Children of the Glimmer Pool by Obstinate Anarchist (book series for 10 year olds .TXT) 📕

"What?" Iris whined, looking over her shoulder at Nova, who was fuming beside her. "I was just talking to her."

"Her has a name," the girl in the tree chimed in quietly. She wasn't about to intervene in the soon to come bickering between Iris and Nova, but she thought perhaps it would be worth mentioning her name.

Nova snorted and rolled her brown orbs, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "You were not just talking to her, you were providing her with valuable information that she could possibly use to hinder our travels," she snapped back, wondering how Iris was so oblivious.

Iris furrowed her brows in confusion and instead of giving Nova an intelligent response, she gave her a dismissive wave and turned back to the girl up in the oak tree. "What's your name?"

"Farren. And yours?" Farren spoke over Nova's annoyed groaning and watched as the taller girl moved to sit in the dry grass.

"Iris Lockwood. The grouch over there is Nova... ah..." Iris trailed off, realizing she had not ever learned her new friend's last name. The blonde girl turned to look at Nova and gave a crooked grin. "Nova? What's your last name?"

The dark haired girl looked up from ripping dead stems of grass out of the nutrient deprived soil and mumbled something inaudible. Noticing both Iris and Farren give her quizzical looks, she suppressed a sigh threw grass up into the air. As it fell about her, Nova repeated: "Nadira."

Farren gave a small nod of her head. "Nice to meet you, Iris, Nova," she greeted, smiling warmly. "I saw you guys leave the inn," she said suddenly, causing Nova's eyes to flicker up from the grass.

Nova's brown eyes widened to the size of saucers and she stared at Farren accusingly. "You watched us?"

"Mm. Yeah, I did. You guys went through the window," she replied simply, swaying from side to side on the tree branch.

Iris grinned and couldn't help but wonder if Farren had followed them. She didn't bring it up, though, because she saw Nova mutter something bitterly and walk off. Quickly, the blonde girl started after her friend before pausing and turning to gesture for Farren to follow as well.

Farren obliged and leaped from the branch of the tree before joining up with Iris and Nova.

Nova heard the extra pair of footsteps and sighed again. "No, absolutely not. Go home," she instructed, though it was halfhearted.

"Nova, you're so cold. Farren can come with us," Iris replied for her new friend. She was quite pleased that she had already made two new friends. Granted, one was a little grouchy and the other was proving to be a little upbeat.

It was worth a shot. Nova grimaced and slid her free hand into her pocket while the other was tightly wrapped about the handle of her bass-axe. She let out another sigh, probably the umpteenth one that day, and continued to lead Iris and Farren through the forest, gradually becoming more and more dense.

*******

Three hours. That was how long it had been since Nova had decided to go on this trip to the Mountain Village. Originally it had just been with Iris, but they had ended up picking up what Nova called their little stalker, Farren, on the way. It might not have been an issue had the blonde and the brown haired girls not talked the entire time.

"I spy with my little eye something that is... gray," Iris decided with a grin, glancing over at Farren.

The shorter girl seemed to be thoughtful, glancing about them as they walked, tilting her head to the side out of habit. "Something gray, something gray, something gray," she echoed softly. At last, she widened her eyes, looking as though she had just made a new discovery. "Nova's sweater!"

Iris gasped and clapped her hands together to commend Farren's answer. "Yeah, that's right! Really good. Okay, Nova, it's your turn," she declared, looking to her right.

Nova had walked in between both girls the entire time. Iris was on her left and Farren was on her right. The girl absentmindedly tugged on her dreads, grimacing when she heard her name. "I spy with my little eye something red."

"Red?" Iris and Farren exchanged looks of confusion before glancing back over at Nova, hoping she would further evaluate. When the brown eyed girl didn't continue, the two girls broke into questions.

"Is it a butterfly?"

"A rose?"

"Cardinals?"

"Is i-"

"It's going to be the blood spewing out of you two if you don't shut the hell up," Nova replied in a monotonous voice.

Again, Iris and Farren looked to one another, but this time it was in horror. Nova let a smug grin cross her features and had to resist the urge to laugh. For the entire hour following, there was no conversation. 

The hour after Nova had made her empty threat was more or less silent, the only sounds were twigs and branches cracking underfoot. Iris and Farren walked on either side of the dark skinned girl, not daring to speak a word. In fact, they were consciously trying not to breath too loudly for fear Nova would carry through with her threat.

It was Iris that broke the silence. "It's getting dark," she commented, her emerald eyes flickering to the horizon, where the sun was descending behind it. Soon, it would disappear, and they would be in the pitch blackness of the forest. "I think maybe we should set up camp and rest."

Nova glanced over to look at Iris, who had suddenly stopped. "Pardon? Did I hear you right? 'Set up camp' out here in the forest? Iris, that's insane," she frowned, idly fiddling with the buckle of her tool belt, causing whatever was in the pouches to jingle and clink together.

"It's really dangerous out here. We could be killed. You know all four territories meet up at the corners in the middle. The five mile circle is free reign territory for everyone, not just the villagers. Thieves and murderers and stuff!" Farren agreed. She hugged her arms and tried to protect herself from the possible scenarios.

Iris grimaced and clenched her teeth. "Yeah, I know that. But we can't just keep going. We're going to get tired. If someone did ambush us, what good would we do fighting back when we were already exhausted?" She reasoned, running her hand through her blonde locks.

The dark skinned girl grimaced and her calf brown eyes flickered briefly to meet Iris' emerald gaze before falling back to her feet. At last, she let out a sigh and slid to the grassy ground. "Okay. We'll rest here, but we need to have guard duty," Nova decided at last. She obviously would not be taking first watch, seeing as she dropped to lie on her side and curl up in the plush grass under the shade of an oak tree.

Farren looked a little torn. She was tired, too, but she didn't want to make Iris stay up by herself. After what she had heard about the other girls' short travel before they had met her, Farren felt as though she should take watch. Just as she opened her mouth to volunteer, Iris interrupted.

"You should sleep, too, Farren. Even if it's just for a little bit. I can take watch," Iris sent the brown haired girl a small smile as reassurance and before Farren could object, Iris pulled herself into the tree above Nova to keep watch.

The short girl shuffled her feet a bit and rather than objecting, she bobbed her head up and down in a nod before settling to lie in the grass under the same tree as Nova. She curled into a ball with her back to Nova's and after glancing up at Iris among the leaves, Farren closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

It wasn't long before Iris was the only one still conscious, which surprised even her. She had been worried that taking on watch was a little more than she bargained for, mainly because every time she heard something, she jumped, grabbed for her dirk, and sighed when she realized it was just a rabbit or something harmless. Every once in a while, though, the noise would come from Nova or Farren shifting in their sleep or mumbling incoherently.

Iris shifted in her tree branch, sliding her dirk out of its sheathe and tossing it into the air. She caught the hilt by sheer luck; every other time she would catch it by the blade and cut the palm of her hand clean open. Grinning triumphantly, she tossed it up for another try and caught the hilt again. One more time for good luck. Again, Iris threw the dirk into the air.

"Oh dear god!" The blonde girl winced when she felt the cold blade slice through her skin with ease. She had hoped that perhaps she would catch it again, mostly because she was becoming a little cocky. Iris clenched her fingers instictively and flailed her hand about, trying to keep quiet so as not to wake Nova or Farren.

"How'd you do that?" A familiar little voice chirped from beside Iris, causing the girl to jump. Her green eyes landed on Farren, who had silently climbed up the tree and onto the branch beside her. How she hadn't heard the girl was beyond Iris.

Iris bit her lip and stared innocently at Farren, keeping her fingers curled into a fist. "What?" She hoped maybe she could play dumb with the smaller girl.

Farren would not be fazed. "I heard you. What'd you do? Cut yourself?" The brown haired girl inquired. The metallic-copper smell of blood was usually not that easy for humans to pick up, but Iris' was so unusually strong that it had overwhelmed her.

"Maybe just a little. It's okay. It was an accident," Iris replied nonchalantly, though her fingers were still clenched rather tightly.

"I can smell it. It has to be deep," Farren insisted, frowning in dissatisfaction. She suddenly perked up and let a small grin cross her features. "Can I wrap it? I have a bunch of bandages."

"No! I mean, no, it's okay. It doesn't hurt," Iris replied warmly, running her free hand through her fair hair.

Farren grimaced and leaned forward gingerly poking Iris in the side. "Iris," she whined, "I want to help. You guys have to let me do something. Here, I'll wrap it fo..." The brunette girl trailed off after she had reached out to grab Iris' wrist, prying the older girl's fingers away from her palm.

Iris' palm was cut, but not deep like the younger girl had first thought. In fact, it was just a little cut, but that wasn't what had startled Farren into silence. Leaking from the wound was an iridescent liquid the same consistency of blood. It glowed faintly in the darkness and when Iris stopped hearing Farren's words, she jerked her hand away, recoiling her fingers so that once again, her fist was clenched. "Please don't tell."

The tanned girl looked up to meet Iris' emerald eyes but she could not find them. The blonde girl had turned her head away. Farren slowly moved to wring her hands together, staring intently at Iris'