“All this drama.” Chem sighed
All this time Chem couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the blueprints. I looked at them myself but it was a little confusing. I was never into building stuff. Anna and Tiny sat at the couch and talked about who knows what. I sighed and looked up at the ceiling in boredom. I wondered if Spark would still have us go to Texas after all that has happened? I heard wings flutter over to where I sat and felt Turtle land on my shoulder. I reached up my hand and he stepped up onto it and I brought him over so I could look at him. I smiled and stroked his back. Turtle was the only piece of my old home that I had left….
Ladies and gentlemen I give you the dove act! A voice boomed in my head
As I closed my eyes a blurry image surround me as I appeared in a theater full of people applauding. I looked up towards the stage and saw a shadowy figure walk up to the middle of it and tip his hat to everyone in the audience. The performance started out with the person pulling out cloths and then making white blurs appear what must be doves by the way they moved. The audience around me awed at the performance at the person’s quick fingers made the unthinkable happen, but of course we all knew it was just an illusion. The reason it’s so memorizing is figuring out how they do all of it.
The person then brought out a pan and set it on fire before quickly slamming the lid over it an reopened it to have the audience see another frantic dove fly out.
Time seemed to move quicker then possible because before I knew it the audience was standing up applauding and whistling for more. I looked around and heard doors slam from the back of the room. Everyone else in the theater then looked back to see a large group of men in black standing there looking up at the stage and the next second the audience screamed as the magician fell down onto his knees.
Run Tomas! He yelled out
Casper?
“Hey you still awake?”
I jumped and looked up to see Sonic looking down at me “You ok?”
I nodded my head in reply and looked down. I relaxed and leaned back in the chair as he walked away and towards his sister.
I must have dozed off there for a second I thought.
I looked down into Turtle’s beady black eyes and stood up and walked over to one of the windows and opened it to let him out. I watched as he lifted up and fluttered his wings as took off into the darkness. I knew I could find him in the morning if I needed to.
Meg was outside somewhere gathering more herbs for her “medicines and such”. My cheeks still hurt from her pinching them when we first arrived. Don’t get me wrong Meg is a nice lady and all but she reminds me of my own grandmother too much (even though Meg is ten years younger). I looked out the window and saw the guy that had come back with Fawn and Aaron come walking up towards the house. I could tell he knew that he didn’t belong here but Fawn insisted that we all trust him…but the others seem not to even trust Fawn which I didn’t get. I know that she ended up leaving the group but when they try to tell me why Twilight just shuts them up saying that it was all in the past and that is wasn’t important. I started to walk back over towards the other’s when a dark blur zipped past me making me disappear in surprise. I turned my head to look back and saw a dark shadow looming over the doorknob. I saw Noah behind the door then and try to open the door but couldn’t. I then realized that the shadow was somehow holding the door closed. I looked back and saw Aaron smirking towards the door “Someone having troubles with the door?” he taunted
The others looked over and I backed up knowing I shouldn’t get in the middle of this.
“Just open the door.” Noah sighed
“I would,” Aaron replied turning around “but no one is there.”
“I’m not playing this game Aaron.” Noah replied irritated
“Did anyone hear something?” Aaron asked “Hmm, guess I must be hearing things. I mean that is what people who are afraid of the dark do.”
“Aaron open the damn door!” Noah said raising his voice
“Oh go cry to Fawn about it.” He sighed
“Come on dude just let him in.” Sonic replied
“Nah, I don’t feel like it.”
“Has anyone told you how much of an ass you are?” Noah snapped
This just made Aaron smile and shake his head “Oh loads of people have told me that but I tend not to take it literally.”
“You should.” Noah replied
“I’ll keep that in mind, but at the moment I don’t give a crap, so have fun sleeping outside.
I looked towards the others who weren’t sure what to do, not even Sonic seemed to want to get in the middle of this. Just as Sonic started to stand up Noah had moved aside to have Spark looking into the house “Aaron open the door.” He said flatly
Aaron sighed but hesitated before waving his hand and the shadow disappeared and Spark opened the door and walked in with Noah right behind him “We don’t have time to deal with your stupid games Aaron.” Spark snapped at Aaron
Aaron just rolled his eyes though “Yah yah whatever you say spark plug.”
I saw sparks appear in Spark’s hands and we all tensed up. Before anything could happen though Meg appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Spark’s wrist “No fighting in the house.” She said and let go immediately after
“I’m getting really tired of you.” Spark said pointing to Aaron
“Aw don’t be like that,” Aaron smiled “I thought we were just starting to get along there for a second.” He then looked over at Fawn who had just come in and started to say something but he interrupted “Yah I know; I’m an ass who’s ‘afraid’ of the dark. What else is new?”
“You’re afraid of the dark?” Tavin asked
“No.” He snapped
I made my way away from all of the group and walked into the kitchen and reappeared. Why is it that everyone has to fight? Can’t we at least get along without having anything happen for at even one night? I reached in my pocket and brought out a small red rubber ball and bounced it on the floor for something to help block out the voices.
As I caught the ball each time the thought of the theater came back. I wish I could block that out as easily as I could the voices around me but it’s much more complicated than that…The thought of the bodies soaked in blood. They just made things worse…I turned around to find Tiny looking over at me “Any quieter in here?”
“Not really.” I replied
She sighed and leaned against the counter “I hope we do get to go to Texas.”
“Why?”
She shrugged “I don’t know I think it’d be fun to go. No offense to Meg but I don’t really like it here.”
I shrugged “It’s ok.” I actually thought it be pretty peaceful without Meg…speaking of her
“There you are!” Meg smiled peeking into the kitchen “Trying to hide from old Meg now aren’t you?”
Here it comes I thought and backed against the counter as she smiled and still managed to pinch my cheek “You are just so cute.”
I’m nineteen years old lady I thought I don’t think cute is in my vocabulary anymore
I rubbed my cheek when she let go and saw Tiny trying to hold back a laugh. Meg then dumped a bag of different kinds of leaves, fruits, and other herbs onto the counter and started mashing certain ones together while cutting up or squishing the juice out of others.
“You need any help Meg?” Tiny asked trying to sound polite
“No but thank you anyways.” She replied and we walked back out into the living room with a still irritated Aaron sitting in a chair while the others were spread out around the room doing their own thing; Chem was of course was trying to somehow make a model of the blueprints but looked like to be having trouble, Tavin, Amber and Anna were sitting on the floor playing some mind game while Amber was lifting water out of her glass, Spark, Noah and Fawn were probably somewhere around. I walked past everyone and outside to get some fresh air and found Fawn sitting on the steps on looking out towards the forest. Not knowing what to do I started to go back inside when she looked back at me “You don’t have to leave, I don’t bite.
I looked down and took a seat on the porch a foot away from her. It’s not that I was scared or intimidated by her it’s just that I didn’t really know her. We sat in silence for a few minutes and I looked around to see the dark shades of blues and grays of the area. I could hear the sound of the crickets chirping their nightly song and could smell the intoxicating pine smell of the trees. I wouldn’t mind living in a place like this. Like I said before it’s just so peaceful out here, no wonder Meg chose to live out here.
“Everything finally calm down back in there?” Fawn asked awhile later that I was surprised that she even cared to talk to me.
I nodded my head in reply.
She looked back at me “You don’t like to talk very much do you?”
I shook my head “Nothing to say.”
A few more seconds of silence passed by and she sighed “Spark told me how they found you in an old theater….”
“Yah…” I said softly looking down at my thumbs
“He also told me how you wouldn’t talk about what happened before they found you. Any idea why?”
I looked away “It’s not important.” I muttered
She looked at me for a few seconds and sighed knowing I was done talking. She stood up and shook her head as she went back inside. I looked up back towards the forest and saw the same thing I did before. I then stood up and walked towards the small little yard. I kicked a few rocks around not wanting to go back inside but I knew I should pretty soon. I turned my head and glanced back over towards the house and could see everyone sitting down before Meg pulled the curtains closed.
Might as well I thought and walked back up the porch and into the living room.
I took an empty seat next to Twilight since that was the only one left. I think I’ve decided that I like Fawn more than Twilight even though I barley know Fawn. Twilight is just so whinny (no offence to her) when it comes to what place we will be going next, but of course I would never say it out loud. As I looked around at everyone I had the feeling of being in school where everyone would arrange their chairs in a circle and have their own little court session. To be honest I don’t even know why I’m even sitting down because I never say anything and even if I do give an opinion they’re all just likely to ignore it. I’ve gotten used to it though so I just go with whatever they decide.
“So as I have agreed before we waited to go to Texas,” Spark spoke up “That doesn’t mean that we still don’t have to go.”
“Texas?” Noah questioned
“Yes,” Spark replied “We’ve had news of another Chosen down there.”
“Yah but they’re just rumors Spark!” Twilight complained like everyone predicted “What if we’re wrong and no one is down there?”
“Yah but what if we’re right? If we don’t go that kid is as good as dead.”
“I’m sure if the kid as lived this long they’ll be fine.” Twilight sighed picking at her nails
“How can you even think that?!” Fawn barked standing up
She shrugged “It’s just my opinion, you don’t have to like it.”
“And I don’t.” Fawn retorted
“I’m sorry Twilight but we can’t just let that kid to fend for themselves.” Spark said cutting into their argument
“This is ridiculous!” Twilight said raising her voice
“What’s ridiculous is how much of a cougar you are,” Chem replied “I agree, I say we go.”
“I second that.” Sonic replied and the others nodded in agreement
We all then looked over at Aaron who was yet again unusually silent “What?” he asked
“Well we might as well get your opinion now because it’s as sure as hell we’ll get it later.” Spark replied
He shrugged “You already know; my opinion is the same as Fawn’s and your own.”
He nodded and looked back towards the others “It’s settled then, we leave in the morning.”
Looks like Tiny gets her wish after all I thought.ÿ
When morning hit the next day everyone was up walking around while trying to wake up. When I walked back down into the living room Spark and Chem were discussing the blue prints while drinking coffee.
“….It’s complicated,” I heard Chem mutter “All the writing is in German so I keep on having to translate it but none of it makes sense.”
“Well it is the internet after all.” Spark sighed
“True, but still….I’ll keep on working on it though and let you know what I find out.”
“Sounds good.” Spark replied and stood up
I walked into the kitchen where Anna and Tiny were eating as well with Tavin and Amber. I looked over at Meg who was making scrambled eggs and she looked over and smiled at me. I backed up a little but she just laughed “You hungry? I made some toast you if you want.”
I nodded and muttered thanks as she handed me a plate and sat down on the opposite side of the table from the others. While they all talked about going to Texas I picked at my food not feeling that hungry for some reason. I ended up eating it anyways though because I didn’t want to be hungry later. After I was done eating I got up and washed my dishes including the others.
“You sure you don’t want help Casper?” Tiny asked
“No, it’s ok.” I replied not looking back at her. It wasn’t that many anyways.
“….Okay….thanks then.” She replied and the others thanked me too as they walked out back into the living room.
I rinsed and dried my hands after I finished and found that everyone was already heading outside and thanking Meg as they walked out the door. I jogged up to them and Meg laughed when she saw me “I think you and Sonic need to switch powers for a day, but thank you for helping with the dishes dear. It was nice meeting you and the others.”
I smiled “Thanks for everything too.”
She waved “Oh it was nothing but go on and catch up to them. Don’t let an old lady like me hold you back.”
I thanked her again and said goodbye as I walked towards the others who were getting into the vans that Meg let us borrow.
“So how did you get a hold of a Retter van?” Chem called out as he studied the inside of the black one
“Recognized it didn’t yah?” Meg laughed “I wasn’t always old you know. If there’s one thing you can do to make them mad it’s to highjack one of their cars.”
“I bet.” He laughed
After Spark and Sonic talked about it we all piled into the vehicles. I ended up having to get into the white one with Sonic, Tiny, Fawn, Noah, and Chem while the others piled into the other van. I think everyone was mostly happy about who they ended up sitting by since it wasn’t someone they absolutely hated. The second worst of our problems would to be to try to find a place to stay. The worst of all of our worries was if we would get there in time to help the other Chosen before the Retter got to them. Then again we also had to stop in Albuquerque to find out from Rick exactly where in Texas the Chosen was rumored to be….gosh I hope this is not going to be another goose chase.ÿ
I think everyone was happy when we finally made it to Rick’s place. The whole five hours of driving I had just messed around with a quarter for something to do. At least it was better than the sixteen hours that we drove yesterday though. Now that was torture. The hotel we all stayed at was ok in other words. Plus we didn’t run into any major problems so the trip has been successful so far. Throughout the day we had stopped a few times to stretch our legs and get food and gas yet I was still sore. At least no one is car sick…that would have been bad. Sonic and Spark kept in touch with cell phone most of the time too so we didn’t end up getting split up more then by a couple cars away. I also had to listen to Chem complain about why the Retter just couldn’t write in English…well minus a couple words.
As the other’s car pulled up in front of us towards Rick’s house we all got out. I’ve only met Rick once since I’ve joined the group and I hoped that I wouldn’t have to again. Rick was some human who kept tabs on what was going on in The Chosen world. A lot of people told him things thinking he would probably forget them later since he always seemed to be drunk but he wasn’t as drunk as people thought. I guess his two mouths of being an actor paid off. I looked up at the small house as Spark walked up to it and knocked on the door. Of course he didn’t answer, he hasn’t been answering his phone either by what Sonic and him had talked about earlier either.
“Rick?” Spark said knocking on the door and raising his voice “Hey it’s us.”
“No one’s home!” a voice within the house yelled out
Twilight sighed “Can we go then?”
“Yes Twilight and then we can waste our time in trying to look for one Chosen in a whole tire state!” Fawn snapped
She started to replied when Sonic butted in “Hey, come on do you guys really have to fight all the time?”
“Butt out Sonic!” they both said in unison and then glared at each other in silence
“Rick it’s Spark and the group let us in.” Spark said
“You have the wrong house! Sorry!”
Spark sighed and shook his head “Tweedledum and Tweedledee agreed to have a battle….”
“For Tweedledum said Tweedledee had spoiled his nice new rattle…” Rick’s voice replied hesitantly a few seconds later
“Just then flew down a monstrous crow, as black as a tar-barrel…”
“Which frightened both the heroes so….”
“They quite forgot their quarrel.”
We all looked at each other and when Aaron was about to make a comment probably along the lines “What the hell?” when the door opened to have a guy in baggy clothing, messy brown hair, and a scruffy beard open the door “Why isn’t this a surprise?” He laughed looking from Spark and then to the others “And I see your group has grown too!”
Spark nodded “May we come in?”
He looked back “Uh yah of course.” He said and moved aside as Spark went into the house
The rest of us looked at each other. The ones who knew Rick knew what we were going to see and smell when we went in there and let me say right now that his house sure doesn’t smell like roses.
“Well do come in!” He called to us
Fawn sighed and walked up the steps of the house and disappeared inside of the house and we all soon followed after.
“I apologize for the mess,” Rick said as he shut the door behind us “I’ve been busy.”
And by busy he means drinking and who knows what. Beer cans and all sorts of junk laid everywhere around the house. Nevertheless, There was the hint of cinnamon every once in a while…but it was easily taken over with the smell of sweat. I looked back at Twilight though and had to keep from laughing at the expression on her face as she cringed at the sight of the place “Don’t you ever clean this place?” she commented and we all looked back at her
Rick looked back at her and laughed “Why you offering?”
“I’m not a maid!” She snapped
“Could have fooled me once.” He replied “I remember when you fell into the fireplace a few visits ago. You looked like you just came out of the Marry Poppins movie.”
“Shut up!”
He just shrugged though “So what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked looking back at Spark
“Have you heard anything about the kid down in Texas?”
He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck “No…everything just seemed to go quiet about two days ago.”
We all looked at each other in worry of that we were too late “I told you we shouldn’t have waited.” Fawn said flatly to Spark
“But…” Rick said “I did however notice something peculiar about the paper…” he said walking over to his kitchen table and tossing a newspaper to Spark “There was a fire yesterday in an apartment down at Wichita Falls.”
“Yah….so?” Aaron replied
“Fires don’t engulf just one room….” Rick replied and pointed at a certain paragraph in the paper for Spark to see.
“Even after an hour after the fire had started firemen only found that one room had caught fire while the rest of the building was fine…..” Spark said reading out loud the sentence
“How can that be though?” Tiny asked
Rick looked over at her “Well I don’t know very many natural fires that can do that….unless someone had made it happen…”
“Probably hiding their tracks.” Spark replied folding the paper and giving it back to Rick
“So do you think it’s the kid?” Fawn asked
“No,” Rick said when Spark looked over at him “The kid was said to be able to have telepathy….I don’t think they could start a fire.”
We all went silent; so there were two chosen to go look for now… “Thank you Rick, do you know how far it is from here to Wichita Falls?” Spark said
“About eight and a half hours.” He replied
“We should hurry then, the sooner we get there the better. We’ll keep you updated Rick.”
“Yep and same here.”
“And do answer the phone next time.” Sonic sighed
“….God this damn phone hasn’t been working at all! Just call my cell phone.”
“…You don’t have a cell phone…” Tiny replied
“I’ll buy one.”
“…..You don’t have the money…” Twilight replied
“I’ll get the money!” he said raising his voice but then sighed and grabbed another beer “God you people can get so annoying.”
“Well we’ll be leaving then. We’ll try to get in touch somehow thank you again Rick.” Spark said and nodded to the rest of us to go and none of us obliged.
After all of us had gotten back into the vans Chem replied “Well don’t we just learn something new every day?”
“Yah,” Fawn said “We learned that Rick can actually be sober once in awhile.”
I couldn’t help but smile at her comment.ÿ
I looked out the window when I saw a sign read Wichita Falls: five miles. All the cars that passed us I think made the others tense though because coming into a big city just means for the Retter being able to blend in even more so then a smaller area. Sonic’s phone rang again and he picked it up “Hello?”
I wonder why everyone says hello even though they already know who it is most of the time? I thought but didn’t comment
“Yah everyone’s fine….yep….uh huh…ok we’ll meet you there.” He said and hung up
“What did he say?” Fawn asked
“Spark and I need a break.” He replied
“Why not just let one of us drive then?” Chem asked
“We haven’t stopped for awhile so it would be good to stretch out our legs again before we get there….you never know what could happen.”
We all knew what he meant and I think we all agreed. I don’t think we’d have much luck with sore legs when fighting the Retter if that happened.
“Plus Twilight needed to go to the bathroom.” He continued
“Of course she does.” Fawn sighed looking back out the window
“So how long is it going to take to find this kid?” Noah asked
“Who knows,” Sonic replied “it could be a few hours to a few days….you just never know.”
A few cars ahead of us we saw the others pull into a rest stop. We pulled up and parked behind them and got out of the car to feel a soft chill of the wind. I looked around the area and towards the small building that Twilight entered. For some reason I had a bad feeling about this place…then again I never really liked rest stops; I can thank my dad for that (it’s a long story). Fawn walked over to Spark and exchanged a few words as the rest of us went over and sat on the grass or leaned against the Vans while we all waited for Twilight. Anna walked over to me and I smiled “What’s up?” she asked
“Just tired,” I replied “you?”
“Same.” She yawned
“Everything go ok with you guys?”
“Yah.” I nodded
“That’s good…”
“God I can’t wait to get into Wichita Falls!” Tiny said “I heard it’s really pretty!”
“Well just be patient.” Sonic replied stretching out his arms and yawning
“I don’t like being patient.” She pouted and he smiled
I caught Aaron squinting his eyes and looking towards the road. I looked in the direction he was looking and saw a black car coming down.
“What is it?” Anna asked me
The next second there was the squeal of wheels and we all snapped around and men in black jumped out of the car charging after us. I saw a flash of lightning and one of them fell down writhing in pain. We all ended up backing up into a circle. I saw another car appear on the other side and we were surrounded and outnumbered in no time.
“We heard there were Chosen near Wichita Falls but looks like we hit the jackpot.” One of the Retter smiled
I felt Anna’s grip on my wrist tighten as I pushed her behind me. “Time to come home Anna.” A woman smiled extending her hand
The next second something dark whipped at her hand making her cry out in pain as she withdrew. I looked back at Aaron who had his head turned back towards us smirking “How dare you!” She yelled and lifted up her gun at him.
“Enough talk…” a man said “You all are outnumbered. You might as well surrender and make all of this easy…”
“In hell we will!” Fawn yelled and the next second a black panther lashed out at them as everyone else started to attack. I ducked a Retter’s gun as they tried to jab me with it. I knew I had to get Anna out of here but there were just too many. Before I knew it though I was on the ground and Anna was screaming. Just as the Retter was about to pull the trigger they flinched as their head went up in pain. They coughed out blood and fell to the ground. I looked up in shock when I saw Noah whipping a knife on his shirt “You need to fight in you’re gonna live kid.” He said helping me up
I nodded and looked around to try to find Anna. I saw her a couple feet away pounding on a Retter’s back as they lefted her up onto their shoulder. I ran after them ducking more attacks from the Retter but just as I was about to reach them I jumped back when a wall of fire appeared in front of me and set one of their cars on fire. I turned in shock to find the source of it to find no one else in sight. The fire then turned and twisted around our group separating us from the Retter and actually setting a few of them on fire and coiled up like a snake. The Retter who had Anna dropped her in panic and brought out their guns to find the source. I ran alongside the wall of fire and found an opening and Anna ran into my arms immediately. I pulled her away from the fire and I saw Amber trying to extinguish the flames but the next second the fire shot out at the Retter either burning them or sending those lucky enough to be far away to jump into the vans and drive off. We all backed up against each other as the doom shrank. I never thought I would burn alive….
But the fire then disappeared to show a girl with long brown hair walking towards us….her eyes are what caught my eye the most though; one was a bluish green color while the other seemed almost to be the actual color of fire…In her hands I saw flames just disappearing as well. We all stared at the mysterious girl in shock and surprise.
“Well she’s hot.” Aaron managed to say.
“Who are you?” Spark asked
She was silent for a second but then replied “My name's Bryn.”ÿ
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