Dear Dad,

  For the record, we’re safeish at the moment. We’re in a village atop the valley, called, can you guess it? Vallitop. And you would not believe what we’ve heard about the valley.

  The people were all very nice and happy to see us, but they couldn’t believe we’d made it out of the valley. Miss Dari was especially surprised. She let us stay in her house. And she told us all kinds of stuff about the "Land's of Plenty" and how most people who enter the valley tend to stay there, which makes sense. I mean, it seems perfect and idyllic, and there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong about it. But apparently, that whole place is basically a god’s playground. They give the people there everything they need, let them languish, and do whatever they want. They trick people into staying with all the food and warmth and whatever they want or need, but really, it’s a trap, all to become some god's plaything.

  Miss Dari said that, even though it looks perfect, everyone there eventually goes mad. They make and make and make until they run out of the ability to make, and they're nothing more than husks. Then they either stumble out or just lay down and die. Sometimes, like the tree people, they manage to stay stable enough, but overall, all the people who live there just stumbled in over time. They're not even from the valley in the first place.

  I can’t even imagine. It’s crazy to think of for sure, and the people in the valley don’t know or don’t accept it, even though it’s true. However, I mean, I don’t know these people or why they think so, but they’re confident. Given what we saw, it makes more sense, I guess, for divine interference. They have a perfect little slice of paradise, an impossible little piece of paradise, but we felt the effects, the pull to stay, the lure. I mean, I was just writing, and I did it every day, and I could feel the pull to make more, to write more. I think the others felt it, too. And Reese even wanted us to stay for a while. It's a good thing we didn't stay.

  We didn’t stay. There are too many places we need to be, like home. We have to get home. We will, I’m sure, sooner or later, we have to get home. We do. It’s just not an option not to because that would mean that we didn’t get home, that we’d never see any of our parents again, and that we’d be stuck in this crazy world until the end of our days. I can’t do that. I don’t.

  I will get home, and so will Grace, Willow, Riley, Zunair, and Reese. We’re going to get home, even if it takes a while.

  Miss Dari's brother? Cousin? Someone who looked just like her but male, named Dinal, pointed us towards another part of the kingdom, saying that we’d have an easier time getting to the city if we took a slightly alternate path.

  I hope we can believe him. I hope that we can trust that they’ll tell us the truth. I mean, why would he lie?

  But why would anyone else help us, either? We’re complete strangers who just happened to wander out of an area they’re telling us is cursed by the gods, and doesn’t that mean bad things?

  It doesn’t matter. We’re taking a path that will, sooner or later, get us home, and even backtracking a few times and getting lost won’t be the end of the world. It just means that we need to turn around for a little bit. We’re going to get home, and then we’ll go out to that burger place you like because, dammit, I just want a burger. Sorry for cursing.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  We're going to go home, and I’m going to take a hot, non-cursed shower, and we’re going to do all the things that we’ve missed out on, and it’ll all be good, it’ll all be helpful, it’ll all turn out well.

  Because we’ll be home, and everything will be fine.

  In other news, Grace has been telling me about her dad. Apparently, he’s, like, a private investigator? PI Dennis Sheridan. Honestly, it's not a very cool name, but I'm not going to tell Grace that. She thinks that you guys might have crossed paths before. That would be really cool because maybe we could all hang out together! I think that would be awesome, actually, cause Grace is cool, and you’re cool, and hopefully, Grace’s dad is pretty cool. Then we can all hang out after all this.

  I don’t know what anyone else’s parents do. Grace and I were lagging pretty hard at the back of the group today. I was lagging cause I don’t like to go running and stuff, and also, I’m not as strong as most of the guys and apparently most of the girls. But Grace was nice enough to keep me company.

  Maybe I’ll ask the others what their folks do. It would be cool to see if you guys know each other.

  And you bump into people you know all the time at the grocery store and stuff, so maybe we actually all already know each other through you guys! That would be pretty cool.

  Maybe we can do a barbeque when we get back. Willow’s Jewish, so I don’t think we can have pork, but there’s no reason we couldn’t have, like, burgers and stuff. And then we can try some of that dry rub recipe you were so excited to try before the school event. It would have been cool to try it before we got here, but there’ll be plenty of time to try it when we return.

  Chicken wings are safe for Jewish people to eat, though! So we can have chicken too. I remember we were talking about the best way to spice a chicken. Do you think that we could make some really spicy wings? I know that Riley and Reese were talking about it earlier. Both were boasting. I don’t think I’d like terribly spicy wings. Still, there hasn’t been a lot of really spicy food here. A lot of it’s like, really, really, really, really good, but not very spicy. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of trade between towns, though, so maybe they just don’t trade spices as much here? I mean, we have all kinds of herbs in our cupboards, but that doesn’t mean we actually use a lot of them. Maybe it’s all local stuff?

  Reese was telling me that he and all his siblings liked cooking cause I guess his mom works long, long, long hours. His dad is a disaster in the kitchen and only makes meatloaf when it’s his turn to cook, so Reese and his siblings have more than made up for it.

  Personally, I think the dad might pretend to be terrible at cooking so he doesn’t have to cook as much. I mean, there’s what, six people in that house? There doesn’t need to be only one person cooking. they can take turns just fine, and they’re all in college. Highschool. Other. They’re old enough to trade off on the duties.

  I’m pretty bad at cooking, but I think I’m really being limited by having to help cook over a fire. No wonder people made stoves. This is hard! You have to have it in just the right place with the right wood and the right time, and there’s not even any light to make sure that it’s actually cooked and that you cooked it all the way through. you just have to guess, and hope for the best. I’ve put what is probably raw or nearly raw food in my mouth entirely too often since coming here.

  I can’t wait to get home to your cooking. I know yours is the best, and I won’t have to worry about it being raw. I’ll be home soon, so don’t you worry,

  Love, Jack