Manbearpig

He laughed. "You won't even try?" Jace pulled himself up a bit, enough to take a few more long sips of water before glancing back her way. A slight red flushed his cheeks as she fell back away from him, playing at her shirt. His hand flashed to his pocket, where his phone rested, not like there was any service out there anyways. "What kind of attitude is that?"

"A r-r-realistic one," she declared, flopping back onto the ground. Not exactly a nice feather bed; but here, this is where she wanted to be. "I g-give up."

The young man did nothing to hide away his smirk, gazing up at her as they lazed around. "Oh, so you're a realist then?" Jason mused, not willing to accept her easy defeat. "Tell me, what's realist about any of this? Super powers, magic schools, bad guys with their hot topic attire." He paused, glancing cheekily out the tent. "We're getting paid right now to carry swords and slay a beast."

He had her there. She'd been wondering the same thing since she was a bright-eyed freshman. "I-I'm still n-not carrying you."

"Then I guess we're stuck here," He sighed melodramatically, letting himself fall atop the sleeping bag beside her.

So she supposed they were. Daylight thinned as Evelyn took a much needed break. They had till forever to hike every corner of this park. For now, she just indulged the simple pleasure of being able to lay back and banter with him, like they used to. It made it easy to pretend.

Dusk settled. She struggled to kick open their fold-out chairs as she set Jace on the task of building the campfire. So far, no success. And just like the horror stories, she heard a snap from something invisible in the half-light. Her head snapped up, not saying anything.

His head shot up as well, distracting him from his worn out kindling and getting a small chuckle out from him. "Raccoon must know dinner's coming," Jace said. Eventually anyways. Whenever he could get the best fire in the world going. He picked up a stray piece of wood and chucked it into the bushes to scare it off.

She couldn't help but laugh too, and her laugh lilted perfectly into a bloodcurdling scream as a blast of white light fired out from the brush where Jace had tossed the wood. The shot, like white plasma, sheared straight through an overhanging bough, which went crashing down on top of their carefully assembled tent. "J-Jace!" Evelyn yelped, as a tendril of light snaked up through the dirt, winding tight and burning hot around her ankle, dragging her toward the cliff drop-off.

He could see the faint gleam peeking through the bushes, a beam slicing through the air and coming straight for him. Jason ducked down, eating dirt and letting the light cascade into the trees behind them. "What... the fuck...? He scrounged up old needles in his grasp, shrugging himself off the ground and looking up towards Evelyn.

Everything had gone to hell so fast.

The young man shouted, something obscene - he wasn't even sure, scrambling through the dirt and up to her fast as he could across the small clearing. He clasped his hand tight around her wrist. "Knife!" He didn't have jack shit on him, but could see the thing's grip tighten. "Knifeknifeknife!!"

She cried out in pain as she was jerked in two directions, the wire sharp and hot as it dug into her skin. Jace's voice kickstarted her brain back into gear, and her hand flashed down around her back, and slashing through the thread with a dagger. It snapped like twine, before melting away into sunlight, and she scrambled toward Jace, breathing heavily.

There was another rustle in the undergrowth, and then silence. It stretched on, and on, and there was no follow-up, nothing.

"Wh-whatthehellwasthat?!" she finally managed to scream into his shirt after a minute of internally untangling the words in her heart. She did not sign up for an actual mission.

He yanked her into open arms, kicked back on his knees and staring down the surrounding undergrowth. To Hell if he'd known what just happened. For a second, he'd wondered if someone was playing some cruel joke on them. But what kinda joker would near fucking kill them? Out there camping in the middle of fucking nowhere?

Jace held his breath, clenching away at her shoulder and the back of her neck. "I don't know," He breathed. "Let's just get out of here." He could spot their bags; they hadn't unpacked much besides their tent and blankets. They were only a few feet away.

He didn't have to convince her. Her idea of "get out" was "get out of this state," but with a lead weight in her stomach, something told her that they had stumbled into something they had to actually investigate. So much for vacation. She snatched up her bags and started them off back toward the way they'd came, sticking close to Jace's side. The tent was more or less useless now—mesh torn and poles snapped. Looked like they had to stay in a hotel tonight, which was fine by her.

Halfway down the slope, a small figure blocked their path, long white-blonde hair under a black beret. Evelyn stepped back, but it was just a little girl, and she only had eyes for Jace.

"Excuse me, sir? Can you help me?"

He was all to quick to snatch up his own bag, grabbing nothing else but his water bottle and little piece of flint before they ushered back down the hill; not at all worried about who was going to be carrying who. Jace had been practically praying that they'd find nothing else on the way down. Out of all the things they could have bumped into, a little girl should have been the least of their concerns. Standing there., in a sweet beret and clothes not at all fit for hiking, his initial thought was maybe she was someone's stupid, runaway kid. "Uh, yeah sure -" The blonde puffed, shooting half-a-glance back at Eve. "You lost? Shouldn't be out here... It'll be dark soon..."

"I am." Her voice almost quavered, and for the first time she detected the trace of an accent. Evelyn kept out of her line of sight, balling her hands into fists. A lost kid on their hands was the last thing they needed! The girl approached with small, hesitant steps, keeping her eyes lifted up toward Jace. "Please, can you help me find who I'm looking for?"

What kind of asshole would he be if he'd just left a kid out in the middle of a hiking trail, of all things? "Hey, no problem. I'm Jason, and this is my friend, Evelyn -" Jace leaned in a bit downward, trying to put on a kindly face. "Who are you looking for?"