Stand. ~ Chapter 6

Your welcome, everybody.  I’ve now managed to do the assumed impossible of myself: I’ve procrastinated for about three weeks about posting something that was already written.  Thank you.

This chapter is written by Julia Elizabeth… Farm Girl… Julia… Julie… *sigh* I’ll figure out her preferred name eventually, but for now… On with the story!

 

 

Chapter 6

 

Reese sat atop Aralin’s house, looking out across the sprawling houses of New York. He sighed in frustration, thinking back to the previous night. It had been completely pointless. Just a bunch of silly teenagers standing around, dancing, snacking, completely ignoring the dire situation of their world.

And Xander… he scowled in disgust, thinking of the mushy look on Aralin’s face when he’d asked her to dance. It had been ridiculous. He’d hoped she was better than that. Reese sighed, shaking his head at himself. He was just being jealous. He needed to stop. It was stupid and pointless.

Saving people from that explosion, on the other hand. That had been enthralling. He’d raced up there, rushing people to a nearby makeshift hospital, where they’d been cared for. Then he’d tracked down the Assistant who’d started it and given them quite the fright. A grin split his face as he remembered the excited feeling that had rushed through him as he fought.

Of course, when Aralin found him, sitting on her roof, waiting for her, she’d given him quite a berating about running off without telling her. And when she’d found out he hadn’t even bothered to wear his mask… she’d been livid. That had been pretty funny.

Reese sighed, then glanced down at the mask Aralin had made for him, his face twisting into an annoy scowl as he thought of the time she would have wasted making it. Time she could have spent doing useful stuff, like fighting Assistants, or coming up with a plan.

A sudden light made him look up, and Reese was startled to see the sun rising. He’d been sitting up there for quite some time. Sighing, Reese incorporealeated himself and dropped into the attic, where he set his mask on the mattress, then changed into his school clothes.

Once he was dressed, Reese dropped down to the main floor. Aralin looked up at him, startled. She was dressed for school and appeared to have been working on another mask.

“You know, there’s a ladder.” She pointed out.

Reese ignored her.

“More costumes?” He groaned.

She shrugged.

“It’ll make them think there are more of us, which will make a general feeling of chaos, and help our plans.”

Reese stared at her.

“We are literally living in a city full of chaos. Why would we need to make it feel more chaotic?”

“We need it to feel chaotic for the people in charge.” Aralin explained.

Reese just rolled his eyes. He turned, expecting his backpack to be by the door, as he normally left it in his hovel. He sighed, remembering that it had been blown up.

“I’m going to need a new backpack.” Reese announced, not bothering to look at Aralin.

“Who are you, Spiderman?” She snorted. “There might be something you can use in the basement.”

“Great.” Reese started dissolving himself. “Oh, and we’ll need to head to school from different sides and at different times. I’m going to come from my usual direction, though I’ll take a different route.”

Aralin nodded, barely paying attention to him. Reese sighed inwardly, dropping silently to the floor of the basement. It didn’t take him long to find a small, dirty sack sitting in the middle of a pile of boxes and sacks. He pulled it out, dusting it off, then walked up the stairs, back into Aralin’s room.

“Got any spare textbooks?” He asked. “Most of mine blew up in the hovel.”

“You store your textbooks and schoolwork in you locker at school.” Aralin said, not skipping a beat as she put finishing touches on a glittering red mask.

“Some of them, yes. But I kept the basics in my pack.”

“I don’t have that many spare school books.” Aralin said. “They’d be a grade lower than yours, anyway.

Reese shrugged.

“I just need something to make it look like I have my books, ‘till I can slip into the storage area and grab new ones.”

Aralin looked at him flatly.

“We’re going to need to talk about your kleptomaniacy sometime. It doesn’t set a good precedent for New York’s heroes go around stealing things.”

“Kleptomaniacy?” Reese stared at her. “You’re worried about me stealing a few overpriced goods when you literally plan to kill Golding Kerwin?”

She shrugged.

“He deserves it.”

Reese sighed, rolling his eyes. He turned to go, first grabbing a few random books.

“See you at school.” He said, shoving the books into his pack.

Aralin nodded, and Reese walked out the wall and through a series of buildings. Once he was far enough from Aralin’s house, he walked out a building and started down the alley as if it was any normal day and he was on his way to school, backpack slung over his back, a casual lilt to his step, an unconcerned look on his face.

The walk to school was uneventful, and actually rather pleasant. Reese found himself smiling as he strolled down the streets, nodding to passers by. When he arrived at school, of course, that all changed.

The smile was wiped off of his face, and replaced with a scowl. He changed his carefree walk to a shuffle, and bent his back slightly, like the other children heading in. Hopefully to the stern, armed guards standing at the door, he just looked like another bent, broken child heading to a day of carefully regulated instruction.

School started well enough, with a boring math class, boring language class, a short break where Reese managed to slip away and get a new set of school books. After science was lunch. That was when everything started to fall apart.

Reese had hoped that Aralin would leave him to himself during lunch, and really through the whole school day. It would be suspicious if people saw them talking together suddenly, and they didn’t need people paying a ton of attention to them. After last night’s party, where both of them had made quite a stir, they were being watched with barely veiled curiosity.

However, once Aralin had sat down with Reese, he saw no point in turning her away, and instead grudgingly allowed her to sit across from him.

“So.” Aralin said.

Reese grunted.

“We should probably work on our plan.”

Reese grunted again.
“I was thinking that, once we cause enough chaos in the city, which will draw Golding’s guards out, we could sneak into his palace and assassinate him.”

Despite what he thought of that ridiculous plan, Reese grunted yet again.

“Are you even listening to me?” Aralin asked.

Reese grunted, which caused the energetic girl to sigh in frustration.

“Look, I didn’t want to help with this. You dragged me along, to be your ‘extra muscle’ or whatever. If you want someone dedicated to your cause, you can find someone else. I’m just here because you need someone to punch things.” Reese stated.

Aralin raised a haughty, skeptical eyebrow.

“Then why did you come?” She asked.

“Because you made me.” Reese retorted.

Aralin just laughed.

“Yeah right. Just face the facts. You want to do this.”

Reese stared at her.

“This is getting annoying.” He stood up. “Look, I’ve got to go to class-”

“No, you don’t.” Aralin replied. I checked your school schedule. You don’t have anything for the next period. Luckily, neither do I.” She grinned mischievously. “I may have had a hand in that… so we can work on our plan, right?”

Reese groaned inwardly. However, there appeared to be no getting out of it.

“Fine.” He muttered. “I’ll be in the library. There are plenty of places there where we can plan without being interrupted.”

Aralin nodded eagerly. She started to get up, but Reese shook his head.

“Get up a while after me. And pretend to head in a different direction.”

Aralin nodded, sitting back down. Reese walked out of the cafeteria, heading towards the library, along with several other students. Among them, he was irritated to notice, was Xander. Stop it. Reese chided himself. You don’t even know him. Stop pretending he’s annoying just because he likes Aralin.

He ignored Xander for the rest of the walk to the library. Once he’d entered the quiet, calming atmosphere of the library, Reese relaxed. He made his way over to some bookshelves sporting dozens of books on advanced chemistry. Hopefully people would assume he was just browsing, looking for research books.

Once Aralin entered the library, Reese made his way over to a research table hidden in the far corner of the room, blocked from view by several bookshelves. Thankfully, Aralin followed silently.

Reese sat at the table, pulling over one of the large school computers. Aralin sat beside him. Opening a secure writing file, Reese started typing.

“So.” He said out loud. “How was math?”

Aralin glanced at him, then at the page, where he had written the words ‘Have a normal conversation out loud. We can write our actual conversation here.’ She raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. Grabbing the keyboard from him, she wrote ‘Okay.’

“Pretty good.” Aralin replied.

Reese nodded.

“So, what particularly were you struggling with? I know that geometry can be a bit confusing with all of the shapes and names to memorize. Or is it trig? Do you guys do that already?” Reese asked.

On the paper, he wrote ‘Pretend I’m tutoring you in math. That’ll give us an excuse to be quiet most of the time.’ Aralin glowered at him, snatching the keyboard and typing ‘I do fine at math!’ Reese shrugged. ‘Too late.’ He wrote.

Still glaring at him, Aralin spoke once more.

“It’s the geometry, yeah. All of those shapes… they get confusing.”

Reese nodded, opening another tab on the computer and clicking a math website.

“Well, I generally find this pretty useful.” He said. “There’s a lot of reading though.”

“I don’t mind.” Aralin replied. Despite her irritance at the role Reese had shoved her into, she was playing it quite well.

Reese clicked back onto their secure ‘chatting’ tab, writing ‘So, what are your ideas? Other than kill Golding, that is.’ Aralin rolled her eyes. ‘They’re pretty simple. We need to cause chaos. Make Golding think that there’s a big riot in the city. He’ll send out his guards. Then, using that general air of chaos, we can sneak into the palace. I’ll use my mind map to find him, and voila. We kill him.’

Reese nodded slowly. It actually sounded doable. There were dozens of things they’d have to work out, and it was extremely unlikely, but still… ‘That actually sounds really possible.’ He wrote. ‘I –’

He was cut off as someone coughed behind them. Whirling around in his chair, Reese felt a rising sense of panic as he realized who was there. Xander. The incredibly annoying boy stood, a cocky smirk on his lips, head tilted to the side.

“Hey, Aralin.” He said. “So…” Xander stepped forwards. “Whatcha doing?”

Reese immediately shifted to block the computer, while doing his best to close the window, or just turn off the computer, before Xander could see what they were writing. They did not need what they were doing to get out.

“Nothing.” Aralin said.

At the same time, Reese said, “I’m helping her with math.”

Xander raised an eyebrow.

“Really?” He leaned around Reese, peering at the computer. “That doesn’t look like math.”

Reese glowered at the younger boy.

“Can you please leave us to do our school work?” He asked.

“No.” Xander replied.

He stepped up, then leaned in, eyes skimming the page. Panicking, Reese fumbled, then pressed the power button and turned off the computer. But it was too late. Even as the screen went blank, Xander turned to them with a half surprised, half triumphant, half delighted look in his eyes.

“You.” He whispered. “Are in so much trouble.”

Stand. – Chapter 1

As promised, here is the first chapter in Stand.

I wrote this chapter, hope you like it!

 

Chapter 1

Aralin cleared her throat with her head in her small, blue locker.  It had just passed lunch at school and she was checking her mind map for traces of anything unusual. She saw an Assistant walking down the halls.

Relax, Aralin.  This is the fourth time he’s shown up this week, and he has barley even lain eyes on you.  Aralin pushed her conscious, and every other thought in her mind aside as she strained for power to continue using her mind map.

She reached her hand into her backpack to make it look like she was searching for something, then closed her eyes one more time before deciding she had to get to class before she stayed there so long it looked suspicious.

“You looked stressed,” Aralin jumped, “Girl, what’s wrong?”  She took a short sigh of relief as she saw it was just Peggy.  Her incredibly curly black hair bounced every step she took, and her dark tanned skin was without a scar; which, living in New York, was very uncommon.

“It’s just… nerve racking.  I saw an old man get attacked at lunch and-” Peggy cut her off.

“You tried stopping the mugger.  Ara, you have to just accept this world.  Your 14, this isn’t elementary school anymore where we can just express our opinions without consequence.”

From anyone else, Aralin would have told them to back off, but from Peggy, she listened, and nodded when she finished.  

“I have to get to History.  Don’t you have science now?”  Aralin smiled slightly and nodded.

Peggy turned the corner, disappearing from sight.  Appearing from out of sight, however, was the Assistant.

Aralin started walking to science as quickly as she could without her looking strange, though kids often ran from these people so it wouldn’t look to unusual.

Two other kids were walking a few feet from her, but one stopped in mid-step, surrounded by a faint orange light.

The other kid, whoever she was, turned to the boy and the Assistant.

The Assistant smiled deeply and his outstretched hand became a fist.

The older boy gasped, and there was a bright white light.  The Assistant stumbled back a few steps, and the boy stood strong in a fighting position.

From what Aralin could tell, this boy must have had the power of teleportation to be able to fend off the Assistant so easily.  

He jerked his hand forward and a white laser shot out, hitting the Assistant on his shoulder; she remembered a time when she did something like that, though she punched an Assistant rather than laser them.

The Assistant said something, though it was too quiet to hear.

Aralin noticed the Assistant moving his hands in a way that meant he was going to transport them, so she swiftly moved her hand outside her hoodie pocket and steadied herself to use her gravitational powers to tug him out of the Assistance transportational powers reach, but it was to late. *dramatic music*

The boy glanced back at the girl beside Aralin right before the Assistant and him vanished.

 

It was really, very normal for a student to disappear, it was just that Aralin had never been present during their ‘disappearances’.  And the look on that poor girls face when that boy disappeared.  She hadn’t come back to school, most likely too afraid to come back.

She scolded herself, in a way, for being glad the boy was taken.  It might have been her… and to be so foolish as to almost try and help him… It was a ridiculous idea anyway.  If she had used her powers those kids would have known, and would almost definitely turn her in, because children that turn people with powers in were rewarded.  Their family might have gotten a better home, or maybe a pet.  A girl would even turn in her best friend just for some money to let her parents stay home instead of work.

Aralin tried paying attention in math class, but with all these thoughts running through her mind it was hard.  You shouldn’t have these powers.  You don’t deserve them if you don’t do anything with them.  You’ll try hiding them for the rest of your life, then end up like that poor guy; in a lab.

Aralin let her thoughts run more freely now because they made her want to fight back, they made her want to do something. The smart side of her refused.

“And that’s why, all organic peroxide compound having two oxygen atoms joined together, is explosive.” Aralin’s eyes unblurred as she heard the compound – it was her favorite.  Sitting up, she counted to three and the bell rang.  

She only had 30 minutes until the 15 year olds got out, and the less people who left the school, the better.

Aralin quickly got to her locker and stuck her head inside just slightly and closed her eyes to see if anyone was in the computer lab.  Then she slung her backpack over her shoulder and started walking to the door, making an unnoticed turn to the left towards the computer lab.  If only she had a cool power, like invisibility, or the ability to become incorporeal, or even teleportation would be cool.  Instead she was stuck with being able to see everything around her within a mile from whatever perspective she wanted, and the power of gravity.  

I don’t know why your complaining.  This dose let you walk on walls.  Smiled faintly.

She pushed the door to the computer lab open.  It was time to look for any other superheroes in this school.

 

“Seriously?” Aralin crumpled another page of paper and stuffed it in her backpack.  She hacked into the school files and made a search for anyone who had parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents with superpowers.  People with superpowers were rare enough she didn’t get over a hundred options of students who may have powers, but Assistants were good enough at capturing said people with powers there were only three real options: Tasha Mink, Sting Age, and Reese Evans.

She had printed these kids portfolios out, and the first one out was Sting Age. The boy taken by the Assistant days ago.

Aralin looked at Reese Evans picture and dismissed him.  No boy who had amazing superpowers could ever look so plain.

It had to be Tasha Mink.  Short white hair, dark brown eyes, and age…

This is when Aralin crumpled the page.  Tasha Mink, age 29.

She went back to staring at Reese Evans picture.  It had to be him.  Looking closer, she thought she remembered him from somewhere.

Of course you do, her conscious told her, you probably share classes with this guy every day. No, wait.  More than that. More than that, more than that… what is it?

“Right!”  Aralin sat up from her slouched over position.  It was so obvious… Well it wasn’t, but she knew herself to be very good at spotting the inconspicuous.

She scanned more through his file to learn as much as she could about him.

Aralin found it strange that she was finally doing this.  Her whole life she had been the top Freedom Fighter, getting closer to getting killed than almost any other kid in the school.  Here she was, sealing her death by asking this random guy to help her kill the most powerful guy in New York City.

Yep, that sound like you.  She shook her head.  Getting the last bits of useless information about this boy memorized, she tore up the papers in the old paper shredder at least ten times before she finally slipped her backpack over her shoulder and tenaciously went to the front door to hide behind something for a minute as to blend with the crowd when they came out.

One minute and thirty-three seconds.  Aralin skidded to a stop, not realizing how fast she was running.  One minute and sixteen seconds.  She leaned her back against a huge pillar so she could easily stand and continue on her why once the 15 year olds flooded out.  She glanced down at her pink camouflage watch for the third time.  One minute

“Aralin?”

She let out a small scream, falling off the rounded rock she was sitting on but still landing on her feet, then losing her balance and falling again.

“Wow, sorry!  You ok?”  Peggy leaned over the rock and stretched out her jewelry-covered hand to help Aralin up.

She nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine Peg, thanks.”

“You seem really spooked today. You ok?”  

Aralin paused, “Yeah, it’s just the kid that was taken recently.  I just wish I could have done something is all.  Anyway, why are you here?”

“Well, I was curious why you were in there for so long-”

“Gym.”  Aralin cut in.

“No.”

“Detention?”

“Try again.”

“Picking the locks of richer kids lockers and putting useful stuff in poorer kids lockers.”

“Believable.  Anyway, I stayed here so long because I forgot to invite you to my party.  There’s going to be lots of people and lots of food.”  Peggy smiled mischievously.

Aralin laughed and opened her mouth to say something, but barley a sound came out before the bell rang directly over their heads.

“Uhh, I’ve got to go.” Aralin yelled over the noise of students flooding into the murky light of day, “When is it?”

“Saturday night.  See you then, girl!”  Peggy waved and disappeared into the crowd, soon reappearing on the sidewalk and climbing into a slick, black painted car.  Aralin tried imagining what it had been life back when Golding wasn’t alive had been like.  Her grandfather said everyone rode in horse-drawn carriages, and some important people had really old fashioned cars.  He told her how there were these people called Police who stopped crime, and people like them to keep everyone safe.

Now, there were a few Freedom Fighters who tried their hardest to stop homeless people from hurting others.  Now, there were Freedom Fighters, who were failing.

This is why you have to find Reese Evans.  Aralin snapped back to attention, and began to look for him through the crowds of people.

There.  She took of running after Evans.  He was in a pack of kids going one way, but broke off, heading to what Aralin knew as the poorer part of the city.

Staying off at a distance, but close enough to watch with either her eyes or mind map, she continued to get good glimpses of him.

This was definitely the boy who saved her life.  He looked the exact same as he did before, but he was a few inches taller.

He turned into an alleyway and she closed her eyes and opened her mind map, then continued following him.

Reegan Sence | Chapter 2

Ok, everyone!  Ment to post this earlier but I went over to Farm Girl’s house before I had the chance!  Here you go and I hope you enjoy!!

 

 

Reegan woke up, yet squeezed her eyes shut to remember her dream.  It was a scary dream; her favorites.  The dream washed over her again:  Pounding feet echoed. Eerie screams. Creaking doors. Then, suddenly, darkness.   Wait a minute, she thought, that happened last night.

Her eyes flashed open.  This was not her bedroom.

Reegan glanced around the room and, confirming that nobody else was in there when she couldn’t find the common mist, flipped her thick blanket off and slowly tiptoed over to a mirror.  She could clearly see a thin cut between her right eye and ear, a twig probably cut her when she tackled the boy…

The boy.  Where had he brought her?  How long had she been asleep?  Why her?

Reegan just noticed a pair of clothes on a chair near the half-open window.  When she walked over to it she reached into all the pockets, flipped it inside-out, and studied it before putting on the outfit.  Stop being so paranoid, she scolded herself.  Reegan was normally a very trusting girl, but something about this room gave her the creeps.

Looking out the window Reegan assumed it was around 8 o’clock in the morning, but she was quickly sidetracked by the beautiful trees.  In fall tree’s leaves change color, but not like this.  They were all sorts of pink, orange, and purple.  She was so mesmerized she almost didn’t notice there was a young man who was quickly walking through the courtyard, face turned and on his toes.

He didn’t hurt me yesterday, Reegan didn’t really know it that even was yesterday.  She figured out how to open the window and jumped 3 story’s into a pile of dead plants and fallen leaves then, completely ruining the neat pile, quietly sprinted to him.

 

 

 

“Hi.” Zak flinched, he really had to work on being inconspicuous… or Reegan was just good at finding the inconspicuous.

He slowly turned his head toward her, “H-hi, can I help you with something?”

“Why did you attack me last night?  Why did you bring me here?  Where is here?  What’s your name?  How long have I been asleep?  Why…” Zak cut her off.

“I didn’t attack you, you’re the one who tackled me!   I was sent to retrieve you and someone else got there before me.  I’m not completely sure where here is and I’ve lived ‘here’ for over a year.  My name is Zakary Blade, I’m 15.  You’ve only been asleep for 7 hours, one of those hours was spent with me carrying you, three others we were traveling here, and the rest you were in your new bedroom…”  Zak paused.  Why had he told her all that? “Now if I can ask you…”  the girl cut in front of him, forcing him to stop walking.

“I thought you heard my name last night, I’m Reegan Sence, R-e-e-g-a-n.  I jumped out my bedroom window into a pile of leaves.  What did you say last night right after you picked me up?”

Reegan Sence, what a pretty name.  She’s so demanding, so powerful.

And I’m her Superior for the rest of the year.

“I said it because I knew you couldn’t hear.” Zak smiled.

 

 

 

Reegan frowned, “Fine.” she turned to continue walking, “what can you tell me about this place?”

“Well…” he seemed hesitant, “This is a school for kids who have the powers of a Kink.”

Reegan wanted to say she didn’t have powers, but he had already seen her make a force field.  So instead she said, “I’m just a Flix.”

Zak just sighed, “Yeah, sure.  Like anyone’s gonna fall for that.  Look, Reegan, you are a Kink.  You have all twelve Akronimal powers, and here at Virtus Academy they teach us how to use it all and stretch them to their limits.”  He made a motion with his hands like he was tearing something apart.

“Ok… What if I don’t want to?”

“You do anyway.”

“What would parents think of that?”

“They-” he paused, “I-I actually don’t know.”

Reegan stared, then finally said, “Okay.  Where are we going?”

“I am going to Superior training.  I have to start three days early so I get trained to be in charge of other students here in Virtus.”

Reegan frowned, but he was trying to pretend he wasn’t paying attention to her anymore,  “Who’s in charge of me then?”

“I am, hopefully.”

“So… Can you teach me something?”

Zak turned to her, “You’re not my Bit yet, so I can’t; unless you want me to teach you how to walk out the door instead of jumping out windows.”

Reegan hesitated a moment, she seemed to be asking way too many questions.  It didn’t seem he minded though, it actually looked like Zakary was enjoying the chat.  “Bits?”  Reegan asked curiously.  She turned on her favorite power.  She called it her Mist-finder but was sure there was another more professional name for it.

“As a Superior, I’m higher than all Bit students, which means students that are one or two levels lower than I am.  I’m specially put in charge of 3 Bits and can choose one more once I get to training.  If someone else wants the Bit I’ve chosen we fight for him or her with our Akronomial powers.”

“So I’m the Bit you chose?”  Reegan looked at him with curious eyes, seeing his blue mists light twirl around him freeze; The mist around people always worked faster than they did.  So, if the mist froze then just a moment later he would pause; or the night before when his mist was thick like water, that meant he was extremely nervous.

 

 

 

It wasn’t a weird question, he just didn’t want to answer.  If he said yes then he and she would both assume he was her Superior, but if he said no then if he did become her Superior after all that would be weird.  For a few moments, they were silent.  Please keep talking, Zak thought.  It had been a while since he had a decent conversation with anyone.  Almost all the kids in Virtus knew he was an outsider and avoided him at all costs.  Even as a Bit the year before his Bitmates ignored him, so getting such a girl as Reegan to be on his good side would be great for his status.  And she looks nice.  He rolled his eyes at himself.

“Maybe, you’ll have to see.”

“Ok,”  she didn’t really seem to care.  “Anyway, kinda changing the subject here, who do we fight?  What do we call them.”

Zak looked down, “We’re not supposed to say.”

“Oh,” she said, then whispered, “Agno’s?”

Zak turned to stare at her with slightly wider eyes and his mouth slightly open as if to say something.

Reegan said, “What?” but no noise came out.

Zak quietly said, “Reegan!  I said we’re not supposed to say!  The word is forbidden in the school, and whenever a student says it outside of classes you lose your voice for an hour.”

Reegan squeezed her eyes shut and groaned, which was very strange because you could see warm come out of her mouth into the cold, but no sound was transmitted.

“I have to get to class,” Zak put his hand on her shoulder and found the corners of his mouth twitch into a smile, “you just browse around, and I’ll find you at lunchtime in the Café.  You have everything else you need in your room.”

Reegan looked at him confidently and nodded, then stopped.  Glancing back at him with a smile, Zak understood and smiled back before Reegan headed back.

 

 

 

I’ll try having the next chapter out by Wednesday next week, though no promises!

 

Let’s Write a Chat script

 

Do you like my story so far?  Do you have ideas/suggestions for future chapters?  What do you think about Reegan and Zak?  Do you think Zak is going to be able to get Reegan as a Bit?  Tell me what you think!

Reegan Sence | Chapter 1

I was writing this mainly for a contest, but it turned out pretty well so I’ve decided to post it here since nothing’s been posted since July.   😐     Sorry for the inactivity!

 

Shifting in bed, Reegan blinked and found darkness.  Sitting up she saw it was 3:29 am.  Laying back down she wondered what woke her, then she heard a door open.  Reegan flipped her thick blankets off and jumped up, ready to pull out her dagger that was hidden under her bed, strapped to the top.  Listening carefully she made the assumption mum and dad were home, though it was a bit early, they weren’t supposed to come till 5 in the morning.

Tightening a belt around her house pants, she slid the dagger in a foldable pocket on the right side.  It would be fine if mum and dad were home, but Reegan was hoping for someone else.  The one who promised to visit again, David, the boy that gave her magic, is who the 13-year-old girl hoped for.

Unfortunately, there was also the chance it could be Kamron, he also promised to come back, though he was not welcome.  The only reason she was still alive was that of David, Kamron attempted to kill her at 9 years-old and David gave her magical abilities that saved her last second.

Peeking into the hallway, she could tell her parents weren’t home.  The light coming from the window showed their coats and shoes weren’t there.  She scanned the room and saw a figure standing there with only a faint light illuminating it.  It was definitely a boy, he looked worried.  He had dark blue mist surrounding him, unlike Reegan’s swirling purple or David faint orange, the boy’s looked so thick he could drown in it.  His wrists were also tied together and he had something tied to his right ankle… It wasn’t Kamron.

Reegan pulled out her dagger and nearly spoke before she saw the door to her house open again, it was David… Maybe?  The second boy had the sprinkled orange around him and the same dark brown hair with that red glint in the moonlight, but why was blue-mist there?

David seemed to scan the room and almost immediately spotted her.  Obviously.  He sort of trained her.  His face was still in the darkness though.  As he walked to her, Reegan’s froze and suddenly wanted to wake up, this was a dream.  An amazing dream that she wanted.  The same one she had every night.

Though this one felt too real to run from.  “David?”  She said in a whisper, “Is that you?”

He nodded but didn’t say anything.  Reegan looked down.  Maybe this was just a mistake.  Maybe he wasn’t supposed to be there.  Maybe he’s forgotten.

Just then Reegan cocked her head and saw how perfect everything was.  His hair was brushed, his clothes were perfectly blue, with symetrical lines, and he walked without a stumble, hands clasped behind his back.   David liked things messy.

“This isn’t right.”  She whispered, her heart dropping.  They had known each other for years before he saved her and the world stopped fighting Flix and Kink’s, she knew his every personality, every dream.  He hated looking nice, so why was he perfect?  All her hope gathered in her heart, dropped like a nuclear explosion.  She angled her feet and waited for a moment, wanting to run, but she couldn’t, not from this nightmare.

The David-imposter was slowly edging closer.  Reegan almost ran around him to the door, then remembered the blue-mist boy.  He was almost always a good guy, and he was tied which probably meant he was the enemy’s enemy.  And that ment he was Reegans friend.   She suddenly sprinted to him, attempting to cut David-impostors shoulder with her dagger, but missed.  She flipped around and used her dagger to start chipping away at the bonds on blue-mist’s leg.

Kamron –it must have been him– immediately followed but Reegan put up a force-field to block him.  If he got through in just a few seconds he was a Kink, if he didn’t he was a weakly powered Flix with maybe only one ability.

As she cut, it took him only a second to break through, this was a powerful Kink. This did give Reegan enough time to cut off whatever was on ‘blue-mist-boy’s’ right ankle.  He took off, leaving Reegan behind, but she just managed to skid outside and shut the door.  A long sword coming through the wooden door was a nice effect too.  Reegan chased after the boy until he slowed down.  Then she tackled him.

“Who are you?” she said when she finally got him pinned down with her knife above his face.  He paused with an awkward stare into her eyes.  Jerking the dagger to get his attention, the boy blinked and said, “I’m…”  The rest was filtered out as she felt a prick on the hand pinning the boy’s hands above his head.  She felt her ear fluid freeze making her unable to hear, blackness filled her sight and she felt herself topple over being unable to move.  She was awake long enough to see the boy cut the bonds off with her dagger and bent down to lift her into his arms.  He stared into her eyes again mouthing something that Reegan couldn’t clearly make out before she drifted off to sleep at the sound of a distant yell, calling her name, and the soft bounce of a running teen.

 

 

 

I hope you liked it!  Tell me what you think in the comments!  I’ll post the next chapter tomorrow!

 

Let’s make a Chat Script

 

What do you think will happen next?  How are you liking Reegan’s character?  Who do you think the boy is?  What do you like most about this chapter?  Do you have any ideas for future chapters?  Do you like cats?!

Outlaws

Chapter Twelve:

Charles turned from the driver’s seat to look at me.

“What is it?” He asked, looking surprisingly eager.
“If the Crimson’s have been using my mother as leverage to get Father to do things, all we have to do is show up at the castle door with Mother. Father will stop everything he’s been doing, and your brothers can reclaim the throne!” I was delighted. It had been so simple! Why hadn’t we seen it before?

“You realize there are like, a zillion holes in that plan.” A voice from behind me said.

I looked back.
“Tennyson!” My face lit up. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I was just trampled by a horse.” He grumbled. “But as I was saying, there are a ton of holes in your plan.”

“Like?” Charles asked defensively. “I thought it sounded like a good plan.”
“Sure.” Tennyson snorted. “But how are we going to get to the castle without getting killed? And then, how do we convince Duke Deerview that we really have his wife? Also, we have to get your overly suspicious brothers to believe that he really has left the throne. Next, we need to bring your brothers back to the castle and set them up on the throne without causing a civil war. And don’t get me started on the problems these ‘Crimsons’ could make.”

“Well, it was just an outline,” Charles muttered. “And anyways, that wasn’t a ‘zillion’ problems.”

“It was a figure of speech.” Tennyson retorted. “If you’d-”

“Alright, alright!” I interrupted. “You two need to work on getting along. We can’t pull this off unless we’re all working together. Charles, if you start us in the direction of the castle, we can begin to work on the plan.”

Charles sighed, then stiffly turned back to driving. Tennyson struggled to sit up, eager to begin planning. I turned to my mother.
“You know the Crimson’s plans, and you know Father. Do you have any ideas on how we should do this?” I asked
Mother cocked her head to the side, like a bird.
“I believe I do.” She smiled a devilishly excited smile.

Over the next four hours, as we planned and schemed, I learned something about my mother and myself. We both had a flair for the dramatic. Our plan was so detailedly complicated and intricate, I had trouble remembering it all, though that might also be because I was exhausted.
“Won’t this plan take months?” Ariana asked as we worked on the details of how to lure Ethan and Allen to the castle.
“Hardly,” I said. “There are several servants in the castle who are loyal to Allen. If we get them on our side, we should be set. Charles’ll have to do the talking, though, since they probably won’t trust me.”

Ariana nodded slowly.
“What’ll my part in the plan be?” She asked.
“Your part?” I said, feeling a sinking feeling in my stomach.
“Yes.” Ariana raised her head. “I can be useful.”

I sighed, reluctant to let her in another plan. However, I figured that it was only fair. Her magic had saved us last time. Perhaps it could come in useful this time. My eyes lit up.
“Could you disguise us with your magic? You know, make us look like lower nobles. That would make this plan so much easier.”

She nodded slowly.

“I think I could. I’d only be able to do one or two people, but it wouldn’t be that hard.”

I grinned.
“Awesome! If you disguise Charles and yourself, you can sneak into the ball along with several other rebels. Then the rest of them can hide as servants. I’ll be waiting with mother, and once we set our plan into motion, it’ll be like a charging horse!”
“A charging horse?” Ariana asked.
“So, crazy, unpredictable and dangerous?” Tennyson suggested.
“No! It’ll be unstoppable!” I replied, exasperated.

“I think you could have used a better metaphor,” Tennyson remarked.
I sighed, then settled back. We had several days before we reached the castle, and I wanted to take that time to rest. I’d be leaving earlier than everyone, of course, but I’d still get a day of rest if we rode slowly.

“Jo! Jo, wake up.”

It was Ariana. I cracked an eye.

“Can’t you tell that I’m trying to get some sleep here?” I asked, irritated.
“We’re in the woods!” Ariana replied.
I shot up. It was extremely dark outside. I could barely see Ariana sitting in front of me. The only light came from that of the moon, which shone overhead.

“Already? How long did I sleep for?”
“About eight hours. Charles wants to get this over with, so he drove straight through.”

I sighed. Go figure. As soon as I get a chance to rest, it gets spoiled. Ariana handed me a pack. I slipped it over my back, then jumped lightly out of the wagon. Charles stood on the ground by the horses, looking hesitant.
“You know, I could do this instead.” He said. “Then you wouldn’t have to sneak around. I could just tell my brothers.”

I shook my head.
“We’ve already discussed this. They most likely wouldn’t believe you. They’d simply take you under their wing and never let you out of their sight. This is the best way. I’ll be back soon.”

Charles sighed, but handed over the reins of one of the horses. I swung on. I’d have to ride bareback, not that I minded. I’d done that for as long as I could remember.
“Stay safe,” Charles said.

I nodded, then spurred the horse into the forest. I felt the thrill of riding coursing through me as I trotted through the forest, oblivious of all else. I slowed the horse as I neared NarrowDell. It wouldn’t do for Allen and Ethan to know that I was in the vicinity.

Finally, I halted, slipping off the horse and tying its lead rope around a branch. I wouldn’t be gone for long, so I figured it should be okay. Then, taking a deep breath, I set off towards NarrowDell to set the first stage of our plan into motion.

I slipped through the trees, taking care to avoid all of the guard posts as I stumbled through the darkness. After several more minutes of quietly sneaking through the woods, I emerged into a small clearing. Right in front of me was a deep chasm. NarrowDell.

I smiled, then slipped over to a small section of the cliff with a bush. I reached into my pack, pulling out some rope. Then I searched for a tree to tie it around. I tossed the rope down into the chasm. It nearly reached the bottom. That was good.
Gritting my teeth, I grabbed the rope and began to shimmy down it. It was not a pleasant experience. The darkness hid me, but it also made it a lot harder to see where I was going.

After several minutes of slowly inching down the rope, losing my hand and footholds every few feet, I reached the end of the rope. The ground was only several feet below me, so I jumped.

I landed on my knees, and barely kept from crying out at the pain that coursed through my legs. After several minutes of deep breathing, I climbed to my feet. All around me was darkness, though I could see a faint flicker of light from the fire near the heart of the camp.

Taking a deep, calming, breath, I made my way towards the tents. I paused by Allen and Ethan’s command tent. There was no noise. I wasn’t sure if that was good or not. If the brothers weren’t there, they’d most likely be by the fire. That meant getting Luke away from them would be a lot harder.

I continued onwards, creeping carefully through the camp. When I reached the edge of the trees just outside of the campfire’s circle of light, I paused, scanning the crowd of outlaws. Finally, I spotted Luke sitting on his own near the fire. He was sharpening his sword, gaze transfixed on the fire.

I hesitated. I didn’t like being in this camp, so near to so many people who would probably like to kill me. I didn’t want to wait for Luke to leave the fire to talk to him. But how could I alert him to my presence without letting others know that I was here as well?

If I used one of the signals that we had come up with, Ethan and Allen would recognize it. If I tried to get him to see me, I’d risk someone else noticing me as well. Then an idea occurred to me. A devious smile lit my lips as I reached down and picked up a small pebble.

When Luke and I were younger, we used to shoot messages at each other using slingshots and rocks. I’d always carried a rubber band around in my pocket in case I needed it. As the outlaws settled back for the night, I slipped a small rock into the rubber band, then pulled it back and shot the pebble at my cousin.

It took several tries, but I eventually managed to hit Luke. He looked up sharply, brow furrowed. I grabbed a tree branch, waving it slightly in the air. Narrowing his eyes, Luke ever so slowly stood and began making his way towards the trees, sword forgotten on the bench behind him.

I slipped through the woods, occasionally cracking sticks or waving branches to get Luke’s attention. Finally, I deemed that we were far enough away from the fire that I could reveal myself. I waited for Luke to stumble into the small clearing, then stepped out of the shadows.
“Who-” Luke began. Then he froze. “Jo? Jo, is that really you?”

I nodded.

“Where have you been? Are you alright? What-”

“Luke,” I said quietly. “I don’t have much time. I need to head back to the castle tonight.”

“The castle? What are you doing there? You aren’t working with him, are you?” Luke’s face was worried.
“Of course not!” I exclaimed. “We’ve got a plan to stop all of this. But for that to work, Allen and Ethan need to be at the castle in four days for a ball that Father’s going to be holding. You need to persuade them to come.”

“A ball,” Luke said flatly. “And what is so special about this so-called ball?”
“It’s the ball celebrating the day that King Edrith conquered the Jutes and claimed our country. Remember?”

“Oh…right. Never paid much attention to those history lessons. So you’re saying that something’s going to happen at this ball, and Allen and Ethan need to be there?”

“Yep. Try and convince them not to do anything until the second night, so that nothing interrupts our plan, okay?”

“I guess. But what’s your plan?”
I smiled mischievously.
“You’ll see.”

Luke groaned.
“That is never a good sign,” he declared.
I shrugged.

“See you soon, hopefully.”

He nodded, and I turned, slipping back through the sparse woods that dotted the valley floor. When I reached the rope, I groaned inwardly. I would have to climb all the way back up, without falling or alerting anyone to my presence.

Sighing, I wrapped my hands around the rope and began to scramble up the cliff side. After the better part of an hour, I finally hauled myself atop the cliff. I lay there, dangerously close to the side of the cliff, panting.
Finally, I hauled myself up, then towed up the rope and untied it from the tree, leaving no sign of my having been there. Then I slipped off, moving silently through the trees like a lynx.
When I reached the horse, I smiled, undoing its reins and slipping on. I urged it into a canter, racing through the trees, wind whipping at my hair, eyes sparkling. The first part was completed. I’d done what I could to ensure that Ethan and Allen would be at the ball. It was up to Luke to convince them.

With that first part done, it felt like our plan was a rolling snowball, picking up speed and momentum. Now all that we needed to do was save the world.

Outlaws Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten:

I could feel myself growing more and more on edge as we crept down the halls. I jumped at all noises, and every shadow that I saw was magnified by my imagination into some terrifying menace.

My companions appeared to be feeling the same way that I was. Charles was so tense, each movement that he took looked forced. And he kept glancing suspiciously behind us as if someone would jump out of a corridor at any moment.
Even Tennyson wasn’t as animated or flamboyant as usual. He clutched his cloak around him with one hand, while his other gripped his sword hilt.

We slunk down the halls, Charles leading us to wherever he had decided to leave the documents. I was astounded by how nicely decorated the Crimson’s base was. Whoever lead the group must have been extremely rich.

Finally, Charles stopped outside of a beautiful oak door.
“Alright. This is an office. We’ll place the first stack of documents in here, laying inconspicuously on the desk.” He instructed.

“First stack?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Charles nodded. “Didn’t I tell you? We have seven stacks of documents so that at least one of them gets spotted by spies.”
I sighed.
“Alright. But that’s going to be a long time.” I shrugged.
Charles carefully pushed open the door. Inside was a cluttered office, with all the usual office things.

A mahogany desk covered in papers, paintings, pens, and other office implements. Comfortable chairs scattered around. Paintings on the walls, and a blazing fireplace.

We snuck forwards, glancing around, but no one was there. Charles pulled a stack of papers out of his cloak and carefully lay them on the desk. Then we crept out.

“That was facile,” Tennyson commented.

“That’s for sure.” I agreed. “I would have assumed that the Crimsons would at least try to make it harder to break into their base.”

Charles shrugged.
“We still have six more to go, so don’t start bragging yet.” He chided.

We continued down the hall, placing another stack of documents on a large table in what appeared to be a lunch room. We nearly got spotted as we slipped out of it, but managed to duck out of sight just in time.
Then we hurried along, not wanting to take any more chances. We headed deeper and deeper into the command center, Charles indicating where to place our documents. Soon, we only had one left.

By now, we were so deep in the cliffside, there were no longer slots for windows. Soon enough, we reached a large metal door that could only be the dungeon door.
“Shall we go in?” Tennyson asked, trying to see into the room under the door.

“Sure,” Charles replied. “Who knows, maybe we’ll find a convenient place for a couple of incriminating papers.”
So we pushed open the door. We found ourselves standing in the middle of a roughly hewn, sparse, stark corridor. Along the walls were sturdy iron doors with tiny, barred windows.

Tennyson peered through one of the windows, only to recoil, gagging.
“What?” Charles asked, eyes narrowed.
“They do not take good care of their prisoners.” Tennyson coughed, hands over his nose and mouth.

After that, none of us glanced into the cells. We simply hurried down the halls, looking for a good place to stash fake orders for my father’s capture.

Finally, Charles located a good spot, poking out of the drawers of a small, rough table. He nodded, satisfied.
“That should be good. Let’s-” He paused, listening, then pulled us into a side tunnel.
“Oof!” Tennyson muttered. “What was that for?”
“Listen!” Charles hissed, peeking around the corner.

I cocked my head, and soon the sound of hurried footsteps and hushed voices reached my ears. I couldn’t quite make out what the people were saying, but it sounded like there were at least two of them.

There was a sound of clinking keys and a door creaking open. I glanced out. Three guards stood clustered around a door. One walked in, then came out gripping the arm of a beautiful woman.

She had long, silvery hair. But it wasn’t silver like an old woman’s hair would be. It was sliver like the trays and cups that had been used at the Palace. It was silver, just like my eyes.

The guards turned, leading the woman towards where we were hidden. Thankfully, none of them noticed us.

I peered closer at the woman, trying to see who she was. Then I recoiled, gasping.

“Jo?” Charles asked, worried. “Jo, what is it?”

I took several deep breaths, trying to find my voice. Finally, I managed to say, “That woman…she-she’s my m-mother!”

Tennyson stared at me.
“What?” He asked.
Charles leaned out, peering at the woman again. Then he nodded to himself.
“Yes, she does look familiar. But what is she doing here? In the jail?” He asked. “Duke Deerview would never consent to work with someone who held his wife prisoner.”

I cocked my head, thinking. Then my eyes lit up. Perhaps I had been right all along. Perhaps my father hadn’t been scheming and planning to overthrow the king.
“Unless he didn’t consent to work with them.” I said.
“Jo, we’ve been over this before. He couldn’t-”

“No, you don’t understand!” I said, eyes sparkling. “What if they were holding her hostage here and forcing my father to do all of this stuff?”

Charles hesitated.
“I don’t know…”

“I believe Lady Josephine.”
“You always believe someone I don’t,” Charles grumbled.
“Listen, we’ve got to rescue her!” I insisted. “We can stop this once and for all! It’ll finally be over.”
Charles sighed.
“Fine. But only because she might actually be Silvia. If so, this could change a lot of things.”

I nodded, but I didn’t share Charles’s skepticism. The woman had to be my mother. Now everything made sense!

We hurried down the hall after the servants, me in the lead. I was brimming with confidence, eager to prove Charles wrong.

That’s right when I ran into a large squad of soldiers. They paused, looking confused. I groaned.

Then their commander, whom I could only tell apart because of his stark white uniform, barked an order in a strange, harsh language that seemed to use twice as many consonants as it should have. The soldiers complied to whatever he had said, fanning out around us.

I drew my knives, while Charles raised his sword and Tennyson fumbled for a second, then pulled his large, hand-and-a-half sword from its sheath.

The commander snorted, obviously incredulous at the thought that three children could beat a squadron of trained soldiers. I shared his incredulity.

Even so, I raised my knives, getting into the position that Luke had taught me so many years ago. I took a deep breath. I could see Charles preparing himself as well.
Then, to my surprise, another captain, this one with a red badge on his shoulder, came hurrying down the hall.

“Captain, what are you doing?” He asked sharply.

The captain looked up, falling into a hasty bow when he saw the man hurrying towards him.
“Capturing these spies, General.” He replied.
“What do you mean, spies?” The General snapped. “These are several of the prisoners whom I capture yesterday. They’ve been attempting an escape every few hours. I shall escort them back to their cells.”

“General?” The captain asked.
“What?” The General said.
“I was just…nothing. It’s nothing.”

The general nodded sharply, and the captain and his squad hurried away. When they were out of sight, the General sighed in relief, his features changing until they revealed, to my shocked, Gawain, the rebel who had been with Ariana.
“Gawain?” Charles asked. “How were you…how did…”

“It was Ariana,” Gawain replied. “She used some of that Nymph magic to disguise me. She thought that you three might be in trouble. Looks like she was right.”
“We could’ve gotten out of it.” Charles said.
“Oh yeah?” Gawain asked. “How?”

Charles sighed.
“Well, maybe she was right. Speaking of Ariana, where is she?”
“Back where you left us. She’s still keeping watch. But what were you three doing?”
“Following my mother,” I said, glancing down the end of the corridor.

“Your mother?” Gawain asked.

I ignored him, cursing. The servants were gone. We raced to the end of the corridor. It split two ways.
“Great. Just great.” I complained.

“I’ll go one way with Jo. Tennyson, Gawain, you two go the other way.” Charles instructed.

They were about to, but I stopped them.
“Wait. Charles and I are the only ones who know what my mother looks like. Gawain will have to go with Charles, Tennyson will come with me.”

“Jo!” Charles hissed, trying to keep the others from hearing him.

“I don’t want you and Tennyson tearing each other apart. Go with Gawain.”
Charles sighed but nodded. He and Gawain went to the left, while Tennyson and I went right. Tennyson looked appraisingly at me.
“He truly respects you.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Charles. He never would have listened had I suggested something like that.”

“We’re friends. A good friend listens to their friends and takes others’ opinions into consideration.” I said.

Tennyson snorted.
“You sound like you’re quoting from a book.”

I shrugged, and we fell silent as we hurried down the hallway. We turned a corner and were rewarded by a glimpse of the servants, entering a small room through an oaken door.
We crept up to it, peeking through the keyhole. Inside, a tall regal man dressed completely in crimson sat behind a desk, my mother standing in front of him, the servants keeping a firm hold on her.

I fingered my knives, longing to burst in a free my mother. However, I reasoned, it was probably best to wait and find out what they were doing.
I pressed my head to the door, listening.
“…resist me?” The man was saying. “I will break you eventually, you know.”

My mother made no reply. The man sighed exaggeratedly.
“Fine. I will get those secrets out of you. Oculus demands them. It would be so much easier if you were to help us.”

The tall man nodded to one of the servants, who came forwards. I hesitated. What should I do? Suddenly, things didn’t make as much sense as they had before.

What secrets did my mother have that this man would want? Maybe she wasn’t my mother. Maybe Charles was right and my excitement had made me rash.

Before I could do anything about it, Tennyson drew his sword. I stared at him.
“What are you-”

He ignored me, shoving open the door, raising his sword, and shouting, “For Charles!”

I sighed resignedly. Looked like we would be rescuing this woman, whether or not she was my mother. I grabbed my knives, charging in after Tennyson.

The servants were cowering against the wall. My mother, or at least the woman I had assumed was my mother, had stumbled backwards and was desperately clutching at something.

The man in the crimson uniform had drawn his sword and was battling with Tennyson, who looked extremely stressed. I hesitated, then grabbed the woman.
“Tennyson, let’s go!” I shouted.
“You. go.” He replied, teeth gritted as he fought.
“No way! I’m not leaving you.” I said.
“I’ll. come.” He panted. “Just go!”

I faltered, then nodded. Towing the woman behind me, I tore down the hall. The clangs and clashes of Tennyson and the other man’s sword echoing in the hallway behind me.
After several minutes of tearing through the halls, looking desperately for Charles and trying my best to avoid patrols, I finally found my friend slinking through the corridors with Gawain.
“Charles!” I gasped in relief. “We’ve-got to-get out of-here!”

“I know.” He said. “We’ve had to fight off three different patrols. Where’s Tennyson?”

“Coming.” I replied.
Charles sighed.
“And that means?”
“He stayed behind to fight Illustriousness Cornell.” The woman said.

She didn’t seem the least bit winded from our run through the halls, and she was looking quizzically at Charles.
“Who are you?” She asked.
“Someone.” Charles said brusquely. “Who’s Illustriousness Cornell?”

“The commander of this outpost.”

“Outpost? You mean this isn’t their main base?” Charles looked shocked.
“Of course not.” The woman snorted. “Now will someone please explain what this is all about?”
“We’re here to rescue you,” Charles said quickly. “There’s a lot more to it than that, but can we talk later? Patrols will be here any minute now.”

The woman sighed, but nodded. Charles glanced down the hallway. The sound of stomping boots and clinking armor signaled that another patrol was approaching.
“Let’s go.”

He turned, leading the way out of the hall. We went quickly, doing our best to avoid the patrols. Charles glanced down at his map every now and then to make sure that we were going the right way.
I looked around nervously, hoping to see Tennyson. There was no sign of the brash young rebel.

We had nearly reached the exit when Charles pulled up short.
“Huh?” I began, only to nearly trip over him.

I looked up, then groaned. A large patrol of soldiers stood blocking one of the only two ways out.

Outlaws Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine:

I lay in the manure, trying to keep from throwing up at the smell. Thankfully, there was plain hay underneath the manure, which Charles had probably had several rebels place there.

That was a relief, but the smell was still terrible. I couldn’t believe that Charles had actually considered something as ridiculous as riding in a manure cart.

We’d been riding for so long that I’d lost track of time. Charles had promised that the journey wouldn’t be long, but in these carts, ‘not long’ felt like an eternity.

I was worried about how we’d know when we reached the Crimson’s base. These carts were probably headed to one of the nearby cities.

We’d have to get out at just the right time before the manure was unloaded and we were discovered, but at a time when the drivers wouldn’t notice us.
As I pondered this, the carts lurched to a stop. What? I wondered. I heard muffled shouts and several clangs outside. However, I couldn’t make out any actual words thanks to the hay.

Suddenly, everything went silent. Then the manure above us began to shift. I felt a strong hand grab me and begin to pull me out.
A jolt of pure terror ran through me. We had been discovered! Had someone told the authorities? But that was ridiculous. Charles trusted everyone here. Can anyone be trusted? I found myself wondering.
Then I turned back to the task at hand. When I reached the top of the manure, I jumped out the rest of the way, punching whoever had been pulling me in the face.

I rounded on the other figures, who stood clustered around the wagons. Just then, Charles hurried up to me.
“Jo, these are more of the rebels.” He said in exasperation.

“Huh? But weren’t we supposed to ride these carts all the way to the Crimson’s base?” I asked.
“Of course,” Charles replied. “But we’re riding on top. I had several rebels stationed on the road to ‘steal’ these carts. The drivers are probably half way back to Onyc, they were so terrified. And anyways, you didn’t really expect me to make you all ride in a pile of manure for several hours, did you?”

“Yes,” I replied, at the same time as several of the surrounding rebels.

Charles sighed.
“Oh well. Let’s get going. We’re far enough away from the city that no one’s likely to notice us. And if the do, they’re not likely to care.”

I nodded, clambering on top of the pile. Charles handed out wet rags and towels, allowing us to wash off slightly. I washed myself off, feeling relieved. Ariana looked disgusted.
“Seriously.” She said, struggling to the top of the manure pile to sit beside me. “You’d think that Charles would be more refined. Manure carts. I won’t be able to get this smell off of me for weeks.”

I laughed, handing her a towel to sit on. She took it gratefully, spreading it out beneath her.
“I hope we get there soon. I’ll be glad when this is all done.”

“I thought you liked adventure,” I said, furrowing my brow.
“I do.” Ariana sighed. “But now that I’ve had my fair share of it, I want to get back to normal life. You know, sewing and baking and dancing. All things that proper young ladies should be doing.”

I remained quiet. Personally, I hated doing those things. Who would in their right mind would enjoy sitting down and sticking a needle repeatedly into a piece of cloth. Or twirling in circles holding someone’s hands. It was extremely boring.
However, I didn’t say this to Ariana, as I didn’t fancy getting a lecture on how I should be a proper young lady.

We rode for several hours, and I soon found myself dozing off, despite the smell. Eventually, I feel asleep.

“Jo! Jo, wake up!”

It was Ariana. She was shaking me quite insistently.
“What?” I grumbled.
“Get up!” She insisted. “We’re here.”

I sat up, hitting my head on Ariana’s head.
“Ow.” She complained. “I didn’t mean get up that quickly.”

“Sorry,” I replied, rubbing my head.

I hopped out of the wagon, hurrying over to where Charles stood with several other rebels. He looked quite cross.
“…on! Someone else must be willing to do it!” He was saying.
“I’m sorry, my lord.” One of them said. “But this is really dangerous. Most of us, well, we have family’s to look after. It wouldn’t do if we were hurt in any way. We’ll spy on the base for you, and keep a watch on the outside. But going in, that’s just plain foolhardy.”

“I understand,” Charles replied. “But surely there’s someone who can do this.”

“What’s the problem?” I asked.
“We need one more person to come into the base with us, but no one’s willing to,” Charles explained.

“I will, Your Highness,” Tennyson said, stepping forwards and sweeping off his hat. “If it’s foolhardy than it is definitely something suitable for me to do. Or so I’ve been told.””

Charles hesitated.
“Well…I guess that works if no one else is willing to come.” He sighed.

Tennyson smiled charmingly.

“Wonderful. When do we leave?”

“We’ll have to wait a while for the spies to finish scouting out the area. I’d guess about an hour.” Charles said stiffly.
“An hour?” Tennyson asked, composure slipping slightly. “That long?”

Charles shrugged.
“We’re trying to make this as safe as possible.”

“Safe.” Tennyson snorted.

He walked over to a tree, settling down at its base and pulling out a knife and a block of wood. Charles sighed, waving at the rebels to disperse, then walking over to me.
“Let’s hope he doesn’t charge right in and announce to the Crimson’s that we’re here to destroy them or something ridiculous.” He muttered.

“He wouldn’t actually do that, would he?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Charles replied. “Well, we’d best start preparing.”

“I thought you said that we had an hour?” I furrowed my brow.
“Yes, but we need that to get everyone organized,” Charles explained.

I sighed. Sometimes, my friend could be a little too prepared. Even so, I followed him to one of the wagons, where he knelt down, reaching under the wagon to get something. Finally, he pulled out several large bundles.

Charles stood up, handing me one of the bundles, then grabbing another one.
“Alright. Your bundle has the stuff that Ariana and the other watcher will need. If you open it up, you’ll find maps, fake passes, extra weapons, a couple of decoy noise makers for if they need to get out quickly, and an alarm-noisemaker-thingy. Oh, and backpacks. You can divide all that stuff up, then give it to Ariana and the other watcher.”

I nodded, opening my back. Sure enough, it was full of all different tools and things. I pulled out the backpacks, opening them up and noting that they had survival supplies in them, along with several extremely detailed maps of the area.

Then I began rifling through my pack, searching for all the things that Charles had listed. By the time that I was finished, nearly an hour had passed. I was beginning to get nervous.
Standing up, I walked over to Ariana, who was talking with another rebel

“Here’s your pack,” I said, giving Ariana a bag. “Are you the other watcher?” I asked the rebel. He nodded, so I gave him the other pack.
“We’ll be going soon, right Jo?” Ariana asked.
“I think so,” I replied.

She nodded, seeming too nervous to say anything else. Just then, Charles stood atop one of the wagons to address everyone.
“Fellow rebels.” He began. “Today we are going to do something that no one has ever attempted to do before. We are going to end the oppressive reign of this new usurper and put my brothers on the throne!” The rebels cheered. “Our spies have just sent word that everything is in place, and our way in is secure.” More cheering. “Three more of you will join the spies, taking your positions around the base, prepared to set off the alarm if something goes wrong. Five of us shall head in. Ariana and Gawain shall wait in hiding near the entrance, ready to alert us if someone comes our way. Then Jo, Tennyson, and I shall head into the heart of the Crimson’s base to place the incriminating documents that shall bring an end to this mess. Let’s go!”

Everyone cheered yet again, bustling about, making sure that their weapons were ready, their packs full, checking that everything was in place. I adjusted my knives on my back, took a deep breath, then walked over to where Charles and Tennyson stood.
“Ready?” Charles asked.
I nodded. Tennyson grinned.
“Of course.”

Ariana and the other rebel, Gawain, joined us, and ever so quietly, we slipped through the woods towards the Crimson’s base.
I found myself holding my breath, I was so tense, and had to force myself to breathe. Ariana looked like she might throw up. Tennyson was still grinning, though he did seem more on edge than usual.

Gawain’s face showed no emotion. It was like a hard mask. Charles, on the other hand, looked extremely tense. His brow was furrowed, and he jumped at every noise.

Once, as they walked past a stream, Tennyson tapped Charles on the back. Charles leaped, spinning in the air and pulling out his sword, his eyes wide. I found it hard to restrain a giggle, while Tennyson simply burst into laughter. When he saw that it was only Tennyson, he relaxed. Then he grew angry.

“This isn’t a game!” Charles hissed, looking very annoyed. “We’re trying to save the world. If you do something like that inside of the Crimson’s base, you could get us all killed!”

That quelled my desire to laugh, and even Tennyson looked ashamed, if only slightly.

“I am sorry, Your Highness. It won’t happen again.” He said.
“Good,” Charles replied.

He spun around, sheathing his sword again, then continuing to lead us through the forest. We had been walking for barely fifteen minutes when we came out of the woods to face a huge, towering cliff.

A tiny, winding trail wound it’s way up the cliff to a magnificent manor.
“That is the Crimson’s base?” I asked.

“No,” Charles replied. “Their base is cut into the cliff. We know where the entrance is, thankfully, so getting in won’t be a problem. The manor up there is simply a cover for why so many people come here.”

I nodded, and we slunk forwards. Charles moved along the wall, tapping here and there until he found whatever it was that he was looking for.

We all clustered around him, feeling extremely tense as he prepared to open the door that led into the Crimson’s base. Charles grabbed a section of the rock and pulled, opening a door in the rock.

“That was…simple,” I muttered.
“Anticlimactic, you might say.” Tennyson agreed. He seemed to have gotten over his little telling-off from Charles.

“Be glad it was simple,” Charles grumbled.

We stood awkwardly outside of the door for a bit, then headed inside, creeping silently into the tunnel.

The Crimson’s base was shockingly well furnished. Red rugs ran down the hallways, and ornate oil lamps lit the rooms.
Beautifully carved statues and amazing paintings were everywhere. Tennyson reached out, running his hand down a pure silver candlestick. Charles slapped his hand away, saying, “Don’t touch anything!”

Tennyson sighed but kept his hands to himself after that. Ariana looked rather unimpressed as if she had expected this all along. Then again, being the niece of the ex-King, that made sense.

When we reached a tunnel that led down, deeper into the Crimson’s base, Charles signaled for Ariana and Gawain to stay there. Then Charles, Tennyson, and I headed deeper into the base, and deeper into danger.

Why dreams are Weird 3#

This was one of my dreams, I hope it makes you scared….   🙂

 

I was on my Aunt Wendy’s street in my dream and there were zombies everywhere.  One of them tried to grab my leg while climbing a tree, but I ripped it away from their swetty hands.  I jumped out of the tree and ran!  I ran to my Aunt Wendy’s house and shook her, trying to wake her up.  There was a force field around her, so that didn’t help my situation.  When I screamed, well, it was’t much help sense there was no sound. In my Aunts living room, I looked in the corner and saw a small dark space with a creepy, white, gost-like, and boney lady.  She said to me, “There is no way to get out this time.”  Then she did a big and creepy laugh.  Then she shrieked and I fell down in to her domain.  I had to fight dead people the whole time.  It was creeeeeeeeeepy.  My mom and sister made it down to me, they fought by my side.  It was less scary knowing my family was with me, and knowing that there was still some people who were actually alive.

 

The End

The Outlaws Chapter Four

Chapter Four:

We rode long into the night, until I was exhausted. “So, where exactly is this book?” I asked. “The royal museum in Pria.” Luke shrugged. I stared at him. “Th-the royal museum?” I stuttered. “Yeah. So?” 
“That’s, like, the most heavily guarded place in Andorn!” I burst out. “How are we going to steal something from there?” 
“Stealth and a whole lot of fancy tools.” Luke replied. 
 I shook my head in exasperation, but my thoughts were already wandering. Back to the capital. I thought. I wasn’t sure what I felt, heading back to my home. Thankfully, we wouldn’t be going into the palace. Hopefully, no one would notice me. I was still shocked that Ethan hadn’t recognized me immediately. I knew that cutting my hair would change my appearance, but I didn’t realize that it would be that effective. I guessed that wearing peasants clothes and rubbing dirt all over myself had something to do with it, too. But being recognized wasn’t my biggest worry. I was also worried about us trying to steal something from the royal museum. The museum was full of precious treasures, and it had the best security system ever. I wasn’t sure how we’d get in, even if we did have a ton of fancy gadgets. “How’re we going to do it?” I asked. 
“Just wait and see.” Luke smiled evilly. I gritted my teeth. I hate not knowing things. We traveled quicker than last time and reached the capital city in just three days. As night fell, we prepared for the mission. When everything was ready, we left our horses in our camp, then crept to the wall that surrounded the city. “How’re we going to get over it?” I asked. “I’ve got a rope and one of those grappling hook thingy’s so that we can climb over.” He explained. I raised an eyebrow, impressed. We crept towards the wall and waited. As soon as the sentry walked past, Luke pulled out the rope. He took aim and through it. The hook on the end caught on the wall, and Luke pulled it tight. Then he gestured to me. 
“Ladies first.” 
 I rolled my eyes, but climbed up. Luke followed. Then he rearranged the rope and we climbed down the other side. Luke gazed around, looking over Pria, which had once been our home. “Alright.” Luke said, nodding to himself as he surveyed the city. “Here’s the plan. I’m going to scale the first of these houses, then jump from rooftop to rooftop to reach the museum. You distract the guards and I’ll cut a hole in the roof, and slip down into the museum. I’ll find the book and climb back out on the rope.” I raised an eyebrow. “That’s your plan?” I asked. 
“Do you have any better ideas?” He challenged. “Yes, actually, I do.” I replied. 
“What?” Luke asked. 
 I smiled. 
“Well…” 
 Once I had told him my plan, Luke reluctantly agreed. 
“Great!” I said. “Let’s go.” We crept forwards. While Luke did just as he had planned to do and slunk across the rooftops, I snuck through the shadows on the ground. When I reached the royal museum, I grabbed a rock and threw it through the window on one side of the museum. It went through the window surprisingly easily, shattering it. I waited until I heard guards heading towards where I was before running to the other side of the museum and smashing a window there. I climbed through the smashed window and hurried around a corner in the museum. I smiled, gazing at the dozens of historical artifacts. Outside, guards were gathering around the two broken windows. I hurried off through the building, looking for anything valuable enough to grab. Finally, I emerged into a room full of gems. I grinned, grabbed my bag, and snatched three gems from a display. Then I hurried to the central room, where Luke would be waiting. My plan was quite similar to Luke’s, really. The main difference was the fact that I stole something, too, which would confuse them and also make them less likely to notice that an old, ratty book was missing. When I reached the main room, Luke wasn’t there yet, though there was a hole in the ceiling and a rope hanging down from it. I leaned against a case, waiting impatiently for my cousin. Finally, he ran in. “Lets-go!” He panted. “Soldiers-coming.” 
“Do you have the book?” I asked. “Yes. Now-let’s go!” He gasped. I nodded, hurrying to the rope. Luke let me go first, though I’m not sure if that was because he was feeling chivalrous or if he was just trying to catch his breath. I shimmied up the rope, which, by the way, is extremely hard. Thankfully, I was used to climbing trees, so I managed to reach the top. Luke was right behind me. We pulled up the rope and patched up the roof as best we could. Then we hurried to the edge of the building. I dropped the rope down the side and we climbed down it. By the time I reached the bottom, my hands were screaming in protest. I winced, wrapping them in my tunic. We glanced nervously down the alleyway that we had dropped into. Several guards had noticed us and were gathering at one end. Luke grabbed my arm, pulling me down the alley. Unfortunately, it was a dead end. We turned to face the guards as they charged down the alley after us. I looked around. There was nowhere to go. Then Luke smashed a window and pulled me back into the museum. We ran through the corridors, and soon we were completely lost. Finally, I found a room with a window. The window was already smashed, but I didn’t care. We jumped through it, startling the group of guards outside. Together, Luke and I dashed away. We didn’t bother to look where we were going, we just wanted to get as far away as possible. When we finally paused for a breath, I was stunned to realize that we had reached the palace gates. I gazed up at them, thinking about my father, who was inside. Luke noticed me watching. He grabbed my arm. 
“Come on, we’d better get going.” He said, and we started running again. By the time we reached the main gate, the guard tower had been alerted and soldiers were everywhere. We pulled to a stop in an alley near the gates. “There’s no way we’re going to be able to climb back over that wall.” Luke said. “We could just stay in Pria for a few days.” I suggested. 
 He shook his head. 
“They’ll just put the place on lockdown and we’ll never get out. No, if we’re going to escape, it has to be right now.” 
 I sighed, but nodded. “I think that the best option is to surprise them and simply run through them. When we reach the horses, we can ride away.” Luke explained. I raised an eyebrow. “You actually think that will work?” I asked. 
 He shrugged. Just then, several soldiers spotted us. 
“Look’s like we’ll have to.” Luke grabbed my arm, pulling me out of the alley. We ran straight towards the gates. We were about halfway through the crowd of soldiers when they realized what was happening. 
“Close the gates!” Someone shouted. 
 Slowly, the gears began to work and the gates started to shut. 
“Hurry!” Luke panted. “I am!” I hissed. We were almost at the gates when the first soldier whipped out a sword. Great. Just great. I thought. Luke pulled out his, and the two began to duel. The soldier didn’t have a chance. Luke was an expert with any weapon. I smiled. Then the rest of the soldiers pulled out swords or bows. Several turned to me. I raised an amused eyebrow, pulling out my knives. Each was pure silver, with an intricately designed handle. The blades shimmered in the moonlight. I felt power surging through me. With a delighted grin, I turned to the first soldier. My knives slashed through the darkness, felling three at a time. I had never been much of a sword fighter. Bows were my usual weapon of choice. However, for close combat, I used knives. Even so, there were dozens of soldiers and only two of us. Finally, Luke maneuvered himself closer to me. “Make a run for it when I count to seven.” He whispered. “You sure that’ll work?” I asked. He just grunted, knocking away another sword. “One.” I took a deep breath, readying myself. “Two.” I whipped my knives through the air. “Three.” I dodged another sword. “Four.” The guards were swarming around us. “Five.” Why oh why did he have to count to seven? “Six.” I crouched, ready to spring. “Seven.” 
 Luke and I took off, racing through the soldiers and towards the gate. It was closed, of course, but we darted up a staircase to the side of it. We raced to the top of the stairs. Behind us, soldiers shouted in confusion. Then they started to tromp up the stairs after us. However, at the top of the stairs we were halted. The large oak door was closed. Luke pushed it, but it was jammed. “Try and open it.” I instructed. “I’ll hold them off.” I pulled out my bow, eager to try it. As the first soldiers turned the bend and reached us, I notched an arrow. They raised their swords, and I shot the arrow. It flew beautifully, piercing one of the soldiers in the shoulder. He fell to the ground, and I let lose eight more arrows. Behind me, Luke grunted as he struggled with the door. “I’ve almost got it.” He muttered. I shot several more arrows at the guards, but I didn’t want to use them all up. Finally, Luke shoved open the door. We burst out of the hallway, the guards right behind us. Luke pulled out his rope. He dropped it down the side and started tying it to one of the parapets. I looked nervously at the guards, then at Luke. Then I noticed the trees close to the wall. “We don’t have time for that.” I said to Luke. I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the edge of the wall. “Ready?” I asked. 
“For what?” Luke was confused. I jumped into the tree. For several seconds, I was flying through the air. It was a wonderful and terrifying experience. Then I landed in the tree. I crashed through several branches, then managed to grab ahold of one of the central trunks. I had jumped into a large apple tree. It spread out majestically, branches reaching gracefully for the sky. Not that I cared. I moved out of the way for Luke. He jumped, soaring through the air just as I had. He managed to grab ahold of the main branch, just as I had. “Ow.” Luke muttered. I laughed, then scrambled down the tree. “Let’s go!” I shouted. Luke made his way down the tree slowly. I sighed, tapping my foot impatiently. Several guards tried to jump, but their armor weighed them down and they didn’t make it. The rest were opening the gates. Finally, Luke managed to get out of the tree. Then we took off towards the small camp that we had made. We raced through the trees, and soon we lost the soldiers in the dark. When we reached our camp, we leapt onto the horses and spurred them towards the horizon. Behind us, we could hear the soldiers mounting horses and charging after us. Great. I thought sarcastically to myself. The perfect way to end a perfect theft. Getting chased through the woods by a bunch of soldiers. An arrow whizzed past my ear, only centimeters away from me. 
“They’re catching up! We’ve got to split up and lose them.” Luke said. “We’ll meet…um… at NarrowDell, I guess.” I nodded. 
“Ready?” I asked. “Yep.” Luke replied. He thrust the bag with the book into my hands. Then, at the same time, we each turned aside. Luke went left and I went right. For a second, the soldiers were confused. Then they split, charging after us. I risked glancing back several times, until I nearly ran into a tree. Then I focused on steering. Finally, after nearly half an hour of racing wildly through the woods, the soldiers began to slow down. When I couldn’t hear them crashing through the trees anymore, I pulled my horse to a stop. He was sweating and exhausted, so I dismounted. “You can rest for a bit. Then we’ll need to head back to NarrowDell, alright?” I said. The horse whinnied. He nuzzled me to see if I had any treats, so I gave him an apple that Luke had packed for me. 
 I waited for a while, listening to the night sounds. Then, finally, I got back on the horse. I turned him towards NarrowDell, and we set off. After three days of light riding, I reached the clearing with the pine trees that led to NarrowDell. No one seemed to be there. I felt a spark of worry. Where was Luke? Then he rode out of the woods, looking tired and disheveled. I had a slight feeling that I looked quite similar. “Joan!” He smiled in relief, riding over. “How was the trip?” I shrugged. 
“Easy enough.” I replied. He grinned. 
“Well, let’s go show Allen what we’ve got. He’ll be quite happy that we’ve got the book.” Luke led the way around where the valley was hidden. We found the secret tunnel entrance for the horses, and rode through it. As we trotted through camp, we drew plenty of attention. By the time we’d reached the stables, a small crowd had gathered. Allen hurried forwards to meet us. 
“Did you get it?” He asked. 
 I tossed him the sack that Luke had given me. Allen opened it and smiled. “Wonderful. The others got back from their jobs already, so I shall be leaving tomorrow. Hopefully, these treasures will gain me an audience with…him.” He said. He turned to go back to his tent. I slipped off my horse and led him into the barn. It was time to get some rest.

Outlaws Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

I don’t know how long I followed Luke. He traveled quickly, though that wasn’t much of a surprise. I’d went hunting with him before, and I was used to keeping up with his long stride. Even so, It wasn’t particularly easy. Several times, I stepped on a stick, causing it to crack. Every time, I would freeze, holding my breath. Luke would glance round, but he never noticed me, which was a relief. As I traveled, I wondered how I was going to get into the camp. Luke was sure to recognize me, and the princes probably would, too. Perhaps I should wait for several days after Luke had joined, then come in with someone else. Or I could just show myself to him and travel with him. Finally, he stopped around midday, laying down in a tree, getting some sleep. I longed to sleep, too, but I couldn’t let Luke out of my sight. I forced myself to stay awake, pinching my arm, biting my tongue, and doing anything else that would keep me from falling asleep. Still, my head drooped and my eyes closed. I almost fell asleep, and I would have, but just then Luke woke up. He yawned, stretched, and opened his bag. After eating several apples and a slice of toast, Luke set off again. I was beginning to envy him. While he got to rest and eat whenever he wanted to, I was afraid to use up the few things that I had packed in my bag, and I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t afford to lose him. 
 That night passed much like the previous one. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. I was so tired and so hungry. Suddenly, I looked up, and gasped. Luke was gone. I ran forwards, looking for any sign of him. He had to be somewhere nearby. I almost called his name, then reminded myself that he didn’t know that I was following him and he would most likely hide if he heard me. I was about to turn back and start looking for him in the opposite direction when I felt a cold, hard, and very, very, sharp sword pressed against my back. 
“Turn around slowly.” Luke said. 
 I turned. “Jo?” He asked me. “What are you doing here? Were you-were you following me?” I ducked my head, then lifted it to face him. 
“Yes, I was!” I replied defiantly. “Why?” He asked. “I’ll give you three guesses.” I said dryly. “You were spying on me, weren’t you.” He sighed. I rolled my eyes. “No! You’re my cousin. I wouldn’t do that!” I said indignantly. “I was following you because I have just as much right to defend my country as you do. I want to help.” “Then why didn’t you just ask if you could come along? Hold on, how did you even know that I was doing this?” His eyes narrowed. “I heard you talking to someone at the castle. I figured that you wouldn’t want me along because…well…you know. My father.” She explained. 
“Jo!” Luke laughed. “I would have loved to have you along! I thought that you didn’t want to come. “Oh..” I was feeling more and more sheepish as we talked. “So there wasn’t any need for that indignant and impassioned outburst?” “No.” Luke rolled his eyes. I sighed. “Well, since we got that all over, can I come along?” I asked. 
 Luke shrugged. “Fine with me. But we’ll need to disguise you. Ethan and Allen, well, they wouldn’t be particularly…welcoming if they saw you.” I nodded, and Luke started to help me make myself look less like me.” “You’ll have to go by a different name.” He mused. “How about Joseph.” I joked. 
“That’s actually a good idea.” Luke smiled, pulling out his knife. “Um..Luke, you’re not actually thinking of cutting my hair with, with that?” I asked. “Of course. How else will you look like a boy?” He asked. I protested, but Luke was adamant. He sliced off my beautiful, long hair. Then he helped me to rub dirt all over my hands and face. “We’ll say that you’re a peasant boy that I found on the side of the rode.” Luke murmured as he picked up more handfuls of dirt. “I decided to take you with me. And your name’s Joseph, and you’re an orphan.” 
 I raised an eyebrow. “What?” Luke asked. 
“Oh, I just didn’t think that you were much into make-believe.” I shrugged. 
 Luke glared at me, and I smiled innocently. Being seventeen, he hadn’t played make-believe games in ages. Finally, after several more minutes of preparing, Luke declared that we were ready to set off. Then he noticed my necklace. “Right. One more thing.” He said, reaching for it. “Oh, no you don’t.” I replied, clutching it. 
“Jo, everything else that we do to disguise you will be useless if you still have that necklace. The twins know how much it means to you. They’ll realize who you are in a split second.” Luke said. 
“I won’t let you take it. It’s the only thing I have left of…her.” I said. I didn’t usually mention my mother, mostly because I had almost no memory of her. She had been shipwrecked when I was only four, and no matter how hard my father had searched for her, he had never found her. “Jo!” Luke complained. 
“I’ll keep it hidden. They’ll never find it.” I pushed. “Fine.” Luke muttered, and we set off. 
 That night was exhausting. I was already tired and hungry from the night before, and Luke didn’t seem to be slowing down. He was so focused on following the trail, he didn’t seem to notice how tired I was. Not that I could blame him. The trail was incredibly difficult to follow. It snaked, twisted, turned, and forked. Sometimes it faded from view entirely. After several more hours of traveling, Luke finally let us rest. He glanced at me. 
“You must be hungry, Jo. You’re pale.” He said. “Oh, it’s nothing much.” I shrugged. He rolled his eyes and handed me an apple. I bit into it, savoring the delicious fruit. Once I finished the apple, I lay down to get some rest. Luke sat, leaning against the tree. He didn’t seem tired at all. He woke me as the sun was setting on our third day out from the palace. Only two more days to go. I thought hopefully as I wolfed down some meat and bread. I was so hungry, I didn’t really care that the meat was dry and the bread was stale. Then we set off. I was beginning to get tired of walking, but, as usual, Luke didn’t seem to mind. He walked through the forest jauntily, with a spring in his step. On the other hand, I stumbled through, still tired and hungry. However, as we walked, I began to feel strength flooding me once more. I wasn’t sure where it was coming from, but slowly, I began to feel less tired, more awake. Soon, I was enjoying the beautiful night just as much as Luke. I gazed up at the stars, looking at the beautiful constellations. I wasn’t usually out at night, so I had never really gotten to admire them, except from my window. Luke sighed in contentment. “This is almost as good as the time that you snuck away from the mansion just so we could go Dragon tracking with Eric.” He said. “Or the time that you appeared at my window in the middle of the night to drag me off fishing with with those outlaws.” I laughed. “Yah. When we got back, we were in so much trouble.” Luke smiled. Soon we were trading our favorite times that we had gotten in trouble. We might be four years apart, but Luke and I were best friends. He always got me into trouble, but I usually returned the favor, so we had agreed that we were even. By the time that day came again, I was tired once more. As the moon set and the sun rose, I collapsed on the ground, glad for somewhere to rest. I didn’t even bother to eat an apple or something. We had been snacking as we walked, so I was full. 
 Sleep came easily, again. When I woke the next evening, the sun had already set. “Why’d you let me sleep in, Luke?” I asked. 
“I slept late, too.” He replied. 
 I sighed. 
“You didn’t sleep yesterday, did you.” I accused him. “Jo-” He started. I ignored him. “Luke, you need just as much rest as I do. Anyways, who would be out in the woods in the middle of now where? What are the chances that anyone would notice us even if they were out here?” I challenged. “Fine, I’ll get some rest next time. But we’re almost there. You need to stop acting like yourself, okay?” I nodded, and we ate some bread and apples, then set off. That night passed much like the previous one, though with less talk. Luke was once again struggling to see the path, and I was lost in my worries about Charles. I had either been too tired, too hungry, or too distracted to think much about it before, but now that I wasn’t talking or wishing for food, I began to worry. What if he wasn’t really with Allen and Ethan? “Luke, did the person you were talking with, did he mention Charles?” I asked. “Hmm?” Luke looked up from the path. 
“Charles. Did the person you were talking with mention anything about him?” 
“I don’t think so…” Luke replied. I sighed in relief. Luke scrunched up his brow, trying to remember “Wait, he did.” I felt my heart skip a beat. 
“What did he say?”I asked. “Something about them not being able to save him, I think.” Luke replied. 
 My face fell. Luke’s eyes widened as he saw my expression. “Oh, Jo! I’m sure that he didn’t mean that.” He added quickly. “Or maybe I heard him wrong.” But I was sure that he hadn’t heard wrong. I walked in dejected silence, worried about my friend. What had happened to him. What were his brothers not able to save him from. I worried about Charles all night. Finally day came, and once more I lay down to sleep. But this time, sleep didn’t come easily. I lay at the roots of a tree for nearly two hours before I my eyes started to droop. Even so, it took me another two hours to actually fall asleep. When morning came, I had barely gotten any sleep. Luke didn’t look any better. There were bags under his eyes and he moved about clumsily. After a breakfast/dinner of apples, which was all that was left in Luke’s bag, we set off once more. The night was beautiful. The stars shone brightly. A large crescent moon rose over the forest. Crickets called to each other, filling the night with their gentle chirruping. I would have enjoyed it, but I was still too worried about Charles. And the fact that we were nearing Allen and Ethan’s base did not help. I was terrified that they would recognize me. And who knew what they would do if they did? It was around midnight when Luke held up his hand to stop me. 
“We’re nearly there.” He whispered, pointing towards a tall pine tree. “There should be a guard somewhere by that tree.” I nodded, and we crept forwards, going as quietly as we could. My whole body was jittering with anticipation. What if the guard didn’t pause before shooting? What if they recognized me? But I forced myself to follow Luke. I wasn’t going to let my cousin have all of the fun. We had nearly reached the pine tree when someone stepped out from behind it. She had beautiful, long, green hair. Her skin was tinged a faint green as well. “A Nymph!” I gasped. 
Of course the twins would have nymphs as their guards. They were always eager to show off. “Password?” She asked, raising her graceful pine bow, it’s arrow pointed directly at Luke’s head. 
“N-narrowDell.” Luke stuttered. She stepped aside gracefully, melding back into the tree. Luke and I hurried forwards. Soon, we had reached a large ravine. It’s sides were sheer cliff. Several rickety ladders dropped into it, but that was all. Luke sighed, but began to climb down. “I wouldn’t do that.” Came a voice behind us. I whirled around. Standing behind us was a tall, handsome man draped in a green cloak. He had a regal bearing, tousled red hair, and piercing black eyes. Despite the fact that he was wearing rugged, ripped clothing and had a hardened, firm look on his face, I immediately recognized him. “Ethan!” I exclaimed. 
 Then I caught myself. “Your Highness.” I added, bowing. Thankfully, it wasn’t Allen who I was talking to. He was extremely discerning and would probably have figured out who I was in a split second. Ethan, on the other hand, preferred to move quickly from one thing to the next. He wasn’t one to question things, until months later, usually. He was a fighter, a soldier, a leader. Allen was the strategist, the planner. Ethan glanced at me casually. 
“Rise.” He instructed. I did just that. Ethan turned from me to Luke. He extended his hand, pulling Luke up the ladder. 
“New recruits?” He asked, looking us over. “Well, the first thing you should know is that only one of these ladders works. The other ones will all break at a certain time. The only proper one is the second to the left, the one made of pine.” “Thank you.” Luke smiled and bowed. Ethan squinted at him, then gasped. 
“Luke! Is that really you?” 
 Luke’s smiled grew even bigger. “Yes. I heard of what you two were doing, and, well, I couldn’t let you have all the fun.” He explained. 
“Well, that’s wonderful. Who’s this?” Ethan gestured at me. “Oh. This is a farm boy I picked up on my travels. He was on the run, and I decided to take him with me. His name’s…Joseph.” Luke replied. “Boy?” Ethan asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “Yes!” I said defensively. That was probably the worst thing I could have said. Ethan just rolled his eyes. “It’s obvious that you’re a girl. Come on. You didn’t actually believe all of those stories about girls cutting their hair and dressing up as boys. They’re just silly. And anyways, you don’t need to do that. We accept anyone. So no need to worry. What’s your real name?” I was rather startled, but I managed to stutter, “O-oh. It-it’s Johanna.” Not exactly a usual selection, but I had just read a book about a girl who’s name was Johanna, and it was the first thing that came to mind. “Alright, we’ll call you Jo. Wait, no. We’ll call you Joan.” He corrected himself. 
 I thought I saw a glimmer of anger flash across his eyes. “Well, let’s go. Allen will want to see you two.” Ethan turned. He led us to the one ladder that actually worked, and we climbed down. The whole time that we climbed, my heart was fluttering. I do not like heights. By the time that we reached the bottom, I was sweating from nervousness. Part of that nervousness, however, was the prospect of seeing Allen. He was one of the smartest minds in all of Andorn. What if he recognized me?