We stood by a stump in between the two of them in silence for a moment. Then I decided that we shouldn’t be wasting time.
"Do you want to split up and meet back here?" I asked Nathen, staring at the two villages. I assumed that Miss Martha had been referring to the Minniemon village, but you could never be sure with her.
Nathen nodded. "An hour should be enough, right?"
"Yeah." I shrank as Nathen entered the Upperlander village, and I made my way to the Minniemon one. I had absolutely no idea what we were looking for, only that whatever it was could help me save my tribe. And, hopefully, provide answers to the magic Nathen and I shared.
Before I could even get into the village, a skinny girl about my age approached me.
"Hi!" she bubbled. "I haven't seen you around before. Are you new? What's your name? My name's Chrissy—" she blabbered on without giving me a chance to speak.
I had to admit that she was quite beautiful. Her straight blonde hair went well with her fig leaf dress covered in pink flower petals and her slightly tanned skin. Her eyes were so light blue that they almost seemed clear. Something about her gave me a weird feeling, though. It wasn't a good or bad feeling, more like some kind of spark. I couldn't make it out.
After a few moments, she finally stopped to take a breath, and I leaped at my chance. "Is the weather always like this down here?" I blurted, trying to ask anything that might be useful to me. She quickly shook her head.
"I've never seen anything like this before. It started yesterday, and it's gotten worse ever since," she stated. "My mom didn't want me out today because of it, but I managed to persuade her—" she went on. That feeling I had about her got much stronger as she spoke, but I still couldn't place it. Then, out of the blue, my mouth spoke without permission.
"You're a Link!" I interrupted her. What was a Link? Her eyes suddenly grew wide, and her friendly expression turned stone serious.
"What do you know?" she asked slowly. I didn't know anything. That was the problem. Something told me that this girl held the answers I was looking for. I didn't know if I should tell her about Nathen and myself or not, but I decided that I didn't travel all this way with an Upperlander to keep secrets. I slowly explained the entire story, starting from the morning that I woke up with a fever, and stopping at the very moment we spoke.
She nodded now and again, soaking up my every word. When I finished, she immediately took action.
"All right . . ." She bit her lip. "Let's go find my Link." At this, she whistled for her lizard, and we rode toward the Upperlander village. Nathen and another boy were already in the spot that we'd planned to meet. Had it been an hour already?
Seeing them, Chrissy turned and headed for the stump. They quickly noticed us, and Nathen bent down, offering me his hand. The other boy did the same with Chrissy, and after a second, we both changed into Upperlander form.
We introduced ourselves. The Upperlander with Nathen was Chrissy's Link, Liam. He had shabby raven-black hair and greenish-blue eyes. He was a couple of inches smaller than Nathen, but those inches made one heck of a difference to me. I guessed I still saw things from the perspective of a Minniemon no matter what form I was in.
Knowing Nathen and I weren't the only ones with this ability comforted me. We were about to find answers.
"First things first," Liam started. "How long have you guys had your ‘abilities’?"
I thought we were the ones that were going to be asking the questions.
"About two weeks," I answered. Both Chrissy and Liam's jaws drop in disbelief.
"How is that even possible?" Chrissy's eyes grew wide. "It took us more than a year to master our powers! We were transforming all over the place! Almost got caught several times, too."
"A year!?" Nathen and I asked in sync. How could anyone go a whole year without knowing how to control this magic?
Liam nodded, seemingly deep in thought. "So why did you guys come to our villages?"
"To look for answers on what all of this is," Nathen responded.
"The Messengers haven't visited you yet?" Chrissy blurted, but quickly shut up and stared at the ground when Liam shot her a look.
You don't think they . . . she mouthed to him. He nodded. What were they talking about?
"Messengers?" My eyebrows went down in question.
"Nothing," they said quickly and in unison. This just fueled my curiosity, but I kept my mouth shut, trying not to push anything.
"Listen." Liam sighed. "If you want answers you're going to have to go farther upriver. You'll find some people who can help you in one of those villages.”
Seriously? We had to keep going? Miss Martha said that we'd find help and answers here. That reminded me, I hadn't told them about the danger my tribe was in yet.
Nathen and I quickly explained the whole story, from how we overheard the Upperlander chief to what Martha had said. Their expressions changed from shock to concern as I went on.
"Well," Chrissy said after we'd finished. "We can tell you two things." She looked over at Liam.
"The first one is that a pair of Links are two people, an Upperlander and a Minniemon, who both have the ability to change size. An Upperlander Link can't shrink without the help of a Minniemon Link, and vice versa," Liam stated, then gestured to Chrissy.
"The second one is that you'll find the answers and help that y'all are looking for farther upriver. Everything will be explained." She half-smiled.
They knew something, and they weren't telling it to us. This was getting annoying. "We only have a couple of weeks. There's no time for some wild goose chase." I tried the best I could to hold back my frustration.
"Oh, trust me." Chrissy raised her eyebrows. "You'll find what you're looking for."
I let out a frustrated sigh. This wasn't going anywhere. But just in case this next village was too far away . . . "Can we borrow a bird? To make the trip."
Chrissy's eyes twinkled joyfully, obviously happy that I was considering going to the next village. "Absolutely!" She let out a long high-pitched whistle, and a blue jay came zipping over to us, landing on a stump next to her.
Nathen's eyes grew wide as he realized what I was suggesting. "No. Not a chance." He backed up a few steps without taking his eyes off the bird.
"It's just a blue jay," Chrissy giggled.
Nathen shook his head, still staring at it. "Don't think I haven't seen you Minniemons flying around on those things. And don't think that you're ever going to get me on one." He directed the last sentence to me, which just made a mischievous smile spread across my face. Challenge accepted.
Liam half-laughed. "I thought the same thing until somebody"—he glared at Chrissy—"forced me to. Then it just came naturally."
"Uh oh." Chrissy glanced up to the dark clouds that had just produced another ground-shaking roll of thunder and lightning. "My mom's going to be worried sick. Okay, make the journey, but remember to come visit us on the way back to your villages." She gestured for Liam, and they both jogged off into the nearby forests without looking back.