planet: Earth
"Laura, you're Colombian?" I asked. She was now licking her arm as well, but put it down. She perked up and looked proud.
"Si!" she paused, "but how did you know that?" Before I could answer, Jay stepped in front of me, tentacles waving.
"Hey, can we talk while on the road?" Jay said. Church and Patti stopped licking themselves to look at her. She seemed to get shy for a moment before carrying on. "The flashbang was a great idea, Laura, but I'd like to advise you all to get moving in case they come looking. We don't know if they have the skills to track."
We all agreed she was right. We hurriedly wiped off the three portal travellers and began walking in the direction Jay and I were heading before we stopped. Laura said Lucy was saying we should use Patti to check for dangers up ahead, but she still had a bandage on her paw, so I vetoed it. Instead, Jay and I walked about twenty feet ahead while the others stayed back. We walked at a brisk pace as I heard Laura speak.
"How did you know I was Colombian?"
"It's… part of my class." Jay and I looked at each other. I didn't feel like explaining all about Jessica just yet, and I also thought I needed to keep these powers from Jessica close to my chest for now. Jay gave me the slightest nod. I quickly continued. "What brought you to this state? Oklahoma is pretty far from Colombia."
"I was on an island off the coast of Spain researching algae with Isak and Johan," Laura said matter-of-factly. I stopped, and so did the group.
"What?" I said incredulously. Laura was a scientist and knew the brothers? Laura made a clicking noise with her tongue and shooed her hands at me to tell me to get back to walking. As we did, Laura finally answered.
"I am a scientist, specifically an agronomist." I turned to ask Jay what that was but she looked confused too. "Crops and soil. The brothers are both agricultural engineers. We were studying Viridomarina Lucens, an algae local to that island, when suddenly opaque walls appeared, and then this disembodied head appeared. She said her name was Britney. Anyways, she was a bitch and told us we couldn't do the game on the island since it was just us, and she transported us here."
How did these game masters work? We needed to figure it out, especially after the run in with Othryn. It wasn't over between him and me.
"Hey, Laura, what does your game manual, Lucy, look like?" Church asked. "I remember when Max told me about Jay and how she was like a vampire fish."
"HEY!" Jay said as she whipped her head back, tentacles flailing, to sternly look at Church. I looked back, too, and he had a sly smile on. Jay shot me a glance as well and looked forward. Church continued.
"But it was really cool to finally see her. She looks prettier than I thought." He said that last bit a little bit louder than needed, maybe meant as a compliment? Jay just walked stiffly next to me.
"You think it's funny to make fun of Jay?" Laura responded in a cold tone, quite unlike her warm voice. Church started to talk, but Laura talked over him. "And you! Mr. Nasty Ass Angel? This is how you described your Jay?"
Nasty ass? I nonchalantly reached into my pocket to use my ignitor, switching back to my Bone Ranger form before saying, "Look, it was very confusing at the beginning and-" Laura cut me off.
"No excuses! Jay is lovely, and you should be nice to her! Both of you!" Patti let out a little bark in agreement with that statement. I looked over and saw Jay smiling, and she may have even been blushing. It was hard to tell.
"You're right, you're right, Laura. Jay is a great help, and we'll be nice. Promise!" Church said in his most serious tone. I nodded in agreement up ahead as Church continued, "So, what does Lucy look like? Is she as lovely as Jay?"
Laura made a little noise as she blew air out of her mouth before saying, "Her? No way! Lucy looks like a fucked up spider with teeth for eyelashes." I quickly turned to look back in shock at the description. Laura chuckled. "She's also very small, like the size of a lulo."
"A what?" I asked.
"Oh, um, like an apple," Laura replied. "She just sits on my shoulder and talks a lot." Jay seemed to be very interested in this subject.
"What does she say?" Church asked.
"She recites poetry that she makes up. It's like an English dandy or something. It's kind of weird, but I like her. Oh! She also wants you to know that if you make her visible like Jay, she will kill you."
I was taken aback by that. Church and Laura continued to talk as we continued down the maze. I looked to Jay, who seemed lost in thought.
"Jay, do you… Want me to turn off your visibility?" I asked. She blinked a few times before looking at me. I repeated the question.
"No, it's okay, Max. I was pretty upset at first, but it's okay. Plus, I like Church, so it's okay that he sees me," she said.
I lowered my voice. "And Laura? Do you like her?"
Jay lowered her voice as well. "I like her, but she's a bit… wild, Max." I wanted to ask more, but we found our destination. We arrived at the intersection, and I looked at the myriad of words on the wall and began tracing my finger over the words. Laura came up behind me and watched intently.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I can see words, directions, and that's what I'm doing," I replied.
"Because of your class?"
"What?" I said without thinking. I quickly corrected myself. "Yeah."
"And where are we going?" asked Laura, with a bit of edge to her voice.
"That's a good question," I replied. Where were we going?