chapter twenty two

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"fancy seeing you here

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"fancy seeing you here." Jeanette commented with a laugh, as they met the rest of the group. Aimee pushed to the front of the group and ran towards Stephan, throwing her arms around his neck. He hugged her back.

"What happened to you lot?" Emma asked with a frown, Jeanette and Enoch exchanged a look.

"We... got lost." Jeanette fabricated.

"Smooth Jenny." Leo whispered to her.

"All of you?" Emma asked, Jeanette just shrugged.

"It happens."

"So what do we do now?" Cameron piped up, he was carrying Nathan his back.

"I would suggest finding out where we go next." Horace said.

"We need rest first." Jacob spoke up.

"It seems we have a lot of catching up to do." Cameron stated and the group merged as friends saw each other for the first time in a few days.

Cameron walked up to Enoch and Jeanette, whom stood apart from the rest of the group, both seemingly uneasy. "What happened?" He asked.

"We ended up in my village, we found a secret passage, it led here." Jeanette answered, she sighed and leaned her chin on Cameron's shoulder.

"The tunnel was full of dark magic, it affected Stephan, took his strength." Enoch added.

"Magic?" Cameron's eyes widened. "I thought only a few beings knew how to wield it!"

"As did I." Jeanette sighed again, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, ruffling Nathan's hair as she gave the younger boy a quick hug as well.

"So what does this mean?" Cameron asked.

"We need to be careful." Enoch said, Jeanette nodded her agreement.

"It is true then, he can wield magic?" Cameron questioned, Jeanette nodded sadly.

"He has some sort of power over it, or at least he seems too." She agreed.

"We need Evie." Nathan spoke up, they all stared at him, before shaking their heads.

"We have no means of finding her, you know that." Jeanette told him, he sighed.

"I know, but I miss her."

"We all do." Cameron agreed.

"Jenny, what-what is that?" Caspar ran towards them, pointing at a strange 'man-thing' which was lolloping around aimlessly, but looking pleased with itself.

"Oh that's grunt, he's harmless." She shrugged, as it bounded towards them.

"What exactly is it?" Nathan asked.

"I Haven't the foggiest." Jeanette told him brightly.

"Come along!" Addison called them. The group followed the dog through the fields, until they neared a group of strange animals. A strange giraffe-donkey hybrid came over to them as they arrived.

"This is Deidre." Addison explained. "She's an emu-raffe, which is like the mixture of a donkey and a giraffe, only with fewer legs and a peevish temper. She's a terrible loser at card. Never play an Emu-raffe at cards." He laughed half-heartedly. "Say hello Deidre."

"Goodbye!" Deidre grinned. "Terrible day, very displeased to meet you." Then she laughed, a high-pitched whiney sound and said 'I'm only joking'.

"Deidre thinks she's quite funny." Addison said after the few people whom had laughed, stopped.

"If you're a donkey and a giraffe, then why aren't you called a donkey-raffe?" Olive asked.

Jeanette drew a sharp intake of breath, they all looked at her. "Why you cannot just ask someone that!" She exclaimed.

"It's quite alright." Deidre said, "Donkey-raffe would be an awful name, emu-raffe rolls of the tongue much better, do you not think?" And to illustrate her point, she stuck her tongue out and pushed back Olive's tiara with it, Jenny hadn't noticed the girl was wearing such a thing. Olive squealed and hid behind Bronwyn.

"Do all the animals here talk?" Jacob asked suddenly.

"Just Deidre and I." Addison answered. "And a good thing too, the chickens will not shut up as it is, and they can't say a word." As if they had been waiting for their que, a flock of chickens bobbled towards the group from a blackened and burned coop. "Ah! Here come to girls now."

"What happened to the coop?" Emma asked curiously, a question they had all been wanting the answer to.

"Every time we repair it; they burn it down again." The dog answered, shaking his head and then nodding in the other direction. "You might want to back away a bit, when they get excited..."

The coop blew up.

"Their eggs explode." Addison finished.

"Or eggsplode." Alice offered up, earning a withering look from Addison, the chickens kept on clucking towards them.

Enoch's jaw dropped. "Are you telling me that these chickens lay exploding eggs!" he asked.

"He did just say that." Jeanette patted his arm.

"Only when they get excited." Addison said. "Most of their eggs are quite safe, and delicious! It was their exploding ones that landed them their rather unkind name, Armageddon chickens."

"Keep away from us!" Emma yelled as the chickens reached them. "You'll blow us all up!"

Jeanette scoffed and picked one up. "Awe." She cooed.

"Leave it be jenny." Leo rolled his eyes at her, but he was smiling at the happy look on her face. She smiled back at him and put the chicken down.

Addison laughed. "They're sweet and harmless, I assure you." He said. "Now come along, there is much to see and do."

A strange peculiarity || Enoch O'ConnorWhere stories live. Discover now