It turned out, the spider's venom was lethal.
"That is, if the spider is full grown. Carly will recover, but it may take some time." Mr. Prince added quickly.
For two days they waited. Carson refused to leave Carly's side the whole time. He sat with her, not knowing when, if she would wake up.
Finally, on the third morning, Carly sat up with a start. Carson was asleep beside her.
Now the group were traveling towards the rip between the worlds. Everyone could hardly wait for their adventure to be over.
They were taking another break, and Carly and Issa were talking.
Eric, who had decided to come with them, mainly because of Issa, stood up and walked towards them.
"Hey," Eric said, awkwardly, "Could I sit beside you?"
"Um, sorry. There's no room." Issa shrugged.
"What about right there?" Eric pointed to the open spot beside Issa.
"Oh, um, that's my backpack's spot." Issa said, patting the pack.
"Oh, OK." Eric dejectedly walked away.
"Issa." Carly chided, "He's just trying to be nice. You should let him. Go talk to him."
"Well, if it's that easy, maybe you should go talk to Carson." Issa said heatedly.
Carly winced before she could stop herself. She had been having trouble talking to Carson... she felt like she couldn't trust him. And that voice, always whispering advice, wasn't helping matters.
As if on cue, Mr. Prince looked up at Carson.
"Carson, could you please go collect some fire wood? Take someone with you."
"Sure, Carly? How about you?" Carson asked.
When Carson said her name, Carly winced, as if she thought someone would hit her. She tried to cover it by moving over on the grass.
But Carson saw it, and walked away. "Never mind. I'll go."
There was an awkward silence, then Mrs. Prince said, "Carly, could I talk to you for a moment?"
"Sure!" Carly jumped up, eager to escape the situation.
After they were out of earshot from the others, Carly and Mrs. Prince stopped in a shaded hollow.
"So, what's up?" Carly asked with a smile. She wasn't sure what to expect.
"Carly. You must give Carson a chance. If you two can't work together, then we shouldn't bother going any farther." Mrs. Prince said gently.
Carly's face darkened. "I have given him a chance." She said stiffly. "And I'm not going to make that mistake again."
The voice was whispering again, giving Carly the words to express her anger. She was about to go on, when Mrs. Prince held up her hand.
"Carly," She said very solemnly, "I know what you're feeling. I know that voice, how it whispers in your ear and tells you how you feel. But Carly, believe someone who has seen this voice destroy many before you, it is lying."
"H-how did you know?" Carly stuttered.
"It doesn't matter." Mrs. Prince said as she walked away, "What you need to know is that Carson has more to him than you think."
Carson sighed. He was trying, really he was. What could he do to make her see?
"No." He thought, "No, I can't."
Carson argued with himself back and forth.
Suddenly Carson heard a noise and whipped around. It was Carly.
"Hey." She said slowly.
"Oh, it's you." Carson said and started to walk away again.
"Carson, wait! I really need to talk to you." Carly said very quickly.
"What?" Carson grunted.
"I..." Carly paused, and took a deep breath. Mrs. Prince was right. They had to be a team, and this was the only way.
"I - I feel like... like you don't care about me."
Carson looked at her quickly. "What? No, I -" Carson said before he could stop himself, "I - I mean, um..."
I can't tell her, I can't! He thought.
"I've been trying so hard to be your friend, but you just keep pushing me away. I was so excited to finally have a family, but you acted like you want nothing to do with me." Carly said quietly.
"It's not like that. It's just... I can't." Carson said weakly. He felt his resolve failing.
"Why?" Carly asked pleadingly.
Carson sighed, then he made up his mind. He couldn't do this anymore.
"I've lived with Mr. and Mrs. Prince ever since Mom and Dad died. Do you know how many Shadow pairs lived with them as well?"
Carly shook her head.
"12. I knew them all. They were like my new family. But one by one, they set off on this same quest. Only one girl ever survived. No one else ever came back."
Carly gasped, "11 of them? Gone?"
"When I heard that you and I were going to go next... I knew only one of us would come back. I was determined it would be you."
"I know how it feels to lose someone you love. Mom, Dad, you. So I thought if I wasn't going to come back, maybe it would be easier for you if you didn't like me. Maybe if I acted like I didn't want to be your friend, you wouldn't mind if I was gone. But I found out it's a lot harder to pretend you don't love someone than I thought."
Carson and Carly came back to camp together, chatting like old friends. Mr. and Mrs. Prince smiled at each other. Maybe there was a chance after all.
It was dark now, and everyone was sleeping except for Mr. Prince and Eric who were keeping watch.
Well, Mr. Prince was watching.
Eric's eyes kept sliding back to Issa.
Mr. Prince watched him for a moment, then said, "She's a very pretty girl."
"Yeah." Eric smiled.
"Eric," Mr. Prince said cautiously, "I want you to know... You need to be careful."
"What do you mean?" Eric asked slowly.
"Issa... has things in her past. Heavy things. She's carrying a lot right now, so just... be careful." Mr. Prince said.
"Oh. OK." Eric shrugged.
"I don't care what her past is." Eric thought, "If she's carrying a lot, I'll help her carry it."
Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this part. :)
Also, I wanted to let you guys know, I'm working on something special as kind of a summer blowout. I hope it will be posted on Wednesday, so keep an eye out for it! :)
~ Megan