I found the love trio gathered in the forest. KJ had her camera on a tripod and was muttering to herself as Rain waited, looking like a newscaster.

  “Should we get Rain a microphone?” I asked. “Because this looks all like…news report-y. In a good way!”

  “That would be entirely unnecessary,” Latte said. I jumped because she did not give any indication or warning that she had already joined us in the void, and because she was hiding behind a tree with a creepy expression somewhere between an open mouth smile and a bnk, inteare.

  “When did you get here?” I asked.

  Latte took a big sip from her thermos. “About twenty minutes ago.”

  “So you’ve beehis whole time pretty much?” I asked.

  “Uh huh,” Latte said.

  “Anyways, what did you need me for, KJ?” I said.

  “I need you to keep Latte out of the shot,” KJ said. “She keeps peeking in and being all weird.”

  “Latte, are you peeking into shots and being all weird?” I asked.

  “No…” Latte said. “Maybe.”

  I didn't want to be the one who had tle her, but I also wao be a team pyer. Amara could sense my disfort with the idea.

  “Just keep her distracted,” Amara said. “I’m busy getting ready for my ses. Now what should I do when I find the void monster, I wonder…”

  “I mean, do that tree shot, it was super cool,” I said.

  “Oh, thank you?” Amara said, sounding genuinely fttered. “I have a few other tricks I could try that rival it in ess!”

  “Amara, shut up,” KJ said.

  I was a bit ed they were filming Rain’s stuff without any input from us w on the script, but as they filmed it looked more like KJ just wanted shots of Rain pying with her hair and looking around.

  While they filmed, I kept an eye on Latte, who kept ing towards the camera’s view. I didn’t want to like push her or anything, but she was really squirrely, and it made her hard to block. As I awkwardly shuffled around her, I spotted something glistening on the ground.

  “Whoa, look at this thing!” I said. I picked up the melon sized stone, which was much lighter than it looked. It had some kind of sparkly dust inside of it that swirled around when I shook it. “It’s some kind of orb-like…thing. It’s like a pearl made by the void!”

  “That’s a moondust stone.” Amara said.

  “Oh,” I said, remembering I had done my entire Fang Fair thing on moondust stones and should probably have known what they looked like. I begrudgingly admitted to myself that Oka and Kalei were right that my paper maché version looked nothing like a moonstone.

  Amara wao hold it, so I ha over to her. She looked closely at it.

  “Yep, definitely a moondust stone.” Amara said. “Very pretty, isn’t it? They don’t st long outside the void, so enjoy looking at it here!”

  “I think we’re good on shots of Rain!” KJ said. “Amara, e over here and do yhting thing.”

  “Here Latte,” Amara said, handing Latte the stone. “Hold this for a moment.”

  Latte stared at the moondust stone. She looked entranced by its shimmering surfad the moving sparkles within it. She gripped it in her non-thermos holding hand, then smashed it onto the ground, shattering it. It melted into a pile of glittery ooze.

  “Hey!” Amara said.

  “Latte!” I said. “Why did you do that?”

  “I…don’t know,” Latte said.

  “Well, whatever,” Amara said. She held her left pointer finger and thumb in her mouth and whistled. “I smell a void monster nearby, that should get its attention.”

  Amara started hopping around, looking like a boxer as she got into position in front of us. She did some more stretches, these ones looked like what a ballet dancer would do. It made me wonder if Amara danced as well. I could feel stomping in the distance. If that was the void monster she whistled over, it was a big one.

  “Make sure you watch this, Rain!” Amara said. Rain was looking in her dire, but she looked like she was busy daydreaming about being anywhere else.

  KJ at least stayed focused, trying to get a good angle of Amara before the void monster showed up. She unscrewed her camera from her tripod.

  “Rain, you put away the tripod? I o cheething on my camera.” KJ said.

  Rain was busy on her cellphone now and didn’t answer.

  “I do it,” Latte said.

  “That…might not be the best…” I said as the stomping in the forest got louder.

  “It’s here!” Amara said. “KJ, Rain, look!”

  A-legged void moalked its way into view. It was bigger than anything I’d ever fought before. It had the smooth, oily texture of a void monster made entirely from Elka (the goopy substahat seemed to be what most void monsters were made of). It looked like someone had smushed together a spider and a hunting dog each made of cy, then duhem ea the sludge from a parking lot after a rainy day. Amara didn’t flinch as the drooli stopped right in front of her.

  While that was going on, Latte got a hold of KJ’s tripod and was staring at it. I turoo te to see her breaking it over her knee.

  “OK, Latte isn’t allowed to hold anything else!” KJ said.

  “Hey, that’s not fair, I hold things,” Latte said. "Let me hold something else to prove it to you. Like that camera..."

  “You get holding privileges back when you hold something that isn’t yours without smashing it.” I said.

  “Fet about the tripod, get shots of me fighting this thing!” Amara said, getting out her bloodsaber. The void beast swatted at her, knog her to the side. Amara twirled in midair and nded on her feet.

  “I hope you got that,” I said to KJ.

  “I’m still dealing with this tripod, that thing cost 39.99!” KJ said.

  I got out my phone and started filming in case KJ had pletely lost focus. Amara jumped back towards it, firing a barrage of ser bsts before sshing at the void beast. It groaned, but she didn’t seem to be doing any damage.

  “This one’s REALLY big!” I said. “Do you still have this, Amara?”

  “I definitely have this, and I definitely do not need help!” Amara said. She dodged a swinging strike from the mohat shattered the bark of a tree upon impact.

  “Are you super sure?” I asked.

  “Alright, I have the shot, start doing real damage now, Amara!” KJ said, getting her camera ready again. “And…go!”

  Amara rolled in front of the void creature and jumped up, nding a fierce boot to its face that she used to jump even higher over it, getting another series of ser volleys towards its back.

  “Zeta, tilt your phone on its side,” KJ said.

  “You’re not looking my way, how could you tell?” I said as I corrected my phone’s position.

  “I sense portrait and ndscape filming,” KJ said. “Your shots might help out to have different angles of the fight, so I don’t want them to be pletely useless and filmed in such a horrible aspect ratio.”

  “Is that your i gift?”

  “Part of it,” KJ said.

  Amara’s bloodsaber ked against the void monster, which was weird because it looked very goopy.

  “Oh, terrific!” Amara said.

  “What’s happening?” I asked.

  “It’s got some junk inside of it,” Amara said, regrouping near me. “It’s pushing it outwards to make a shell.”

  “Do you still have this?” I asked.

  “I…may be in need of some assistance,” Amara said. “Possibly.”

  Rain brushed her hair, and Latte kept ing closer to KJ, sneaking g her camera.

  “Nobody get up or anything, I guess!” Amara said.

  I got my bloodsaber out. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use it, but I could at least check off a big void monster for the Benta void fighting list, which I robably way too behind on.