Power Speakers - Book 1 - A Mysterious Past

This is the first book in a series of two and maybe more. And I hope the length of it doesn't scare anyone off =)
== Prologue ==
The earth seemed to tremble. It knew what was happening and so did the prisoner, held for thousands of years, but now free. Far away on a remote island a prisoner escaped and with him the greatest evil the world had known. The man they thought they had defeated was now free again and as powerful as ever.
He breathed in the scent of freedom. “Free at last.” He said. “They will pay for what they did to her if it’s the last thing I do. I swear, every speaker will pay.” The man laughed. “How ironic. I’m going to fight them with the same crime they wrongly accused and killed her for. They were fools to not kill me too when they ended her life. Well, let it be a lesson to them. They’ll have plenty of time to think about it… when they’re dead.”
The man walked along the shore of his island. He wished he could destroy the speakers right then and there with every fiber of his being. But when every speaker didn’t drop dead from his vengeful thoughts, he sighed and went back to his original plan. The speakers had accused her of stealing other speakers’ powers. All he had to do was go back in time to when they brought him here and steal a Gravity Speaker’s powers, then he could get off of the island and carry out the rest of the plan.
The man disappeared in a flash of light.
== Chapter 1 ==
Faith grew up in the town of Rhia. She was nine years old when her powers came to her. Soon after, strange things started happening nearby. It was early summer when the blizzard came. It had been remarkably hot the day before, so nobody was prepared for what was going to come. 
Faith woke before the sun was up, cold. She didn’t think twice about it though. Instead she just got an extra blanket and went back to sleep. When she woke again a few hours later, it was not much lighter and twice as cold. Faith crept out of bed and tiptoed to the window. When she looked out, she gasped. A thin layer of ice covered everything she could see and snow was gently falling. She ran to her mother’s room and shook her mother awake. 
“Mother! The ground is ice and it’s snowing!” Faith cried.
“What? But it’s past the cold season. That’s impossible.”
“Look for yourself.” Suddenly they heard glass shattering and loud thumping on the roof. Her mother went pale.
“Quick! Faith! To the cellar! It’s hail!” Faith managed to not freeze with fright. Instead she bolted out of her mother’s room and darted down the short hallway. She threw open the cellar door and ran down the stairs to a cold and musty room under the house. Her mother was only a few paces behind her with an oil lamp.
“Why is it so cold? All this is scaring me,” Faith said.
“I don’t know. We will just have to wait out the storm.” Tears formed in Faith’s eyes. She tried to hold them back, but she soon gave in to them and cried. Then her mother’s arms were around her. They sat there together as the hail pounded on the roof and the wind howled. Snow poured down and it soon claimed everything. 
As they waited for the storm to end, Faith’s mind scrolled through the tragedies of her past, hoping desperately that this would not be another one. She remembered the day her parents had lost Faith’s little brother to a sickness that had swept through the village. She had been four then. And then she remembered the day her father had died.
Faith watched as a young girl and her mother walked down a road. The woman looked strangely familiar and Faith wondered if they had met before. She followed them down the road and saw the woman’s face light up as a small and comfortable looking house came into sight.
Then it clicked. The familiar woman, the house, the road, and the young girl. Faith had been here before, only then, she had been the young girl. 
But how can that be? Faith wondered. That can’t happen. I can’t be here and there… can I? And this is in the past. Her mind spun in circles as she saw a man on the roof, her father, look up and wave at the girl and woman, young Faith and her mother. 
Then suddenly the man seemed to lose his balance and fall, slowly, to the ground. The woman shrieked and ran over to her husband’s side with the young girl trying to keep up. Faith moved closer, making sure that the three people didn’t see her.
“Faith! Go get help! Now!” The woman yelled to her daughter.
Faith… the young girl really is me… in the past. This must be the day when Father died. Faith thought. I feel sorry for the girl… or… me.
The girl ran back up the road she had just walked down with Faith following, out of sight. The girl weaved between the houses, moving as fast as her small legs could carry her. When she finally reached the doctor’s house, she pounded on the door.
A middle aged man opened the door and grunted. “What is it, kid?” 
“Please, help!” The girl pleaded. “Father fell off our roof. We need help.”
The doctor looked more alert now. “Just a second.” He went back into the house and a moment later he reappeared at the front door and went out onto the front porch. He herded the girl down the road to her house. Faith followed. Along the way, the doctor called a couple of young men and they followed him to the girl’s house.
When they got there the woman was still by her husband’s side, now weeping.
“Move.” The doctor commanded the woman. She unwillingly moved away from her husband and watched as the doctor and the men lifted the man and carried him into the house. The girl and her mother followed the doctor inside. A few minutes later they can back out, looking half worried and half heartbroken. The men the doctor had brought also came out and left.
Faith watched as the girl walked around the house, looking at every detail. Then, once there was no more house to inspect, the girl started pacing.
Faith then looked at the woman. She had barely made it past the stairs before she had crumpled to the ground. She didn’t make a sound or move an inch.
An hour later the doctor called for the woman. She went into the house with the doctor while Faith and the girl waited outside. A little bit later the woman came out of the house, crying uncontrollably. As soon as she walked down the last step from the porch, she collapsed onto the ground. The girl knelt beside her mother, a helpless expression on her face. She looked up at the doctor in the doorway.
“What’s wrong with Father?” She asked. 
“He has a broken spine and probably won’t live through the night.” The doctor said without a bit of sympathy.
“What?” The girl looked at her mother crying and then back at the doctor. Then Faith watched as the girl slowly slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Faith had had enough she closed her eyes and wished with all her heart that she weren’t here.
When she opened her eyes, she was in the basement of her house. For a moment she didn’t know where she was. Then she remembered. And then she remembered the dream she had had. At least she had thought it was a dream. It had seemed a lot more real than most dreams. Faith put aside her worries about the dream and paid attention to her surroundings.
The hail had stopped and the snow slowed down. “I’ll go up and see if it’s safe to come out. If it is, I will come and get you.” Faith’s mother climbed up the stairs and went into the house. A moment later, Faith heard her scream. She ran up the stairs to see what was wrong. She gasped when she saw what had made her mother scream. Parts of the roof were gone and the walls had holes in them from the hail. All of the windows were shattered and lay in pieces on the floor. Everything she could see was heavily coated in snow. All she could do was stare at the destruction. Her mother was in a trance. 
“Father built this house for us. What would he think of it now? It’s all destroyed. What will we do now?” What if we die, were the unsaid words that drifted about. 
“I don’t know, Faith. But for now we should see if our neighbors are alright.”
“But what about us?” Faith exclaimed. “We’re not alright!” Her mother gave her a stern look. “I’m sorry.”
“Good. Now let’s go.” As they walked to the next house, questions spun around in Faith’s mind. How did it happen? It was warm yesterday, right? What will we eat? What if another storm comes… or worse? Amidst the questions, she tried to stay calm and focus on helping their neighbors. They soon approached a white, two story house. It was positioned in the middle of a large field and had a long path that snaked from the house to the main road. Several cattle had been grazing in the field when the storm struck and were instantly killed by the hail. Their corpses lay scattered on the west side of the field. The house’s roof had been mostly destroyed and parts of the second floor walls had crumbled away. 
“How awful. I hope they’re okay.” Faith’s mother said from beside her. As they walked up the path, Faith could hear someone crying. The closer they got to the house the louder it became until she finally spotted the source. A woman was weeping over the body of a man who was presumably her husband. Faith’s mother rushed over to the woman’s side and put a comforting arm around her. “I’m so sorry.” She said.
“My husband was herding our two horses into the barn when the storm hit. He tried to take cover in the barn but the roof gave way and fell. After the storm I found him trapped under a large beam. I managed to get it off of him and I dragged him over here. He didn’t last much longer after that. His last words were, ‘beware the Ice Speaker.’ Whatever that means.” Now that she looked, Faith could see the remains of a barn a little distance away. There was a trail in the snow where the woman must have dragged her husband. It made her think of the day she lost her father. She felt tears welling up in her eyes.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” The woman shook her head. “Do you want me to stay with you?” Again the woman shook her head. “We’ll go then. Come along, Faith.” They left the woman mourning over her husband and continued down the road. They stopped by several more houses, most of which were reduced to a few walls and rubble. All of the people had either lost family members or livestock or both to the storm. 
The last house they visited looked entirely different from the others though. Instead of being destroyed by snow and hail, what was left of it was charred. Fire was still blazing on some parts of the house. The surrounding land was scorched and burned. Ashes were everywhere. 
There wasn’t any sign of people, but they went inside the house anyway. Faith came across a room and looked at what probably used to be a bed. There was a burned figure on the bed. The fire must have been bad to have killed it before it woke up because it still looked like it was sleeping peacefully. Faith was sad to see that the child’s life had ended so tragically. She couldn’t stand to look at it anymore, so she turned and left the room. After looking in a few other rooms she went to the front of the house and met up with her mother at the front of the house.
“Did you find anything?” her mother asked when she arrived.
“I found a dead child. Burned in its sleep.”
“That poor child. Let’s get out of this horrible place and see what we can do about our own problems now.”
“Mother, why was that house burned while everything else was covered in snow?” Faith asked as they walked home.
“I don’t know. It’s very strange. But we have bigger problems. We will have to figure that out later. We need to find a place to stay for the night.”
“But what if it happens again?”
“What happens again?”
“The storm! We would just be waiting for it to come! I don’t want to wait for it to come again. I want to figure out how to stop it!” Faith said.
“You’re right. Let’s see if the library in the town is still standing and see if it has any books on snowstorms.” They passed their ruined house and continued on to the town.
“Why is that man pacing around in the middle of the road?” Faith asked as the town came into sight.
“I don’t know. Let’s find out.” 
Faith’s mother walked up to the man, but before she could say anything, he spoke, “Where is your daughter?”
“What?”
“Where is she?”
“Why? And who’s asking?” Mother snapped.
The man sighed. “What is the world coming to? People don’t trust each other.” He muttered. Then he said to Faith and her mother, “I only want to help. I had hoped to find you before this happened,” he gestured around him at the destruction, “but anyway, we have to get you out of here. It won’t be long before they figure you out.”
“What do you mean figure her out?” Faith’s mother asked, glaring at the man.
The man blinked in confusion. “You don’t know?” 
“Know what?” 
“Faith is the source of the storm.”
“What?” Faith shrieked. “I did that?” At the same time her mother furiously said, “How dare you!”
“Shh! They’ll hear you. You can’t let anyone know or they will most likely demand your life. That is why you must leave now.”
“What!” 
“We’re not going anywhere. This is our home and you aren’t going to make us leave it.”
The man groaned. “I’m not making you go anywhere. I’m just suggesting you do it for your own safety.”
“Supposing we did leave, where would we go?” 
“There is a place not far from here where you can go. It’s a secret place though to keep the people there safe, and they don’t particularly like newcomers for fear that they will be discovered.”
Mother thought for a long while. “If we go, will we like it there?”
“Yes, it’s very safe as long as you stay in the caverns.” The man said.
“The caverns?” 
“Mystic Caverns. Some of our best speakers made a part of the caverns livable for refugees.”
“So that’s what we are, refugees?”
“No! Of course not! All I’m saying is that you will be safe there.”
Faith’s mother thought for a minute. “Then, as much as I hate to say it, we’ll go. It will be safer for everyone here.”
“But, Mother…”
“We have to. You said it yourself, what if another storm comes? We need to do what’s best for everybody.”
“Fine.”
“Good. When you get there, tell them that Dr. Brown sent you.” The man glanced around as if to make sure no one was looking. Then he handed Faith’s mother a piece of paper. “Here is a map. Follow it and you should get there safely. Now go before they find you out.”
“Thank you.” Faith’s mother said stiffly. “We get a few things and then be on our way.”
“Can I say goodbye to the house first? Please.” Faith asked. 
“Very well. We will go by there on our way. But we should go now.”
Faith sighed. “Okay. Let’s go.”
== Chapter 2 ==
Ben grew up in a log cabin in the middle of The Forest of Zor with his father, mother, two older brothers, one older sister, and one younger sister.
He could almost always be found in a tree or reading a book, but the things he loved most were rocks.
They had always fascinated him with their colors and irregular shapes. It had never occurred to him that when suddenly a rock would appear where it hadn’t been before, that the Rock Speaking he didn’t know he had, had created it. Or that when he would stare longingly out the window wishing he had a certain type of rock and the next time he went through his rock collection, and it would be there, that it was Rock Speaking. 
His speaking had unknowingly appeared when he was five. That was when rocks started appearing. Now he was eleven and still loved rocks just as much. His brothers teased him about it constantly and his older sister, Dasha, tried to explain to him several times that it was weird to collect rocks like he did at his age and that it was embarrassing. He didn’t listen to any of them. He and his four year old sister, Lidia, would go exploring and always looked for new rocks. 
She was the only one in his family who shared his enthusiasm for rocks. She liked to look for pretty crystals in any color.
It was on one of these expeditions that they came across an abandoned campsite. There was nothing unusual about people camping in the forest, but there was something about the campsite that made him curious. Whoever had camped there obviously didn’t know what they were doing. And he could see that the person had built the fire wrong, which probably had resulted in a weak fire that could barely cook anything. Whoever had camped there had also left something that glinted in the afternoon sun.
“Lidia, come here,” Ben called. Lidia set her rocks down and walked over to him.
“What is it?” she asked.
“This.” Ben pointed at the thing he had noticed. Lidia walked over to it and picked it up.
“I think it’s a compass. I wonder who lost it” she said, looking at the odd thing in her hand. “There’s a name on it. I can’t read it though. Here.” Lidia handed the compass to Ben. He looked at the name engraved on the lid of the compass.
“James Brown,” he read. “I wonder who that is.” A horrified expression washed over Lidia’s face.
“What if he needed that and is now lost in our forest?”
“I don’t know. I think we should take it to Father. He’ll know what to do.”
“Good idea. He always knows what to do.” They made their way through the forest back to a small log cabin. Ben’s two older brothers were in the yard splitting logs for firewood. They looked up when Ben and Lidia approached. 
“No rocks? That’s the first.” One of his brothers said.
“We have something that’s better than rocks,” Lidia said indignantly. Ben disagreed, but he knew better than to argue with her.
“Like what? I didn’t think there was anything better than rocks” the other scoffed.
“Very funny. And it’s a compass.” Both brothers were taking her seriously now.
“Really?” asked one.
“Where’d you get it?” asked the other.
“We’re busy and don’t have time to answer questions right now.” Ben hurriedly put in before Lidia got distracted. He grabbed her arm and pulled her inside the cabin. Their father was in the family room sitting near the fireplace reading a book when they walked in. 
“Father.” Lidia ran over to him. 
“Yes.” He looked up at her.
“We found a… you tell him, Ben.”
“We found a compass and didn’t know what to do with it, so we thought you might help,” Ben explained.
“Do you have it with you?” their father asked. 
“Yes, here.” Ben went over to him and handed him the compass.
“James Brown,” their father read. He looked up at them. “Tell you what, you and Lidia can go back to where you found this tomorrow and if nobody comes back for it, you can keep it.” Both Ben and Lidia were pleased with their father’s idea. Their older brothers, John and Caleb were so jealous they started planning pranks to play on their younger siblings. Dasha, meanwhile, said that a compass was useless unless you had a terrible sense of direction, implying that Ben and Lidia must have terrible senses of direction, though they didn’t.
Ben and Lidia spent the rest of the afternoon walking near their cabin with the compass and only went back when their mother called them inside for dinner.
The family was almost done with their meal when they heard a knock on their door.
“I wonder who could be out here so late,” Ben’s mother wondered. Ben’s father got up and went to open the door. A few minutes later he re-entered the room with a man.
“And I saw your cabin and thought I might be able to spend the night here,” the man was saying to Ben’s father. 
“Of course you can stay. We would be delighted to have you,” Father said. “Caleb, can you get an extra chair for our guest? Dasha, you can set another place at the table.” Caleb and Dasha left to do what their father wanted them to do.
“Oh. I don’t want to be a bother,” the man said.
“No bother at all,” Ben’s mother said. Caleb returned with a chair and put it at the table with the others and Dasha came in carrying a plate of food and silverware. She set them at the table then sat down in her chair.
“Please sit,” Ben’s father said. The man and Father sat down and dinner resumed. 
“What’s your name?” Lidia asked.
“Oh! Forgive me. Where are my manners? My name is James Brown.” Lidia gasped and Ben looked startled. 
“Like on the compass,” Lidia breathed. James Brown’s face lit up.
“You found it? I’ve been wandering around hopelessly lost. It was pure chance that I came across your cabin.”
“I have it here.” Ben pulled the compass out of his pocket and handed it to him.
“And what is your name?” 
“Benjamin, but Ben, really.” 
The man looked delighted. “Perhaps luck was with me after all! I’ve been looking for you.”
Ben looked alarmed. “Me?”
“Yes! You’re a Rock Speaker!” 
Dasha’s eyes widened. “Really?” She asked, leaning forward. 
“Yes really.”
“My own little brother.” She sat back and sighed with pleasure.
“Um… what’s a Rock Speaker?” Ben asked. James’ excitement deflated a little bit. 
He sighed. “You can create rocks, control rocks, move rock. You get the idea.” Ben’s jaw dropped. His brothers and parents looked dumbstruck too. Lidia just looked confused. 
“Could I be a Speaker?” Dasha asked, breaking the silence. 
“Technically yes, but powers rarely come past fifteen. How old are you?”
“Eighteen.” Dasha said sadly. 
“Where did you learn about speakers, Dasha? I didn’t think you read.” John asked.
“Well I do. Me and Emily read about them last year.” John still looked doubtful.
“That’s enough, John.” Ben’s mother said, slipping out of her shocked trance.
“Mr. Brown, what do you mean by telling us that Ben has Rock Speaking,” Ben’s father inquired.
“I’ve been sent to find him and bring him to a secret place to train him in his power,” James answered.
Ben’s father stood up so quickly he knocked his chair over with a crash. “Absolutely not!” he roared. 
James flinched. “You see, sir, he’s needed over where I come from.” 
Ben’s father glared at James. “He’s needed over here too,” he answered coldly. 
“Well, yes. I’m not saying he’s not needed, I just…” He trailed off. “I’m doing a terrible job of explaining this. Perhaps we could talk alone.”
“Fine. you had better change my mind about you or you might find yourself lost in the forest at night with all the deadly creatures that live here. We can talk in my bedroom.” Ben’s father left the room and James hurried to follow him.
“I like him.” Dasha commented mildly after they had left.
“Well, get working. Dasha, dishes. Caleb, John, firewood. Lidia, bed. Ben, you can sweep.” Ben’s mother ordered. Ben and his siblings hurried to obey.
__________________________
That night Ben tossed and turned in his bed unable to sleep. James’ words kept circling in his mind. He could still hear his father’s and James’ quiet murmurings. Ben sat up. It occurred to him that his father’s answer might not be no. Would Father let me go? He wondered. Do I want to go? He lay back down and sleep claimed him at last.
__________________________
As Ben made his way to breakfast the next morning, he saw James sitting in the living room. Panic swept over him. That means he didn’t say no. His mind worried. It doesn’t mean he said yes though. Ben hurried down the hall and into the kitchen. His mother and Dasha were just putting breakfast on the table.
“There you are!” Dasha scolded. “We’ve been working hard while you’ve slept.”
“Sorry.” Ben mumbled. He sat down at his place. The rest of the family filed into the kitchen and sat down. Last of all, James came in and sat down. Caleb and John immediately started whispering to each other.
“I have made my decision,” Ben’s father announced. “Ben shall go. Mr. Brown has convinced me that he is needed and that he will be safer there than here.” He sighed. “I’m sorry, Ben, but this is the way things have to be for now. We will visit you as often as we can. Just promise me that you’ll work hard and make us proud.” 
Ben was too shocked to answer for a while. He finally managed to squeak out a “yes.”
“Good.” Ben’s father sat back in his chair. “You’ll leave this morning.”
“Can I go too, Father? Please,” Dasha asked unexpectedly.
Father sat up straight. “What?”
“Can I go too?” Dasha repeated.
“Is it not bad enough that one of my children is leaving? Now you want to go too. No, you may not go.”
“And who will help me with taking care of the chores with you gone?” Mother added.
“Lidia’s getting older,” Dasha muttered. 
Nobody spoke for the rest of breakfast. Afterwards Ben went to his room to pack. The hardest part of packing, he thought, is deciding what to bring. 
An hour later they were ready to go. After long goodbyes Ben and James left. They hadn’t walked for very long when Ben heard something behind them.
“Did you hear that?” Ben asked.
“Hmm?” James wasn’t paying any attention.
“I’m surprised you didn’t hear me sooner,” a voice said from behind them. Ben whirled around and James followed more slowly. A figure stepped out of the shadows and into view.
“Dasha? What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to come, so I did,” Dasha replied.
“But what about Mother and Father?”
“I left them a note, and they have Lidia.”
“But…”
Dasha cut him off. “Please, Ben,” she pleaded. “This is my only chance to have a real adventure.”
James saved him from having to reason with her. “I’m afraid you can’t come. I don’t want to be blamed for your disappearance. And your parents will be worried. And another half a dozen reasons I won’t name.”
“If you won’t let me come I’ll just wander around the forest instead.”
James sighed, knowing he had lost the argument. “You’re not a Speaker,” James said. “This place is only for Speakers.”
Dasha raised an eyebrow. “Really? So, say, if there was a random person who needed shelter and safety you would turn them away just because they weren’t a Speaker?” she asked triumphantly. 
James gave up. “No, we wouldn’t.” He sighed. “Fine. But you have to actually stay with us. No running off.”
Dasha grinned. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” She said.
== Chapter 3 ==
Sage grew up on the northern coast of Elba. She had heard the stories of how she had gotten there. 
One night there was a terrible storm. Alarm bells rang all over the island. People ran to higher ground to avoid being claimed by the sea. The storm raged all night long. In the morning the people returned from the hill and went down to the village to find it flooded and broken. People wept and mothers held their children close. One woman, however, searched the wreckage to see if she could salvage anything of use. Instead she found a small baby in a basket. The baby was perfectly dry and was laughing, pointing at the birds in the sky. There was another odd thing about the baby; its skin was dark unlike any of the islanders or anyone on the mainland. The woman picked up the basket with the baby and brought it to where the others from the village stood. 
“I found a child.” The woman had said. Shocked murmuring had started in the crowd. An older couple had gone forward and requested to keep the child since they couldn’t have any of their own. After much discussion, the crowd had agreed. The couple took the baby home to their cottage, which by some miracle, hadn't been destroyed or even damaged. After a few hours of talking, the couple had decided to name the baby Sage after the name on the locket the baby had been clutching. That was how Sage came to live on the island of Elba.
That was how Sage heard it anyway. One of the biggest mysteries of the story was where she had come from. 
The second biggest was how she had survived. The older ladies on the island had long ago come to the conclusion that it was just pure luck that she had survived, but Sage didn’t think so. 
Nobody Sage asked seemed to know where she had come from, if they would even listen  to her, anyway. One day when she was in the village buying food for her adoptive mother, there was a new person in the village. Insula Village didn’t get visitors often so visitors always attracted much attention. 
The visitor, a woman who looked like she could be in her thirties, was walking through the village looking hopelessly lost and very uncomfortable from all the people staring at her. Sage didn’t know what made her do it, but she went up to the woman and asked, “Is there anything I can help you with?”
The woman didn’t flinch like others whenever Sage talked to them, she just looked relieved. 
“Yes. Thank you. I’m looking for someone named Mrs. Mill. Do you know her?” the woman asked.
“Yes. I do. She’s my mother. I can take you to her if you want.”
“If you don’t mind, then by all means.” As they walked out of the village together, she said. “I couldn’t find anyone who would talk to me. You don’t know how relieved I am that you found me. And I might as well introduce myself while I’m at it. My name is Liana.”
“Mine’s Sage.”
“Beautiful name.” Liana said as they walked down the path to Sage’s house.
“The others in the village don’t think so. They think that if I’m different in one single way that that’s all that matters.” 
Liana frowned. “People these days!” She exclaimed. “I liked it better when people were open minded and flexible.”
“Here’s my home,” Sage said as they walked up to the door. “I’ll get Mother and bring her here.” Sage went into the house. “Mother!” she called. “There’s someone here to see you!”
“Did you call me, Sage?” her mother said, coming to her.
“There’s someone here to see you,” Sage repeated.
“Really?” She walked over to the door and opened it. “Good morning. What can I do for you?” 
“You’re Mrs. Mill, I presume,” Liana said. 
“I am,” Mrs. Mill replied. 
“My name is Liana and I have news concerning a girl who arrived on this island around twelve years ago.” 
For a moment Sage wondered if Liana was talking about her then she remembered her mother telling her about a family with a girl who came to the island the same year as she did.
“I think I can help you. We can talk in the garden. Sage, can you get me those seeds I wanted from the village?”
“Yes, Mother.” Sage unwillingly left the house and walked back down the path to the village.
__________________________
“Is it my Sage you’re talking about?” Mrs. Mill asked. 
“I’m fairly certain. Her appearance is a big hint.” Lian answered as they walked through Mrs. Mill’s garden.
“I always wondered where she came from.” Mrs. Mill mused.
“I don’t know, but I have some guesses.”
Mrs. Mill stopped walking. “Guesses? What do you mean, guesses? And why are you really here?”
Liana hesitated, then said. “I have reason to believe that Sage is a Water Speaker. You said she was found completely dry, yes?”
“Yes…” 
“And the locket she was clutching not only had a name on it but a symbol. The symbol of water, yes?”
“Yes, but…”
“It all fits together perfectly, right?”
“Yes, but who were her parents then?” Mrs. Mill managed to say at last.
Liana’s face fell. “That, I’m afraid I don’t know. I will try to find out though.”
“Why are you telling me all this? Surely this all is leading up to something,” Mrs. Mill asked.
“I regret to inform you that the place where I come from has a need for Sage if she is who I think she is.” Liana did look sorry.
“Oh.” Mrs. Mill said. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Liana did not look very happy with being sent to take Sage from her family. “They really should’ve sent James. He’s so much better at this.” Liana muttered.
“I’ll have to talk to my husband first.”
“Of course.” 
Mrs. Mill started walking around the garden again. “Do you have a place to stay?”
“I couldn’t find an inn,” Liana said sheepishly.
“That’s because we don’t have one. You can stay with us though if you want to.”
“I would be honored. And it’s nice to know I might not be as bad at finding things as the others say. I’m great at sea, but I’m quite hopeless on land.” Mrs. Mill laughed just as they heard the back door of the house open and close. 
“Are you out there?” Sage called.
“Over here.”
Sage came around a corner of the garden and into view. “Back so soon?” Mrs. Mill asked. 
“I ran. Here are the seeds.” Sage handed a packet of seeds to her mother.
“Also, tell your father that Liana will be staying for the night.” Mrs. Mill said offhandedly. 
“Yes, Mother.” Sage turned to leave.
“Oh, and please prepare dinner,” Mrs. Mill added.
“Yes, Mother.” Sage wound her way back through the garden to the back door. She went into the house and went to the door that went into her father’s study. She knocked on the door and waited for a reply.
“Who is it?” Mr. Mill asked from the other side of the door.
“It’s Sage, Father,” Sage answered.
“Come in.” Sage opened the door and went in.
Mr. Mill’s study was a cozy room with a fireplace, a desk, and bookshelves lining the walls. Sage’s father was sitting behind his desk going through some of his papers.
“Mother wanted me to tell you that Liana is staying for dinner.”
Mr. Mill looked up and peered at Sage through his glasses. “Who is Liana? Is she yet another of my wife’s endless cousins?”
“I don’t think she’s a cousin. She’s just a visitor.”
“Ah. Good. Now, go see if you can prepare one of your famous meals for me.” Sage laughed.
“I’m not that good at cooking and you know it.” 
“Hmm. We’ll see.” Sage left the study and went to the kitchen to  prepare dinner.
__________________________
An hour later, dinner was ready and Sage, Mr. and Mrs. Mill, and Liana were seated around the dining table.
“So, Liana, why did you come to Elba?” Mr. Mill asked.
“I came on a mission. James would’ve come but he gets air… er seasick.”
“Mission? And who is James?” Sage asked.
“I’ll tell you later,” Liana said with a wink at Sage.
“Do you like gardens, Liana?” Mrs. Mill asked, changing the topic.
Liana thought for a moment. “I had a garden when I was young, but it got destroyed in an… accident. And where I live now, well, I can’t have one there.”
“Where do you live?” Sage asked.
“Sage!” Mrs. Mill scolded.
“That is my little secret… and I’m not allowed to say it in front of them.” She gestured at Mr. and Mrs. Mill. “No offense. Also, Sage, this meal is really good. You’ll have to make it for me again sometime.”
“See, what did I tell you?” Mr. Mill said.
“Well, maybe I did okay,” Sage said, embarrassed.
Mr. Mill rolled his eyes. “She does this whenever she gets praised,” he said to Liana. 
“I do not!” Sage protested indignantly. 
Liana pushed her chair back and stood up. “Well, this has been an excellent meal, but I’m rather tired from my trip and need to rest,” she said.
“Sage, please show Liana to the guest room,” Mrs. Mill requested.
“Of course.” Sage stood up. “Follow me,” she said to Liana. Sage led Liana to a small, cozy bedroom with lavender walls and a neatly made bed.
“What a lovely room. Makes me wish I could stay here.” Liana sat down on the bed in one of the corners of the room. “Say, do you want to see my ship tomorrow?” Liana asked.
“Really? Do you have a crew?”
“Um… no. No crew. Just me.”
“How do you control a ship with only one person?”
“You’ll see when we go to my ship. Right now though, if you wouldn’t mind letting me get some rest.”
“Oh, yes. Sorry.” Sage left the bedroom and ran to the dining room where her parents were just standing up. “Liana’s going to show me her ship tomorrow!” she exclaimed.
“Liana’s going to what?” Mrs. Mill asked.
“Taking me to see her ship tomorrow,” Sage repeated.
“Oh… David, please come! We need to talk right now! Meet me in our room!” Mrs. Mill went out of the room.
“Can you start cleaning up, Sage, dear. I'll help when she’s done with me.” And then Mr. Mill rushed out of the room after his wife. He didn’t come out of his room to help with the cleaning while Sage worked, nor did he come out before she had to go to bed. Sage wondered what was taking him so long. 
That night, when Sage finally fell asleep, she drifted into dreams about a big ship and sailing.
__________________________
When Sage went into the kitchen the next morning to help with breakfast, she found her mother sitting down and her eyes were red and her face was blotchy like she had been crying. Sage went over to her and hugged her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked gently. 
“You have to leave with her.”
“What?”
“Liana will explain later.”
“Are you saying that I’m going with her somewhere?”
“She’ll explain. Just promise me that you’ll go with her.”
“I’ll go if it will make you happy, Mother.”
“Thank you.”
Liana walked into the kitchen looking very tired.
“Mother says I’m supposed to go somewhere with you,” Sage said. 
“She said yes?” Liana asked.
“I guess?” Neither her mother, father, or Liana would tell her anything about where she was going during breakfast and it wasn’t until Sage and Liana left for Elba Harbor that Liana explained. She told Sage about why she was on Elba and about where Sage was going to go.  And about her Speaking and about Liana’s own Speaking. 
Once Liana was done explaining, Sage asked. “So, how did your garden really get destroyed?”
Liana laughed. “I accidentally dropped the house onto it.” They walked up to a large ship at the harbor with the name The Cloudcatcher painted on it’s hull. 
“Why is it named that?” Sage asked as she pointed at the name.
“You’ll see soon. Alexander! Get over here!” Liana called. A young man ran off the ship and down the gangplank to them.
“I thought you said you didn’t have any crew.” Sage commented.
“He doesn’t count. Hey, Alexander. This is Sage.”
“Pleased to meet you.” The man said. “You ready to go, captain?”
“Yes. We’ll sail out for a bit, then… you know.” Liana, Alexander and Sage went aboard the ship and started sailing away from Elba. After around an hour or so at sea, something happened to the ship. It lurched, then the front half of the ship began to rise out of the water. The back half followed.
Liana laughed at Sage’s shocked expression. “I didn’t tell you we’d be flying, did I?” She said. “Alexander! Why is the cover not up yet?”
“Sorry.” Alexander called from below deck. The ship’s color began to change. Sky blue and white bled across the ship, transforming it so it looked just like the sky around them.
“How…” Sage started.
“Alexander’s a Camouflage Speaker.” Liana said.
“Wow.” Sage said wonderingly. She wondered how many more speakers she would meet in the next few days.
== Chapter 4 ==
It was a cool autumn day and Conor was walking down the streets of Elicia City. The next moment he was against a wall of a house and his head hurt. Several people were standing around him looking concerned. 
“What happened?” Conor asked. Some people looked at each other with worried expressions before a young girl answered.
“You were walking and then boom! You were flying and then you hit the wall! I think some kind of force hit you really hard!” 
“I was what?” Conor exclaimed. “How?” Realization dawned on some of the people. Others had horrified expressions and quickly backed away.
“I don’t know,” the girl said. “But it was kinda cool to watch a person fly. Not hitting the wall though. That was not cool.”
When Conor tried to sit up, his head immediately started throbbing with pain. He winced and sat back down. Suddenly a woman screamed and was flung out of the path of a bolt of wind. A bolt of wind coming straight for him! People screamed and jumped out of the way before the wind could reach them. The force hit Conor in the chest then rippled out from him, knocking people off their feet and stirring up dust everywhere. 
“Please! Make it stop!” A man yelled from the ground. Conor was too confused and horrified to answer. A minute later he drifted into unconsciousness. The wind stopped as suddenly as it started soon after. The people around him knew that Conor was hurt and needed help but they were too afraid to get close to him. A woman in the crowd pushed through to where Conor lay.
“Somebody! Get a doctor!” she yelled. The young girl sprinted away to get the town’s doctor. Not long later she returned with the doctor close behind her. Together the woman and the doctor managed to get Conor to the doctor’s house.
“I’m going to need to check to see if anything is broken. You might want to wait in the parlor,” the doctor said after they set Conor down on a bed.
“Okay. Please do what you can for my son,” the woman said. Then she left the room, quietly shutting the door behind her.
__________________________
Around an hour later the doctor emerged from the room where Conor was.
“How is he?” the woman asked.
“From what I could see, he has a couple broken ribs and a minor concussion,” the doctor answered. “I’m going to need to keep him here for tonight and possibly for the next few weeks.”
“How soon do you think he will recover?”
“It’s not clear. It could take anywhere from a week to two months.”
“Oh, Conor. Why must you worry your mother so? May I see him?”
“Yes. He should be awake right now.”
“Thank you.” Conor’s mother went into the room and closed the door behind her.
“Mother? Is that you?” Conor asked. He was propped up into a seated position on the bed.
“Yes, Conor. It’s me. What happened to you?”
“I don’t know. There was wind… and… somehow it knocked me down… I think.” Conor said.
“But where did the wind come from? Was someone trying to kill you? But why?”
“I don’t know, but when the wind rippled out a man begged for me to make it stop like I was the source. It makes no sense. I don’t control the wind. Even if Wind Speakers were real!” Conor said.
“Strange. I’ll ask the doctor about it. For now you need to rest.” She turned to leave, then paused. “And please get better soon. Your sister and I will be bored silly without you.” Then she left the room. The doctor was waiting in the parlor when she got there.
“I need you to tell me exactly how your son got hurt. There aren’t many ways that a person could get hurt that badly other than getting hit by a carriage on the streets of our town.” The doctor said
“That’s the problem. I don’t know how. He said something about wind, but…” 
The doctor cut her off, “what did he say about the wind?”
“Well… he said the wind knocked him down. After that it seemed to ripple out from him.”
“I thought so. Your son is a Wind Speaker. A place that will keep people like him safe sent me to find five Speakers and send them there so they don’t accidentally hurt someone with their power. If you are alright with me taking your son there I will leave with him as soon as he is better.”
___________________________
Conor woke up early the next morning. He somehow knew where he was and why. He couldn’t remember exactly who had helped him or how he had gotten where he was now. He could remember the searing pain when he hit the wall though. He heard a noise and looked to see the doctor enter the room.
“Good. You’re awake. How does your head feel?”
Conor touched the back of his head where it had hit the wall. He had expected it to hurt or to feel the bruise that must have been there. But there was nothing. It didn’t even hurt a little bit.
“Actually… it doesn’t hurt. Strange.”
“Really? Not at all?” 
“Not at all,” he said, surprised.
“Interesting. Either you just heal incredibly fast or you’re a Healing Speaker too. It’s rare to have more than one power, and not only do you have two powers but they showed themselves at exactly the same time! The mistress will be fascinated.” 
“Wait. What? Powers?” Conor interrupted.
The doctor ignored him and continued. “Of course she’ll want to meet you too. Hmm, but you’re supposed to meet the others first. So who do I take you to first, the mistress or the others?” 
“Powers?” Conor said again.
“Huh?” 
“What powers?”
“Oh! Didn’t you learn about them in school or history books? Or at least in bedtime stories?”
“Yes…” Conor said carefully, “but the stories and books always said that they were just a myth.”
“Then you just became a myth. Of course they’re real! But if you really wanted them not to be real I could start coming up with a reason for why you poofed into thin air.”
“No no no. It’s just… powers? Me? Of all people. Me?” Conor said.
“Apparently. Now what do you say about heading to your mother’s house after breakfast and telling her that you’re better?”
“Oh! Poor mother. She must have been so worried. Yes!”
Conor got out of the bed and stood up. Then he followed the doctor out of the room and into the kitchen next to the parlor. The doctor prepared a simple breakfast of bread with hard boiled eggs and milk. They sat down and ate at a small table in the breakfast room.
“I didn’t get your name earlier, Sir,” Conor said.
“You may call me Dr. Brown,” the doctor said.
“Okay. Dr. Brown, can you tell me more about Wind Speakers and other powers?” Conor asked.
“Sure. I’ll tell you a story that we like to tell where I live.” The doctor cleared his throat and began. “Long, long ago, when all of the people on our planet were together and spoke the same language, there were Power Speakers. They were the most honored of all the people, chosen by the High King himself, and were trained to protect the people who couldn’t protect themselves. They did so for many hundreds of years until, the first of his power, a Time Speaker named Krux was born. He was never content with what he had. He wanted more than this world could give him, so he started putting together a plan. Nobody knows the exact details, but eventually he was stopped, but at a great price. After the confrontation with Krux, over ten Speakers were dead and they had still only managed to capture Krux and imprison him on an island. After that, the human king made a law that Power Speakers were not allowed to have children because he wanted to erase all that remained of the Speakers so that there wouldn’t be any risk of another Krux. That is why there haven’t been any powers in hundreds of years. I guess a few speakers disobeyed the law. Anyway, questions?”
“How did you know about me and where to find me?” Conor asked.
“That is something I will tell you later when the five of you are together.” Dr. Brown said with a twinkle in his eye. 
“Five?”
“You’ll see.”
“Together?”
“Oh right. I didn’t tell you. I’m going to need to bring you to be trained in your power… for… something.”
“What about my mother? Did she say you could take me? And what are you training me for? Is it bad?”
“Your mother agreed to it and no it isn’t bad, but I can’t tell you what it is for right now.”
“Will they be able to visit me there? My mother and sister that is,” Conor said.
“Of course! They could visit you anytime they wanted.”
Conor’s face brightened. “I guess I’ll go then since Mother agreed to it,” he said.
“Wonderful. We’ll leave in the evening under the cover of night. Be sure to pack lightly. Also, if I come early it means that something is wrong and we need to run, so be prepared,” Dr. Brown said.
“Okay. Can we go see my mother now?” Conor gobbled up his last small piece of bread and stood up.
“Alright. I’ll get my boots and then we’ll go.” Dr. Brown stood up and cleared the dishes. Then he left the room for a moment and returned with a pair of leather boots on. “Let’s go.”
Conor and Dr. Brown left the house and started winding their way through the now busy streets. Some of the people who had been there when he had gotten hurt stopped what they were doing and stared or backed up into the shadows as Conor walked by. All of the eyes on him made him uncomfortable, but he kept on walking. Conor’s house wasn’t very far from the doctor’s house so they arrived pretty quickly.
“Hello?” Conor’s mother asked when he opened the front door.
“Mother? Is that you?” He could hear his mother rushing to the front door. She came through a door and stood at the end of the hallway.
“Conor? How are you here?” she said. “Nevermind. You can tell me later. Come here.” Conor went to her and she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. “Don’t ever worry me like that ever again,” she murmured. 
“I’ll try not to.”
Conor’s mother let go of him and inspected him. “Now you can tell me why you’re here.”
“I think Dr. Brown should explain,” Conor said.
“Dr. Brown? Oh!” She said, noticing the doctor for the first time. “I’m sorry. Come in, Doctor.”
“Thank you. When should I explain about Conor?” Dr. Brown asked.
“Now would be a good time if you don’t mind. We can sit down in the parlor.”
“I don’t mind. Lead the way.” Conor’s mother led the doctor to their parlor with Conor close behind. Once they were seated, the doctor began.
“There isn’t much to explain but many ages ago power speakers were as common as other people. they slowly vanished until they were gone… or so we thought, until now. Why your son is here, well, not only does he have wind abilities, but healing ones as well.” Dr. Brown said.
“Strange. First his powers hurt him then they heal him.”
“It’s not really that strange. Usually a power speaker would be put in special care before they got their powers to make sure everything went well. Otherwise, the speaker can get accidentally hurt if they’re element gets ‘too excited.’ Conor was actually pretty fortunate.”
“You’re going to take him today aren’t you?”
“I’m afraid I must. We’ll be leaving in the evening. Don’t forget to pack. Farewell for now.” Dr. Brown stood up and went out of the parlor. Conor could hear the door shut after the doctor. 
“I guess I’ll go pack,” Conor said.
“I’ll help. Come on.” As they walked to Conor’s room one of the three doors in the hallway they were in flew open and a young girl ran out. 
She wrapped her arms around Conor and yelped, “Conor! You’re back! When Mother told me what happened to you, I was so worried. But now you’re here, so it’s all okay!”
“I missed you too, Lucy. For the few minutes I was awake anyway. Any chance you can let go of me now?” 
“Oh! Sure! How long are you going to stay? Oooh! I know, we could play for hours and hours! And then we could… hmm… oh! We could read! Out loud! Well, Mother could read and we could listen. Can we? Please.” 
“Um… I don’t think we’re going to be able to do all of that because I have to leave this evening, but….”
“Leaving this evening!” Lucy interrupted, “but you just got here. No fair.”
“Conor is going to a special place just for people like him,” Conor’s mother explained.
“Like me. I’m like Conor, right? Does that mean I get to go too?”
“No, you can’t go. Besides, who will keep me company if both of my children are gone?”
“But who will keep Conor company if I don’t go?”
“I’m sure there will be other people there.”
“But I won’t be there.”
“Hey, Lucy. You can visit me there, and Mother is right, you need to stay here to keep her company,” Conor said.
“Fine. I’ll stay. But I will visit you every week or else!”
“That would be great. I have to pack now though. You can help me if you want to.”
“Sure!” Lucy went into the room across from the one she came out of and by the time Conor had entered his room she had already pulled out his knapsack and was rummaging through his dresser drawers. “I can’t find your wooden lion that Father carved for you,” she said, still digging in the middle drawer.
“It’s in the top one,” Conor told her.
“Okay.” Lucy closed the middle drawer and opened the top one. A moment later she pulled out a small wooden lion carved from pine wood. “Here.” She handed the lion to Conor. Suddenly someone pounded on the front door. Lucy gave a startled shriek then ran to open the door. Conor and his mother hurriedly followed. 
Dr. Brown was frantically pacing on the front porch. He looked up when the door opened and gave a sigh of relief. 
“Conor, we need to leave now,” he said. 
“Now, but…”
Dr. Brown cut him off. “Come, I'll explain later.” He started pacing again. The doctor froze and slowly turned to look toward the center of town with panic written all over his face. “They’re almost here! Come on! We have to go now.”
Now Conor could hear a lot of voices coming closer and they didn’t sound friendly. He didn’t hesitate now. He gave Lucy and his mother quick hugs and then he was running toward the edge of town behind Dr. Brown, still clutching the carved lion. 
Both Lucy and Conor’s mother were left speechless standing in the doorway. Only Conor and Dr. Brown knew the urgency.
== Chapter 5 ==
Ruth knew that it had been a bad idea to run away, but what else could she have done? She had burned down her house, accidentally killing her family. There hadn’t been any place for her there anymore. Now she was learning why most people who ran away rarely lived to tell the tale. She hadn’t eaten in days and what little water she had was dirty. She had burned up her blanket in a rage the previous night so she was cold too.
She had to keep on walking though no matter how hungry or cold she was. It was all she could do; walk and hope that she came across a village or an abandoned house. And if she was lucky, she might even find a nice family that would give her some food and water. 
Later, by some miracle, she found a large village. It was nestled in a valley and there was a river and a forest nearby. The first thing she noticed about the village was the noise. She could hear shouting, shouting that sounded angry. She decided to wait for a minute to see if anything happened. A minute later, something did happen. If she looked closer, she could see two people running out of the village, away from the angry shouting. 
Ruth had always been a curious child. It had gotten her into trouble several times because of this. She had always known when not to investigate something or spy on her older brother and his friends, but she had always done it anyway. This was one of the times when she should not go investigate, she knew. But this was also one of the times when curiosity won.
She hastily made her way to where she would, she thought, intercept the two people. A couple of minutes later the two people, she could now see were a man and a boy, almost ran into her. The boy gave a startled shout and jumped back. The man just stared at her and looked very confused.
“What?” Ruth asked.
“How old are you?” the man asked.
“Why should I tell you?” Ruth gave him a sharp look.
“No reason. Just wondering…” The man paused then rushed on, “did you burn down your house…” Ruth froze. “and your family. It was you, wasn't it?” 
Ruth panicked. She had no idea who this man was. Had he seen her run away? Did he want her dead for what she had done? 
“Of course it was you. You’re Ruth, right?”
Ruth was torn between running away from the man and finding out how he knew about her. The boy was giving the man a confused look. So at least it didn’t seem like he knew her. 
“Um… yes,” she answered slowly. “Why?” 
“I’ve been looking for you for four years!” the man said. Now she wanted to run, but was too scared to move.
“Ruth? Who’s that?” the boy asked.
“She’s one of the five I mentioned. The Fire Speaker.”
“Oh!” The boy looked less confused now.
“W-what do you want with me?” Ruth asked in a shaky voice.
“Nothing bad. I promise. I just want you to come with us.” The man looked her up and down. “I have food and water,” he added. Ruth glanced hungrily at the bag the man was carrying. She was hungry. And she didn’t have anywhere else to go, but should she trust the man? No, she decided, she should not trust the man yet, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t get a free meal.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“We’re going to a place where you and Conor can be trained how to use your powers.” It didn’t sound dangerous to her, but you never knew. He could be tricking both of them. She had grown up not trusting anyone. It felt weird to even consider going with them. She was curious about what they wanted her to do. It didn’t seem likely that he just wanted her to train.
“I’ll go,” she said. She could always run if it seemed dangerous.
“Good,” the man said, looking relieved. “We should make haste before someone finds us. You can ride a horse, right?”
“Um… no. But I could learn!”
“That’s alright. We’ll walk. You can learn after we arrive.” They started walking away from the village to a forest in the distance. Nobody talked the entire way to the forest and Ruth was rethinking her plan to go with the man and the boy. What if they weren’t going anywhere? She thought. No, they had to go somewhere some time, right? She was still thinking about this when the man interrupted her thoughts.
“We’ll set up camp here. Ruth, Conor, you get wood for a fire.”
“Sure,” Conor said at the same time Ruth said, “I guess.” They set off into the woods scanning the ground for dry wood.
“So, where have you been all of this time?” Conor asked.
“Places,” Ruth said. She still wasn’t ready to give more information out.
“Did you…” Conor hesitated. “Did you really… burn your family?” 
Ruth paused. “Not on purpose. I didn’t know I had powers at the time so I didn’t know that… that would happen. I just lost my temper and it happened. One minute I’m angry, the next I’m running for my life.”
“Oh.” Conor looked like he wasn’t sure he wanted to travel with her anymore.
“I don’t do that anymore,” she hurried to reassure him.
“Oh, good,” Conor relaxed visibly. 
Well… not usually. Her mind ominously added.
“What do you think they want us for?” Conor asked. 
“I don’t know.”
“Can you do anything with your fire yet?” Ruth looked at Conor. He looked nice enough, and she didn’t think he would betray her fragment of trust.
“Actually, yes. I’ll show you.” Ruth stopped and picked up a thick stick. She muttered a few words and the top of the stick caught on fire and then she continued walking.
“Cool. I wish I could use mine yet, but I don’t know how.”
“I’m guessing it’s different for each person, but I just… the best way to describe it is… I play with fire. I ask it to do something and usually it’ll do it. But I had to make some kind of bond with it before it would do as I asked.” They walked in silence for a little while. Suddenly a fierce wind whipped past them, putting out Ruth’s torch. Only then did Ruth realize how dark it had become. Both Conor and Ruth turned around.
“Who’s there?” Ruth demanded.
“Who? Me?” a voice said from behind them. Ruth whirled around, and Conor was about to, but then something darted in between them and shoved Conor. It darted away again before Ruth could see what it was.
“Conor,” Ruth said quietly, “get over here and watch your back.” 
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, wind boy. One more step and your friend here will find herself… very hurt,” the voice said to her left now. Conor froze. “Good. Wise choice. Now don’t do anything hasty. I have you completely surrounded so I wouldn’t run if you can help it either. I just want to have a nice civil conversation, with you safely behind bars. Haven’t you ever noticed how much easier it is to talk to people when they can’t attack you?”
“No. I haven’t. Now, are you going to hide in the shadows like a coward, or are you going to let us see you?” Ruth snapped.
The voice chuckled. “Impatient one, aren’t you? Well, you haven’t earned your right to see me yet. Now, if you fight me and win, well, I might reconsider.”
“Conor! Ruth! Where are you?” Dr. Brown’s voice called from nearby. 
The voice cursed. “And I’m out of here. Be warned, this isn’t the last you’ll see of me.” Then the voice was gone along with whatever had been surrounding them.
“Are you okay, Ruth?” Conor asked.
“Yeah. We’re over here!” she called to Dr. Brown. Ruth relit the torch so he could find them. Something big crashed toward them, and Dr. Brown’s worried face became visible. 
“There you are. For a moment there I thought I’d lost you.”
“You almost did,” Conor said without emotion. Dr. Brown’s eyes widened. 
“It’s a long story. We’ll tell you when we get back to camp.” Ruth said. The three of them walked back to the small camp they had made, and after they had eaten, Ruth and Conor told the doctor about what had happened to them.
== Chapter 6 ==
Sage was walking as fast as she could to the entrance of the Mystic Caverns. Mistress Hazel had told her, Ben, and Faith that James was bringing two more children to the caverns and that she was going to meet them. 
“What type of speakers do you think they’re going to be?” Ben asked as they walked. 
“I have no clue,” Faith answered. 
“Do you think we’ll like them?” Sage asked. “Because the mistress said that we’re going to do something big together.”
“I hope so,” Faith said. Sage spotted the entrance and started to run. She stopped when she got to the entrance and started trying to find James and the two children. She spotted them after a minute and beckoned to the others to join her. 
“There they are!” Sage exclaimed. “I can’t wait to meet them!” As the three figures came closer, Sage could recognize James and two children, a boy and a girl. The boy and the girl were talking to each other and James was leading them to Mystic Caverns. The closer they got the more details Sage could see about the two children.
The girl had long black hair and pale skin. She looked around Sage’s age. The boy had dirty blond hair and he was about average height and seemed to be teasing the girl from the playful look he had. They seemed to be in the middle of an interesting conversation. They also didn’t seem to notice where they were walking. 
The girl tripped on a stone and got back up and kept walking. Sage could tell the boy was pretending not to notice but failing badly. He finally gave in and started laughing. The girl couldn’t help but laugh too.
“It’s odd, but I think I recognize the girl,” Faith said.
“Know her? From where?” Ben asked.
“From my town, Rhia. But, what are the chances, I’m probably just imagining it,” Faith sounded very confused. 
“Probably,” Sage agreed. “Oh, Ben, is Dasha still going nuts over her new powers. She’s a Light Speaker now, right?”
“Yeah, and she is still going crazy over them. Everytime she sees a dark corner she’ll want to light it up, and so on. It’s driving me crazy. Like, really, you’ve had your powers for two weeks already, do you really still need to be as crazy as ever!” Ben complained.
Sage laughed. “At least it wasn’t some other power, like, I don’t know, Shadow Speaking maybe. Then you wouldn’t be able to see half the time because she would want to make everything dark instead of light.”
“Yeah, well, I think you’ll be wishing she had no power if you were there when she tried to light up her room but accidentally made it so light I couldn’t see a thing for the next hour. She had to get her mentor to put the light out!” 
“I suppose. But you may never know when her power will come in handy,” Faith said. “Maybe you’ll need her to light up a dark cave, for instance because your lantern broke.”
“I would sooner die than admit I needed her help. It would get to her head and then I would never hear the end of it,” Ben said.
“True,” Sage said. “Oh, look. They’re almost here!” The three people were much closer now and a few minutes later walked up to the three waiting speakers at the entrance. 
“Hello, Ben, Faith, Sage, I would like you to meet Conor and…” James started.
“And Ruth,” Faith finished.
James looked startled and Ruth looked even more startled. “Yes, and Ruth.”
“Wait… Faith?” Ruth scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. “You’re a speaker too?”
Conor looked between Ruth and Faith. “You two know each other?” he asked.
“Yes, we lived in the same town and went to the same school,” Ruth answered.
Ben stared at Faith. “Huh,” was all he said. 
“I can’t say I expected that,” Conor said. “So, what is this place? From what I’ve heard, the Mystic Caverns are pretty dangerous.”
“They are. But the part we live in was made safe a long time ago by some of the early refugee speakers,” Sage said. “Oops. I forgot. No lectures.”
Ruth laughed. “I can tell I’ll like you. So do we have rooms here? Do we have to share? I had to share a room with my little brother in my old house.”
“You will all get separate rooms but will share a connecting room. If you need anything you can tell me or… where is your sister, Ben?” James asked.
“She’s probably going through the caverns lighting up every single corner. Other than that I have no idea,” Ben answered.
“Wait, what? Lighting up every single corner? Do you mean that she’s a… Light Speaker?” James asked. “When did that happen?”
“A couple weeks ago. After you left,” Ben told him.
“Who are you talking about?” Ruth asked. 
“Oh, my sister. You’ll meet her… whenever she shows up anyway. She could be anywhere. I can go find her,” Ben offered.
“Don’t bother. She’ll turn up at the moment anything interesting is happening… and there she is.” James said as Dasha ran up to them.
“There you are! You two must be the new people. I’m Dasha, Ben’s older sister.” Dasha said. “I’m going to be one of the people put in charge of caring for you five. That’s what Hazel said anyway. She could’ve just been trying to get my hopes up…” Dasha paused. “That’s got to be it. Hmm, I’ll go see if she was. See you later.” Dasha ran back into the caverns.
“She’s quite the character. Sounds like it’s interesting here. I guess I really will like it,” Ruth commented. 
“I told you you would,” James said. “Now how about we show you your rooms.” They went into Mystic Caverns and wound their way through the confusing passageways and caverns until they ended up in front of a simple door. “Through there is the main room you will all be sharing. Your separate rooms branch off of this room. I’ll just leave you here to get accustomed to your new home.” With that said, James left the five speakers outside the door.
“Well, aren’t you going to go in?” Faith asked. “It’s really great here. And pretty too, as long as you don’t get lost, anyway.” Conor opened the door and stepped into the room.
It was a large room with a table in the middle surrounded by two sofas and three chairs. There were tapestries on the walls and potted plants in some of the corners. Glowing orbs floated around the room, giving the room light. There were five doors too with detailed carvings on them. The first door was a pattern of a blazing fire. The second door was a mountain landscape. The third door was a windy day. The fourth door was a rainstorm at sea and the fifth door was a picture of a snowstorm. 
“Wow,” Ruth gasped. “It’s… so big.”
“That was my reaction too. I have no clue which bedroom is yours, so I guess you can figure that out for yourself,” Sage said.
“I’m pretty sure it’s this one,” Ruth said, walking to the door with a blazing fire carved into it.
“Fire Speaker?” Faith asked. “Wait! That was your house! That makes sense now. I think I remember that now.”
“What?” Ben asked.
“Oh, after the snowstorm my mother and I visited our neighbors to see if we could help with anything and there was a house that had been burned instead of destroyed by hail and snow. If I’m right, that was Ruth’s house.” Faith explained.
“Yeah… that was mine,” Ruth quietly said. “Not one of my better days.”
“I’m sorry,” Faith said. “I probably shouldn’t have said that.”
“No, it’s okay… I just… regret doing that… a lot and…” Ruth didn’t finish her sentence, instead she opened her door and went into the room, shutting the door behind her.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Sage asked.
“I don’t know. She was never like that the whole way here. I wonder what’s wrong,” Conor wondered. “Should I go and talk to her?”
“I don’t know. I never knew her well, so I don’t know if she would want anyone to check on her or if she would get angry if someone did,” Faith answered. “I guess all we can do is wait and see what happens.”
“I guess,” Conor said.
“I’m going to my room. If you need me just knock.” Ben went into his room and shut the door behind him.
“I guess I’ll go see what my room is like.” Conor went into his room, leaving only Sage and Faith in the main room.
“I’m going to check on her,” Sage said. “You stay out here. I think one person would be better than two in this case.” 
“Alright. Tell her I’m sorry if I did anything wrong,” Faith said.
“I will.” Sage went over to Ruth’s door and gently knocked.
“Who is it?” Ruth called from inside the room. 
“It’s Sage,” Sage said. 
“Who? Oh! Right. Come in.”
Sage opened the door and went into Ruth’s room. The room had beautiful red, orange, yellow, and white tapestries and a large bed. A painting was on the nightstand next to the bed of a family. Sage recognized a very young Ruth in the middle of the painting holding a small baby. On either side of her were two smiling adults with their hands on each of Ruth’s shoulders and a teenage boy. Ruth was on the bed staring at the painting.
“Was that your family?” Sage asked.
“Yeah. I’m not sure how they got the painting though. The baby I’m holding is my little brother. And then my parents and older brother. I didn’t like my older brother much… he was mean sometimes… and bossy… but I still miss him. And my parents…” Ruth started crying. “They were great. I just wish they were still here.” 
“I’m sorry,” Sage said. She went over to the bed and sat down next to Ruth. “I never knew my parents, so I wouldn’t know what to miss about them. But I still think about them all the time. I sometimes wonder where they came from, since they aren’t from here.”
“Yeah. That’s for sure.” 
“Maybe they were from a different world and came here to capture the humans in this world, or maybe they were living undercover and had to change their DNA to make their skin dark so they didn’t get discovered,” Sage joked. 
Ruth gave a small smile. “Maybe.”
“Well, whether they were from a different world or not, they’re not here. The people where I live think they drowned in a bad storm that hit Elba around thirteen years ago. So I kind of know how you feel.”
“I guess you do,” Ruth said. “It’s odd though, to be sharing anything with anyone other than myself. I grew up not trusting anyone and keeping to myself, so I could seem distant at times, but I hope that doesn’t scare you guys off.”
“It won’t if you don’t want it to,” Sage said.
“Thanks… so… I had this idea,” Ruth said with a mischievous grin. “I really need to get Conor back for something he did while we were traveling here. Any chance you could help me plan a prank for him?” 
Sage laughed. “If it’ll make you happy, but let me warn you, I’m not very good at pranks.”
“Okay, so I was thinking maybe we could… well, actually. I don’t have any ideas.” Ruth said.
“I have one. You could sabotage his room,” Sage suggested.
“What?” 
“Oh, sorry. I like big words. You could mess up his room,” Sage revised. 
“I like it. I’ll just need you to keep him distracted while I do it,” Ruth said.
“But I don’t even know him. How am I supposed to distract him?” Sage protested.
“Okay, good point. Fine, I’ll distract him and you can mess up his room,” Ruth said.
== Chapter 7 ==
Faith weaved her way through Mystic Caverns. It was part of a test that Liana had given her and the other four speakers. They were supposed to let their powers lead them through the caverns. 
So far she had gotten absolutely nowhere. She couldn’t sense the ice Liana had put at the ‘finish.’ Faith would’ve thought that after four years of training she would at least be able to sense ice when it was close to her. Even Conor was making more progress than her! And he had just arrived a few months before.
In frustration, Faith closed the next passage’s entrance with ice. Or, she tried anyway. Instead she got thrown against the passage wall by some force. This happened whenever Faith tried to use her powers. 
She sat down and tried to remember how her powers had come. There was a blizzard, she remembered, and the burned house. Then she wished she hadn’t tried to remember. But no matter how hard she tried to get the burned house and the dead child out of her mind, she couldn’t.
Suddenly she was in the burned house again. At first Faith was too shocked to do anything, then she started looking around her. Fires still blazed in some parts of the house she noticed. She wondered how strong Ruth’s powers were if the fires were still there after four years, then it dawned on her that she was in the burned house.
“How did I get here?” she asked out loud. Faith walked through the ruins of the house to the bedroom to where the burned child had been. It was still there. Faith hurriedly backed out of the room in horror. Had Ruth’s neighbors been so busy that they hadn’t bothered to bury her family? 
Then she heard a noise. Faith froze, listening. She heard two people entering the burned house and quickly hid in one of the half collapsed rooms. She saw a girl who looked about nine years old go into the room with the dead child then come out a minute later.
This was too strange. Why and how was she in the burned house and why was she seeing herself from four years ago? She wished she were back in the cavern, lost, rather than here again. And then she was back in Mystic Caverns, hopelessly lost.
“What happened?” Faith wondered. “Four years ago… burned house… it doesn’t make any sense. How would I get to the burned house from here? And how would I go back four years in time? Maybe it was just a dream. That’s got to be it; I was just dreaming. And now I have to find that cave or Liana will be super mad.” 
She stood up and returned to the test. After much more zigzagging through the maze she finally found the cave. She walked into a room with five impatient people and some ice, crystal, fire, water, and wind.
“About time you showed up. Liana was about to go and look for you,” Ruth complained.
“Enough, Ruth. What did take you so long though, Faith?” Liana inquired.
“I got lost,” Faith replied.
“Oh. Well, anyway. I’ll announce test scores now. In last place at ten points, we have Faith. Fourth place at fifty points, Conor. Third place at seventy two points, Ruth. Second place at eighty nine points, Ben. And first place at one hundred points, Sage. Faith, please stay. The rest of you, go get ready for dinner.” Liana shooed the others away then sat down on a bench.
“Do you want to tell me why it’s hard for you to do the simplest things like sense ice that’s right next to you?”
“I don’t know, Liana! I really don’t! I wish I did.”
“Well, alright, don’t worry about it,” Liana said. “I bet the others are waiting for you so hurry and make sure they don’t have to wait any longer.
Faith left the cavern and hurried down passageways to her and her friends’ rooms. When she went into their main room, she found the others seated around a table and talking.
“I’m back,” Faith said. The others turned around as she walked over to them.
“What did Liana want?” Ben asked.
“The usual. ‘Why aren’t your powers working? You’ve been here the longest. Even Conor had made more progress than you.’”
“Even Conor? What’s that supposed to mean?” Conor commented.
“I don’t know. I suppose you did just get here a few months ago,” Faith said. “But really, I wish she would give me a break.”
“Do you have any idea why your powers haven’t been working?” Sage asked.
“No, but it’s almost like there’s some part of me that’s preventing my powers from working. Some part of me that resents my powers.”
“I wonder. Do you think there is something keeping your powers from working?” Conor asked.
“If there is, I haven’t the faintest idea what.” Just as Faith stopped talking, someone knocked on their door.
“Come in,” Ben answered. The door opened and Ben’s twenty one year old sister, Dasha, came into the room.
“Mistress Hazel requests ‘their presence immediately,’ as she put it,” Dasha said, mimicking the mistress’ high voice. 
“Why does she want us?” Ruth asked.
“Don’t ask me! I’m just the messenger!” Dasha retorted.
“Okay, okay! We’ll go,” Ruth said.
“No thanks to the messenger,” Ben added. Dasha glared at him and then stomped out of the room, not bothering to shut the door. 
“We’d better go. We all know the mistress doesn’t like to be kept waiting,” Conor said.
“Fine,” Ruth sighed. The five of them went out of their cave and walked for a few minutes through winding passages and large caverns. They soon arrived at the large doors that led to the mistress’ rooms. Conor knocked on one of the doors and they waited for a reply.
“Who is it?” someone called from inside the room.
“We’re here, Mistress Hazel,” Sage answered.
“Ah, come in and hurry up. I’ve been waiting.”
Ruth chuckled to herself. “She’s always waiting for something, or so she says,” she whispered as Conor opened one of the doors. 
They stepped into one of Mistress Hazel’s rooms and walked over to where she was sitting in a chair.
“You wanted us?” Faith asked.
“Yes. Sit down.” Mistress Hazel gestured at three chairs and a sofa. They sat down; the girls in the chairs and the boys on the sofa. “You all know why you are in Mystic Caverns, right.” They all nodded.
“Lately some of my scouts have been bringing back reports of destroyed villages and destruction all over the continent. I need you five to start your journey so that we can stop whoever is causing this chaos as soon as possible. You will be leaving in two days, so practice anything you think you’ll need. And be sure to pack too. Dasha and James will also be going with you.”
Ben put his hand up.
“Yes, Benjamin?”
“Does Dasha have to come too?”
“Yes. She is one of our most skilled speakers and you know it.” Ben slumped on the sofa. “Now, off with you. Faith, wait here.”
The other four filed out of the room giving her curious looks. “What is it, Mistress?” Faith asked.
“Faith, I’ve been watching you lately. You’ve made almost no progress, so for your own safety, I’m keeping you here while the others go.”
“What!” Faith yelled.
“Quiet,” Mistress Hazel reprimanded.
“What do you mean keep me here?” 
“It wouldn’t be safe for you to go, Faith. You wouldn’t be able to protect yourself.”
“What if I was always with someone?”
“Then you would be more trouble than you’re worth. You know that.”
“What if I make progress, what if I get my powers to work? Please, let me go.”
Mistress Hazel sighed. “Tell you what, if you can make enough progress, by my standards, you can go. Otherwise, you have to stay.”
“Yes, thank you, Mistress!” Faith leapt up from her chair and ran out of the room. As she walked back to her room she realized that there was no way she could make any progress in just two days. By the time she was back in her bedroom with the door shut, she was quite depressed. 
Faith walked over to her bed and pulled a small ice bear that her mother had given her out from under it. She sat down on the bed and held the bear in front of her.
“I don’t know why my powers don’t work,” she whispered to the ice bear. “Please let them work, even just for a few days. Please.” Nothing happened for a moment, then tiny shards of ice appeared around Faith and spun around her faster and faster. Then they froze in place and disappeared.
“About time, Faith,” a voice said. 
Faith looked down at the bear she was still holding and screamed. She jumped off the bed, dropping the bear.
“Ow! What was that for?” the voice complained. Faith crouched by the bear and looked at it. The bear stood up from where it lay on the ground and lumbered over to Faith.
Faith stared at the bear in shock. “You’re alive?” she peeped.
“Yes! Did you really just figure that out?” From Faith’s dumbfounded expression the bear figured that she had just figured it out. “Well, anyway, we have work to do. You want to go with the others, then you’re going to go with the others. I’m going to train you and you are going to do whatever I say…”
“I am?”
The bear ignored her. “Your first lesson will begin…” The bear was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Quick! Under my bed!” Faith whispered to the bear. Once the bear was safely under her bed, Faith walked over to the door and opened it. Conor was standing outside her room looking worried.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “I thought I heard you scream.”
“I’m fine. I just got startled.”
“Okay. Good. Also, dinner is in ten minutes.” Conor turned around and walked across their main room and went inside his bedroom. Faith shut her door and peeked under her bed.
“He’s gone now. You were saying something about lessons?” Faith said. The bear came out from under the bed and sat down in front of Faith. “You know, you never said what your name was. Do you have a name?”
“Of course I have a name,” the bear said, rather offended. “It’s Ursa.”
“Ursa… doesn’t that mean bear?”
“Well, yeah… anyway, you need to be trained! And you’re going to have to work hard if you want to go with your friends. Training starts after dinner tonight. Now hurry up and get out of here. I’ll be waiting.” Ursa stood up and went back under the bed.
Faith did what Ursa commanded her to do and went out of her room to go to dinner. Sage was sitting in a chair in the main room reading a book when Faith entered. 
“Hi, Sage. I was just going to dinner. You want to come with me?” 
“Sure.” Sage put down her book and stood up. They walked to the dining hall together. When they got there, Ben and Conor were already there, sitting next to each other and in the middle of a discussion. 
“Hey, Ben. Hey, Conor,” Sage said when she saw them. She sat down on Ben’s left and Faith sat on Sage’s left. A few minutes later Ruth rushed into the dining hall and plopped down next to Conor.
“Sorry I’m late.” She said,
Then Mistress Hazel entered the room. Everyone stood. The mistress walked over to her seat and sat down. Everyone sat down. “You may begin.” Mistress Hazel said. 
Ruth didn’t hesitate to dig into the food in front of her and the others were quick to follow. Faith ate as fast as she could so she could get back to her room and Ursa. 
Soon she was finished and left for her room. When she walked into her room she found Ursa on top of her desk going through her journal.
“Hey! That’s mine, Ursa!” Ursa quickly closed the journal and jumped off Faith’s desk.
“That was quick,” she commented.
“What are you going to teach me?” Faith asked.
“Well, I figured since we don’t have much time we can’t start with the easy stuff. Tonight we’re going to work on creating exactly what you intended to make. It’s not too difficult if you know what to do. All you have to do is picture what you want to make, every detail and every shape, then you have to want to make it. There really isn’t much more to it,” Ursa said.
“That’s it? My other instructor made it seem so much more complicated.”
“I don’t believe in complications that aren’t needed,” the bear huffed. “Now do it. You’re wasting time.” Faith did. She pictured a bear, just like Ursa, attached to a thin ice chain. After a few moments of concentrating, it appeared just as Faith had wanted.
“Is that supposed to be me?” Ursa asked. “If it is, I look a lot prettier than that thing.”
“But it’s exactly what I wanted! That’s good, right?”
“Sure, whatever. Now do it faster. I want you to be able to make something at a moment’s notice by the time I’m done with you.” They practiced for another few hours, then Faith went to bed.
__________________________
The next day was filled with training. Faith could sense that the others were curious about her disappearing for hours at a time, but she let them fantasize all they wanted. Ursa was just as bossy as ever, but Faith had to admit she was growing on her. 
That night Mistress Hazel summoned Faith to her rooms.
“I have put together a test for you to decide whether or not you are going. I’m going to tie a blindfold over your eyes and I want you to find all the ice I have hidden around this room.” The mistress tied a blindfold over Faith’s eyes then she stepped into the doorway. 
Thanks to Ursa’s help, Faith could sense seven chunks of ice scattered around the room
“Coat everything in ice so you don’t trip.” Ursa whispered from Faith’s pocket. Faith took her advice. She put a thin layer of ice over everything in the room and then started picking her way through the mistress’ things to retrieve the hidden ice.
When all of the ice chunks were found, Faith made the coat of ice disappear.
“Impressive.” Faith felt someone take the blindfold off. “Now, I want you to make a statue that looks exactly like something here. 
Faith studied Mistress Hazel, memorizing every detail about her. Then she pictured the mistress in her mind. A statue that looked exactly like Mistress Hazel slowly grew out of the ground.
The mistress beamed at Faith. “Any chance I can keep the statue?” she asked. 
“Does that mean I can go?”
“Yes, Faith. I am happy to say that you can go.” 
Faith’s face lit up. “You can keep the statue! I got to go,” she said, and then she was out the door running to her room. She ran into her room and shut the door behind her. She pulled Ursa out of her pocket and grinned.
“We did it, Ursa! Thank you so much!”
“You’re welcome. Now you just have to bring me with you.” 
Faith laughed. “Anything for you. I owe you big time.”
“You know. You might want to pack for your journey,” Ursa reminded her.
“Oh, yeah. Thanks. I’ll do that now.” Faith packed for the next day’s trip full of excitement and happiness.
== Chapter 8 ==
Ruth wondered what Faith was hiding as she watched her go into her room again. Faith had been in her room all day with the exception of meals and Ruth wanted to know why. To add to Ruth's suspicions, odd sounds sometimes came from the room.
None of the others had noticed anything, which Ruth found strange, they were all too worried about the next day’s trip, she figured. Not even observant Conor had paid attention to Faith’s disappearances. Ruth sighed in disappointment and went into her room to get ready for their journey.
__________________________
Ruth woke up the next morning ready for what the day would bring. She sprang out of her bed and got dressed as quickly as she could. She grabbed her knapsack, which she had packed the day before, and ran out of her room into the main room that she and her friends shared.
Ben was already in the main room rocking back and forth from nerves.
“Hey, Ben. You ready for today?” Ruth asked excitedly.
“No. I have a very annoying case of the nerves,” Ben answered.
Ruth laughed. “You’ll get over it. As for me, well, I can’t wait! I wonder where we’ll go. Maybe we’ll go to the Land of the Dragons.”
“Are you trying to make me more nervous?”
“Nope! Oh! Or maybe we could go to the Mille Mountains. I hear the caves there are pretty cool.”
“Mille Mountains,” Ben gulped. “Do we have to go there… ever?”
“I don’t know. Ask your older sister.” 
Ruth smirked when Ben groaned. “I forgot she was going,” he said.
A door opened to Ruth’s right and Sage came out carrying a knapsack. “Hi, Ruth, Ben. I’m going to the training cave. I’ll see you at breakfast.” Sage went out of the main room, shutting the door behind her.
“I had a really good idea last night.” Ruth said after Sage left.
“Do I want to know what it is?” Ben worried.
“Yes. I’m going to wake Conor up. You might want to retreat to your room,” Ruth said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“Umm. Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Yeah. Let's just say it involves a bucket and some very cold water.”
“Ruth! He is going to be so mad!”
“I know! I can’t wait!” Ruth ran into her room and grabbed a bucket and some rope from a box in her closet and then snuck into Faith’s room for some cold water. 
As she was tiptoeing out of the room she spotted an odd bear made of ice on Faith’s desk and it seemed to be moving ever so slightly. Ruth walked over to the desk to get a better look at the bear. She was staring at it when it suddenly gave a loud snore. Ruth jumped back from the desk, almost spilling the water in her bucket, and looked at Faith, sleeping soundly in her bed, and then back at the bear. A smile slowly spread across Ruth’s face and she took one last look at the bear before leaving the room.
“Hey, Ben!” Ruth called after she shut Faith’s door.
Ben opened the door that led to his room and peeked out. “What?”
“I think I know what Faith's been doing for the past day.”
“Okay? So?”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“What more would I say?” Ben asked.
“Whatever. Well, you’d better stay in your room now. Conor’s in for a wet surprise.” 
Ben gulped and quickly shut his door. Ruth went over to Conor’s door and quietly opened it. Conor was asleep on his bed and didn’t notice his troublesome visitor. Ruth quickly set her prank into action by hanging the bucket full of water above Conor and tying one end of the rope to the rim of the bucket and the other end to Conor’s wrist.
The next time Conor moved in his sleep he accidentally pulled the rope, tipping the bucket full of freezing water on top of him. Conor sat up in his bed, his hair dripping from the water.
“What! Who’s there?” he shouted. Ruth burst out laughing. Conor whipped his head in Ruth’s direction and glared at her. It only made her laugh harder. “Ruth!” he yelled. “I am going to kill you!”
“You have to catch me first!” she called cheerfully as she darted out of his room, still laughing.
“Fine! You win!” he called.
Ruth peeked her head into Conor’s room. “Hmm. I would’ve thought you’d at least use your powers. Lame, Conor. Really lame.” Then she left and knocked on Ben’s door. “He’s awake now.”
“Awake and not plotting revenge?” Ben asked, not opening his door.
“Oh. I didn’t think of that.”
Suddenly someone wrapped their arms around her waist and picked her up. Ruth screamed as the person carried her to one of the sofas and dumped her onto it.
“That was priceless. You should’ve heard yourself scream.” Conor laughed. He collapsed on the sofa next to her shaking with laughter. Faith’s door opened and she came out looking very tired. Ruth quickly sat up on the sofa.
“I heard someone scream,” she said, then yawned.
“Conor here, decided to scare me out of my skin.” Ruth glared at him.
“Call it payback for the bucket,” Conor countered.
“Huh?” Faith rubbed her eyes. “What bucket?”
“It was part of the world’s best prank,” Ruth said.
“Was not,” Conor retorted.
“Fine. Then it was part of the world’s best alarm clock.” 
Conor grunted and Faith rolled her eyes. “Leave it to you two to start a prank war,” she grumbled.
Ben cautiously poked his head out of his room. “Are they done yet?” he asked.
“Yes, they are,” Faith said, looking pointedly at Ruth.
“We’ll see,” Ruth said and hopped off the sofa. She grabbed her knapsack and went out of the main room. She wound her way through the caverns to the dining hall and waited for the others to arrive. 
She didn’t have to wait long for Conor to come in, with Ben cautiously following behind. Not long after Ben came in, Dasha ran into the dining hall looking way too happy about going on a dangerous mission.
“You look just a bit too happy about our mission,” Ben commented.
Dasha sat down next to him. “Oh, I’m not happy about that, it’s something else.”
Ben narrowed his eyes. “What are you happy about, then?”
“I’m not saying,” Dasha happily informed them.
“Sisters,” Ben complained to his friends.
“Lucy wasn’t that bad,” Conor said.
“Fine. Older sisters then.”
Ruth laughed. “I think you’re the only one who finds Dasha annoying.” Ben grunted in reply.
“He finds me annoying? Good for him. Also, if you think I’m bad now, wait another year or two and you’ll be wishing you could have twenty one year old me back. I can be very annoying. Well, anyway, see you later! I can’t wait to tell James that I have completed my lifetime goal!” Dasha stood up and ran out of the dining hall. 
“Why James of all people?” Ben wondered.
“Don’t ask me,” Conor said.
“Hey, Sage. You missed one of my best pranks!” Ruth called as Sage walked into the dining hall.
“And you missed Conor scaring her half to death,” Ben added.
“Good job, Conor,” Sage said as she walked over to the table and sat down next to Ben. “Where’s Faith?”
“She said she had something to do before breakfast,” Conor said.
“Really?” Ruth asked. “I’d better make sure she’s hurrying. Breakfast is about to start.” Ruth got up and wound her way back to the door of their main room. She quietly opened the door and tiptoed in. Ruth glanced around the room, and when she found it empty she walked over to Faith’s door and listened.
“Are you sure you want to come, Ursa? It might be dangerous,” Faith’s voice said from inside her room.
Ruth moved closer and put her ear next to the door. 
“I love danger! I want to go. Besides, you owe me,” a voice Ruth didn’t recognize answered.
“Well, I guess. But still, are…”
“I’m going and that’s final,” the voice interrupted. Ruth heard Faith sigh.
“Fine. Get in my bag and don’t come out until I say you can. If any of my friends find out about you they’ll think I’m crazy.” 
Ruth opened the door and stepped into Faith’s room. “You sure got that right.”
Faith froze, her eyes wide in fear. “How long have you been listening?” she peeped.
“Long enough to know you’re hiding something and now I know what it is, or should I say, who it is.”
“Are you going to tell the others?” Faith fearfully asked.
“Nah. As long as you fill in some blanks anyway,” Ruth said.
Faith sighed in relief. “Alright. Ursa, you can come out.” The ice bear Ruth had seen on Faith’s desk lumbered out of a knapsack on Faith’s bed. “This is Ursa. Ursa, this is Ruth, one of the friends I talked about.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Ursa said.
“So, you know how my powers weren’t working a couple days ago?” Faith asked.
“Yeah,” Ruth replied.
“Well, Mistress Hazel said I couldn’t go on our journey for my safety if I couldn’t use my powers or be able to meet her expectations. Let’s just say that Ursa found me and helped me train.”
“That’s what you were doing all day!” Ruth exclaimed.
“Yeah, I didn’t want to tell any of you because I thought you might think less of me.”
Ruth thought for a minute. “How bad do you think I could scare Conor if Ursa helped me?” she asked.
Faith laughed.
“Conor is the wind boy, right?” Ursa asked.
“Yeah. And I don’t know, Ruth. You want to play a prank on Conor, Ursa?”
“Do I! Of course! What do you want me to do?” Ursa excitedly said.
“You’re coming with us on the journey, right?” Ruth asked.
“Yes,” Ursa said.
“Okay, good. On our first night on our journey I want you to get onto Conor in the middle of the night and stand there until he notices you, then I want you to say something. It will scare him so bad! Then just get back into Faith’s bag so no one else sees you.” Ruth glanced at Faith. “He’ll just think it was a weird dream in the morning if you’re worried about him guessing your secret,” she said, answering Faith’s horrified expression.
“Yeah! Can I please do it?” Ursa begged.
Faith looked like she wanted to say no, then she gave in and groaned. “Fine. Just be careful.”
“Of course.” 
“We should get to breakfast now, you know. I bet the others are wondering where we are,” Ruth said.
“Oh, yeah. Ursa, you can stay in my knapsack until Ruth is ready for you.”
“See you then. Oh, and try to walk smoothly and don’t run. I’m going to try to sleep while I wait,” Ursa said as she went back into Faith’s knapsack. 
They were just leaving the main room and heading to the dining hall when they ran into Ben.
“There you are! The mistress is going to make an announcement. We have to hurry or we’ll miss it.” Ben hurried them to the dining hall and when they got there everyone who lived in the Mystic Caverns was there except Mistress Hazel. 
Faith, Ben, and Ruth quickly sat down and waited for the mistress. 
It didn’t take her long to enter though. 
“No standing,” she said before anyone could rise from their seats. “As you all know, Sage, Conor, Faith, Ben, and Ruth will be leaving for their journey this morning.” The mistress said when she had reached her chair.
“Before they go, I want to say a few words.” The mistress looked straight at each of the five in turn. “I have watched you all train and grow, and I just want to say that I am proud of you. However your journey goes and no matter what happens, you will always have people who believe in you here. When I first had my vision about you and the role you would play, I thought it was one of the funniest jokes my powers could play on me. I didn’t want to believe that, after centuries, our world would not be at peace anymore. But when James found Faith, just where my vision said, and brought her here, I knew that my vision wasn’t just some joke and that I had to take action. I sent James and Liana after you to bring you here. Once all five of you were here, I started getting worried that your duty would be too much for you.”
Mistress Hazel laughed. “Thank goodness you five proved me wrong. I can now rest a little bit knowing that you are ready for what your role will bring you. Good luck to you five. May you bring lasting peace to this world.” Mistress Hazel sat down. “Now let’s eat.” 
“So what do you think we’ll be doing on our journey?” Ben asked as they ate 
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out soon enough though,” Conor replied.
Sage poked Ruth. “What’s wrong with Mistress Hazel?” she asked as she pointed across the table to where the mistress sat.
Ruth looked up from her food and looked at the mistress. Mistress Hazel was slumped against her chair and her eyes were closed. Several other speakers had noticed by then and were whispering to each other. “I don’t know. You tell me,” Ruth said to Sage.
Then Mistress Hazel twitched, then she was thrashing in her seat. Then she suddenly went still and opened her eyes. But instead of her warm brown eyes looking out, her eyes were glowing and she started speaking in a slow, creepy way.
“Where books tell tales of long ago 
And caverns deep run far below,
Secrets hide and dangers lurk
Available to those willing to work.
The sands of time stretch long and far,
Work together and light the star.
Follow the star along the path,
But don’t provoke the monster’s wrath.
The treasure will be gotten
In an ocean of water long forgotten.
Beware the secrets of the past
For alone you will not last.”
Then her eyes closed and she slumped back against her chair. 
“Don’t worry. She’ll be fine,” Liana said as she stood up and walked over to the mistress. “This happens whenever she has a vision. Alexander, help me get her to her room.” Liana muttered a few words and then Mistress Hazel started to rise. “You help me make sure that she doesn’t run into anything.”
Alexander did as he was told and stood on one side of the mistress with Liana on the other side. Then they slowly made their way out of the dining hall with the mistress floating between them.
“Well, that happened,” Ben commented.
“I’m going to write that down,” Sage said and stood up and left, repeating Mistress Hazel’s prophecy to herself as she went.
Ruth started eating again since she didn’t have anything better to do. Ben stared at her as she ate and she noticed that no one else had moved yet.
“What?” Ruth asked.
“Uh, Ruth, Mistress Hazel just had a vision and you’re… eating,” Ben said. 
“Well, what else am I supposed to do? Breakfast isn’t going to wait just because the mistress had a vision. So neither am I,” Ruth replied and continued eating. “And our journey won’t wait either,” she added through a mouthful of food.
“I guess you’re right, but still… shouldn’t we at least see how she’s doing?” Conor worried.
“You heard Liana, this happens whenever she has a vision. She’ll be fine,” Ruth argued.
“I guess,” Ben said doubtfully. 
Ruth heard someone laughing in the passage outside the dining hall and then James and Dasha walked into the room. It took them a moment to notice the stoney silence in the dining hall, but when they did, they stopped talking to each other.
“What happened here? You all look like someone died,” Dasha asked.
“Mistress Hazel had a vision,” Ben smugly told them. 
“Oh, is that bad? Because if it isn’t then why are you all so… um quiet?” Dasha inquired.
“Perhaps I should check on the mistress. I’ll be back soon,” James said, then he left the dining hall.
Dasha walked over to the table and sat down next to Ruth. “What in the world happened to breakfast?” she whispered in Ruth’s ear. “It’s barely been touched.” 
“They seem to believe that breakfast has respect for visions and will wait,” Ruth whispered back.
“That… is one of the silliest things I have ever heard. What did the prophecy say anyway?”
“I don’t remember. Ask Sage when she gets back.”
“Where is Sage?” Dasha asked.
“She went to write the prophecy down,” Ruth replied.
“Good for her. She always was the smart one,” Dasha said.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Ruth asked.
“She always remembers to do the important things when no one else does, that’s what I mean. No offense to you or the others, of course.”
“None taken… I think.”
“So, do you think we’ll still be starting your journey today? Because if not, I’m going to have to repack… again.” Dasha stood up. “Come on, Ruth. We are going to see if everything is still going to go according to the plan,” she announced.
“You are?” Conor asked.
Ruth shrugged and followed Dasha out of the dining hall.
“Sage!” Dasha called once they were away from the dining hall. “Where is she?” Dasha complained. She formed two finches out of light and said to them, “Go find Sage and bring her to me.” The two golden birds darted away and Ruth and Dasha started making their way to the mistress’ rooms.
It didn’t take long before the birds returned with Sage in tow. Sage was holding a piece of parchment and had a pondering look.
“You wrote down the prophecy, right?” Dasha asked.
“Hmmm? Oh, yeah. Right here.” Sage gestured to the piece of parchment in her hand.
“Good, I want you to read it to me and James once we get to the mistress’ rooms, and then we can go on from there.” Dasha said as they walked.
“You know, I feel kind of sorry for Ben and Conor and Faith right now. It must be very… quiet right now,” Ruth said.
“That was literally the understatement of the year. It’s dead silent in there,” Dasha laughed. 
“I seem to have missed most of the awkward silence,” Sage put in. “I’m just guessing that nobody really knows what to do or they’re all trying to figure out the prophecy for themselves.”
“Maybe. Or their brains just couldn’t keep up,” Dasha unhelpfully said. “I’m just kidding!” she said when Ruth glared at her. 
They were just walking through a cavern when James rushed into it.
“James! There you are. How is the mistress?” Dasha exclaimed.
“She is awake now. She has a slight headache but Liana says that it will pass soon. Right now she wants you and Conor and Ben. She said she wanted to discuss something.” Then James hurried down the passageway they had come from.
“I guess we had better see what the mistress wants.” Dasha said.  They quickly made their way to the mistress’ rooms and went in. Mistress Hazel was in a room that branched off of her sitting room. She was sitting up in a bed and her face lit up when she saw Dasha, Sage, and Ruth enter.
“There you are! Where are Faith, Ben, and Conor?” the mistress asked.
“James is getting them,” Dasha put in.
“Oh, we’ll wait for them then. I’ll need James here too.”
“Sage, can you read the prophecy for me?” Dasha asked, turning to face Sage.
“Sure. Here it goes.
Where books tell tales of long ago 
And caverns deep run far below,
Secrets hide and dangers lurk
Available to those willing to work.
The sands of time stretch long and far,
Work together and light the star.
Follow the star along the path,
But don’t provoke the monster’s wrath.
The treasure will be gotten
In an ocean of water long forgotten.
Beware the secrets of the past
For alone you will not last.”
Sage recited, imitating the slow creepy way Mistress Hazel had said it. “Is that all you need?”
“Yeah.” Dasha became very quiet and she had a look of deep concentration. “What do you think work together and light the star means?” she said after a few minutes.
“No clue. I’ve been trying to figure out the first part,” Sage answered. 
“Where are you?” Ruth heard Conor call.
“We’re in here,” Ruth answered. James, Ben, Faith, and Conor walked into the room slightly out of breath. 
“What did you want us for, Mistress?” Conor asked.
“In the first part of my prophecy it said something about things from long ago. The only ones who remember anything about the past are the elves. I want you to go to The Elves’ Domain and see if you can find any helpful information,” Mistress Hazel told them.
“Yay! We’re still going!” Dasha cheered. “Oh, wrong time.”
“The Elves’ Domain, Mistress? But the elves hate the speakers.” James protested.
“It’s the only way we can get any of the information we need. You know that,” the mistress patiently explained. “And, James I know you really don’t want to go there, but I need you too.”
“I know,” James said reluctantly. “But still, the elves?”
“Yes. I want you to leave as soon as you can. It will take a while to get there. Now off with you. I’ll see you whenever you get back.”
“Come on! Let’s go!” Dasha called as she raced out of the room.
“She’s quite the excitable one, isn’t she?” James asked, looking to where she had left.
“You got that right,” Ben said.
“But she is right, let’s go already.” Ruth said. They left Mistress Hazel’s rooms and found Dasha waiting for them right outside the door.
“Took you long enough. Can we please go now?” Dasha asked.
“Yes. I’ll just pack some food and other supplies. You all get your knapsacks and meet me at the entrance to Mystic Caverns. We’re leaving.” James went toward the kitchen and the others all went to get their knapsacks.
They met up at the entrance to Mystic Caverns not long later.
“I can’t believe we’re actually going,” Faith marveled.
“Yes, now let’s get as far as we can before sundown,” James said, staring into the distance.
Ruth took her first step out of Mystic Caverns in four months. They were doing this and she was ready.
== Chapter 9 ==
“Can we stop now?” Ben asked. They had been traveling all day and he was tired. Very tired. He couldn’t remember walking for so long, even when he was still living in the forest. 
“Soon,” James answered. “It’s a bit too open here.”
Ben groaned. “Why didn’t we bring horses?” he asked.
“Because some of us have, for some reason, made horses their mortal enemy,” Dasha said, looking straight at Ruth.
“I can’t help it if all horses hate me. I just hate them back. It’s life,” Ruth stated. Dasha didn’t look convinced. 
“Well, anyway, have any of you puzzled out any of the prophecy yet?” Conor asked.
“Well, I’ve figured out that we’re supposed to find something that has something to do with books that is far below. Other than that, I have nothing,” Sage answered.
“Do you really think the elves will have any information?” Ben asked. “And if they do, will they even tell us anything?”
“I don’t know, but it’s what the mistress wanted us to do, so we’ll do it,” James sighed. “However unwillingly,” he added.
“How are we going to get any information anyway? It isn’t like we’re going to just walk up to them and say something like, ‘Hey, have you ever heard of really deep caverns?’ and they would be like, ‘Why yes. Try looking underground. They’re everywhere.’ and then we would say, ‘Why, thank you. I might just try that.’ They aren’t going to tell us anything,” Ruth complained.
“She’s right. And I read that entering their domain uninvited could get you in serious trouble or worse,” Sage agreed. “And just by entering the palace they will have you immediately killed, on the spot!” 
“I know, but maybe we can reason with them,” James said without much conviction. 
“Yeah, right. Reason with the elves,” Ruth scoffed. 
“I know!” James yelled. They all looked at James like he had grown a fifth arm.
“Are you okay?” Dasha asked.
“No. We should set up camp now.”
“Finally!” Ben cried. He sat down on the ground and refused to move until someone promised food. Soon they had a fire blazing and the two tents were set up. The seven tired travelers sat down for dinner and talked as they ate. When Ben and his friends had finished dinner, they all retreated to their tents, with the boys in one tent and the girls in the other. 
Ben quickly fell asleep to nightmares about the elves, their palace and dominion, and their executions.
__________________________
Ben jolted awake. A particularly bad nightmare had woken him up and he wasn’t sure he wanted to fall asleep again. Then he heard a branch snap outside the tent. Ben slowly sat up and fearfully crept to the front of the tent. He peeked out of the flaps and saw Ruth creep toward the knapsacks. She looked through the pile until she found the one she was looking for. One that wasn’t hers, Ben noticed. 
Ruth opened the knapsack and started whispering to it. Ben rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. Ruth was talking to… a bag.
“What are you doing?” Ben whispered to her. 
Ruth jumped. “Why are you awake?” she yelped.
“Nightmares. Now what are you doing?” Ben repeated.
“Oh, it’s part of a prank for Conor.”
“Talking to a bag is part of a prank for Conor? Now you’ve really gone nuts,” Ben groaned.
“No. Come here.” Ruth said. Ben reluctantly went over to her. “Ursa is part of my prank. Come on out.” Ben’s eyes widened as an ice bear crawled out of the knapsack.
“What is that?” Ben cautiously asked. 
“I think you mean who is that. My name is Ursa. There’s no need to be rude. Kids these days,” the bear grumbled.
“How did you come across an ice bear with a name that talks?” Ben carefully asked.
“I’m right here!” Ursa said. “Now what did I say about being rude? Oh, right, don’t be!”
“Quiet, Ursa. And I’ll tell you later. Just go back to your tent and bring Ursa with you. She’ll do the rest,” Ruth whispered.
“Do I want to do this?” Ben asked. 
Ruth thought for a moment. “Probably not,” she answered.
Ben groaned in defeat. “Fine, come on Ursa. I’ll bring you to the tent.”
“You will?” Ursa said doubtfully. 
“Yes,” Ben said unwillingly.
“Alright. You carry me there.” Ben opened his mouth to protest, then he just nodded instead. 
“Thanks, Ben. Oh, and don’t tell Faith about Ursa.” Ruth said as Ursa climbed onto Ben’s outstretched hands. Ben went back to his tent, carrying Ursa, and went back to his makeshift bed of blankets. He watched as Ursa crawled onto Conor and waited. It took a while for Conor to notice the tiny bear on top of him, but when he did his eyes widened.
“Hello, wind boy,” Ursa said pleasantly. Conor screamed and his eyes closed. Ursa carefully, taking her time too, walked off of Conor and padded out of the tent. 
“Huh! What’s the danger!” James yelled, sitting straight up.
“Don’t worry. Ruth was just playing another prank on Conor, that’s all,” Ben reassured him.
“Oh, that’s it?” James rubbed his eyes. “Is it morning yet?” he asked.
“No, it must be somewhere around midnight,” Ben answered. Somewhere nearby, several coyotes started howling. James’ eyes widened and he motioned for Ben to be quiet.
“But Ruth is out there!” Ben whispered. Then a bright orange light flashed outside the tent. “Get away from me you beasts!” they heard Ruth yell.
“Oh, no, Ben, wake up Conor. I’m going to help her.” James crawled out of the tent and Ben started shaking Conor. Ben heard shouts from outside the tent and shook him harder. Conor’s eyes opened and he slowly sat up.
“What is it?” Conor grumpily asked.
“Coyotes, Conor! James and Ruth are out there!”
“What! Move!” Conor rushed out of the tent, leaving Ben alone with no way of knowing what was happening to his friends other than the shouting coming from outside. His whole body was trembling from fright and he kept imagining one of the coyotes tearing into the tent and eating him alive. 
“Move, Ben!” he told himself. “Your friends are out there and you need to help them!” His body wouldn’t move though. Then someone outside the tent screamed in pain. Ben was more furious that the coyotes would dare hurt his friends than scared now. He charged out of the tent and into the fray. With each step he took, the ground shook with his furry. All around him his friends faced off with the coyotes. 
To the left of him, Conor and Ruth were surrounded by coyotes and it was clear that the coyotes were winning. To the right of him, James, Faith, and Sage were back to back, doing their best to fight off the coyotes around him. In front of him though, Dasha was on the ground, frantically trying to defend herself from the coyotes that were getting closer and closer to her. She already had a bleeding wound on her arm where one of the coyotes had bitten her.
Ben charged at the coyotes surrounding his sister, the ground shaking even more. He shoved the first coyote out of the way with ease and soon he had cut a way to his sister. Ben stood in front of Dasha and was hardly aware of what he was doing as he fought off any coyotes that came too close.
Some of the coyotes that had been surrounding the others came over to try to get to Dasha. Then, with one final wave of furry, every single rock and bit of ground rippled out from Ben in every direction.
The startled coyotes turned on their tails and ran for their lives. Then Ben collapsed onto the ground and he passed out.
__________________________
When Ben woke up, it was very bright and he was on his bed. The tent was gone though. He could see some of his friends frantically pacing. James and Conor were near Dasha, taking care of the bite.
“Oh, good you’re awake,” Ben heard Sage say. “He’s awake,” she called to the others. 
Ruth ran over to him. “How did you do that?” she yelled at him. 
“Ruth! Don’t yell at him,” Faith scolded, coming over to Ben. “Also, thanks. I think we all owe you now.”
“For what?” Ben asked.
“You don’t know?” Sage asked. “You realize that you somehow single handedly defeated the coyotes, right?”
“Wow, I did?”
“Yes, and you saved Dasha’s life too,” Sage said.
“Hmm. I’m so going to be reminding her of that every second of the day,” Ben said
Ruth laughed. “Count me in on telling her.”
“I heard that!” Dasha called. “Oh, ouch! Be careful.”
“We’re being careful. You’re the one who’s moving around,” James patiently responded. 
“Am I allowed to get off of the blankets yet?” Ben asked.
“Yes,” Sage answered. Ben sat up and slowly got off of the blankets. He wobbled a little bit when he stood up and Sage steadied him.
“Thanks,” Ben said. He walked over to where Dasha was sitting. James and Conor were working on cleaning Dasha’s bite wound.
“Sage, can you come over here?” James asked. Sage walked over to them. “Can you clean this with your water?” James gestured at the wound on Dasha’s arm. 
“I think so, but it’s pretty deep. Couldn’t Conor do anything?” Sage asked.
“As you said, it’s deep. I can only heal simple things,” Conor said.
“Yeah. I get the picture, it’s really bad. Now can you please do something about it now. It really hurts,” Dasha complained. 
“I’ll try.” Sage formed an orb of water in her hands and guided it to the bite on Dasha’s arm. Dasha cried out in pain when the water touched the bite. 
“Hurry up,” she said through gritted teeth. 
Sage cleaned the wound as best she could with the water, but she couldn’t do much. “I think it’s infected. The coyote that bit her must have had some… sickness…” Sage trailed off.
“Are you sure you can’t do anything, Conor?” Ben asked, worry creeping into his voice. 
“No. I’m just not skilled enough,” Conor said. 
Sage turned to Ben. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“For what?” Ben asked.
“Dasha is very sick. Dasha, that coyote that bit you had a disease and when it bit you, you got infected. If we don’t do something… you’ll… you’ll die.” Sage whispered the last part.
“What!” Ben yelled. “Then what can we do?”
“Sage, do you know any way we can save her? Please, you have to know something.” James pleaded.
“There’s one way…” Sage didn’t finish her sentence.
“Anything!” Ben said.
“There’s a certain lake in The Elves’ Domain that has healing powers. Other than that, with what Dasha has, there’s no other way to save her.” Sage guiltily looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry I don’t know anything more useful.”
“No. It’s fine. Let’s go. The faster we get there, the sooner we can save Dasha,” Ben said.
“No,” James said.
“No! What do you mean no? My sister is dying and you’re saying no to our only chance of saving her?” Ben yelled.
“We can’t go there!” James fearfully said.
“And why not?” Ben demanded. He was angry now along with the overwhelming worry he was already feeling.
“The elves,” was all James could say in response.
“But why not?” Ben demanded. Then, for the first time since he had met him, Ben saw James lose control.
“No! You don’t understand!” James yelled. “I’ve been there! I watched the elves murder my parents before my eyes just for trying to save me! I barely escaped with my life! There is no hope of saving her! Why condemn yourselves to death for a lost cause?” 
Nobody spoke for a long while. Nobody could speak. They were too stunned at this new side of James and what he had just said. Then Dasha spoke. “He’s right,” Dasha said. “Don’t do it. Not for me.”
“No. I’m not going to do nothing! I’m going there, if you won’t, then, fine. But I have to try,” Ben said with fierce determination. 
“Me too,” Sage agreed. So did Ruth, Conor, and Faith.
“Fine! But I’m leaving at the first sign of danger!” James stormed off to get his knapsack.
“Can you stand?” Ben asked Dasha.
“I think so.” She tried to stand up, but fell back onto the blankets.
“Why is Liana not here?” Ben complained and sat down next to Dasha.
“Conor, get some blankets. We’ll make a stretcher and put Dasha on it. Conor quickly got two blankets from Ben’s bed and handed them to Sage. “Alright. Faith, Ruth, and Conor, carefully lift Dasha up and I’ll put the blankets under her.” They lifted Dasha up and Sage laid the blankets under her. “Set her down.” They did. “Ruth, find two sturdy sticks, and hurry. Conor, you and I can carry Dasha first, and then Ruth and Faith can take a turn.”
“What about me?” Ben asked.
“You won’t be lifting anything after last night,” Sage said sternly.
“I told you she was the smart one,” Dasha said with a slight grin. Ruth returned with two sticks and Sage cut a hole in each corner of the blankets and threaded the sticks through two holes each so that Dasha could be easily carried.
“Get your knapsacks. We’re going now.” Sage said. They all got their knapsacks and Sage and Conor each held one end of each stick and lifted Dasha up.
“Come on, James!” Ruth called. “We’re going!” With Ruth in the lead and James in the back, they headed straight for The Elves’ Domain.
__________________________
By the time they stopped to rest, Dasha was burning with fever and rapidly getting worse.
“We’ll have to walk all night and all day again if we want to get there in time.” Sage said.
Ben looked off into the distance. He couldn’t remember being so afraid. Afraid that he might not be able to see his sister alive one more day. Afraid that it would be his fault if she died. If he hadn’t stayed in his tent, she might not have gotten bitten. And then she wouldn’t be dying. 
“Let’s go now,” Ben said. “Please.”
“I agree. Ruth and Faith, you can carry her now,” Sage commanded. Ruth and Faith took Sage’s and Conor’s places and they kept on walking.
__________________________
Ben looked over at his sister lying in the stretcher with a worried frown on his face. Dasha had only gotten worse while they walked. Now it was night again and she was fitfully sleeping, tossing and turning in the stretcher they had made, making it difficult for James and Faith to carry her.
“Do you think we’ll make it?” Ben asked.
Sage looked tiredly at him. “I don’t know,” she answered. “We’ll just have to keep trying until we’re done. One way or the other.”
Ben looked down to hide the tears forming in his eyes.
__________________________
“I see the forest!” Ben shouted. “I see it! I see it!” They had been walking all day and they were exhausted. They were all thankful that nothing had attacked them yet and they hadn’t run low on food.
“You’re right! I see it too!” Ruth exclaimed. “We’re almost there!”
“How are we going to find the lake?” Conor asked. 
“Just leave that to me,” Sage answered.
“Please… don’t do it,” Dasha whispered. Ben ignored her.
James didn’t speak. He just stared at the forest. “My mother’s home,” he whispered to himself.
“What?” Dasha asked, then started coughing and didn’t stop until Sage forced some water down her throat. “What did you say?” she asked.
“What? Oh! Nothing,” James stammered.
“No, you said something. What did you say?” Faith pressed.
“It’s nothing,” James said.
“If it was nothing then you wouldn’t be so reluctant to tell us,” Sage reasoned. “Right? So what is it?”
“I’m not saying.” 
“Is it important?” Ben asked. “Because if it is, then you are going to tell us.”
“I said I’m not saying.”
“Why not?” Ruth jumped in. “What do you have to lose by telling us.?”
James groaned. “Fine! I’ll tell you. Not that you deserve to know or anything. I said, ‘my mother's home.’”
“Come on. Keep moving,” Sage said. She pointed at James. “You’re explaining while we walk,” Sage said as they started walking again.
James sighed. “Usually, whenever someone enters the forest uninvited by an elf, they’re just put in prison. With my parents, however, they had every right to be there.” James paused.
“Go on.” Ruth said.
“They… they were killed for a different reason. My mother was… an elf and my father was a speaker.” 
Sage gasped.
“They hid in the forest together, knowing that if they were found that they would be killed. Then they had me. When I was six, I got deathly sick and my mother knew that the only way to save me was to come out of hiding and take me to the lake. They got caught and executed just for their marriage. My mother’s sister managed to smuggle me out of the forest and found a good home for me.” James clenched his fists. “The elves are ruthless. They don’t care about who they hurt. They only care about how the world looks at them. They want to be all high and mighty, but they’re really just murderers. Well, ever since that, I vowed never to enter The Elves’ Domain again.”
“You’re scared of them, aren’t you?” Dasha asked.
“Yes,” James admitted.
“Oh. That’s sad. That you’re too afraid to even save someone’s life, isn’t it?” Dasha wondered.
“Yes it is,” James shamefully agreed.
By then they had reached the forest and the trees were looming in front of them. James took a deep breath. “We will need to move quickly as soon as we get in the forest. If everything goes well, we’ll at least be able to get Dasha to the lake if not also escape.” 
“Got it. We’ll move too slowly with the stretcher so you carry her,” Ruth told James with a smirk.
“No. I can walk. See.” Dasha, with much effort, stood up then stumbled. 
James caught her before she could fall and lowered her to the ground. “You absolutely can not walk,” he said. “Alright, I’ll carry her.”
“But… fine,” Dasha grumbled.
“Good, now let’s go!” Ruth raced into the forest with the other four following. James gently picked up Dasha and followed. Sage took the lead and they all followed her as she guided them to the lake.
Ben became more nervous every second that the elves didn’t show up. To him it seemed, the forest was oddly quiet as they raced through it. No one spoke, they just ran. And even though it was quiet and he couldn’t hear anyone following them, Ben couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. 
We’re going to die, he kept thinking to himself over and over again. He felt like they were running into a trap, yet nothing was happening. But something would. He was sure of it.
They kept running for what felt like forever but couldn’t have been more than an hour. Then Sage skidded to a stop. They all stopped behind her. “We’re being watched,” Sage whispered. “But the lake is over there.” She pointed in front of them. James hesitantly started toward the lake with Ben behind him.
Then the elves came. They fell out of the trees and came out of the shadows and surrounded the seven speakers. Dozens of archers aimed their bows at the speakers and one elf pushed his way toward the intruders.
“I am the general of the empress’ army and I demand to know what you are doing,” the elf said loudly.
“We’re here to save my sister.” Ben told them.
The elf laughed harshly. “Well, too bad. Our lake isn’t free. I guess your sister will just die. Meanwhile, you are all coming with me to the empress’ palace for your trial.”
“But my sister needs your lake.” Ben protested.
“I don’t care about your sister. And if the empress hadn’t said otherwise, you’d all be dead right now,” the elven general said. 
“You want to bet?” Ruth muttered.
“I heard that. Now, I can peacefully escort you to the palace or we can take you by force. It’s your choice,” the general snapped.
“Just go with them,” James said.
“Wise man. Now hurry up. I don’t have all day.” The general started walking away from them. Ben’s friends followed. Ben glanced at the lake one more time and went with his friends. He felt terrible. He had let his sister down again. Now she would surely die and they would get locked up in some elven prison and it would be all his fault. Then someone nudged him and Ben looked to find Sage walking next to him.
“Don’t blame yourself, Ben. It’s not your fault,” she told him.
“Then who am I supposed to blame?” Ben asked.
Sage thought for a moment. “I suppose you could blame the elves or you could blame the coyote that bit her, but I don’t really think you should blame anyone. Blame just causes problems. When you blame yourself for something, usually, what happened couldn’t have been easily stopped, yet you tell your mind that you could’ve stopped it. You set unreachable expectations for yourself and when you don’t meet them you feel like a failure. But when you blame others, you direct your anger to them instead of accepting what happened and trying to fix it. Do you get what I’m saying?” Sage asked. 
“Yeah, and you sound like you recited that word for word from a book,” Ben teased.
Sage laughed. “I guess I might read too much sometimes.”
“Yeah,” Ben agreed, “Just a bit.” They had reached the palace by then and were just starting to walk up the marble stairs. 
“Wow,” Sage breathed when they entered the palace. “It’s even more beautiful than the books said.” They walked through many rooms, each more beautiful than the last. Some had crystal fountains, others had flowering vines. Then they entered the biggest room yet. Flowering vines of all colors climbed up the walls and small fountains lined a path to a large golden throne with jewels embedded randomly in it.
On the throne was a young elven woman with a silver crown resting on her wavy golden  hair. Despite her age, the woman managed to look every bit the regal empress she was. “Ah. There you are. I have heard that you entered my forest without permission and tried to steal water from my lake. Is this true?” the empress asked. 
“Yes,” James said before the others could protest.
“Ah. I see.” The empress leaned over and whispered something to one of the two guards next to her throne. The guard nodded and walked over to James.
“Give me her,” the guard commanded, pointing at Dasha.
“No!” James backed away from the guard.
“Give her to him now or it will go a lot worse for you,” the empress threatened. “And if you don’t, he will take her from you, which will hurt her. Now give her.” James sighed and handed Dasha to the guard. “I didn’t think you would make the mistake of your parents.” James fell a step back. “Oh, yes. I know exactly who you are.” The empress smiled sweetly. “They paid for their disobedience, didn’t they? Now you wouldn’t want that to happen to your friends, now would you?” The empress just smiled at James’ discomfort. “Take her away!” The empress commanded the guard who was holding Dasha. The guard carried Dasha out of the throne room. “I wouldn’t say anything you might regret if I were you,” the empress said, looking straight at Ben. Ben clamped his jaw shut. “Good boy. Now shut the door!” the empress shouted. 
The guards positioned at the large double doors that the speakers had come through closed the doors.
“There, now you can’t run. Warriors, attack!” Several elves ran out from behind the fountains and attacked the speakers. 
Ben panicked and hid behind one of the fountains. He watched as his friends fought the elven warriors. Ruth blasted the elves near her with fire, but the elves kept on dodging. James now had a sword in his hand and was dueling with one of the elves. Faith was shielding the others as necessary with her ice. Sage and Conor were working on forming a swirling barrier of water and wind. 
There was something odd about the battle though. Ben looked back at James. He noticed that, while James was a good swordsman, the elven warrior should’ve been better, yet, the elf’s blade never touched James.
Then Ben looked at the empress. The empress seemed to be talking with someone, but no one was near her except the guard. 
When he looked back at the battle, he also noticed that the warriors were flickering ever so slightly as they moved. They still made noise, so it seemed like they were normal elven beings. Then Ben heard someone breathing behind him. He turned around and screamed when he found an elven warrior behind him, smiling wickedly.  
The warrior raised his sword for a killing blow. Ben closed his eyes and braced himself for pain. Nothing happened. Ben slowly opened his eyes. He saw the warrior’s sword sticking out of him, but he couldn’t feel it. He looked at the warrior. He was definitely flickering. Ben tentatively reached forward and touched the sword. His hand went straight through it! Then the warrior flickered for a breathless moment, and vanished.
“They’re not real,” he realized. “And I think you have to touch them to defeat them.” Ben ran over to Conor and Sage. “The warriors aren’t real. They’re just light!” he told them.
“Are you sure?” Sage asked.
“Just cover one with your water and see what happens. If they’re made of light, then they’ll become blurry.” Ben said. He filled his hands with rocks while Sage made his way past her barrier to one of the warriors. She shot a blast of water, hitting the warrior in the chest and going straight through it. The warrior flickered and disappeared. 
“You’re right!” Sage called over to Ben. “They are light.” Ben threw one of the rocks in his hand at the elf closest to him. The rock went through the warrior’s head. Then the warrior flickered and vanished. Ben slowly made his way to the throne while his friends fought.
“Do you think we should tell them that one of those warriors isn’t made of light?” Ben barely heard the empress whisper. Then he heard Ruth’s triumphant shout. He looked over at her and saw her tackle one of the warriors. The warrior’s sword was on the ground and glowing orange. Sage and Conor ran over to her and helped Ruth pin the elf to the ground. James had defeated the elf illusion he had been fighting and went over to help Faith. 
Suddenly, the elves fighting attacking Faith all flickered and vanished. Someone started clapping at the front of the room. Ben turned around and was startled to find the empress and one other hooded person, who hadn’t been there before, clapping.
“I’m impressed,” the empress said. She stopped clapping and stood up. “I have been looking for people like you ever since I became the empress. I’m sure you are all very confused right now, so I want you to meet me in my personal dining room for the mid-day meal.” The empress said and then she and the other person next to her walked out of the throne room through a, now visible, door.
The two guards by the throne room doors opened the double doors and Dasha came running in.
“Ben!” she shouted.
“Dasha?” Ben asked. “What are you doing here?” 
Dasha ran up to him and pulled him into a tight hug. Then she let go. “The elves gave me water from their lake,” Dasha said. “I have no clue why, but I wasn’t about to turn them down.”
“I guess there’s a lot more about the elves we don’t know,” Ben marveled. “And I wonder what the empress wants with us.”
== Chapter 10 ==
Conor didn’t know what to feel as two elven guards led him and his friends to the elf empress’ personal dining room. He didn’t know if he should be afraid or alert. There was so much he didn’t understand and so much that didn’t match up with what he thought he knew. 
The elves had healed Dasha, but they had also killed James’ parents. So were they good, or were they bad? It just didn’t make any sense to him. Then again, nothing made any sense anymore, so nothing was different there.
Every part of him wanted to run when the guards stopped in front of two intricate doors, but he stayed only because he couldn’t get his legs to move. And now you’re turning into Ben. He scolded himself. It’s just your imagination running away again. I’m sure it will all turn out alright. Doubt still pushed its way into his mind.
And anyway, he reminded himself, what friend would run and leave their friends behind in danger? Except Ben, his mind harshly added. It’s not his fault he gets frightened. I guess it’s just easy to run away from things sometimes, he told himself without much conviction. 
He was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice when the guards opened the doors and went inside.
“Conor, come on,” Ruth said, pulling him out of his trance.
“Huh? Oh, yeah,” Conor absently replied.
He and his friends went inside the room and he was startled to find it very simple. There weren’t any jewels or fancy tapestries hanging on the walls. No vines or fountains either. Just a simple rug on the floor and a table and some chairs.
“Not as fancy as you thought it would be, huh?” the empress asked as she walked over to the seven gaping speakers. The hooded person was with her too.
“Not quite. I like it though. Simple is my kind of perfect,” Sage answered in her slow thoughtful way.
“Thank you. I wholeheartedly agree. Mother sure did love her gold and jewels though. It’s taken me forever to clear out this room,” the empress said. “Oh! This,” she gestured at the hooded figure next to her, “is my friend…”
“Who wishes to remain unknown for the time being,” the hooded figure cut in.
“Oh, well, if you’re sure, then alright,” the empress disappointedly said.
“Okay, I have to ask!” Dasha stepped forward. “How did you make and control so many warriors at once? And the sound? There you have me stumped. And how did you just… appear?” Dasha excitedly asked. “They filled me in on the way here,” she added.
“Practice. And before you get any ideas, you aren’t nearly skilled enough to do anything like that. Nowhere skilled enough,” the hooded person haughtily answered.
“Excuse my friend’s rudeness,” the empress glared at her friend. 
Her friend just shrugged.
“She doesn’t trust new people or speakers.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, why are we not in your prison right now?” James demanded. “And why do you have a Light Speaker with you? Surely she’s not actually your friend.”
The empress looked highly offended and agitated, and so did her friend.
“Look, I don’t care what you thought about elves in the past, but we are changing your expectations right now!” the empress exploded. James shrank back. “For one, I’m a different empress than you remember! My mother was the empress while you were here, not me! And by all means, hate her all you want, but don’t hate me or the elves because of her! For two, do you know how hard it is to change a whole tribe’s actions? I have worked nonstop ever since I was given the throne to get rid of all executions, prison sentences, and hatred for speakers and humans! For three, who says I can’t have a speaker for a friend? Answer that!” 
The empress took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”
The empress’s friend was staring at her, open mouthed. “Wow, Evely, I haven’t ever seen you get so mad! You’ve got to do that more often!” she exclaimed.
“I don’t think I will.” The empress responded coolly. “At least not at any guests. I don’t have a problem yelling at you.”
James cleared his throat.
“Oh, yes. Sorry. You all are probably wondering why I asked for you.”
“Yes, an answer would be helpful,” Ruth put in.
“And you’ll get one in due time.” The empress walked over to the table and pulled on a cord next to one of the chairs. A minute later an elven maid walked into the room.
“What can I do for you, Your Highness?” the maid asked while bobbing a curtsy. 
“Can you please bring in the midday meal?”tThe empress requested.
“Right away, Your Highness.” The maid left the room.
“I’ll tell you what I wanted you for after we have eaten,” the empress said.
Ruth groaned.
Conor was still puzzling out the empress’ outburst, so he didn’t notice the lack of answers.
“I’m sure you can wait a little longer.” The empress paused. “It occurs to me that I don’t know most of your names. Would you be so kind as to tell me?”
“No,” James bluntly said.
“Why not, James? Now you’re just being rude,” Dasha reprimanded. “My name is Dasha, although you might already know that. And this is Ben, Sage, Ruth, Faith, and Conor.” She pointed at each one as she said their name. James glared at her, but she kept on talking. “And the one who hates you and has decided to be as rude as possible is James.”
“Well, he’s not the only one,” the empress looked straight at her friend.
Her friend just shrugged again. “Some secrets are meant to be kept,” the hooded person said offhandedly.
“And how is your name a secret?” the empress demanded.
“See, I already told you. The reason is another of my secrets. And that one is definitely meant to be kept. Yes, even from you. End of discussion.” The empress’ friend emphatically turned away from her and didn’t say anything else.
“Well… oh! Look, our food is here.” The maid had returned with several golden platters precariously perched on her arms. “What did I say about using the golden ones?” the empress asked accusingly.
“Well, I thought since you had guests…” the maid trailed off under the empress’s glare.
The empress sighed. “Oh well. It doesn’t matter. But be sure to remember next time.”
“Of course.” The maid hurriedly set the platters on the table and rushed out of the room.
“Please, have a seat.” The empress and her friend sat down and the others hesitantly followed to do so too. 
After they started eating, Ruth immediately fired the empress with questions. “How long have you been the empress?” she asked.
The empress thought for a moment. “Oh, only sixteen years.” She said wonderingly.
“Only sixteen?” Ruth asked. “Then how old are you?”
“I think it was one thousand, five hundred, and thirty two. I may be getting that wrong though.” Everyone except the empress’ friend gaped at her. “What?” she asked.
“That’s… really old,” Ruth finally said.
“For you, maybe. But for us it’s pretty young,” the empress said.
“How is that young?” It took Ruth a moment to get her bearings again. “Actually, don’t answer that.” Ruth turned to the empress’ friend. “So, how did you meet the empress?” She asked.
“I’d… rather not say.”
“Oh.” Ruth disappointedly turned back to the empress. “Why did you ask for us?”
“I told you, I’ll tell you after we eat.”
Ruth groaned. “Withholder of information,” she quietly grumbled to Conor. “Fine, then why don’t you like gold or jewels?”
“I don’t know. Maybe just because my mother did,” the empress answered.
“Hmmm… then how did your hair get so long?” Ruth asked, staring at the empress’ waist length hair.
“Uh… I don’t know. I just let it grow, I guess.” The empress looked a little uncomfortable from Ruth’s questions.
“Ruth, remember why we’re here. And don’t pester the empress,” Sage scolded.
“So you didn’t just come here to heal your friend?” the empress asked.
“No, we were already on our way here when Dasha got sick from a bite.” Sage told her.
“Oh, then why were you coming here?”
Sage glanced at James. He groaned and gave a slight nod. “We were coming here in the hopes that you would be able to give us some information about a prophecy our mistress had,” Sage explained.
“I may not be able to help you then, but I can try. How about you tell me the prophecy and I’ll see what I can do.” The empress listened, deep in thought, as Sage recited Mistress Hazel’s prophecy, in her normal voice this time. “I think the first part is about the Hidden Library,’ the empress said hesitantly after a long silence. “It would make sense, but I can’t figure out the rest,” the empress said sadly. Then she perked up. “But I might know someone who does know what it means!” she exclaimed.
“Wait, what library?” Ruth demanded. Instead of answering her, the empress jumped up and ran out of the room.
“What do you think she’s doing?” Conor asked.
“Probably getting the guards to throw us into her prison,” James muttered.
“Oh, shush, James!” Dasha reprimanded. 
“Maybe she’s getting that person she was talking about,” Ben said hopefully.
“Probably,” the empress’ friend agreed. 
Conor, startled, spun around in his chair to face her, then relaxed when he saw who it was. “I forgot you were here,” he said without thinking, then felt really bad for saying it.
The empress’ friend didn’t seem offended. “That seems to happen a lot. I don’t know why though since I am very not forgettable. Don’t you know?”
“Uh… no. I don’t know.” Ruth said, staring intently at the hooded person.
The hooded person, growing very uncomfortable, drew her hood farther over her head and shrank back into her chair. It only made Ruth frown and look more closely at her.
“Ruth, cut it out. We’re not supposed to make one of our hosts nervous,” Conor told her.
“But…” Ruth unwillingly looked away.
Conor rolled his eyes at her unrelenting curiosity. Someday it would get her into trouble, he was sure. But for now it was merely unhelpful and sometimes annoying. The empress’ friend shot Conor a grateful look and sat up a bit straighter now that she wasn’t under Ruth’s stare.
“I’m back!” the empress called excitedly from the front of the room. Conor turned around and saw the empress standing with an old elven man. “This is Pine. He should be able to help you.” The empress glared at the old elf. “And, yes, you will help them,” she sternly told him. Pine just grunted in reply. “Pine,” she said in a dangerous voice, “did you forget who you are talking to?”
“No, no! Please, forgive me, your highness,” the man quickly said.
“Good, don’t let this happen again.”
“Of course.” Pine seemed to be wishing he could hit the empress as he spoke. Conor immediately decided that he didn’t like the old man. That much he was sure of.
“Sage, would you kindly say the prophecy again for Pine?” the empress requested. Sage did so, and by the time she was done, Pine was scowling fiercely. “Wipe that nasty expression off your face and tell them anything they need to know right now,” the empress ordered Pine. 
Pine made his face go blank, but it was obvious that he was furious. “The first part is talking about an old library that was built deep underground. I don’t know where it is though or how to light a star. Can I go now?” Pine grumpily said.
“Yes, you may go.” The empress agreed. Pine wasted no time hurrying out of the room. “Well, I’m sorry I couldn’t help more. I really thought he would know something,” the empress sighed sadly.
Conor turned to look at the empress’ friend and noticed that she looked as nervous as she had when she was under Ruth’s stare. After a few moments of fidgeting with her hands, she spoke. “I think I might know something about the “light the star” part,”sShe said with a groan as everyone turned to look at her.
“You do?” The empress asked.
“Yes,” her friend unwillingly answered. 
“Well…” the empress prompted. 
“My mother used to sing a song to me sometimes. It mentioned lighting a star. So… actually, I’ll just sing it for you.” The empress’ friend took a deep breath and started singing.
“Alone and lost,
Frightened and cold,
Light the star,
He was told.
So he did, 
So far from home,
Take me back
To where I belong
Water, Ice,
Fire and Rock.
Wind and Light,
Shadow and Sand.
All together,
Light the star,
Take me there,
Near or far.
He gathered and searched
Till he had all,
Then light the star,
He did.
Water, Ice,
Fire and Rock.
Wind and Light,
Shadow and Sand.
Follow the star
Through valleys and mountains
And across the raging sea.
Brave as any man could be
He followed along the path.
Till home he reached
He traveled on
Through forest big 
And mountain strong.
Journey done,
Home at last,
The weary traveler
Stood aghast. 
The star had led him home, it’s true,
But his home lay in ages past.
He fell down and with his home
He breathed his last and he was gone.”
After she finished the song, nobody spoke for a moment. “There’s more to the song, but that’s the most important part of it,” the hooded person said, breaking the silence.
“Okay, I’ve got to ask. Where did you learn that song? I’ve never heard it before,” Ruth asked. 
“That’s not the point, Ruth,” Conor cut in, saving the hooded woman from having to answer Ruth’s nosy questions. “The point is that now we have a small idea of what we’re supposed to do. Well, more than we used to anyway.” Still not that helpful though, his mind added, but he politely didn’t say that part.
“I don’t know that song either. And you all thought elves knew everything.” The empress gave a short, sweet laugh. “I think I might know the person it was about though.”
“You have a beautiful voice,” Dasha complimented the hooded person.
“Thank you,” she answered shortly, embarrassed.
James rolled his eyes and turned away from the empress and her friend.
“Yeah,” Ben agreed. “And you sound a lot better than Mother,” he added. “But that’s not saying much really. Mother can’t sing.”
“Ben!” Dasha was horrified. “If Father heard you right now, you would be in so much trouble and you know it! Be respectful of Mother,” she harshly reprimanded.
“Sorry,” Ben muttered.
While all of the others were talking, Conor glanced over and saw Sage shake her head in a disbelieving way. Before he could ask her what was wrong though, she spoke. “Was the man in the song a speaker?” Sage asked.
“Hmm. I don’t know. I don’t think so though,” The hooded person answered.
“So all we would have to do to light the star would be to collect the eight things. We don’t have to have speakers?” Sage asked.
“I don’t think you would need speakers. But having speakers would be a lot easier,” the hooded person replied.
“Hmm. So then how would we light the star?” Dasha wondered out loud. “We know what to light it with but not how.”
“I don’t know. Maybe just try combining them all,” the empress answered. “Other than that, you’re on your own, I’m afraid.” Then the empress brightened. “You can stay here for the night though, if you want. And I can give you supplies for when you leave.” The empress stood up. “And until you leave you have permission to use anything in my palace and to roam around.”
“What about the thing you were going to tell us?” Ruth asked.
“Oh.” The empress sat back down. “Right. Well, if you can, I have a favor to ask of you.”
“We can try at least,” Dasha said before James could say no. He shot her a glare, which she ignored.
“Good.” The empress let out a sigh of relief. “I need you to retrieve something that was stolen from us several hundred years ago. It is of most importance and extremely deadly,” the empress said with fear in her eyes.
“What was stolen?” Conor asked, wide eyed.
“An orb. A glowing orb that changes color depending on what…” the empress suddenly cut herself off. “A glowing orb that changes color,” she restated. Conor wondered what she wasn’t telling them.
“Several hundred years ago? What makes you think we could find it if you haven’t been able to all these years?” Ben asked, with a look that said he was just realizing how big of a task it was.
“I don’t know if you can. I only hope that you can,” the empress quietly replied.
“Oh, how big is it? Is it heavy or light?” Ruth asked, happy for the excuse to ask more questions.
“It’s not heavy and it’s small. It would easily fit in your hand.” The empress answered. 
“Ooh! Sounds hard to find,” Ruth said excitedly. “Challenge accepted!” 
“Quite. I agree with Ruth, challenge accepted,” Dasha said. “We’d be happy to…” Dasha paused, looked at the glowering James, and changed what she was going to say. “Most of us would be happy to help. While we may not be able to abandon our mission to find it, we will search for it as we travel.”
Conor looked over at the empress and was startled to find her with a furious expression on her face. Now is when we die, he thought, I hope Mother isn’t too sad. Then he told himself that they were not going to die because the empress was nice, he thought anyway.
Then the empress’ expression became calm again. “Sorry. I’m not angry at you,” the empress reassured them.
“She has that expression whenever she thinks about her mother,” the hooded person explained. “Which is quite often, I will add.”
“Cy…!” 
The hooded person’s eyes went wide with fear and she hurriedly put her hand over the empress’ mouth before she could finish her exclamation. “Watch your tongue, Evely,” she hissed.
The empress gave a muffled “sorry” through her friend’s hand.
The hooded person, satisfied, took her hand off of the empress’ mouth. “Don’t do it again,” The empress’ friend said with ferocity.
“I won’t. I promise. Really, I mean it!” the empress said when her friend still looked doubtful.
“Remind me to never get on your bad side,” Ruth told the empress’ friend.
“Well, I have business to attend to soon, so I would show you the guest rooms and then be on my way,” the empress said to break the awkward silence that followed Ruth’s statement.
Ben started nodding then he suddenly stopped. “Wait, did you say rooms?” he asked.
“Yes, is there something wrong with that?” the empress asked.
“Um… I don’t know about the others, but I was kind of hoping we could all sleep together,” Ben said nervously. “And no offense, but this place gives me the creeps,” he added more quietly.
“I suppose that could work,” the empress said. 
“I could sleep on the floor,” Sage offered.
“I don’t think that will be necessary. I should be able to find enough beds,” the empress said. “That is, if you all want to sleep together.”
Conor looked at Ruth, Faith, and Dasha, who nodded, then at James, who didn’t show any interest in what was going on. “Yeah, we do,” Conor told the empress.
“Alright, then come with me.” The empress left the room with the seven speakers following her. Her friend, understandably, didn’t come with them.
The empress led Conor and his friends to a tall door at the end of a long hallway. She opened the door and gestured for the speakers to go into the room. When Conor stepped into the room, he let out a small gasp. 
The room was large with high walls and tall windows that looked out on the front gardens of the palace. The ceiling of the room was covered in flowering vines and a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room. There were four beds lining one wall and a long glass dresser lining another. And two small stone fountains sat in two corners of the room. 
“Wow, that’s a lot of beds for one room,” Ruth commented from behind Conor.
“Elves have large families,” the empress explained.
“Oh,” Ruth started poking around the room.
“I will send more beds soon but I really must go now. If you’re hungry, just go to the kitchens and ask for something. And if you need anything, just ask.” With that said, the empress hurried out of the room, leaving the speakers alone.
“I don’t like it here. And I don’t like her or any of them,” James stated.
Dasha groaned. “Really, James? Just stop. I have had enough of your suspicions and accusations, so unless you have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” she said, scolding James like he was a small child in need of correction. 
For some reason Conor couldn’t imagine, James didn’t retort or even say anything else about the elves. Then again, he thought to himself, Dasha does have that effect on people. I wonder where she got it from. Maybe one of her parents, he concluded.
“Good,” Dasha said.
“I’m starting to see why Mistress Hazel sent you too, Dasha. He can be quite the grump sometimes,” Ruth, who had taken a break from her investigation, now gestured at James.
“Yes, he can be,” Dasha agreed.
“I can hear you,” James grumbled. Nobody listened to him.
“I’m going exploring. Want to come, Ruth?” Conor asked.
Ruth rolled her eyes. “Of course I do,” she said. “So what are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
Ruth raced out of the guest room. Conor followed her. Somehow his exploration had turned into a “follow Ruth expedition.” Although he had known that it would probably happen when he had invited her to come along.
Conor found Ruth waiting for him at the end of the hallway and they started walking together through the huge palace.
“Are you going anywhere specific?” Conor asked Ruth after she had led him through several hallways and rooms.
“Yes, I’m trying to find a library.” Ruth said, turning into yet another hallway.
Conor was getting tired of the endless walls. They, for some reason, made him feel trapped. Like he might never leave them again, which was silly because they were leaving the next day, weren’t they?
“Ruth,” Conor spoke up.
Ruth paused to look at him. “Yeah?”
“Do you get the feeling that we’re being watched?” he asked, shivering a little bit.
“Hmm.” Ruth looked around the hallway they were in. “No,” she finally answered. “Do you?”
“Yes, and I have this strange feeling that something very bad is going to happen. Soon.” Conor shivered again, nervously glancing around.
“Let’s just find the library.” Ruth started down the hallway again. Conor reluctantly followed. 
After much more walking, Ruth finally found what she was looking for. They stopped in front of a large door labeled Library.
“Are you sure we should go in there?” Conor worried.
“What are you now? Ben? Come on, you heard the empress. We can go anywhere in her palace,” Ruth said, opening the door. She stepped into the library and gestured for Conor to follow her. Conor sighed in defeat and walked into the room after her.
The library was one of the biggest rooms Conor had ever seen. There were rows and rows of bookshelves full of books throughout the room and lining the walls. Several large chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling and cast an inviting light across the room. There was also a ladder, which led to the second floor of the library.
Conor had barely had any time to take it in before Ruth was tugging him toward the ladder. She scurried up it and disappeared from Conor’s sight. Conor quickly followed, not wanting to be left alone. When he stepped onto the second floor, Ruth was already searching through the bookshelves.
“What are you looking for now?” Conor asked.
Ruth looked up. “I’m looking for anything about the empress. I’m not quite sure what to think about her yet,” she answered, then started scanning the books again.
“We really should have brought Sage.” Conor grumbled, then he joined Ruth.
__________________________
After several hours of searching and finding nothing, Conor had had enough. “Let’s go, Ruth. I’m tired of this. Wouldn’t you rather spy on the empress or something instead?” He complained.
“That does sound fun, but spying on her while she’s all queenly won’t tell us anything about her. And I’m pretty sure that is a good way to get into their prison, on the wrong side of the bars,” Ruth answered, not looking up.
“Well, I’m leaving. So if you want to stay here, then fine,” Conor turned to leave. “And I agree with Ben, this place gives me the creeps.” 
“Fine, fine, I’ll come.” Ruth set down the book she was reading and scrambled after Conor. Conor was secretly glad that she had not stayed. He didn’t like the thought of her being alone in the large library.
It didn’t take as long to get back to the guest room as it had on the way to the library, which Conor was thankful for. He was looking forward to one of those beds after sleeping on the ground.
__________________________
Conor woke up in the middle of the night to Ruth shaking him. “No pranks,” he mumbled.
“No, now wake up, sleepyhead,” Ruth replied.
Conor groaned and sat up. “What is it? Is anyone else awake?” Conor asked.
“No, they’re all asleep. Now come with me.” Ruth headed to the door and opened it.
“Wait, come where?” When Ruth ignored him, Conor dragged himself out of the bed and walked over to her. “Where are we going?”
“Just come.” Ruth took his hand and led him through the dark hallways. 
The shadows enveloped them as they silently walked and Conor could barely see anything. He wondered if Ruth knew where she was going. Ruth finally stopped in front of the door that led to the library.
“The library?” Conor asked.
“Shh.” Ruth opened the door and crept into the library. Once Conor was in the room, Ruth closed the door, leaving them in complete darkness. Then a small burst of flame lit up the space in front of Ruth and Conor. 
When Conor looked at her, Ruth was holding a small ball of fire in her cupped hands. “Find me a candle,” she said,
Conor looked around the room and his eyes landed on a small yellow candle. He picked it up and brought it to Ruth. She set the wick on fire and then extinguished the ball of fire. “I can’t climb a ladder with no hands, you know,” she said with a grin.
“I guess that’s true.” Conor agreed. They both climbed the ladder and Ruth went straight over to one of the bookshelves. She knelt down and picked up the book she had left on the floor.
“Really?” Conor said, slightly annoyed.
“Because we were being watched,” Ruth said.
“What?”
“We were being watched, although I don’t know by who, so I didn’t want to discover anything important with them around just in case,” Ruth explained. And of course she was right. Conor hated it when she was right.
“So did you find anything?” Conor asked.
“I think I might have. Listen to this. It’s an entry from one of the empress’ journals.” 
“I don’t think I want to know where you got that.” Conor commented.
Ruth ignored him and started reading. “Today I found a girl on our shores. I don’t know why I did it, maybe I felt sorry for her, but I carried her to the lake and put her in it to heal her, since she had almost drowned. Probably from that big storm last night. I will just mention that she was very heavy, or maybe it’s that I’m not very strong. Once I put her in, she sat up and started muttering about some person, her brother I think it was. Then I asked her what her name was and she said no to me! No one has ever said no to me before. It took me forever, but I finally managed to get her to tell me her name. It was…” Ruth stopped reading.
“Well, what was her name?” Conor asked when Ruth didn’t continue.
“It’s been crossed out and I can’t read it.”
“Oh, keep reading.”
Ruth started reading again. “She told me never to tell anyone her name for some reason she wouldn’t tell me. I almost told someone to get back at her for being rude to me, but I didn’t. She also had this small bird with her. An owl I think she said it was. The owl never left her, like ever. It was odd, but then again, she’s odd. Don’t you dare read this…!” Ruth paused. “The name’s been crossed out again.” Ruth frowned, her eyes scanning the book’s pages. “There isn’t anything else helpful in this. I wonder why that name is crossed out.”
“I don’t know, but can we please go back? I don’t like it here,” Conor asked.
Ruth sighed and stood up. “Yeah, let’s go.” She climbed down the ladder and Conor followed. When they got to the door that led out to the hallway, Ruth blew out the candle, leaving them in the dark again. Leaving the candle in the library, they then made their way back to the guest room.
When they got there, they each collapsed onto their own bed and were soon both asleep. Neither Conor nor Ruth saw the frightened face that peeked into the room and then disappeared. 
== Chapter 11 ==
“Get her! We can’t leave without her!” a voice screamed as waves crashed against the side of the ship. Strong hands grabbed Sage and lifted her up, though she could not see who was holding her. She felt safe in the arms that cradled her even in the midst of the storm.
“Hurry! It’s getting worse!” The person carrying Sage started running, still gently holding her in their arms. “The ship is sinking! Please! Please hurry!” a woman’s voice frantically begged. Muffled sobbing sounds could be heard over the roar of the crashing waves and the boom of thunder in the dark sky.
“I’m coming, Sage! Hang on! I’m coming!” For a moment Sage thought the person holding her, the person whose arms were so comforting, was talking to her, but she was right here. So who was the person talking to?
Suddenly the ship lurched and the person holding Sage fell onto the ground. Sage slipped out of his arms and went skidding across the deck of the ship. She bumped into a barrel with a painful thud and stopped sliding.
Then she was enveloped in warm arms that seemed to make the whole world alright again. “It’s alright. I’ve got you, my sweet baby girl. You’re safe with me,” a soft, kind voice reassured her. Sage was put in a small basket and tucked under a cozy blanket.
“Sage!” The person was quickly getting up off of the ground. “The storm’s getting much worse! There’s no way we’ll be able to make it to land with her!” a man’s voice yelled over the beating rain and howling wind.
“But we have to!” the woman’s voice fearfully called back. “We can’t leave her! We just can’t! I’d rather die!” The woman started crying. “We can’t leave her,” she choked out.
“I know! I might be able to keep you both safe with the speaking if I stay here though! It’s your only chance of survival!” the man yelled.
“I’m not leaving without you! I’m staying here!” the woman valiantly said. “If you die, I die. I’m not leaving!” she said firmly.
“Sage! You have to go! I can’t let you die! I can’t! You know I can’t!” the man argued.  “And she needs a mother to take care of her,” he finished more gently.
“Fine,” the woman said softly, so Sage almost couldn’t hear her. “I’ll go,” she said a bit louder. There was an audible sigh of relief from the man. Then the woman screamed.
A huge wave crashed over the ship, picking up Sage’s basket and carrying it out to sea. “No!” the woman screamed. Sage, in her basket, bobbed up and down on the waves, getting pulled farther and farther away from the ship with each passing second. 
“Help her!” the woman cried, her voice going in and out as the waves crashed over Sage. A moment later, Sage’s basket was lifted above the waves and her soaked clothes dried out as the drops of water rolled off of her and into the ocean. The falling rain seemed to swerve as to not fall on the child floating in the middle of the ocean.
Sage fearfully snuggled deeper into the basket as the cries and screams of her parents broke through the noise of the storm, then suddenly stopped. Her arm brushed against something cold and smooth as she shifted in the basket. She picked it up and felt it. It was her mother’s locket with the name Sage engraved on the surface of the pendant. Sage started crying. 
A small baby drifting out at sea in the middle of the terrible storm that drowned her parents. Her parents who had used their last moments alive to save her.
Sage bolted awake, breathing heavily. She sat up and rubbed her forehead, a headache starting to pulse through her head. The dream had seemed so real. Like she could just reach out and it would be there. 
She glanced around and when she saw her friends sleeping soundly, she relaxed. It had only been a dream after all. Hadn’t it?
“That’s it!” Ruth exclaimed.
Sage jumped. “You scared me,” she said to Ruth.
“I did? Sorry about that. Can you wake up Conor for me? Or will I have to do it the hard way?” Ruth asked.
“Not sure I want to be Conor right now because you’re going to have to wake him up if you want him,” Sage said with a small laugh.
“If you’re sure.” Ruth went over to where Conor was sleeping and started violently shaking him. Sage definitely did not want to be Conor right then.
“Go away, Ruth,” Conor muttered. “I’m trying to sleep.” 
“Well, I can see that. But I think I figured it out,” Ruth said.
Conor sat up. “Figured what out?” He asked.
Ruth sighed. “I’ll tell you somewhere else.” With that said, Ruth went out of the room with Conor reluctantly following.
“What did she figure out?” Sage asked out loud.
“Who?” Ben sleepily asked.
“Oh, good, you’re awake. Ruth and Conor are up to something, but I don’t know what,” Sage said
Ben rubbed his eyes. “Aren’t they always up to something?” He asked.
“I guess that’s true. But usually they’re not so secretive. And what if they’re doing something that will get them into trouble?” Sage worried.
“Sage, really? If Ruth tries to do anything bad, Conor will stop her. He’s got common sense.” Ben reassured her.
“Still… Ruth can be pretty convincing.”
“Okay, I’m going back to sleep if you worry out loud anymore. They’re fine, Sage,” Ben said.
“Alright, sorry,” Sage said.
“What are you talking about?” Faith asked, sitting up on the bed she was on.
“Just Ruth and Conor,” Sage answered.
“Oh, those two? What did they do this time? Worst prank of the year?” Faith said sarcastically.
“No, actually. But you noticed how long they were gone yesterday, right? And now they’re being very secretive. They must have found something. I just don’t know what. Not to mention they’re going to get into so much trouble if they go snooping around,” Sage said.
“That is worrying. I’m sure Conor will stop Ruth from going too far though,” Faith said, unconcerned. 
“If you’re sure,” Sage said, unconvinced that Ruth and Conor weren’t doing something bad.
“What!” Conor’s voice suddenly came from outside the guest room. Then Sage heard Ruth start shushing him.
“Not suspicious at all,” Sage commented.
“Hmm, maybe.” Was all Faith said in response.
Sage sighed and gave up. “So where are we going when we leave?” she asked.
“I think Dasha and James said something about going back to the caverns to get a Shadow Speaker and a Sand Speaker. Then we’d have everything to light the star,” Faith answered.
“Oh… do… do you think anyone here would know anything about my parents?” Sage blurted out. “My birth parents, that is.”
“I don’t know. Why?” Faith asked.
“Yeah, why? You haven’t mentioned your birth parents in a while.” Ben added.
“Well… I had a dream… about them,” Sage hesitantly answered. 
“A dream?” Faith asked.
“Well, I think it might have been a memory, I don’t know though. We were on a ship in the ocean and there was a big storm. And then I washed overboard and my parents somehow saved me but died while doing it. I wish I knew what really happened to them,” Sage sighed. “But I guess I never will since nobody knew them.” 
The realization that she might never learn what had happened to her parents hit her like one of Conor’s tornadoes. She had known it, but it had never seemed so real until then. Sage hung her head in sorrow.
Ben stood up and started to walk toward her, then suddenly he was thrown off his feet by something huge hitting the palace and shaking every single stone. James and Dasha were awake immediately.
“Wh…?” Ben's voice was lost as a loud crash shook the palace. Dust and pebbles rained down on the speakers heads as the palace kept on shaking.
The door slammed open and Ruth, then Conor ran into the bedroom. “The palace… is… under attack!” Ruth said between gasps for air. Conor was also panting. 
Then the empress’ friend darted into the room. Her hood had fallen off and her red hair was wild. “Get out of here!” she shouted over the boom and crashes of rock after rock hitting the palace. “Evely and I will hold the attackers off until you’re safe! Now go!”
“But shouldn’t we help you?” Dasha asked.
“No, you shouldn’t! Now leave while you can! It is you all he’s after, after all.” The empress’ friend turned and ran toward the commotion.
“Well, you heard her! Let’s get out of here!” Ruth yelled.
“But I feel like we should help them,” Dasha protested. “Especially if what she said is true. If the attackers are after us.”
“Dasha, look at me! There is a time to fight and a time to run! This is a time to run! Get that in your head! Now come on!” James yelled at her. Dasha gave in and they quickly made their way out of the guest room and into the hallway.
“Where do we go now?” Ben fearfully asked.
“Follow me!” James called, running down the hallway. James led the others through the crumbling palace to a large kitchen where several young elven women were huddling together in a corner of the room. They looked up when the speakers entered, but didn’t say anything.
“I don’t think…” Dasha started, but James cut her off.
“There’s a secret door that will take us to the back of the palace. We can escape that way.” He felt along the back of the kitchen until Sage heard a click. Then James pushed open a door hidden in the wall.
“How?” Ben started, then stopped. 
The door opened to reveal a dark passageway.
“Come on.” James hurried Sage and the others into the passageway and then followed, closing the door behind them. It was very dark and Sage didn’t want to know what creatures were in the passageway with them as they walked.
“I feel a little bad leaving those poor scared kitchen maids back there,” Faith said. 
“They’ll be safer there than here,” James answered.
Suddenly Ruth shrieked. They all froze. “Sorry,” Ruth said sheepishly, “just a rat.” Sage shuddered.
“Then let’s keep going.” James said. They all started walking through the dark again.
“Maybe I should get you a rat someday,” Conor said innocently. 
“Don’t you dare,” Ruth answered in a dangerous voice.
“Watch out. The passageway turns to the left,” James called from farther ahead then Sage remembered him being. She figured he must have gone ahead when Ruth had shrieked. 
As she turned with the passageway, Sage could see faint traces of light up ahead and the outline of James’ body against the light. They caught up to James and stopped. Sage heard a quiet click and James slid open a part of the wall, letting in blinding light.
It took a moment for Sage’s eyes to adjust, but when they did, she gasped in horror. Outside of the passageway there were shadows and more animals than she thought could exist attacking the elven army. 
“We can’t just run. We have to help them,” Dasha said. When Sage looked at her, Dasha was pale but determined.
“I agree,” Ruth said quietly.
“Well I don’t. I just want to get out of here.” James said and Ben was quick to agree with him.
“You would leave them?” Sage asked, shocked. “Even though they’re your people?” 
Before James could answer, Faith cut in. “You’re wasting time. Either we help or we don’t. Make up your minds.”
“We help,” Conor said decisively. “You can go ahead and leave if you want to,” he told Ben and James.
“I’ll take you up on that offer.” James said curtly.
Ben looked torn between his friends and safety. Although Sage knew that he would most likely go with James, which gave her a terrible feeling that something bad was going to happen.
Ben looked at Sage then made up his mind. “I’ll go with James,” he said, looking down at the ground.
“Alright. We’ll meet you at the edge of the forest near the ocean.” Dasha said.
With that said, Ben and James took off, running to the south. Sage watched them for a minute, then turned back to her friends. 
Suddenly something occurred to her. “Will we have to kill any of the animals?” she asked, starting to feel sick.
Dasha sighed. “If it’s the only way to stop them, then yes, you will have to kill them.”
“Oh.” It had not occurred to Sage that the only way to stop the animals might be to kill them. This is different from the coyotes, she thought, those were beasts. Some of these are just everyday animals like squirrels or songbirds.
Sage sighed. “Come on. Let’s go save the palace,” she said with more enthusiasm than she felt.
The five speakers charged into the battle, where they were immediately attacked by one of the shadows and a small brown bear.
The shadow lunged at Sage, its sword going straight through her arm. She felt searing pain for a moment, then blessed nothingness. Since the sword was only shadows, it couldn’t actually cut her, but you still didn’t want to get hit with it. 
Sage ignored her arm and attacked. She shot the shadow with a stream of water, doing nothing except maddening it.
“Dasha! A little help please!” Sage called while dogging swipe after swipe from the shadow’s sword. Sage faltered as she stumbled on the uneven ground. The shadow took the chance to swing a blow to her side. Just as the blade was about to hit her, the shadow exploded into a blast of light.
“Thanks,” Sage shouted over the noise of the battle. Then she looked down at her arm and screamed. Where the shadow’s sword had gone through her arm everything was black and the shadows were quickly spreading up her arm and down to her fingers. But before she had time to frantically debate on making a mad dash for the lake, something big and heavy crashed into her from behind, making her stumble forward and fall onto her hands and knees.
From where she had stood a moment ago, somebody groaned. “Perfect timing,” Faith muttered, “for my dumb powers to stop working.” 
Sage stood up and turned around. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, just annoyed.” Faith stood up and brushed the dirt off of herself. Then she shrieked. “Sage! Your arm!” she yelled, pointing at Sage’s shadow infected arm.
“I know,” Sage said with forced calm. “Can you help me get to the lake?” 
Faith, eyes wide and looking slightly panicked, nodded. They started running full speed toward the large lake in front of the elven palace and ran right into a huge elephant that moved to block them.
Both girls screamed and tried to back away, but the elephant picked up Sage with its trunk and started swinging her in dizzying circles above its head. Faith charged at the elephant and tried to shoot ice at it, but only ended up getting thrown backwards by some unknown force.
Sage was so dizzy by then that she couldn’t see right and the edges of her vision were starting to dim. She mentaly kicked herself for being so slow but she kept on swinging around and around… and… around. Sage violently shook her head, clearing the blurriness and daring herself to pass out. She had work to do! She could not pass out now!
Sage blasted the elephant’s face with water spear after water spear until it finally dropped her unceremoniously on the ground. Sage scrambled to her feet and ran to Faith. She pulled Faith up and they both started running again, making sure to go far around the elephant. 
They hadn’t gone far though when a fierce little squirrel jumped at Faith and latched onto her right leg with its tiny teeth.
“I’ve got it. You work on getting to the lake.” Faith said before Sage could help her. Faith leaned down to get the squirrel off of her leg then straightened suddenly. “Sage, do you think you could bring some of the lake water here with your power?” she asked.
“I guess I could try,” Sage answered. She focused and located the lake mentally. Then she brought a ball of the water to herself, letting it spill onto her blackened arm.
“Sage! I could use that help now,” Faith called, startling Sage. 
Sage turned around to see Faith on the ground with the squirrel still on her leg and a young deer sitting on her chest. Sage laughed and quickly blasted the deer away and pried the squirrel’s teeth off of Faith’s leg.
“Thanks.” Faith stood up. “Did it work?”
Sage looked down at her arm and was relieved to see that the shadows were gone. “Yeah,” Sage said. “Let’s go help the others.”
The two girls jogged back to where their friends were fighting, with Sage shooting streams of water at any creature that got too close.
“Have any of you seen the empress’ friend yet?” Sage asked when she ran up to her friends.
“Nope. She’s probably at the front of the palace if she’s fighting at all,” Ruth answered as she pushed the shadows back with a small wall of fire. 
“She probably is fighting. This is her home after all,” Conor said. He was working on controlling any fires that went where they weren’t supposed to go by putting them out with his wind. 
Then suddenly, as though they had been erased, every single one of the shadow warriors vanished at once and the animals all turned around and ran toward the coast. 
“What?” Faith said.
“I don’t know…” Dasha trailed off then her eyes widened. “James and Ben!” She took off running in the direction the animals had retreated. Faith, Sage, Ruth, and Conor were quick to follow.
As they ran Sage looked for any sign of Ben or James. As she did, she happened to catch a glimpse of Faith and almost tripped on a root. Faith had… flickered.
“Faith?” Sage called hesitantly.
Faith looked at her. “Yeah?” she asked.
Sage hesitated. “Nevermind,” she said.
They kept running, weaving between the trees and frantically looking around for their friends. Then Sage saw a sight that would haunt her dreams for months.
It was James, unconscious on the ground with his sword laying a few feet away from him. Ben was nowhere in sight.
“James!” Dasha ran over to his side and screamed. James’ left arm was covered in blood from where his shoulder had been cruelly slashed and it was still bleeding freely. His clothes were torn in several places and he had several more cuts and scrapes but his arm was the worst injury. 
Dasha turned back to Sage and her friends. There were tears in her eyes and her voice trembled a bit. “What happened to him? And where is my brother?” Then she started crying uncontrollably.
== Chapter 12 ==
Faith was running, following Dasha to find Ben and James. Then all of a sudden she was in a strange building.
“Guilty!” a man’s voice boomed around the huge courtroom she was in. People in the room erupted into noise.
Above the chaos one voice could be heard. “No! Krux, help me! Please!” a young woman’s panicked voice pleaded.
Then Faith was back in the forest running so unexpectedly that Faith missed a step and stumbled. 
“Faith?” Sage hesitantly called from Faith’s right.
“Yeah?” Faith answered distractedly.
“Nevermind,” Sage said.
Faith tried to puzzle through what she had just seen as she continued to run, only half paying attention to her surroundings. Krux, she thought, he was the Time Speaker, the one who ruined everything. So why did that woman want Krux to help her? And so her thoughts went around and around, always coming back to one question. What did it mean?
She was snapped back into reality by Dasha’s cry. “James!”
Faith looked up and immediately stopped moving, too horrified to make a sound. She closed her eyes, not wanting to look at the sight of James, severely hurt and unconscious.
Then she heard Dasha’s voice again. “What happened to him? And where is my brother?” Faith opened her eyes just as Dasha broke down and started crying.
Faith just stared at Dasha and James, feeling utterly helpless. 
Ever sensible Conor came up with the solution. “We need to take James back to the palace to provide care for him. We aren’t going to find out what happened if he dies while we fall apart,” he pointed out. 
“True,” Sage agreed, “okay, I suppose Faith can work on gathering vines to make a stretcher. And Conor, you can gather some leaves to make it more comfortable. I’ll work on cleaning James’ arm. Ruth, you can help Faith.”
And now that they had jobs to do, they quickly constructed a simple and comfortable stretcher while Sage cleaned and roughly bandaged James’ arm and shoulder. By that time Dasha had gotten her emotions under control and stood up to help them lift James onto the stretcher. As soon as they tried to lift him though, he cried out in pain. They quickly let go.
“How are we supposed to bring him back to the palace if we can’t even get him on the stretcher?” Dasha asked, discouraged beyond measure.
Conor sighed. “We’re just going to have to put him on anyway.” 
Before they could do anything more though they heard a voice shout from behind them. “There you are!” They all whirled around to find the empress’ friend running toward them with a small owl fluttering after her. “Evely sent me to look for you and see if yo…” She cut herself mid-sentence with a shout of surprise and horror. “What happened to him?”
“We don’t know.” Ruth said grimly. “We found him like this. And Ben is missing too.”
“Oh. Do you need any help? I can get the healers to take care of him,” the empress’ friend offered.
Faith glanced at her friends, who were nodding, before answering. “Yes, thank you. Can you help us carry him back to the palace?”
“Sure. Just tell me what to do. Also, Evely wants to see you before you go.” 
“We need to get him on the stretcher so that we can carry him back,” Sage told the empress’ friend.
The empress’ friend looked at James, at the stretcher, then back at James. Then, before anyone could stop her she walked over to where James lay and quickly half lifted him up and put him on the stretcher, ignoring his cry of pain. 
“My, he’s heavy! No wonder you had trouble. Although I would have thought that the five of you together could have managed it.”
Faith and her friends exchanged glances. That hadn’t exactly been the reason, but they let her get away with it.
They ended up having Dasha and the empress’ friend carrying the stretcher while the rest walked next to them. 
For the short trip back to the palace Faith wasn’t paying any attention to her surroundings. She could only think about what she had learned from the past hour. There were her strange glimpses of the past and Ben’s disappearance, not to mention James’ injury to think through. What is the meaning of all this? Why would someone want to take Ben and hurt James? And does my glimpse of the past have anything to do with it? And so her thoughts went, around and around, never coming to any answers. 
Suddenly she was yanked back to the real world when her toe hit a stone and she stumbled. Ruth caught her before she could fall though.
Ruth gave her a “what in the world were you thinking about?” look. Faith just shrugged then drew in a sharp breath when she saw the state of the elves’ palace. 
The front of the palace was in complete ruins. The walls had been smashed by the boulders being hurled at them and many of the trees had been torn from the ground or had fallen, bringing more with them. 
This is all our fault. Faith thought. All because we were here. I bet the attacker was here for us, and now the elves’ beautiful palace has been destroyed. And it’s all our fault. “I’m so sorry,” Faith said quietly to the empress’ friend.
“It’s not your fault,” the empress’ friend said with such ferocity that Faith almost believed her. “This probably would have happened at one point or another. The elves can’t be ignored forever after all. I mean really, they’re a bunch of insufferable know-it-alls. Somebody in the world has got to hate them, right?”
Faith could see that her friends felt just as guilty as she did. 
“Well anyway, the empress is this way.” The empress’ friend led them through the broken hallways and rooms of the palace to what used to be the throne room where Faith and her friends had first seen the empress. 
The empress looked up as they entered the room and quickly dismissed the two elves she was talking to and walked over to her friend. “So you did stay,” the empress said, slightly amused. “I didn’t think you would leave. Didn’t I tell you?” She directed the last comment to her friend.
“You did,” the empress’ friend agreed.
Then the empress saw James lying in the stretcher. “Oh my. He needs a healer.” The empress strode toward one of the doors that led out from the throne room and opened it. “Ivy!” she shouted into the opening.
A minute later a small elf with long blond hair and observant green eyes came running into the throne room from the open doorway. “Yes, Your Highness?” 
“I would like you to tend to this young man and do whatever you can for him,” the empress said, gesturing at James. 
The small elf walked over to James and started looking him over. “Not good,” she muttered. “Not good at all.”
Faith looked over and saw Dasha and Sage exchange a worried glance. She felt the same way. She just hoped that the effects wouldn’t be permanent. 
Ivy looked up and walked over to the empress and started talking to her quietly so that Faith couldn’t hear what she was saying. A minute later the empress nodded and Ivy left the room. 
“Ivy is going to need to keep James here for at least two weeks until he fully recovers. He is currently in no state to be moved and as far as I’m aware you are going to be walking back.” The empress told them.
Conor looked pointedly at Ruth and Faith saw her guilty look. It was because Ruth couldn’t ride that they had walked.
“So I am going to strongly advise you to leave him here and let Ivy and her assistants take care of him.”
“Can we have a moment to talk about it?” Dasha politely requested.
“Of course.”
Faith and her friends circled up. “I don’t want to leave him but it doesn’t seem like we have any other choice,” Dasha said.
“Is anyone else worried about the fact that Dasha would be solely in charge?” Faith asked. Dasha glared at her. “Sorry, just saying, you’re not known for staying calm in difficult situations,” Faith shrugged apologetically. 
“Focus guys. I think Faith has a point but that is also what the rest of us are for,” Conor intervened. Dasha glared at him in turn. “We should be fine with all five of us, don’t you think?”
“I think Conor’s right,” Ruth agreed.
“Of course you do,” Dasha muttered. Ruth kicked her.
“So we agree, James should stay here?” Conor looked around for any objections. When there was none he turned back to the empress. “We agree that James should stay here until he heals, but we need a way to know when he is better so that we can come get him, if that’s not too much to ask for.”
“Of course, I will send a messenger bird when he is ready to be moved. Will you be needing anything else before you leave?” the empress said.
“No, we brought everything we would need,” Ruth said before anyone else could answer.
Faith inwardly cringed. Ruth wasn’t exactly known for her excellent manners. The empress didn’t seem to mind though, probably because she was friends with the Light and Sound Speaker.
“Alright, though I’ll send an elf to escort you to the edge of our domain though to keep you safe from hostile elves,” the empress said decisively. “Well, if that’s all you need I’ll need to leave now. I’m going to have a lot of work to do getting this palace rebuilt.”
A bolt of guilt shot through Faith adding to her confusing heap of emotions.
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Faith stared into the fire that Ruth had made, doing nothing. They were one day’s walk from the caverns still so they had to set up camp. Now Faith was the only one still awake. The others had gone to sleep long before.
“Ursa, nothing makes sense anymore.” Faith said to the small ice bear sitting on the ground next to her.
“Well, it never does anyway. Like, for example, why do you humans worry about so many small unimportant things?” Ursa replied.
“I’m serious! My powers stopped working again and I don’t know why. And I keep on getting these flashes from the past! I just don’t get it!” Faith burst out, then she slumped. “What do you think?”
“Oh!” Ursa’s eyes lit up. “Faith, what if you have something blocking your Ice Speaking… like, say, another power. And since you’ve been getting flashes from the past…” Ursa left the sentence for Faith to finish, but Faith ignored the implication.
“No, I can’t have that power,” she said firmly.
“But why not?” Ursa asked, puzzled.
“Because that power is the entire reason that speakers are banished!” Faith exclaimed, annoyed.
“No, last I heard, it was the person who got the speakers banished, not the power. Right?” Ursa pointed out. 
Faith had to admit that she made a good point, but still. “I guess,” Faith answered. “But still… I can’t.”
Ursa sighed and muttered something that sounded like a complaint about humans. “Well then, if you have nothing better to do, go get some sleep, you need it.”
“You’re right, good night, Ursa.” Faith said, standing up. She walked over to her tent and went inside. Then she laid down on her blanket and fell fast asleep.
== Chapter 13 ==
Ben huddled in the corner of his prison, too afraid to even move. He had been here for over a week already and he was starting to wonder if his friends had forgotten him.
“I’m going to ask you one more time, where are the others?” Ben’s captor demanded angrily, “I’m losing patience and if you turn out to be useless, I’m going to throw you off the edge of the island.” 
“Y…you wouldn’t, would you?” Ben stammered, a bolt of fear coursing through his body.
“Believe me, I would.” Ben could see by the look in his eyes that his captor wasn’t bluffing.
Don’t tell him anything! Ben’s mind screamed, but… throw me off the island. “I don’t know where they are,” Ben whispered.
“Sure you don’t,” his captor said sarcastically, “I’m sure they don’t tell you anything. Like, maybe where they were planning on going?”
Ben looked away.
“So you do know!” His captor said triumphantly. “Tell me now.”
Ben would never betray his friends but the threat of death was very real right then and he wasn’t exactly brave like his friends were in his mind.  
No, no, no, I will not tell him! Never! Ben felt like the war going on in his mind would tear him apart. I’m going to die if I don’t tell him, and if I tell him then maybe I’ll have a chance at seeing them again… but then he’ll try to kill them. Ben curled into an even tighter ball.
“I don’t know where they are,” Ben said hesitantly and his captor glared at him, “but I might know where they are.”
“Well, where?” his captor half yelled when Ben paused. 
Ben closed his eyes, willing his captor not to see through his lie. “The Land of the Dragons.”
His captor didn’t talk for a moment. “You’re lying,” he said.
"No, I’m not, they were planning on going there to talk to the leader of the dragons after we left the Elves’ Domain, really!” Ben just hoped that they hadn’t really decided to go to the Land of the Dragons, although it would be just his luck if they had.
“Liar! They’re not in the Land of the Dragons, not even your friends are fools enough to go there. So where are they really?” his captor demanded furiously. “I don’t have all day, so tell me now.”
And just like that, all of Ben’s determination caved under his captor’s fiery glare. “Alright! Alright! They’re in Mystic Caverns! Now just leave me alone.” Then his mind caught up to what he had just said. 
He felt like he could suffocate in guilt and shame if he just gave up trying to stay out of it’s grasp. What had he done? He had just doomed everyone at Mystic Caverns is what he had done. Now all his friends would die and it would be all his fault and he would have to live with that until he finally died in this forsaken fortress.
Ben could barely hear his captor laughing but he still put his hands over his ears, trying to block out the triumphant sound. He’s probably laughing at me. Dumb, friend betraying me. That thought was not comforting, but nothing was anymore.
“I’ll come back tomorrow and see what else you know,” his captor said after he finally stopped laughing. 
Ben didn’t answer. He didn’t care. All he could think about was how he should have been braver, should have been someone his friends would’ve been proud of. They sure won’t be proud of me now.
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Ben’s captor came the next day, along with one of his shadow warriors.
“I thought one of my warriors might loosen your tongue,” his captor explained casually. “So, I need to know where your friends really planned to go next, unless they’re staying put, that is.”
“I don’t know,” Ben said darkly, and feeling a rush of anger he added, “and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you!”
“Oh, really?” his captor asked. “Because you gave me information earlier quite easily.”
And the guilt again. Ben glared at his captor. “Maybe I didn’t feel like drowning then,” he answered.
“And you do now?” his captor asked with a hint of amusement. 
Ben didn’t answer. 
“Anyway, it’s been eleven days since I brought you here, so I doubt that your friends are ever going to come. Assuming you would even call them your friends anymore after they’ve left you here all by yourself. So, you might as well make yourself useful. What is your main goal right now? Why did you go to the elves?” his captor looked at him with an expression of exaggerated interest.
Ben’s mind raced at top speed. Ben’s fear told him to tell his captor whatever he wanted to know and stay alive for a little bit longer. Reason told him that his captor would just kill him anyway whenever he ran out of information. But the deciding factor was his friends' disappointed and betrayed faces which kept on appearing in his mind.
Ben didn’t say a word. He just looked at his captor, his expression showing the hatred he felt for him.
The only sign Ben’s captor showed of the surprise he felt was one raised eyebrow. “Is that how it’s going to be? And what if I gave my warrior permission to attack?”
Ben gulped but he didn’t look away and he didn’t speak. He was sure that if he tried to, his voice would betray the overwhelming fear he felt coursing through him.
They stayed like that for several moments, staring at each other. Each person hating the other.
“You’re stronger than you think,” Ben’s captor suddenly said. “But still not nearly strong enough. I will break you, no matter how long it takes.” Then his captor and the shadow warrior left.
Ben breathed a sigh of relief. He just wished that his captor would never come back, even if it meant that he would starve. Then Ben thought about what his captor had said. 
“No, you won’t. I am stronger than you think,” Ben said quietly. Ben had let so much of his life be dictated by fear. All of the bad decisions he had made had been made in fear and fear only kept him back. Fear only damaged and hurt. It never helped. He was going to change that now. He was not going to be fear’s puppet anymore. He might still be afraid, but he wasn’t going to let it control his life any longer.
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Ben’s captor came again later that day, alone this time.
“Did you forget your shadow warrior or did you lose it?” Ben asked, inwardly fearing that he had gone too far.
“Neither,” his captor replied, “I figured I’d try a different approach this time. I will add though that I don’t need my warrior to destroy you.”
“What approach?” Ben asked, deciding to ignore the last part of his captor’s statement.
“What if we traded information?”
“Like what?” Ben asked suspiciously.
“Like you tell me anything you learned from the elves and I’ll tell you why I hate speakers,” his captor said.
Ben wished his friends were here to make all the hard decisions. What would he learn if his captor told his reason for his attack? But what if the information the elves had given him and his friends was important to his captor?
“Hard to make up your mind, isn’t it?” his captor asked. 
“I’m thinking,” Ben answered emphatically. 
“Kids,” his captor grumbled.
Ben ignored him as best he could. It wasn’t easy considering that his captor had the ability to kill him at any moment if he wanted to. Then it suddenly occurred to him that why his captor hated speakers wasn’t as important as the fact that he did and that he was attacking them.
“No,” Ben said, “also, why would you tell me why you hate us? Let me guess, it’s some tragic tale to make me feel sorry for you?” Now that time he had gone a little too far.
Ben’s captor glared at him. “Don’t you speak like that to me,” he said in a dangerously quiet voice, “you have no clue what you’re talking about.”
Ben recoiled at his captor’s change of tone. He wondered how close his guess had been. And now is when he throws me off of the island, Ben thought gloomily. He was tired of this constant fear of death.
Then his captor regained control of his emotions and his face returned to its fake friendly appearance. Although there still was a trace of anger and pain. “Yes,” he said, “making you feel sorry for me might be a welcome outcome, but I doubt it would change anything. It never has before.” Ben’s captor turned away. “I would recommend being useful tomorrow or I’ll make good on my threat.” Then he left.
Ben was curious about why his captor had reacted so strongly to his guess. He figured that there was some tragedy in his captor’s past that had led him to hating speakers. So the speakers must have done something to him.
Ben pushed his questions about his captor to the back of his mind and focused on the current problems. If his friends still hadn’t come for him after eleven days then he figured they wouldn’t be coming for a while, which meant he would have to escape by himself.
Meals were brought to him in the morning and in the evening. It was the only time when his cell door was opened, so that would be when he escaped. His captor usually came in the morning so that meant he would have to wait till the evening to make a move.
Ben knew that it would be almost impossible to leave in one piece, which made every detail vital to his success. His mind immediately came up with over a dozen problems, first of which was that he didn’t know the winding passages of the prison fortress at all, and his captor had bragged about the hundreds of various animals that prowled around the fortress, every one of them under his control.
And the island his prison was on was somehow floating in the sky and to escape Ben would have to either jump off of the island into the vast ocean or stay and get caught again. He didn’t like the thought of falling hundreds of feet into the ocean where he would most likely drown. 
He wondered if there was another way down from the island. Probably not, Ben thought, annoyed, which is why this is such a good prison. And that was even assuming that he made it to the edge of the island.
Ben sighed. His situation was looking more hopeless every minute. Facts were facts; there was no way he was getting away. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t try. He was desperate enough anyway.
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