Chapter 14, Friends and family

*~~Eleanor~~*

She had been forced to attend yet another one of her mother’s garden parties. Being forced into cute dresses and wearing a mask of politeness was tiring. And besides, she hardly knew half of all the guests. Some she knew lived on the same street, some she had seen or met before, some she just knew by name and some she didn’t know existed. Many seemed to know about her though, “She has showed me loads of pictures of your beautiful face!” “I have not seen you since you were this big!” “Oh, she always talks about you!”.

Eleanor stood in the midst of everything, hoping no one would care to talk too much to her. But of course they did.

“You have such long, beautiful hair!” The woman of never ending empty compliments said.

“Thank you, but I do think your hair is very good, too.” That was a lie. That hairdo looked like something Leslie, her dog, had puked up.

“And that face! The boys compete for you, I believe.” Eleanor forced herself to laugh a little.

“No, they do not, I assure you.”

“Oh, you just have not seen them!”

“How can they see me when your daughter looks like a princess?” That was a lie. The daughter only looked average. The woman didn’t notice though, she just laughed.

“Joanne, I must take Eleanor away from you, we have not talked in ages!” Mrs. Lark snuck up behind the woman’s back, and the plump little woman laughed and walked away to hunt people who she thought would like her empty compliments. Eleanor didn’t know who she disliked the most, the plump woman or Mrs.Lark, her mother’s friend. Well, frenemies would be a better word.

“That hair is growing out beautifully!” Mrs. Lark said. “I must say, I sometimes wish my own hair to be like yours!” That was a lie. Everyone knew how proud she was over her own hair.

“Oh, no, Mrs. Lark!” Eleanor had to answer. “Your hair is much prettier than mine.” That was a lie, too. Her hair had the same color as feces. Mrs.Lark didn’t fool anyone with saying it was the same color as chocolate.

In Eleanor’s world, everyone trashed talked everyone. Though they didn’t call it trash talk or gossip, they said they were only discussing. Either way, you could be sure that everyone knew and talked about everything you did. When school started and Eleanor wouldn’t follow the neighborhood’s kids, but instead go to the same school as “normal” kids, she and her family would be on everyone’s lips. It was a miracle that she had been able to persuade her parents, in the first place.

She sat down on one of the sofas. The memories of Rurica hadn’t faded a bit, some nights she dreamt vivid dreams of running towards a big door, but not getting forward, while she heard screams from the room behind it. If she hadn’t met up with the other girls to practice, she would’ve had thought everything had just been a dream. She was glad it wasn’t. Yes, they had nearly died and she had never been that scared before and yes, they had screwed up, but the feeling...She loved it. Everything. Hopefully they would be sent away again soon. It was better than doing things like this. Pretending. She hated it. Loathed it. She wanted to get out of the horrible dress. She didn’t want to look at or eat the cupcakes anymore. And all these smiles and lies and empty compliments…She wanted to learn how to cook, too. She had cooked once before, but then her mother had found out and the servant had been fired on the spot. She had liked that servant, he let her be independent. She liked when people let her be independent.

She had made a great progress with her powers, now she could transform both her arms and lower body fast. Soon she would probably be able to transform fully. Scary thought, but, oh, so tempting. Then she could transform into a cat or something and sneak out of the house, always coming back, of course, otherwise her parents would get too worked-up.

Another woman interrupted her thoughts when she began to compliment Eleanor, the house and the garden. Of course, Eleanor smiled and thanked and complimented back, but in the back of her head the thoughts kept going. Repeating over and over and over again:

Next time will be different.

*~~Natalie~~*

Her mind drifted to Raenton for the twenty-fourteenth time. And of course her face felt like fire. She didn’t want to think about him. Well, okay, she did. But at the same time she didn’t. Every time she thought of him she got this warm, fuzzy, wonderful feeling. And she knew what that meant. She also knew that they could never be together. Never ever. And besides, he probably didn’t want to talk to them after what had happened. Limbs couldn’t grow back. Not even they could grow limbs back.

“Natalie!” Someone said and snapped their fingers in front of her face. “Hello?” The two girls and the café came back to her.

“Ah, sorry! I didn’t mean, too…”

“’Course not.” Sophie said. “We haven’t met in such a long time and now when we’re finally able to see you, you space out. That’s so you.” Natalie laughed a little, she didn’t know what to say, but it was true that it was ‘so her’. Laura nodded in agreement next to her.

“Anyways, as I was saying when someone spaced out,” It didn’t sound like a joke. “Anthony and I are going to go to my family’s summer house, and I want you to go, too.” Her family owned a pretty big summer house by the sea. And the house wasn’t something normal people could by. If they hadn’t won a huge sum of money, like Sophie’s dad had done.

“Me too?” Natalie said. She wasn’t usually invited to things like that. Sophie sighed.

“’Course you’re coming, too. You two have to share a room and sleep in a bunk bed, though.”

“That’s fine, but I’m taking the top bed!” Laura said and laughed.

“Of course.” Natalie just said and smiled. She knew better than to say anything, Laura was used to get what she wanted.

“Geez, you’re so weird sometimes, Natalie.” Sophie said and then turned to Laura to discuss the latest episode of a TV-show they watched and Natalie went back into her head again. The first image that appeared was Raenton’s face. She looked down so her friends wouldn’t be able to see her face and ask questions she didn’t want to, or could, answer. The next thing was Tegon. She felt so ashamed every time she thought of him. The betrayal was still fresh in her memory, but she just wanted it gone. She had apologized to the girls and they had said it was fine, but she knew some hadn’t forgiven her. And she couldn’t blame them.

“Natalie? Hi! Didn’t think I’d meet you here.” Natalie turned her head and saw Miranda standing next to the cafés fence.

“Who’re you?” Sophie asked with hostility.

“A friend of Natalie’s.” Miranda asked, but she didn’t turn to Sophie and Laura when she said it. “You haven’t forgotten about todays ‘meeting’, I hope?” Meeting? “I’m heading over there now; if you want to we can go there together.” At first she didn’t answer, she hadn’t heard anything about a ‘meeting’ today. She must have missed it. She excused herself and went to Miranda.

“Natalie! HEY!” Sophie screamed after her. “What meeting?”

“Sorry, I’ll explain later!” She had no idea how, though.

When they had walked around a corner Natalie dared to ask about the ‘meeting’. Why hadn’t she been told? No, she was sorry to have missed that it was today.

“Oh,” Miranda laughed. “I thought you understood, there isn’t anything today, but you looked so uncomfortable that I thought I should help you get away. Were those two the friends you’ve been talking about?”

“Um, yes, they are. But uncomfortable? I-I wasn’t. They’re my friends.” Miranda looked at her with raised eyebrows.

“Oh. Then I’m sorry.”
“Ah, it’s okay,” 

Awkward silence. Natalie should say something.

“What were you talking about? They seemed happy.” Miranda said.

She was relieved Miranda had asked such an easy question to answer.
”Yes, they were happy. I’m happy too, actually. Sophie, the one with dark brown hair, invited us to her summer house. I’m happy because I usually don’t get invited to things like that and…”

“What? You’re usually not invited? I thought you were best friends?”

Natalie didn’t answer at first, she had to choose her words carefully so there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings.

“Yes…but those two are better friends, and I usually find out that they have gone somewhere when they’re talking about it later.”

“They even have the nerve to talk about it in front of you?” Miranda sounded really angry. Natalie understood that it could seem mean, but if they wanted to go just the two of them, they could. It didn’t matter much. And who could stop them to talk about it later? “I’m beginning to wonder why you’re still hanging with them. Not that I’m one to talk, but still.”

“Why? But it’s not like they’ve done anything wrong. And they’re not mean.” Miranda looked at her with raised eyebrows again. “Sorry.” Natalie mumbled. She didn’t understand Miranda. Did she really seem to be uncomfortable when she was with Sophie and Laura? Did everyone think she felt that way? And in that case why? Miranda looked at her without saying anything. It made Natalie wondering if she had said something really wrong. She looked away and began to fidget with her t-shirt.

“If you say so.” Miranda said at last. “Well, I guess I can treat you to some ice cream, since I made you leave your friends and come with me.”

“Thanks, but it’s okay.”

When she came home later that day, her head wasn’t filled with memories of Rurica or Raenton or Tegon. It was filled with doubt. She thought about what Miranda had said. Was Natalie really not comfortable around Sophie and Laura? “I’m beginning to wonder why you’re still hanging with them”, she had said. Natalie had never thought about that. She had thought she liked being with them. Sure, sometimes they could say some hurting things, but that didn’t happen often. Or did it? She wasn’t sure anymore. And they had been friends since they were little kids. Well, they had met Laura later, but they had still known each other for such a long time. They would surely like to meet her tomorrow. To ask about Miranda. For the first time, Natalie wasn’t sure if she wanted to meet them.

Skipping this week

I won't realease another chapter this week, 'cause I haven't had the time to write anything.

Chapter 13, Doubt

*~~Miranda~~*

Failure.

Tenso had to send in another team.

Raenton had lost an arm.

Charlotte, and the rest of them, had almost died.

What a leader she was.

Their first mission had failed. Big time. First impressions are important, and she had destroyed hers and the other girls’. Everyone would think they weren’t good enough. Ea-Eae, Tenso and Ingya hadn’t helped when they said it didn’t matter, it wasn’t rare, at least they hadn’t died. It was their first time, they would do better next time. Yes, they hadn’t died, but she had been daydreaming about how they aced the whole mission and everyone congratulated them. Saying how good they were, how awesome they had handled that and that situation and that they really had helped people.

They had been home for three days, but they hadn’t contacted each other. Just added each other on Facebook. Miranda hadn’t done much during the three days. Her room had been finished while she had been, and her dad and the fake her, had come a long way on their home. She thought it was weird that the fake had done exactly as she would’ve done.

When she came home the fake had touched her forehead and disappeared. Miranda had gotten all the fake’s memories and knew exactly what had happened, when it happened, how it happened and what had been said. It had been very uncomfortable, everything had come into her head at once and giving her a bad headache. She had even needed to sit down. She dreaded the moment when she had to feel it again. To go on missions again…She didn’t feel motivated at all.

She went out to the kitchen, her dad was out doing, well, she didn’t know what he did. She took an apple, took a bite and looked out the window. It was raining. Yay. She went back to her room instead and turned on the computer. She didn’t know what to do, so she just went in on Facebook. Annie Steel was single, George Martin complained about complainers, Rose Wyle was bored and Hannah Adams had sent her a message.

 Hello,

I have been thinking that maybe we should meet up somewhere private to talk and practice. 

What do you think? 

Three people had already answered.

I agree. 

Charlotte.

You don’t have to be so polite. But yes, I agree, too. How about tomorrow at two, or 

something? 

Arabella.

How about in the woods just out of town? Hannah and Arbell practiced there before, right? 

And Wilma. Miranda decided to answer.

Works for me. And if everyone is available let’s meet at the woods at two. But can someone come and show me the way? I live at...

She didn’t want to go, but if someone should go, it should be her, right? She was the leader. The leader should be strong. The strongest. “Strong Leader.” She wasn’t a strong leader, she had no right to be called that. She did really not feel like going.

Natalie had come to pick her up, and the two of them had been the last to arrive.

“Now that-that everyone’s here, let’s practice.” Hannah began unsteadily. “We need to become better, don’t we?”

“Yeah,” Miranda said. She took pride in being the leader and wasn’t that happy with Hannah taking the lead. “We need to become faster and much better. Any suggestions?”

They were at it for hours. Their results differed, though, Hannah had improved pretty much, she had become faster, while Wilma hadn’t made much progress at all. She could still hardly transform things into weapons or shields, and when she succeeded it didn’t go fast.

“How about meeting here tomorrow again?” Miranda suggested. They had to practice as much as possible before the next mission and before the Holiday’s end.

“Sure.” Arabella said.

“I can’t come.” Eleanor said. “I’ve got to do this thing at home.”

“What thing?” Wilma asked.

“A thing.” Eleanor answered.

“The same time tomorrow, then?” Wilma asked.

After about a week they had all improved. Miranda felt relieved, they might have a bigger chance of actually fighting back next time. Her dad was happy she had found friends, but he didn’t ask how. Shouldn’t a parent ask how their kid got friends when he or she hadn’t gone out? Well, the fake hadn’t gone out. Miranda was happy she had found friends, too, she had been a little worried about that, she could be fine on her own (she thought, at least), but it was always better with someone beside you. She started thinking about the town where they had lived before. She shook her head violently to make the thoughts disappear; she didn’t need to think about those people now. She opened the first drawer in her desk, took out the little pink book with a picture of a cat on the cover and slammed it as hard as she could on the floor. She quickly picked it up, she had to remember that they lived in an apartment now. Instead she threw it back down in the drawer and closed it as hard as she dared, hard enough for it to make a high sound and sat down on the bed with her head in her hands, took a deep breath and went out to the kitchen; there were still things to pack up.

*~~Arabella~~*

She had just come home from today’s practice, and every time they practiced it was hard for her, one of the other girls had to be a volunteer. And, surprise, surprise, they didn’t like the feeling. Lately she’d felt like nothin’ could stop her, that she was almost invincible. ‘Course she knew it wasn’t true, but she knew she would do better on the next mission. She had to do better, actually. She didn’t want to be captured, drugged and almost killed again. It was strange, not knowin’ what’d happened. She could only remember so little, she hardly understood a thing. Ea-Eae and others had at least told them what’d happened, it felt so strange to not remember a moment like that. She felt herself become angry. She didn’t like to be tricked and made a fool out of. She was also angry at herself for being doing so stupid things and getting captured like that. Twice. And not to mention the fact that she was scared of going to another world. She hated herself for it.

Another weird thing was that copy of her. It had been really creepy to get memories of things you feel you’ve experienced, but you know you didn’t. Every time she started to think ‘bout it she had to stop, she just got confused. The same thing happened when she thought of things like: ‘What was before the Bing Bang? How could it have happened?’

She flipped through the channels again. No success. There was almost never anythin’ to watch on TV. She didn’t feel like going outside, either. The air was moist and it was really hot, it would surely rain the next day. She had already checked everythin’ she used to check on the computer. She should call her family, her copy hadn’t done that, so it had been some time since the last call. But since today was Sunday, they should be in church or doin’ somethin’ else “more important”. They could all rot in hell for all she cared, okay, maybe not, they were still her family, but they could at least call her, for the short time she’d been here she’d been the one who called.

She picked up her phone from the table and texted Wilma.

Hey “Best of Shields”, you doing something important? I’m bored.

It didn’t take long for her to answer.

Oh my, you’re bored? Poor “Bravest of Girls”. I better come and offer you my fun elixir, then. 

She rang the doorbell ‘bout 15 minutes later.

“What happened? Did the elevator stuck, or somethin’?” Arbell teased her.

“No, there roads were actually closed, ‘cause some elephant had escaped from some zoo.” They smiled at each other. “No, mom wanted me to turn on the washing machine.”

“At least you came here alive.” They laughed and sat down in the blue-green sofa in the living room. “So, how d’you feel?”

“About this whole Amal Ialad thing? That’s what’s been botherin’ you?” Wilma always knew when she was feelin’ down, and Arbell always knew when Wilma was feelin’ down.

“Doesn’t it bother you? I mean, we were almost killed, it was really close.” She leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees.” I don’t feel like goin’ on more missions, but I know I’ve got no choice. And it’s the right thing to do, right?”

“So this is why you wanted me to come? You’ve could’ve just said so.” Wilma sighed and leaned back. “But yes, ‘course it bothers me. But since I don’t remember it, it feels like it didn’t happen, you know? Are you scared? I’m, too. I bet so is everyone else.”

Silence. Arbell looked at the floor.

“It’s not like you to be this down.” Wilma continued. Arbell looked up and met her eyes.

“I haven’t been this close to death before, you know. It gets your thoughts goin’.”

“I know what you mean. The others must feel the same.” She sighed loudly. “I hate this! It feels so unreal and that copy…These things make my brain all messed up, I tell you.” Arbell laughed.

“You’re not the only one.” She said. “Well! Let’s drop this and go do somethin’ more fun! That’s one of the reasons I wanted you to come, after all.”

“You always surprise me with your mood changes. But thanks to that, I get happy, too. So what do you got in this crappy excuse for an apartment?”

The first world. Is. Done!

So. Now they've survived the first world. I had actually planned it to be longer, with some more twists, but then I forgot about it and just wrote. I'll probably use those ideas for the next world, when I've figured out what'll happen there. What did you think about? Did it live up to your expectations?

Chapter 12, Back to Amal Ialad

*~~Tenso~~*

He had intended to sleep, but it was always hard when a new team was sent out for the first time. Or maybe he was just worrying too much. Ingya thought so. Even though she had wished to go there herself. If it wasn’t for her, though, he would’ve had sent another team with them.

The two of them had watched in horror as the girls had been captured once again, it was always horrible and worrying to watch scenes like that. Wondering if they were going to die or not. He was angry with the girls, too. They had let themselves get captured twice, even Charlotte and Eleanor, who were going to save them, got captured. Maybe he was just being unfair, but he knew what situations like that could lead to. Other teams did also get into those situations, yes, but they were experienced.

He had left when they were taken away to new cells. They would probably escape from there, too. But the Ruricans were clever, they would probably make it harder for them to escape this time. He still felt uneasy, though. He didn’t know anything about the bearded man. And how where they able to knock out Tegon and nullify Arabella’s powers? And what had they done to Hannah and Wilma? He would need to understand those things, but he was far too tired to think of things like that. It wasn’t a good thing, getting tired.

“TENSO!” Ingya opened his door and breathed hard. He hadn’t heard her come, but she was barefoot, so he never did. “Tenso…You need to come! It’s about to happen again!” It was as if something lit up inside of him. He rushed out of bed and together they walked to the Mirrors.

A lot of people were there, The Top (like Ingya and himself), Selectors, Advisers and Mirror Men to name a few. They were talking to each other and trying to get a glimpse of the big mirror the girls had been sent through. He became even more scared. The people moved so Tenso and Ingya could reach the mirror. The angry and frightened voices of the highest ranking men and women from each group could be heard. But they all turned around when Tenso and Ingya came into the room.

“See, Tenso, what did I tell you?” Urora, the head of the Selectors, said. “I told you, didn’t I? You can’t trust the people of those girls’ world!”

“They haven’t betrayed us, so calm down.”  Roren said. Then he sighed. “I still wonder how you became like that.” He got an angry stare from her.

Roren had just been selected as the Head of the Mirror Men, the MM, and Tenso was happy he had been able to convince the Selectors. But Urora still hadn’t accepted him. “He doesn’t know anything about responsibility” she had said. Roren had been infamous for his lack of discipline before, and Urora should, of all people, know, but he had changed drastically when he came to Amal Ialad. They kept a distance to each other, even after all these years. Nowadays it was no use to tell those two to stop fighting every time they saw the other.

“What is the situation?” Tenso asked and tried to make them believe that he wasn’t afraid. The mirror showed the bearded man and his underlings yelling things to a cheering crowd. And the girls…They were all like Hannah and Wilma had been, and were. “They have been escorted out of the cells.” Roren said while turning away from Urora. “And taken to where…the Rurican’s execute people.”

Tenso felt the familiar lump of fear in his chest, he had known this would happen when Ingya came to him, but he had hoped…

“I say we bring them back.” The Advisor, Advol, said. He had been old when Tenso came, and now people wondered when he was going to leave his position and die.

“I agree.” Urora said. “They won’t be able to get out of this one.”

“We can’t just bring them home, they’ll never learn.” Unvis, Advol’s eager helper said. He hadn’t been here long, but had been formidable in his team.

“They aren’t like you were.” Advol said.

They aren’t as experienced, either.

 “I have been here a very long time.” Advol continued with his slow voice. “I have witnessed many situations and many personalities. I have been here so long that I can predict how and what thing might happen. I say we bring them back.”

Tenso did also want to bring the girls home, the situation was too dangerous. He couldn’t just say that, though. He was the top of The Top, he had to listen, observe and then say what he thought.

They didn’t get any further in the discussion because someone yelled:

“They’re doing something to the guy!”

Everyone’s eyes were on the Mirror. The bearded man’s underlings had brought forth Raenton. He didn’t look like himself. A young woman yelled to the crowd and got a huge response.

“Is it possible for you to make us hear what they say?” Urora asked Roren in a high voice. They could hear the crowd. They were roaring and almost drenching the young woman’s words.

“We’ll show them!” She screamed. “We’ll show them what’ll happen when they poke their white noses in our business!” She raised her arm and Raenton got pushed at her feet, he didn’t try to escape or fight back at all. A man came forth with a sword in his hands.

“Get them back!” Tenso screamed to the dead silent room. “I want them back right now!”

Everyone started to move, The MM rushed to get the Mirror ready to be able to send people through, and Healers pushed themselves through the crowd on their head’s order. Everyone stopped when they heard cheers. Tenso hadn’t been able to look away and was now filled with rage. Raenton’s arm had been chopped off, yet he hadn’t screamed at all. He just sat there while the young woman held his arm over her head in triumph and screamed along with the crowed. Then she turned to the bearded man, he nodded and she smiled.

“Next!” she screamed.

Tenso didn’t react, because when they brought forward Charlotte he was overflown with memories.

“TENSO!” Ingya screamed and gripped his shoulder tightly. Her face was just inches from him and he thought she looked scared, but he was too caught up in his memories to be able to know whether it was reality or not.

He thought he saw that Charlotte had been put in front of the woman, she wasn’t tied up, she just sat there, staring at things that probably weren’t there, just as Raenton had. The man with the sword went forth again and kicked Raenton away. Tenso didn’t know whether the crowd screamed “treason” or “show them”. That scared him. He hadn’t known that the memories still were so vivid.

“Is the Mirror ready?” Ingya demanded to know. She didn’t wait for an answer. She turned into a butterfly and went through the Mirror. He knew saw her taking the man’s sword and hit him with its flat side. Then she took Charlotte, dropped the sword, turned to the butterfly again and came back with Charlotte. She went back immediately and came back with two more, this she did until everyone was back.

Tenso hardly noticed what was going on in Rurica, he was so relieved that the girls and Raenton were back. Ingya had once again taken action when he had gone back into his past; he didn’t doubt that she would do it many times more.

Healers rushed towards the youths. Most went to Raenton. He would have to live with that all his life. They couldn’t grow limbs back.

The girls could walk, all except Hannah and Wilma, the Healers had to lift them. As the girls and Raenton were taken away, Ingya came up to him.

“Are you back now?”

“Yes…” He cleared his throat. “Thank you…For taking them back.” She smiled a faint smile and put her hand on his cheek.

“Everything for you.” He childishly wanted them to stay like that. But he backed away from her and said:

“We have to discuss with the Heads…about what will happen now.”

“Of course. Hopefully Urora and Roren won’t kill each other.” She smiled her amazing teasing smile.

~~*~~

It had been two days since the girls had gotten back, and now they had told him that the girls were strong enough to welcome visitors. He was in the Healers’ building, it wasn’t attached to the main building, but you didn’t have to walk far to reach it. The building was white on the outside, like everything else, but on the inside it had been painted blue. It had been a scandal when a Head had repainted it. But that had happened long ago. The current Head, Ea-Eae, a middle-aged woman with slits for eyes, walked him to the girls’ room.

“The Ruricans gave them some kind of drug, Man of Men.” She had been a noble in her own world and hadn’t lost the habit of using honorifics, from her own country, to her superiors. “We do not know all of the ingredients, but we suspect they put in a flower that causes hallucinations, it’s called Dazzelill. It also seems that the drug will kill if it stays too long in the body.”

“You don’t happen to know anything about the bearded man, do you?”

“That you must ask the World Knowers, Man of Men. Neither I nor my people have the time or the people to find out, I am afraid. We are not many, and I am pleased that Miranda has our powers, she will be valuable when her time comes.”

He hadn’t expected her to know, and he had already asked people to find out who he was and what he could do.  

They walked past rooms filled with people from other groups that had been hurt on their missions. When they came to the girls’ room everyone sat up in their beds except for two, Hannah and Wilma, who had been exposed to the drug the longest, and Charlotte who just stared at the ceiling. Raenton wasn’t there.

Arabella waved slightly when he came in. They all looked exhausted.

“How’s Raenton?” Natalie asked in a hoarse voice.

“He will be fine, Friend of Dragons. But his arm is forever gone.” Ea-Eae said. Natalie blushed at the honorific and mumbled something. The room went quiet and he heard painful breaths. He looked at the two beds in the back.

“They’ll be fine, won’t they?” Arabella asked while looking at the beds.

“Yes, Bravest of Girls.” Ea-Eae assured her.

“I’m not that brave.” Arabella said.

“In our country there is a poem that every child knows. It’s about our country’s civil war.” Eleanor said. “One part goes like this:

’I called them home.

But home they did not come.

I called yet again.

But home,

my children did not come.’

That won’t happen to us, right?”

He became sad. He couldn’t say if that was going to happen to them or not. People had become injured or died, one or two people or the whole group, but that was extremely rare.  What should he say to the concerned faces looking at him? Not many had had a first mission like that; it was understandable that they did think about it. In the end he decided to tell them the truth, it was better that they were careful. They would surely become scared, but he didn’t want to lie to them.

“I cannot say.” He forced himself to look at the fear in their eyes. They knew they had to go on more missions. “But it’s rare.” It wouldn’t be of much help, but he knew that they would still say those words over and over again in their heads, when they were afraid of the possibility. He had been there himself.

“How many days has it been?” Arabella asked.

“Since you came here? Two. But Four days since you left your world.”

“Four days, huh?”

“Will we stay here much longer?”  Miranda asked Ea-Eae.

“You five must only stay for at least one more day, but the other two I do not know.”  The woman answered. “Do you remember your last moments in Rurica?”

“No” They answered, except Arabella who said “A little.”

“What do you remember, Bravest of Girls?” Ea-Eae asked while turning her head to Arabella, who seemed to get a little nervous. Ea-Eae’s eyes were very different to what the girls were used to see in their world.

“Well, I remember the room with all the men and women, the others do, too. And I think I remember somethin’ ‘bout some sword. But I dunno, I dreamt a lot.”

“Alright. That is good.” Ea-Eae said. “Now, Man of Men, if you could go so I may speak to the girls in private about what has happened?”

~~*~~

Arabella, Miranda, Charlotte, Natalie and Eleanor were released two days later, but they refused to go home without Hannah and Wilma. They got released three days after, and so they went back to their own world. He knew they were going to have a hard time falling asleep the following nights, and that they would think much about Rurica. He remembered that he had almost convinced himself that everything had been a dream after his first mission.

“Tenso! Come. It’s time to send the other team to Rurica.” Ingya said. “And I think you should send me to Raenton’s group so that I can tell them what happened to him, no matter what the Advisers said.”

“Sure, sure.”

But now he had since long ago accepted that this was his reality. And it would be for many more years to come.

Chapter 11, The Room

This chapter tells what happened to Charlotte and Eleanor when the others met the bearded man.

*~~Eleanor~~*

She had only stayed with Charlotte because Miranda had wanted her to. Miranda had said that they should go together, and Eleanor didn’t want Miranda to think she couldn’t trust her. At least that’s what she told herself. But she was quite sure that it was indeed the truth. Besides, it wouldn’t have been nice to leave Charlotte alone, no matter how much Eleanor disliked the girl.

They had walked in silence since they had heard the screams, it was creepy to walk around after hearing something like that, and not knowing what or who it was, well, they knew who it had been, Hannah and Wilma. The worst part was, though, they had no idea what had happened to them or to the other girls, but she feared the worst. So many things could’ve happened, they could’ve been killed, captured or trapped, to name a few.  

“This door’s locked and it’s something more in there.” The cold girl in her indifferent voice said, pulling Eleanor away from her thoughts. What did she mean ‘more’? Eleanor didn’t bother to ask.

“How do you know that?”

“I saw it.” She didn’t say it like it was obvious, she just said it. It was slightly annoying. “But I can’t open it.”

“But you think I can?” She said with a voice she knew wasn’t nice.

“You can change, can’t you? Just break the door down.”

Why hadn’t Eleanor thought of that? This girl made her feel like a fool.

“What’s behind that door anyway?”

“See for yourself when you have opened it.”

Seriously.

She thought a moment of what she would transform into, something strong. Bears are strong. But Natalie…can be stronger…Was she able to transform into a human? She had been told anything, but a human was different from a dog. And she had just turned her arm into a dog’s leg. She hadn’t even been able to do something else when they had been attacked. She had been useless.

She tried and felt her body change. She didn’t know how long it took, but she knew she had succeeded when Charlotte drew a quick breath of surprise. If she had had a mirror she would probably done the same. But she didn’t, so now she just had to try to use Natalie’s powers. How did she use them? She had once heard that the legs are stronger than the arms, so she focused her energy in her legs. That took it’s time, too, but then she felt her legs getting stronger. She kicked the door but it didn’t budge. She kicked it again and felt it give away. She kicked it again and it broke. They could now go into the room. She didn’t change back to herself, if it turned out something unpleasant was in the room. She went before Charlotte, who she thought said “impressive” and Eleanor felt the pride growing inside of her. She quickly tried to drive the feelings away, though; it wasn’t good to feel such pride.

Torches lit up the room and made them see all the bookshelves. There were bookshelves everywhere; she couldn’t see the wall, except on the places where the torches were. Eleanor wondered why the door had been locked, surely one of all these books must be of importance. Maybe all of them were, the door had been locked, after all. She went to one of the bookshelves, but the shelf only contained geography books, the next one only had history books, the one after that had cooking books and so on. Though according to Charlotte, there were more than books in the room.

“There is another room behind the third one to the right.” She said. Eleanor guessed she had looked, when Eleanor herself had looked around the room.  “Can you move it?”

“Of course,” she answered. “Natalie’s strong.”

This time she put the energy in her arms and went to the third one to the right. She had to damage the bookshelf a little, though, otherwise she couldn’t get a good enough grip. Some of the books fell down on the stone floor.

There really was a door behind the shelf. She reached out to open it, but hesitated and glanced at Charlotte. The girl looked at her. She turned her attention to the door again. Charlotte must not think she’s scared. She took a deep breath, exhaled and opened it.    

“There’s a stair here that leads down.” Charlotte said right behind her, and this time her otherwise indifferent voice had surprise in it. They hadn’t seen stairs since they had escaped from the cells, which made this castle, or whatever, much bigger than she had thought. “Do you think we should walk down or go back and continue?”

“You’re just going to do what you think is right, anyway, won’t you?”

Just like before.

She knew she was being unfair, but she didn’t care much.

“If you’re going to be like that, then I will. Come if you want to.” Then she walked down the stairs.  The girl couldn’t even be mad.

Eleanor followed; she didn’t want to be alone in this place. And Miranda had told them to stay together. That’s why she hadn’t left Charlotte.  

The room looked like no room she had ever seen. It had empty bottles and liquid filled bottles on tables. On the tables were also books, paper, pens, well, she called them pens, other glass containers and more paper. On the walls were big pieces of papers with some writing and sketches. There were paper on the floor, in the bookshelves there were even more papers than books and she noticed paper under her foot. The room was also lit up with torches, which she thought was thoughtless since there were so much paper in the room. She picked up the paper under her foot. It was thicker than the paper back home, and it felt rougher. It wasn’t as white, either.

“I wonder if this is what people call ‘parchment’.” She said and handed it over to Charlotte.

“I guess.” She answered while moving her fingers over its surface. “What do you think they do in here?” They looked around. It looked like a room where people did or researched secret things, the hidden door was a lead to that conclusion. Eleanor looked at a sketch on the walls, there were dragons and fire and people. She walked towards it. There were things written with symbols unknown to her, but she could read them. She had no idea how, but she could read them. She could read them. How? She looked down on the table under the sketch; there were books on human psychology and dragons. The papers had equations, texts and pictures and arrows to explain the text all over them. Some were fully covered, others weren’t. She looked after Charlotte, she was standing by the bookshelves, looking at the books. Eleanor went over to her.

“Why don’t you read them?” She looked at the books, some seemed interesting: How to use a dragon, The Great treasures of the West…

“Are you sure we can?” What a stupid question.

“No one will notice.” And what else where they doing to do?

Charlotte didn’t touch the books though, she went over to the big sketch Eleanor had just looked at. Eleanor sighed and reached out for a book Amessia: The geography, it had lots of parchment filled with notes between its pages.

“Hey…”Charlotte said. “Have you read these?” Eleanor put the book back and went over to Charlotte.

“What?” She asked.

“You didn’t read any of it, did you?” She didn’t sound indifferent anymore; her voice was trembling and her eyes wide. Her body was shaking and she gripped the table edge so hard her fingertips had become white. Eleanor would have said something sarcastic if it wasn’t for Charlotte’s odd behavior. Now she just looked at Charlotte and then at the sketch. When she saw she lost her concentration and she turned back to herself.

Amessia’s capital is surrounded by flammable material…Will be able to make the deserts even drier…Alene will not have their forests…End of the war…

Her heart began to beat. She looked at the books again.

The cultures of the South, How to stop a fire, The cultures of the East, The Great treasures of the East, The Great treasures of the South, The history of the North, The Dragon of the North…

She didn’t bother to look at the pieces of parchment, she could guess what was written on them. But she looked at Charlotte and Charlotte looked back at her. Eleanor knew her eyes were as wide and her mouth as tense as the other girl’s.

“What should we do?” Eleanor said through clenched teeth.

“We’re going to the others.”

“So you actually want to help them this time?”

Charlotte didn’t answer.

~~*~~

They had rushed up the stairs and out of the room. They hadn’t bothered to hide the evidence that they had been there. All they wanted was to hurry to the others. All the time she thought they went too slow, and her heart beat fast and hard. Not only because they ran. They ran back through the corridors, but ran wrong and were forced to turn back, unnecessary waste of energy, they stopped to catch their breath, sometimes they walked and then they were they had split up into two groups. The time moved slowly as Charlotte tried to look after them, she didn’t succeed so Eleanor transformed into Leslie, her golden retriever, and asked a dumbfounded Charlotte if she had something that could have the smell of any of the others.

“Hannah touched my cloak…”

It wasn’t much to go on, but thanks to her new sense of smell everything became clearer. It took some time to get used to her new eyesight and movements, though. She and Charlotte walked quickly, they were too tired to run, and went back to where they had parted from Hannah and Wilma. In one place the scent went into the wall. She transformed back to Natalie, kicked through the wall, which hurt, and back to Leslie. They followed the tunnel in the wall and came out before a large door. It was really fancy. She turned back and they tried to open it, but they failed. She turned back to Natalie and felt how tired she was. She had used up most of her energy and hoped they didn’t have to protect themselves from what was behind the door. The energy went to her arms and the door opened. Only to reveal another door. She felt frustration and then opened it, too, and was forced to turn back to herself. She had no energy left. They went in and saw only chaos. The people who planned to capture Tegon and use his powers to destroy Amessia and its allies once and for all were there. They had to be those people. She didn’t doubt it for a second. The people came rushing towards them. She had no energy left.

I must tell Miranda.

It was clear that Charlotte couldn’t fight, just like any normal girl. She didn’t even have powers to protect herself. The other girls seemed to be knocked out, Hannah and Wilma just stood there with empty an empty expression in their eyes. She didn’t have the time to think about them, though, she was in danger.  The people were right before her. She had no energy left. They must think she’s weak. She hadn’t expected this. This wasn’t meant to happen.

Chapter 10, Scared

*~~Natalie~~*

They were crawling down a tunnel, it had no windows or light of any kind, and even though her eyes had adjusted well enough to see, she wanted light. They had found the tunnel when she had pressed a button and then they had fallen down a hole. Luckily Tegon had gone back to his original form and led them to a small ladder, right below the button. Then they had been able to either climb up or climb into a tunnel in the hole’s wall. Well, they chose the hole and Natalie still didn’t think they should’ve done it. She went first, since she was the first to climb of Tegon’s back, and behind her the Raenton and Tegon were talking about things she didn’t know about. She didn’t know how long time had passed or where in the castle they were. Not that it mattered, she didn’t know where they had been before, either. She wasn’t fond of this place, she didn’t like darkness. And darkness combined with small spaces made her heart think it was in a race. It didn’t help that she was first and had bumped into hard walls, when the tunnel turned. She was almost sure of, that it showed on her forehead.

Another turn to the right.

It had been seven turns. She had counted. She felt something on her leg. Her body reacted and she kicked backwards. A groan and a “hey” followed. In her head she screamed at him for grabbing her. Really, what did he think she’d do?

“Be glad I sit on the other shoulder, girl.” Tegon whispered. They hadn’t dared to talk in a normal voice earlier, either.

Well, sorry.

Her face became warm, and she felt herself starting to like the darksness.

Raenton muttered something. She though she heard the words “kick” and “murderer”.

That was the moment she saw it. The light she had been looking for. It wasn’t much of a light, though. Just a small crack.

“There’s a light not far ahead.” She said.

“Really? Great!” Raenton said with relief. She could almost hear his smile. He was a very good whisperer, it was almost impossible to hear what he said, if he didn’t talk to you. It was even more impossible to hear what he said when he communicated with his mind, he had showed her, but he had said he could only communicate with one mind at a time. He did practice on it, though. It had been an amazing feeling, she hadn’t heard what he had told her, she had felt it.

When they came closer she felt a handle.

“Should I open it?” She asked.

“It’s not like we’ve got any choice.” Raenton said. “I don’t want to crawl back, my knees are hurting.” Natalie didn’t want to crawl back on her sore knees, either, but she wasn’t keen on opening the door. They didn’t know what was behind it. She hesitated but Raenton pushed himself forward (which made her blush), reached the handle and forced it open. It creaked horribly.

As soon as it opened sounds came to her ears, light blinded her and then there were no sound. She felt Raenton push her lightly, so she stepped out. Her eyes hurt. Tegon flew to her shoulder. Her eyes soon got adjusted to the light and she saw unfamiliar people staring at her. In front of her, not many steps away, sat a big, bearded man with intense eyes under his fringe. She wasn’t too scared, though, she felt Tegon’s warmth and knew Raenton was behind her. She felt the confused feelings of the people in the room, and since she didn’t feel any ill feelings towards her, she dared to let her eyes leave the bearded man and look around the room. She saw Miranda and Arabella. Slightly beside them, with a man holding their shoulders tightly, were Wilma and Hannah. Everyone in the room looked at Natalie, Raenton and Tegon like they were ghosts. She and Raenton probably looked the same, she had never, ever, expected this at the end of that tunnel. Sure she hadn’t known what to expect, but still. Why were they everyone in the room in the first place?

“Hey, is that…?” A young woman said. She started to walk towards them with wide eyes, the others’ eyes became wide open, too.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Miranda said to the woman. “You get away from them!” Miranda took a step forward only to be stopped by Arabella. When did they become so good friends?

“Is that…really Whidra Tegon?” the woman said again, coming closer. Natalie was unsure what to do and looked at Raenton for help. He didn’t look at her, but at the woman. Natalie was confused by the woman’s behavior. “Finally.” She was before them in an instant and as she was standing in front of Natalie. She had a look of desire in her eyes. Raenton had stepped forward, he didn’t make much of a threat, Natalie thought, he wasn’t that tall and his face just didn’t look mean. The woman didn’t come any closer, though, so he must’ve had some effect. The woman stretched for Tegon, but Arabella was there and held her arm. The woman wasn’t in a trance anymore, she looked at Arabella with eyes full of hate. Natalie felt Tegon move slightly on her shoulder.

“Didn’t you hear Leader? Get away from ‘em.” Arabella, on the other hand, did make a threat. She was about the same height as the woman and had a very mean expression. The woman didn’t move, she just smirked at Arabella. Natalie took one step back.

“You’re gonna stop me?” The woman said. “I’m strong, you know.”

“You’re not the only one.” Arabella hissed.

“Stop with your fighting!” a scarred woman said in a loud voice. “Where were we? Yes, we’ll free your friends if you find and give us Whidra Tegon.” Hannah and Wilma didn’t look captured. But they were slouching and they didn’t look at the people in the room, they just stared at…at nothing really.. “It suddenly got a lot easier, didn’t it?” You could hear her smile. Miranda looked very tense, and her face only expressed anger. “Girl.” She turned to Natalie. “You know who you have on your shoulder, don’t you?” Natalie brought her arms up to her chest and looked over at Miranda, she wanted comfort. Raenton wasn’t enough. She wanted someone to say that everything was going to be fine.

“I speak for myself, woman.” Tegon answered coldly. The woman looked surprised.

“Well, then. Would you like to help us, Whidra Tegon?” Her smile was warm, but her voice was fake. Natalie looked at Miranda, she didn’t get an answer, she looked at Arabella, but the girl just stared at Tegon while holding the young woman’s arm. Natalie looked at the bearded man, but quickly turned her eyes away to Raenton, he didn’t look at her.

Look at me.

 Tegon moved on her shoulder.

“I won’t help with anything, woman.” He answered. “You’ve done wrong and will continue doing so, I believe.”

The woman’s smile faded in a second. She looked over at the bearded man. Then rose from her seat, walked over to Arabella and punched her in the stomach. Arabella made a groaning noise and sank to her knees, holding the place where she had been punched. Natalie just stared at the situation before her, she had never seen anyone get punched like that before. She was scared. Suddenly it didn’t feel like real anymore. She felt Raenton gripping her arm. It hurt. Before she knew it none of the seated men and women, except the bearded man, sat in the chairs anymore. Some held down a screaming Miranda. Some held down a groaning Arabella. Some yanked away Raenton and she…Natalie was just standing there. She could, maybe, have fought them, but just as back then her mind went blank and she found herself starting to run towards the door, towards Hannah and Wilma. Before she got there, however, Tegon fell to the floor and so did she. It had all happened too fast.

*~~Tenso~~*

He didn’t like what he saw in the mirror. Not at all. The bearded man’s smile made him uneasy. Tenso couldn’t figure out what the man was thinking. And how had he nullified Arabella’s powers? Next to him Ingya had her already thin lips pressed tightly together. He hadn’t expected this, and was worried for them. Even the mighty dragon had been caught. Of course it was always worrying with a new group, they were inexperienced and didn’t know much. He had thought that meeting Raenton would help them, he wasn’t one of the best, but he could support them and then return to his own group. It didn’t turn out as Tenso had thought, though, and now they were in trouble. It wasn’t unusual for groups to get in trouble, it happened almost all the time, but he knew what troubles, like the one the girls faced, could lead to. He had seen it, experienced it and he would never let it happen again.

“Maybe I should go there.” Ingya said. She eyed the image in the mirror intensively, as if that would help the girls.

“No, there’s still Eleanor and Charlotte.” He didn’t want to send in Ingya, she couldn’t take on that many people all be herself. If only Natalie had reacted.

“Then switch to them.” She turned to him, every time she turned to him (and everyone else) she always had her eyes closed. Except when she were by the Holy Pond. Even though he knew why she did it, he thought she trusted him more than that. “Please.” They hadn’t checked on them for a while, but he didn’t really want to switch. If the worst happened they owned them to watch, bring Eleanor and Charlotte back and tell them. But he wouldn’t let that happen again.

“Don’t switch.” Ingya said beside him. “There isn’t any need to, anymore.”