The Valley

"What do you think this is?" Annie asked, her fingertips lightly tracing the arm of a green-colored statue. The rather large, strangely beautiful statue stood near the entryway of the building they were in. "There was one just like it in the other home, too."

David looked up from where he was, surrounded by piles of books, random papers strewn about the floor before him. He studied it for a moment and noted that it looked almost exactly like the one they had seen before.

"I have no idea," he mumbled, returning his attention to the piles of books before him. "It might have been something that the people who used to live here worshiped." Annie frowned at the thought.

"If you say so," she sighed, continuing to admire the statue. David looked up at her again; a glare was on his face that time.

"Do you want the ring, or not?" he asked her, his tone harsh. Annie's eyes widened and she nodded and turned to look at David. "Then help me look for the book William wants us to find!"

"All right," Annie groaned, glancing once more at the statue before stepping toward some of the books and picking one up. "Do you remember if he mentioned what it would look like, or if there would be a title or something on the cover?" She pushed her glasses up on her nose slightly.

"He described it as 'unmistakable' and rather large," David sighed as well. The description fit most of the books they had found so far. "We can really only tell if the book is the right one by leafing through some of the pages; he said that the information written in the book would be in a language neither of us would be able to understand, and that there would be a barely visible seal on each page, underneath the writing."

"That's sure helpful," Annie rolled her eyes and tossed a smaller book behind her. David gasped and reached for it, as if she had just thrown away something precious to him.

"You can't just do that!" he exclaimed, glaring at the petite woman once more. "You have to treat every book with care."

"I don't care," Annie crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at David. "I just want to find the book we need, so we can get out of here and I can have that ring."

David continued to glower at her for a moment before letting his shoulders slump and looking at the book he held in his hands. "Fine, then. I'll let you get away with it."

"Oh, good," she smiled, and began pawing through the stacks of books again. David shook his head and did the same, though he took his time and was careful with each book; some of them contained fascinating information.

By the time they had finished with the writings in that dwelling, the sun had fully set in the sky. Something felt off to Annie as they made their way to the next building.

She looked around nervously, aiming the light beam of a flashlight she held in her hand everywhere. David raised an eyebrow at the odd behavior and took the flashlight from her.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" she screamed, reaching to take the object back.

"Calm down," he chuckled. "What's got you acting so weird? You weren't like this a few minutes ago."

"I don't know!" Annie reached for the flashlight again. "Something just feels wrong. Now, give that back!"

"Fine," David rolled his eyes and handed the flashlight back to the young woman. "But seriously, stop acting so weird."

"You're right, that's your job," Annie nodded, crossing her arms and smiling triumphantly.

David's eyes narrowed, and he was about to respond when a sudden noise from within the building made him pause.

"What was that?" Annie asked, her eyes widening. She hastily aimed the beam of light toward the sound in question.

"I'm not sure," David said quietly. "I thought this place was supposed to be abandoned."

"Maybe it's just an animal?" she suggested, a hopeful look on her face. Her partner shook his head.

"The whole place was completely free of life earlier, besides the plant life."

The noise started again, followed by the sound of something being broken apart. David grabbed Annie's arm and quickly pulled her into hiding behind a bush with him.

"Ah, hey-" her startled cry was then muffled by the palm of his hand pressing firmly against her lips. He made a noise to shush her, and then they both watched as a figure stepped out of the building.

The being carried a lantern with it, holding the light out in front of it to see. It definitely wasn't human, and Annie couldn't make out a gender either. Something did seem oddly familiar about it though.

When it raised its head and sniffed at the air, David took this as a hint to pull Annie even further back into hiding.

"You were right about something being off," he shook his head. More of the horrid sound of something breaking apart could be heard from within the surrounding buildings. "Those statues we saw are coming to life."

The petite woman's eyes widened and she looked up at the man.

"You can't be serious," she whispered. "That's impossible." It was David's turn to grin in triumph.

"Not anymore," he said, and quickly began pulling Annie once more even further away from the beings, turning her flashlight off.

Annie began to panic, tugging back on her arm. Her voice was loud when she next spoke. "No, that's not possible! Statues can't just-" the rest of what she was going to say was lost as David's lips came crashing down onto hers.

It wasn't a kiss. His lips would have felt differently against hers if it was; no, this wasn't a kiss. It was a way to silence the woman who had traveled to a strange land with him, and it worked. The woman was frozen in shock, her eyes wide as David stared back at her, his hands cupping her face.

Not a sound was made as he pulled back, except for his whisper, "Are you done?" Annie blinked a few times and then nodded.

"Good," David sighed, removing his hands from her face. "Now, since we don't know much about those things, except that they... were the statues that we saw, I suggest that we do our best not to get caught by them."

His companion nodded and whispered, "But how do we search for the book, then?" The man looked back to the creatures, all of whom seemed as if they knew of the pair's presence; they looked to be searching the land wildly.

"I have no idea," he replied. "It seems a bit risky to try now." Annie nodded in agreement and looked nervously out at the creatures that had recently awakened.

"So, this seemingly abandoned city is full of statues that come to life by nightfall," she said, laughing nervously.

"It would appear so," David shrugged.

"I wonder how they got here," the petite woman whispered. There was silence for a while. "You didn't have to do that, you know."

"Do what?" David asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You know, kiss me," her face turned red and she avoided eye contact with him. "You didn't have to do that. A simple 'shut up, we're going to get caught' would have worked, too."

"I didn't kiss you," David felt his own face and ears grow a little warm. "I haven't known you long enough to even consider it."

"Oh, then what was it?" Annie crossed her arms over her chest and finally met his gaze. The man's mouth fell open, and he raised his arms.

"I just pressed my lips to yours!"

"Exactly!" the woman huffed.

"It wasn't a kiss!" David yelled. "You have that ugly scar on your face; who would want to kiss you!" David regretted it the moment those words left his lips. The look of pain on Annie's face hurt him as well.

She didn't say a word; she just stood up and began walking away from him. His eyes widened in alarm at the fact that she was walking toward the potentially deadly statue-beings.

"Annie, stop! You're going to get hurt!" he started after her.

"I'd rather die than continue this mission with you," she said coldly. The words stung, though he doubted they hurt as much as his words must have wounded her.

"Annie, I didn't mean what I said," he tried, picking up his pace.

"Sure you did; it's called a Freudian slip."

"No, I actually think you're-" they both froze as soon as one of the beasts stepped into Annie's path.

It looked much more terrifying up close and free to move. Rather than looking like its previous stone-self, its skin looked to be covered in slimy, green scales. The beast opened its mouth, revealing several rows of sharp, pointed teeth.

"Going somewhere?" it asked in a deep, scratchy voice.