Luke's POV

We were following the Fury girl into the forest. The setting sun still illuminated the ground, but I somehow still managed to trip over tree roots. The girl walked in front of us, straight-backed, constantly searching the woods, her head moving from side to side. Her two sword sheaths made an 'X' on her back, the hilts of the swords prodding above her shoulders. Jade was at my side and he leaned closer to me.

"What do you think of her?" he asked quietly, gesturing to Fury.

"I don't know if I trust her or not," I answered. "But right now, she's the best option we have."

"What about this house of hers?" he asked. "And the fact that she's traveling alone? She's 12 for goodness sake!"

"She's strange, I'll give you that."

I tripped over yet another tree root and would have fallen down if Jade hadn't caught me. Fury heard my soft swear and she stopped.

"It's too dangerous to travel down here now," she said.

"We could go back to that cave," Tim suggested, looking at Zip. "It's safe enough."

"No," Fury said instantly. "The lever is broken anyway. And there's a better way." She went to the closest tree and, even though the lowest branch was 4 metres up in the air, scrambled up it like a spider. She looked down at us. "Well? Are you coming?"

"We're going to spend the night up in trees?" I asked.

Fury rolled her eyes. "No. We're going to travel across the tops of the trees to my house. It'll be brighter because of the moon shining, and the mobs can't get up there."

"Small problem," Tim said. "We can't climb."

Fury looked at us in disbelief. "Seriously?"

We nodded and she sighed. "Fine. Wait here." She disappeared into the tops of the trees, hidden by the leaves. We huddled together, looking out at the dark forest.

"I don't like this guys," Tim said. "There's too many unknowns."

"Why is she all alone?" Jade asked, repeating the question he had asked me.

"Don't know. Maybe her parents are at this house of hers," Zip suggested.

"How did she know about that weird skeleton?" I asked. "I've never heard of an Elite skeleton before."

Zip shrugged. "Maybe they're more common where she comes from?"

"But people would spread the word, surely!"

"She knew a lot about them," Alex said quietly. "You don't think she could be..."

"Working with the mobs?" Zip finished darkly. "I don't think so, but it's possible."

"What should we do?" Jade asked.

"Keep your eye on her," Zip said. "Don't let down your guard."

Something dropped down from above and we all jumped. Several vines had been woven together to form a rope. I looked up and saw Fury's head poking over the top of the tree.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" she asked.

One by one, we climbed up the vine. It was hard because there were no hand or foot holds, but we managed it with only a little bit of difficulty. Fury was right, it was brighter at the tops of the trees than it was beneath them. When all of us reached the top, Fury rolled up the vines and slung them over her shoulder.

"Alright. We're going to jump from tree to tree," she said.

"WHAT?" I asked. "Why would we do that?"

"Because it's either up here, or down there with the mobs," she said. "Trust me. I've been doing this since I was 4 years old."

I hoped she was kidding. A 4 year old kid jumping across the tops of trees? What kind of parents did she have?

"Look, it's easy. Just do what I do." Fury ran and easily jumped to the next tree, less than a metre away. It barely swayed underneath her weight. She beckoned us forward.

"Ladies first?" I said, bowing slightly to Zip. She glared at me.

"Age before beauty," she retorted.

I winced. "Ouch." I took a deep breath and ran off the tree, jumping as far as I could. Fury reached out and grabbed my arm as I landed, steadying me.

"See? Not too hard, is it?" she asked. I grinned.

One by one, my friends hesitantly jumped from the tree. When we were all across, Fury picked the next tree and the process repeated. It was slow going at first, but we began to jump faster as we became more confident. The trees Fury picked were never that far away from each other, and she made sure that we each landed well. After almost 2 hours of tree hopping, I saw the faint outline of a large tree in the distance. I wondered if Fury's house was near that tree.

"How much longer?" Tim asked.

Fury considered the distance to the large tree. "Probably another half hour or so. I would be faster alone, but it's best for you guys to go slow than to rush and fall. We're a long way off the ground."

I poked my head over the leaves and saw that we were indeed high up. The trees had gradually been getting taller and taller, and it was almost a 50 metre drop to the ground. Yeah, don't fall. Good idea.

Fury jumped to the next tree. Jade took a deep breath and ran to the edge of the tree, jumping off to land. For a split second, I saw the vine that had wrapped around his ankle before it pulled him short and he fell to the ground below, screaming.

Chapter in original book: 8