NEVER AGAIN - a story i wrote

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dreamcatcher
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Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2012 4:48 pm
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NEVER AGAIN - a story i wrote

Post by dreamcatcher »

Never Again

Chapter 1, Rebecca
Suddenly, flashing lights pulsed inside the plane and a horrible siren wailed in everyone's ears as the plane's nose started to tip towards the unforgiving ocean water below. A part of the wing flew past my window as the plane began to lose its fight against the turbulent winds. My life didn't flash before my eyes like it always does in the movies. It was all happening too fast.
I reached out for my little sister just as the plane hit the water with a huge splash. I could hear muffled screams as we were submerged and the weight of the plane's metal frame pushed us deeper and deeper into the freezing water.
My fingers struggled with my seatbelt buckle but it stayed clasped together. Oh no, oh no, oh no. Frantically, I grabbed someone's wallet that was floating by and slammed it against the buckle repeatedly until finally, it came undone and I was able to pull myself out of the seat. I swam out of the emergency hatch of the plane and tried to look for my sister, but the water was too dark and murky to see anything distinctly. I couldn't even tell which way was up anymore.
Desperately, I kicked out in a random direction, just trying to find some way back up into the open air, some way to survive, but there wasn’t one. My lungs were screaming at me to take a breath but there wasn't any air to breathe. I was cold, so cold. A fuzzy darkness started to fill my eyes just as I caught a glimpse of a flickering light that shone through the water above me. But it was too far away. I couldn't make it. I was too late. As the darkness closed in, my last thought was that I, Rebecca Eve, would never be seen again.
I could feel the gritty sand digging into my back and it felt like my knee was on fire. In the background the soft noise of waves pounding on the shore sounded in a ceaseless rhythm. The sun beat down on my face, soaking into my skin, and through my closed eyelids, all I could see was a tangerine color.
What happened? I thought that heaven was supposed to be painless! There was no way I could have escaped that crash alive though. I’d blacked out underwater; I should have drowned. Something was wrong here . . .
"Are you sure she's alive, Celia?" someone asked. I squinted open my eyes, wincing as the glaring light blinded me. A tall Asian girl with grown out side-bangs was leaning over me and another girl with dirty blonde hair and a dark tan stood behind her. Both looked about sixteen or seventeen years old. I was fairly sure that it was the blonde that had spoken.
The Asian girl—who must have been Celia—sighed. "Just go bring Michaela over here."
The Blonde turned around to run into the forest, but before she reached the trees, she stopped and turned around to ask, "What should I do about Karly? Chase is probably going to want to come."
"Just humor her, Katrina," Celia told the Blonde. Katrina nodded and then sprinted into the forest faster than I would have thought humanly possible. Meanwhile, Celia pulled out a Swiss army knife that had to be at least an inch thick and carefully cut the bloody knee of my jeans off exposing a huge hole in my leg. Multiple strips of warped metal protruded from the wound, most likely from the plane. A large swath of the sand around my knee was already stained crimson. I peered into the gaping hole and saw a bit of white. I looked away quickly, fighting back the bile threatening to rise in my throat.
Celia sucked in a long breath through her teeth as she examined my leg. Using the knife, she cut off a long strip of the bottom of her shirt. "I'll be right back," she promised before taking the scrap of material and hurrying down to the ocean. In a few seconds, Celia came back with the fabric soaked in salt water and quickly did her best to wipe away all the blood. I let out a long hiss of air as the salty water stung the open wound. "I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she fretted. “Salt’s the best thing to draw out infection. though.”
A couple of minutes later, Katrina came back accompanied by three other girls and a boy. Two of the girls and the boy seemed around eighteen while the other girl looked about fourteen. Katrina introduced them quickly. The fourteen year old was Michaela, one of the eighteen-year-old girls was Karly - the one Celia had told the Blonde to humor, and the other girl was Brandi. The boy was Chase. Michaela was small and delicate with chestnut brown hair and hazel eyes, Karly looked kind of snobby and had dramatically layered strawberry blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes, and Chase had shaggy brown hair and strangely golden eyes - and not just amber eyes, his eyes were like molten gold. Brandi was tall and had light, auburn hair and blue eyes.
“Michaela?" Celia asked. "Can you help her?" Michaela looked at my knee doubtfully.
"I - I don't know," she admitted, looking like she was about to pass out just by looking at me. But, she knelt down beside me on the opposite side of Celia, placed her hands on either side of my knee, and closed her eyes. A small furrow formed between her eyebrows as she concentrated.
Then, I felt it. It started slowly, like an itch that refused to go away, but gradually it grew stronger until it felt like something was crawling around under my skin. My muscles tensed and I had to dig my fingers into the sand around me to keep myself from trying to claw my way into the cut to try to dig out whatever was doing this. Celia placed a hand on my arm sympathetically.
"Relax," Celia directed me. "It's always the worst your first time. It should go away in a few minutes." That's when I felt my skin moving and stretching. The muscles and tissues somehow pushed out the chunks of metal embedded inside my skin along with a number of minute metal splinters. Then, they started piecing themselves back together. New skin flowed out of the old and spread out over my knee again. Just like that, the hole in my knee disappeared. Michaela rose shakily. Her face was pallid and her hands quivered. Celia rose and gently rubbed Michaela's shoulder. "It's okay, Michaela. You did great." I finally had the chance to ask the question that had been waiting on my lips.
"My sister," I demanded. ”Where is she?" The entire group share reluctant looks.
Until finally, Chase said quietly, "There’s no one else left alive."
No. No, no, no, no, NO! It was impossible. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't be. They HAD to be wrong. There was just no way that I could be here when my little sister wasn’t.

Chapter 2, Sara
Left stroke. Right stroke. Keep kicking.
Left stroke. Right stroke. Keep kicking.
Left stroke. Right stroke. Keep kicking.
Left stroke. Right stroke. Keep kicking.
The simple rhythm of swimming was the only thing keeping me alive. I imagined that this was probably what it felt like to be a ghost - having to go through the same exact motions again and again. Even when I wanted to give up, I couldn't; partly because of the instinctive urge to survive and partly because my body had become so used to the rhythm that it kept going even when my mind said "Enough."
An hour passed . . .
Then another . . .
And another . . .
And another . . .
Until, finally, I spotted land in the distance. With a sudden resurgence of strength, I kicked out towards the distant island until I was treading water at the base of a high cliff.
There was a large cave nearly twenty feet above the water. I could at least get away from the ocean water there, but I had to climb up first. Could I even do it though?
I was exhausted, but it was my only hope. I reached up and grasped the first of many handholds, beginning the longest climb of my entire life. The rocks were wet and slippery and for the first few feet, the waves threatened to pull me right off the cliff face.
Hand over hand I struggled to pull myself up until finally, less than a foot away from the cave, the rock beneath my hands crumbled away and went plummeting down the side of the cliff, and despite my panicked efforts to grab hold of something, I quickly followed suit. At the very last moment, I snagged hold of the cliff face again and began the slow, arduous journey back up.
When I reached the grotto, there was a pixie standing in the cave mouth. That is, if there were punk goth pixies. I mean she had ebony hair (filled with red streaks) in a short bob cut, a rather petite figure (covered from head to toe in black), and delicate features - if you ignored all of the piercings, which included an eyebrow piercing, nearly five ear piercings, and an emerald nose stud that matched her eyes. But you can at least sort of see how she matched the description of a demented woodland sprite, can’t you? She also wore a thick layer of black lipstick and eye shadow. How she managed to get makeup when she was living on a deserted island, I had no idea. She stood a few feet away from me, leaning against a tall, robust stalagmite, and gave me a long, nonchalant, extremely bored stare.
She made no move to help me.
The icy ocean water had long ago seeped into my bones, freezing me to the core; I was feeling so lightheaded that I was surprised that I could still form somewhat coherent thoughts; I couldn’t feel any of my limbs; my fingers and face were blue; no one was going to help me.
I was as good as dead. I slowly slid towards the floor, dropping to my knees as exhaustion finally overpowered me. Just as my eyes closed, I caught a glimpse of a boy emerging from the cave. He cried out something to the demented fairy and ran forwards to catch me right before I did a face plant into unforgiving stone.
Everything went black after that.
Chapter 3, Rebecca
I stared up at the ceiling of my little lean-to. I was lying on my back when Celia ducked through the entrance. Katrina, Michaela, Chase, and others that I didn't even know had come in already to tell me that it wasn't so bad; life goes on and all of that other junk. Even Karly had come in and tried to get me to stand up and actually do something. Except that Karly instead of using kind words and sympathetic looks like everyone else, offered me several motivational insults to get me moving.
I expected Celia to try to reassure me that everything was okay like everyone else had. Instead, though, Celia bent over me and slapped me in the face, which took me by surprise since she had seemed like such a gentle person before.
“What the heck was that for?” I demanded.
“That was to wake you up,” Celia growled.
"Get up," she ordered. I just shook my head. She slapped me again. "Get off you lazy butt! If your sister really was dead, do you think she would want you to just lay down and die?"
"If?" My voice was hoarse from disuse. "What do you mean 'if my sister was dead'?"
"I mean that your sister's alive!" Celia said furiously. I sat up quickly.
"Where is she?"
Celia ground her teeth. "That's the problem! She's on the other side of the island!"
I was confused. "So? Can't you guys go get her?"
"That's what we're doing right now," Celia looked absolutely murderous. "A group of some of the best people here just went off on a frantic mission to go rescue your sister and most of them are probably going to die trying!"
"Die?" I echoed quietly.
"Yes, Rebecca," Celia spat. "Die. As in some of them probably won't come back at all! You don't know anything about this island! You don't know anything at all!" With that, Celia stormed out of the little hut.
Chapter 4, Sara’s Past
It was around midnight. Runners' Road was situated in an ancient part of the city that had long since been forsaken in favor of buildings that are more modern. In colonial times, Runners' Road was used for messengers to run letters and mail to wealthy citizens.
A few dilapidated homes still bordered the street and they were completely empty except for maybe the occasional mouse or bat. Old vintage streetlights lined the dusty road, but only a few actually worked after all these years and the few that did were so covered with dirt and grime that they only emitted the faintest glimmer of light. Therefore, it wasn't so much the streetlights than the full moon that illuminated the two young girls who scurried down the street.
The road was blanketed under a layer of snow, which muffled the pair's footsteps and chilled the air. The youngest of these girls was nine and had long ebony hair that escaped the hood of her jacket. The eldest was twelve and was rather tall for her age and she had long chestnut hair.
They were both running away. But, they weren't running away from their parents - they were running away from the death of their parents. They had no aunts, uncles, or cousins and although they actually did have grandmother, the court hadn't been able to contact her because she lived in a rural part of England. The court had given them a week to collect what they wanted to keep from what was left of their home before they were sent to the orphanage and today should have been their last day, but the eldest had convinced her little sister to run away with her instead.
Just then, the youngest saw something in a small clearing filled with tall grass that filled the gap between two houses. She lagged behind her sister and walked over to the clearing. She was sure that it would be easy to catch up to her older sister when she was done.
The youngest waded through the long grass until she came across a small doe that must have been hit by a passing car because both of its back legs were mangled and broken. To the little girl it was heartbreaking to see such a strong animal be rendered powerless by nothing more than a careless driver. She reached out and stroked its cheek. The deer was still alive, but only just, and its eyelids fluttered as the little girl touched its cheek.
"It's okay," the girl told it. "I won't hurt you." Somehow, the deer understood the girl and trusted her and without either being aware of it, each passed on a little bit of their memories and feelings to the other. The little girl gained the deer's knowledge of surviving on its own and a bit of its wildness while the deer gained the girl's happiest memories and the belief in something after death. But, the deer also left the little girl with one last thing: a mark; a mark that only animals could ever possibly distinguish and understand.
Then, the deer closed its eyes for the last time as the distraught little girl stared down at it. The little girl rose to leave, but as she did, a girl just a little older than her appeared in front of her. This new girl was maybe around ten and she had blonde hair so light that it was practically white that was in small corkscrews, ice blue eyes, extremely pale skin, and full light pink lips. She also had a slender body and she was rather small for her age. She wore a paneled, pure white, silk dress that fell to her ankles and delicate white ballet flats. Her hair was half up and half down with a few stray strands spiraling down her cheeks. But, it was her eyes that showed just how special she was; eyes that said that whoever this girl was, she had been a little girl for a very, very long time and had seen things that you could only dream of. The nine-year-old half expected to see angel wings sprouting out of the girl's back.
"You did well, Sara," the little girl in white said.
"Who are you? How do you know my name?" the nine year old asked.
The little girl smiled as if she was enjoying an inside joke as she answered. "Call me Salvia."
"Sara!" the eldest sister called from far down Runners' Road. "Hurry up!"
Salvia smiled again. "I'll see you again soon Sara." Then, she turned and melted back into the field of grass.
The nine year old stared after Salvia for a few moments before walking out of the clearing and running after her sister yelling, "Hey, wait up Rebecca! Wait for me!"
Chapter 5, Sara
When I opened my eyes, there was a pile of clothes sitting on my chest with a note pinned onto the top of the stack. That was somewhat strange. Sitting up, my head collided painfully with the ceiling of what I soon came to understand was a recess carved into the cave wall and furnished with blankets and pillows. I tugged the note off, but it was impossible to see what was written on it since it was so dark.
Sliding out of the recess, and tumbling to the floor in the process, I continued my examination of my unfamiliar surroundings. The recess that had served as my bed was close to the ceiling and two others were gouged into the rock below it. The lowest was filled with stuffed animals and the middle bunk had an ebony shawl with tassels artfully draped around it like curtains, covering whatever was inside.
In one corner of the tiny cave room a small grubby mirror was hung above a minute spring of water the bubbled up into a basin before disappearing back into the earth. My little room opened out into a much larger cave, which seemed to have a large aisle of a sort with openings on either side to smaller rooms like the one I was in before. It all almost seemed like a prehistoric hotel; except that there was no one there. Not a single soul was in any of the other rooms that I passed on my way to the main cave mouth. Creepy.
Once I made it out into the sunlight I took the note back out again. "Come to the falls," it read. "Use this map to guide you there. I'll be waiting there for you. P.S. You’d better not forget the clothes!" I flipped it over. Sure enough there was a detailed map drawn on the other side with a X marking where I was standing right now and small landmarks written along the path that it said I should follow to keep me on track.
Ok, sure. I swim for over four hours in the ocean, get pulled out onto an island that most people don't know exists, take a nap, and then go trekking off on a treasure hunt. Why not? I checked the first landmark that was filled in on the map. The Giant's Bridge. What in the world was that supposed to mean?
I climbed up the last ten feet or so of the cliff face until I was standing at the very top and could look out across most of the island. It was really an amazing sight. In the very center of the island was a huge volcano - the only thing higher than I was. Clustered around the base of the volcano was a dense evergreen forest that was actually covered in snow despite the proximity to the volcano. On the other side of the volcano, opposite from me, the snow-covered forest gradually gave way to more tropical plants until it was just frosted grassy fields and the beach shore. From the forest to where I was standing though, was a huge stone labyrinth covered with slick ice. A little to the right was a huge archway stretching across two stone spires. The Giant's Bridge . . . of course.
I started walking. It was about a mile and a half away but it took nearly an hour to reach the Giant's Bridge, mainly because I kept slipping and falling on patches of ice or losing my way inside the rock structures. From there I had to find Turtle Rock which was a large smooth stone with a remarkable resemblance to a turtle shell and was another mile away. After that, I had to go from Turtle Rock to King's Throne - a rock resembling a high backed chair. From there on, I was supposed to head straight towards the volcano until I reached wherever I was going.
I looked out towards the volcano doubtfully. It was nearly five miles away. They had to be kidding me. But still . . . I doubted I could find my way back by myself so I really had no other choice but to keep going. It took about half of a mile to get out of the huge stone playground and into the forest and from there it all seemed exactly the same. The same kinds of trees around me, the exact same volcano right in front of me, looking the same amount of distance away as it did a half hour ago. Step after step, until suddenly, the ground fell away before me exposing a huge stone crater in the ground as if there used to be a quarry out here in the middle of the forest.
A huge waterfall ran down one side of the pit and filled a large pool. A few flat boulders were scattered around the center of the water. The goth pixie girl from before was laying on her back on one of these rocks and basking in the sun. She looked up as I slid into the pit, bringing down a miniature avalanche of dirt and pebbles with me.
"About time you got here," she remarked. "I was starting to think that you'd never come."
"Well your map wasn’t exactly easy to read," I instinctively shot back.
"Touché," Pixie accepted. "But anyways, since you're new here I thought I might as well show you the ropes." She cast a look over my clothes before adding, "and get you a better outfit. So, truce?"
I gave her a long look to make sure she wasn't joking before saying, "Truce." She jumped off the rock and waded across the pool until she got to dry ground.
"Good! To start things off, my name is Alex. I'm fifteen. You're sharing my room in the cave right now along with Sage. Sage is eight and Sage and I are pretty much like sisters. Sage is really sensitive and almost too trusting, so don’t hurt her feelings, or else. Oh, and I recommend washing off in the falls. There's a little cave behind them with shampoo, conditioner, and everything else you might need." Alex looked at me expectantly.
"Umm . . .” I said in that wonderfully articulate way I have. I was still having a hard time making my image of the rude goth pixie girl fit with this new picture of talkative, perky Alex.
"Your name?" Alex prompted me.
"Oh, I'm Sara," I told her. "I have an older sister, but . . ." I trailed off before I could finish with, ‘I don’t know if she’s even alive’.
“Yeah, Rebecca, right?” Alex says, startling me.
“How—” I’m momentarily blown out of my cloud of grief by shock.
“You talk in your sleep,” Alex shrugs. “Anyways, spill it about Rebecca.”
My throat closes up and a freezing chill seeps into my veins, encasing my heart in ice, numbing the pain until it’s almost bearable. Some of it must have shown on my face or else Alex had experienced what I was feeling firsthand. Either way, she gave me a sympathetic look.
"You don't have to talk about it now," she said as gently and as softly as you can get. "You can just go wash up." I nodded wordlessly and waded into the pool. Somehow, I managed to get the new clothes Alex had given me into the cave behind the falls without getting them wet. A small ledge in the cave was fully stocked with a bottle of shampoo and conditioner, a bar of Dove soap, a plastic travel size hairbrush, a few hair ties, and a small stack of towels. I set the pile of clean clothes on the ledge beside the other things and quickly peeled out of my own salty, coarse clothes from the crash.
The water was icy cold and I was shivering the moment I stepped into the falls. But, it was strangely rejuvenating. It seemed to jolt me awake and stimulate my mind. I found myself thinking back to my dream as I scrubbed the shampoo into my hair.
Well, I thought, it wasn't really a dream. It was actually a memory that my brain had somehow drugged up from the bottom of my mind. But now, strangely enough, it felt like it was just yesterday. That little girl . . . what was her name? Salvia . . . she was right when she said that she would be back soon.
Her visits weren't exactly frequent, but she always seemed to be there when I truly needed her. She was strange and always appeared out of nowhere when you were least expecting it and was always wearing that little white dress. More often than not, she seemed to emit a soft glow and when it was dark outside she seemed to turn into a little girl shaped star.
I rinsed the last of the soap off and quickly grabbed one of the towels and rubbed the water off before I pulled on the new clothes. There was a silver skirt with a cobalt belt and a tight azure blouse with sleeves that fanned out at the wrist in a soft dove gray color. I had to admit, it was actually a really cute outfit, but I was probably going to be freezing considering how cold it was. I folded the towel back up and put it neatly back on the stack before slipping out from behind the waterfall and wading through the pool.
Alex was waiting on the shore. It was only then that I realized that somehow she had gotten new clothes. She was wearing a black miniskirt with brutalized fishnet leggings and a sleeveless crimson top that showed off her bellybutton (which was surprisingly not pierced) underneath a lacy black shirt. Alex was also wearing a pair of worn combat boots as if she was expecting to go to a concert and stomp on people in a couple hours. Tied around one ankle was a long black cord. Messy, revealing, and so definitely Alex, the getup seemed perfect.
However, it wasn’t just her belly button that her top was exposing; three thick, jagged scratches disrupted the otherwise smooth skin. At their thinnest parts they were maybe a quarter of an inch wide, at their broadest parts however, they were easily an inch thick. The scratches started at the bottom of her left rib cage and traveled all the way across her stomach to her right ribs, slanted slightly so that they ended just a few inches higher than they started. They looked recent too, still scabbed over and in sharp contrast with her pale alabaster skin. Now that I was looking, I started to pick out similar marks along her legs and arms that had healed a silvery-white color just a few shades lighter than her skin.
“How- What happened to you?” I gasped. Alex’s face went cold.
“I forgot something that I shouldn’t have,” was her chilly, cryptic response.
“Come on," she said as she tossed me a jacket to go over my new blouse. "Let's get back to the cave and I'll introduce you to some of the people around here." Clearly her sign to drop it and forget I saw anything, so I took my cue.
"Oh yeah," I said as she led the way back out of the stone pit. "Where was everyone?" She froze midstride and then slowly turned towards me, her face unreadable.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"No one was there when I woke up."
"You're sure?" she checked. "There was absolutely no one there? What about Sage? Did you see her?"
"The little girl you were talking about?" I said. "No, there wasn't anyone at all. The cave was completely empty." A wave of panic flowed across Alex's face.
"We need to get back there. Now." Alex said as she started sprinting away. After only about five minutes, she stopped and turned back to me. "Get on my back after I change."
"After you . . . change?" But Alex was already diving behind a large boulder and a few moments later, an extremely big lynx with fluffy black fur and electric blue eyes came out from behind the rock. It was almost the size of a large pony and Alex's clothes were tied in a bundle around one of its legs using the cord that had been wrapped around her ankle before. The lynx came up in front of me and crouched down. After a few moments, it looked up at me and rolled its eyes. "Alex?" I choked. It shook its head up and down.
Hesitantly, I pulled myself up onto the lynx as if I was getting on a horse. As the lynx - as Alex, I mean - started moving, I buried my hands in her thick fur and held on. In a few moments, Alex started running faster and faster until we probably looked like nothing more than a black streak racing across the island. She took maybe fifteen minutes to get back to the cave. Once there, she sprinted straight in without even waiting for me to get off. Outside the entrance to the cave room we were sharing, she dumped me off and ran inside. A few minutes later, she came out as Alex again. That is, Alex the human rather than Alex the animal. People were just starting to return to the cave. Alex ran to the main cave mouth and looked around earnestly.
"Sage!" Alex called. "Come here Sage! It's safe now! SAGE!" Alex paused and knelt down, picking up a small bedraggled teddy bear. She staggered back into the cave and stumbled around until I stood in front of her and grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Alex! Alex, what's happening?" I asked. Nothing was making sense.
"Them," Alex spat. "They are what's happening; the people on the other side of the island. They took her, Sara. They took Sage! They took my little girl!"
Chapter 6, Sage
Sage had heard them come into the cave and she knew it had to be them because everyone else who lived in the cave had left minutes before.
Alex had told her stories about them. Alex had said that they lived on the other side of the island and hated the rest of the people who lived in the caves. They called people like Alex and everyone else who lived in the caves Changelings because they could turn into animals. They said that the Changelings were evil and hardly better than animals themselves even though some people in their group could change too.
Alex had told her to stay in their cave room if they ever came to their cave because their room was supposed to be protected. Sage had so far and she'd stayed very, very quiet just like she'd been told. But, she wanted to see what these others looked like . . . Surely just a glance couldn't hurt anyone right? It was just one little peek. Clutching her stuffed bear close to her chest, Sage carefully leaned out the cave mouth a few inches, but she couldn't get a good view so she leaned out a little more, and then even more. Then, she stumbled and fell all the way out of the cave and into the main aisle. Sage quickly tried to go back into the cave room, but the opening had sealed up. She glanced at them. There were only four of them, but they were making enough of a racket for twenty people as they stormed through the cave. One was a boy and the other three were girls. The boy had shaggy brown hair that covered his eyes and looked eighteen. Two of the girls looked about seventeen and both had blonde hair except one was a dirty blonde and the other had paler hair and looked kind of preppy. The last girl was also eighteen and she had long brown hair and chocolate eyes.
"Katrina," the boy called. The dirty blonde let out an exaggerated sigh and walked over to him.
Before Sage knew what was happening, the boy pointed right at her. Suddenly, there was a blur of blonde hair, and the dirty blonde, who must have been Katrina, was holding Sage's arms behind her back, and propelling her towards the boy. Once Sage reached him, he knelt down on his knees so that they were eyelevel. "What is your name?" he asked, his voice holding the same strange accent that Argent had.
"Sage," she whimpered.
"Well, Sage," he said. "You are going to take a little trip with us."
"Where are we going?" Sage asked.
He just smiled. All four prepared to leave and Katrina came back and started dragging her out of the cave.
"Wait!" the preppy blonde cried. The other three froze. The slightest hint of color came to her cheeks as everyone turned to stare at her. "I mean, I'll take her." Katrina handed Sage off to the preppy girl and they resumed their journey, except that the preppy blonde was much gentler than Katrina and the preppy girl was the only one that seemed to feel at least slightly guilty. As she was dragged away, Sage lost her grip on her teddy bear and it fell to the ground just outside the cave.
Chapter 7, Sage
Sage shuddered as she was led into the others' camp. They all stood outside of their little huts and glared at her with a mixture of distrust and hate. Some looked like they were about to start baying for blood.
Only one girl didn't look so disgusted in Sage. The girl was about seventeen and had long chocolate-brown hair that fell to her waist. She was watching it all with wide shocked eyes. Her face had the same structure as Sara's and she seemed to hold herself the same way: tall and defiant, even when she was exhausted, with her shoulders back and her head high. Was this Rebecca? Sage wondered.
Sage was led through the camp to the very center where another hut was situated. She was pushed into the little shelter and a pair of boys was stationed at the entrance like sentries.
They left her there for about an hour until the boy from before came back, the one with the shaggy brown hair. An Asian girl who looked about seventeen came with him. "Hello again, Sage," the boy said as he came in.
"What do you want?" Sage asked.
He gave her an easy smile as he answered, "I simply want the truth. You're just going to answer my questions."
"What if I don’t? I could lie and you would never know the difference." Sage said defiantly.
"That's what my friend here is for," he said and gestured towards the Asian girl. "She will know when you're lying. Bad things happen to liars don’t they? But, you’re not going to lie now, are you? Good. Now, here’s the first question: Are you, or are you not a changeling?"
"I don't know," Sage said truthfully. Sage hadn't changed before and she truly didn't know if she could or what she would change into. Alex had told Sage that the power to change would come to her when she needed it most though.
"But, you are one of them aren't you? You live with them, don’t you?" The boy persisted.
"Well, I guess," Sage said.
"Did you find a girl in the ocean last night? Did you take her into the cave?" He asked. Sage kept her mouth firmly shut. She knew she shouldn’t talk about Sara. He tossed his hair out off his eyes and grabbed her around her shoulders, his fingers wrapping all the way around her thin arms. He shook her roughly. "Answer my question!" His bright golden eyes bored into hers, making her want to shrink away.
"Chase!" the Asian girl objected. "She's just a little girl!"
"Stay out of this Celia!" the boy snarled.
“Chase,” Celia growled right back at him. “I’m warning you. “
“I said, stay out of this,” Chase shot at her. Suddenly, he let go of Sage and crumbled into a heap on the floor of the hut with his hands over his ears. Every few seconds, he twitched as if he was being electrocuted.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Celia said in a quiet, deadly voice. She pulled open the entrance to Sage's hut. "Now come here," Celia said. Slowly, Chase got up from the floor and with strange jerking motions walked up to Celia. “Now go outside. Reluctantly, he strode out of the shelter. Celia mouthed, “Sorry,” to Sage before following him out.
Once she was alone, Sage looked down at her hands. Except, they weren't hands anymore, they were claws. She pulled the sleeves of her dress up a few inches and stared at the small crimson scales that were just starting to sink back into her skin. It had started when the boy had grabbed her. It had felt like a raging fire had swept through Sage, a fire of pure fury.
Sage concentrated a hard as she could and tried to make the change happen again. Just when she though she caught a glimpse of crimson tinting her skin, Sage lost her concentration and the red disappeared under her skin again. Again and again, Sage tried to force the change, but now that the anger had faded, she just couldn’t. They left her alone for the rest of the night and after a few more hours of trying to teach herself how to shift, Sage gave up and curled up against one of the walls of the hut and tried to go to sleep. When she opened her eyes again, a girl was standing over her.
The girl was around ten and was wearing a white silk dress and matching ballet flats. Her hair was such a light blonde that it was nearly white. A soft glow surrounded her, and lit up the dingy hut that Sage was trapped in.
“Hello Sage,” the girl said as if it was perfectly normal for her to be there.
“W-who are you?” Sage asked.
“You really don’t know?” the girl seemed honestly surprised. “Don’t you remember?” A scuffling sound came from one of the walls of the shelter. The girl looked towards the sound with an astonished expression. “No one’s supposed to be here. There’s something wrong here,” she said almost to herself before she simply faded away.
Right as the first girl disappeared, another girl crawled into Sage’s hut. This new girl was the one who had seemed so shocked when Sage had been brought in, the one that Sage thought might have been Rebecca.
“Are you awake?” Rebecca asked.
“Yes,” Sage said cautiously. “Why?”
“I need to know,” Rebecca cried. “Did you really find Sara? Is she okay?” Sage couldn’t help feeling bad for Rebecca.
“Yes,” Sage admitted. “We found her. The last time I saw her she was in the cave sleeping.”
Sage could see the relief in Rebecca’s eyes as she said, “Thank you. Thank you so much.” Rebecca paused right before she crawled back out of the hut. “And . . . I’m sorry that they’re doing this to you.” They. Rebecca had said they’re instead of we’re. Sage noticed.
“It’s not your fault,” Sage said after a while. With what was probably meant to be an encouraging smile, Rebecca scrambled out from beneath the shelter and left Sage alone with her thoughts and as Sage thought, she slowly began to grow larger and crimson scales started to sprout all over her body. Sage’s mouth grew into a snout, her neck grew longer, a huge crest of spikes started to sprout out of the back of her head, and a pair of wings started to sprout out of her back.
Chapter 8, Sara
Alex sprinted to the very back of the cave and pounded on the rock wall with the fist that wasn’t holding onto the stuffed bear.
“Argent!” she yelled. “I know you’re in there, so get out here before I blow this whole freaking cave up!” The rock wall in front of Alex shimmered like it was a mirage and somehow a boy walked through the flickering stone and into the main cave. He was the one from before, when I’d first pulled myself up the cliff; I was sure of it. He had raven-black hair that was a little shaggy and hung partly into his eyes. His skin was impossibly pale and at around sixteen or seventeen years old, he had a strong athletic build. Giving off the impression of a stern charcoal portrait, he was a striking person, but the only things that held me captivated were his eyes. They were the same color as molten silver, or maybe even white gold and seemed to have a slight color variation that was constantly moving, adding to the overall look of molten metal. Argent.
“God, Alex!” Argent complained. “Calm down already!”
“Don’t you tell me to calm down,” Alex growled at him. “Don’t you dare tell me to calm down! You were there the whole time! You watched them take her away and you did absolutely nothing to stop it! You let them take Sage! You little worm! Vermin! I hate you! Coward!”
Alex continued ranting until he shouted, “ENOUGH! That is enough Alex! You know how it is on this island.” His voice drew gentler as he continued. “Please Alex. Just stop and listen to me. Sage is a strong little girl and you’ve told her everything she would ever need to know. She’ll be okay.”
“Except that’s my point though, Argent,” Alex hissed. “She’s a little girl. She’s only eight! She can't even shift yet let alone defend herself!" I jogged up to them.
"What is going on here?" I asked. "And who are 'they' supposed to be?" Argent took a deep breath before replying.
"Well, we are not the only ones on the island. There's another group that lives on the opposite side of the island and that group and our group have been fighting since the first people arrived on this island. No one even remembers what started it, but now we pretty much hate each other," he explained. One side of Alex’s mouth tweaked up into an amused, devious half-smile.
"So these people on the other side of the island just strolled over here and kidnapped Sage for no reason?" I asked disbelievingly. Argent looked uncomfortable.
"Umm . . . no," he said slowly.
"They were looking for you," Alex said bluntly.
"Alex!" Argent complained.
"What? She was going to find out sooner or later," Alex said in her defense.
"Why were they looking for me?" I asked.
Alex gave me a long look before saying, "They were looking for you because they probably have your sister and . . . well, word must have gotten out that you're different than the rest of us."
"What do you mean, 'I'm different'?" I said. I’d learned from the years on the run that being different was almost never a good thing. Just as Alex was about to respond though, an ear-shattering roar shook the island and reverberated through the cave.
Everyone swung their heads towards the opposite side of the island. For nearly a full minute, everyone froze and listened. Then, panic erupted.
A few people screamed, others went to hide in their rooms, some just curled up into balls on the floor and covered their ears, but most of them ran outside to see what was going on. Argent, Alex, and I were all part of the group that hurried outside. What we saw was a huge crimson dragoness with glowing emerald eyes clinging to the side of the volcano.
Its roar had literally broken the earth apart and a huge crack had spread from the base of the volcano all the way across the forest and about a mile into the stone labyrinth. The dragoness spread its wings and glided down towards the cave. Its wings stirred up a vicious wind as it tried to land on top of the cave and I was nearly blown over.
Everyone started to retreat into the cave except Alex. Alex alone stood before the colossal beast with wonder and adoration in her eyes. Then, Alex ran forward and wrapped her arms around the dragoness's neck.
"Alex!" someone yelled. "Get back here!" Alex just laughed.
"Can't you see?" she exclaimed. "It's Sage!" I slowly started walking towards Sage. It felt like she was a magnet that was drawing me closer and closer until I was standing right next to Alex. I reached out a hand and gently put it on Sage's neck.
The scales were surprisingly cold considering their fiery look and they were impossibly smooth like silk. I took in the long tail ending in a sharp point, the jewel-like eyes, the plate of scales, the elegant face, and I started to change.
I grew a head of spikes and a tail and wings and in moments, I'd become an exact replica of Sage, except that I had black scales like my hair and my eyes were hazel.
"You're a Borrower," Alex breathed, her voice hitching in her throat and her eyes suddenly starting to glisten with moisture. Sage stared at me before slowly sinking back down into her normal self. I got my first look at Sage as she hurried to reclaim her teddy bear from Alex.
Sage was small, even for an eight year old and she was incredibly cute. A huge mass of scarlet hair cascaded down her back in corkscrews, bright emerald eyes the color of grass dominated most of her face, and a spattering of freckles covered her cheeks and nose.
But, she almost creeped me out a little because of the fact that, besides the fiery red hair and freckles, she was an exact replica of Alex. She was wearing some sort of black gothic dress with a skirt that fanned out slightly at the waist like a sad tutu and came to a stop a few inches from her knees with a couple centimeters of white ruffles emerging from the bottom. The top of the dress looked more like a simple white shirt with a ruffled lining and a black mantle. Sure, her eyes weren’t all done up with dark makeup and Sage lacked all of Alex’s piercings, but it was still disturbing to see a gothic eight-year-old. "Sara!" Alex called up to me. "You need to change back."
"I don't know how," I tried to say but all that came out was a confused roar.
"Concentrate on something that makes you who you are," Alex directed me. "It can be someone you loved, your favorite place, or even just a moment that made you happy."
So, I closed my eyes and pictured myself with my parents again. Rebecca was there too. We were walking down a boardwalk next to the ocean just as the sun was setting. Streaks of mauve and salmon colored the sky as the sun slowly sank into the ocean as the moon rose. My parents were holding hands and my mom had an arm around my shoulders.
Ever so slowly, I felt myself begin to shrink. The scales evaporated and the spines shriveled up into nothing. I was back to me again.
Alex turned away from everyone, hustling back into the cave, but not quick enough that I didn’t see the silent tears spilling down her face. I looked at her curiously. I had so many questions about Alex.
Who was she really behind all of that make up and dark clothing? How did she get so many scars? What brought her and Sage together? Why was Sage inspired to make Alex her role model? How did she get to the island? What happened to her family? When did she get here? Why did she build up her repelling gothic charade in the first place?
Why did learning that I was a borrower make her burst into tears?
Chapter 9, Alex’s Past
Alex crouched in wait inside of her small room at the orphanage. All the lights were turned off and the curtains were firmly closed. She glanced at the cheap plastic alarm clock sitting on her dresser, which read 11:58 pm. It was almost time.
She’d memorized all the shift changes. The hall monitor changed at midnight, but they usually stepped inside a couple minutes early and talked with whoever had the next shift. The number slowly changed to 11:59. Time to go.
Alex grabbed the small knapsack she’d packed with all her necessities and began to silently edge open the door to her room. Suddenly, a burst of light flashed in her room, temporarily blinding Alex for a moment. Once her eyes began to readjust to the darkness around her, she managed to make out a little girl who was maybe around ten. The light had come from her and some of it seemed to radiate out from her, forming a soft pulsing aura. She was wearing a small white paneled dress and a pair of matching ballet flats. Bright blue eyes dominated most of her face and her hair was such a light blond that it was practically white.
“You can’t leave,” the little girl said. “It’s not time yet.”
“Yes, it is time,” Alex hissed. “The shift is changing right this second. Now, get out of my room!”
“I’m sorry, Alex,” the little girl said. “But, I can’t. You’re not supposed to leave yet. Someone else is going to come soon, a little girl. You’re meant to leave with her.”
“And you’re supposed to know this how?” Alex asked critically.
“I can’t tell you,” the girl proclaimed. “But if you leave now, you’re going to break all the rules, mess everything up. There’s a certain order that everything’s supposed to happen in. It’s not your turn yet.”
“Look, girl,” Alex spat. “I’ve been breaking rules since I first got in this place almost a year ago. And messing everything up really isn’t a new concept for me. Okay? So just, leave me alone!”
“It was never your fault,” she said unexpectedly.
“What are you talking about,” Alex growled.
“The accident, your parents’ deaths, being stuck with your swindler aunt, being sent here, it all had a purpose,” the little girl explained. “Everything in life has a purpose. None of it’s your fault. None of it ever was.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” Alex snarled. “Stop acting like you do and just get out of my life.”
“Everything happens for a reason,” she whispered. “Everything. It’s all just a test right now; a test to see if you have what it takes. It’s just preparing you for later. Alex, the moment you were born, your destiny was laid out for you. There was never any way to change it. One day, you’ll realize that all of this was just a stepping-stone towards your fate.”
“Get out of here, you little freak!” Alex screamed. Her door flew open and the hall monitor peered in.
“Is everything all right in here?” she asked, taking in Alex’s knapsack, her made bed, and her normal clothes instead of pajamas. Alex glanced towards the empty space where the little girl was standing before.
“Everything’s fine,” Alex assured the monitor eventually, her voice shaking. “It was just a dream. It was just a bad dream.”
“All right, then,” the hall monitor said, clearly unconvinced. “If you’re sure. I’ll make sure to check in on you later.” to make sure that you don’t try to sneak out. Alex could hear the unspoken words.
“You really don’t have to, you know,” Alex pointed out with a terse grin.
“Oh no, I insist,” the hall monitor replied. “Now, get in bed and try to go back to sleep, okay? Goodnight, Alex.”
“Goodnight,” Alex groaned. The hall monitor left and swung her door shut. Now all the hall monitors will be on high alert, which brought Alex’s chances of sneaking out all the way down to zero. She’ll just have to wait it out for a while. A long while.
Chapter 10, Rebecca
“Rebecca?” Celia said tentatively as she walked up to where I was sitting on a large piece of driftwood, looking out at the ocean. “I- I’m sorry that I was so rude before in the tent . . .”
“No, it’s fine,” I told her. “I get it; you were just worried about your friends. But, that’s not all you’re here about, is it?”
“How do you know that?” she asked quietly.
“My amazing superpowers,” I said sarcastically. Celia’s eyes grew wide. “I’m just kidding,” I told her. “And I know that’s not all because you don’t really seem like the kind of person who would go out of their way just to apologize, no offense. So, spill it.”
“Well, actually, that’s sort of what I came to talk to you about,” she said reluctantly.
“You not being the kind of person who would apologize?” I asked and then smiled as I added, “Or my amazing superpowers?”
“The superpower part,” Celia stated, her face dead serious.
“You’re kidding me, right?” I asked. “You came here just to talk about my make-believe superpowers?”
“Not really yours, exactly,” Celia sighed. “More like everyone else’s very real superpowers.” I just stared at her. She tilted her head to one side. “You don’t believe me. You think I’m crazy. I can prove it to you, you know.”
“You can prove,” I said slowly. “That everyone here has superpowers?”
“Well,” Celia started. “Not everyone. I mean, a few of the newest arrivals still haven’t developed or discovered what they can do yet. It usually takes a while. But, I could prove to you that most of us have superpowers, including moi.”
“You have superpowers?”
“Mm-hmm,” Celia hummed. “I can sense people’s thoughts. Right now, you’re thinking that I’m crazy. You’re also still really happy that your little sister is still alive and all right, even though everyone else thinks that you’re all sad, which is the reason that you’re sitting here all alone.”
“How am I supposed to know if Sara is alive?” I asked, trying to sound innocent. “That little girl never told anyone.”
“Oh, come on, Rebecca,” Celia groaned. “Please, do not play that game with me. I know that you snuck into Sage’s tent the night she escaped and I also know that she told you about your sister being okay.”
“Oh,” I said lamely. “Why didn’t you tell anyone, then?”
“It was your sister, your business. I might know everything there is to know about everything that goes on in this camp, as well everyone, and then some, but that doesn’t mean I blab to everyone about it. But, enough about that, I came to give you a quick orientation into the world of the island superpowers.”
“That has to be the weirdest sentence that I’ve ever heard someone say,” Rebecca murmured.
“You’re lucky then,” Celia snickered. “I’ve heard so much weirder stuff than that. There are three basic groups of powers, though: mental, physical, and neither. Mental describes anything to do with the mind or emotions; reading minds, mind control, anything psychic. Physical powers are anything that affects the body or things around people; it could be the ability to adapt to whatever’s going on around you, healing yourself and others, shape shifting, anything along those lines. Meanwhile, Neither is used to describe the people who don’t affect the mind, the body, or environment. Instead, people who fit into the neither category have power over others’ powers if that makes any sense. Some can ‘borrow’ others’ powers, some steal people’s powers, and others can either strengthen or weaken someone else’s powers. But, these people are extremely rare.”
“So everyone’s magical?”
“Pretty much, yeah.” Sure, I thought, we’re already on a magic island with only kids here; why not add some magic powers to the mix, get some variety?
Chapter 11, Sara
A day after I changed into a dragon (and yes, I did just say that), Alex, Sage, and I were sitting against the wall outside our room together while Alex and Sage filled me in on the island basics. Sage seemed to be an expert on everything about the island itself while Alex knew everything about the people. Alex was tutoring me right now. She was pointing out people around the cave and giving me a short summary of who they were.
"That's Jet," she said while gesturing towards a sixteen-year-old boy. He had jet-black hair and his eyes were so dark that they looked almost black. Her voice almost took on a regretful note as she continued. "Jet is definitely one of the mysterious types. He's pretty fast, can climb like a squirrel, and is pretty good at finding things that you lost in the woods and you might thank him for that later. Jet's the one who showed me the waterfall pit I brought you to as part of a deal we made. He’s awesome at karate, but he's pretty clumsy sometimes and he isn't exactly the brightest. He doesn't remember anything about his old life. Now, Tess here is a completely different story."
Alex pointed out a girl who looked about fifteen. She had strawberry blonde hair that was filled with cotton candy blue streaks that matched her eyes. She was small and slim. "Her real name is Tessa, but she hates it so we just call her Tess. Now, Tessy is a really crazy girl. She was one of the first to crash on the island, second to only Argent and Chase. She came with her younger brother and her best friend. Then, one night all three of them disappeared. But now, Tess is back even though she doesn't remember anything - not her brother, not her best friend, and not how she got off the island. It's strange because she can remember almost everything about the island itself and she remembers most of the people who were here with her, but other people she doesn't remember at all. Tess is a really good fighter though and she isn't afraid to get dirty. She pretty much loves to be a freak, she has the power to grow things, and she can turn into an otter too. Or at least, she could last time she was here. But, she only just got back a bit ago and she says that she feels different so that might change. Tessy has a real talent of making a fool of herself and then just laughing it off. She giggles a lot and will sometimes break into random singing and dancing, which, the first time you see it, might seem pretty funny but it gets old really fast. Tess loves animals and they always seem to love her back. Since she got back to the island she's been able to turn into a mountain lion."
"What's Argent's story?" I found myself asking.
“Ahh yes, the elusive Prince Argent," Alex snickered. "His story, although for the most part unknown to most people, is actually a lot more interesting than most. Argent has a twin brother named Chase and they were the very first ones on the island. But, they had a big fight and separated. Argent came to the caves and Chase stayed by the beach. I still haven't managed to find out what their fight was about though."
Alex looked pretty disappointed in her sleuthing ability for a few moments before continuing. "Anyways, since then, they both gathered their own little groups of refugees and fought against each other. We're part of Argent's group, but I think we stopped fighting Chase and Argent's battle out a while ago. Now all we're really doing is trying to get back at each other and then when they get back at us we try to get back at them and it just keeps going on and on. It's almost boring after awhile. Chase and Argent are two of the three people I know of who don't have a tragic back-story. They crashed here because they were on their way to a pro soccer team tryout that was overseas."
“Someone better make me a glossary if I’m going to remember everyone’s name,” I muttered to myself before asking, "Who was the other person who didn't have a 'tragic back-story'?"
"Wolf," Alex said with a mischievous grin.
"Wolf?" I echoed skeptically. "Their name is seriously Wolf?" Alex's grin stretched wider.
"Wolf is a wolf," Alex clarified. "She has pitch-black fur, piercing green eyes, a bushy tail, and her ears look like a bat's; big and pointy. Before she got to this island, she was your typical teenager – she had her circle of friends, a boyfriend, and she was fairly popular. She was 17. That’s all she remembers about her life though. Wolf's loud and proud and always willing to share her opinion – which gets some people, annoyed with her. She’s also a serious adrenaline junky daredevil. She’s always raving to go cliff diving or something else that will probably get her killed. Wolf got to the island in a plane, and then the plane blew up and the force of the explosion sent Wolf flying towards Shadowpath Island. Unfortunately, Wolf’s flight ended when she landed head-first on a huge boulder. She should have been killed by the impact but somehow she survived with only an extreme permanent amnesia. Oh, and for some reason she woke up as a wolf – she didn’t know how or why. She couldn’t even remember her name so she went with what her species was called – Wolf. That’s the only reason that her name’s wolf – because she is one. Most of us call her Wolfy and she's usually around here, but she might be off hunting."
“You don’t consider that tragic?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at her.
“It’s a whole lot less tragic than most of the people here’s stories,” Alex said.
"What about the island?" I asked.
"We call it Shadowpath Island. As far as we know, it has its own tectonic plate above all the others, which allows it to circle around the world. Instead of being tropical, it’s glacial. We think that it's up near the Arctic which is why it's so cold sometimes," Sage spouted out. "Everyone here is either eighteen or under. There's pretty much a clear line through the middle of the island marking the areas where we can go and the others can go. The stone area is all ours as well as the cliffs and half of the forest is ours too. Everything else is theirs."
"What do you mean this is ours and this is theirs?" I asked.
"It means that if we go over to one of their areas, then it's open season on us," Alex laughed. "And it's the same story if they come over here."
"Alex," Sage complained. "Do you always have to be so blunt?"
"Blunt is my middle name," Alex replied with a smirk. "And by the way, Argent and I are going to try to teach you two to control your powers."
"When?" Sage and I asked simultaneously.
Alex shrugged. "Right now would be good. I think Argent's waiting at the training grounds right now."
"Where are the training grounds?" I asked. Sage seemed just as confused as I was.
"Follow me," Alex said and sauntered straight through the wall of the cave. Sage and I shared a shrug and followed her. It was a strange feeling when you went through the wall. It felt almost like someone was playing tug-a-war and you were the rope. One force was trying to push you out of the wall and another force was trying to suck you into it. After a few moments, we appeared on the opposite side of the cave wall and inside a huge cavern. The floor was covered with hard packed earth and there was a high domed ceiling. It looked almost like an arena. When I turned around, I could see an opening in the wall and everyone else in the main cave walking past the opening obliviously.
"Wicked," Sage breathed.
"Ok," I said. "How did we just walk through a wall?"
"I'm an illusionist," came Argent's matter-of-fact answer. He raised a hand and suddenly we were in a beautiful meadow. He lowered his hand and we were back in the arena again. "I can make you think that you see things when you really don't. There's really no wall there."
"It's why they never found you when they stormed the cave," Alex explained, "I had Argent work his magic on our room. It's also why you never see Argent around because he's always locked up in his own private areas that the rest of us can't find."
"So, are we going to actually get to work or no?" someone in the shadows said.
"What work are we doing?" I asked.
"You understand me?" the voice in the shadows exclaimed.
"Well, yeah," I said. "Is there a reason I shouldn't be able to?" I glanced around to see everyone staring at me, including Sage.
"The reason you shouldn't be able to understand her," Argent said carefully, "is because she is not speaking English."
"Then what's she speaking?" I asked. “Spanish?” Alex and Argent shared a look.
"She’s speaking wolf," Alex said quietly. "This is Wolfy." Wolf padded into the light. She was just like Alex had described; big bat-like ears, black fur, and glowing green eyes.
"So how do you understand her?" I asked curiously.
"I don't," Alex admitted. "All that I heard was a growl. Argent's the only one who can understand Wolfy when he's human. But, that's only because he can turn into a wolf and he's been on the island so long that his wolf self blended with his human self enough to give him some of a wolf's sensibilities like understanding their speech."
"And it's pretty annoying having only one person around who understands you," Wolf added. "It's nice to have someone new to talk to. Argent is somewhat . . ." She trailed off, clearly not wanting to say something in front of Argent.
"Say it, Wolfy," Argent sighed.
"Well," Wolf drew the word out for an unnaturally long time. "I'm just saying that Argent's kind of . . . tedious after awhile." I felt somewhat bad for Sage and Alex since there was no way for them to understand what we were talking about.
"So, why are you here, Wolfy?" Alex asked.
"Well, I'm definitely not going to let you and Argent try to teach the other two how to Borrow properly; it would be a complete and miserable failure," came Wolf's rude response. Alex looked to me for a translation.
"Umm," I said as I struggled to find a way not to offend her. "Wolfy wants to help you and Argent teach Sage and me how to Borrow."
Wolf shot me a glare and said, "You really have to stop editing what I say. I hate when people do that." Argent snickered and I felt my face flush, but the embarrassment quickly dissipated as I caught sight of Alex’s deadly pale face. She looked like she was stuck between trying not to cry and trying not to scream.
“What . . . do you mean . . . teaching Sage to borrow,” Alex said slowly, her voice unnaturally high. “Sage is not a borrower.”
“I mean exactly what I said,” Wolfy replied calmly. Alex clenched her hands into fists so tight that her nails dug into her palms, drawing out several beads of blood.
“Maybe you should go see Lya, Alex,” Wolfy said quietly, gently nudging her towards the main cave. Argent translated and Alex obediently departed.
"So," I said, desperate to change the subject. "Any theories on how I can understand what Wolf says?"
Argent shook his heads, but Sage piped up, "It's probably since Argent probably touched you since you got here and passed on his ability to understand her. Or maybe, it's even because Alex touched you when you first got here and gave you the ability to Borrow just by being near someone."
"How could Alex do that?" I asked. Wolfy rolled her eyes.
“Do they tell you anything at all? Alex can . . . sense other people’s powers,” Wolf explained before turning to Sage. “Am I explaining this right?” Sage shrugged.
“She always described it more of a tasting powers sort of thing than just plain sensing them and the taste is stronger and more noticeable in powers that are stronger.”
"Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on!" she said. "Argent, I want you to go find people that Sage and Sara haven't met yet."
"Why?" he asked. Wolf just nudged him towards the doorway and with a slightly disgruntled expression he left.
"Why did you make them leave?" I asked. "I know it wasn't just to get other people."
"Tell Sage to touch my fur," Wolf said instead of answering.
"Umm . . . okay?" I said, not really sure where this was going. "Sage, Wolfy wants you to touch her fur." Sage walked up and hesitantly reached out and sunk her hand into Wolf's fur. Sage gasped suddenly.
“You can understand me now. Can’t you, Sage?” Wolfy remarked.
“Yes,” Sage breathed.
“Good,” Wolf said. “And yes, you’re right Sara. I didn’t just want Alex occupied with Lya and Argent to find more people; I wanted Alex and Argent out of here for as long as I could.”
“Why?” Sage asked.
“Because Borrowers are completely different from everyone else on the island,” Wolf said quietly.
“What do you mean?” This time I was asking.
“I mean,” Wolfy said. “That Borrowers technically should not exist. Even without you two telling me, I already know that instead of getting knocked out and reappearing here or simply floating to the island, both of you swam here.” Sage looked just as shocked as I did. “People come to Shadowpath because there is no place for them anywhere else. The only people who come to Shadowpath are the ones who are special, the ones who have powers.”
“But,” Sage objected. “We do have powers.” Wolf cocked her head to the side.
“Do you?” she asked. “The fact that you don’t have any true powers is what makes you a Borrower. The island only accepts those with powers, but the sheer power of your own will overcame the island’s rejection of you. The reason you both take other people’s powers is that you need a power to fill your own absence of one.”
“Then how come I can turn into a dragon and no one else can?” Sage asked.
“Chase,” Wolfy said flatly. “He touched you when they took you to the other side of the island. He can turn into anything. But, since you’re only a novice Borrower at the very best; you automatically locked onto the animal that fit you best, which was your dragon.” Suddenly, Argent and Alex reappeared. Both of them looked scattered and their eyes were wide with horror.
“Wolfy?” Argent said tersely. ”We might need to postpone today’s training.”
“Why?” Wolf asked.
“You better come see for yourself,” was Argent’s only answer. “Sage, Sara, you two stay in here and don’t come out!” Alex and Argent rushed out again with Wolfy following behind. I looked over at Sage.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked her.
“Let’s get out of here.” We chased after them. Everyone in the caves was running outside just like before when Sage had turned into a dragon. Except that now, it was a whole lot worse.
The island was rumbling as if some huge beast had woken up underneath the ground. The earth started shaking beneath our feet as we stumbled towards the cave entrance and stones started raining down on us from the ceiling of the cave. But, what waited outside for us was even more terrifying.
As Sage and I broke through the mob trying to escape the cave, we saw what the real cause of alarm was. The original crack that Sage had accidentally made when she’d turned into a dragon was widening into a huge chasm as the earthquake tore the island apart. Small cracks were forming all over the rest of the island too. Huge crashes and roars echoed across the stone labyrinth as the once steadfast rock structures broke apart and crumbled to the ground in huge boulders. Then, as the chasm grew larger and larger, a huge dark cloud started to seep out of it.
“What is that?” I choked out.
“That is Death,” someone beside me said. The voice was feminine and high, but still held a melodious, mesmerizing tone. I looked over at the speaker. It was the little girl in white. Salvia.
“What do you mean? How can that thing be death?” I asked.
“It is the embodiment of death,” Salvia explained in a quiet voice. “It’s the concept of death, the fear of death. It is a demonic spirit that has the power to posses anyone that it touches. Be careful Sara.” Salvia stepped into the crowd and disappeared.
After a while, the island stopped shuddering, even though the chasm was still billowing out black smoke (which may or may not be an evil demon), and everyone went back inside and tried to fix things up a little. Blankets and pillows were put back into their carved out bunk beds. Clothes and everything else people had scavenged were put back in place. Some people tried to move the rubble that had fallen from the ceiling into corners where no one will trip on it. But, Alex, Argent, and Wolfy were nowhere to be found. Sage was following me around and after checking our room, I decided to take the Alex approach on things.
The Alex approach mostly included banging on the back wall of the cave and yelling at Argent to let me in like Alex had done when Sage went missing.
It actually worked, too.
After a few minutes of pounding on the wall my hand just sunk through it like jell-o. Sage grabbed my hand and I pulled us through the wall. I couldn’t help being extremely impressed with Argent’s room. It was probably more than triple the size of the one that Alex, Sage, and I were sharing and there were a few padlocked doors leading to different rooms. I was fairly sure that the doors were just more illusions though. Come to think of it, most of the room was probably just illusions. The floor was blanketed in thick rugs, there was a pile of beanbag chairs in one corner, and there were a few large couches in the center of the room. There was even a huge dog bed that I assumed was there as a joke for Wolfy. Not that she was actually using it of course. Alex, Argent, and Wolf were all sitting on the beanbags, deep in conversation. They all fell silent and looked up as Sage and I came in.
“How in the world did you get in here?” Argent asked. Oh, so maybe we hadn’t been let in at all.
“I told you that Sara was too powerful,” Wolf said with a smirk.
“But, she still shouldn’t be able to get in here. Powers grow stronger the longer you’re on the island and Argent’s been here for nearly thirty years!” Alex objected.
“Wait,” I said. “What did you just say? How could he have been on the island for nearly thirty years?”
“Nice going Alex,” Argent sighed.
“Maybe this is a discussion best left for another time,” Wolfy growled. “I think we should worry about the fact that the island cracked open and now we have a huge black gas cloud coming out of the ground. I mean, it’s just a suggestion.”
“Fine,” I agreed. “But, you’re going to explain everything to me when this is all over with.”
“Sure, sure,” Wolfy said. “Anything you want. Now, who knows what that black thing is? Anybody have at least a guess?” I tentatively raised my hand.
“We’re not in school, Sara,” Alex scowled.
“What do you think it is?” Sage asked.
“Death,” I found myself repeating Salvia’s words. “It’s the embodiment of death.”
“Death?” Argent said critically. “Where did you get that idea?”
“Salvia,” I replied simply.
“Salvia?” Alex echoed. “What the heck is Salvia?”
“That little girl. The one that always wears white and pops up when you least expect it,” I explained, feeling stupider and stupider by the moment.
Sage piped up, “Her name isn’t Salvia. Or at least that’s not what she told me.”
“You’ve seen her too?” I asked.
“Yep,” Sage confirmed.
“I have too,” Alex put in. “When I was about to run away from the orphanage I was in, she appeared and told me to wait for Sage.”
“That little girl is who put my brother and I on the plane that landed us here,” Argent remarked. We all looked at Wolfy, waiting for her to share her experience with Salvia, but she just shook her head.
“I don’t remember,” Wolf said. “I just can’t remember.”
“So what else did she say about this thing,” Alex asked.
“She said that it was a demon spirit and that it can posses anyone it touches,” I said. Wolf jumped up suddenly.
“Of course!” Wolfy yipped.
“What?” Argent asked. Wolf was literally bouncing around the room now.
“Shadow! We need to go talk to Shadow!” Wolfy exclaimed.
“No,” Argent said slowly. “There is no way that we are going to go looking for Shadow.”
“Who’s Shadow?” I asked.
“Shadow used to be one of us,” Alex murmured. “Or at least, until . . .”
“Until what?” I was starting to get a little impatient.
“Until Shadow became pure animal with no human left in him,” Argent finished.
“No human left in him?” Sage echoed.
“You know how I explained that Argent can talk to Wolfy since his wolf self sort of blended with his human self?” Alex said. “Well, sometimes it doesn’t really end up just mixed together. Sometimes the animal takes over the human and pretty much . . . pushes everything human out.”
“Sometimes?” Wolfy put in. “There’s no sometimes about it. As far as I know, Argent here is the only person I’ve ever seen that wasn’t taken over by their animal side. It always happens in about twenty years or so on Shadowpath Island.”
“Okay, again with the time thing,” I complained. “How is Argent supposed to be over thirty and how are you supposed to have seen something that happens over twenty years?”
“The island pretty much stops time for most of us,” Wolf said with a shrug. “You don’t really get any older once you get here.”
“And none of you felt the need to tell me any of this because . . .” I prompted them. None of them had an answer for me. Of course they didn’t.
Chapter 12, Sage
Sage woke up with a jolt, unsure why. Something was calling her. It was like a soft insistent whisper that only she could hear. Sage slowly slid out of her bunk and crept out of the cave, carrying her teddy bear with her.
The pulling grew stronger the closer she got to the cave entrance. She barely held in the gasp that threatened to escape her lips when she looked out from the cave mouth.
The ocean was positively stunning at night. The full moon turned the waves silver and the water reflected blurry images of the stars. The water directly below the cliff face was bathed in a pale white glow that seemed to be radiating from a little girl in a white dress. Her long hair was so blonde that it was nearly white and her skin was extremely pale. The girl was standing knee-deep in the water and she looked up at Sage with bright blue eyes that seemed too wise to belong to a little girl. Come to think of it, those eyes would have looked too wise on a full-grown adult.
“Salvia?” Sage asked quietly. “Is that you?”
“Come down, Sage,” was Salvia’s only reply. “I have many things to tell you.”
“I already know what you’re going to say,” Sage said. “I won’t do it! I’ll never do it!”
“Sage, this is the only way,” Salvia interjected.
“No!” Sage yelled over her. “I said no. I just can’t!” Sage whipped around and raced back into the cave.
“You’ll change your mind,” Salvia said gravely from behind her. “You’ll change your mind when you realize just how much this thing can do.” Sage just kept running until she got back to her room. Sara stirred as she entered.
“What are you doing up?” Sara murmured.
“Nothing,” Sage lied. “Nothing at all.” Sara just looked at her for a few more seconds before rolling over and going back to sleep. Sage clambered into her bunk, pulled her covers up, and slid into a nightmare in which Salvia’s voice echoed again and again in her mind.
“You’ll change your mind. You’ll change your mind when you realize just how much this thing can do.”
Chapter 13, Rebecca
Chase, Brandi, Celia, and Katrina, whom were like the four basic rulers of the camp, were all sitting in a small circle in the center of the glade as if they were having some sort of a powwow or something. They looked up as I approached and Celia motioned me to sit in an open spot between her and Brandi. I still couldn’t understand just how I managed to get an invite to whatever was going on (and it seemed almost like a war meeting) considering that not even Karly had been allowed to come.
“So we’re including the newb in our ‘top secret’ meeting?” Katrina asked dryly.
“Come on,” I protested. “I’ve been here for a while now.”
“You’ve been here for a week.” Katrina’s voice was like a razor-sharp knife. “The rest of us have been here for years and face it Rebecca, you barely know anything about us or the island. You don’t even know what you’re able to do yet. You hardly qualify as someone who can even keep up with what we’re talking about.”
“Katrina!” Celia admonished. “You know you don’t have to be so rude.” Katrina just gave her a ‘are you kidding me?’ look.
“Why are we here anyways?” Chase asked. Celia, Brandi, and Katrina all shared a long look.
“It’s time,” Brandi all but whispered.
“Time?” Chase echoed. “Time for what?”
“One of our informants just contacted us about what’s going on over on the other side of the island,” Celia said.
“Informants?” I questioned. “Like spies? That’s so cool!”
At the same time Chase said, “We don’t have any ‘informants’.” You could actually hear the quotation marks he put around the word informants.
“Chasey Wasey, honey,” Katrina’s voice was coated with false sugar as she said this. She slung an arm around his shoulders as if they were old friends, which, I reminded myself, they probably were. “I think it’s about time we all caught up with each other. Don’t you think?”
Chapter 14, Brandi’s Past
“Alice!” Brandi shrieked. “Jason!” Jason hurried towards her as fast as the tilting plane would allow him.
“What’s happening?” seven-year-old Alice wailed, not budging an inch from her seat several yards away. “What’s happening, Brandi?”
“Alice,” Brandi begged. “Come here, please.” She reached a hand out towards Alice, but Alice still didn’t move. “Alice! Come on, it’s going to be okay; I promise. All you have to do is take my hand.” The plane bucked beneath them, causing the emergency hatch beside Alice to slam open.
“Brandi!” Alice screamed as she was pulled into the slipstream, barely managing to catch hold of the edge of the hatch. “Help me, Brandi!” As Brandi started to sprint towards the open doorway, a falling piece of luggage landed on her leg, pinning her to the ground. Frantically, she struggled against it, but it was too heavy for her to lift. Jason ran to help her.
“No!” Brandi screeched, fighting against him. “No! Forget about me! Go get Alice!”
“I’m not leaving you, Brandi!” he yelled only to be pushed away from her by a girl about Brandi’s age with cotton candy blue streaks in her hair.
“Go get your little sister, you idiot,” the girl snapped. “I’ve got this.” He hesitated for a moment before the girl shoved him towards Alice again.
“Help me,” Alice cried from the hatch. “I’m slipping!” Jason got to his feet and ran towards the door.
“Who are you?” Brandi asked. The girl rolled her eyes as she fought to lift the heavy suitcases off Brandi.
“It isn’t exactly the best time for introductions, I don’t think,” the girl grunted. “But, if you have to know, you can just call me Tessy.” The girl braced her shoulder against the largest suitcase and pushed up with all of her might.

“Grab my hand, Alice,” Jason directed his little sister.
“I can’t,” Alice whined, her eyes the size of saucers with fear. He leaned out precariously, stretching down as far as he could.
“Than just reach up,” he begged. Alice tried and the moment her hand came in reach, Jason snatched it. “Now the other one.”
“But—” Alice objected, fear shining in her wide eyes.
“Don’t worry,” Jason interrupted. “I’ve got you. I’ll never let you fall. I promise I’ll get you out of here, Alice” Alice let go of the side of the hatch and her arm flailed as she dangled in the air for a moment before Jason caught her other arm. Carefully, he hoisted her up back into the plane just as they hit the ocean. The water pouring into the tiny cabin instantly muffled the screams of their fellow passengers. Jason quickly kicked to the small pocket of air at the top of the cabin, keeping a firm grip on Alice the whole time. Brandi and Tessy did the same; taking deep gulps of what they knew might be their last breath of oxygen.
“We have to get out of here!” Brandi called and the group of four dove back under. Together, they tried to navigate through the plane to the exit. The moment they escaped the tin deathtrap, they all kicked out towards the distant surface where the smallest glimmer of light permeated the inky darkness of the water. When they broke through the surface of the water, Brandi dragged over a piece of luggage that was floating nearby and they all clung to it gratefully, relieved to be able to give their legs a break. That was when Jason realized that there were only three of them.
“Where’s Alice?” he asked quietly. When no answer was forthcoming, he asked again, “Brandi! Where is she!” Brandi felt like everything inside of her died at once, just like someone flipping a switch. She didn’t cry, didn’t scream, didn’t do anything at all. Her feelings had shut down completely, leaving her utterly empty. “Aren’t you going to do anything?” Brandi didn’t respond. Jason took a deep breath and prepared to dive back under water in search of Alice when Brandi grabbed his arm.
“Don’t,” she whispered hoarsely.
“What’s wrong with you, Brandi! We need to go look for her!”
“Jason, she’s already gone,” Brandi murmured. “You can’t help her.”
“Yes, I can! I can still help her!” Jason objected. “I can still save her!”
“No you can’t!” Brandi yelled harshly. “You’re only going to get yourself killed too!” Jason gave her a long shocked look, but didn’t move to dive again.
Instead, he just kept whispering over and over again, “I promised her. I promised her that I’d save her.”
Eventually, after hours of drifting in the water, the threesome gave in to their exhaustion and collapsed on the suitcase.
None of them noticed the little girl that came while they slept. She was wearing a white dress with matching ballet flats and a pure white light radiated from her. The girl grabbed the handle of the suitcase and gently pulled them across the water and towards a strange island that slowly appeared on the horizon.
Chapter 15, Sage
Sage was trapped inside of a small white room that had no windows or doors. In black marker, verses and words were scrawled across the walls. Impulsively, Sage started reading.
Illuminate the dark
Fate always decides
How can I ever own what’s mine?
Bearing the burden of a secret storm
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate. They were all about her. Sage opened her mouth and started to scream.
“Sage!” Alex yelled. “Sage, wake up!” Sage struggled to open her eyes. “Sage, have you see Tess anywhere?”
“Tess?” Sage repeated groggily. “No.” Alex cursed and hurried out again. “Wait! What’s wrong with Tessy?” She stumbled out of the room. “Alex! What’s wrong with Tess?”
“She’s gone,” Wolf barked as she raced past her. Somehow, Sage was still able to understand her even though she wasn’t touching Wolf’s fur anymore. “Tess disappeared.”
“Jet,” Sage muttered suddenly. Wolfy braked.
“What do you mean, Jet?” she asked curiously.
“I need to find Jet,” Sage said.
“But, why?”
Sage smiled, “To borrow.” Wolf stared at her in shocked awe.
“His skill at finding things,” Wolf murmured. “Of course. We’re all such freaking idiots.” She beckoned Jet over and Sage reached out to put a finger on his arm. Her finger left a small white mark as if she’d pressed on a bruise.
“Wha-“ Jet started, but Wolf shushed him with a soft growl. Sage closed her eyes and started to explore Jet’s strange power. He was practically a walking GPS, she realized. Her eyes flew open.
“Exit the cave and go straight into the forest for thirty-six paces. Then, go left about ten paces before going forty-seven paces towards the volcano,” Sage spouted.
“You scare me sometimes, little girl,” Wolf admitted warily. “You really do.” She called over Alex, Argent, and Sara.
“I’m coming with you,” Sage announced.
“Oh, no, you’re not,” Alex objected immediately.
“Yes, I am,” Sage said defiantly. “I’m not just a little girl anymore! So, stop treating me like one! Plus, if you don’t let me go with you, then I’ll just follow you anyways!” Everyone looked at Alex, waiting for her decision.
“Fine,” Alex spat. That raised a few eyebrows, but everyone just went with it and soon they were tramping through the forest.
Sara actually found Tess. You could tell from her screaming. Sage hurried over to her and then backed away once she saw Tess, trying to control the urge to scream herself. Tess was trembling and shaking so much that it almost looked as if she was vibrating. She’d turned completely colorless, even the blue streaks in her hair. Her pupils were barely discernible from the whites of her eyes, which were open but Tess didn’t seem to realize that they were there.
“Oh my God,” Argent breathed as he came closer.
“Carry her back to the cave,” Wolfy growled. “I’m going to see Shadow.” She gave Argent a look that silently asked, “You gonna try to stop me? Cause it won’t do any good.”
“Go,” Argent choked. “And hurry, Wolf. Hurry.”
“You’re running out of time,” a voice hissed in Sage’s ear. She turned, but there was no one there. It had to be Salvia. “You need to—”
“Just shut up,” Sage snarled. Three pairs of eyes turned towards her inquiringly. Sage’s cheeks reddened. Luckily, they all turned their attention back to Tess.
“It will only get worse, Sage,” Salvia whispered. “You have to do this before it’s too late!”
“No!” Sage muttered back. “I already told you that I would never ever do that! Never!”
“Sage!” Argent called. “Come on, we’re heading back to the cave.” Tessy was hanging limply in his arms as he said it.
“What about Wolfy?” Sage asked, realizing that the black fluffy wolf was nowhere to be found.
“She went to go see Shadow,” Alex said grimly.
“And of course, I wasn’t allowed to go,” Sara grumbled under her breath.
“I’ve never gotten to go either,” Sage whispered as Alex and Argent took the lead.
“What do you think happened to Tess?” Sara asked nervously. “How could that . . . whatever it is happen to her?”
“I don’t know,” Sage admitted. “But I think it has something to do with that demon thing.” Sara shuddered and they walked on in silence.
The moment they came in sight of the cave, someone shouted, “They’re back!”
“They’re back?”
“Did you find Tess?”
“Where’s Wolfy?” Everyone started babbling as they poured out of the cave. Argent cursed under his breath.
“Get them away from Tess,” he ordered quietly. “We can’t let them see her. It will only scare them.”
“How are we supposed to get her inside then?” Alex hissed in an undertone.
“I’ll take her to the waterfall,” Argent whispered furiously. “If anyone asks, tell them that we found her but we don’t want to move her yet.”
“They’re just going to get even more worried and demand to see her then!” Alex pointed out.
“Then just make something up!” he scowled. “Just get them away from here!” Argent melted back into the forest with Tessy while Alex desperately tried to maintain some order in the chaos, but none of them seemed to be listening to her as she struggled to quiet them down.
“Hey, guys,” Sara called. None of them even glanced her way. Sara climbed up one of the boulders that were still left from the earthquake. Now she was several feet above everyone. “Hey! Everyone! Just shut up and listen for a second! How are we supposed to tell you anything when you’re all screaming at us like a pack of banshees!” she shrieked. Everyone went dead silent. In her short time on the island, Sara had been given a reputation for being quiet and kind. To see that reputation be blown into shreds gave everyone a pause. “Thank you,” Sara said quietly. “Now, Tessy is perfectly fine, just a little confused right now. Wolfy is with her and Argent just went back to help. They’re going to try to get her to rest a little before they bring her back. Okay? I don’t know when exactly they’re coming back, but they will soon. So, everyone just calm down.” Her words worked like magic, everyone quieted and slipped back into the cave.
“Wow,” Alex breathed. Then added awkwardly, “Thanks, Sara.”
“Yeah,” Sara muttered as she clambered down from the rock. “No problem.” As they were following everyone else inside, Sage stopped.
“Hey, wait,” Sage called. “What’s that?” She pointed to a large plume of smoke rising up from the other side of the island.
“It’s probably nothing,” Alex said dismissively, not even turning around to check.
Chapter 16, Rebecca
I screamed as dark smoke filled the air and flickering flames leaped from shelter to shelter, consuming everything in its path. People were scattering all over the place, screeching at the top of their lungs. What was going on? How did the fire start? Suddenly, I heard Brandi’s voice rising over the din.
“Everyone get out of the camp!” Brandi yelled, her voice hoarse from the smoke. “Everyone out! Leave whatever’s inside the shelters. We need to get away from here!” Suddenly, a loud earsplitting howl rent the air and, as if in response, a large burning tree toppled over, hemming me in between the burning branches and the flaming shelters. So much smoke was in the air now that I couldn’t see anything but the flames. The sounds of screaming and trampling feet were fading away into the part of the forest that wasn’t up in flames. How was I supposed to get out? My eyes were watering like crazy from the smoke and I couldn’t stop coughing. Where was the exit? I was trapped! There was no way out. The flames drew closer and closer until I felt my skin begin to roast just by the sheer proximity of the fire.
“Rebecca!” someone screamed. “Rebecca over here!” I looked around frantically until I spotted a blonde-haired boy waving his arms behind the circle of flames. “There’s a way out over here!”
“I can’t! I’m trapped!” I shouted.
“You have to jump,” he said.
“No,” I cried, shaking my head. “I can’t. I just can’t. The fire—” My parents . . . this was how they had died: in a fire. They’d told me that they’d be right behind me. That I just had to help Sara get out and how everybody would be safe. They never got out, though. And I never went close to fire ever again.
“Trust me. It’s the only way. Just get a running start and jump over the flames. They’re lower here.”
“No,” I whimpered.
“Rebecca! You’re going to die if you don’t jump now! Please! Just jump!” I took a few steps back, and then screwing my eyes shut, ran forward and jumped. The flames flickered beneath me and gnawed at my legs, turning the flesh an angry red. Then, I tumbled to the ground. The boy pulled me to my feet and dragged me through a maze of burning debris and shelters, the flames roaring and snarling around us. Until suddenly, we burst out of the camp and straight into a pond. The water instantly soothed the burns along my legs.
“Rebecca! Jason!” Celia was on us almost at once. So, that was his name. “You guys are safe!” She pulled us out of the water and enveloped us both in a big bear hug.
“Can’t breathe,” I choked. After a few more seconds, she let go, but she still beamed at us. “Oh, and you should probably go find Brandi, Jason,” Celia said. “She was freaking out about not being able to find you the last time I saw her.” Jason rolled his eyes and suddenly Celia burst out laughing. “Raisin Brand? Raisin Brand?” she snickered between giggles.
“Get out of my head, Celes” Jason complained without the slightest trace of annoyance in his voice, stifling a soft laugh himself before going in search of Brandi.
What was the deal with Raisin Brand? And why would Brandi be so worried about Jason? Were they dating or something? Celia laughed again.
“Apparently, Raisin Brand is Brandi’s nickname and no, Jason is Brandi’s little brother,” she snickered. “There’s no dating involved.” Shoot, I’d forgotten about Celia’s mind reading thing. “Most people do,” she said, every trace of playfulness leaving her voice. “Now come on, I need you to help me patch up everyone.” Her eyes quickly glanced at my scarlet legs. She must have heard me complaining in my head. “There’s a lot of people hurt worse than you.” I swallowed guiltily.
“Sorry,” I muttered. Celia didn’t say that it was okay, but just nodded. Together, we found a small clearing close by and laid out blankets that had survived the fire. Others carried the more injured into the glade and situated them on the blankets. We worked like this for hours until suddenly, Celia shot up.
“Oh no, don’t bring her in here,” Celia muttered and bolted towards the edge of the clearing.
“What? Don’t bring who in here?” I asked. “What’s going on?” Before Celia was even halfway across the clearing, Michaela entered, uttered a long piercing scream, and collapsed in an unconscious heap. “What just happened?” I raced across to where Celia had already reached Michaela.
“We have to get her out of here,” Celia said. “You carry her legs, I’ll get her arms and head.” I followed her orders.
“What just happened?” I repeated.
“Michaela’s a healer,” Celia explained as she maneuvered us through the forest.
“And . . .” I prompted her. I remembered at least that much from when Michaela had mended my knee when I’d first gotten to the island.
“Michaela senses people’s pain,” Celia continued. Oh, I was starting to see where this was going. “When she walked into the clearing, she immediately felt all of the people there’s pain combined. It’s a miracle that she didn’t die.”
“So we’re trying to get her away from everyone?” I guessed.
“Yep.”
“Hey, Celia,“ Katrina called from far up ahead. With a blur, Katrina appeared right in front of us. Ugh, I would never get used to the super speed thing. “Wait, is that Michaela?” Celia didn’t even bother talking, but instead just gave Katrina a strange look, reached out and touched her, and then Katrina said, “Oh. So what are we supposed to do with her?” She must have just injected everything about what happened to Michaela right into Katrina’s brain.
“Just get her away from everyone,” Celia sighed. “There’s nothing else we can do.”
“Hey, you two!” Katrina shouted suddenly at a pair of passing boys. They froze. “Take Michaela and bring her somewhere where she’s far away from anyone who got hurt in the fire. Then, stay with her and when she wakes up, I want one of you to go find Celia, Brandi, or me. Got it?” They nodded, took Michaela, and scurried away. Celia raised an eyebrow. “Brandi called another leaders powwow. Rebecca’s been invited again too,” Katrina explained.
“Any idea why?” Celia asked. Katrina shook her head.
“Nope.”
“Well, let’s go find out,” Celia said. “Lead on, Katrina.”
It was eerily like the last meeting I’d gone to; Brandi, Chase, Celia, Katrina, and I were sitting in a little circle in a small clearing except that this time I was smushed between Celia and Katrina.
“I think we all agree that we need help, right?” Brandi checked. Everyone nodded cautiously.
Then Celia burst out, “Oh God, Brandi! Are you out of your mind? Even if we agree on this, we’ll get torn apart!”
“Not necessarily,” Brandi said, not the least bit defensive. “They’re probably having problems too. Or at least, they probably will soon. You and I both know that that fire wasn’t an accident. Did you hear that wolf howl?”
“Yes,” Celia whispered. “I heard it howl and I also got a glimpse into its thoughts.”
“Okay, seriously,” I complained. “Can someone clue me in? Who is it that we’re talking about?”
“The Changelings,” Brandi said matter-of-factly. “The people on the other side of the island.”
“No, no way!” Katrina started to yell, apparently connecting the dots a lot faster than I did.
“You really are out of you mind, Brandi!” Chase shouted. I didn’t say anything because I was too busy watching Celia. Ever since she’d said that she’d heard the wolf’s thoughts, Celia had started shaking and now she looked like she was about to cry. I hated myself for it, but I had to ask.
“Celia?” I said gently. “What did you hear it think?” Everyone went silent and turned to her. She opened her mouth but no sound came out.
“It wasn’t the wolf that started the fire,” she whispered. “It was the thing inside of the wolf.”
“What do you mean?” Brandi asked. “What thing inside of the wolf?”
“What I heard . . .” Celia trailed off before starting again. “I could barely get into its mind. It was so warped and torn apart. Even when I did manage to get in, and only for a second, all I could really sense is fear, hate, and pain. Beneath it, I could feel the mind of the wolf, but it was like the wolf couldn’t control what it was doing. I got a single glimpse of whatever the thing was that was controlling the wolf.” She stopped as if she couldn’t say anything more.
“Celia, please,” Katrina said. “We need to know. What did you see in it?”
“Death,” Celia murmured. “Whatever it was wants to kill everyone on the island and then tear the island apart. It was horrible. I could see it all happening in its head. Everything was burning and then there was nothing left. Nothing at all.” For several long minutes, everyone just stared at her in horror.
“I agree with Brandi,” I said quietly after a while. “We need help. We need the others.” Katrina slowly nodded.
“I agree too. There’s no way to fight this thing by ourselves,” she said after a while.
“Same goes for me,” Celia murmured.
“Well, no matter what I say, we’re still going to run off to the other side of the island and beg for help,” Chase scowled. “Just don’t expect me to do the begging.”
“That’s settled then,” Brandi said, getting up. “I’ll tell everyone. I think Celia, Rebecca, and I should go to their camp with a few other people first before we all go over and they think that they’re getting attacked or something.”
“What? I can’t go?” Katrina complained.
“I need you to stay here and keep an eye on everyone,” Brandi said quickly.
“Suurrrrre, you do,” Katrina said sarcastically, but she didn’t say anything else. I had the feeling Katrina wasn’t coming because she was so rude and violent most of the time.
“Let’s go, then,” Brandi said and everyone else rose.
Chapter 17, Sara
“Oh my God,” Alex muttered as she looked out from the mouth of the cave. “Sage, go get Argent.”
“Why?” she inquired.
“What’s going on?” I asked as I walked up. “What do we need Argent for?” Alex pointed towards a small group of figures traveling across the stone labyrinth that surrounded the cave. One of the figures was bearing a large white flag.
“We need Argent for them,” Alex said.
“Doesn’t the white flag thing mean that they come in peace or something, though?” Sage pointed out.
“Yeah, it does, but I don’t trust them. So, go get Argent,” Alex repeated. Sage scurried into the cave where they’d relocated Tess to another one of Argent’s hidden rooms. “Stay here,” Alex instructed me. “I’ll be right back. Tell me if they do anything strange.” She retreated into the cave. A few minutes later, Alex reappeared with a pair of binoculars.
“Where did you get those from?” I asked incredulously.
“I have sources,” she said cryptically. Alex adjusted some of the knobs as she peered out at the group, which was quickly growing close.
“Who is it?” Argent’s voice surprised me. I jumped as he came up behind me and received the binoculars from Alex. Sage followed him out. “Oh, how nice.” Argent said, his voice tight. “Dearest big brother didn’t even bother to come and greet me.”
“I don’t recognize any of them,” Alex said quietly. “Do you?”
“I know that one of them is Brandi,” he replied, sounding strange. “She’s sort of one of their leaders like Chase. I’m not sure about the other two though.”
“Can I see?” Sage piped up. Argent passed the binoculars to her and she peered through them. “The Asian one is Celia. She’s good.” I noticed that Alex stiffened and ground her teeth together. Clearly, she didn’t like one of the others being referred to as ‘good’ and especially not by Sage.
“What do you mean, ‘she’s good’,” Alex asked tersely.
“I mean that she’s nicer than the others,” Sage explained. “She kept Chase away from me when I got taken to their camp.”
“How’d she do that?” I asked. Sage shrugged.
“I don’t know. She just told Chase to leave my tent thing and he did. Except, he looked really weird when he did it.”
“What do you mean, weird,” Argent said cautiously. Meanwhile, if Alex had looked stiff before, she looked downright murderous now.
“He moved all jerky and funny like he was a puppet or something,” Sage said lightly. Argent cursed.
“Wait, do you know her?” I asked.
“No, but I used to know someone a lot like her,” he growled. “I’m pretty sure that Celia is one of the mental powers. But, she’s pretty much a super version.” Sage’s tutorial on powers came back to me. Mentals are the people have powers related to the mind like people who can read minds or sense powers or emotions. Suddenly, it all made sense.
“So you’re saying that this Celia can control people’s minds,” I said.
“Yep, he is,” someone groaned and a small group of six emerged. The entire group carried the smell of smoke. The girl who was carrying the white flag, which was really just a soot-stained white blanket tied to a thick stick, dropped it. She had long chestnut brown hair that was singed in a few places and hazel eyes that looked unnaturally puffy and red. Ugly scarlet burns covered the lower portion of her legs and her feet. The moment I saw her, I rushed forward, and tackled her in a hug.
“So this is Sara?” one of the other girls that had come with Rebecca guessed. This girl was tall and had wavy auburn hair and bright blue eyes. She was covered in burns too. “I’m Brandi,” she said to Alex before turning to Argent and saying, “Long time no see, huh?”
“About twenty five years give or take a few,” he said tensely. “Now, why don’t you all get out of here?”
“At least hear us out,” Celia begged. “We— We need help.”
“Celia!” someone complained.
She ignored them and plowed on, “There was a fire at our camp.”
“Obviously,” Alex hissed, interrupting Celia. “We have eyes you know. But why should we help any of you? All you’ve ever done is attack us. Now you just want us to all to become great friends and skip off into the sunset? Are you kidding me? You freaking stole an eight-year-old practically from her bed! Plus, how do we know that you’re not messing with our minds right now?”
“First off,” Celia snarled. “Most of us never agreed to steal Sage. Second, I would never, ever mess with someone else’s mind like that.” Alex snorted as if she was saying, “Tell it to someone who believes you.”
“I have an idea,” Sage said suddenly. Everyone stared at her. “None of us trust you guys because Celia can do all of the mind stuff, right? What if one of our Borrowers touch Celia so that we both have that power and we won’t have to worry about one side trying to take advantage of the other.”
“You actually have a real, live Borrower?” Brandi gasped.
“We have two,” Argent admitted. Everyone’s eyes widened.
“I don’t like the idea of sharing my powers, but Sage does have a good point,” Celia grumbled.
“It’s your choice, Celia,” Brandi said quietly. “I won’t make you do anything.”
“Go get your Borrower,” Celia said.
“She’s already here,” Argent told her quietly. “Sara?”
“Sara! You’re a Borrower?” Rebecca burst out loudly, then immediately covered her mouth with her hands. “Sorry,” she muttered. Celia held out her arm and I tentatively reached out and touched her hand. It was like a sonic boom went off in my head.
“Holy cow,” I said. “This is amazing.”
Glad you like it, Celia’s voice sounded in my head. But, be careful. You’re going to have something in your head that feels roughly like some sort of dial. Do not use it.
Why not, I thought.
It’s . . . dangerous, came Celia’s reply. A wave of images of people writhing on the ground soared through my brain. It causes mental pain. To just hear people’s thoughts, try to sort of open yourself up. It’s almost like surfing. Try to surf above your mind and on top of everyone else’s. You should get the hang of it pretty fast. Celia’s mind disconnected from mine after she said this. Then, I closed my eyes and tried to surf the waves.
Gradually, I started to become aware of the others’ minds. It was strange, almost like floating in a black ocean full of bright crackling electric jellyfish, which I realized were the peoples’ minds. Different disjointed thoughts pulsed out of each one. Some were in words, some in pictures, and some in simple emotion. It was plain extraordinary. Argent thought with emotions, Sage with a mix of words and pictures, but Alex was by far the most interesting. She thought in all words, but her mind was constantly arranging those words into stanzas and verses, poems and songs. Interesting, I’d never thought of her as a poet.
Turning my attention towards the others, I quickly identified how they thought. Celia was too confusing to figure out since she had everyone’s thoughts coming through her, Rebecca thought in pictures, and Brandi thought in feelings just like Argent. Huh, maybe it was a leader thing. Curious, I tried to spread myself out even more so that I could feel the people in the cave, but immediately, a wave of nausea filled me as so many thoughts came in.
“Sara?” Rebecca asked anxiously. “Are you all right?”
“Try to narrow it down,” Celia advised me. “You’re taking too much in.” I carefully withdrew from the cave and focused on just the small group of us.
“Ok,” I muttered. “I’m good now. But, we may want to take this to a more quiet place because everyone’s spying on us right now.”
“Not into the forest,” Brandi said a moment after I finished. “We can’t go in the forest.”
“Why not?” Argent demanded, waves of distrust clouding his mind.
“Because if we do,” Celia whispered. “Then I assure you that some of us won’t come out.” Everyone stared at her. She glanced at Brandi. “Can I tell them?”
“Yeah,” Brandi assented, nodding her head slowly. “Go ahead.”
“This morning our camp was attacked and burned to the ground,” Celia said.
“By who?” Sage asked.
“It wasn’t a who, but a what. There was something possessing a wolf and that wolf lit our camp on fire,” Celia proclaimed. “Most of us are seriously injured. The rest of us only have some burns.”
“What did the wolf look like?” Argent asked quietly. Even though he didn’t show it, panic was radiating off him.
“Black, long fur,” Celia started, and then shook her head. “Oh, I don’t know! It looked like a wolf! They all look the same to me.”
“Show me it,” Argent commanded.
“What?”
“Show me it,” he repeated. “Share your memories of it.” Celia reached forwards tentatively and touched a single finger to his cheek. His jaw clenched as the memories started flowing and he cursed when her hand withdrew.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asked, looking ready to strangle Celia (who was looking fairly worried) for some reason.
“It was Shadow that was possessed by the thing,” Argent said.
“Why are you freaking out so much then?” Alex questioned.
“Wolfy!” I yelped, seeing the connection in Argent’s mind. “Wolfy is going to see Shadow, though! We need to stop her!”
“We can’t,” Alex said. “Shadow never told anyone except Wolfy where his den is. He didn’t trust anyone who was human. We have no idea where she’s going. She might even be there already.” For several minutes, no one spoke as that sunk in.
Until finally, Argent ordered, “Alex, go tell the everybody about what happened with Shadow and their camp. Plus, Wolfy going to find him. Tell them to report to me if they see anyone acting strange.” Alex spun on her heel but then froze.
“What about Tess?” Alex asked.
“They can’t know.”
“What happened to Tessy?” Brandi whimpered. “Is she okay?”
“I don’t think that’s your business anymore, Brandi,” Argent said acidly. “Now, I appreciate that you bothered to come talk to us, but I recommend that you all go back to where you came from.”
“Argent!” Sage complained. “If we were in trouble and went to them for help, they would help us.”
“Chase wouldn’t,” Argent shot back.
“No, Chase wouldn’t,” Brandi agreed. “But, the rest of us would.”
“We have extra space in the cave,” Sage reminded him, her eyes growing big and pleading. I had to admit that I almost felt bad for Argent. Sage was nearly bursting with cuteness, hugging her bear to her chest, looking up at him with wide innocent eyes, and a little dimple showing up on her cheek. “Please?” Argent’s resolve lasted for about two minutes, which Alex later informed me was a new record for Sage not getting what she wanted when she poured the cuteness on.
“Fine,” he relented. “All of you can come to the cave.” A bombshell of relief erupted in Brandi’s mind, surprising me since I hadn’t even felt her become worried. Just as quickly as it appeared, the relief disappeared.
Brandi always tampers down hard on her emotions. Even with me. Celia’s voice was back. There are some days when I don’t feel anything at all from her.
“Thank you, Argent,” Brandi said sincerely. “We’re going to go back now and round everyone up. We should be back around the end of the day.”
“Bye,” Rebecca whispered and gathered me up in another hug. “See you tonight.”
“Wait,” I said, maneuvering out of her hug. “Can I go with you guys? Just for like the walk there and back?”
“Why?” Argent asked as if he had no idea.
“Isn’t it sort of obvious?” Celia scoffed. “Sara wants to spend more time with her sister and of course she can come if she wants to.” Just a fraction of surprise wormed its way into Brandi’s mind before dissipating. Argent was surprised that Celia was making the call too, but no one challenged her. Celia seemed sort of like a loose cannon, completely uncontrollable.
I prefer naturally independent, but completely uncontrollable pretty much sums it up. Oh yeah, I’d forgotten that Celia could read minds too. This might be a slightly uncomfortable trip. But, at least Argent wasn’t coming along too. That would have made it unbearable between him and Brandi. What was up with them anyways?
Oh, you know, the usual post breakup thing.
Post breakup thing? From twenty years ago?
It was actually quite the scandal then. You see, it all started before Argent branched off us and formed his little group. The only people on the island then were Chase, Argent, Tess, Brandi, Jason, and yours truly.
Jason? Who was Jason?
Brandi’s brother; the guy your sis is crushing on. Anyways, Brandi and Argent had hooked up on the island and lasted maybe four or five years before Argent had his big fight with Chase, blah, blah, blah. Then, Argent just upped and left with Tess who was Brandi’s bestest friend in the whole world and neither even said goodbye. Everyone thought that Argent has ditched Brandi for Tess and then run off with her. Well, except me, of course. I actually caught them leaving and heard the whole Argent versus Chase blowout. After that, Chase slowly turned into a dictator, and thus the island republic was formed, which included Brandi, Katrina, and me. Other people came to the island. Those of us who were there found stuff that was more interesting to talk about and eventually we got to here. I honestly hadn’t seen Argent again until today.
Chapter 18, Wolfy
Mile after mile of forest raced by as Wolf sprinted through the forest until finally she slowed to a deliberate stroll. She didn’t like this part of the forest at all. It was eerie. The trees all grew in gnarled crooked shapes with no leaves so that a heavy canopy of bare branches pressed in overhead. No one ever came here; no one was stupid enough to. Bad things happened to those who entered this part of the woods. That was probably the one reason that Shadow made his den here: the seclusion.
Shadow was arguably the strangest inhabitant of the island and he was definitely the darkest resident. Some people said that he’d practiced dark magic when he’d still been human. Wolfy, however, knew better than that. He had only started his journey into the dark after he’d been stuck as a wolf forever. At first, he’d only dabbled in the blackness in an effort of becoming human again. After that though, Shadow had happily jumped off that cliff and dove headfirst into madness and evil. Argent hated when Wolfy went to see Shadow, but that was only because he didn’t understand. He had no idea how it felt to remember being human, being able to talk, being able to hold things, being able to be thought of as an equal, and then having all of that torn away from you and being trapped inside the body and mind of a bloodthirsty beast. For Wolfy, it was better. She could barely remember being human and because of that, she barely missed it. Well, except when she had to rely on Argent to translate for her whenever she wanted to hold a conversation with someone. That part really stunk. A sudden hole loomed in front of Wolf. It was the entrance to Shadow’s den.
“Shadow,” Wolfy called as she started to descend into the hole. Scraps of rotting, fetid meat were scattered around one corner of the den. The soft buzzing of flies filled the stagnant air as they swarmed around the putrefying meat. She shuddered. This was disgusting, even for Shadow. “Shadow, are you there?” In the very back of the den, where no light reached, a soft scuffling sounded. Wolfy slowly drew closer, trying to avoid the random snippets of meat. “Is that you, Shadow?” A glint of crazed eyes flashed in the darkness and something leaped on top of Wolfy.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” someone snarled in a horrible garbled voice and that was the last thing Wolfy could remember.
Chapter 19, Sara
As I stepped into the others’ temporary new camp I felt like I’d been run over with a bulldozer. Or maybe had my brain squeezed out of my head.
“Oh, shoot,” Celia said and quickly dragged me several yards back into the forest. “Sorry, I forgot that it would be a lot for you.” I held my hands around my head so that they wouldn’t see my brain go splat and ooze out of my head. A high keening was slicing through the air without ever stopping. Several minutes later, I realized that it was me.
“What’s going on Celia?” Brandi asked.
“What happened to her? Are you okay, Sara?” Rebecca cried. Tons of people started crowding around to see what all the commotion was about and my mind went from being dozed over to being chopped up in a meat grinder.
“Darn it, darn it,” Celia muttered. “What am I supposed to do?” Raising her voice, she yelled, “Get everyone away. Give her some space for pity’s sake!”
I felt Celia enter the commotion in my head and her mind began to stretch out until it surrounded my own like a thin bubble. Except, the bubble had small cracks in it and the barrage of thoughts still slipped through and assaulted my mind. Forget about the meat grinder, it was more like an atomic bomb now, in the middle of nonstop detonation. A few minutes from now, all that would be left of me would be billions of little Sara-colored pieces.
In an effort to escape the rabble occupying my head, I sunk deep inside of myself, burrowing into darkness where I could hide until everything went away. Suddenly, a wave of pure light exploded inside of the darkness I was hiding in and spread out into a huge crystal orb covering my mind and shielding it from everything. The pain stopped but I didn’t know where I was anymore. That was when a little girl appeared.
“Follow me,” she trilled. I rose to my feet and pursued the little girl through the darkness. Eventually, I started to see a glimmer of light coming from up ahead and a few distant voices began to weave their way into the emptiness. “This is as far as I can bring you, Sara,” the little girl said. “Be careful. I might not be here next time.” She turned around and disappeared back into the darkness.
Bidden by instinct I kept going towards the light and soon I realized that the light was coming from two holes. Through them, I could see a group of people. I pressed my face up against the holes and suddenly I was back to me.
“SARA!” Rebecca squealed and pulled me into a tight bear hug. “You scared us so much!” Everyone else added onto how much I’d freaked them out, except Celia, who seemed troubled, but not by what I was coming to understand was my near death episode. She was troubled by something else entirely. I tried to reach out to her mind to see what she was thinking about, but I couldn’t. It was the same with everyone else’s minds too.
“You don’t have it anymore,” Celia said. “Someone or something sucked my power right out of you.”
“Oh,” I murmured, feeling a little disappointed. Brandi appeared and ushered everyone towards the huge group of people waiting a few yards away. Most of them were helping to carry litters with the injured on them. Many more people were still emerging from the trees and joining the group. How many of them were there?
“There’s about sixty or seventy of us, Sara,” Celia chimed. “Remember, we’ve been here longer than you guys have since you all split off of us. Also, just saying, but another factor is that you people are always all spread out so that there seems to be less than you. There are actually a lot of your people too. Right now though, we’re all clustered in this one spot.” Once again, mind reading. It was annoying now that I couldn’t do it.
“Right, let’s move out!” Brandi yelled as if they were part of a military unit and everyone started marching as all of us started heading towards home.
Chapter 20, Sage
‘How can I ever own what’s mine, when you’re always taking sides?’ Sage scrawled on a piece of paper with a small chunk of charcoal and surveyed it for a moment before rejecting it like all the others she’d written so far. She crumpled it up into a small ball and tossed it into a corner of the cave where it landed besides her numerous other attempts. Salvia was right; Sage had to do it.
But, first, Sage needed to tell Alex in a way that wouldn’t freak her out. So, with a flashback to her and Alex’s days in the orphanage, where Alex had written all of her feelings and thoughts out on the walls in poems, Sage had decided just to write Alex something that would make her understand. Involuntarily, Sage shuddered; thinking about the walls of poems reminded her of the dream she’d had. The dream she had . . . that gave her an idea. Sage took a new piece of paper and started writing. ‘I dreamed I was missing. You were so scared. But, no one would . . .”
“SAGE!” Celia thundered, barging into the small cave room. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? I will not let you do this! It’s not worth it!”
“Yes, it is!” Sage cried, quickly getting over her shock at Celia’s sudden appearance. “Would you rather have everyone on this island die first! At least this way I can save them! You saw what that thing will do to us if I don’t stop it!”
For the first time ever, Celia seemed at a loss for words. Finally, after nearly ten minutes of just sitting there, she simply stood up and left silently, brushing tears from her eyes.
Chapter 21, Sage’s Past
The doorbell sang through the spacious rooms of the mansion the Sage lived in. Her parents smiled at her and put down the dolls that they had been using to play with her.
“We’ll be right back,” her mom promised as they swept out of Sage’s room to answer the door. “It’s probably just another museum clerk offering to have all of the gems we found put on display.” A few minutes later, shots rang out from the entryway. Sage jumped up fearfully and hurried to close and lock the door to her room before retreating to her bed, clutching the teddy bear that she’d been playing with moments ago. Loud, gruff voices resounded through the mansion, getting closer and closer by the minute until one sounded right out side of her door.
The knob jiggled as someone on the other side struggled to open it.
“This room’s locked!” a female voice called.
“Then open it, dimwit!” a male voice yelled from farther down the hallway. A few loud bangs followed as someone pounded on the doorknob until finally, it came off and the door swung open. A woman, maybe in her late twenties stood in the doorway. She looked shocked to see Sage.
“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” she kept murmuring. “They never told me there was a kid. They never told me.” The woman quickly shut the door and shooed Sage off the bed and into a corner, throwing a blanket over Sage’s body. “Don’t move and keep quiet if you want to stay alive,” she growled under her breath. Almost as an afterthought, she added, “I’m so sorry.” The woman left the room quickly, making sure she closed the door on her way out.
“What was in there?” a suspicious voice asked.
“Nothing worth taking,” replied the woman. “It’s just a ton of junk for a little kid; stuffed animals and all of that crap.”
“Hey!” yelled the male voice from before. “Get your butts down here! I found the jackpot!”
“How much?” the suspicious voice called.
“The idiots kept their entire diamond collection in one place! We’re rich!” the male voice laughed.
“Yeah, that’s great, now can we get out of here before the police come looking?” the woman insisted.
“Sure, let’s torch this place and get going,” the male voice agreed. “Phil! Light ‘em up!”
“Torch?” Sage could here the panic in the woman’s voice.
“Yeah, torch. It’s the easiest way to get rid of the evidence; burn it all.” Two pairs of heavy feet clomped down the hallway, accompanied by the sound of some liquid being splashed. A few minutes later, a softer set of steps hurried after them.
The door slammed and with a loud whoosh, flames erupted all through the house, eagerly consuming the wood. All Sage could do was watch the orange flames come closer and closer to the corner where she was hiding, helpless to do a thing.
Suddenly, a little girl appeared. She was wearing a paneled white dress with matching flats and her hair was such a light color that it seemed white.
“Come with me,” the girl whispered gently, holding out a small hand. “There’s a girl I’d like you to meet.”
Sage reached up, took the outstretched hand, following the girl in white until they reached an orphanage in Washington State where a certain gothic girl was staying.
Chapter 22, Rebecca
A chilly wind was blowing across the cool stone. How could they bear how cold it got up here? I felt like I was turning to ice! Sara was just standing beside me in her little black skirt and thin shirt without so much as shivering while I was wrapped up in a blanket and still covered in goose bumps. She cast me a sympathetic glance.
“You get used to it after a while,” Sara assured me. I doubted that. Everyone from the beach was gathered together on one of the many shelves of rock jutting out from the cliffs and everyone was facing a large, smooth wall of rock. It was out of sight of the main cave, but still close enough so that people could go back and forth.
“How very considerate of you to offer us such a . . . hospitable place to stay,” Chase growled sarcastically. “Thank you so much, Argent.” Argent gave no sign that he’d heard and instead placed his hand flat against the chilled stone and closed his eyes. After a moment, a large swath of rock started to shimmer and sway. A moment after that it was gone completely. Several people gasped, Katrina just looked as bored as ever, Brandi raised a single eyebrow, and Chase . . . well, Chase just looked aggravated.
Personally, I just went with the old cliché and asked, “What just happened?”
“He’s an illusionist,” Sara informed me. “Argent likes to hide a ton of stuff in the caves.”
“Oh,” was all I could think to say.
That was when Alex appeared, seemingly the official courier of bad news. “Umm, Argent? I know this is a really bad time but we need you back at the cave. Right now.”
“What happened?” he demanded, instantly bounding through the mob of people.
“That thing that got Tess . . .” Alex said awkwardly. “Well, it sort of . . . came back.”
“What do you mean, ‘came back’?” Sara called.
“I mean, that a huge cloud of black smoke just searched through our cave,” Alex growled viciously, as if she was accusing Argent for not being there. From what Sara had told me about her though, I’d come to understand that becoming rude was Alex’s way to cope with her fear, so I wasn’t all that surprised. “It left us a little present too.”
“A present?” Brandi asked. “Smoke? What are you talking about? And once again, what happened to Tessy?”
“You better come with us,” Argent sighed. “Sara! Come on!” Sara latched onto my hand and pulled me over towards the tiny group of Brandi, Argent, and Alex.
“I don’t think I was exactly invited,” I hissed in Sara’s ear as she pulled me along.
“Well, I just invited you,” came her quick reply. Huh, she used to be such an easygoing, follow-the-rules kind of kid before. Maybe Alex was rubbing off on her; who knew? As the five of us were about to leave, Celia jogged up.
“Hey, wait!” she called. “I’m coming too!” Brandi looked slightly annoyed for a second but it passed so quickly that I couldn’t be sure if I even saw it at all, but Alex just looked furious. Still, no one objected and she just came up in the rear of the group as we all hurried towards the cave.
When we walked in, ashen-faced teens were trying to piece together what was left of their trashed home. Blankets and clothes were strewed everywhere with a few toys mixed into the mess. A petite elfin figure was laid out in the center of the cave; her head tilted back, her eyes wide open. It was a girl around seventeen. She was slim with delicate features and somewhat thin hair. Her clothes were nothing special; a pair of white tank tops, white denim shorts. The sheer whiteness of everything was starting to scare me; her skin was white, her clothes were white, her hair was white, and as I looked into her pure white eyes, I opened my mouth and screamed.
“Who is she?” Brandi asked quietly. Alex shrugged and for the answer, looked to Argent, who, in turn, looked for someone else. But, since neither Sara or I could possibly know the answer, the only person he could look at was Celia, who looked like she was about to puke, her face nearly as pale as the girl’s, except with a slight green tinge.
“Who is it, Celia?” Argent asked.
“It – It’s Wolfy,” she stuttered. And you can imagine that went over like a ton of bricks, if you’ve been following Sara’s part in this mess of a story, of course, and not completely out of the know like me. Long story short, though; Sara gasped, Brandi started asking questions and demanding answers, Argent practically turned into a statue, just staring, Alex released long torrent of rather creative cursing, Celia just shuddered, and I bet you’re asking, ‘what did Rebecca do?’ or maybe you aren’t if you’re not all that interested in this story so far.
Well, to answer your question, I did a big lot of nothing, because once again, I had no idea what was going on. It gets kind of old after a while. But, by then, you’ve learned to just get used to it. And hey, I was the only one certifiably sane by now out of our group so that’s a plus, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Yeah right.
Chapter 23, Sara and Sage
Sage cast yet another look at Wolfy’s form that was still lying in the middle of the cold stone floor. Using a small stick of charcoal that she’d filched from the fire when no one was looking, Sage wrote out the last few lines of her poem.

“What are we supposed to do?” I asked anxiously.
“What can we do?” Brandi lamented. “There’s just no way for us to get rid of that thing.” Argent, Alex, Celia, and Rebecca all nodded in glum resigned agreement. I looked around at their bleak faces. Were we actually that helpless?

Sage slipped into the cave room and placed the scrap of paper on the thick blanket draped over Alex’s bunk, the creamy ivory of the paper contrasting sharply with the ebony bedspread. It was almost like a chessboard, Sage mused. Except, of course, this specific game was about to end very soon.

“Well,” Alex commented with a large yawn. “If all that we’re going to talk about is our impending doom and definite destruction, then I’m going to at least catch up on some sleep before we all go ka-boom.” No one objected and Alex slid through the seamless stone walls that enclosed Argent’s spacious rooms.

The idea of everything being a game of chess got Sage thinking. What would she be if the crazy idea were true; definitely not something special or big like the queen or the king, right? But the idea of being a castle didn’t exactly fit her well, though. Still wondering, Sage drifted out of the room and left the cave far behind her as she ventured into the stone labyrinth alone.

“Sara,” Alex called in a strange, high voice. Then louder, “SARA!” I burst into the cave, expecting to see her being mauled by the cloud of black smoke. Instead, though, Alex was just standing in the center of the cave looking at me with a confused, lost expression. Wordlessly, she handed me a folded up, slightly crinkled paper written on with what looked like charcoal.
“What is it?” I asked but she just kept staring with the same sad look. I glanced down at the paper. To: Alex was scrawled on the front. Slowly, I unfolded it to reveal a long poem. “I dreamed I was missing. You were so scared,” I read aloud. “But, no one would listen, because no one else cared.”

Sage slowly wove her way through the final stretch of the wild jungle gym of rock. She was sure that she was starting to understand everyone’s roles in the big chess game. Argent was definitely a knight, always leading the battles and rushing in to save the day. Meanwhile, Alex was more of a rook, always cutting corners and sneaking right into the thick of the action. But, Sage still couldn’t figure out what she was herself. Sage froze suddenly as a warm presence washed over her, fearing that she’d encountered the demon. Moments later, she realized that it was only Salvia. Where would Salvia go on the chessboard? Sage wondered.

“After my dreaming, I woke with this fear. What am I leaving, when I’m done here?” I continued reciting. “So, if you’re asking me; when my time comes, forget the wrong that I’ve done. Please don’t resent me. And when you’re feeling empty, keep me in your memory, forgetting all the hurt inside. You’ve learned to hide it so well. Always pretending someone else can come, and save me from myself. I can’t be who you are. Love, Sage.”

“Salvia?” Sage asked aloud. “What are you on the chessboard?”
“I’m not on the board yet, Sage,” Salvia whispered in her ear. “But, I will tell you this; your king in this game is the island itself.”
Sage slipped through the forest, her mind spinning with this new tidbit of knowledge.

I cleared my throat before asking, “She wrote this?” After a moment, Alex nodded. “Why?” I said, fearing that I already knew the answer.
That was when the screaming started.

Sage perched on the edge of the volcano, peering in at its fiery glowing depths. She understood it all now. The strategy had been set in motion the very moment that the game had begun. The knight was hemmed in by his own brother and the rook was trapped by the growing number of casualties, so the only one left to move was Sage, the pawn. Down below her, people were struggling to scramble up the volcano, screaming for her to stop. They didn’t understand yet, but they will in time, Sage predicted. One day they’ll understand that sometimes the only way to win was to sacrifice a player.

I raced out of the cave with Alex in tow, sprinting as fast as I could towards the volcano.
“Sage!” I screeched at the top of my lungs as we ran. “Sage, stop! What are you doing?” Sage took another step forwards so that she was teetering at the edge of the volcano. Alex burst into a lynx and immediately left me in the dust as she desperately strove to reach the volcano before Sage took the final step that would send her plummeting to her doom. But it was too late, too late. There was no stopping this.

Sage took a single step forward into the empty space before her and started to fall. That was when the dark cloud of smoke suddenly appeared and billowed out below her, catching her like a giant safety net.
“You shall not defeat me this time,” a dark, low voice growled inside Sage’s mind. “You have meddled enough in my affairs, Salvia. This is the last time.”
“I’m not Salvia,” Sage spat at it and leaped off the edge. The cloud of darkness enveloped her again, except this time she was inside of the cloud, instead of on top of it. Through the foot or so of smoke left between Sage and open air, Sage spotted Rebecca balancing precariously on the rim of the volcano, watching her with anxious eyes. Anxious glowing eyes.
“Rebecca!” Sage called, stretching out her hand through the dark cloud of smoke. “Rebecca, grab my hand!”
“No!” Rebecca yelled at her. “No! You’re just going to jump again!”
“Please, Rebecca,” Sage begged. “Please, it’s the only way to fix all of this.” Rebecca looked up at her with eyes full of terror and doubt, and slowly reached up her hand.

“SAGE! Oh, God, no. Sage,” I cried, too far away to even see what was happening on the top of the volcano clearly. Everyone was too far away. “Don’t—you can’t, Sage! You can’t do this! You can’t do this to me, to Alex! Please, please.”

Sage reached down as far as she could and their fingertips brushed. The moment they came in contact with each other, a bright pure white light burst from their fingertips, radiating out through the island, leaving the taste of lightning in the air. Immediately, a burst of strength and power washed through Sage. She absorbed the dark shadowy mass and just as she started to fall, she whispered to Rebecca, “Thank you.”
Sage plummeted deeper and deeper, her fiery red hair matching the inferno going on around her. The heat grew greater until it was sweltering, Sage’s skin turning bright pink from the exposure and still she fell. At long last, Sage hit the boiling mass of lava. Her last thought before she burned up with the cloud of darkness inside of her was this:
Checkmate.
A small smile graced her lips as she blazed.
Chapter 24, Rebecca

I pointed towards a random spot in the darkness and muttered, “On.” Nothing happened. I tried a different spot and again had the same result.
I killed Sage. The poisonous words lay in wait on my tongue, wanting to be screamed into the sky. That was why I’d come out here to this desolate portion of the cliffs, looking out over the ocean while everyone else was inside the main cave, holding a vigil for Sage. I killed her. I was afraid of blurting out that I was responsible for Sage’s death. If I hadn’t given Sage my hand than Sage would still be alive. I’m a murderer.
Spinning around on the chilly rock that I was sitting on, I pointed towards another random spot in the darkness. This time my hand blazed up in fiery white light, illuminating a small little girl, silently coming towards me.
“Hey, Rebecca,” the girl said, walking closer to the light. She was wearing a white paneled dress and her hair was practically white.
“Salvia,” I sighed. “What are you doing here?” Salvia reached out and tapped one of my glowing fingers, causing another cosmic burst of light to explode in the air, remarkably like the one that happened at the volcano. A small smile full of childish joy filled Salvia’s face as she watched the light dance in the air like fireworks.
“I wish you wouldn’t call me that,” Salvia sighed after a few moments.
“Call you what? Salvia?” I asked, perplexed.
“Yep,” Salvia said. “It just doesn’t feel right. Or at least, it doesn’t feel right at the moment. Maybe in a few years Salvia will sink in again, but right now . . . it just sounds strange to me.”
“If you don’t want me to call you Salvia, than what should I call you?”
“Call me by my real name,” she said.
“How am I supposed to know your real name?” I asked.
“Because you know me. You’ve learned my name already,” Salvia said before whispering in my ear, “Call me Sage.” I froze, staring at her with wide eyes, mentally comparing the ten-year-old girl in front of her with eight-year-old Sage. Yes, Salvia was a little bit taller, and the hair and eyes were the wrong color, but other than that, they were exactly the same. They both had the same cheekbones, the same cute little smile, and the same big innocent eyes.
Alex and Sage had crashed on the island two years ago.
Sage would have been ten years old if her age hadn’t frozen.
She would have looked exactly like this.
I’d murdered Salvia.
“I had to die, Rebecca,” Sage murmured. “It was the only way to fix everything and it was the only way to become like this. I didn’t know about any of this before I actually . . . died and became Salvia, but don’t you see? It’s all like a game of chess; when a pawn makes it to the other side, you’re able to get your queen back.”
Suddenly, she reached out and placed a hand on my cheek. Another supernova burst from the contact, brighter than ever and I could feel something happening, something seeping in through the light shining from my skin and moving through my body, augmenting it, enhancing it. Everything around me suddenly seemed sharper and more defined as if I’d been seeing the world through fogged up glasses before now. Then her hand disappeared from my face, breaking the contact and taking most of the rushing power with it. But there was still something left; It was like I was seeing something
“What did you do?” I gasped.
With a small smile she replied, “I helped you see.” Sage cocked her head to one side as if she was listening to something. “Oops, time to get going. I guess I’ve been here too long.” She started walking away, but at the last minute I cried out.
“Wait! Will I ever see you again?” Sage froze, a puzzled look on her face for a moment as she thought.
“Time will tell, Rebecca,” she said at last. “Don’t forget to listen to it.” Turning on her heel, Sage disappeared back into the darkness just as Sara emerged from the other side. My hands went out the moment Sage disappeared.
“Come on, Rebecca,” Sara called, dragging me off the rock and towing me towards the cave. “Sage really did save us all! You have to come see this; everyone who got possessed is finally waking up! Hurry up!”
I paused outside of the cave while Sara ran right in, finally relinquishing her tight grip. I knelt down at the opening and cupped a small budding flower that was growing inside of a crack in the stone that had previously been frozen solid with ice. For the first time, spring had come to the island. I looked out across the dim labyrinth of formerly ice-covered stone where a pale light radiated from the figure of a small girl. Pointing my hands towards the figure, my palms lit up again, revealing hundreds of flowers springing up from solid stone, blanketing the depressing gray stone with vivid splashes of color. I was sure that the figure turned and waved at me before continuing on its way. Sage’s words ran through my head again; it’s all like a game of chess; when a pawn makes it to the other side, you’re able to get your queen back.
The queen had a much bigger impact than anyone had ever understood, I realized.
Character Guide:
The Changelings:

Alex: Alex is a tough sixteen-year-old girl with long dark hair and dark forest green eyes. Before she reached the island, Alex was way into photography and was creative, fun, random, and bright. She used to wear neon clothes everyday, always told jokes, and practically everyone was her friend. But, then, her rather rich parents got in a car accident and both of them died. Alex’s evil swindler aunt came to take care of her and took all of her parent’s money. Her aunt sent Alex to a dingy orphanage remarkably like a jail with the same ‘stand up for yourself or become the newest punching bag’ rules. After Alex reached the orphanage, she went completely goth, which creeped everyone out enough to leave her alone. It was here that Alex started writing poetry in an effort to let some of her confusion and loss out. Once, when Alex tried to escape the orphanage, Salvia appeared and made her wait. Sage came to the orphanage not long after that and roomed with Alex. A year or so later, they escaped together and got on a plane in an effort to get away. However, their jumbo jet crashed and Alex and Sage were the only ones who managed to survive. Even on the island though, Alex’s misfortune continued, so even now she’s a little strange and constantly torn up about what’s happened to her.
Sage: Sage is an 8-year-old red head with bright green eyes. She’s a little shy when she first meets you, but after that, she’s incredibly loud and hardly stops talking. She’ll trust you but, maybe a little too much. Her parents died in an armed robbery, because they were in the mining business and had recently discovered a pocket of large diamonds. Fortunately, one of the robbers took pity on Sage and hid her. However, her house was set on fire as the robbers were leaving, trapping her inside. Salvia led her out of the inferno and saved her life. After that, with no one to take care of her, Sage was sent to the same orphanage that Alex was at and ended up rooming with her. Alex took care of Sage in the orphanage and they became just as close as sisters. Together, they escaped the orphanage and got plane tickets, but their plane crashed in the ocean and Alex and Sage were the only survivors.
Jet: Jet is a 16-year-old boy with jet-black hair. His eyes are such a deep brown that they almost look black and they can mesmerize anyone. Jet is very swift and mysterious. He can climb trees faster than you can say "What the heck?" and is good at finding things in the woods, almost like a human GPS. He took karate for 10 years straight, so no one wants to mess with him. Jet is kind of clumsy sometimes though, and not always the brightest. Jet can change into a komodo dragon. He runs only on instinct in his Komodo dragon form, and will not hesitate to kill anyone who gets in his way. Jet was on a boat going to Ireland to visit his mom and grandma, but he hit his head, fell overboard, and woke up on the shores of this island. He couldn't remember anything about his past, couldn't even remember his real name. He saw a broken toy jet plane on the shore, and named himself Jet.
Wolfy: Wolf is a pitch-black wolf with piercing green eyes. Her tail is very bushy, and her ears are bat-like and pointy. Before she came to this island, she was a standard, spunky 17-year-old girl with scene, black hair, and a slim body. Before Wolf was on the island, she led a very standard kind of life. No, she didn't have a horrible childhood and she didn't grow up in an orphanage. In fact, she loved her life. She had her fair share of friends, and was currently single. One night while she was walking home from a late party down a very questionable alley, a person jumped out at her and tried to force her into a van. In moments, they were throwing fists at each other. It all went downhill from there. After a while, Wolf, being the not physically strong girl she was, started to tire out. So her kidnapper bought plane tickets and dragged Wolf onto a plane with him, telling her she had better stay quiet, or else he would kill her. Wolf was grudgingly quiet, trying to devise a plan to get out the entire time. But halfway through the plane ride, the plane went down. Wolf managed to make it out alive after it crashed in the water, and swam like a maniac away from the plane. The plane had caught on fire, and finally the blaze reached the engines. The whole plane blew up, killing everyone inside with its fiery inferno. Wolf was blasted by the surge of water from the explosion and went tumbling towards shore. She slammed into several boulders on the way, gashing her head on the sharp rocks. She fell unconscious on the shore. When she woke up, she had no idea where she was. Wolf caught a bad case of amnesia from getting her head bashed around. She was a wolf when she woke up, and she had no idea how or why. She couldn't even recall her name, so she went with what her species was called: "wolf.” That's the only reason her name is Wolf - because she is one.
Tess: Tess, sometimes called Tessy by her friends, is a really crazy girl. She was one of the first to crash on the island, second to only Argent and Chase. She came with her younger brother and her best friend. Then, one night all three of them disappeared. But now, Tess is back and she doesn't remember anything - not her brother, not her best friend, and not how she got off the island. It's strange because she can remember almost everything about the island itself and she remembers most of the people who were here with her, but other people she doesn't remember at all. Tess is a really good fighter though and she isn't afraid to get dirty. She pretty much loves to be a freak. She has the power to grow things, and she can turn into an otter. Or at least she could last time she was here. But, she only just got back a bit ago and she says that she feels different so that might change. Tessy has a real talent of making a fool of herself and then just laughing it off. She giggles a lot and will sometimes break into random singing and dancing. Tess loves animals and they always seem to love her back. Since she got back to the island, she's been able to turn into a mountain lion.
Argent: Argent has a twin brother named Chase and they were the very first ones on the island. But, they had a big fight and separated. Argent came to the caves and Chase stayed by the beach. Since then, they both gathered their own little groups of refugees and fought against each other. Sara’s part of Argent's group, but the two groups stopped fighting Chase and Argent's battle out a while ago. Now all they're really doing is trying to get back at each other and then when they get back at one, then that group will try to get back at them and it just keeps going on and on. They crashed here because they were on their way to a pro soccer team tryout that was overseas. Argent is sixteen and has ebony hair and pale skin. His eyes are the color of molten silver.
Lya: Lya is a fifteen-year-old girl with pale porcelain skin and delicate features. Her hair is dark auburn and her eyes are icy blue. She is tall and extremely skinny, but that’s not her fault coming from a poor family with six empty stomachs to feed. Her parents were anglers and lived beside the shore. Her parents always worked and since Lya was the oldest it was up to her to care for her very annoying siblings who did nothing but complain and be lazy while Lya was hard working and extremely smart. She knows how to be a hardcore survivor though. For years it was like this until Lya turned fifteen and her father (who she had always had a really tight bond with) took her on a boat ride with just him and her. They were unlucky enough to sail right into a terrible storm and her father was thrown overboard, hit a sharp rock, and was killed. Lya watched her father, the only one she had ever really loved and had been loved by die – something she will never quite forget. And that’s how she came to this island. She is usually shy and quiet at first, but if she gets to know you and you’re lucky, she’ll warm up to you and then she can’t stop talking. She’s funny and calming and is always around to offer you good advice if you ask, even if she’s going through a hard time right then. She’s also very sweet and kind and she likes to act independent, but really, she’s extremely lonely inside. Sometimes when you don’t know her, Lya can be seen as annoying or weak or sometimes even mean because of the way she cant really look you in the eye when you first meet her and is always in a hurry to escape in case a question comes up about how she came to the island. She has a fire in her though. She can control people’s emotions to an extent and sometimes does this by accident whenever she’s feeling extremely excited, sad, or happy.
Alexis: Alexis is a dark and mysterious girl. Her past was nothing but hatred and neglect. Her parents never wanted a child so she was a mistake and was treated like one. Then, one day her mom took her for a ‘ride’ and then abandoned her in miles of open land and forests. She was all alone with no food or shelter until a few months later when Alexis thought that she was about to die, a little girl came to her and led her through the forests for miles and miles and miles until suddenly, they were on Shadowpath island. Shortly after that the little girl disappeared and was never seen again. Now, after a year on the island, she has flip-flopped between Chase’s group and Argent’s group several times. She is still very lonely though and naturally mistrusting because of what she’s gone through and she’s extremely quiet. She has pale skin and bright eyes.
Sara: Sara is curious, shy, and usually pretty quiet, but nonetheless almost always ends up in the thick of whatever’s going on. She’s a great friend with Alex and Rebecca is her older and slightly more crazed sister. After her parent’s died in a car crash, Rebecca and Sara ran away from home in search of their grandmother who lived in England. For several years, they both worked odd jobs and struggled to earn whatever money they could. It took a long time for them to save up enough to purchase plane tickets to England to continue their quest. You can probably guess what happened after that; their plane crashed and they were the only survivors.

The Other Side of the Island:
Karly: Karly used to be model. Before she got to the island, she was going to wonderful Paris! Her private jet crashed, leaving her on her floating seat in the middle of the ocean. She got to the shore quickly because of her fear of water. Her skin is pale, like the color of sand. Her brown eyes just like chocolate. She has a hot pick streak in her pale blonde hair. Karly is a great singer and is awesome at the guitar. You could say that she can be happy a lot. Sometimes she has mood swings. It's just something that's wrong with her. She likes to think that she’s one of the ‘leaders’ of the camp, but really everyone just humors her and listens to Brandi and Chase instead.
Brandi: Totally into punk rock, she has fishnet gloves that she never takes off. Brandi changes into a gigantic Black Panther and has a brother named Jason. Her Black Panther form is very muscular and has green eyes. She used to have a little sister named Alice, but Alice died in the plane crash. Her parents were abusive, so she and her siblings decided to take a . . . vacation. Permanently. It ended in, well, Shadowpath. She is about 5'6 and 17 years old. She’s also one of the ‘real’ leaders of the people who live on the shore along with Chase.
Chase: Chase is more of a rough and rugged type. He has brown hair that goes into his eyes and he has the most strange eyes ever – like pure gold. He is very strong and brave, though slightly misled, acting like he’s a dictator of the entire island. Chase worked as a McDonalds cashier through his older teen years. Then, being bored with his work went to try-outs for a pro soccer team with his brother, Argent. This meant that he had to fly overseas. When he did, the driver of the plane left it on autopilot and left for a few minutes. The plane veered out of control and crashed near the island. The pilot wasn’t that lucky but Chase was and drifted to the island. He and his brother were the very first on the island. Chase can shape shift into any animal.
Amber: Amber is a really nice girl. She does get into fights, but not often. She has pale milky skin and light hair – blond on the outside and brown on the inside. How she dyes it, no one knows. She knows how she got here mostly, but is still a little fuzzy on the details. She was on a cruise with her family when something in the kitchen exploded. The boat started to sink, then something hit her head and she blacked out in her bed. When she woke up on the island (yes, in her bed still) there was steam floating around her feet and she walked to camp and found people. She can turn into a tiger.
Missy: Missy is a 14 year-old girl with gray-green eyes and thick, puffy blond hair. She was in the dumps of Great Britain, living on the streets after her parents left her at their old apartment when they moved when Missy was only a kid. She lived off the food in the fridge until she was old enough to know what was going on, then moved out of the abandoned apartment. She learned her street smarts and got really tough. She was a stowaway on a freight boat when she was trying to escape the police who were after her for various accounts of stealing and resisting arrest, which she did to survive. When she woke up from a crash she heard, she noticed a leak in the side of the boat – a really, really big leak. She looked for an exit but the door was locked from the outside and the window was below the water level. Missy blacked out as the water rose and woke up on the beach. She only just found out a little bit ago that she could change into a lion.

Michaela: Michaela is a beautiful 14 year old with long brunette hair. She is real nice and gentle. She loves animals and helping people. Michaela has the ability to heal people, but unfortunately she also feels their pain. She loves to explore and make friends and she’s great at both. But, she still has a very slight temper when she gets agitated.
Skitt: Skitt is a 16-year-old girl with blonde hair with black underneath. She has chocolate brown eyes with a fair complexion. As most of you have already guessed, Skitt is not her real name. Her friends used to call her that because she was always hyper and skittery, like a mouse. She is quite shy but will open up to people eventually, as long as you get to know her. She is rubbish at starting conversations and will usually only speak in one or two word sentences. She prefers to be on her own most of the time. She doesn't have any powers yet, which makes her feel left out and undermined.
Tabby: Tabby is a blond girl with a colorful personality. She loves to talk and make friends and is quite good at both. If you’re having a bad day, she’s the one that will make it your best ever. Even though she’s stranded on this island, she’s still happy to be living and is always living life in the moment. A lot of people think she’s weird and crazy but she couldn’t care less. Although people might mistake her as a preppy girly girl, in reality she’s the exact opposite.
Celia: Celia is seventeen. She has Asian roots, her black hair is a few inches past her shoulders, and she has choppy side bangs. Celia is kind, very protective of her friends, and sort of a loose cannon. She is best friends with Katrina and has mind powers so she can tell what people are thinking at that moment. Chase sometimes uses her as a human lie detector and she also has a darker gift; she can inflict mental pain too so that it feels like you’re being torn apart even though nothing is happening. She can control how much pain it causes and will sometimes push this gift down a lot of notches so that it’s just a low buzzing in the back of your head that is really annoying. She’s not very proud of this power, but she’s forced to admit that it’s very useful when she’s in a fix. Because of her ability to know practically everything that’s going on inside the camp, she’s considered one of the leaders. Celia is definitely someone you wouldn’t want to tangle with.
Katrina: Katrina is seventeen with dirty blond hair and muddy brown eyes. She’s a serious tomboy despite her ladylike name. She can run just as fast as a cheetah, which is one of her powers, and she can also turn into a coyote. Katrina is also very blunt and rude. Celia is constantly reprimanding her.
Jason: Jason is Brandi’s not-so-little brother who she’s very protective of ever since their sister died in the plane crash that deposited them on the island. He has shaggy gold hair, bright blue eyes, and tan skin. He’s tall and muscular, but his gentle nature softens his large, overbearing build. Wracked inside with guilt over what happened to his little sister, Alice, he usually hides behind a joking, happy demeanor. The few people that have noticed his hidden guilt assure him that it wasn’t his fault, but he still remains convinced that it was his fault for losing Alice because he had been the one holding her when she’d somehow slipped out of his grasp and sunk into the ocean, never to be seen again. Sometimes, he can’t help falling into brief periods of depression over it, but they only last, at the very most, a day or two so he does his best to hide it with the help of Celia.
Rebecca: Rebecca has light brown hair and hazel eyes. She’s Sara’s older sister and crashed her on the same plane while the pair were trying to find their grandmother who lived in England; she was the only family they had left. Rebecca is spunky, confident, and gentle, although at times she can be a little random and loud.
jacklance

Re: NEVER AGAIN - a story i wrote

Post by jacklance »

Fantastic! The confluence of a creative, skilled with coterie of deserving talent. You certainly belong being there with cohort of fine writers.
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