Elvaeda Chapter 10 1/2

                                           DANICA

             I was grateful I managed to wake up from the sleep I was so sure would send me to my death. The coldness around me seemed a bit easier to bear, and I drifted about the cold void of endless space.

              Suddenly, a huge screen appeared out of nowhere, startling me. It was like a huge television screen, viewing everything my body was seeing. The first thing I saw was Jackie, lying motionless on the floor, in a village I couldn’t place. I froze. Was Jackie dead? It seemed that way. Not only was her wound spilling more blood than a tap does water, Avery seemed overly teary than if she was just unconscious.

              “Stop!!” I screamed into the silence. “Stop hurting them!! Stop using me! Get put of my body!!” I hammered on the screen, but it wouldn’t stop playing the grisly sight before me. “Please….stop this…” I muttered, allowing myself to slowly slide down the screen, tears pouring from my eyes. As much as I didn’t want to watch, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the scene. I watched helplessly as the devil used my body to head for Avery next. “Avery, watch out!!” I screamed into the screen, but she couldn’t hear me, and it was too late to save her anyway.

                                       AVERY

          I was so wrapped up in Jackie’s short death that I didn’t realize the devil was coming after me next. As soon as I realized her barreling over to me, it was too late. Using both her hands she managed to create some sort of dark beam that she shot at me. Seconds before the laser shot, I managed to scramble to my feet and avoid it, but the impact sends me flying. I crashed onto the ground, the wind knocked out of me. Behind me, I could hear shouts as many Red Indians threw themselves onto the devil to stop her from killing anymore.

          “Stop!!” I yelled at the mob of Red Indians that threw themselves at her that I knew would never stand a chance, but it was too late. The devil created a powerful looking dark orb in her palms and it shot lasers in all directions, killing many instantly and greatly injuring many. Saysha appeared before me and shot huge handful of arrows at the devil, but it seemed that she created a force field around her so the arrows just repelled off her. The devil sneered at Saysha which just stood, frozen, as the devil made her way to her, dark orb in hand.

        Suddenly, it looked like her hand absorbed the dark orb in her palm and her nails turned into claws. I realized what she was about to do to Saysha just seconds before she acted, and I kicked at Saysha’s legs, tripping her over and therefore dodging the claws that scratched the air where Saysha was standing just moments before.

           Saysha scrabbled to her feet, breathing muttered thanks and ran off to the direction of the crowd, shooting arrows at the devil until the very last one of the arrows in the barrel on her back disappeared and she was defenseless. Knowing she had no chance against the devil, she slipped and disappeared into the crowd.

            The devil, which deflected all the arrows, turned her gaze back to me, which scrambled to my feet and ran like no tomorrow. Again she summoned another dark orb and wanted to shoot me with a laser, but someone grabbed her from behind, throwing off her aim and the dark laser shot up high into the sky and disappeared behind the clouds, shaded orange by the evening light.

          I quickly turned to see who had helped me throw the devil off aim, and was surprised and amazed to see it was Jackie. Jackie! How many times did she come back from the dead? I was shocked to see that the hole in her stomach had practically disappeared, and other than the blood that stained her clothes it looked like she never got injured at all. What the heck was she made of!?

          The devil glared at Jackie and threw her off her back, and Jackie hit the floor with a thud. The devil sneered at her in disgust and summoned another dark orb, this one meant for Jackie. “Any last words, Deforest?” The devil sneered as she was about to let the laser in the orb fly. Jackie spat out some dirt and smiled smugly at the devil. “Yeah, I do,” she said, and yelled. “Silver Hawk!!”

          With amazing speed, so fast the devil couldn’t even fire her laser, Jackie’s bow flung out of Saysha’s tepee and into Jackie’s outstretched hand, which she fired about two arrows into the devil’s stomach at top speed. I heard her whisper under her breath: “Sorry, Danica.”

           The devil pulled the arrows from her body, drawing blood, but she wasn’t done yet. “Nice speed, Jaclyn Deforest,” The devil said mockingly, stretching her lips into a hideous grimace. “But not fast enough.”

             We watched as the devil teleported away, leaving a gust of black smoke trailing in her wake. Her voice flew into my mind as she said: “I’m not done yet, Avery Melissa. I might have gone easy on you, but it won’t last forever, so get ready for your death.” I shuddered at the evilness that crept into her voice and into my mind.

              “Jackie!!” I yelled to her, still lying on the floor with her bow in hand. She smiled at me, and picked herself off the ground as I ran towards her and flung my arms around her. “I honestly thought you were dead!!”

           “Well, I’m not,” she said, smiling at me, and I released her. “It was so weird. I mean, first I was attacked by the devil and everything went black. Then I woke up in a puddle of my own blood and saw her about to fire at you, so I ran so fast I barely felt my legs touch the ground-” She gestured the feeling with her hands, then continued. “-and threw her off aim. I honestly thought I died, but I guess I didn’t.”

           “Well, actually you did die, Jaclyn,” Saysha said, starting towards us. She had her barrel of arrows refilled and was smiling at us as she came. “But it seems that the spirit of your bow, the Silver Hawk, kept you alive. You get me?” Jackie and I looked at her with our stupid confused looks and Saysha sighed, then tried to explain further. “You see, all valuable and rare bows like yours have a spirit; as long as that spirit is alive, it will keep you alive, but you mustn’t get to dependent on it, because the life in it will burn out eventually if you keep dying and there won’t be anymore light arrows for you.”

           “Wow,” Jackie said, looking at her bow. She put the smooth silver surface to her mouth and kissed it. “Love you too, Silver Hawk. Thanks for keeping me alive.” Was it just me, or did I see the bow vibrate slightly after Jackie kissed it, like a cat when it purrs? I decided to push the thought from my mind and focus on normal stuff instead.

             “So, will I get a bow, too?” I asked Saysha. I was suddenly filled with excitement, excitement at having a beautiful bow with a name and a spirit that would help me fight. If Jackie has a silver bow, than what would I have? Gold? Bronze? Saysha thought for awhile before she answered: “Well, actually, if you are an heir, then you should have gotten a bow by now. Maybe the other special bows like Golden Raven, Rising Spirit and fallen star. But since you don’t have a bow, I really don’t know how to answer you.”

             I think the smile on my face must have melted off quite dramatically because Jackie slapped me on the back and said: “Relax…Danica didn’t get her bow either, right? That means maybe you can still get a bow,” those words reassured me. Jackie always finds ways to reassure me. I don’t know how she does it, but she always seems to know what is bothering me, when I’m bothered and why. I like her because of that, and she likes me because according to her I do the exact same thing, though I don’t feel like it.

               Suddenly, a shriek sounded from the edge of the village, and the huge mob of crowd turned back to look. We stared in horror as a group of faeries – five, probably – let a little red Indian girl slide from his fingers, her throat slit. A young woman screeched at the sight of the little girl, and I figured she was probably her mother, but we all knew the girl was beyond saving.

          Jark stepped out of the tepee he was in and tried to calm the mob of Red Indians down, but with no avail. Jark turned to the faeries that killed the little girl, their faces hidden under the masks they wore. “What do you want?” Jark snarled at them, and they sneered. “We want this land, obviously,” one of the faeries said, threatening Jark with a rifle. “and we shall take it from you, no matter what the cost. The little girl was simply bothering me, so I killed her. It’s simple.”

          Jark’s face grew fierce. He sunk the tip of his spear deep into the ground, threatening the faeries back. “You cannot have this land,” he growled, his voice fierce. The faeries just sneered, but Jark wasn’t done talking. “And you cannot take it from us, with the pitiful amount you have.”

          As soon as Jark finished his sentence, all of the Red Indians cheered, agreeing with him that they could easily outnumber them. The faeries laughed, a mean, mocking laugh that echoed over the silent plain. The cheers of the Ganji died down, confused how the faeries didn’t flee. Faeries normally knew what was beyond their levels, and if they knew the amount was too large for them, they flee. But the five was just standing there sneering.

            “We know five is easily outnumbered by you,” the same faerie said, sneering. “That’s why we brought reinforcements.” Then he stuffed his two fingers in his mouth and a piercing whistle echoed through the plain, and we sprung back in surprise. 

             Suddenly, a soft noise that sounded like a stampede of something rumbled through the air, and got louder, and louder, as whatever the stampede was coming closer. Suddenly, a huge mob of faeries, so huge I easily outnumbered our amount came running towards us and the five faeries grinned smugly at us. Jark edged back, then broke into a run, shouting at people to follow him and not to fight because he was pretty sure it was pointless.

         But of course, the faeries charged towards the village so fast that they couldn’t avoid fighting. Soon I was standing in the middle of a war zone, swearing exchanged between the two races as blood of faerie and elf stained the ground a deep, dark crimson. I had a terrible feeling that the Ganji would not be able to win, because when one faerie was defeated, another came and took it’s place. We were easily outnumbered by the faeries huge numbers, but the Ganji didn’t give up their precious land even for their lives.

         Frantically, I tried to locate Jackie or Saysha in the crowd of fighting warriors, but I found none of those two. I couldn’t even find Jark or Sulan, or any of the elders. Where we they?

“Avery…..”

         I whirled around as I raspy voice said my name. My eyes flickered back and forth, trying to locate the owner of the voice. I saw a bruised and battered faerie fall to the floor, another taking it’s place and defeating the elf that knocked down the previous faerie, a little girl crying for her mother and getting knocked down by a faerie, splattering her blood everywhere. It was chaos, and I felt so worthless to be just standing here doing nothing. Still, I wondered why no faerie has killed me yet. Suddenly I became truly worried something terrible happened to Jackie and that was the reason I couldn’t find her. I frantically ran across the Warfield, shouting her name, my voice lost in the endless clatter of weapons as they collided each other. Suddenly the voice whispered in my head again.

“Avery…..Avery the Melizza…Melizza Avery….come…”

             “Who are you?” I asked the air around me, ceasing my running for a moment to catch my breath. The loud noises of the killing around me suddenly became muffled, as if I was standing a good distance away instead of standing right in the middle of it. The raspy voice was the only thing clear in my mind.

“My name is Sumi, Melizza….Behind you….”

               I whirled around and saw the tepee where Saysha introduced me to the elders, which looked vacant, but hey, doesn’t hurt to check. Cautiously, I made my way to the tent without being spotted, then slipped inside. The tepee was pretty much empty except for the elderly woman who was Saysha’s grandmother, Sumi, the elder of magic, sitting cross-legged on a straw mat, in some sort of heavy concentration. Her eyes opened as she saw me, her eyes the color of gray twilight. She had a piece of paper wedged between her finger and thumb, which she set ablaze with only a blow from her mouth. While I was still in awe at the fire breathing, she dropped the burning remains of the paper into an ancient looking antique pot, which muffled the fire and just left the smoke to curl into the air.

              “Mm…” Sumi said in a deep voice, closing her eyes again for awhile, and extending her hand to me, as if expecting me to put my hand in hers. I just stared at it, then back at her. “Um, I don’t get it...do you want me to put my hand in yours?” She just nodded, and I did so. She took in a deep breath, inhaling the smoke and coughing slightly, and then her eyes snapped open and she stared down at me with her gray eyes. “When was the last time you visited Elvaeda?” she said in a panicked voice.

         “I…I,” I muttered. It seemed hard to get the words out of my mouth with Sumi staring at me like that. I swallowed and began. “I…I never went to Elvaeda before, ever. I….I was supposed to find the Great Spirit first.” Sumi’s eyes went big and she dropped my hand. “Do you know what is happening to your world?” She uttered, and I shook my head.

           “Elvaeda has been taken over by the faeries,” she said frightfully. I almost stumbled over! What does she mean, taken over by the faeries? That’s not possible!! It just couldn’t be possible! How could that happen? “What?” I muttered, my voice trembling. Sumi sighed and nodded. “I’m afraid….if Elvaeda is left unattended…..it will fall in the hands of the faeries….forever.”

            Forever. That’s what did it. That’s what made my heart burn with fear, what made me run out of the tepee so fast I stumbled over. The war was still raging on, but I couldn’t focus on that right now. Elvaeda, home to the elves, home to Mercedes…..How could something like that happen?

I had to find Jackie.

             As I stumbled blindly through the war, I felt unusually dizzy. It must have been the fumes of the smoldering paper Sumi dropped into the pot. I must have accidentally breathed in the smoke, causing my headache. Of course, I hardly knew Sumi. How was I sure she knew what she was doing? Knew that Elveada was under attack? Know that her predictions were correct? But of course, if they weren’t, she wouldn’t be picked to be the elder of magic, would she?

               Suddenly, my foot kicked something that lay on the floor and I fell over, willowing up a huge cloud of dust. I coughed, my eyes stung, but when the dust settled down, I managed to see what tripped me over. I froze at the sight of Yaen, the little boy that managed to gain the name the elder of peace, lay cold, unmoving, blood seeping through his cut wrist. His black eyes stared at me, but they were blank, lifeless. Freaked out, I yet out a yell that should have rang across the entire village, but everyone was too focused on their battle to notice me.

           I knew the boy was beyond saving. I don’t know how long he lay there bleeding, but judging by the huge puddle of blood on the floor, I could guess a long time. I scrambled to my feet and continued to search for Jackie, doing my best to push the thought of the dead boy from my mind; gently piling up the disturbing thoughts into boxes in my mind and sealing them away, just like my father instructed I do when something disturbing came to mind, but it wasn’t so easy. The thoughts kept freeing themselves, hoping out of the sealed boxes, surfacing into my mind again. I couldn’t push them away.

          “Jackie!!” I yelled into the crowd. No one paid attention to me, and I started to panic. Where is she? Suddenly, there she was; unconscious, bow still clasped within her limp hand. She was being carried by a smugly grinning faerie, which he carried off in his hand. I wanted to yell to her, but suddenly I felt something cold and hard hit the back of my head. Darkness surrounded me as the world was snuffed out. 

Elvaeda Chapter 9 2/2

                                                     AVERY

         When I woke up I was lying on one of the many straw mats on the hard rock ground. I sat up, every joint in my body aching. As I looked around, I realized I was in some sort of tepee, and I stretched as the memories of what happened to me before I blacked out filled my mind. I looked about frantically, spotting Jackie, still unconscious, lying in the mat beside mine. The bandages on her left arm were gone, replaced by an endless amount of stitching, and a small red dot in her left arm where a needle used to be.

          “Jackie, hey, Jackie, wake up,” I whispered, shaking her. She stirred slightly, then pushed me away and went back to sleep. Annoyed, I shook her more rapidly, and she groaned and kicked at me, causing me to stumble away, and to my annoyance, she went back to sleep. I gave up at that point and decided to find out where we were. Just as I was about to open up the flaps for doors in the tepee I froze. I didn’t know what was out there. I didn’t know where I was or if there was a threat outside this door, waiting to pounce.

           I swallowed hard and suddenly my stomach rumbled. Then only did I realize how hungry I was; I hadn’t eaten since me and Jackie ate the two sandwiches in the plains!! I knew I had to eat, so I searched around the tepee, found mine and Jackie’s rucksacks, zipped mine open, and fished out a bag of biscuits I snatched from my kitchen before I left for the journey. As I munched on one, I kept thinking of my mother and my elder sister in college; about Stephanie Norra, my third best friend (First, Jackie, Second, Danica) still writing those little poems about saving the earth and kittens which she loves to write about. I laughed a bit at the thought of Stephanie. She was a total angel; she was, with silvery blonde hair and pale azure eyes, and her attitude too. She would help even an ant. I wondered what they were all doing, still safely in their own world.

             As I crunched the biscuits which had long gotten soft inside my bag, I felt a slight pang of guilt; was my family doing okay? Where they doing fine without me? Remembering I packed my mobile phone, I rummaged though my bag until I found it; a simple phone I got for my birthday last year. I turned it on and wasn’t surprised when my mom had left me, like, a thousand messages, which made me feel guiltier. I opened the first message and it said:

                 Avery, where r u?

  The second one said:

                 Avery, if this is a joke, I m not amused. Where r u?

  Swallowing the lump in my throat, I read message after message, but stopped looking at them when I reached the 10^th message, which said:

                 Honey, if u ran away from home, please come back. The police are searching every where 4 u. They say J is gone 2, and a classmate of yours. Cecelia has come home specially 4 u, but we can’t celebrate birthday wifout u. Come home, sweetie, pls, wherever you are.

          My heart ached. Cecelia was my elder sister, and this message was sent only today, which was my birthday. And the police were looking for me? I had been gone for like just a few days, but my mom had already launched a police investigation. If she really cared so much about my well being, I had to text her back. I was too nervous to call her, and there was no signal, anyway, but a text…..that was different. Quickly, I typed a message to my mother in record timing:

           Mom, I’m sry but can’t go home eva. Pls tell the polis to stop looking becos they will neva find me. Tell Cecelia I luv her. Tell her goodbye.

Luv, Avery.

       I hit the send button quickly, and kept the phone back in rucksack. I sighed as my teeth sunk into another soft biscuit. I was too overwhelmed my feeling then; feelings for my mother, my sister, my special gang of friends…..I wonder how they were all doing. Then I found myself needing to talk to my mother right this instant. I didn’t care what she would say to me; I was in another world, right? She couldn’t just drag me home. So I yanked my phone out of my rucksack and dialed her number and placed it next to my ear. Please pick up, I thought between clenched teeth.

 “Avery?”

           Yes!! I was grateful I at least managed to find a bit of signal for the phone call. I held my breath, and said: “Mom?” and she screeched, loud, that I had to hold the phone away from my ear for awhile. “Avery!! That’s really you! Where are you? We’ll come get you!!”

          No. I couldn’t talk to her anymore. This was too much. I snapped the phone shut when my mother was in the middle of saying something, then dropped my phone and biscuits and buried my face in my hands. I sobbed quietly to myself for a few minutes before I pulled myself together. Now wasn’t the time for grieving!! I needed to find where we were!!

            My phone rang and rang and rang before I finally silenced it, then took a deep breath, and pulled the flaps that acted as doors in our tepee. Blinding daylight washed over my face and I winced. When I opened my eyes again, I found we were in the Red Indian’s camp. Tepees were dotted everywhere and tall the red Indians outside immediately stopped what they were doing and stared at me, the odd one out in this camp.

           “Um, hi,” I managed to mutter, but I wasn’t Jackie, so that was the only thing I managed to say. Being the center of attention, I immediately felt my cheeks grow red as every pair of eyes was glued to me. Then suddenly, a voice that sounded like it belonged to a girl about my age rang around the whole camp, strong and confident: “Missak jahar!! Sayuer jinsa mikash!!”

            As soon as those words were finished, the whole camp resumed back to their work as if I suddenly vanished. I looked around the camp, trying to spot the owner of the voice. I spotted her almost immediately as she was trotting over to me, her eyes dark brown, her hair long and dark and tied neatly with a braid, like Danica’s. Her face was painted with strong red paint, and she had feathers in her hair and clothes that looked like she made them herself.

           “Hey, there, Avery of Melissa,” she said, grinning at me like we have always known each other despite this was our first meeting. Though she was smiling at me I wasn’t focused on her; I was focused on the wooden bow she was carrying and the sheath of arrows strapped to her back that sneered at me in the afternoon light and knew she could kill me in a matter of seconds if she wanted to.

          “Um, hey,” I muttered, and she soon was standing right in front of me. She nodded at me and sat down next to me and polished her blood-stained arrows in front of my face, which made me sweat profusely. What was she doing? Cleaning the arrows so she could kill me effortlessly? Making me watch her clean them so I would know how sharp and dangerous they were?

             But she didn’t kill me or do anything after she was done cleaning her arrows, just slipped them back into the barrel on her back and just stared at me while I did my best not to look her in the eye. Then she picked herself off the ground and I hoped that she would go off and hunt or something and leave me in peace, but instead she grabbed my hand with her steely grip and dragged me back into the tepee. I was shocked at her strength that I just let her drag me back inside, and while she did so I saw that the hand she was using to drag me had two golden bangles on them. Where did she get those?

              Once we were fully concealed behind the door flaps of the tepee, she let go of me and glared at me, and asked, not in her usual friendly tone: “Who are you? Why did you come to Ganji plains? Are you Zeyna or faeries in disguise? Answer me!” With that she filled her bow with a large handful of arrows and pointed it at me, trying to threaten the answer out of me. I edged back from her, but I couldn’t answer her because I didn’t know what she was talking about.

              I put my hands up and muttered: “I…I don’t know what you are talking about!! What is Zeyna? Is Ganji plains the name of this place? I honestly don’t know how to answer you!” She narrowed her eyes at me, and to my horror, stretched the string of her bow dangerously in my face, demanding an answer. “We could do this all day if we wanted, Avery of Melissa.”

“I dare you to kill her.”

           A voice behind us made us both looked behind me. Jackie was awake, holding her silver and red bow filled with a light arrow which was poised at the Red Indian girl. She still looked a bit groggy, but other than that she looked strong, confident with her silver bow in her hand. Man, I wish I had a bow, but now wasn’t the time to think about that.

          Jackie, with her silver bow and light arrow, had a tremendous affect on the girl. Her eyes grew big, and she lowered her bow and dropped it to the floor, and we heard her whisper: “The silver hawk….” And drop to the floor in a bow. “I am truly sorry, your highness. Please forgive my foolish actions.”

            Jackie and I exchanged glances, but Jackie lowered her bow and nodded at the girl, saying she could get up now, and she did. The girl’s face was drawn back in a huge smile, and she said: “You…you must be the heir to Queen Mercedes, am I right?”

          “Uh, yeah,” Jackie said, still unsure who this girl is. She must have woken up just in time to see her hold her bow in my face. “We both are.”

        “Both?” the girl said, surprised. I pointed to me with the tip of her bow. “You mean this one is too?” When Jackie nodded she peered at me, her eyes narrowing as she examined me. “That’s not right. Where is your bow?”

            “What?” I said, but she just waved and said: “Um, never mind. Where is your friend then? I heard there were three heirs.” Jackie swallowed and looked at the ground, and I felt myself doing the same. The girl pursed her lips and said: “Um, never mind. Forget I asked that question.” She smiled widely at us, and we nodded at her. Then she placed her hand on her chest as she introduced herself: “I am Saysha of Nae Ganji,” she said, smiling. “But in short, Saysha Nae.”

               “Nice to meet you,” Jackie said, dropping her bow and extending her arm out for a shake. Saysha just stared at it and back at her and back at it. “Um, your supposed to shake it,” Jackie said, and Saysha grabbed her wrist and shook it so hard that when she was finished Jackie looked a bit disoriented. “Um, good enough,” Jackie said, managing to smile. Saysha looked over at me and extended her arm like Jackie did. “Want to shake?”

                 “Um, no need,” I muttered, watching as Jackie tried to bring back feeling to her arm. I stood up and caught sight of Jackie’s bow lying there on a straw mat and faced Saysha. “Hey Saysha,” I said, and she jerked her head up to see me. “I’m wondering why when you first saw Jackie you whispered: ‘The silver hawk’?”

               “Ja…kie?” Saysha said, eyes wide in confusion, but she brightened immediately. “Oh, you mean Jaclyn? That’s simple enough! Because her bow is named: ‘The silver hawk’. It is one of the most powerful and fastest shooting bows in the world, and only an important person like an elder or the queen can’t get her.”

              “Wow!!” Jackie yelped, forgetting her shaken arm. She picked up her bow and stared at it, it’s smooth and silver surface glinting in the dim afternoon light. “This bow is that valuable? It just appeared in my hand when I thought of my archery class back home!!”

             “Bows of the Zeyna are supposed to appear when you call to them,” Saysha said, polishing her blood-stained bow. “It’s us Ganji that have to hold them normally because we’re not as magical as you.”

                “Saysha, what’s with all this Zeyna Ganji talk?” Jackie said, and Saysha laughed. “Oh, that is simple enough to explain.” She stood up and began: “You see, we elves have two groups in this world; the Zeyna, which you are from, where Queen Mercedes rules, and the Ganji. We live in the plains while Zeyna lives in places like forests and grassy places. While we are like red Indians, Zeyna are like modern people, with buildings and this and that while we get tepees and learn the way of hunting.”

         “And does the Ganji have a ruler? And elders?” Jackie asked, and Saysha nodded. “Of course we do! However, our ruler is called the Village Shaman, not called queen, your majesty, king, this and that. All of those words are for Zeyna, not we Ganji.”

                Jackie scratched her head and opened her mouth to say something else, but her stomach got in her way as it rumbled more loudly than a stomach is suppose to, and Jackie grew bright red. Saysha said nothing for awhile, and then said: “Um, do you care for something to eat?”

                Soon we were out of the tepee and feasting on what I think is buffalo meat, but I can’t be sure it’s buffalo because when I asked Saysha what is was she just said it was some sort of animal called: “Bikarms.” Anyway, it taste like beef and Saysha said she always hunted them for a snack so I wasn’t one to complain, even though beef wasn’t really my favorite.

               Jackie, with beef one of her favorites and all, was eating like there was no tomorrow. Grabbing a hunk of it, stuffing it in her mouth, grabbing another hunk, repeat. Even though I was doing my best to not catch anyone’s gaze, I could still feel the village people staring at us, but more on Jackie as she ate like a lion. She wasn’t even disgusted at the fact the meat was freshly hunted down and wasn’t even cooked yet; therefore a huge mouthful also results in spraying your entire face with blood. I hate blood, so I took small, very little nibbles on the meat, but it doesn’t stop blood from oozing out.

               After our rather gruesome meal Saysha showed us around the village and introduced us to the elders. Jark, it seems, is the elder of war. There was also this young lady that seemed the same age as Jark called Sunla, which was the elder of peace. A little boy that was actually younger than us was the elder of peace, named Yaen, and an elderly woman that was Saysha’s grandmother was the elder of magic, named Sumi.

              “And this is my elder brother,” Saysha said after introducing us to practically everyone. She gestured towards a boy that looked about 15 with dark hair and black eyes and looked a lot like Saysha. “He’s one of the best warriors in the village. His name is Sulan.”

                 “Nice to meet you,” Sulan said brightly and extended his arm out for a shake. Jackie seemed nervous at first, thinking that he shook like his younger sister, but Sulan saw her fear and laughed. “Don’t be afraid! I know how to shake normally, because I managed to learn the ways of the Zeyna during a few days stay there.”

                 Jackie seemed to relax after hearing his words and they shook hands, then shook with me. Sulan introduced us to a lot of interesting plants and animals in the plains, thought us which was edible and which was not, until we practically knew the names of all the plants and animals in the plains. Jackie became fascinated by a rather large butterfly with indigo wings and black eyes which sprayed what looked like glitter with every flap of it’s wings. Sulan said the butterfly was called: “Henu Sora, which in their language meant: “Soaring Angel.”

                  “That’s such a pretty name,” Jackie said, mesmerized at the sight of the beautiful butterfly. “Can we catch it for a pet?” Sulan laughed, and Saysha shook her head. “The glitter it sprays out of it’s wings are actually a slight poison.” With that, Jackie leaped away from the trail of glitter it sprayed from its wings and the two laughed.

                “Don’t worry, the glitter doesn’t affect elves,” Sulan said, stroking the butterfly’s soft wings. The butterfly made a slight squeaking noise and flew higher into the air, the glitter sprinkling our hair white. “It only affects the Yawsus, which is a type of worm which the Henu Sora takes as its food.”

               Suddenly a commotion rang out in the middle of the village and we all turned around to find out what happened. Saysha tapped her brother’s shoulder and whispered something in their language to him, and he nodded. He gestured us to follow him as he walked towards the middle of the chaos, trying to calm people down. When he saw what was causing the commotion he froze in shock.

               “Sulan, what is it?” Saysha said, and told us to follow her to see what happened. We nodded and pushed through the crowd of bodies until we managed to see what was happening. What we saw shocked us too, but shocked was an understatement. We were practically frozen and couldn’t hear what Saysha was saying.

                There, in the middle of the crowd, was Danica, still possessed by the devil. The devil caught us looking at her and she smiled that wicked smile she did when Danica finished the chant that made her be able to possess her. “Hello, girls,” she said, but we didn’t answer her, but is turns out, we didn’t need to. She lunged forward and struck Jackie in the stomach, causing her the spit blood. Jackie stumbled to the floor and I ran to her aid. She was still, motionless, and I grabbed her wrist and shook her, but she didn’t move.

 I froze as dark crimson blood started seeping out from a gaping hole in her stomach. 

Elvaeda Chapter 9 2/2

                                                     AVERY

         When I woke up I was lying on one of the many straw mats on the hard rock ground. I sat up, every joint in my body aching. As I looked around, I realized I was in some sort of tepee, and I stretched as the memories of what happened to me before I blacked out filled my mind. I looked about frantically, spotting Jackie, still unconscious, lying in the mat beside mine. The bandages on her left arm were gone, replaced by an endless amount of stitching, and a small red dot in her left arm where a needle used to be.

          “Jackie, hey, Jackie, wake up,” I whispered, shaking her. She stirred slightly, then pushed me away and went back to sleep. Annoyed, I shook her more rapidly, and she groaned and kicked at me, causing me to stumble away, and to my annoyance, she went back to sleep. I gave up at that point and decided to find out where we were. Just as I was about to open up the flaps for doors in the tepee I froze. I didn’t know what was out there. I didn’t know where I was or if there was a threat outside this door, waiting to pounce.

           I swallowed hard and suddenly my stomach rumbled. Then only did I realize how hungry I was; I hadn’t eaten since me and Jackie ate the two sandwiches in the plains!! I knew I had to eat, so I searched around the tepee, found mine and Jackie’s rucksacks, zipped mine open, and fished out a bag of biscuits I snatched from my kitchen before I left for the journey. As I munched on one, I kept thinking of my mother and my elder sister in college; about Stephanie Norra, my third best friend (First, Jackie, Second, Danica) still writing those little poems about saving the earth and kittens which she loves to write about. I laughed a bit at the thought of Stephanie. She was a total angel; she was, with silvery blonde hair and pale azure eyes, and her attitude too. She would help even an ant. I wondered what they were all doing, still safely in their own world.

             As I crunched the biscuits which had long gotten soft inside my bag, I felt a slight pang of guilt; was my family doing okay? Where they doing fine without me? Remembering I packed my mobile phone, I rummaged though my bag until I found it; a simple phone I got for my birthday last year. I turned it on and wasn’t surprised when my mom had left me, like, a thousand messages, which made me feel guiltier. I opened the first message and it said:

                 Avery, where r u?

  The second one said:

                 Avery, if this is a joke, I m not amused. Where r u?

  Swallowing the lump in my throat, I read message after message, but stopped looking at them when I reached the 10^th message, which said:

                 Honey, if u ran away from home, please come back. The police are searching every where 4 u. They say J is gone 2, and a classmate of yours. Cecelia has come home specially 4 u, but we can’t celebrate birthday wifout u. Come home, sweetie, pls, wherever you are.

          My heart ached. Cecelia was my elder sister, and this message was sent only today, which was my birthday. And the police were looking for me? I had been gone for like just a few days, but my mom had already launched a police investigation. If she really cared so much about my well being, I had to text her back. I was too nervous to call her, and there was no signal, anyway, but a text…..that was different. Quickly, I typed a message to my mother in record timing:

           Mom, I’m sry but can’t go home eva. Pls tell the polis to stop looking becos they will neva find me. Tell Cecelia I luv her. Tell her goodbye.

Luv, Avery.

       I hit the send button quickly, and kept the phone back in rucksack. I sighed as my teeth sunk into another soft biscuit. I was too overwhelmed my feeling then; feelings for my mother, my sister, my special gang of friends…..I wonder how they were all doing. Then I found myself needing to talk to my mother right this instant. I didn’t care what she would say to me; I was in another world, right? She couldn’t just drag me home. So I yanked my phone out of my rucksack and dialed her number and placed it next to my ear. Please pick up, I thought between clenched teeth.

 “Avery?”

           Yes!! I was grateful I at least managed to find a bit of signal for the phone call. I held my breath, and said: “Mom?” and she screeched, loud, that I had to hold the phone away from my ear for awhile. “Avery!! That’s really you! Where are you? We’ll come get you!!”

          No. I couldn’t talk to her anymore. This was too much. I snapped the phone shut when my mother was in the middle of saying something, then dropped my phone and biscuits and buried my face in my hands. I sobbed quietly to myself for a few minutes before I pulled myself together. Now wasn’t the time for grieving!! I needed to find where we were!!

            My phone rang and rang and rang before I finally silenced it, then took a deep breath, and pulled the flaps that acted as doors in our tepee. Blinding daylight washed over my face and I winced. When I opened my eyes again, I found we were in the Red Indian’s camp. Tepees were dotted everywhere and tall the red Indians outside immediately stopped what they were doing and stared at me, the odd one out in this camp.

           “Um, hi,” I managed to mutter, but I wasn’t Jackie, so that was the only thing I managed to say. Being the center of attention, I immediately felt my cheeks grow red as every pair of eyes was glued to me. Then suddenly, a voice that sounded like it belonged to a girl about my age rang around the whole camp, strong and confident: “Missak jahar!! Sayuer jinsa mikash!!”

            As soon as those words were finished, the whole camp resumed back to their work as if I suddenly vanished. I looked around the camp, trying to spot the owner of the voice. I spotted her almost immediately as she was trotting over to me, her eyes dark brown, her hair long and dark and tied neatly with a braid, like Danica’s. Her face was painted with strong red paint, and she had feathers in her hair and clothes that looked like she made them herself.

           “Hey, there, Avery of Melissa,” she said, grinning at me like we have always known each other despite this was our first meeting. Though she was smiling at me I wasn’t focused on her; I was focused on the wooden bow she was carrying and the sheath of arrows strapped to her back that sneered at me in the afternoon light and knew she could kill me in a matter of seconds if she wanted to.

          “Um, hey,” I muttered, and she soon was standing right in front of me. She nodded at me and sat down next to me and polished her blood-stained arrows in front of my face, which made me sweat profusely. What was she doing? Cleaning the arrows so she could kill me effortlessly? Making me watch her clean them so I would know how sharp and dangerous they were?

             But she didn’t kill me or do anything after she was done cleaning her arrows, just slipped them back into the barrel on her back and just stared at me while I did my best not to look her in the eye. Then she picked herself off the ground and I hoped that she would go off and hunt or something and leave me in peace, but instead she grabbed my hand with her steely grip and dragged me back into the tepee. I was shocked at her strength that I just let her drag me back inside, and while she did so I saw that the hand she was using to drag me had two golden bangles on them. Where did she get those?

              Once we were fully concealed behind the door flaps of the tepee, she let go of me and glared at me, and asked, not in her usual friendly tone: “Who are you? Why did you come to Ganji plains? Are you Zeyna or faeries in disguise? Answer me!” With that she filled her bow with a large handful of arrows and pointed it at me, trying to threaten the answer out of me. I edged back from her, but I couldn’t answer her because I didn’t know what she was talking about.

              I put my hands up and muttered: “I…I don’t know what you are talking about!! What is Zeyna? Is Ganji plains the name of this place? I honestly don’t know how to answer you!” She narrowed her eyes at me, and to my horror, stretched the string of her bow dangerously in my face, demanding an answer. “We could do this all day if we wanted, Avery of Melissa.”

“I dare you to kill her.”

           A voice behind us made us both looked behind me. Jackie was awake, holding her silver and red bow filled with a light arrow which was poised at the Red Indian girl. She still looked a bit groggy, but other than that she looked strong, confident with her silver bow in her hand. Man, I wish I had a bow, but now wasn’t the time to think about that.

          Jackie, with her silver bow and light arrow, had a tremendous affect on the girl. Her eyes grew big, and she lowered her bow and dropped it to the floor, and we heard her whisper: “The silver hawk….” And drop to the floor in a bow. “I am truly sorry, your highness. Please forgive my foolish actions.”

            Jackie and I exchanged glances, but Jackie lowered her bow and nodded at the girl, saying she could get up now, and she did. The girl’s face was drawn back in a huge smile, and she said: “You…you must be the heir to Queen Mercedes, am I right?”

          “Uh, yeah,” Jackie said, still unsure who this girl is. She must have woken up just in time to see her hold her bow in my face. “We both are.”

        “Both?” the girl said, surprised. I pointed to me with the tip of her bow. “You mean this one is too?” When Jackie nodded she peered at me, her eyes narrowing as she examined me. “That’s not right. Where is your bow?”

            “What?” I said, but she just waved and said: “Um, never mind. Where is your friend then? I heard there were three heirs.” Jackie swallowed and looked at the ground, and I felt myself doing the same. The girl pursed her lips and said: “Um, never mind. Forget I asked that question.” She smiled widely at us, and we nodded at her. Then she placed her hand on her chest as she introduced herself: “I am Saysha of Nae Ganji,” she said, smiling. “But in short, Saysha Nae.”

               “Nice to meet you,” Jackie said, dropping her bow and extending her arm out for a shake. Saysha just stared at it and back at her and back at it. “Um, your supposed to shake it,” Jackie said, and Saysha grabbed her wrist and shook it so hard that when she was finished Jackie looked a bit disoriented. “Um, good enough,” Jackie said, managing to smile. Saysha looked over at me and extended her arm like Jackie did. “Want to shake?”

                 “Um, no need,” I muttered, watching as Jackie tried to bring back feeling to her arm. I stood up and caught sight of Jackie’s bow lying there on a straw mat and faced Saysha. “Hey Saysha,” I said, and she jerked her head up to see me. “I’m wondering why when you first saw Jackie you whispered: ‘The silver hawk’?”

               “Ja…kie?” Saysha said, eyes wide in confusion, but she brightened immediately. “Oh, you mean Jaclyn? That’s simple enough! Because her bow is named: ‘The silver hawk’. It is one of the most powerful and fastest shooting bows in the world, and only an important person like an elder or the queen can’t get her.”

              “Wow!!” Jackie yelped, forgetting her shaken arm. She picked up her bow and stared at it, it’s smooth and silver surface glinting in the dim afternoon light. “This bow is that valuable? It just appeared in my hand when I thought of my archery class back home!!”

             “Bows of the Zeyna are supposed to appear when you call to them,” Saysha said, polishing her blood-stained bow. “It’s us Ganji that have to hold them normally because we’re not as magical as you.”

                “Saysha, what’s with all this Zeyna Ganji talk?” Jackie said, and Saysha laughed. “Oh, that is simple enough to explain.” She stood up and began: “You see, we elves have two groups in this world; the Zeyna, which you are from, where Queen Mercedes rules, and the Ganji. We live in the plains while Zeyna lives in places like forests and grassy places. While we are like red Indians, Zeyna are like modern people, with buildings and this and that while we get tepees and learn the way of hunting.”

         “And does the Ganji have a ruler? And elders?” Jackie asked, and Saysha nodded. “Of course we do! However, our ruler is called the Village Shaman, not called queen, your majesty, king, this and that. All of those words are for Zeyna, not we Ganji.”

                Jackie scratched her head and opened her mouth to say something else, but her stomach got in her way as it rumbled more loudly than a stomach is suppose to, and Jackie grew bright red. Saysha said nothing for awhile, and then said: “Um, do you care for something to eat?”

                Soon we were out of the tepee and feasting on what I think is buffalo meat, but I can’t be sure it’s buffalo because when I asked Saysha what is was she just said it was some sort of animal called: “Bikarms.” Anyway, it taste like beef and Saysha said she always hunted them for a snack so I wasn’t one to complain, even though beef wasn’t really my favorite.

               Jackie, with beef one of her favorites and all, was eating like there was no tomorrow. Grabbing a hunk of it, stuffing it in her mouth, grabbing another hunk, repeat. Even though I was doing my best to not catch anyone’s gaze, I could still feel the village people staring at us, but more on Jackie as she ate like a lion. She wasn’t even disgusted at the fact the meat was freshly hunted down and wasn’t even cooked yet; therefore a huge mouthful also results in spraying your entire face with blood. I hate blood, so I took small, very little nibbles on the meat, but it doesn’t stop blood from oozing out.

               After our rather gruesome meal Saysha showed us around the village and introduced us to the elders. Jark, it seems, is the elder of war. There was also this young lady that seemed the same age as Jark called Sunla, which was the elder of peace. A little boy that was actually younger than us was the elder of peace, named Yaen, and an elderly woman that was Saysha’s grandmother was the elder of magic, named Sumi.

              “And this is my elder brother,” Saysha said after introducing us to practically everyone. She gestured towards a boy that looked about 15 with dark hair and black eyes and looked a lot like Saysha. “He’s one of the best warriors in the village. His name is Sulan.”

                 “Nice to meet you,” Sulan said brightly and extended his arm out for a shake. Jackie seemed nervous at first, thinking that he shook like his younger sister, but Sulan saw her fear and laughed. “Don’t be afraid! I know how to shake normally, because I managed to learn the ways of the Zeyna during a few days stay there.”

                 Jackie seemed to relax after hearing his words and they shook hands, then shook with me. Sulan introduced us to a lot of interesting plants and animals in the plains, thought us which was edible and which was not, until we practically knew the names of all the plants and animals in the plains. Jackie became fascinated by a rather large butterfly with indigo wings and black eyes which sprayed what looked like glitter with every flap of it’s wings. Sulan said the butterfly was called: “Henu Sora, which in their language meant: “Soaring Angel.”

                  “That’s such a pretty name,” Jackie said, mesmerized at the sight of the beautiful butterfly. “Can we catch it for a pet?” Sulan laughed, and Saysha shook her head. “The glitter it sprays out of it’s wings are actually a slight poison.” With that, Jackie leaped away from the trail of glitter it sprayed from its wings and the two laughed.

                “Don’t worry, the glitter doesn’t affect elves,” Sulan said, stroking the butterfly’s soft wings. The butterfly made a slight squeaking noise and flew higher into the air, the glitter sprinkling our hair white. “It only affects the Yawsus, which is a type of worm which the Henu Sora takes as its food.”

               Suddenly a commotion rang out in the middle of the village and we all turned around to find out what happened. Saysha tapped her brother’s shoulder and whispered something in their language to him, and he nodded. He gestured us to follow him as he walked towards the middle of the chaos, trying to calm people down. When he saw what was causing the commotion he froze in shock.

               “Sulan, what is it?” Saysha said, and told us to follow her to see what happened. We nodded and pushed through the crowd of bodies until we managed to see what was happening. What we saw shocked us too, but shocked was an understatement. We were practically frozen and couldn’t hear what Saysha was saying.

                There, in the middle of the crowd, was Danica, still possessed by the devil. The devil caught us looking at her and she smiled that wicked smile she did when Danica finished the chant that made her be able to possess her. “Hello, girls,” she said, but we didn’t answer her, but is turns out, we didn’t need to. She lunged forward and struck Jackie in the stomach, causing her the spit blood. Jackie stumbled to the floor and I ran to her aid. She was still, motionless, and I grabbed her wrist and shook her, but she didn’t move.

 I froze as dark crimson blood started seeping out from a gaping hole in her stomach. 

Elvaeda Chapter 9 1/2

                                           VANESSA

                    After my capture, the faeries pushed me into a cold, bare cell where the only thing illuminating it was a lone light bulb emanating an eerie dim yellow light and locked the door behind me. I struggled with the binds that held me fast, but with no avail.

                  I leaned against the cold stone wall and sighed, wondering how Isabella could just betray us like this. I looked around and froze when I saw two dark figures in the cell with me; one sitting up straight and looked like it was staring at me; the other was sprayed across the floor, still, unmoving. I would’ve thought it was dead if I didn’t see its chest rise and fall.

  “Vanessa,” the sitting up silhouette said, and I froze.

                 “Charlotte?” I said, genuinely surprised. I almost thought I heard wrong until she emerged from the shadows, her hand in a sling, her head bandaged tightly, but it was her alright; the same brown eyes, the same blonde hair. Since now I knew that one of the shadows was Charlotte, I dreaded to think who the other one was.

                  “Vanessa,” Charlotte said, sighing. “She got you too, huh?” I swallowed, and Charlotte caught me looking at the other silhouette lying, lifeless on the floor, and frowned. Then she grabbed the dangling light bulb hanging from the ceiling by a single tread and yanked it towards the other shadow, spilling light onto him. I froze at the sight of him.

     Charlie. Half his head bandaged and bloodied, both his hands limp and bloody. I gulped, and Charlotte sighed, then looked out into the world outside our pitiful little cell. “I am not sure if we can get out of here.”

     I gulped, not because of the eerie cell we were in, but because I doubted Elvaeda can ever be saved, especially since we all knew even Mercedes could not defeat that many faeries.                                  

                                           AVERY

     Soon we were surrounded by the huge mob of red Indians. The one poking a spear into my face was still questioning me, but I had no idea what he was saying.

     “Sayuer conno miilier?” he said, sounding harsher this time. I swallowed, not knowing what to say. “I don’t…..” my voice cracked, and I swallowed and started over. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

        “Sayuer jennarsak,” he muttered, sighing. Then he turned back to the rest of the tribe and raised his spear high atop his head, shouting at the top of his lungs: “Haisa noko jumBASA!!!!” and the rest of the tribe started raising their weapons and shouting too. Jackie turned nervously to me.

         “What are they going to do to us?” Jackie muttered, and I shrugged, the fear rising up inside me until I felt like running away, but they had us surrounded on all sides, and running with only result with a spear in the back. I swallowed hard. In this world, it was one danger after another. Who are these people? Why are they dressed as red Indians? What are they talking about?

        It took me some time to realize that their ears were pointed too, like ours. My eyes grew wide. They were elves!! But so were we, so why are they surrounding us? Why do they act like we’re dangerous criminals?

             Suddenly, in the midst of all the chaos, a voice yelled: “Saek!! Saek!! Sayuer honjor musai?” The red Indians froze, including the one that shouted into the crowd, and the huge mob of red Indians parted to make way to what looked like their leader. A tall, dark haired young man seemingly in his mid-twenties started towards us. He wore what everyone else wore; feathers, animal skins, all sorts of handmade items, but one could feel the vibe that he was not your average Red Indian.

              Soon he was standing right in front of us and we had to look up in order to look him in the eye. The peered down at us, and Jackie gave him a small, uncertain smile, but he did nothing. After what seemed like an eternity, he stared back into the crowd and yelled: “Sayma Zeyna!! Orsha mideur Zeyna!!”

              After those words, murmurs started up from the crowd, filling the empty plain with noise. The red Indian that shouted into the crowd with a spear in his hand pursed his lips but said nothing. Jackie groaned. “This isn’t looking good,” she groaned, raking her fingers through her hair. “They’re gonna roast us, then eat us!!” 

                Though I didn’t quite believe they would eat us, anything seemed possible in this world, so who was I to comment on anything? I shut my mouth and said nothing, and let Jackie whine herself silly. The young man with dark hair turned his gaze back to us and smiled; his voice a deep baritone when he said: “So, what are you two doing here in Ganji plains?”

               “He speaks English!!” Jackie squealed, then slapped her hands to her mouth, realizing what she just said sounded offensive. The man didn’t seem to mind at all. “My name is Jark of the Ganji. What are yours, little Zeyna?”

             Jackie and I exchanged confused looks, but didn’t hesitate to say our names. “Jaclyn Deforest. Call me Jackie, if you must,” Jackie said first in her normal cheery tone. She seemed to have forgotten that just a few moments ago she was scared of being eaten. I hesitated for a moment, then managed to stammer: “A-Avery. Avery Melissa.”

         A gasp now flew among the crowd of red Indians, and they started whispering to each other like me and Jackie sharing secrets back in elementary school. I gulp. What did I say? What did I do? Was I some sort of wanted criminal in this village? Was my name on a blacklist? Even though I don’t remember doing anything wrong I was still nervous. How come so much noise was made at the mere sound of my name?

        Jackie seemed to share my anxiety and swallowed, her eyes glued onto me. If Danica were here, she would smile at me in her sort-of-anxious-but-doesn’t-want-to-show-it way and whisper a comfort to me. My heart ached at the thought of her, and I quickly pushed the thought of her out of my head temporarily to stop myself from bursting into tears.

         Even Jark seemed to be taken aback, but it was only a flash of surprise and then it was gone. He nodded at us, then said: “You are Zeyna, are you not? Or are you the new elves of Mercedes the fourth queen of Elvaeda? Can you tell us? We wish to know where you are from.”

         I wanted too, I really wanted to tell him all I knew, but as I opened my mouth to say something, only bubbles of air came out, and that was all I knew; nothing. I had no idea what he was talking about, but how was I suppose to explain? I was supposed to be a human taking on a normal life until I became an elf and am now looking for the Great Spirit and find my possessed friend and become the new queen of Elves? I do not think so.  

       Fortunately, Jackie managed to ask the question that has been burning on my lips: “What is Zeyna?” The whole crowd gasped and resumed their whispering, and Jark looked at us like we were aliens, then turned back to face the crowd and shouted: “Heysha!!”

         Immediately, the crowd settled down and the whispers died down, but the thousand pairs of dark eyes were still glued onto us. Jackie turned a nervous face at me, and I could feel myself reflecting the same expression back to her. Jark then turned to look at us, and said: “Then, you must be the new elves of Elvaeda that we heard so much about, am I correct? Are you the heirs to Mercedes the queen of the elves?”

        Jackie nodded but I just stood there, too anxious about what will happen to us that I couldn’t even lift one finger, much less nod my head. But is seemed that Jackie’s nod was good enough to send the whole crowd gasping-some squealing-in excitement. I could tell many of them wanted to meet the queen.

        Jark looked stunned but had sense not to show it. He bowed and Jackie giggled so loud I had to jab her hard in the ribs with my elbow to silence her. Then Jark caught sight of Jackie’s bandaged left arm, the white bandaged soaked with crimson. “Jaclyn of the ‘D’ forest,” he said, and she stared at him. Then Jackie saw what he was looking at and clutched her left arm with her good hand. “It’s nothing; I just got attacked by a giant worm that came out of the ground.”

          Again, gasps could be heard, this time louder, as soon as Jackie finished her sentence. Even Jark looked stunned. “Jaclyn of the ‘D’ forest,” he said, staring at her injured arm. “You got bitten by a sand worm?”

         “Um, yeah, I guess,” she said and shrugged. Jark’s face turned serious and he yelled into the crowd: “Saek!! Saek!! Jurpae mun aswa!!” Another Red Indian, the one that yelled into the crowd before Jark appeared, stepped through the crowd and started towards Jackie. As soon as he saw the crimson bandages he shuddered, and Jark and him chatted on something before he pulled out a purple needle from his pocket and before she could react, sunk it deep into Jackie’s left wrist, drawing blood. I shrieked.

           “What are you doing!!!??” I cried, and was surprised that Jackie didn’t scream out of pain when the needle protruded her skin. Then did I only realize that Jackie had lost consciousness as soon as the needle struck her flesh and crumpled to the ground, only supported by the arm by Jark. The Red Indian that held the needle looked at me and pointed to me when he faced Jark again and said: Sayuer aswa jas?”

            Jark nodded, and the Red Indian sighed, then kept the needle back in his pocket, and drew out another one, this one green instead of purple. He started towards me, and I realized what he was about to do a second too late as the needle protruded my flesh. Before I could even scream in agony-because the needle was dead painful- I had this great urge to sleep. I watched helplessly as my heavy eyelids closed and I lost consciousness before I even hit the ground.

                                             SARAH

The light. So close, so near, but still too far.

           Barreling towards the exit, I could hear them shout my name as their thundering footsteps headed towards mine. I couldn’t focus on anything else but the blinding light of dawn in front of me. I had been sealed away far too long already; it was time to get out.

           Suddenly, a voice that rang from behind me stopped me dead in my tracks: “Sarah Herma; stop right there.” Shocked at the sound of the voice I stumbled on my own two feet and was sent sprawling, using my elbows to break my fall. I winced as my elbows struck the hard ground beneath me, dusting them with dirt and rubble. I got up to my feet, brushed myself off and looked behind me; expecting to see another one of them standing there, waiting to drag me off. What I didn’t expect was her, standing there, her dark eyes glittering in the dull light. I was shocked to silence, but I managed to breathe one word: “You…..”

                “Sarah,” she said, smiling that wicked smile she always did for playful reasons; but this is no play-this was real. It took some time to realize that I had no time to be shocked. I scrambled off, them hot on my heels. A distraction-that was all I needed. Knowing that shooting out the door wouldn’t solve anything; I took a sharp turn left and hid behind a barrel, holding my breath. It was like playing hide ‘n’ seek with the rest of the kindergarteners in Elvaeda when I was five.

             Soon I heard the stampede of feet march past me and into the darkness beyond. I smiled. They would never get me now. Once they realized I wasn’t there I would already be long gone; outside this world of mines and cruelness, where they would never find me again. But howls of fear, pain and agony stopped me dead in my tracks. I looked around, and finally realized it was coming from the darkness of the tunnel all of them had disappeared into. A screech rose from the darkness, and a huge cluster of bats flew out from the darkness.

What came out next was the most terrifying sight in my life.