All Eight Guardians

Karri's POV

We had been traveling practically all day. The sun was going to set soon and we still had another hour or so to go before reaching Clover.

Throughout the day we had been switching off who got to rest in the wagon. At the moment Annabelle and Moose were resting in the wagon while the rest of us were walking. Although Annabelle spent the most time in the wagon. She was still kind of peeved about the fact that I got to carry my weapons as charms and she didn't. She was letting that be known by refusing to walk with everyone else. Moose, on the other hand, was cooling his heels after walking for four hours straight.

I was walking with John. Usually he's really quiet, but sometimes when it's just him and I he tends to open up a bit more. How do I know this? I was partnered up with him last year to do a history project and we had to co-habitate. Which is actually not that difficult once you separate him from Moose.

"So why did you decide to step into the goo?" I questioned.

John shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Adventure."

"How did you know an adventure was on the other side?" I asked again.

"I didn't. I just hoped there was." he said, "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You entered the slime too. What was your reasoning?" John clarified.

I smiled, "Everyone had already jumped in. I wasn't going to get left behind."

"You could have gone for help or something."

"No one would have believed me and by the time I found someone who could try to believe me the goo probably would have disappeared." I explained.

"If you would have known about Nick transforming into a wolf and getting sucked into this prophecy business would you still have made the jump?" John questioned.

"I don't think about what ifs. I'm here now and this is what I have to do." I replied.

John nodded, "I suppose that's a good outlook on life."

Roman appeared on the other side of me. Last time I checked he was somewhere up ahead of us, but he must have dropped back without my noticing. "We should be arriving in Clover soon." he said, "Knight wants to know if we should secure a few hotel rooms when we arrive as it's going to be dark soon."

"Why is the decision up to me?" I asked.

Roman shrugged his shoulders, "I suppose it's not." he replied.

"Then why ask me?"

He smirked, "It was the best excuse I could think of to come talk to you."

"Oh....Do we have enough money to secure three rooms like we had at the palace?" I asked.

"Well yes, but we should probably stick to two rooms when traveling." Roman said.

"Why's that?" I questioned.

"People start looking at you more if you rent more than two rooms. We don't want any unnecessary eyes on us." he explained.

I nodded, "I suppose you're right."

Eventually we made it to the Kingdom of Clover. The appearance was far different than Omega. There was no outer wall and instead of being on a hill in the middle of a desert like Omega, Clover was in the middle of a valley with hundreds of trees and lush green grass everywhere. The gate in front of us looked flimsy, made out of mostly sticks at the top and some logs at the base.

One of the two guards at the gate stepped up and stopped us from entering, "What's your business in Clover?" he asked.

"We are travelers from Omega looking for a place to rest for the next few days." Knight replied.

The other guard raised an eyebrow, "Rest a few days after coming from Omega? It's not that far from here. You shouldn't need that much rest."

"One of our people got sick on the way." Roman spoke up.

Annabelle, who was still sitting in the wagon, tapped Moose, who was also sitting in the wagon, and she gave him to go-ahead to pretend to look sick.

Moose was a little confused as to what he was supposed to do after that which is probably why he questioned, "Huh?"

Annabelle gave Moose a glare that seemed to say 'do it now dumbass!'

Moose must have received the message because after that he said, "Oh right."

I mentally facepalmed and couldn't help but think 'We are so screwed.'

Moose set off in a horrible coughing fit, followed by hawking one of the nastiest loogies I had ever heard. After that, he groaned and leaned back in the wagon like that had taken a lot out of him.

It was actually a decent performance. Hopefully his stupidity beforehand didn't ruin it all.

Roman picked up the act from there, "We've been out there for days trying to take care of him. We could all use a good rest, stock up on supplies, and help him get better."

The second guard slowly nodded, "Fine. You can enter."

The first guard eyed Nick, "Who does the wolf belong to?"

I stepped forward, "He's my friend."

The guard eyed me and sent chills down my spine, "Then he's your responsibility. If anything happens you'll be who we come for."

Knight stepped up next to me, "Nothing's going to happen."

"I'd rather hear that from the girl." the guard said as he nearly towered over me.

"Nothing's going to happen." he repeated.

"We'll see." he said with a hint of darkness.

I side stepped the creepy guard and the others followed after me.

Roman fell into step with me and I asked, "Why did we have to pretend Moose was sick in order to stay a few extra days?"

"The people of Clover may live a hippie lifestyle, but if they find out we're looking for someone they'll go into hiding and blame it on 'the man' whoever that is."

"Oh." I said quietly, "So when do we start looking for Base?" I asked.

"Tomorrow." Knight replied.