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"A wall cloud that expands when it should be ending. I know you're behind this, Lucifer."

It was the only plausible explanation. Still, Mada looked at Thyone and scrunched the shimmering skin between his eyebrows. How did she make that sweet sound come from her mouth? He wondered. He reached out to touch her lips and figure out the mechanics, but Thyone turned away and continued walking into the woods.

Mada shrugged and followed her. He put two fingers to his lips and grunted. He kept this up for much of the way. After half a mile, Thyone thought he had begun to understand pitch. It was hard to tell with the torrential rain. The path was becoming more and more difficult to navigate. At one point, Thyone's boot stuck in the mud. She pulled and pulled like in a game of tug and war but didn't budge an inch. Mada came to her aid and freed the boot of the sinkhole.

Then, he grabbed her jeans, but Thyone had to walk on. When his hand touched her bare ankle, the tingling returned. Thyone's frustration was rising. Every second away from Araceli had her anxiety built up. Just as she felt her heart jump in her chest a panic, the trees began changing color.

All of the sudden an orangish, red path illuminated in the sea of yellow.

"Thanks, mom!" Thyone's heart slowed, it normalized, and warmth spread.