𝐢𝐝𝐲𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐜 | 𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐩𝐧

𝟐𝟔| 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭: 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐮𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧

   𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 by Mr. Minerva contained special information, a key to their survival. 'The Adventure Log of Ugo', one of Y/n's favorite books, would now be their guide to survival. "This is it!" She shouted. Y/n quickly read through the pages as it had been a while and couldn't remember how it went.

   "Are you talking about "The Snakes of the Alvar Pinera"?" Ray asked.

   "That's it!" Y/n cheered, turning to the pages and reading off what it said, "'The deep sea cave known as "Alvar Pinera" which turned out to be the nest of terrifying and poisonous snakes. They moved and intertwined like growing tree roots, and as if they were a single organism. They surrounded the walls around us. The terror made the treasure by our feet feel all the more beautiful. Are these snakes protecting the treasure? Or did they simply use the treasure to bait us?' It's too similar, isn't it? The cave, the treasure, the snakes... it's talking about this tree! This book was really meant to be a guidebook for us!"

   "Hold it, Y/n," Ray said as he looked into the girl's determined face, "..well I suppose it's possible. Let's give it a shot"

   "Mhm! If the book is a guide for us, then the only way for the tree to attack us is..."

   "Everybody back up!" Ray shouted, readying the cup in his hand. The roots. They have no eyes or nose. There must be a way for them to locate their prey. He tossed the cup and the roots all slithered to it.

   "It uses touch!" Y/n and Ray exclaimed, "these things will only find us if we touch the tip of its root!"

   "Y/n, as you said before, this thing is probably "The Snakes of Alvar Pinera"."

   "Right?"

   As the realization set in, the children panicked. "Hey! This is bad! The roots are getting closer by the minute!" They grew even more fearful as the three eldest approached the vines. "Y/n!? Ray?! Emma?!"

   They stretched their arms out to show that there was nothing to fear, "see? It's fine!"

   "Huh?"

   "We'll be fine as long as we don't touch them. The only roots that'll actively come towards us are the ones coming from the walls," Emma explained, "but look! They can't attack us anyway if we don't touch them. As long as we don't touch them, the speed of these roots won't be affected at all."

   Y/n nodded, "it's not scary! So let's calm down first!"

   "Listen up," Ray said, "right now, our plan is to climb this trunk up to the ceiling as initially planned. We have to make our way up there before the roots from the wall reach us. But I know we can do it. You all have tirelessly trained your climbing skills back at the house, right?"

   "But... what about after we make it to the top? Will we all be able to get out before the roots reach us?" Nat asked.

   "So we will escape," Gilda stated, "as long as we get up to the top, you're saying that we'll all be able to escape from this place."

   "Exactly!" Y/n nodded.

   "Then let's go, everyone! Let's get out of here quickly."

   Emma. Don, Thoma, and Lannion were the first ones to climb. They reached the ceiling and grabbed the roots near the top, using their weight to make them break through. After they fell down, Don and Gilda climbed back up to hold the rope that everyone would climb. The children started to file back out of the place and safely made it back above ground.

   Y/n was the last one to climb up the rope. By the time it was her turn, the vines were getting too close for comfort. She tried rushing up the rope but it only made her lose her grip and slide down the rope. The vines threatened to wrap around her legs and one got to her. It wrapped around her leg and started pulling.

   "Y/n!" The children shouted.

   Emma ran to the rope and started pulling it, "pull her up! The vine will break once we pull her high enough!" Everyone started tugging at the rope while Y/n tried kicking off the vine.

   "Guys!" She cried. As strong of a girl she was, she could be just as scared as anyone else.

   "Y/n! Grab my hand!" Ray yelled, crouching down to reach her. She reached for him while her other hand kept hold of the rope. Ray took her hand and started pulling her up and dragging her farther from the hole so the vine would break. It finally did and Ray quickly tore off what was wrapped around her leg and threw it down. Y/n panted and wiped her cheeks as everyone ran over to her.

   "Y/n! Are you okay?"

   The girl nodded and smiled, "phew... that was scary..." Despite what just happened, Y/n could always keep her head up.

   Ray grabbed her cheeks and crouched down, inspecting her, "are you sure you're not hurt?"

   She looked down at her leg and there was a bright red mark where the vine was, "the vine had me pretty good but I'll be just fine."

   He wrapped his arms around her tightly, while the other children piled on top of them. 

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𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫

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