Budding Star by Annie Dalton

soaring off to a totally unknown dimension.
     

Chapter Four
    L ight flickered high above me. I could hear crickets chirping and the buzz of summer bees. The air was so hot and humid it was literally steaming. I was lying on warm damp earth, looking up into the branches of a tree. Sparkling drops slid off the leaves, and splashed on to my skin. We’d obviously just missed a heavy downpour.
    “Phew! We actually made it to… wherever this is!”
    I felt Reuben’s voice reverberating through my skull bones. We were lying head to head like little kids.
    Bones ? I thought in surprise. Heads ? Didn’t we just dissolve?
    We sat up and stared at each other in dismay.
    “Oh, well,” Reubs sighed. “Mustn’t be picky.”
    “It’s all right for you” I moaned. “You don’t care what you look like!”
    “What are you complaining about, girl? That straw hat is totally you!” He patted my bare foot. “Pity they couldn’t stretch the budget to include footwear!”
    Neither of us had the slightest idea why we were dressed like poor Japanese peasants, but then absolutely nothing was what we expected.
    The Limbo dimensions we’d experienced in simulations were creepy colourless places, almost like you were trapped inside CCTV. This world was GORGEOUS! It was literally like we’d fallen into an old Japanese painting, one of those old scrolls, with a v . deep poem written in exquisite Japanese calligraphy. It would have to be a summer poem, I decided dreamily. It would describe the way the sunlight made patterns on the forest floor, and the blissful warmth on our skin. Oh, and the mind-melting scent of flowers after the rain…
    I should just mention that, despite its beauty, this world had the most peculiar vibe. Reubs and I both agreed that it was unlike anything we’d ever come across before. It wasn’t necessarily an ominous -type vibe, but it kind of made you wonder if there might be more to this place than met the eye.
    At the exact same moment, we noticed the bag hanging in a tree.
    “Oh, that’s for us,” I said confidently.
    Reuben looked bewildered. “How can you possibly know that?”
    I shook my head. “I just know.”
    “Wowie!” he said sarcastically, as he unhooked the crude leather satchel. “The perfect accessory for our scuzzy outfits!”
    “I thought we weren’t going to be picky!” I teased.
    The bag turned out to contain another bag. It was actually more like a miniature sack, filled to the brim with what looked like peach stones.
    “O-kay,” said Reuben. “I’m sure it’s very nice of the local spirits to give us their old peach stones.”
    “Actual peaches would have been nicer,” I agreed, peering over his shoulder. “But then there’d be that age-old Limbo dilemma of; Ooh, should we risk eating them or not! What’s that other thing - the rolled up paper?”
    “You girls are so impatient!” Reuben made a big deal of extracting the scroll from the bag, slowly untying the grubby piece of cord and unrolling the parchment inch by inch, until I threatened to thump him.
    “Sweetpea if you don’t let me see it right NOW, you’re going to be so sorry,” I told him, genuinely peeved, as he held it tantalisingly out of reach. Then I saw his stunned expression. “What?”
    “D minus for refreshments, spirits,” he murmured. “But a definite A plus for map making skills!”
    I’ve had some bizarre experiences since I’ve been in the angel biz, but this was the first time either of us had come across actual magic. And the spirit map was magic, without a shadow of a doubt. The vibrant coloured markings were busily rearranging themselves even as we watched.
    First they showed a close-up of our immediate surroundings then we got the aerial view of how it all fitted together.
    “Oh, man ,” said Reuben in a weird voice.
    When I saw the tiny blue butterfly pulsing in the corner of the map, my heart actually stumbled over a beat. The mysterious map maker was showing us where to find