Chapter 34: Chapter 34

I saw a boot in front of me stomping on the remains of the fire from last night. It was decided that we will have to continue our search the next day, because we really didn’t have much sleep because of recent events like falling from the sky - if you know what I mean.

No. It is not fun to fall from the sky. And it is especially not fun to see your companions in a jumbled mess when they switch bodies. Heck, I can’t even look at them!

“Rose, are you ready?” A voice. It was Nate’s voice, but from the tone of it, it’s Ren. I still kept my head on the floor as I nodded.

“Yep!” I got up and dusted my pants.

“Are you alright?” I gasped as Nate lowered himself so he could look at my face. His face was etched with worry.

“Totally!” I answered quickly and rolled my eyes to the side so I can’t see any more of this weirdness.

I swear the only time I ever dared to look at one of them was the time that PRINCE Ace, who’s currently Prince Nate, gutting a deer hunted by Nate and Ren (Ren and Ace). The sight of him slicing and removing the internal organs with Ace’s body makes him seem like he is in his natural habitat.

But the moment that he caught me staring - with splatters of blood all over his face - he smiled. It didn’t bother me at all but it actually frightened me because he looks like a serial killer.

I started walking only to bump into Ren. I breathed out a sigh of relief and momentarily forgot that Ace was currently residing in the wolf boy’s body. “Watch it, Ren.” I grumbled.

“You watch it. How the hell can you see where you are supposed to go when you keep looking at the ground, you moronic imbecile.” Ren says angrily as he sheathed Ace’s bow to his back. And I swear I stared blankly at him because I still cannot believe that those words and that facial expression belongs to Ren.

“Right. Right.” I nodded. Still stunned.

“PRINCE Ace, can you stop frowning when you are in by body? You’re going to give me winkles.” Nate grumbled.

“Well if you care so much then maybe we should hurry up so we can look for the fox!”

“Any idea how to do that?” Ace asked as he brushed his hair off of his face. A habit that Nate usually does.

“Well if you know how to use my ability then maybe you can help!” Ren snapped at him. I swear he has been like that since morning.

“Geez, woke up on the wrong side of the bed, mutt?” Ace insulted him. Then his eyes widened the moment he remembered who Ren currently is. “I-I am very sorry, PRINCE Ace.”

My head was spinning. PRINCE Ace was apologizing to PRINCE Ace. I needed to get that image out of my brain.

I dragged myself to a nearby tree and hit it with my forehead, hard enough that I got dizzy and fell on my butt.

“Hey!” I heard a yell and someone grabbed my arm and pulled me up so that I was facing him. It was Ren. “Are you trying to kill yourself or are you simply trying to lower your brain capacity?”

“I want to get amnesia.”

“We don’t have time for this.” He hissed before shoving me into Nate, who was giving me a worried look and placed a gentle hand on top of my head - the spot where I hit it. “Are you okay?”

“Kewl.” My voice cracked that I immediately corrected myself. “I’m cool. Everything is fine and normal. Let’s go!” I ordered. Custard, still on his other form appeared beside me and licked my forehead.

“Rose? Isn’t Custard’s form draining you with magic?” Nate(Ren) asked me worriedly and handed me the hook swords that he found in the ruble.

“Thanks.” I said to him. “Custard says it’s fine. The magic in this place is the one supplying him with energy. And Custard.” I said and looked at my familiar after wiping my forehead from his drool. “That’s gross.”

‘I was healing your wound, Master. You were bleeding.’ I touched my slimmy forehead again to feel it. No more pain from an open wound. Just a bump on my head.

“Rose, come on!” The princes called out to me. I snapped out of my trance at the fact that Custard can heal. Maybe I’ll keep that secret for now and have them scold me later for hiding it. Ah well. I’m used to it.

***

“Again, what’s the plan?” I asked for the nth time. We stopped somewhere deep within the forest to make Ace - currently Nate - use his magic to see our location. Unfortunately it wasn’t going so well since the poor soul of Nate doesn’t know how to use magic in the first place.

Ren(Ace) asked if it was possible to find the fox spirit via smell to Nate(Ren). He said that spirits don't have a distinct smell so it was basically impossible. Right now they were looking up at the sky and waited to see the sun in order to navigate our way.

I was sitting on the floor with my legs crossed. My head was supported by my hands as I yawned. I sure do hope that they can find a good enough solution.

“Isn’t Rose a tamer? Maybe she can locate the spirit.” Nate said and jerked his thumb in my direction.

“Sure. Let me just go grab a stick to draw on the ground then do a summoning ninja jutsu with my blood!” I said with a fake enthusiastic voice.

“Can you do that?” Apparently Nate didn't get the memo that I was a joker that he actually believed me.

“No!”

“Then how about your pet?” Ren gestured at Custard, who seemed offended by the title as he stared at Ren and let out a grunt. “Can’t you somehow connect with it?”

“First of all,” I started. “Custard is my partner. Second, being a tamer doesn’t come with a manual so I have no idea what is the extent of my abilities. Third, well there really is nothing. I just want to sound cool. But I will ask Custard.” I gave my familiar a look knowing that he knows what I wanted to ask him to do.

‘But, Master.’ He whined and flattened his ears in dismay. ‘I don’t want to track down that fox. He doesn’t smell good.’

My eyes widened with horror at the fact that there was a means to track down the fox spirit, and my familiar chose to hide it. The princes must have seen my reaction because everyone started to lean in and narrowed their gaze at me suspiciously. I gulped and wiped my expression clean as I gave them an annoyed look.

“We are not sure yet because it requires a huge amount of magic and concentration.” I lied. “And we need some space in order for us to work.” I waved at them with the back of my hands. “Now run along children. Shoo!” I dismissed them. Thankfully, the princes complied and gave me a bit of space so I can talk to Custard.

‘Custard, you know how to track that thing and yet you did not tell me because you don’t want to?’

My familiar must be in his puberty stage because it narrowed its eyes on me. ‘Master, you do it all the time with the princes.’

‘Well I obviously expect you to be better than me!’

‘But it really stinks!’

‘Custard, if you won’t do it for me then do it for the princes. Or more specifically for Prince Ren. You two are friends now. Do you really want your new friend Ren to keep glaring at you from time to time?’

Custard let out another whimper and lowered his snout on the floor. ‘Fine.’ He snapped.

I blinked and crossed my arms as I looked at my familiar with disbelief. I may need to have a little talk with this guy about his attitude.

I got up from my sitting position to face the princes, only to see Prince Ace stopping Prince Nate from cutting his hair with a pocket knife. “These damn bangs have got to go!”

“Leave my bangs alone!” Ace(Nate) Screamed.

“It’s poking me in the eyes!”

“My body MY style! Just brush it back!”

“Found anything?” My attention immediately turned to Ren(Ace) who was eyeing me expectantly.

“Yeah. Custard can now track him…it. Somehow.”

Ren(Ace) turned towards the two other princes. “Hey! The blonde idiot found something. You two better get your butts here or else!” I almost teared up a bit because I actually thought that Ren grew up but it was just Ace talking.

If Dan was here I bet he would have a sissy fit.

With a distracted Nate, Ace finally took the knife from Nate with a leer before throwing it somewhere. As soon as the princes were in attention again, they were all giving me an expectant look. I gestured for Custard to begin. He still looks unwilling, but with one final look from me, he complied. He slowly walked over to the princes and gave their hands a quick sniff before he snorted.

‘Despicable foul spirits.’

‘Custard, I never taught you racism so none of that.’ I chastised him through our link.

Custard started moving rather quickly and we had to quicken our pace just to keep up with him. Well mostly me, since we all know I am not that fit. We darted from tree to tree and climbed up a few high slopes. Roots from the trees that were protruding from the ground didn’t help either because we kept on falling - again it was only me and me alone.

Finally, we emerged in a very dark area of the forest where the sunlight was blocked by the tall trees. Weird and alarming flowers are everywhere and sending off an ominous feeling.

Custard started crouching down and let off a low growl as he steadily approached one of the flowers. ‘Master, never come anywhere near these flowers. To people, it can give you hallucinations’.

‘What about spirits? Are you going to be okay?’

‘Yes. It has no effect on the spirits.’

I looked at the princes then and delivered the message to them. “Custard, my baby boy, said no no to the flowers.” The princes nodded and we returned our attention back to Custard just in time as he lunged in the bushes. There was a rustle and a sudden squeal. A white furball jumped out of the bushes and tried to run away. Unfortunately for it, the Custard was bigger and more agile. With a swift movement of his paw, Custard was able to capture the fox’s tail - trapping it with his paw.

I heard a few happy and victorious cheers from Ace and Nate while Ren simply nodded in approval. I swear, looking at Ren right now makes me want to hit him at the back of his head for acting like a cool boy.

Custard grabbed the fox’s neck using his mouth and he slowly made his way towards us. I crouched down and stared at the fox’s face. It hissed at me.

‘Tell your familiar to release me!’

By now, I really wasn’t surprised by talking animals in my head and other weird things that are happening around me. I mean, talking fox? I have a talking wolf!

And some princes whose bodies are switched - acting so out of character that I would go as far as hitting my head on a tree.

I raised a hand and slapped the white fox. “Shut up. I’m the one making demands here.” I ordered it.

“Rose? I don’t think-” Nate started to say but I took my hook swords from my back and pointed it at him. “If you don’t want me to slap you next, you better let me handle this. This guy was being rude.”

‘What do you want from me?!’ The fox demanded.

I returned my attention to it. “Whatever you did to my friends, you better undo it.”

‘Mortal, that is too much to ask of me. I may need something in return.’ The sly fox grinned at me. Normally I would ask what the demand is, but right now I am really tired and I am not in the mood to play games.

This time, instead of raising my hand, I raised my fist at it warningly.

“PRINCE Ace, is that you?” I heard Ace whisper as he and Nate chuckled. I grabbed a random rock and chucked it to where I assume they are. There was a wince and a cry and soon they finally shut up.

‘You’re not going to hit me.’ The fox dared.

“Wanna bet? I hit you earlier. What makes you think that I won’t hit you again?”

‘You tamers are abusive of your powers!!’

“I am not being abusive. I am just correcting your mistakes. Now, are you going to change them back or not? I am feeling a little cold to be honest. A fox fur might be a good scarf.” Then I placed a hand on my chin and grinned evilly at it. “Don’t you think?”

The fox lowered it’s head and ears out of fear. ‘F-Fine! Lower me down.’ It said in defeat.

“If I allow you to walk, do you promise to really turn them back? If not then Custard can-”

‘Yes yes! I promise!’

I gave Custard a look and nodded at him. Custard came closer to the princes and lowered down the fox. It gave me a side glance. ‘You are the very first Tamer to ever treat a spirit this way! No manners and very rude!’ As my response, I waved it away with the back of my hand as a gesture for him to mind his own business. The fox snarled at me one last time before jumping inside of their bodies one by one until all the princes slumped on the ground as if in pain.

“Are they…?” I started to ask the moment that they got up from the ground, letting out groans of pain. Then they all looked at each other and then at their body.

“I’m back! I am back to my handsome self again!” Nate cheered.

“Finally! No more annoying bangs!”

Ace didn’t say anything, he simply looked at me and gave me a nod. Well I guess that’s as close to a thanks as I can get from him.

And at least my mind can finally rest from all the trauma they cause me. I started to walk when something hit me on the chest.

“ROSE!” I heard the princes call for me one last time before I landed on a bush. Green pollen started to float all around me.

The thing that hit my chest was the white fox. It smirked at me as soon as it landed on the ground. ‘Enjoy your hallucination, mortal.’ It chuckled before running off into the woods again.

I looked around as the green pollen started raining down on me and I let out a very tired sigh. It always has to be me, isn’t it?