Sam and Euphorbia, unaware of the incoming Thebes, were with the basilisk in its den. The creature actually wasn’t that evil once you got to know it a little bit. It was upset because it missed Euphorbia. Now that she was back, it was the happiest it’d been ever since Evie and Mateo’s great-grandfather trained it.

        Sam sat cross-legged in front of the serpent. Confused, he asked, “Why aren’t you attacking me?”

        “Becausssse my masssster issss not here,” the basilisk hissed in snake language. It focused its attention on the Green Guardian.

        She settled down on its nose. Euphorbia crossed her right leg over her left knee. She enjoyed herself. It had been a long time since she and the basilisk shared a peaceful moment.

        Unfortunately, the peace did not last–not with Thebes in the loop.

        He chucked one of his swords into the basilisk’s tail closest to him. Blood poured from the wound.

        The basilisk screeched. It ripped its tail free from the sword. Its face changed from peaceful to evil. It swung its neck.

        Sam and Euphorbia ducked under it. At the sight of the centaur, their eyes widened.

        Thebes, who stood just outside the basilisk’s den, twirled his second sword in his hand. He offered the creature his arms. It looked like he was trying to hug it. “Come at me, bro! You’re going to pay for what you did to Mateo!”

        “Thebes, stop!” Mateo leaped into the fray. He grabbed the hand that Thebes had his sword in.

        “Kid, what are you doing?” Thebes asked. “I’m trying to save you.”

        “Don’t hurt it. Please.”

        Too late. Thebes pushed Mateo’s chest with his powerful arm. He fell onto the forest floor. The centaur galloped toward the angry basilisk.

        It swung its good tail at him, but Thebes stopped it. He was very strong.

        From the ground, Mateo clenched his teeth. However, he pushed himself to his feet. He jumped into Thebes’s back and wrapped his arms around his neck.

        “You can’t stop me,” the centaur said. “I’m going to kill it.” That time, he snatched Mateo’s arm. Thebes chucked him away from him.

        The ranger flew backward. He crashed onto his back and did a backflip, slamming down hard on his belly. Yelling, he grabbed it.

        Just before Thebes could lift his sword and stab the basilisk again, a rope came from out of nowhere and wrapped around his wrist.

        Maria, Ben, John, and Evie made it to the scene. Evie was the one who threw Mateo’s rope. She gave it her best tug. Her free hand grabbed Euphorbia’s shimmering pebble from the sky.

        Maria slid off Joey’s back. She sprinted toward Mateo.

        John struggled into the air. He zigzagged past Mateo’s rope and the basilisk’s tails, rounding up Sam and Euphorbia.

        Ben helped Evie. He clashed swords with Thebes. “Get Mateo, Sam, and Euphorbia out of here,” he told the little girl.

        Nodding, she coiled Mateo’s rope.

        He broke free from Maria.

        “Mateo, wait!” Maria held her hand out to him.

        Determined, Mateo sprinted his fastest to Thebes and the basilisk. He passed Evie and snatched his rope right out of her hand. “Thank you.”

        Shocked, she stumbled back a few feet.

        It was time to die honorably. Mateo leaped onto one of the basilisk’s impatient tails. He climbed it like a rock climber, up to its spine, and eventually its head.

        The basilisk tried to shake him off, but Mateo yelled, “Stop fighting me! I’m trying to help you!” He rubbed the sweat from his forehead. Mateo tried to unleash the most powerful magic he had, but he struggled. It took him a few tries before he managed to conjure a decently-sized wall of vines and ivy.

        John turned Sam and Euphorbia over to Maria. He took his hat off his head and chucked it forward. The hat spun like a top. It slapped Thebes in his face, knocking him off balance.

        While the centaur was stunned, Ben smacked the sword out of his hand.

        Thebes glared, not only at him but also Mateo. How could Faelyn’s own son turn against him? He was trying to save him for Pete’s Sake!

        Mateo next conjured an ivy bridle. He tied it around the basilisk’s muzzle. He planted his feet on its rough scales. He kept trying to bend it to his will. As a defense mechanism, it spat out another cloud of the forest sickness.

        John blew it away before his friends could breathe it in. “Wings of John Golden!” he shouted.

        The basilisk tried to keep up with all the movement in the area. Its tail knocked down a huge piece of its den.

        Sam hurried to Evie. “Euphorbia’s pebble,” he said.

        The basilisk picked its poison. It confused Maria for Thebes. She yelled when the monster slithered toward her. It threatened her with its sword-like teeth.

        Thebes and Ben were too busy dueling. Thebes shot his crossbow, but Ben ducked under the arrow. It flew straight toward Maria’s face.

        “Ah!” she screamed.

        “Maria!” Mateo shouted. He tossed his rope into a tree. Its hook clamped down on a powerful branch.

        Euphorbia watched amazed.

        Mateo leaped from the basilisk’s head. He swung to Maria and grabbed her before the arrow could skewer her. Except, his sweaty hand slipped from his rope. The ranger wrapped his arms around Maria. Both he and she smashed into the forest bed. They rolled a few times before coming to a complete stop.

        Mateo shouted with pain. He hurt his hand a little bit because he protected Maria’s belly. His rope’s hook came undone. It coiled into a pile at the base of the tree.

        Euphorbia nodded to herself. She remained calm. She flew to Evie and Sam and took her pebble away from them. “Thank you,” she telepathically told Sam.

        He nodded. “Sure.”

        Mateo released Maria. He called for an enormous vine to lift out of the earth. It appeared under his feet and took him back up to the basilisk. He hopped onto its head. Mateo tugged its bridle away from Maria. He turned toward the actual Thebes who Ben had cornered up against the wall of the creature’s den.

        Mateo yelled at the centaur, “A Pinta Park Ranger relies on nature to save nature!”

        Thebes glanced at him. “But, Mateo!”

        The ranger narrowed his eyebrows. “I will protect the basilisk from tyrants like you.” Stumbling, he fell to his hands and knees.

        Euphorbia threw her pebble like a Frisbee. It moved in on Mateo and circled him from his heels up, engulfing him in a bright green light. The basilisk shut its eyes against it. It rapidly shook its head.

        Thebes did not give up. He swiped his front hooves under Joey’s feet, knocking him off balance. The horse whinnied. He dropped onto his side, taking Ben with him. The king front-flipped off his back.

        While they were down, Thebes grabbed the sword he dropped. Yelling, he held it over his shoulder and again moved in on the basilisk.

        Maria rose to her shaky legs. Evie, Sam, and John joined her.

        Euphorbia flew to Mateo. The pebble’s magic threw him into the tree-covered canopy. From time to time, the glow switched from green to blue-green. Mateo’s belly sucked in the poison from the pebble, but he stayed strong.

        He floated out of the magic cloud, waving his arms slightly. To Maria, Sam, Ben, John, Evie, and Thebes’s surprise, the ranger looked different. He was no longer the Mateo they were used to. His hair had grown longer; it now reached behind his back, and a gold circlet rested over his forehead. He wore a gold-trimmed, green tunic with a gold, lacy belt, brown pants, and tall chestnut boots. A large pair of silk-like, white wings with green borders popped out of his back. The only thing he was missing were pointy ears.

        The transformation was brief. Mateo was not totally aware of it. He did not know that he had momentarily transformed into a real fairy.

        He and Euphorbia cupped their hands. Together, they unleashed a blast of light green magic.

        Maria hugged Evie and Sam close. She fell to her knees. John wrapped his long wings around them. Meanwhile, Ben and Joey looked away.

        Mateo and Euphorbia’s magic slammed into Thebes, tossing him back. He crashed through a line of trees as if they were dominos. The trees fell, burying him under heavy branches, trunks, and leaves. He did not rise out of the ashes.

        The basilisk, afraid of the light energy, dove into the earth. Evie and her friends fell over when it rose under them. The basilisk’s lump disappeared into the depths of the Paperblank Forest.

        Mateo’s wings disappeared from his back. He returned to his normal human self. Both he and Euphorbia were severely weakened by the spell. They floated to the ground. Mateo landed on his back; Euphorbia on her front. Both fairies lost consciousness. Mateo bent one of his knees. His other one remained flat. The forest fell dead silent, with only the whispers of wind passing through the treetops now. Mateo’s ring vanished from his finger.

***

        Evie, John, Maria, Ben, and Joey made haste to approach Mateo. Sam shuffled over to Euphorbia. He scooped her up. Her pebble appeared over her feeble body.

        Tears ran down Maria’s cheeks. She lifted Mateo’s torso from the ground. “Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead.” She placed her ear on his chest. She cried harder when she heard his heart beating.

        Sam jogged to his friends. He showed them Euphorbia. “We’ve got to get them to the village. They need help right now.”

        No longer did Euphorbia’s dress and wings glow. She was as still as a rock.

        Evie turned her head toward the trees Thebes knocked down when he flew into them. Anger flashed across her face.

        Sam gave her Euphorbia’s pebble. “Here, Evie. You need to hold onto this.”

        Ben and Maria worked together to put Mateo on Joey’s back. The horse was a little sore from his fall, but he was okay.

        Evie glanced at her counselor, still trying to comprehend everything that just happened. “He-He really is a fairy.” She held Euphorbia’s pebble close to her chest.

        John tried to lighten the mood. “Well, this has been exciting, eh? It’s a totally normal camp day when we have to fight against a basilisk.”

        “At least we completed our mission,” Ben said. “At least we have some good news to report to Ms. Julie.” Before he and his friends left, he picked up the sword Thebes dropped. It belonged to the king himself. He slipped it into the scabbard he wore on his left hip.

        Sam hugged Euphorbia to his shoulder. He kept his hand on her, treating it as if it were a blanket.

        Maria brushed Mateo’s bangs off his pale face. “You’re okay, Mateo. I’m here.”

        Mateo’s arms hung limply on either side of Joey’s shoulders.

        The friends left in a rush. Ben knocked vines and branches aside to clear the path.

        Evie gulped. She didn’t know what it was, but she had a bad feeling. She felt like the battle against Thebes and the basilisk was far from over and that her great-grandfather’s presence had returned from the afterlife. The final battle was still coming. Evie was sure of it.

***

        A hooded figure stepped onto the battlefield, soon after Evie and her friends left. His face was well-hidden in the shadows. He frustratingly stomped his foot. His eyes roamed, and they fell upon the pile of branches, trunks, and leaves Thebes had been buried under. He carefully stepped over other downed branches.

        The figure stopped at the pile. He freed the branches and trunks from Thebes, revealing the unconscious centaur. He held his pale hands in front of him. A ball of light appeared. The figure moved it over Thebes’s body: his arms, hooves, and legs, and waited patiently.

        A few minutes passed, and then Thebes’s eyes fluttered open.

        “Welcome back to the land of the living,” the hooded figure chirped. “I could use a powerful centaur such as you.”

        Thebes, weak from Euphorbia and Mateo’s spell, peered into his shadowy face. He rested his hand on his crossbow, which had fallen from his back. “Wha-What do you want?” He could feel his consciousness fading again.

        The figure giggled menacingly. He sounded like he craved greed and power. He placed his palms on the forest floor. For a moment, there was silence, and then the being said, “I want to stop that ranger from becoming the new Green Guardian. The sooner we get rid of him, the sooner we can take that fae child from his fiancée. Then the Paperblank Forest will have no heir.”

***

        The whole way back to Paperblank Village, Mateo shivered on Joey’s back. He almost drowned himself in his own sweat.

        Maria walked next to the horse and her fiancé. She cupped his cheek. “Hang in there, Mateo. Please,” she said. She and Joey stepped over a log in the middle of the overgrown path. Maria lifted her right foot a little too late. Her toe hit the log’s hardwood-like surface, and she tripped. She caught herself on her hands and knees. She put her hand over her belly to protect her baby.

        Mateo talked in his sleep. Maria was confused as to why he sounded so fearful. “Isabella. Isabella.”

        Maria was scared, not only for him but also for her unborn infant. She needed to take extra good care of both Mateo and herself over the next few days. She had to. Mateo’s true mission had only just begun, and given his condition, he could not succeed alone.

        Strangely, Maria had an idea of what needed to change if he was going to save the forest. The question was, would he change in time? That was one of Maria’s greatest fears.

 

End of Part 2

Word Count So Far: 74,000