Chapter 12

I thought i would skip to showing chapter 12-it kind of brings the story in to play.

    

“Gosh, I hope I can lead my new friends out of this place…”  Katie thought to herself as she quickened her pace.  “The last thing I would want to have is to let them all down, and on the very first time I’m out of the castle too.”  She glanced back.  “I know why they’re here.”  She checked to make sure she wasn’t saying it out loud, “they’ve come to fulfill the prophecy.  But they’re not sure if they are going the right way-I mean to actually completing it.”  She took a long, deep breath, “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to help them with that kind of thing, I mean, after all I don’t even know if they’d believe me if a said anything.  I don’t know a lot about that mythical stuff.”

   Just then Marisa noticed that the air had gotten unusually damp and chilly.  We were still in the same place, how could the temperature change this drastically?        

     “Why did it get so cold all of the sudden?” she asked, this time with concern in her voice.  Katie felt the air.  Her face turned almost white, “the frost season must be drawing near, I never even thought about that.”  She glanced at Natalie with fear in her eyes.  “Why, what’s wrong with that, the snow is fun!”  Lily pointed out with excitement.  I could see Brandon and Marisa exchanging uneasy glances as Katie started to explain.  “It’s not really what you think.  Winter, on this planet, is feared by every living creature around here.  We are also included, or SHOULD be.”  She paused as she peered at Natalie, who was the least bit concerned.  “When the first snow-fall arrives, the creatures living on the mountains all year, come down and feast on the helpless souls who are plunging through thick snow or lost in a blizzard.  They are smarter than they are thought to be.”  She finished with anxiety.  Natalie glanced at all of us, and laughed at our fear.  “You guys are seriously AFRAID?  Ha!  We defiantly ain’t dumber than those creeps from the mountains.  All they do is SLEEP most of the time anyway.”  Brandon stepped up and faced Natalie, “we are most defiantly NOT scared!”  He yelled, trying to wipe the terror off of his face.  “I’d like to see the day.”  Natalie replied with a smirk as she started to lead the way.   Brandon muttered something under his breath as he ground his teeth with rage.

     “I don’t know about that girl, Natalie, there’s just something about her I don’t like, something that can’t be trusted.”  Lily whispered to me as she made sure she was out of ear-shot.  “Well, she must like us enough to be showing us the way home.”  I replied.  “Maybe that’s what she WANTS us to think.”  Lily added as she secretly shot her a thundering glare.  “She COULD be taking us to mountain monsters’ cave so we can get eaten up for dinner!”  “Oh Lily, you don’t need to be so suspicious.”  I said to her smiling.  But deep down inside, I worried that sooner or later, the uncertainty that Brandon and Lily had for Natalie, would make everything worse. 

     My thoughts were broken by the cold, bitter wind blowing against me, as it howled past my ears.  A small, white speck lied on my arm.  “Is that,” I thought as looked closer at it.  “…a snowflake.”  Peering back up, I noticed that we were out of the forest already, and were traveling along a sandy path.  The area around us was mostly cleared out, but on either side of us was more forest.  “I think we should hurry.”  I announced.  “I just found a snowflake.”  “I know.”  Natalie replied coldly.  “That’s what we’re doing.” 

     I tried to ignore Natalie’s bitter personality, and the pour way she treated us.  We couldn’t afford to get into a fight, not now anyway.  I could tell Lily was trying to prove her point, about her opinion of the new-comer.

     More and more snow-flakes landed softly along my clothes.  I was beginning to worry that we wouldn’t make it in time to the orb, that we might get caught in a snow-storm along the way.  As if Marisa sensed my anxiety, she picked up her pace to catch up to me. 

     “Don’t worry, we’re going to make it.  The worst thing that could happen is if we all get scooped up by those mountain creatures, but what are the odds of that!?”  She laughed as she ran up to Roxanne.

     The sun was already gone, and the temperature had dropped again.  Pure white snow glittered on the ground as the moon-light shone along the surface.  “I really think we should rest, it’s not good for a human’s brain to go without enough sleep.”  Roxanne announced as she flicked a pile of snow-flakes off her shoulder.  “Where do you suppose we rest?”  Katie asked hopefully.  “Maybe…”  Roxanne said as she scanned the land around us.  “Over there!”  She pointed out with her finger.  We all followed her gaze.  If I was looking at the same thing she was, it was a big tree that looked like an oak.  It slanted over to one side, its branches hanging over a bald patch of grass.  “That looks like our best bet.”  Roxanne finished.  “I agree, I think we should go stay over there.  Do we all agree?”  Marisa asked loudly, clearly excited to be camping outside.  Everyone nodded in agreement.  “Good, let’s go!”  And she started to lead us to our new home.

    

     It wasn’t the comfiest place I’ve been, but at least we were sheltered from the snow… kind of.  The tree shook violently above us, the wind shaking its leaves off.  There were puddles of water here and there, hiding in the tall grass.  It just so happened that I was lying right in one.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t move anywhere because there was only so much space being sheltered from the snow.  I wondered to myself what Quiamada was doing that second… how much time did we have left? 

     I tried to sleep, but it was not possible.  I could only lie there, staring up at the shimmering stars in the night sky, through the snowy branches.  Just then I realized how home sick I was.  Being on this strange planet, it isn’t really considered ‘welcoming’.  In fact, I didn’t even know where the heck I was.  Would I ever get back home? 

     From the other side of the tree’s protection, tossing and turning, Lily was wrapped up in sleep’s spell…

     There was darkness all around.  There was only one light, very small and very dim, flickering at times.  But it seemed to shine brightly, considering that there was no other source of light.  ‘Where am I?’  Lily thought in confusion.  As you glanced around with worry, she heard someone speak in a low voice.  By week’s end, every dimension known in the universe will be at my command.  After hearing those chilling words, she felt as if her body had turned to ice.  The glimmering light slowly began to grow larger.  ‘What…?’

    

     “Lily, are you okay?”  She was awakened by the sound of Marisa’s cheerful voice.  “Mrrrrr, wwwww, what?”  She answered, blinking the sleep out of her eyes as she sat up.  “Gosh, you were talking like a parrot!”  Katie said quietly as she smiled.  “I was, really?”  Lily asked with a laugh as she pulled herself off the ground. 

     She stopped what she was doing, as the dream came flooding back into her memory.  The joyfulness steadily started to drain out of her eyes.  Roxanne, noticing the difference, asked in concern, “Lily, is something wrong?”  She stuttered before replying, “I kind of had a bad dream last night, but that’s all.”  She finished as she peered around nervously.  Roxanne shot her a look of suspicion.  There was a long, soothing wave of silence that hung through the air.  “If you say so.”  Roxanne finished, turning away with a cold shoulder.  Lily peered after her as she lumbered away, guilt flowing through her mind. 

     “Well as long as we’re all okay…”  Katie added quietly as her voice trailed off.  Standing next to her, I soaked in the words she had added.  “We can’t afford to lose anyone,” I thought, concern flooding through my mind, “especially not now.”

     The sun shone brightly through the forest, the light from its rays brushing the tree-tops.  The temperature had dropped once again, frost starting to layer the strips of grass that sprung up from the ground.

     “I guess we should get a move on, I don’t think we should wait until we get caught in a snow-storm.”  Lily announced as she examined how thick the snow was that lie on the ground.  Natalie turned around and shot her a thundering glare.  “Yeah, and who made you boss?”  She asked bitterly.  Marisa touched Lily lightly on the shoulder to remind her to not start a fight. 

     “Well I just think we should-we don’t always need to listen to you, you know!”  She answered aggressively, ignoring Marisa’s warning.  “Who’s the one that’s showing you back, huh, big shot, defiantly not you!” 

     Lily hesitated before replying, “I could leave any time I wanted!”  She answered, rage building up inside her.  “If you’re stupid enough to go out on your own, that’s just really sad.”  She spat. There were a couple moments of silence, until Natalie turned away, the sourness from her last comment still flowing through the air.

     Lily peered after her, fury and frustration going through her mind.  She watched after her until the darkness of the bushes had swallowed her up.

     “I’m really sorry about that-she can be a little quick tempered at times.”  Katie stepped up with Alex at her side.  Rex let out a growl towards the aggressiveness between the fight.  I nodded to her, “that’s okay, all of us can be a bit grouchy at times.” 

     Marisa winked at her, “so true,” she added with a laugh.

     Suddenly, the wind picked up, and we were almost lifted off of our feet.  The piles of snow around us were blown little but little off the top like a pile of sugar.  I covered my eyes as more snow got pelted our way.  “What’s happening?”  I asked loudly, trying to find Katie through the blinding cold.   “It must be a blizzard!”  She struggled to answer.  Instantly, I felt around to find where Rex was.  “Rex!”  I called out, hoping he would come into sight.  I glanced around, barely being able to see anything.  “Reeeeex!”  I called out once more.

     I couldn’t spot where Rex was, but I could still see the big oak over the mounds snow piling to the ground.  “Let’s go over there!”  I yelled as I pointed towards its direction.  Everyone heard me and responded with some kind of a noise.  Hoping that everybody would have made it safely, I scurried over to the shelter of the oak and gazed out to see if the others had listened.  Worry flooded over me when the only thing I could hear was the howling of the wind rushing past as it carried little bits of snow.  After a while, the others arrived one by one into the shelter of the ancient tree.  I was stabbed with relief when I noticed that everyone had made it safely.  “Wait,” I thought, glancing around once more.  “Rex… he’s not here!”  Panic rushed through my mind as I thought what I should do.  “Everyone, look for Rex!”  I cried out, horror piling into my mind.  All of them instantly peered around, but couldn’t find him. 

     I dropped myself to the ground, sorrow and tears overflowing from my eyes.  “My Rex!”  I cried, my vision becoming blurry from all of the water build-up on my eye-lids.  “I can’t go on without Rex-having him was like having your best friend with you all the time.”  I continued as I continued to pour out with tears, “you guys go on, I’m going to stay here until Rex comes back.”  “We will most definitely NOT!”  Roxanne answered, sympathy in her eyes. 

     There was a long moment of silence, until Marisa took a step towards me and sat down next to me.  “Don’t worry, Rex us going to find us, you know how good he is at finding things, especially you.  He loves you, he will do whatever he needs to do to find you again.”  I looked sorrowfully as I whipped the tear drops that were dribbling down my face.  She continued, “like one friend once told me, don’t ever give up.”  I smiled, as I looked up at her once more.  “Thanks.”  I said quietly, happiness flowing through me.  I stood up firm, “okay everyone, Rex is a good tracker, he will find us.  Until then, we will continue our journey back to the orb.”  I announced proudly.  Everyone let out a shout of praise. 

     I peered out of the protection of the oak tree, still worried about Rex.  Where could he possibly be?  The sorrow of my missing friend reminded me about Quiamada.  Every once and a while I would become pressurized and eager to defeat her.  I had no clue about what she was going to do, but whatever she was planning on doing, didn’t sound good at all…