Discussing the Antidote

"Hey!" she yelled.

"Sorry," Max said, his pain-racked face somehow showing the slightest hint of amusement to Tom. "No arms, ya know—not much control."

"How'd you like to have two broken arms?" Hana replied.

"Wouldn't be much worse than now."

They entered a short break in the trees and found a clearing about twenty feet across, covered in bright green ivy. Rays of sunlight broke through, glistening on the dew-blanketed leaves, still damp hours after dawn. Without discussion, all three of them sat down to take a short rest, each finding a fallen tree or rock on which to sit.

"This is kind of cool," Max said, looking around at the border of trees, the green ivy, the cascading sun.

"Looks like something out of a fantasy book," Tom said.

Max nodded, then winced as if the small movement had hurt his arm somehow. "Yeah," he said through a tight grin. "Maybe we'll see some elves."