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“What, why?” Doc asks curiously, he must look up and see me nearly at the sparkly hole, sounds dirty, because he says, “Oh.”

“Careful, Nene, we have no idea what it is,” Evander calls up.

“Don’t worry, I’m not just going to stick my hand in and grab it, without checking it out more,” I call back. “I have no desire to lose a hand.”

“You know, you guys are talking so loudly that there is a good chance that if that is a creature or guarded by something, you have definitely let it know that you’re there,” River points out.

I roll my eyes, not that any of them can see because I’m now throwing myself up over the branches as I get closer to where the sparkle is coming from.

“I would just like to point out that I didn’t start yelling loudly first and that all of you were talking pretty loudly before I did,” I call down, since it’s too late now and anything that was going to be disturbed has been by this point.

“She has a point,” Reed chuckles.

I decide to ignore them since I’m now almost to the hole. Moving a lot more cautiously than I was moments ago, I edge up as slowly as I can move. I only have a brief moment to marvel at the fact that I’m clinging to a tree, ridiculously high in the air, and I’m not struggling, before I force myself to refocus. It would be just my luck to die because my brain had gone off on a random tangent and forgot what I was supposed to be doing.

Actually, when I die for real, I bet that’s the way I go.

A noise from below pulls me out of my once again wandering thoughts.

Sparkly thing in the tree. Could die. Focus.

With that short reminder ringing through my ears, I peek inside the hole, my eyes widen, and I can’t help the giant smile that crosses my expression.

“Well?” River calls up from below.

“Give her a minute,” Ransom replies.

I know that the suspense is killing him. I’m actually surprised that he isn’t up . . . My thought cuts off as River suddenly appears next to me, perching on a nearby branch, clearly having started climbing when he asked the question.

His grin is huge, and I burst out laughing at the adorable expression he’s wearing.

He shrugs, “Sorry, I got a bit impatient.”

I grin and shake my head, “Of course you did. Look! It’s a fucking gemstone of some kind. It’s huge!”

I move out of the way so that River can get a good look inside the hole, and his eyes widen just like mine did. It’s big enough that I would struggle to carry it in one hand, it’s a sphere and completely smooth.

“I have never seen a gemstone that looks like that before,” River mutters. “It almost looks like a cross between moonstone, amethyst, and obsidian, but with sparkles and its own glow.” He glances at me, “It is glowing, right? You see that as well?”

I nod, “Yep, it’s definitely glowy. Do you think we can touch it?”

River shrugs, still perched on his branch and not wavering in the slightest. “I don’t know. Can you get on the branch next to you, and I’ll see if I can get a better look?”

I nod and shift around so that I can hook my leg over the branch that he suggested. I pull myself onto it with far more ease than I’m used to, and it’s a surprise. Although it has just occurred to me that I was gripping onto the trunk of the tree, and there wasn’t really anything to hold onto.

How the fuck was I staying up?

River’s eyes haven’t moved from my face, and he smiles softly, “You’ve just realized, haven’t you?”

I nod, and swallow thickly, slightly freaked out, “I, how?”

Understanding fills River’s eyes, “That’s why I’m up here, we were worried that you would realize and then freak out and could panic enough that you would let go, and it’s a long fucking way to fall.”

I just stare at him.

They realized way before I did, and they wanted to make sure that I didn’t get hurt.

“You guys are just so fucking awesome, have I told you that?” I say. Wishing that I could accurately put into words how much it means to me that they simply care. Because to some people it may be a simple thing, but to me it’s really not.