

The Half-ling

Book One in the Fall of Igneeria Series

Kaylee Soderburg

Copyright © 2013 Kaylee Soderburg

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1492913731

ISBN-13: 978-1492913733

For my family, who encouraged me to never stop fighting for my dreams ♥

Chapter 1

Summer vacation's supposed to be fun, right?

I wish I had a better answer to that question.

Starlings, New York is not the place you'd expect much to happen. It's a small quiet town, the kind where everyone knows your name. It's a place where your parents wouldn't even care if you stayed out late biking with your friends. Only because everyone felt so safe, so comfy. They don't know the half of it.

But I do. I know it all and Starlings is not the place where you want to be after dark. The only reason why no one knows this is because Jason, Emily, Seth and I have kept it that way.

I walked along the empty road alone, occasionally waving to passing kids on bikes. My backpack was slung over my shoulder, filled with my writing books and sketchpads. I kept my eyes on the shadowed road, watching my every step. Usually I was more aware of my surroundings, but today I was tired and didn't care if I rammed into a tree. I kicked a rock into the grass.

The sun was starting to set, painting the sky in brilliant oranges and reds. It slipped down the sky, allowing the first stars to peek out from behind the bright curtain. The remaining light cast shadows over everything, creating the illusion that there was double of everything. The world prepared to go into its hours of unreal silence that made it seem magical, and it really was.

My phone buzzed and I awoke from my trance. I thumbed the keypad and opened the message Seth had sent me. It read: Whatcha Doing?

I flipped open the pad and wrote: Walking home.

I shoved it back in my pocket and continued walking. The sun was almost gone and shadows were starting to appear behind everything. I looked at my own shadow, that danced behind me.

The phone buzzed again as Seth sent me a reply. See anything? Do you want me to meet you?

I glanced at the nearby woods. My ears heard nothing and I didn't see any movement but my hands shook slightly as I typed, Nothing, I'm fine.

I didn't open his reply because I knew what it would say. I already knew that it was strangely quiet. Maybe I could stay home and sleep one night. Or maybe I could finish a painting tonight and watch Mom do origami.

I turned the corner, and my house came into view. I started to climb the hill when I froze. Out of my left eye I saw the outline of a creature. It was heading through the woods in the direction of my house.

I swore under my breath and took off for the woods. My feet crunched on the fallen branches and leaves. I could see the creature ahead of me. I didn't have much time. I placed my bag on the ground and crossed my legs. I started to grab my phone but stopped. I didn't need to tell the others, it was just one. And if I was lucky, it would be an easy take down.

I closed my eyes and began my mental countdown. The wind picked up around me, as if a wind current had just appeared out of nowhere.

5...

My body started to feel hot, like I was being hugged by the sun. I hated this part.

4...

Power surged through me as I was freed from my human self. Shivers ran down my spine.

3...

I felt cold, like being dipped in ice water. The breeze picked up even harder.

2...

I was hollow and could probably see my own body if I opened my eyes. But I could never get the courage to do that.

1...

The wind died. My body felt normal except it was different. I opened my eyes and looked over to where I just had been or still was. My human body slightly glowed as it sat in meditation under the tree. It didn't move.

I could see the monster clearly now that I had stepped into its world. It was hunched over, occasionally touching the ground with one of its curled front paws. Dark saliva dripped out of its mouth. The beady black eyes made it no less scary. I knew exactly what it is.

A thrasher!

A shiver ran down my spine. Thrashers were probably one of the most feral and nasty monsters I've ever encountered. They sometimes travel alone or hunt in packs. They're awful in packs, extremely hard to take out without their knowledge of your presence.

I placed an arrow in my bow, and aimed for the head. I couldn't let the creature reach my house. I pulled back the string, and then stopped. I couldn't take out one of these like, this unless I set it on fire. But Emily wasn't here. I could take it out with a few arrows but it's best to kill Thrashers before they realize you're there.

Instead I lowered my bow and slowly crept up to it, until I could see the hideous claws on its hands and the hatred in its eyes. Thrashers hate everything and sometimes I wonder how they tolerate each other. I aimed for the head again and released the arrow. It whizzed silently into the thrasher and it howled in pain as the arrow dug into its fur. It whirled around, facing me. A low growl sounded in its throat and it charged. I ducked as it slashed my side and I winced. My shirt slowly turned blue from the trickling wound. Yes, blue, my blood is blue. It turned back around and threw its self at me.

This time I was prepared. I pulled out my hunting knife out just as he landed on me. He yelped and went limp. I pushed him off and grabbed my fallen bow, the familiar feeling of the wood boosting my confidence. I turned back around and started back where I left off, but then a body slammed into me. I just had enough time to see the thrasher, before the fur and dirt filled my vision. I spit out the clump of wiry hair that had somehow found its way into my gasping mouth. I felt a searing pain as the Thrasher raked my left leg. I closed my eyes against the pain, trying to focus myself against the dull throb in my shin.

Then the thrasher went limp against me. It was hauled off of my body and I found myself looking up into the face of a very unhappy dark blue haired boy. His sword was gripped tightly in his clenched fingers and a look of amusement, or many it was anger, shone on his face.

I swallowed and collected my weapons from the ground, not daring to look at my leg. "Hi Seth, this is unexpected."

Seth glared at me and pulled me up. He was definitely angry at me. I tried to place weight on my leg but winced as pain shot up it. He kicked the dead Thrasher one more time before sheathing his sword.

"You know better Jazell then to take on a monster by yourself. You never know what kind it is until you have already changed," he scolded me and I could feel a lecture coming.

I looked down at leg. Claw marks ran up my shin and my blue blood was soaking my pants. "I had to Seth; it was heading for my house. That made me panic a bit."

"I don't care Jazell; if I hadn't been here I would have found you shredded to small pieces. All you had to do was send me a quick text and I would have showed up to help. But you didn't."

I sighed in annoyance, not in the mood for this right now. Seth was like this sometimes, strict and serious, but he was normally a jokester. He's strict on the fact that we attack in groups, mostly for the reason that he didn't want anything to happen to our group. I started to slowly limp back to my body but Seth just disappeared from my side. He has this annoying skill to be able to just return to his body without having to be near it, which wasn't fair when he wasn't the one injured. I, however, had to stiffly make my way to my dormant human body.

Once I was near it, I closed my eyes and the wind picked back up. My body felt hot and cold simultaneously as I returned. I reopened my eyes and stood up, stretched, and grabbed my bag. My back sent a chorus of cracks cascading upwards as I straightened myself. I raised the side of my shirt to find the thin, red scratch marks. Any injuries I get in my hunter form I have when I become human again, just not as severe. I quickly ran my fingers over the darker, thicker marks on my shin, the skin sore and purple. I quickly checked myself for any other injures I might have acquired from my tangle with the Thrasher, but all I found was a bunch of bruises.

Seth seemed to have disappeared, so I trudged down the road to my house. It's cozy familiar blue paint and white shutters helped to relax me as I pushed open the door. My house wasn't very big and fancy; it was actually pretty plain but that's why I loved it. It had two floors, with a fair sized kitchen and a mini living room. My room was just up the stairs, and it beckoned to me even though I was more interested in dinner. My mom was cooking in the kitchen and my dad was sitting at the kitchen table going through his usual paper work. He looked up as I entered, pushing his glasses back up his face.

"Hi sweetheart, finally home?" he asked giving me a warm smile.

I kissed his cheek and my mom's before heading toward the stairs. "Yup."

"Dinner's ready in a few minutes, Jazell!" My Mom called as I climbed the stairs, eager to collapse on my bed for a few minutes.

"Got it!" I called back.

My room was painted a light green, with a bed shoved in the corner and a bookshelf overflowing with books. I had a small desk to the left of my bed that was piled up high with homework and random drawings. I threw my bag on my bed and took off my shoes. Then I headed back down stairs to help set the table. My Mom handed me some dishes and utensils. I set a plate down in front of my Dad. He frowned and pointed to my scratched shin.

"What happened?" He asked, and studied my leg.

"I tripped on a crack and scraped my leg." I said flatly, the lie rolling off my tongue easily. I placed my last dish down and sat in my chair.

Dad chuckled. "You're so clumsy. I wouldn't be surprised if you tripped on your own feet."

"Yup, that's me, clumsy." I pulled my leg close to my body.

My parents had believed for a long time that I was a klutz. That was the only way to explain the million of cuts and bruises I gained from fighting creatures. The truth is that I have really great balance, which I had gained from so much fighting. I was a little klutzy when I was small, so it was easy for my parents to believe I still was.

Mom placed the food on the table. "Dinner!"

After dinner I went straight up stairs to go to sleep. And hopefully my phone wouldn't stop me like it did most nights. Monsters loved to come out at night and cause trouble. They never seem to rest, much to my annoyance. I sighed and rolled over, burying my face in my pillow. I managed to think about something other than creatures that go bump in the night as I drifted off to sleep.

In the morning I changed and ran down stairs and left a note saying I was going out to eat with Jason, Emily and Seth. It took me minutes to speed down to the small breakfast restaurant in town. I chained up my bike and walked over to the plastic blue table my friends had occupied.

I slid in next to Emily, who was talking about some book she had read recently. Jason, who sat next to her, was pretending to be fascinated by her rant. Emily stopped in mid-sentence when she noticed me sitting beside her.

"Jazell, you're here!" she exclaimed. "Is it true, did you take on a monster by yourself yesterday?"

I sighed, shooting a look at Seth. "Yes it is. Thanks tattle-tale Seth."

"Well you did and I thought the group had a right to know that." Seth said sharply.

"How could you Jazell? You could have gotten seriously hurt. Plus I bet all of us want a shot at them too." She huffed and shook her head. The light brown curls that framed her pretty face bounced around playfully.

"I'm fine Emily, seriously."

Jason was silent. He never talked much like Emily, who was easily the most talkative, friendly person I knew. Jason was more of the silent, watching type, who said little but noticed much. I traced in a puddle on the table, avoiding everyone's eye contact as they stared at me. Emily patted my arm.

"It's okay. We aren't mad at you or anything. Right Seth?" She glared at him.

He shrugged. "I guess."

Emily perked up. "You see, everyone makes mistakes."

Seth grunted to himself.

Emily rolled her eyes. "Hey Seth, it's not like you haven't done something stupid. We all remember the swamp troll."

Seth frowned and Jason snickered. Seth punched his arm. "Hey don't make me nag you about the time you almost took off my head with your throwing knifes."

Jason stopped dead and narrowed his eyes. "It was an accident. I didn't know you'd run that way."

"Alright, we understand that we've all done stupid, foolish things. So let's just add this accident to my list, okay?" I said quickly before the two started something.

They nodded but shot each other smirks. I sighed, wondering why those two buffoons had been granted this power along, with Emily and me. It's not like they weren't foolish enough already.

The day when it all changed was still a mystery to us. A lot of things happened that didn't quite make sense.

The four of us were already best friends. We were walking through the woods, rambling on about how Halloween was almost here and that Ms. Stecher was still giving us too much homework. Then all of a sudden an invisible object slammed into me. I shrieked and couldn't move. It had me pinned to the ground.

Seth ran forward and grabbed a branch to protect me. It should have gone right through the air but it collided into something and snapped in half. Seth dropped it in amazement.

Emily ran over to me but was plowed to the ground. She screamed, spitting out dirt, twigs and leaves. Seth stood watching, terrified. He didn't have a clue as what to do to fight these invisible creatures. None of us did, at that time, because we didn't know what was going on. The world was still a normal place to us at the time.

Something grabbed Seth's legs and pulled him against a tree. He kicked and punched but couldn't find the right place to hit his attacker.

"Hold on!" Jason yelled.

I opened my mouth to say that we already were when he vanished. Dragged away was my guess.

My legs shot with pain. I heard Emily yell the first curse words I've heard her say in a while. I spotted her red arm just before my body felt like fire. I closed my eyes and blacked out.

I didn't really black out but that's what I thought at the time. I opened my eyes to find I was sitting on the ground next to my sleeping body. I saw Emily sitting there, saying nothing for once.

Something fell off my back and I picked it up. It was a wooden bow, and when I reached behind my back I felt a quiver full of feathered arrows strapped there. I ran a finger over the smooth, dark wood and turned to see Seth crashing out of the woods. I smirked at him and pointed at his head.

"You have dark blue hair." I giggled, not knowing why I was giggling after what had just happened to us a few minutes ago.

He frowned and pulled a piece or two out of his head. His eyes widened, and I laughed at the shock on his face. If we were dead, which was my best guess, why not poke fun at him?

Seth smiled at me. "Well, yes but you have green hair. It's bright green, like neon green."

I shoved my hair in front of my face. It was bright green all right. I stood up and examined myself. I was wearing light brown hunting boots and tight black pants made out of some sort of light cloth. A thick woven jacket was shielding me from the October cold.

When I looked back at Seth, I realized he had also made an outfit change. He was wearing black leather boots and dark blue pants. His top was a short, brown cloak with a hood and leather belt. A beautiful steel sword with an ornamental hilt was swinging at his side from a woven sheath.

"Oh well, I guess I have green hair. It's not that bad. I like green." I rambled as I examined the short hunting knife that was resting in a small sheath on my hip. I ran a finger over the blade before putting it back. How Seth and I had acquired such dangerous weapons was anyone's guess. I certainly had no clue.

I heard footsteps and turned to see Emily running over. She was wearing a close fitting, long robe. It was a stunning deep blue with a trim of gold embroidery. She had no weapons dangling from her body were visible from where I was standing.

"I have pink hair! Isn't it cool?" She spun around so we could take in all of its bubblegum pink color. She looked at the bow slung over my shoulder and Seth's gleaming sword. "Hey, I don't have anything cool and deadly. Why do you both get something like that and I didn't? It's not like you can trust Jazell with something sharp or dangerous."

"Hey! We can't trust you either." I pointed out, crossing my arms. "Arming you is as scary as giving a kindergartener a knife."

She gasped. "Yeah, well, I'm ignoring you now." She huffed and turned around.

"There you are!" Jason exclaimed as he crashed out of the trees, panting. His wavy hair was a deep red that framed his eyes but he didn't seem to have noticed its color change or to care. He was wearing an all black layered tunic and pants with boots that looked as light as mine. If I didn't know it was Jason, I would have taken a huge step backwards at his assassin-like appearance. "What's going on?" he demanded, eyes flickering from each of us as he took in all of our strange appearances.

"Don't know Jason, we're as stumped as you." I said.

He bit his lip and then smirked. "Oh, I almost forgot. Look at this." He gestured at his belt, grinning mischievously.

Hanging there were a multitude of thin, dangerous looking knives. He pulled up his sleeve so I could see another one strapped there. "Cool, huh?"

Emily had turned to see Jason appear. She spotted his knives and groaned, stomping her foot. "Aw come on!"

Jason whispered behind his hand to Seth and I. "What's up with her?"

Seth shrugged. "I don't know. Girl issues?"

"I heard that!" Emily said angrily.

That's when suddenly a hideous creature appeared in front of us. It was hunched over, with thick furry skin and wicked claws that shot out of its curled paws. We would soon know them as thrashers, beasts we would get used to seeing.

I don't know who screeched louder in fear, but I'm pretty sure it might have been me. Seth pulled his sword out but his hand shook like mad. I clumsily pulled an arrow out of the quiver on my back and struggled to attach it to my bow. How the heck did those people in movies make this look so easy? I exchanged a look with Seth, but he looked as clueless as I did. None of this felt real.

I swear, the creature laughed at us. Or maybe my fear was making me see and hear things. Jason moved silently to stand beside us, one of his throwing knives in his hand.

"What do we do? We're dead so it can't hurt us right?" I asked.

"I don't feel dead." Jason whispered.

I didn't either. In fact, I realized that my whole body was aching from the strange attack I had experienced. And if I was dead, I wouldn't need to breathe so heavily. My heart was racing so fast that it might explode right out of my chest. Jason threw the knife he had been holding and it stuck into a tree. He grinned at me and I guess it hit exactly where he wanted.

"On the count of three, we attack with everything we've got. Okay?" Seth looked at Jason and I. We nodded at him. "One, two three!" When Seth hit three, he charged with his sword.

I pulled back and released my arrow. It hit the thrasher's front paw. Before I could think, I had notched another one on the bow and drew back the string. It was like I had been an archer my whole life.

Jason threw knife after knife, hitting its mark every time. When the creature went down, Seth stood and took a breath. Then another tackled him to the ground.

I didn't know what to do and Jason didn't either. Emily ran forward and pointed to Seth who was clawing toward his weapon. "Do something!" she screamed.

Before I could reply, fire shot from her finger. The thrasher yelped and jumped off Seth and ran toward Emily. She smiled wickedly and held both hands out, pelting the creature with fire. I pulled Seth up in time to see the Thrasher buried entangled by roots shooting from the dirt. Jason threw a knife in the pile to make sure it was really dead.

"You okay?" I asked Seth, and congratulated Emily on her new found talent.

"I'm fine." He said and limped over.

I gasped and pointed to his leg. "Seth, you're bleeding blue!"

He just blinked at him, glancing down at his leg. He didn't answer as he tugged at me to start walking back towards where we had last seen 'ourselves'. We could still see our bodies sleeping peacefully, but this time I noticed that we were all faintly glowing blue. I could see the rise and fall of my chest as I breathed. So I really was alive, which made this situation even creepier and stranger. I had two bodies! How was this even possible?

"What do we do? Seth, do you any ideas?" She frowned when he didn't answer. "Seth?" Emily spun in a circle but Seth was nowhere to be found.

Seth walked out from behind a tree. But he was normal Seth. He had his dirty blonde hair back and was wearing his dirty jeans and shirt from school. No dark red hair, no glimmering sword, no bleeding wound. His warrior self was nowhere to be seen.

"Seth how'd you do that?" I asked.

He whirled around. "Who's there?"

"Me, you idiot!" I snorted.

He stared at the place where I was standing, but his eyes weren't focused on me. "Jazell?"

"Obviously, are you blind?"

"I can hear you but can't see you. Aren't you back? Where are you?"

"No." I said frustrated, "Now tell us how you got back."

He closed his eyes and sat down. "I imagined myself in my body, and what is was like to be back. And then I was back to normal. Wait." The wind picked up around him and then suddenly he was back, blue hair and all, standing beside his sitting, normal body.

"Wow how did you do that?" Emily gasped.

"I imagined what it was like to fight that creature. And then my body took over." He explained, but I don't think he even understood.

Then he was gone again and the real Seth stood up. "Try it."

I closed my eyes and thought of school and all of Ms. Stecher's homework that I needed to do. Then my body was doing the rest. I felt hot and cold, as the winds seemed to pick up. I shivered and opened my eyes. I was lying on the ground. My hair brown hair flopped in my face as I sat up, seeing Emily dash over to me. Seconds later Jason walked through the trees, rubbing his face. Seth grinned at all of us; we were back.

That's how it all started. I don't know how we got the gift to become these different people, but we did. That's the mystery and hopefully we'll solve it one day. We were chosen for some unknown reason, but that reason doesn't matter. All that matters is that we protect this town.

Jason's eyes flashed. I stood up and leaned over to him. "What Jason?"

"Monsters, a whole bunch of them. I saw the movement near the pond." He pointed to the pond that was just nestled in the woods.

And with that, we were off. Running towards the pond to do what we do best, destroy monsters. Only this time it was different.

Chapter 2

We ran and ducked behind a large boulder, huddling together. We all sat down, closed our eyes, and concentrated. I felt a shiver run through my body as I left it and entered my hunter form. I followed Emily, Jason, and Seth as we crept silently over to the monsters, splitting up to surround them. I counted two thrashers, which surprised me. I swear we saw more before.

The thrasher turned before we could execute a surprise attack. Seth marched over, swinging his sword. Jason threw knives calmly at the other monster while Emily casted fire by his side. I, however, was jumped on by something entirely new. They were small and stubby, the size of dwarfs or gnomes. Their skin was shriveled and grey, and hung off their bodies like cold clothing. Their eyes were a bright yellow that matching their teeth and their fingers looked like gnarly old trees. And the smell; it was awful. They grabbed my feet, back and tugged at my hair.

"Why does everything always happen to me?" I complained.

No one heard me. The ugly creatures continued tugging at me like annoying two year old, which made me get really annoyed.

"Get off me ugly looking toad dwarfs. Hey, that's what I'll call you, toad dwarfs." I smiled at my quick thinking. I could be clever sometimes. Take that Seth.

"Silly girl, we're already called toad dwarfs." The one on my leg croaked.

"Aw darn, never mind then." So much for being clever.

The one on my back grabbed my hair. He yanked it back. "Ow! It may be green but I still value it!" I grumbled, trying to pull my head free. I also had no desire to be bald at 16.

"He's rising, he's rising!" The dwarf said excitedly. His voice cracked at the last word.

"Who the heck is rising and why does it require pulling my hair out!" I snapped.

"He's rising, he's rising!" he repeated, full of crazed excitement. I swear I could feel him shaking from exhilaration.

"Whatever, you're now an official maniac." I pulled out my hunting knife. "Maniacs get destroyed by me. No maniacs are allowed to exist except for me and Emily."

He jumped off as I stabbed the one on my arm. I grabbed my bow and shot him with an arrow before he his little legs could he him very far. He fell to the ground, the arrow sticking straight up at the sky. Now the forest was maniac free.

I killed the others and looked up to find the thrashers dead too, probably courtesy of Seth. A few dwarfs were also lying dead in front of Emily. I walked back to my body and closed my eyes. When I reopened them, I stood, stretching my legs. The four of us headed back to the restaurant together, adrenaline still pumping through my veins.

I told Emily and the boys about the freaky dwarves. "Crazy right?" I asked, running a hand through my hair.

No one said anything and Emily produced a pencil out of her bag. "I need a piece of paper, Jazell."

I ripped one out of my notebook and handed it to her. We sat at the table and Emily titled the page: Warnings. I didn't know why.

"Okay, Jazell, what exactly did he say?" Emily asked, pencil poised in the air ready to write.

"He said, 'He's rising, he's rising'. I have no idea who he meant or if what he said means anything."

Emily scribbled down, Toad dwarf said, "He's rising, he's rising". Who's coming and is he important? I stared at the paper, the question swirling in my mind. Who did he mean?

"Now what did the dwarf tell you, Seth?" she asked.

"He said, 'You won't stop him, little warrior.'" He frowned at the last part.

Emily added, Toad Dwarf told Seth, "You won't stop him, little warrior." Does this mean he's powerful?

"Did you have to add the 'little warrior' part? It makes me sound weak." Seth complained.

"I did because we need all the facts. It's obvious the dwarf was trying to make you sound weak anyway. Now what did he tell you, Jason?"

"He said, 'He will destroy all half-lings.' What's that supposed to mean, anyway?" Jason said.

She added the last bullet; Toad Dwarf said to Jason, "He will destroy all half-ling." What does "half-ling mean?

"Did the dwarfs tell you anything?" I asked, taking the paper. None of what she wrote on the paper made any sense to me.

She shook her head. "No and if they did, I was too busy trying to burn them to hear them." She took the paper back.

"Well I think the only thing we've established is that toad dwarves are crazy." Seth said. I noticed a thin, red line on his cheek where a thrasher must have scratched him.

Emily wagged her finger at him. "Never dis facts. They might save you later in life."

Seth just snorted.

Jason punched him in the side. "Listen to Emily. She's actually right sometimes."

"Thank you, Jason." She said cheerfully, "Huh wait, sometimes?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

Jason scowled at her. "I'm admitting you're sometimes right so don't push it."

"Point taken." She tucked the paper in her drawstring bag. "You guys want to go to the park?"

They both half nodded, half shrugged, which she took for a yes. So we got up and mounted our bikes. I threw the bike lock in my bag, clipped on my helmet, and followed the others. The three of them raced each other, but I kept my bike behind them. What the dwarf had said was still troubling me and I didn't know if anyone else was feeling the same way. I saw Seth slow his bike down and glide next to me.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey." Then a question popped into my head, "What were you doing alone in the woods yesterday?"

He was silent so I yelled to Emily, "Hey, Seth's lost for words!"

Emily appeared by me and chuckled. "What's wrong, Seth? Thrasher got your tongue?"

Before he could reply I said, "I asked him what he was doing in the woods yesterday and he didn't have an answer. We all know what this means."

"Yup, he's hiding something. Seth, why were you yelling at Jazell for being out alone in the woods when you were doing the same?"

"I wasn't hunting down monsters alone. Jazell was doing that," he grumbled, clearly annoyed.

"But you were still out alone and you yelled at me for doing the same thing. The same thing could have happened to you. Do you think you're stronger than the rest of us?" My voice rose slightly at the end of my question.

"No." He went quiet and tried to avoid our eye contact.

"Now who's keeping secrets? You're breaking your own rules. Why were you out?" Emily can be very demanding sometimes, I actually felt a little bad about involving her in my interrogation. Just a little.

He mumbled something under his breath.

"I can't hear you." Emily snapped.

"I WAS OUT SCOUTING!" he shouted, "Now can you hear me?"

"Yes, and now you've made me deaf!" Emily yelled back.

"Why were you out scouting in the first place?" I asked calmly, trying not to shout it out like Emily.

Seth gripped the handlebars and I knew he was losing his temper. "I was being cautious so we didn't have to worry last night," He said through gritted teeth.

He was lying and both of us knew that. I glared at him, "Nice story Seth, now what really happened?"

He didn't say anything and he rode ahead to get beside Jason, who was in the lead. The park slowly came in view. It was a huge grass circle with a small play set in the middle covered in kids. The woods surrounded it except for the side that faced the street. A fountain was near the entrance along with a bike rack. That's where we parked our bikes.

I clicked the lock together and grabbed my bag. Emily was fumbling with her bike lock, which was old and rusted and usually refused to work without a fight. I walked over and tried to help her.

"Why do you think Seth won't tell us what he was doing?" I asked, watching her because she had refused to let me help.

"Pride purposes? He was yelling at you when he broke his own rules. He just doesn't want to admit he did" she said through her wild hair.

Her lock finally clicked and she stood up. The boys were walking side by side towards the play set. It wasn't actually that small but it looked that way from the street. There were six swings and a tower with four slides attached to it. I ran after them with Emily right behind me. I slowed down next to Jason and put my arm on his shoulder.

"Hey Jason, do you know Seth's a liar?" I asked and Seth shot me a bad look.

Jason frowned at me, "What are you talking about, Jazell?"

"He broke his own rules. He was out scouting without telling us." I smiled and Jason stiffened.

"What?" he growled.

"Are you two trying to create trouble?" Seth cut in.

Emily put her arm around my shoulders. "No, we just want the truth," Emily said sweetly.

"Yeah okay, whatever." Seth shoved his hands in his pockets, and glared at the ground.

I sat on one of the swings next to Emily. I traced the sticky metal rings and sighed. Emily was on her phone. I saw Seth and Jason arguing off to the side. Everything was back to normal. There was even a dwarf climbing the slide.

Wait, hold on. A dwarf?

I elbowed Emily in the arm, "Uh Emily, is a dwarf using a slide a normal thing?"

I nodded in the direction of the dwarf and her eyes widened in surprise. She jumped off the swing and grabbed me by the arm. She ran over to Jason and gripped his arm with her free hand, pulling us both after her. Seth frowned but had no choice but to follow.

"Where's the dwarf?" she asked quickly.

"Climbing the slide. Weird huh?" I almost tripped but I caught myself.

She pushed us into the woods, "We got to move fast before someone gets hurt. Make sure no one is around."

In a matter of seconds, I had an arrow in my bow, Seth had his sword in his hand and Jason had his hands full of knives. The dwarf was sitting on the edge of the slide, looking like an ugly version of a toddler, and a few more came out of the woods to join him. We tried to sneak up without being spotted but one of the dwarves turned his head and saw us. He immediately launched himself onto Emily.

She screeched and I thought I saw one of the kids turn around. He crawled up to her ear and whispered something that I couldn't hear. She froze, but I saw her place her hands on his wrinkled skin. Fire flared from her fingertips, scorching his skin. He let out a screech and vaulted off her, running as fast as his legs could take him. I held an arrow out and Emily set it ablaze. I drew back, launching the arrow, and watching it as it hit the dwarf in the back. The fire charred its dying body and I looked away to face my new attacker.

One jumped on my head and I swung with my knife. It yelled into my ear, "The one will rise, the one will rise! He will destroy you!"

I stabbed at him again, "Who? You're being too vague!"

He jumped off me and ran into the woods. He disappeared before I could notch an arrow and shoot him.

Soon we were alone again. Emily made us all meet by the fountain. I guess we all heard some weird dwarf talk.

"Okay I'll start this time. He said, 'Kill all the dwarfs you like, but Kojas will rise.' At least we have an idea of who they might be talking about."

She added to her list; Toad dwarf said, "Kill all you like but Kojas will rise." Is Kojas the person they've been talking about? Who is he?

"He told me, 'The one will rise, the one rise! He will destroy you!' That's almost the same thing as last time." I tapped the fountain.

She scribbled, Toad dwarf said, "The one will rise, the one will rise! He will destroy you!" Is Kojas' rising?

"Seth, do you have anything?" Emily clicked her pencil.

Seth shook his head, but Jason spoke up, "He said, 'The King will rise.' Then he left."

Emily added one last bullet; Toad Dwarf said to Jason, "The King will rise."

Her list was:

  * Toad dwarf said to Jazell, "He's rising, he's rising". Who's coming and is he important?

  * Toad dwarf told Seth, "You won't stop him, little warrior." Does this mean he's powerful?

  * Toad dwarf said to Jason, "He will destroy all half-ling." What does "half-ling" mean?

  * Toad dwarf said to Emily, "Kill all you like but Kojas will rise. Is Kojas the person they've been talking about? Who is he?

  * Toad dwarf said to Jazell, "The one will rise, the one will rise! He will destroy you!" Is Kojas' rising?

  * Toad dwarf said to Jason, "The King will rise."

She placed her notes in the middle so we could read it. "What does this all mean?" I asked her.

She was silent, "I guess the person they're talking about is Kojas, but we don't know who he is, or if he's important."

"Well, I'm thinking he's important because these weird dwarfs keep talking about him. Maybe he's their idol or something." I said.

"Well," Seth stated, "maybe we should ask the dwarfs where he is."

"That'll be hard." Emily pointed out. "They hardly tell us anything as it is. You try squeezing out information from one of these pests."

"I did."

"Whatever guys, we're getting nowhere. Hey Emily you want to sleep over tonight?" I asked.

Emily frowned, "It's my turn, Jazell, and you're coming over my house."

"Honestly, Em, just come over..."

"No," she said and crossed her arms stubbornly.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, knowing it was useless to argue with her when her mind was made up. "Fine, I'll call my parents. But next time you're coming to my house."

She nodded, her curls bobbing. "Fair enough."

"Okay then, see you two later." Jason turned around with Seth on his heels.

"Wait a minute you two. It's only," I popped open my phone, "3pm. We still have the rest of the day." I shoved the phone back in my pocket.

"Hey, don't take this personally, but we want to hang out alone. So...bye!" Jason said and jumped on his bike. Seth unchained his bike and rode off with him. I realized then that Seth had barely said anything the whole time, but he was already out of sight. I'd have to question him later.

I sighed, "Well, at least we can hang out early."

"Well, while you were arguing with the boys I called home and they said you could come over now." Emily flashed me one of her million-watt smiles.

"Great!" I piped. "I'll call home quickly to check with my parents."

I called home and my parents said I could go, which wasn't much of a surprise. I've been to plenty of sleepovers at Emily's, so my parents didn't mind. Plus, our parents were close and Emily's family was practically an extension of our own. We rode over to her house and parked our bikes in the garage. We knocked on the door and a woman answered.

Emily's mom was short, small and bony. Her light brown hair was almost blonde without any gray in it. The woman definitely did not look her age at all, and she was still as beautiful as I imagined she was in her youth. She smiled warmly at us, her smile a reflection of Emily's.

"Hello girls, come in. Emily, dear, can you put your laundry away? After you do that, you can hang out in your room."

Emily nodded and disappeared inside. Her mom moved aside so I could walk in. I unlaced my sneakers and walked up the stairs, looking at the flower paintings hung along the wall that her mom had painted in her spare time. I pushed open Emily's bedroom door to see her stuffing her clothes in the drawer and flopping onto the bed. She pulled out my bag and threw it to me so I could set up my sleeping bag on her rug. Her mom called us downstairs, hopefully for food.

She held a box of pizza. "You two can eat upstairs or down here." She already knew our answer and handed us paper plates.

I took three slices of pizza and ran upstairs. Emily and I sat on the floor, eating pizza and doodling nonsense in her notebook. The time ticked by to one o'clock in the morning. We sat side by side on her bed near the window, and I played with the fridge on the edge of one of her pillows. I looked down at Emily's pajamas, which were covered in sun-tanning penguins. Typical Emily.

"Nice PJs Emily." I chuckled.

She stuck her tongue out, "What do you have against sun-tanning penguins?"

"Nothing!" I smiled to myself. I shouldn't be talking; I was wearing pajamas covered in little pigs.

Emily leaned back to turn off her desk light. It clicked off and I gazed outside one more time before turning around to go to bed.

"Night Emily." I yawned.

Emily didn't reply because her face was pushed up against the window. Her body was ridged and she didn't move. I crawled over to the window.

"What is it, Em?" I whispered, a nervous feeling creeping into my stomach.

She backed away from the window so I could see. I saw nothing at first but then I spotted movement. The recognizable lines of toad dwarfs marched around the trees, and I could tell they were up to no good again. They were really starting to get on my nerves.

Looks like I wasn't sleeping after all.

Chapter 3

Sneaking out after hours isn't easy, especially at Emily's house. Her parents aren't sound sleepers. If we weren't really careful, they'd wake up and then we'd have some answering to do.

And I don't think they'd understand our reason.

I followed Emily down the stairs, in our pajamas, to the door. We were careful not to make a sound but I listened closely to the sound of her dad snoring. When the snore rang clearly through the house, I breathed a sigh of relief. We threw on our sneakers and snuck out the door.

The summer night air was cool but a little sticky and clammy, making our bodies feel damp. I followed Emily down to the back of the garage, where we sat down and entered the monsters' world. I pushed my green hair back and hid behind a tree beside Emily to watch the dwarfs.

There must have been more than ten of them gathered together. They were parading around a blazing camp fire, mumbling and talking about things I couldn't hear over the flames. Some more emerged from the woods and joined them, their shadows dancing behind them. Then all of them suddenly broke out into an ominous song:

"He will rise to the heavens,

from the very pits of hell.

To take control of our world,

and the gift- less ones as well.

"He will rule with a flaming torch,

and save those who are worthy.

And for those who aren't,

Well, you better watch out!"

They all broke out in crazed laughs, which gave me the impression that each and every one of them was mad. Hell, I knew they were already mad. They threw dirt at the fire and continued their wild laughs. Emily shuddered by me as they lifted their voices in another chorus.

"He will rise to the heavens,

from the very pits of hell,

to crush all half-lings

and to take their very souls.

"For the King will rule all,

with his cruelty and rage.

I wouldn't want to be that half-ling,

that he spears through the head!"

This time they were rolling on the floor, howling in laughter. Well, I didn't think this was very funny at all. What was funny about getting speared through the head? I had a feeling the King they were talking about was Kojas, and I really didn't want to be around to meet him, especially if it meant my head was going to become well acquainted with a weapon. That is, if I was even a half-ling like the dwarfs claimed I was.

They laughed and sat in a tight circle mumbling things I didn't catch. My hand slipped to my knife but Emily grabbed my hand to keep me from drawing it from its leather case.

"No Jazell not yet, maybe we can learn a little more from them." Her voice was a hoarse whisper.

"But Emily, it's awful to listen to. Can't we just destroy the camp?" I went for my bow instead.

"No," she said a little more clearly. "We have to wait and see what happens. Plus, we can't just randomly attack them."

I didn't really care. The song was repeating itself in my head, like a taunt. Without thinking, I aimed and shot the nearest dwarf.

As soon as he went down, the whole camp was facing our direction. I was standing up now where everyone could see me. There was no point in hiding anymore. Emily stayed hidden behind the tree, and I could feel her glare trying to burn me into ashes.

"You'll wish you never shot one of his loyal servants." A dwarf seemed to laugh at me. "Kojas will destroy you, half-ling."

"That is it, I'm sick of your riddles! Give me a darn straight answer or I'll shoot every single one of you," I spat angrily, leveling my bow.

"Kill all you like half-ling, but that won't help you in the end. You will pay heavily in a terrible death worth all the loyal lives you've slayed," the dwarf proclaimed, and his friends bellowed out an agreement.

"I don't care what the heck you say about dying because nothing will stop me from killing all of you! You're making no apparent sense at all, and I don't care what stupid message you're trying to send me!" I hissed so bad I think that I spit. Gross.

"Oh but you will care, half-ling." The dwarf was now whispering and all the others had fallen silent so they could hear. "You will care because in the end, he will destroy you once he's done using you."

My arms were still tense and my muscles whined in protest as I held my arrow back in full draw. "Use me to do what?" I spoke, using the same tone as him.

The dwarf's eyes were twinkling in happiness. He seemed happy to tell me the answer. "To take over the gift-less ones' world, why else half-ling? You're the connection between Igneeria and your world. He needs you and he has made that clear."

The world had fallen to silence. I spoke in barely a whisper, "Igneeria, that's your world isn't it? What does Kojas want?"

The dwarf seemed to be getting extremely excited now, "He wants your world and all other worlds because he is a mighty king who wishes to expand his kingdom."

"So how would we help him do that?" I asked, stalling. "We just exterminate the pests."

"You're a half-ling! You're the bridge to our world. Now if you don't mind we would like to finish you now, and bring you to the King." The dwarf said politely and snickered, approaching me.

I backed up slowly. "Uh, I mind a lot actually." I said quickly but I guess they didn't really want my opinion.

Emily jumped out from behind the trees and lifted a flame. She twirled it around with the movement of her hands and shot it at the nearest dwarf.

That started what seemed like a war. All the dwarfs scrambled towards us and I simply shot them and Emily fried them. Then Jason and Seth dissolved from the shadows and entered the clearing.

"What are you two doing here?" I yelled across to them, annoyed that they hadn't made their presence known earlier.

Seth fought his way over to me, "Why do you need to know?"

"Because you just randomly appeared and I would like to know what you're doing in Emily's backyard in the middle of the night." I pointed out and took down the last dwarf.

We gathered around the barely burning embers, after we had re-entered our own world. Emily and I quickly summed up what we had learned from the dwarfs. Jason listened and didn't speak, like usual, and for once Seth didn't interrupt. When we were finished nobody said a word as they soaked up everything that had happened. It seemed like it was just too much for all of us to take in.

All of a sudden Seth spoke up. "Why are you wearing sun-tanning penguin pajamas, Emily?"

Emily glared at him, "What do you have against penguins? And why can't I wear pajamas? It's the middle of the night you know."

Seth wasn't bothered by her glare. "So it wouldn't have been hard to change."

Seth should have realized that he was pushing Emily's limited patience too far and that he should shut up. She reached down and grabbed a small stick. Then she smacked Seth across the head with it.

"Live with it Seth." Emily said every word apart and wacked him again.

Seth made a small, "Ow." Every time she hit him. He grimaced and said, "Stop hitting me already!"

"Alright," She made a motion to put the stick down and hit him again in the head. He glared at her and she threw it on the floor, "Now I'm done."

"So Jason," I faced him and he looked up at me, "since Seth won't tell me I'll ask you. How did you guys find us?"

"We followed a dwarf that was running here. If we didn't get lost, we would have been here faster," Jason's face turned the color of his red Igneerian hair.

"It's okay, at least you answered me," I shot Seth a look.

"Well if it's okay with you boys, we would like to get to bed. It's almost 1:30 in the morning, and I would like to get home before my dad wakes himself up," Emily said, and walked towards her house. I waved quickly and followed.

The rest of the night was quiet and didn't include singing dwarfs. Before we went to bed though there was a lot of furious writing as Emily tried to write everything down. After that, was all sleep.

In the morning, we ate pancakes that Emily's mom had made us and set off for the park. We happened to run into Jason and Seth half way and at the same time watched a pole freeze in the middle of July.

You don't get to see that every day, which usually meant there was a monster involved.

Jason, Seth and Emily saw it too because I was chasing after them as we all ran for the few trees ahead. In a few seconds I had a complete view of the culprit. And strange enough it was a frost beast.

Frost beasts are the cutest monsters you'll ever see. They're the size of medium dogs and their pelts are a light, icy blue. They may be cute but if you don't watch out, they could easily be the most dangerous monsters around. Don't let them breath on you, or you'll freeze to death. Literally.

The frost beast whimpered at me, showing me the cutest eyes imaginable. I wanted to melt and hug him but I knew better not to fall victim to its trick. I drew a single arrow and aimed it at its throat. I didn't want to kill it, but I knew if I didn't, it would kill me without a second thought.

Frost beasts don't appear until the end of fall and into winter. They love the cold and can't stand the heat. That's why I knew something was wrong right away, because it shouldn't have been here. It was against its nature and when nature goes wrong, that's a big sign. I pulled back on the string but Emily ran forward and shot fire. The beast simply opened its mouth and breathed. What was a shot of fire was now a single icicle that landed on the ground in front of it.

Instead Jason came forward and attacked with his knives. The beast froze the first few into harmless ice cubes but finally went down when one got past its defenses. Behind his body appeared seven Thrashers and many more Frost beasts.

It was like a monster reunion.

I've never seen so many in one place before. A Thrasher pack had at least six or seven but there must have been more than ten monsters total. It was scary. Right then, right at that very moment, I knew something was terribly wrong.

They all stopped in front of us, all those pairs of angry eyes staring at us. They made me confused, from the warm feeling the Frost Beasts gave me to the cold feeling the Thrashers inflicted.

They exchanged some sort of signal, including grunts and yips, and slowly advanced on us. The dogs stalked toward the four of us looking like a animals about to attack their prey. The cute look was gone and all that was left was hunger.

The dog nearest to me jumped at my chest and landed on my stomach. I managed to push it down before it breathed on me. My legs froze in place.

"Emily I need some defrost." I called to her as the cold seeped through my pants and bit at my skin.

Emily turned her head and was about to reply when the dog caught her robe. She spun around, shooting fire and completely forgetting my cry for help. At the same time my dog attacker pushed me to the ground, freeing my legs for me.

"Get off me mutt." I growled at his face.

He stared down at me, debating whether or not to freeze me right away. That was his mistake because while he was waiting, I had brought my hunting dagger down on him.

I stood up and shook the heavy body off. I didn't even have time to breath before one of the Thrashers decided that they would like to have a taste of me. I decided that I didn't want to be shredded like some old rug, so I moved out of his path.

That was the worst mistake I made, without even realizing it.

At the same time another Thrasher was heading in my direction, and by moving out of the way from the first one, I had placed myself in the path of the second one.

It slammed into my side at such a great force I tasted blood in my mouth, when I hit the ground. Then I felt pain, saw blood, and then nothing at all.

Chapter 4

I heard muffled voices around me as I regained consciousness. My head throbbed slightly, and so did my side and my tongue. That explained why I had tasted blood; I must have bitten it. For a second I thought I had returned to my human self when I heard a blast of fire that probably came from Emily.

"Seth when will she wake up?" a voice said. Then I realized it was Emily.

"She's alive and she'll wake up soon. Stop nagging me," a different voice said that was obviously Seth's. He was really close to me because I could feel his breath on my face and his voice was very loud. Which wasn't helping my throbbing head at all.

"But when? I don't like just staying here, when more monsters might come. We can't do two things at once." Emily nagged anyway. I could just picture her bouncing up and down on her heels, full of tension.

I felt rush of hot air near my left side. Seth was probably sighing, "We can't move her Emily. If we could, we would."

I opened my eyes to see Seth face hovering above me. Emily was pacing in the background and Jason was standing off to the side, looking very uninterested in the current situation. Seth smiled at me and I felt myself blush. It was kind of embarrassing to get knocked out when no one else did.

"Welcome back, zombie hunter girl," Seth teased.

"How long was I out?" I asked, blushing brighter. Except I couldn't pin down the reason why.

Seth frowned, "I don't know but it seemed like forever. You scared us, Jazell."

"Especially Seth," Emily piped up behind him. "He was the one going crazy to bandage you and was worrying more than the rest of us."

Seth's face reached a new undiscovered level of red, "I didn't want to lose a friend."

"Right..." Emily trailed off and smirked at him, wiggling her eyebrows. Seth squirmed slightly and avoided her gaze.

I started to laugh but in morphed into a cough instead. I clutched my midsection to find it was covered in bandages.

"What exactly happened?" I questioned.

Seth glanced at Emily and back at me, "I don't really know. We turned around to see you being mauled by a Thrasher. Before either of us could do anything, some light appeared out of nowhere. When it died down, we found you lying on the ground unconscious. That's basically it."

"We don't know what the light was." Emily added. "But whatever it was, it saved your life."

"Uh I have a feeling I should thank it, but I don't know how you thank light." I muttered.

"You thank it like you would thank anyone else," A voice said.

I almost jumped to the moon in surprise. Out of nowhere someone, or something, appeared beside Jason. I think Jason was more scared because he actually jumped into the air.

As it came into view, it became obvious that it was a girl. She in a yellow cloak and had dazzling red hair. She smiled warmly at us with her chocolate brown eyes and I realized she had pointed ears. So I basically made the conclusion that she wasn't human.

"Uh okay..." I said slowly.

She giggled, "Wow I never thought I'd scare a bunch of half-lings but I guess I did."

"You didn't scare me," Jason said quickly.

"Yeah okay, Jason," Emily said sarcastically.

I sat up and leaned on Seth because I would fall if I didn't, and Emily and Jason were too busy giving each other looks to help me.

"What and who are you?" I stared at her.

She rolled her eyes, "A light pixie, duh."

I blinked, "A light pixie?"

"Yes, a light pixie. Are you deaf?" she retorted.

"Uh, no, I'm not. I don't know what a light pixie is or why you saved my life, but thank you" I said, trying not to snap back.

"Well you are a half-ling and we need as many of them as we can get," She pointed out. "Plus I'm not evil, so why shouldn't I help you out?"

"Uh thanks I guess." This situation was extremely awkward to me.

She winked and disappeared in a flash. I limped over to my body ignoring Seth's yells to tell me to sit down. I felt the wind pick up and was whisked back to my normal self. I felt fine except for the fact it hurt to stretch my left side. I would probably be extremely stiff and sore tomorrow morning, but I was used to that feeling. We began to walk back towards the park when Jason stopped us.

"Hey can Seth and I catch you guys later? We have something to do." Jason grabbed Seth and they took off.

Emily raised an eyebrow, "Should we be concerned?"

"Nah they're boys, let them do what they have to do," I said with a quick sigh.

While we were walking the boys appeared in front of us, holding something behind their backs. They seemed to be fighting giggles which usually meant they were hiding something. Or they were about to do something that fell under their category of "funny".

"Hi guys," Seth said still fighting a smirk.

"Hi," I replied cautiously. "What are you guys hiding?"

Jason's face twisted up and a snort of laughter fought its way out of his nose. "Nothing."

"Right..." Emily gave me a look that said, is this good or bad?

I didn't really have an answer for her but I knew that whatever was coming, it wasn't going to be good. "So Jason, we have a question for you." I nodded towards Emily.

Jason's face grinned in a seriously weird way that screamed, 'weirdo!' He shifted his hands and said, "What?"

Emily stepped forward, "We want to know what you're..." but she never finished.

She had triggered it all.

Jason had been hiding two blue, full, water pistols behind his back and was now shooting them at Emily's face. She was holding up her hands and letting out some sort of squeal. Seth had been hiding a full two-handed water gun behind his back and the end was pointed at no other than me.

"You wouldn't," I said, my voice dark.

Seth gave me a maniac's grin, "You already know the answer to that." Then he shot me right in the face.

I blocked most of the spray from my face but water still leaked through my fingers. I felt the cold water seep through my clothes and onto my skin as Seth continued to soak me.

"Crap Jason, shut it off!" Emily hollered but it didn't work because I heard her yell again as he sprayed her hair.

I couldn't see anything because my eyes were half shut and I was afraid Seth would wash my eyes out. "Seth seriously, stop."

You can't command boys to do anything and to prove that, Seth shot my butt.

Eventually they stopped, only because three water guns can hold only so much water and Emily and me looked like we could kill. We were both completely soaked to the bone and even though in was the middle of summer, we were shivering. The boys looked completely satisfied with how we looked. After Emily and I gave them a look, they tore down the street and disappeared.

Emily squeezed the bottom of her shirt, "I hate them so much right now." Water gushed onto the street.

I wrung my hair out. "I agree and if we didn't need them, I'd be planning their funeral."

Emily smiled, "I'd be helping you. Do you think they would like pink coffins?"

"Totally," I laughed and grabbed my dry bag. "Let's go home. Want to crash at my place?"

Emily flipped open her phone, her fingers danced on the keys and paused. Then they clicked and she shoved it in her pocket. "Yup I can."

"You're always one step ahead."

"Always."

"So what do you think we should do?" Emily asked from my bed later on.

I swallowed the bit of strawberry that had been in my mouth. "I don't know, ambush them back?"

"They might see that coming," she pointed out, "and it's really obvious."

"Well, they think we won't do that because that is exactly what they would be expecting, so by actually doing it, we can trick them," I rambled on and grabbed another strawberry.

Emily tapped her lip with her pencil and straightened her pink pajamas. "I have no clue what you just said Jazell."

I laughed, "What I meant was that we should ambush them. Give them a piece of what they did to us."

Emily's eyes lit up, "You mean use water guns..."

"And water balloons..." I added.

"And a trebuchet to launch the balloons!" Emily scribbled furiously on her paper. "I can build one easily."

"Sweet, but when do we do it? All four of us hang out every day."

"I can solve that problem. We just tell them we want a day to do girl things and they'll butt right out," she slid onto the floor and snatched a strawberry.

I grinned, "This is going to be some fun revenge!"

"You can say that again."

"Okay," I said, "this is going to be some fun revenge."

She wacked me in the head with my pillow, "You're so weird."

"Well that's the way I am, deal with it," I wacked her back with my own pillow.

"No I will not deal with it," she walloped me in the head one more time. "I need you for team penguin, and I don't need a smarty pants."

"How come you get to name the team?" I asked.

"Because I was the one who got shot first."

Early the next day, which wasn't that early because we got up around ten o'clock, we gathered my old water gun and some water balloons. Emily brought down the trebuchet she'd spent all night building and we took off on our bikes. Emily led the way to Jason's where she was pretty sure the boys would be. We hid our bikes in the trees and snuck up to their backyard.

Jason and Seth appeared to be setting up some airplane that they built from scratch. They were muttering to each other and assembling a table they would use for a launch pad. I grabbed my water gun and Emily took out her trebuchet, with her balloons, and we snuck up on them. I held my hand up to stop Emily, waiting until Jason and Seth were grabbing the airplane out of a box and lowered my hand.

"Revenge!" I yelled, and ran out from behind the trees, with Emily following.

The looks on their faces were priceless. They spun around just in time as Emily launched a balloon right at Jason's face. I aimed at Seth, who I soaked in minutes. Their faces looked like they had seen a dinosaur come back to life. Jason scrambled away from Emily but she nailed him so many times it didn't matter, he was already soaking wet.

The last of my water leaked out the back of the gun and we just stood there. Jason smiled but you could see he was hiding the anger in his face. Seth was emotionless; he didn't give any sign on what he was feeling.

"So you felt like getting us back?" Jason asked.

Emily glared at him, "You deserved it because you soaked us too."

"So," he rolled his eyes, "you thought you could just ambush us. Have you learned nothing and that we might want revenge now. Then you will and so on. You've started a really long war."

"Who says the penguins can't win a war, huh? We just won right now," Emily said.

"The penguins?"

"Does that really matter?" she hissed. "You're on."

Jason smirked, "Alright then, penguins, if you want a water war, you got one."

"You're on too!"

This whole time Seth didn't say a word, which was strange. Usually Seth did all the talking while Jason stood watching but now Jason was doing all the talking and Seth was the one watching. He stood there and seemed unmoved from being soaked by my water gun. His face was blank and he was staring at nothing. It wasn't the Seth I was friends with.

While Emily and Jason were bickering I said, "Seth?"

Seth didn't answer. He acted like he didn't hear me.

"Seth? Hello earth to Seth," I repeated.

No answer again.

"Seth is there something wrong?" I whispered.

He didn't answer me again. He continued to stare at the woods as if he expected a flying deer to leap out, wearing pink socks.

"What the heck Seth, are you deaf now?" I waited for a sign that he heard me to appear on his face, but it remained blank.

Emily huffed loudly, "Expect something from Jazell and me soon Jason. We're out of here. See you around." She grabbed my hand and pulled me away.

Seth turned to see me leave and the look gave me a dark feeling inside. His face was masked with one emotion, one that made me vow to myself that I would find out what he was hiding, what he was keeping a secret. That emotion was not Seth, not the one I knew. It made me feel the same way and I didn't know why.

Fear.

Chapter 5

The water war continued with us getting them and them getting us. We attacked them with a pool, and they threw water balloons at us while we were on bikes. It was pretty simple, but the whole time all I noticed was Seth. He wasn't the same to me anymore; he always had this mask on his face, hiding himself from the rest of us. I had to find out what was wrong, and soon.

"Jazell, are you paying attention?" Emily's annoyed voice broke my day dreams.

I snapped back to attention, "Uh yes, I am Emily. Just for the record, what are we talking about?"

"Jazell you're hopeless! We're talking about what to do next," she scowled.

"Wait," an idea jumped into my head, "how about we meet under a truce."

Emily stared at me. "A truce? Seriously? That is the complete opposite of what we're doing."

"I know but trust me; we need to meet under a truce. What about monster fighting and this whole puzzle with the dwarfs? Did we just forget all about it or are we not going to do our job anymore?"

"We're still fighting, Jazell. We're all just having some fun because it's summer and not school. We'll get back to it later."

"Listen, why don't we meet once and then go back to this water war. At least we should think about this a little bit." I pushed the paper of warnings in front of her face.

"Fine," she snatched the paper out of my hands. "We'll meet Jazell, okay? Are you happy now? Then we'll go back to soaking each other randomly."

"Yes, I'm happy." I didn't call a truce for the warnings. I did it because that's when I'd talk to Seth and get his secret out of him. Then maybe I could help him and stop having to watch his miserable face.

Emily made a face and left the room to dial Jason's number and tell him about the meeting. I waited patiently for her to come back in my room. I can't wait long because I have a tendency to go crazy, so I walked up to my window sill and looked at the sky. I stared it and turned around to see Emily come back in. But not before my eyes caught a flash of blue.

Emily and I parked our bikes and headed into the woods and towards the clearing. We stepped into it, and I took in the familiar feeling. Out of all the places we've all been, this place felt the safest, as if it were surrounded by a good force, not bad for once. We often met here when we weren't all together. I sat down next to Emily on a log.

Minutes later Jason and Seth emerged from the trees. They weren't smiling or doing anything suspicious so I figured we were safe, for now. They sat down across from us. I noticed that Seth was avoiding my eyes.

"So whose crazy idea was it to meet under a truce when we're having so much fun wreaking havoc on each other?" Jason asked.

Emily sighed and pointed at me, "This crazy person right here."

"So what do you want?" he continued and eyed me.

I took a small, quiet breath and said what I had planned, "I want to work on the dwarf problem." I nodded towards Emily, signaling her to take out her paper.

She groaned and pulled the folded piece of paper out of her pocket. She unfolded it and placed it in front of us. While we studied it, I tried to catch Seth's eye, but he didn't look at me. I felt something boil deep within me-the anger at him. We were his best friends, we told each other everything and now he was keeping something from us. I could see it was eating at him, so why didn't he tell us what it was? That was the question that was making me steam.

"Seth out with it!" I didn't know why I shouted.

I startled him and he looked up at me. "What do you mean, Jazell?"

"I mean tell me what you're hiding!" I yelled at him.

He stood up, "I'm not hiding anything." His voice was level but it shook slightly.

I stepped towards him and gave him a hard shove. He stumbled back and fell on the ground. He looked up at me, waiting for what I would do next.

"Why are you keeping a secret from me?" I repeated, my voice as cold as an icicle.

Seth didn't answer me, instead he did the most cowardly and annoying thing you can do.

The idiot ran off.

Seth pushed himself up at a surprising speed and raced off into the woods. I did the crazy thing that people like me would do and followed him. I looked over my shoulder to see if Emily and Jason were coming but both of them stared at me, baffled. Their faces disappeared as I was swallowed by the trees.

I skidded to a halt and scanned the trees. I didn't see any trace of where Seth could have ran. That shows how much I know about asking questions. I don't get the answers and boom; I lose it and become a demanding person.

I walked more slowly, watching the trees. I sent a silent prayer that Seth hadn't entered Igneeria, because then I would never find him.

What bugged me the most was that Seth didn't fight me when I pushed him down. He just sat on the ground not saying anything at all in his own defense. Now, I couldn't find him anywhere and I would never get my answer.

I heard a large snap to my right and I whirled around. I heard another crack and I slowly crept towards the noise. Another snap sounded, louder this time, to my left. I changed direction and hid behind a tree. I peeked around it.

Seth grabbed another stick and slammed it into a tree. It hit the tree with a loud crack and broke in half. He picked up another and rammed it again. He went to grab another one but his fingers couldn't grasp it. They shook so hard he dropped it and he sunk to the ground. I saw him place his head under his arms and he curled himself in a tight bundle. He shook and I heard him do something that I thought Seth never did. He cried.

I stepped out from behind the tree and walked over to him. He didn't hear me, or look up. I wasn't mad at him anymore for not telling me what I wanted to know. Now I felt bad that I had nagged him so hard that he was breaking. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his body. He stopped crying and I felt him squirm.

Seth grunted and then mumbled, "Get off me."

"No, not until you tell me what's going on," I said.

He groaned. "Seriously Jazell, nothing is wrong. Now get off me."

I rolled my eyes but he couldn't see that. "You're a horrible liar Seth."

"I know," I felt him sigh. "Please Jazell it's nothing you need to worry about, okay? Just leave me be, I will deal with it."

I let my arms fall and Seth lifted his head. His eyes were red from crying but something in his eyes showed he was still Seth. The same darn stubborn and annoying Seth I was friends with. That let me relax a little.

He faced me, "You should go back to the others. I bet they're probably wondering..."

"No way," I cut in. "I'm not leaving until I get my answer."

Seth traced the dirt with the end of a stick. "You say I'm stubborn" I laughed and he continued, "Listen, I don't even know if it's true or not. There's no need for me to worry any of you. That's why I didn't say anything."

"I still don't care, Seth." I said.

He made a face, "Jazell I really don't know if I should say anything..."

I interrupted him again, "Seth just give up trying to talk me into not listening. It's a waste of breath." I took my own stick and threw it at him. He ducked, of course, and it landed on the ground. "What if whatever you're not telling us happens and we never knew? How would that help anyone?"

He looked down and mumbled something that sounded like, "You couldn't help." When he looked back up he said, "Fine you win, I'll tell you." He didn't sound happy about it.

"I'm waiting."

"You know, when Emily asked for any warnings that we were given?"

"Yeah." I had a bad feeling where this was going.

"I lied."

I blinked in amazement. "You lied to Emily? She's going kill you."

He smiled faintly. "She doesn't need to know."

"So a dwarf told you something? Why didn't you tell us?" I asked.

Seth looked away. "It didn't actually include you or anyone else, so I didn't say anything." He paused. "They said that I would betray you all and be Kojas' servant. I would be the key to the downfall of Igneeria. I don't know what to do Jazell; I don't even know if those things are true. They won't attack me and I swear, if you gave them a minute, I bet they would help me." He was talking so fast the words almost blurred together.

"I don't know what to say Seth," I said. "Maybe you shouldn't worry, maybe they're wrong. You can control what happens. If you say it won't happen, it won't."

"I hope you're right," he said.

"Me too."

The mood was perfect. I saw Seth relax a little and the look on his face was more like himself. I was perfectly happy with the way everything was right now until I saw the small outline of a toad dwarf nearby.

"Uh Seth I don't think this is the best time to mention this but I think we have company." I pointed to the shape.

He swore under his breath, and we both entered the dwarf's world together. Sure enough, it was a dwarf but there was something strangely different about this particular dwarf. He just walked toward us as if he wasn't afraid that I might put an arrow through his head.

Just as I was about to release my arrow, the dwarf cried, "Please stop!"

I don't know why I listened to him but I didn't pull the string. The dwarf was acting different than the others; its pudgy eyes were filled with fear at the sight of my arrow.

"Why?" Seth growled. "Your kind has done nothing good to us except make us confused and our lives more complicated."

The dwarf looked startled. "Oh you'll have to excuse my brethren; they have a tendency to be rather annoying." He took a long frightened look at Seth's sword. "Good sir, before you try to slay me, I have a message to deliver from her majesty."

I lowered my bow because I had a feeling I wanted to know what this message was. If it was a lie, Seth and I could kill him anyway in a blink of an eye.

"Seth, maybe we should hear what he has to say."

"I've had enough of listening to dwarfs," Seth hissed. "All they bring me is bad news."

The dwarf was trembling. "Oh please, sir, listen to the good lady! I do not bring news that will cause you pain, but I bring news of the pain of others. You must listen, it is my task!"

Seth looked at me and I nodded. He sighed and lowered his weapon to the ground, its tip digging into the dirt. The dwarf relaxed a little, but its body was still full of tension.

"Thank you, sir!" he squeaked. "Her majesty requests that I tell you about you're real destiny. She believes you've been in the dark long enough."

"What do you mean?" I questioned. "Our real destiny?"

"Yes," he said, a little more relaxed, "it must take place in Igneeria, where you are truly needed."

My brow furrowed in confusion. "But wait, aren't we in Igneeria right now?"

The dwarf gave a quick, half-hearted laugh. "No miss, you are far from Igneeria. You're in the Half-way, the place between Earth and Igneeria. The Half-way can act as a gate, or passage into Earth. It seals off the two worlds and if a monster were to make it as far as the Half-way, it would have a truly difficult time completing its journey because it won't find a way in or out of this place."

"So let me get this straight," I said slowly, "we're not in Igneeria right now but some Half-way?"

The dwarf nodded, happily.

"So where's Igneeria?"

The dwarf rubbed his stubby chin. "The entrance changes but its current location is in your town. That's how I got here. But don't get the Half-way confused with Igneeria, miss, for they are quite different. Especially now, with all the dark events that have been occurring because of his rising."

"You mean Kojas?" I asked.

"Shh! Not here, not anywhere!" he said quickly. "Never say his name unless you're sure he's not around. His name can summon him or others. You understand, do not say his name!"

"Alright, alright I get it!" I said. "I don't have to be told a million times. Now what else do you need to tell us about our destiny." I included air quotes around "destiny".

He stared at me happily. "Oh you have to come to Igneeria, miss."

"Wow wait, hold it!" I held my hands out. "Buddy, you just show up talking about some destiny that we don't know about and then you say that we have to come to some place that's not here, and you expect us to go? What about our families and people who'd ask questions, if we disappear. What do we say, oh sorry about that everyone, we just felt like leaving Earth to go to this magical place called Igneeria to do something that we don't know about."

"Well of course, there will be some minor difficulties," he said.

"Minor?" I squeaked. "Seriously, did you not hear a word I just said?"

He placed his pudgy hands on his small hips. "Miss don't you think that Her Majesty would have this all planned out? You don't have to worry."

Seth twirled his sword. "Why not, we have to tell our parents something."

"Sir, don't worry about a thing. All you need to do is go home. Everything has been arranged."

"What do you mean, arranged?" Seth asked sharply.

The dwarf seemed to bounce up and down. "It has sir, but I don't know what her majesty did. All I know is that all of you have to go home to get ready."

My mind whirled with all this new information. "Wait, why do we have to go? What is this destiny?"

The dwarf gave a feeble smile. "All of you must free our world from darkness, from him."

***

Seth and I walked back to our clearing, both our brains not thinking. It was too much to take in at once. Destroy Kojas? We could barely take on a mass of monsters without dying, so how were we suppose to take down an evil, powerful demon?

As the trees parted away to show the empty ground, I spotted Emily and Jason looking like they were about to go to war with a bunch of sticks. When they saw us appear, both dropped their weapons and smiled at us. Typical cover up.

"Hey Seth, it looks like Jazell didn't kill you after all," Emily said and flashed me a grin. "What was that all about anyway, Jazell?"

I opened my mouth to spill the whole truth when Seth glanced at me. I sighed at his expression, knowing that I couldn't tell anyone if Seth didn't want me to. I didn't want to make it worse by revealing what I knew.

When I didn't reply, she covered her mouth with her hand to try to cover her chuckles. "Oh then," she giggled, "I hope you two had a nice chat."

"Stop it Emily!" I snapped and felt my face burn.

She snickered. "Okay whatever you say, Jazell."

"We have to tell you guys something," I told her and Jason about how the dwarf had showed up and what he said about Igneeria. Emily listened quietly but when I got to the part that we were supposed to go there, her mouth fell open.

"That's completely crazy!" Emily gasped. "We're supposed to just leave and go there? What about our parents?"

"He told me, and I quote, 'Miss did you not think that her majesty would have this all planned out? You don't have to worry.' I personally think it's all a little skeptical, don't you?"

"Yes," she said, digging for a pencil and paper from my bag, "I do. We don't even know who this 'majesty' is and if this information is reliable. I understand the Half-way part, that makes sense, but the destiny part doesn't."

I sighed and sat down on the log. "The dwarf said to meet him tomorrow morning near 'the thorn that reaches the sky.' What does that mean anyway?"

Jason stepped over and spoke instead of Emily, who was furiously writing everything down, as if she'd forget in a couple of seconds, "It could be a description of something in town, maybe a building or a landmark."

I suddenly got an idea and took another piece of paper out. "Hey Jason maybe you could draw what you think it might be and that would help us."

"I'll try my best, Jazell," he said.

I knew that his drawing would probably help us. He was the best artist I knew, his artwork was almost real.

"Hey guys," Emily piped up from her paper, "I think we should get home and speak to our parents. I want to see what this dwarf was talking about when he said that everything was already arranged."

"I agree." I grabbed my backpack. "Wait, are we going to go?"

Seth and Jason grinned at me and said together, "You bet."

"That is if we can find the place," Emily reminded them.

I turned the door knob and walked into the kitchen. My mom and dad were sitting in the living room looking extremely excited. Before I even had a chance to say hi, my mom jumped up and rushed over to me.

"You never told us that you applied for a summer camp!" my mom squealed happily. "You also didn't tell us that you were to be picked from the best. Congratulations!" She hugged me.

"Um," I choked out in surprise as I was squeezed, "I wanted it to be...uh...a surprise." I managed to get the words out and seem intelligent.

My mom released me from her clamp-like hug, "Well I am surprised, and very proud!"

"Thank you?" I said slowly. This must have been the dwarf's plan. Would have been nice if he had warned me, I thought bitterly.

My dad got up and glowed happily behind my mom. "We are very proud, Jazell. You're supposed to leave tomorrow, so you better pack."

"I'm going to go do that." I said quickly, while I backed up towards the stairs. As soon as I reached them, I shot up so fast you would think I was running for my life.

I closed the door, locking it behind me and then dialed Emily's cell phone as fast as I could. I sat on my bed as the phone rang three times before I heard it click.

"Jazell you wouldn't believe what my parents just told me. They say I signed up for some camp and-"

"I know the same thing happened to me," I interrupted her quickly.

I hear her breathe heavily, "This is crazy, it's just happening too fast. We have to go or we'll be in big trouble with our parents. But the thing is we don't know where this meeting place is and-"

She was cut off by the ringing of my phone. "Wait a minute Emily, I'll have to put you on hold." She huffed in reply so I pressed a button and said, "Hello?"

"It's me, Jazell," Jason's voice said breathlessly. "I know where the meeting place is."

"Great Jason, where is it?" I asked.

A shuffle of paper sounded as Jason moved around. "It's at the art statue, the one we call the rising hill. It's in the park, remember?"

"Of course, when we were younger, we used to try to climb it." I replied.

I heard Jason chuckle. "Who could forget? So I guess I'll see you there?"

"Of course, Jason, I'll tell Emily."

"I'll tell Seth then. See ya."

Emily's voice came back. "Well, who was it?"

"It was Jason, he found the meeting place," I said. "It's the public art piece we use to climb."

"That makes sense." She paused. "I have to go, dinner."

"Bye Emily," I whispered. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye." She clicked off.

After dinner I was laying in bed, my mind spinning. I still couldn't believe where I was going tomorrow.

To Igneeria.

Chapter 6

I opened my eyes the next morning, the sun's rays shinning through my bedroom window. I didn't roll out of bed for a minute; instead I lay staring at the ceiling trying to prepare my brain for the day ahead.

I heard my mom and dad walking downstairs, talking excitedly about where they thought I was going to go today. I rolled off my bed and walked sleepily over to my dresser to pull out a pair of jeans and a shirt. After I had pulled the shirt over my head, I grabbed my half empty traveling bag and headed down stairs.

I dropped my bag near the door and walked over to the kitchen table. My mom had placed a full plate of eggs and toast on the table; I sat down and started to eat.

My mom hurried over and glanced at her watch. "You have about a half an hour until you have to leave. Eat up."

I responded with a quick shovel of food.

Within 25 minutes, I was standing by the door with my stomach all queasy. My mom rushed forward and gave me a quick hug. "Be careful now and enjoy yourself!"

"Right I will..." I said uneasily. No doubt that I was going to be very careful indeed.

I stepped outside and the door closed behind me. My mom and dad watched from the window, waving happily to me. I returned a slow, uncertain wave and hurried off towards the park.

As I entered the park, I spotted the rising public art statue. The shape twisted and stretched towards the sky, trying to touch it. Now that I really thought of it, it did look like a thorn.

I dropped my bag and leaned my back against the statue, closing my eyes. I wondered what Igneeria would be like. Maybe the place would be pretty decent...

"Jazell?"

Emily's voice scattered my thoughts and I opened my eyes to see her walking briskly towards me. She too had an empty bag slung over her shoulder. She dropped her bag next to mine and leaned against the statue.

Nobody spoke for awhile. Finally Emily opened her mouth and said, "What are you thinking about?"

"What?" The question had caught me by complete surprise.

"What are you thinking about?" she repeated. "Surely you must be thinking something; we're going to some 'other world'!"

I closed my eyes. "I was just wondering what it would be like in Igneeria. What about you?"

"Well," she said thoughtfully, "I was thinking about Kojas-"

"Emily don't say his name, I don't feel like being yelled at again." I interrupted her.

"Fine," she said, a little annoyed. "I was thinking about him, if I must call him that, and what he's like."

I rolled my eyes. "Emily isn't it obvious; he's evil for crying out loud. That's why we have to go and stop him."

"I know that Jazell, gosh, but I was wondering what he looks like."

"I don't want to know," I said.

Emily twirled her hair, "I know but I'm just curious."

I bit my lip. "If we do end up fighting this guy, you'll get your wish."

Minutes later, Jason emerged from the trees and dropped his travel bag on the ground. He leaned against the statue next to Emily, giving us both feeble smiles.

"So," he said, trying to sound happy, "travel day today, huh?"

We didn't answer.

"Okay looks like I'll do the talking," Jason said. "You two excited?"

Emily shook her head.

"No, Jason we're both jumping for joy, but it's so deep down that instead we both look like we want to slug you," I said sarcastically.

Jason sighed, "Okay, you would say something like that. I thought in a mood like this you would be less...annoying."

As soon as he finished his sentence, I wacked him as hard as I could.

Seth showed up after that, placed his bag on the ground, leaned on the statue next to me, and didn't say a word. We all stood there waiting for the dwarf to show up. Right as I was about to give up and say we had the wrong place, he appeared.

Jason saw his blurry outline first and signaled us to enter the Half-way. The wind whirled around me, and I walked over to the dwarf with the others.

The dwarf was breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath. All four of us stood there waiting and when he got his breath back, he spoke.

"I am glad that you accepted my message," he said to Seth and me. Then he turned to Emily and Jason and said, "Ah, it's great to meet the other two." He beamed at all four of us.

"Hi," Emily said, looking a little freaked out. "So now that you're here, are we going to get a move on or what?"

"Oh of course, follow me please." He shuffled off and disappeared behind the statue.

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Where is he going?"

Emily sighed. "There's only one way to find out." She walked behind the statue.

Seth, Jason, and I followed her. As soon as I was on the other side, I gasped at what I saw.

In front of me was an archway. Two entwined hooks were mounted on the top. Each side was twisted metal that ended in the ground. In the center, two pieces spun together and ended holding a pulsing, black crystal. You should have been able to look right through the archway but there seemed to be a sheet of transparent black glass in the way.

"This is the door to Igneeria," the dwarf pronounced proudly.

I fought the urge to say, "No duh!"

Jason looked up, mesmerized. "Epic."

"Epic?" Seth scoffed. "That's all you can say? This," he motioned to the dark archway, "can't be described by one word."

I smiled to myself. The old Seth seemed to be coming back, which was great. I was getting really tired of quiet, watching Seth.

"Then how about 'the coolest thing on Earth?'" Jason asked.

Seth shook his head. "No, it's not even a part of Earth. Try creepy, but cool."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Boys, I still don't know how they find this interesting." She pointed to Jason and Seth, who were continuing to guess random names to describe the arch. "I mean, who cares! Am I right about them?"

"Yes, completely," I said and fought a laugh. "Don't try to understand or you'll get lost in the complicated labyrinths that are their brains."

"I think this is the most thinking the two have ever done," Emily said with a sigh and shook her head, making her pink curls dance. "It's just sad."

I was about to say something else when the dwarf gave a loud cough. Jason and Seth fell silent, outlined by the eerie glow of the arch.

"You must know a few things before you enter," the dwarf said, pacing back and forth. He reminded me of a teacher instructing a class. "First of all, once you enter, there is a chance that you won't be able to leave for a while." My heart fell at this. "Second, Igneeria is wild and offers little protection. Especially at a time like this." He gave us a hard stare. "You might get seriously injured, or you might almost die. You must be ready for this."

I felt my stomach do sick flip-flops. I wasn't ready.

"Anyway," the dwarf said quickly, obviously seeing our surprised faces, "I think all of you can deal with that. Shall we go?"

Seth shrugged, "I guess. The answer to that question doesn't really matter."

The dwarf held his hand out, "Shall we go then?"

I shrugged, "Lead the way, shorty."

The dwarf gave me an annoyed look and walked towards the arch. I expected him to go right through but he disappeared in a swirl of black mist. Jason shrugged and ran in after him.

"Wait Jason," Emily called. "Dang, never mind." She disappeared too.

I went to follow her and hesitated. Seth walked up to me, "You nervous?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" I said, shaking. "Is going to a different world supposed to be vacation-relaxing-in-the-sun easy?"

He smirked, "I never said that."

"You implied it," I said, with a roll of my eyes.

He sighed and pushed me into the doorway, the dark, swirling mist swallowing me up. I felt his hands leave my back for a second and then they were back. The chilly feeling welcomed me, like a long lost friend.

As soon as the mist cleared, I was standing in a forest clearing. The sky was hazy and dreary, making me want to run back to Earth. But when I turned around, the door was gone.

Emily looked terrified, her eyes bigger than the eerie moon above. Jason was frozen next to her, eyes darting around at the shadows. The dwarf stood perfectly calm in front of us. No one spoke because there was nothing to say.

I heard rustling in the trees and dozens of creatures came thundering out. I noticed Thrashers, Frost Beasts, swamp trolls and many others I have never seen. They lumbered towards us, teeth flashing in the moon light.

Seth whirled around on the dwarf. "You set us up!" he hissed, sword drawn. "This was all a trap!"

The dwarf's eyes widened in alarm, "I swear, sir, that I knew nothing of this! I warned you that you must be prepared for anything."

"Seth," I said slowly, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Don't attack him, we need him to help us get through Igneeria."

I felt his shoulder muscle tense under my fingers but he lowered his blade. He didn't sheath it though, because he would need it in the fight. He glowered at the dwarf, "Don't think that I trust you, dwarf," he said angrily. "You're only alive because Jazell makes a good point. But if I find that you are lying to us," he sliced the air, "You're going to have a lot more problems than you think."

The dwarf gulped and looked away. I gripped Seth's shoulder and he turned around to face me. I saw distrust flash in his eyes but he gave me a weak smile. We turned to face the monsters heading for us.

Seth charged ahead, slicing Thrashers and Frost Beasts. I notched an arrow and released it. It soared into a swamp toll's head, making it shout out in agony. Seth spun around and plunged his sword into the troll's side. It gave a screech and fell to the floor, dead.

Emily raised her hands and vines shot from the ground and wrapped around a troll that had tried to crush Seth. I aimed an arrow at its chest and the troll fell to the ground next to the others.

The last beast fell, dead from Jason's knife, and we all took in a deep breath. Seth sheathed his sword and I slung my bow back on my back. Emily sat on the ground next to Jason, Seth and me as the dwarf stood in front of us.

"Sadly," he started, "I cannot be with you all anymore. I must leave and go back to her..."

"Wait a minute!" Seth exclaimed, jumping up. "You're leaving us? You little..."

"Seth!" I protested and stepped in front of him. "Don't you dare think about killing him. He got us here-"

"And he's leaving us here in some random place when we have no clue what to do or where we're going," Seth interrupted me.

The dwarf shook his head. "I'm very sorry, sir, but her majesty told me to bring you here and then to report back. I must tell her about the ambush, someone knew I was bringing you here."

"Don't you have to bring us to her?" Seth asked.

The dwarf cocked his head. "No, she will see you when she believes you are ready," He turned around and disappeared into the woods.

"Wait!" I yelled and ran after him.

"Wait, Jazell," Seth called after me and I heard him follow.

The trees parted and the dwarf stood in front of me. He gave me a small smile. "I do wish you luck, miss. I hope you survive."

"Please help us," I begged. "We need your help."

He shook his head. "I'm very sorry, miss, but I can't." He gave me another smile and was gone.

"Jazell," I heard Emily say. I turned around to see her smiling at me. "We'll be fine."

"Emily's right," Seth said. "We don't need him. If he doesn't want to help us then it's his fault if we don't get where we need to go."

"We should find somewhere to stay for the night," Jason suggested.

Seth nodded and we followed him deeper into the dark woods. I walked beside Emily as the trees passed us. Things seemed to watch us from the shadows and I felt like some poor little kid who was afraid to be a victim of a Halloween "jump-out-of-the-bush" scare trick. I shivered in silent fear.

Emily studied me, "Are you cold? Do you need to get warmed up?" A little flame of fire flickered to life in her palm.

I gave a shaky laugh. "No, I'm not that kind of cold."

She put the little flame out. "Ah, I know what you mean," she said and hugged me. "I'm feeling the same way. But don't worry, they," she motioned to the boys, "don't have to know."

"They'll find out eventually," I mumbled. "But that doesn't have to been now. I bet they must have some kind of fear themselves." I shivered. "It's like going throw the bogey-man's home."

"He must not get a lot of visitors," Emily commented.

"I'm defiantly not coming over anytime soon."

Emily laughed and the boys stopped walking. The trees parted to reveal a rock ledge. I spotted a small cave, the entrance covered in thick, twisted bramble. The sky was getting even darker and more ominous when Seth turned around to face us.

"We'll head for the cave and stay there for the night," Seth said. "Then we'll set off."

Emily crossed her arms. "Who made you in charge?"

"You have a better idea, Emily?" Seth snorted. "Or maybe you'd prefer to sleep in the open."

"Uh I think I'll stay with that plan," she said quickly. "But you're a grump Seth." she pushed past him and headed the path to the cave.

"You are, Seth," I said.

I followed Emily, with Jason and Seth on my heels. When we reached the blocked cave entrance, Seth drew his sword and sliced the vines apart. They fell to the ground and the cave was revealed. We walked inside the dimly lit space and I sighed in relief at some safety. The air smelled musty and I had a feeling no one had ever been here. I sat on the floor next to Emily and the boys sat on the opposite side of the floor.

"We should all get some rest," Seth said with a yawn. "We can figure out what to do next when we wake up."

I nodded sleepily and laid down on the hard ground. I closed my eyes, feeling a strange tiredness come over me. I barely heard Seth mumbled, "I don't like our situation at all."

That night, I had the weirdest dream.

I was standing on a dark cliff, the eerie moon high in the sky. The wind whipped at my hair, causing me to see the green strands in front of my eyes. The cold nipped at my cheeks and nose, which I tried to rub back to warmth. I stood at the edge of the cliff and gasped when I looked down.

Underneath me, hundreds of monsters gathered around a fight. I couldn't see who was fighting inside because a swamp troll blocked my view, but I knew it was brutal the way they whooped at a screech of pain. I wanted to close my eyes and look away, but I was so curious to see what was going on, that I couldn't.

The crowd parted to reveal the scariest and most hideous thing I've ever seen. It must have been some type of faery because I could see long, pointed ears sticking up from the sides of its head. Long, black hair was stuck out in all directions on top of its head looking slimy and dirty. Sharp, twisted horns sat on top of its head, gleaming in the dark. A long, billowing black cloak spiraled out behind it, completely covering the rest of its body. Its eyes shined red and full of hate, although there was a terrible smile that danced on its face.

"VICTORY!" It boomed in a chilling voice.

The crowds of monsters roared in applause and excitement. The trolls banged their clubs on the ground, on their chests, and even on each other. The howl of a Frost Beast rose into the night, making me feel even more chilled.

I wanted to wake up.

But I couldn't. I needed to find out what that thing was and what it had killed. I also had a horrible feeling, deep down that made me know that this wasn't a dream but some type of vision. This was happening in real life, right now in Igneeria. That proved that Igneeria had worse things to hide than what we thought was bad.

The thing walked forward and the crowd parted to make it a path, falling silent. I find myself creeping back until I could barely see the scene below. I was afraid that it would see me. Then I got a glimpse of what it had killed and I had to hold back my tears.

The poor body of the dwarf who had brought us here was lying in a contorted heap, limbs twisted in all directions. The scene was awful and I had to prevent myself from throwing up. Then I knew why they beat and killed him. All the other dwarves were on Kojas. This dwarf must have betrayed Kojas to bring information to whoever "her majesty" was and to help us into Igneeria. I suddenly knew that this dwarf was much braver than we had given him credit for. I suddenly felt awful because I knew who the thing was.

Kojas.

Chapter 7

"The little traitor thought he could fool us," Kojas announced, "but he was wrong. His death does not matter to me but what matters is what he could have said and done against us. He may have spilled too much.

"But it does not matter!" he continued, his voice flowing with reassurance. "I have knowledge that the half-lings have entered our world and our grasp. The dwarf may have done us a favor, bringing them here, without knowing it. My help, my prize travels with them. He will bring us to victory, the half-ling boy!"

The crowd roared louder than ever, fueled by the thought of victory. Anger rose inside me with every word Kojas said. Seth would not help them and the dwarf didn't make a mistake. The only one making the mistake was Kojas.

The crowd fell silent as he said, "We will find them and kill them. Than nothing will be in our way!"

My disbelief grew and a single howl sounded above all. I felt the ground disappear underneath me as I woke up to the safety of the cave.

I opened my eyes and had to squint because the light was so strong. I sat up and leaned against the wall, looking around. The sun shone brightly through the cave's entrance, making dirt particles appear in the air. Seth was leaning on the wall, twirling his sword in the dirt, not appearing to notice that I was awake. Emily and Jason were sitting in the center of the cave, playing some kind of hand game. Jason hit Emily in the arm and she started yelling at. So, this is typical thing to wake up to.

I stood up and walked over to Seth. He looked up from the ground and saw my troubled face. "What's wrong, Jazell?"

"I need to speak to you," I said in a low voice, "alone."

Seth nodded in understanding and I followed him out of the cave. We stood off to the side near the edge of the cliff where Emily and Jason couldn't see us. For a minute, I didn't say anything because I didn't know what to say.

I hesitated, but knew that if I told anyone about the dream, it would be Seth. So what was the point in waiting? "I had a dream last night," I began. "Only it wasn't really a dream, but more of a vision."

Seth nodded. "What was it about?"

I told him about the cliff and how Kojas had killed the dwarf. I hesitated but told him what Kojas said about him too, and I saw him stiffen.

"I'm sorry," I found myself saying.

Seth shook his head. "It's not your fault that he said those things about me. I'm happy you didn't try to keep it from me."

"What should we do?" I asked desperately.

"Well we know that the dwarf is dead and that Kojas knows we're here," Seth said. "We also know he's going to be looking for all of us."

"So?"

"So?" Seth mimicked and smiled. "We do what we always do. We'll just step up our game and do a little more running than we're used to. No problem, right?"

"Ya," I said, feeling the fear creep up again. "No problem."

"Jazell, it's okay to be scared," Seth looked me in the eye. "I'll admit to you, only you, that I'm scared too."

"No," I said with mock surprise. "You? Scared? Never."

He gave me a light shove. "Hey smarty pants don't be sarcastic with me. I just gave you a huge secret."

I laughed and shoved him back, "Don't tell me what to do, bossy."

"Well," he teased, "at least I'm not going around making fun of friends who are scared."

I opened my mouth to say something smart when I heard a small, "Ahem," at the cave entrance.

I looked over my shoulder to see Emily standing there, leaning against the rock wall, smiling in a way that made you happy...but scared. I mentally braced myself for whatever was coming from my eavesdropping friend.

"So," she said casually, "What are you guys talking loudly about?"

"Uh..." was all my brain could compute.

Luckily Seth saved me. "What's wrong with two crazy, half-ling kids going outside in the morning because they're both tired of listening to their other two friends bicker while they play hand games?"

"Well, you know it's weird that you two are talking alone, without letting the rest of us know what it is," she shot back. "Unless you two are hiding something from us?"

Nice save, Seth.

"Um..." I said. "Why would we hide anything from you two?"

Emily put her hands on her hips. "I don't know, but you two are acting like you are hiding something." She stopped and gave me a wicked smile. "Unless you two were not talking-"

"God no, Emily!" I interrupted her. "No way, we were just trying to get away from you two because I just woke up and you guys are really loud first thing in the morning."

She sighed. "Fine, don't bite my head off Jazell, I was just asking a question." Then she turned and disappeared back in the cave.

Seth let out a huge breath. "Wow, I'm glad she left. I had the feeling that she knew we were hiding something." He hunched over me. "Because we are."

"Do you think we should tell them about my vision?" I asked.

He chewed his lip in frustration. "Maybe we should, but not include the parts about me."

"Seth," I said slowly hoping he didn't get mad at me, "we should tell them what's going on with you eventually. What if Kojas comes for you and they have no clue why-"

"No!" he said sharply, and the tone of his voice surprised me. "I can't Jazell, I wouldn't have told you if you hadn't ran after me demanding to know what I was hiding."

"But you're happy I did, right?" I asked.

He looked away. "Yes I am. It's a lot better than hiding this on my own. The secret just keeps getting bigger."

I rolled my eyes. "Emily will find out eventually, and when she does, she'll kill you for keeping a secret from her."

"Let's hope it isn't until you and I figure this thing out."

I nodded and walked back into the cave. Emily and Jason watched us enter and I swallowed nervously. Seth gave me a small nod, signaling me to start telling them about my dream.

"Listen guys, I had a dream," I said and repeated my dream again, minus the part about Seth.

Emily and Jason listened to every word I said. When I got to the part about Kojas, Emily's mouth made a small O and Jason's eyes widened. My voice shook as I recalled the dwarf's dead body.

"That's awful!" Emily said, her voice shaking. She hopped over and gave me a small embrace. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Uh...thanks Emily," I said and allowed myself to be hugged.

She bounced back over to Jason's side and waited for me to continue but there was nothing else to say. I had told her everything I needed to tell her. Did she somehow know that I wasn't telling her the whole story? I looked at Seth out of the corner of my eye and saw him doing the same. We needed to talk longer and more in depth about the situation we were sharing.

"So," Emily said and tapped her fingers on the cave wall, "is that all?"

"Yes."

"Well then," she looked us in the eyes, "what are we waiting for? Let's get a move on and leave this small, damp cave."

I shrugged and followed her out. The sky was lit but still had a gloomy feeling mixed in with the warmth. I felt a sense of dread as we entered the never-ending forest again.

A few rays fought their way through the thick canopy of trees, making it possible to see what was around you. Seth led the way as we followed a faint path through the unknown. I was bringing up the rear of the line, Emily in front of me. I watched her cloak swish around her ankles, the rhythm surprisingly soothing to me. The silence was unnatural, and I felt like there should be some kind of sound.

I shouldn't have thought that.

Out of nowhere I heard a single rattle. Then it suddenly stopped. A feeling of unease rose inside of me but I kept walking. Then another rattle that didn't end sounded, vibrating all around us. Another seemed to join it, then another and another until the noise was unbearably loud.

Sick, quiet laughter sounded all around us. It giggled and laughed in amusement, shrieking at us. The laughter stopped, but the rattle didn't. But whatever it was, it surrounded us. The four of us pressed together.

"This is the prey?" a rake-like voice cackled. "This is nothing!"

I saw Seth draw his sword and the rest of us readied our weapons. I gripped my bow so hard that I was afraid it might break in two.

I heard more screechy laughter. "Easy kill," another agreed.

"No challenge," something else piped up. "The King under estimates our abilities." It laughed.

A voice hissed, "We will show him."

This was seriously starting to freak me out. It was like the dead were talking to me, and I shivered.

Then I saw them. They slithered from the shadows of the trees and bushes. There hundreds of them, each easily my height. They were covered in black, grey green scales that were each the size of my hand. They were layered on its body like plated armor. Their beady dark, red eyes sent shivers down my spine.

I slung my bow back over my shoulder and grabbed my hunter's knife from its sheath on my side. One stopped and raised its head up towards me. It opened its mouth to reveal rows of sharp, yellow fangs. A chuckle escaped its mouth.

"What are you going to do with that, half-ling?" it said with a voice that sent needles into my skin. "A knife won't do a thing against something like me."

I almost listened to the thing and started to lower my weapon but I caught myself. My hands started to shake.

Its eyes glistened with hunger. "You can't even hold a weapon. So how are you going to save your friends?"

I didn't know what it was talking about until I looked over. Seth was stiff and frozen, his eyes following one of the snake creatures that was climbing its way up his leg. It twisted itself around his arm and brushed onto his neck. Seth swung his sword at the back of the snake but there was a flash and it sliced his arm instead. He winced and dropped his weapon. The snake had wrapped around his neck and was squeezing. I gripped my knife but stopped when the creature snickered from the ground.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," it said. "That wouldn't be wise."

"Why?" I demanded. "It wouldn't be right to help Seth?"

It hissed in laughter. "No, half-ling. If you haven't realized it yet, we change our shapes. Your friend already hurt himself learning that."

Seth wasn't looking so good. He was bent over and was grabbing at his neck. I then realized that the snake was now a smaller brown colored snake and had its whole body wrapped completely around his neck. I had an awful feeling that I couldn't help Seth without hurting him. I was helpless.

Emily and Jason were farther off fighting their own swarm. I could see from here that they were slowly losing too. Emily continued to try to fry the creatures or knock them away with air, but it wasn't really working. I kept seeing Jason's knives fly off into the woods, or sink into the ground, instead of hitting their mark.

"And now half-ling," it whispered with joy, "you die." It lunged up at me.

I had a sudden feeling inside and I stabbed at the creature. It tried to change forms to avoid the knife's path but somehow my knife stabbed it anyway. It withered and then went still. I gasped as the body fell to the ground and even some of the creatures, around stopped.

They murmured among each other, "She killed a syphon! She killed one of us."

So the awful creatures were called syphons? What did they want? I made a mental note to tell Emily about this. That is, if all of us didn't die first.

They screeched in anger and I felt their eyes on me. Every single one was full of burning hatred. But I ignored the feeling and focused on Seth. His eyes locked on mine as he wheezed and he sent me a clear message, Help.

Not that I needed his permission anyway, it's just Seth never asked for help. I, again, suddenly knew the syphon's weakness but I didn't know why or how. I could sense some dark black area on the neck just like a target dot. I stabbed it and the creature gave a dying hiss, falling to the ground too.

Seth rubbed his neck and grabbed his sword. "Thanks Jazell."

"No problem," I said. "Want to rescue the others?"

Seth grinned, "Sure, Jason isn't going to be happy about me saving his butt."

"Well he can deal," I said and walked quickly towards Emily and Jason. "We better hurry."

I reached Emily in a few, quick strides, stabbing some syphons that were trying to attack her. She looked up at me and opened her mouth to ask me how the heck I did that but I shook my head. I'd explain the unexplainable later.

"Aim for the neck!" I shouted to the both of them. "It's their weak point."

They both nodded in agreement. Jason spun around and began to stab them as I suggested. He ducked and I say their number start to drop because of his quick reflexes.

The swarm's size was reduced to half. The syphons were starting to look uneasy, hesitating before they flung themselves at us. It didn't matter to me.

"Retreat!" one of the voices yelled. "Fall back!"

They gave one more angry hiss at us and disappeared into the woods. The bushes and trees rattled and then the woods were silent. I could hear everyone's heavy breaths as we turned to face each other. Well, actually everyone turned to me.

"So," I said and wiped the sweat off my knife's handle, "that was something, wasn't it?"

Emily put her hands on her hips. "Jazell, how the heck did you know how to kill those things?" She shook her head. "What were those things?"

"Syphons," I said. "I don't know how I knew where to stab them. I just did, alright? It was weird."

Seth shook his head and leaned against a tree. "How come you get some random power when the rest of us don't?" He gave me a fake pout. "It's not fair."

I leaned against the tree next to him and rammed my elbow into his side. He winced and I grinned. "I didn't ask for the power, Seth. But it did save our butts so I'm happy, I magically gained it."

"Well I hope I get some cool power too," Emily said and stretched.

"Whatever," Jason said and twirled a knife in his hand. He seemed to go back to say-a-few-words-and-then-say-nothing-which-drives-everyone-crazy.

Emily made a face at him. "Wow, thanks so much for the support, Jason. That speech was incredible."

Jason stuck his tongue out. "You're welcome."

"One day," she mumbled. "One darn day..."

"Emily, are you okay?" I asked.

Her head shot up and she gave me a big smile. "Yup, never better. I'm just having a minute to myself."

"Okay..." I trailed off.

Seth walked over to join us. "We should get moving and find somewhere else to stay. If we stay and argue in the forest, something worse is bound to find us."

"Right, lead the way," I said and pushed off the tree.

Seth nodded and I walked beside him as he led us, once again, through the woods. Emily and Jason were talking quietly about something which gave us both the opportunity to talk.

"You think Kojas sent them?" I mumbled to him and pushed a branch away.

He looked at me from the corner of his eye. "Obviously, why else would they say that the 'King' would underestimate them?"

"You make a good point," I said. "Why did the syphon attack you?" I lowered my voice so only he could hear me. "I thought you said they wouldn't attack you."

He looked uneasy. "The syphon said he would be rewarded for grabbing me. I think he wasn't trying to kill me but trying to knock me out."

"So he could bring you to Kojas."

He nodded but he seemed somewhere else. He sighed and said, "I hope they won't go too far to achieve that, or it'll get harder to hide this from Emily and Jason."

I crossed my arms. "I told you that we should tell them. But you still refuse to let me-"

"No," he said sternly. "No and that's that."

"Fine," I said and threw my arms in the air. "I give up. At least I tried but you're just too stinking stubborn."

Seth flashed me a smile. "It's what you love the most about me."

I punched him in the arm. "Who said I loved anything about you. Maybe I like puppies more. At least they listen, mostly."

"Ow, that hurts," he said and clutched his side.

I laughed and felt the world brighten a bit. "You're so annoying. You can add that to the list."

"You just love to insult me," Seth grinned. "Is it your new hobby?"

"It will be if you keep annoying me," I fought the urge to punch him again.

He just rolled his eyes at me. He really is the most annoying person I've ever met besides Emily and myself. Wow, he was going to have us both beat.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your playful banter, but are we actually looking for a place in particular or just some random cave?" Emily's annoyed voice asked us from behind.

"Yes, just a random cave or a place to stay. Why?" Seth asked, just as annoyed.

"Well," she said, "a cave won't be found in a forest, so shouldn't we be finding a way out of the forest?"

"I know that, Emily," he said and pointed to the trees. "Can you find a way out? It just goes on and on. I'm hoping that we find a clearing soon."

"Fine," she said and crossed her arms, "I'm sorry I interrupted your conversation." Then she started talking to Jason again.

Seth made a cat noise and clawed the air, "Someone's a pussy cat today."

"Be quiet Seth or she'll hurt you," I said and looked over my shoulder. Emily seemed to have heard that and she winked at me. I smiled and winked back. "Seth I'd be really careful."

Seth snorted, "I'm not scared of her."

"I would be," I said and had to fight another smile.

I could tell it was getting past noon because the air started to get cooler. I was suddenly really jealous of Emily's long robe. I also was getting hungry and wondered if there was any way to get food in Igneeria.

A huge rumble startled me and I looked up at the sky. We were in a clearing and I could see the sky clearly. Dark clouds covered the sky and a rumble shook the air again. A single drop of water landed on my cheek.

"Oh no," I breathed.

Another drop landed on my forehead and then on my chin. Then they started to pick up speed and I covered my face with my hands. The rain streaked through my hair, soaking it to my head. Seth looked extremely annoyed as he stood there, his blue hair plastered to his face. His eyes were half covered by his hair and his eyes locked onto mine. He rolled his eyes and looked away. Jason had his arms over his head, trying to keep the rain off his red hair but I already saw dark spots all over it where the rain had escaped his arms. Emily's pink hair was dry and safely under a hood.

Wait, what?

"Emily, how come you have a hood?" I had to shout over the rain.

She gave me a dazzling smile. "I'm always prepared."

"This is just great," Seth shouted. "We better find some shelter because the rest of us are getting soaked to the bone."

"I'll take the lead," I said and ran in front of him. "You'll lead us into a dragon's cave if you take the lead."

Seth rolled his eyes again. "Fine!"

I walked through the trees and took a right. The trees parted and the trees ended. Right ahead of me was a cave.

"Found a cave, that wasn't too hard Seth," I said.

"Right," he said. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

I ran towards the cave, eager to get out of the rain and into somewhere dry. I stopped in front to catch my breath. Emily, Jason, and Seth ran up behind me and we stared into the cave. I took a deep breath and started to enter the cave. All of a sudden, a roar made me freeze. Two nostrils and eyes popped up from the cave. My blood stopped.

It was a dragon.

Chapter 8

I stood, frozen in fear at the sight of the dragon. It stalked towards me. The piercing green eyes bore into mine and I was more scared than I had ever been in all 15 years of my life.

"Jazell move!" Seth yelled and pushed me behind him so hard, I almost fell over.

I caught myself and pulled out my bow, notching an arrow. We all tensed, prepared for a fight. All of a sudden, Emily walked towards the dragon. Seth yelled at her to get back but she ignored him. She stood right in front of its head and opened her mouth, bizarre sounds started coming out. We all stood there mesmerized as she grunted, growled, snorted and hissed at the dragon. I expected it to just take a huge bite out of her, but it seemed as surprised as we were.

"Emily, what's going on?" I shouted to her and started to walk over.

Seth reached out and grabbed my arm. I spun around, suddenly annoyed. He shook his head and nodded over to the dragon. I looked and to my surprise it was bending down to let Emily stroke its head. She patted its head and it curled up outside the cave. She bent down to whisper something in its ear and then stood up again.

"Well," she said looking at us, "what are you waiting for?" She disappeared in the cave. Then she poked her head out. "Come on!"

We walked slowly into the cave. I glanced over at the dragon, which was now asleep and making small puffs of smoke in the rain. I sat on the cold stone floor, shivering. I was soaked to the skin and my hair was completely plastered to my head. Seth sat next to me and I could see he was shivering too. Jason slid down the wall across from us with his eyes closed.

"I never want to walk again," he mumbled. "Never."

"You're going to have to, dude. We have a lot of walking left to do," Seth said wearily.

Jason groaned and circled up against the wall. Emily pulled her hood off and examined herself. She mumbled something and squeezed her sleeves. "I feel so heavy and gross."

Jason's eyes popped open. "Why are you complaining? You're freaking dryer than all of us and you got some awesome power, too. You can't complain."

"Language Jason," she scolded. "I hate even being a tad wet so I feel like complaining. I just do, so deal."

Jason scowled and closed his eyes again. "I'm sleeping and if anyone wakes me up and it's not to kill something, I'll stab them with my dagger."

"Wow you're just a sparkly rainbow today," I said.

Emily shook her head. "He's just a fat crab."

"Maybe I am," Jason said, "deal."

Emily sat near the entrance of the cave. I heard Jason's breathing slow down which met he was sleeping. I found myself pressing my shoulder to Seth's, trying to find warmth. Heat flowed into my shoulder but it wasn't much. Oh well, you can't always be satisfied.

"Emily, how did you keep that dragon from attacking us?" I asked. "You were making funny sounds that made no sense to me."

She looked puzzled. "What do you mean, I was speaking English and so was the dragon."

I shook my head. "No you weren't, you were making grunting and growling sounds."

"That's odd, I didn't think I was," she said. "I told the dragon that we were four half-lings who needed shelter from the rain. Then he asked if we were against Kojas and I said yes, that he was hunting us. Then he told me that he would let us use his cave because he was on our side. Then I thanked him and here we are, inside the cave nice and dry."

"Maybe that's your power, you can speak to dragons," Seth suggested. "But I don't understand how you two get powers and we don't."

"Be patient," I said.

"Yes," Emily murmured and stifled a yawn. "Girls first, Seth. Have a problem with that?"

"All right then," he said and leaned against the wall. "Sweet dreams to you two."

"Yup sweet dreams to us," I said and closed my eyes. "Goodnight Emily."

"Goodnight Jazell."

I drifted off, feeling surprising comfy against Seth's shoulder and hearing Jason softy snore.

I opened my eyes to see myself standing in the woods. The sky saw clearer and it wasn't raining anymore. It was eerie quiet and as I stood there it felt like I had never left the woods. I heard a voice whispering one word over and over again.

"Jazell..."

"What?" I called. "What do you want?"

"Jazell..." the voice whispered again. "Jazell."

"What?" I screamed into the trees. "What do you want? Why do you have to repeat my name over and over again, it's creepy."

"Jazell, beware," it whispered again. "Beware."

I stomped my foot in frustration and yelled, "Beware of what?"

"Beware," it mumbled back. "Beware of the shadows."

"What?" I said, startled. "I know how scary shadows are and I don't need you to tell me that."

"Jazell..."

"That's it," I said angrily. "I'm getting an answer for once."

I ran towards the voice, which was hard because it sounded like it was everywhere. A bright light flashed and I saw a ghost-like girl disappear in the darkness. My eyes widened as I saw Seth and then darkness. But not before the voice said one more thing.

"Beware of each other."

***

I opened my eyes and shot up so fast my head collided with Seth's. I clutched my head and said, "Ow." Seth stretched his arm to rub his eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing." I looked at the beads of sweat on his forehead. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," he said. "I'm just hot because when someone sleeps on someone else, that person kind of gets hot."

"What do you mean?"

He shook his arm. "You fell asleep leaning against my arm. Were you cold?"

My face went red. "I didn't mean to, sorry."

"It's not a problem, at least no one was cold," he said.

"I need to tell you something," I said. "I had another dream and I saw you in it. It was kind of spooky, actually."

"Really," he said. "You were in my dream too."

"There was a voice calling my name," I said, remembering the creepy dream. "It was saying to beware of the shadows. Then I saw this ghost-like girl before I saw you. Then I woke up."

Seth nodded. "Mine was calling my name too and said to beware of the shadows. But I saw a ghost-like boy instead. Then I saw a glimpse of you and then I woke up."

"Who do you think they were?" I asked. "The ghost kids."

"I don't know but I have a feeling that they weren't on Kojas' side," he replied.

I glanced over at Emily and Jason, making sure they were still sleeping. "Why do you think they were in our dreams? Was the 'beware of the shadows' that important?"

"Does any of this ever make sense to us?" Seth asked with a shrug. "We just wait it out like we always do."

Emily groaned and stretched. She opened her eyes, squinting at the two of us. "Morning."

"Good morning Emily, sleep well?" I asked, wondering if she had the same type of dream as we did.

She shrugged. "I slept soundly, why?"

"Nothing, just curious."

"Okay," she stood up and tip toed towards Jason. "Now the best part, waking up the grump."

She bent over close to his ear. She took in a deep breath and then yelled at the top of her lungs, "PIE!"

Jason jumped up so fast that Emily had to jump back to avoid getting hit in the head. He almost fell backward but he steadied himself against the wall. One of his knives slid into his hand but by the time he realized what was going on, we were all laughing hard I was getting the hiccups.

Jason panted out each word, "That...is...not...funny!" He glared at Emily so hard she must of thought that he had laser eyes.

Emily was holding herself and trying to stop laughing so she could speak. "I'm sorry Jason...but you were such a grouch yesterday...we had to get you back!"

"I will get you back," Jason said angrily. "I will."

"Okay Jason," I hiccupped. "But you're going to have to wait a while."

"Dude that was hilarious," Seth choked out and had a smile on his face the size of the cave. "I'm surprised you didn't scream like a little girl. But you did jump like one."

Jason's face went red. "I thought I'd get some support from you, Seth." He crossed his arms. "You might be next, you know."

Seth shrugged. "Maybe, but I don't care. We all need a good laugh to keep our spirits up and if that means scaring the crap out of me, I'm fine with it."

"So you'll be fine with me dragging you outside while you were sleeping and leaving you in the rain?" Emily asked.

Seth narrowed his eyes. "No, I'd be cold, wet and annoyed. You can do that if you feel like having me be grouchy all day."

"Nah," Emily said. "I don't think it would be worth it."

"Are we just going to sit here and talk or are we going to get a move on?" I asked.

"Alright then," Emily said and walked out of the cave. "If you want to go in the dreary woods so bad, we'll go."

Jason walked after her, shoulders hunched. I went to follow him when Seth said, "We should tell them about our dreams."

I turned around and faced him. "We should, they need to know in case they have ones like ours."

Seth nodded and followed me as we joined everyone else outside. Emily waited for us and then headed into the woods. She waved to the dragon and we disappeared once more.

I stared off into the trees, waiting for Seth's cue to tell them about the ghost kids. Seth raised his hand, signaling for us to stop. He put a finger to his lips and pointed in front of him. I crept up and peered at where he was pointing.

A bunch of dwarves and tall, muscular men crowded around something. The men had double swords sheathed on their back, long ears, and long black hair. They were wearing some type of combat boots and thick coats. One of them moved and I saw a tied dragon staked to the ground. It continued to try to stand but it seemed to weak and fell back down. I heard Emily gasp in horror and I felt the same way. One of the men poked it in the side with the butt of his sword and the dragon grunted in pain. I looked over my shoulder at Emily. She looked like she was about to start crying any second. Seth drew his sword and crouched down. He shuffled forward and motioned for us to follow.

We slid through the trees as quietly as we could. I kept my eye on the faery men, waiting for one of them to turn around and notice us hiding in the trees. I ducked behind a tree and looked over just in time to see Emily trip and fall out of her bush. The faery and dwarves looked at her in surprise. I guess they've never seen a teenage half-ling girl fall out of a bush before.

"Am I interrupting something?" Emily asked with a gulp.

The faery men drew their double swords and charged at her. I released an arrow and it buried itself in one of their necks. It fell backward and they turned to my hiding spot, searching for me. Two knives flew and a dwarf and man collapsed on the ground. I saw Jason hide behind his tree again. One dwarf got too close to Emily and she raised her arms, dousing him in flames. He screeched and fell to the ground, withering and then went still. Seth ran from the trees, brandishing his sword. He swung it around and clashed with one of the faery's swords. The faery brought the other around and Seth twisted to avoid it. He grabbed the blade and flung it out of the man's arms. He roared angrily and threw his sword down on Seth, who raised his up to block it. Seth pushed back, but I could see him shaking. Right when I thought he was winning, my mouth dropped open. Time seemed to slow as one of the other faery guys ran over to Seth and the one he was locked with. The faery raised one of the hilts of his sword and brought it down on Seth. It collided with his head and Seth dropped his sword. He crumpled to ground and didn't move.

"Seth!" I screamed. He didn't move and one of the faery men reached down to grab him but I screeched, "Leave him alone!" and sent an arrow into the guy's neck.

I heard Jason yell in rage and they started to drop like stones. Emily raised her arms and the ground shook under a faery. Roots twisted upward and wrapped around one of the five faery men that were left. The other four fell dead from my arrows and Jason's knives. I ran out from behind the tree and stormed over to the squirming faery man. Or I should to call them faery jerks now.

I grabbed his coat and forced him to look at me. He smirked and I couldn't hold back the urge to slap him. I slapped my hand across his face so hard it left a mark on his cheek.

"Start talking," I snarled. "Who are you guys and what are you doing?"

The faery jerk smirked again. "We're part of Kojas' personal guard. We were sent to look for you half-lings."

"Well I want you to know something," I said and got closer to his face. "We will win this fight, mark my words. Kojas is going down, way down if you know what I mean."

"Well," he said, "if you let me go I'll give him your message."

"I don't think so," I whispered. "You can tell him when he joins you." I rammed my knife into his stomach and pulled it out.

The faery's eyes rolled upward and he went still. I wiped my knife on my pants and sheathed it. I ran over to Jason, who was crouched over the unconscious Seth. Jason looked up and I saw his face was full of concern.

"Can you help Emily, she's trying to release the trapped dragon," I whispered to him.

Jason nodded. "Will do Jazell." He stood up and walked over to Emily.

I sat on the ground next to Seth. His eyes were closed and he looked dead. His blue hair was ruffled up in all directions. I was so sure that he might be dead that I placed a hand on his chest, feeling for a heartbeat. I felt the steady thump under my fingers and I sighed in relief. I removed my hand and looked over at Emily. They had freed the dragon and they both were petting its head. It stretched its wings and they both had to duck to avoid being hit.

"Seth," I whispered, "this is what I meant when I said things would get bad if we didn't tell them." I looked back at my two friends, who were laughing. "I mean they are our friends, best buds, you get my drift. I understand that you're scared and worried but so am I. I'm scared that if I'm the only one who knows about this, I won't be enough to help you."

"Jazell, I understand now. I'm sorry I was such a jerk, I should have listened to you."

I turned back around to see Seth's eyes watching me. He was clutching his head and groaning. I gave him a hand and he grabbed it. I helped him sit up and handed him his sword. He laid it across his lap and looked at the ground.

"I'm glad that you're okay and that you've finally through your stubbornness," I said and gave him a small smile.

"I just don't know what to tell them."

"Well, tell them everything," I said. "Start in the beginning and don't hold anything back. If you do, I'll tell them the rest."

"Seth!" Jason said and ran over. "You're awake, man!"

"Yes and I feel like crap," he said. "I think that if I try to stand up I'll either pass out or throw up."

"Will you be okay flying?" Emily asked.

"What?" I asked. "Flying? What do you mean 'flying', Emily?"

"Our new dragon friend offered to fly us out of the woods region and towards more of the mountains. I said yes, of course, because I don't want to walk the whole way there," she explained and walked towards the dragon.

"I guess..." Seth said and stood up. He paled and started to sway. Jason grabbed his shoulder to steady him. "Thanks Jason," he panted.

"Take it easy, Seth. We can wait a minute if you need to rest," but Seth shook his head.

"No let's move now. Emily, tell us what to do."

"Alright, boss," she said sarcastically. "Everyone come over."

We walked over to her and the dragon with Seth leaning on Jason. The dragon was lying on the ground, watching us closely. Its long, leathery wings were tucked neatly on each of its sides. It snorted as Emily climbed onto its back. I stared at her, starting to think she was a little crazy.

"Come on!" she said and patted the dragon's back. "Do you think that you're too heavy? Well, you aren't, so get on his back."

I walked over and climbed onto the dragon's back. Jason half hauled Seth on the dragon's back, and Seth almost fell on me. He grunted a sorry and pushed himself up in sitting position. Jason hopped on last and gave Emily two thumbs up.

"Alright," she called. "Let's move!"

The dragon stretched up and I bounced around for a second. It opened its huge wings and launched itself into the air.

If you're thinking of trying dragon riding as a hobby, I wouldn't. I fell backwards and landed on Seth who snapped at me to get off. I couldn't move because we were still going up and if you paid attention in science class, this is usually when you can't move. It's called gravity.

The dragon righted itself and I scrambled back into sitting position. We were gliding high up in the eerie sky and the view was actually beautiful. The trees looked like an endless sea of lush green and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. I felt the urge to hold my arms out like they do in those movies so I could feel the wind on my arms. It was already making my hair flap all over the place.

I heard Seth huff out and I turned. He gave me a face and said, "Your hair keeps getting in my face."

I turned back around. "Deal."

We turned in the air and I could see the mountains in the distance. They were small but were growing fast as we neared them. I could feel the dragon's muscles pump underneath my legs. Small gusts of air rolled off the dragon's wings that blew Emily's hair in her face. I smiled as she raked the pink strands out of her mouth.

We dipped down and I felt the "stomach-in-your-chest" feeling you usually get from rollercoasters. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore it but I couldn't. I hated this feeling just as much as I hated puking, and the chills that liked to run up my spine at random times.

Then all of a sudden, the dragon stopped. My eyes opened in horror as I saw the small trickle of blood fall from a hole in the right wing.

Then we started to fall.

Chapter 9

I screamed so loud that my ears felt like they were going to pop. We plummeted to the ground, falling closer and closer...

Oh man, I thought and closed my eyes. Don't look, don't look, don't look...

"Really!" Seth yelled at the sky. "This brings new meaning to 'things can't get any worse!'"

I gripped furiously to the limp dragon. I was falling to my death: so this is how it was going to end. I never pictured it this way; I thought I would die a little more heroically, not screaming like a little girl.

"Not now Seth," Emily screamed at him. "Everyone think!"

"How can I think," I screeched back, "when the ground is rushed towards me at full speed?"

"I don't know Jazell, just think if you want to live," she said quickly.

I let out another scream as my body tipped towards the edge of the dragon. I felt someone wrap their arm around me and I gave a grunt as I was pulled upright. Seth held me, his arm stiff and somewhat uncomfortable. I was frozen in fear, realizing that I hated falling. This was worse than my fear of rollercoasters.

"Calm down," Seth said to me. "You're not going to fall-"

"What do you mean, Seth?" I said in a panicked voice. "We're freaking falling right now!"

Emily looked at us and she tried to hide the fear in her face. "The dragon is going to pull its wings around us to protect us from falling but it's going to make us fall faster. Make sure you hold on to something or get in the center."

Seth pressed himself against me and we leaned closer to the dragon's back. Jason tucked his arms under him and Emily pressed next to him. Then, as if on cue, the dragon tucked its great wings over us, blocking out the sky and we began to really fall.

I screamed louder and sunk deeper into Seth, trying to forget that we were falling at about 90 miles per hour without a parachute.

Every second felt like an hour. I squeezed my eyes in an effort to make it all go away. Make it stop, make it stop...

Seth gave me a comforting squeeze but it didn't help. I tried to think of something else, like penguins or llamas. Anything, I didn't care what I thought about, it could be underwear, as long as I wasn't thinking about what was actually happening to me right now.

Llamas, I thought urgently. Llamas are furry and they spit at you when they're mad. They're the joke of most middle school kids, they're tall...I think. You can see them at parks or zoos. They tend to try to steal your dad's hat at the zoo. They can be black, brown, and white. I don't think there are pink or purple or green llamas out there unless you dye them. I saw a llama once when I was, six at the zoo, and it stole Dad's hat. They had to send a park ranger to get it back because Dad really liked that hat...

A bone-shaking bang scattered my thoughts. Pain shot through my side. We rolled over and I fell on top of Seth and then we both landed on Jason. Emily landed on us and we all tumbled onto hard ground.

I didn't move. Instead I stared at the sky trying to understand how I wasn't dead. I just was hurting all over and my back felt like I was run over by a car.

I sat up and my back cried out in protest. I pushed myself into sitting position and crawled over to Seth. He had his arms behind his head and was staring at the sky. He smiled at me when he saw me.

"You okay? You freaked out before," he asked, his voice full of concern.

I nodded and answered shakily, "You know that I hate falling. You must have been scared too."

He hesitated. "Yes, I was, but I think I was more concerned that you would wake the dead with your screams and they would attack us too."

I smacked him lightly on the arm and laid down next to him. I stared at the sky. "So where are we?"

"Well, our winged friend managed to get us out of the woods and near the mountains. You can see them over there." He pointed off in the distance and I spotted the mountains towering above everything else.

"That's good, at least all of this wasn't for nothing."

He sighed and closed his eyes. "Yes, I didn't lose my hearing for nothing, because I had to listen to you scream."

"Are you ever going to drop that?" I asked.

Seth smirked. "Nope, it's going to haunt you for the rest of your life." He made ghost sounds.

"Wait," I said suddenly, "weren't you going to tell Emily and Jason about you-know-what?"

"What?" Seth asked lazily and plucked at the grass.

I sat up and glared at him. "What do you mean, 'what'? You said you were going to tell them! I'm going to tell them if you aren't." I stood up, but Seth was faster. He grabbed my arm. I stood there and stared at him.

"Please Jazell, let me tell them myself," he begged. I waited for him to let go, but his grip stayed firm and strong.

I stared at him. "Fine but I'm tired of waiting, Seth."

"I know, I promise I'll tell them," He stood up, his grip still tight. "I just don't think now is the right time. After something like falling out of the sky, I don't want to bring more bad news."

I sighed. "Alright, I'll leave this to you. But I swear..."

"I will, I promise you!" he interrupted me.

"I believe you, Seth," I whispered. "Now are you good and clear?"

Seth stared at me, looked down at my arm and let go. He brushed his dirty hair away from his eyes and looked around. I blinked and shook my head.

"Jazell! Seth!"

I turned around and waved. Emily was running over with Jason on her heels. She slowed down and hugged me tight. Jason slapped Seth on the back and bent over to catch his breath.

"Hey, where were you guys?" I asked.

"We were looking around to see if it was safe," Emily said. "We thought you two were doing the same." She put her hands on her hips. "I guess not."

"Are you going to get mad at me?" I pouted.

She play punched me in the arm. "No, I'll let it slide." She winked at me.

I looked over at Seth, trying to catch his eye but he avoided my gaze. Jason started talking to Seth and the two whispered so we couldn't hear. Emily rolled her eyes.

"So did you find anything?" I asked and traced the dirt with my foot.

Emily shook her head. "Nothing, we're alone. Maybe we can try to get somewhere without bad guys jumping out at us."

"We should move, before something does find us. Whatever knocked us out of the sky isn't going to be friendly if they find us again," I pointed out. "Let's move boys, we have a lot more walking to do."

Jason groaned. "Why can't they have cars in Igneeria? Or maybe a motorcycle, I'm even fine with a golf cart."

"Because," I said and walked past him, not looking back, "Igneerians aren't lazy Jason's."

I heard him huff and Emily ran up beside me. "Good thinking," she said. "The girls should take control."

I shrugged. "I guess if that's what you want to do."

Thankfully, there were no trees anywhere except one. The ground was mostly dirt and rock, easier to walk on. The mountains loomed ahead of us and something tingled down my spine. Something was going to happen in those mountains, I just knew.

The sky was clearer here and also more windy. The wind tugged at my hair and clothes as I walked. I had to keep squinting to see through my hair. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I looked over. Emily held her hand out.

"Here Jazell, use this to keep your hair out of your face," she opened her hand and dropped something in my palm.

I held it up. It was a thin, vine that was about a foot long. It felt like a ribbon to me and I shrugged. I don't usually wear ribbons and bows; that was Emily's style. I pulled my hair back and tied the vine. It kept my hair out of my face and acted like a rubber band.

"Thanks Emily," I said.

She finished tying her hair back. "No problem. We should look for somewhere to stay for the night."

I looked around, but everywhere was bare ground, hill after hill. "I don't see any caves."

"We'll just have to sleep in the open," she stated and pointed to a huge tree. "We'll sleep under that tree."

"Okay," I said, a little disappointed. "Seth, Jason, we're going to sleep over here."

Jason sighed in relief and we all gathered around the bottom of the tree. I stretched and leaned against the trunk of the tree, happy for the silence. But, of course, that never lasts around here.

"Hey, didn't we stop the water war?" Emily asked. "We never got to finish it and see who would win."

Jason laughed. "Yes, we did, that's right! It doesn't matter though; Seth and I would have won anyway."

"No," she said, staring him down. "We would win because we're awesome."

"No we would win because we're awesome!" Jason argued.

"Oh boy, what did the two start?" I asked Seth. "This is going to go on and on and on and on..."

"I get it," he interrupted me. "This is never going to end. We'll be up all night."

"Unless you interrupt them and tell them about your secret," I said.

Seth looked down. "You want them to kill me? Maybe I'll tell them in the morning when they aren't so crabby."

"You better," I snapped and stared at Emily and Jason. They were still bickering.

I felt something on my hand and I looked down. Seth had wound his fingers in mine. His touch was gentle and cool, kind of reassuring. My mind blanked. I was holding hands with Seth. I never thought that would happen.

Seth smiled sheepishly. "Jazell, you should just relax. Let them bicker all they want; we don't have to be a part of it. Get some sleep."

My mind was still slow, trying to process why he was holding my hand. I blinked and nodded. "Alright but if it starts getting crazy, wake me up."

"Wake you up?" he asked and laughed. "I'm sleeping too. If it gets crazy, they'll wake us up."

"Okay," I said and yawned.

I leaned my head against the tree and closed my eyes. The world seemed to fade around me, along with the bickering and Seth's hand, as I fell asleep.

I opened my eyes to see that I was in a cave. I peered at the entrance of the cave to see that outside it was dark. I walked toward the entrance when something stopped me.

"Don't go into the shadows, Jazell," a familiar voice said.

It was the voice from my last dream.

I whirled around in a circle, looking for the source of the voice. There was nothing here.

"Who are you?" I asked, trying to calm down. "Can I trust you?"

"Trust me like your shadow," the voice said again.

"But you said to beware of shadows," I said. "So does that mean I can't trust you?"

"You know your shadow, there is a difference," the voice said again.

I shook my head. "This is confusing, why don't you understand that?"

There was a pause. "I do understand; I hated it too. All the annoying riddles but that's the way it's supposed to be." Then the voice said stronger, "Look behind you."

I turned back around to see the inside of the cave. A girl was walking towards me, the same one I saw last time. She didn't like it because I was staring at her, but I couldn't help it. She stopped in front of me.

"You're not supposed to see me yet," she said and sighed. "Oh well, I never was one to follow the rules."

"Who are you?"

She shook her head. "I can't tell you yet. That's one rule I'm not going to break." I opened my mouth but she shook her head. "Don't ask what my name is or why I'm talking to you, because I can't answer either of those questions."

"What can you tell me then?"

"I can tell you that I'm not an enemy," she said. "I can also tell you to be careful about Kojas; he's tricky and will use your emotions against you. He'll find a way to get you to come to him instead of him coming to you." She huffed, "Coward."

"How do you know?"

She smiled sadly. "Let's just say I know what I'm talking about. Be careful and keep your friends close. The four of you were chosen because of your unbreakable bond, but even that can be broken. You are strongest when you are together, so don't let yourselves be separated."

"Wouldn't it be called 'an breakable bond', then?" I asked her.

She laughed but then grew serious. "Be very careful. We all know that we picked the right four, but it would be a shame if something happened to all of you before you could complete your goal."

That got my attention. "You know how we became half-lings? You know who attacked us that day?"

"I've said too much already," she said and backed up. "I must go."

"Wait!" I called. "Wait; tell me what's going on! Tell me what we're supposed to do!"

But she was already gone.

***

I opened my eyes and the cold of the morning bit at my cheeks. Seth was fast asleep next to me, his blue hair covering half his face. Emily was curled up a few feet away from me. Jason turned in his sleep, mumbling something unintelligent. I needed to talk to someone, but everyone was sleeping.

I pushed Seth over and his eyes flew open. His hand went to his sword but he saw me and he relaxed. "What was the point of pushing me over, Jazell?"

"Well, it seemed better than punching you in the side. Were you dreaming?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Just a bunch of nonsense I don't even remember. Why, did you get another vision?"

"Yes," I said. "It was with the same voice that was in my last dream. Only this time, I talked to the ghost girl."

"You did? What did she say?"

"She hinted that she knew who made us this way and who attacked us that day," I said. "She also said that Kojas would use our emotions against us and try to get us to come to him."

Something dark crossed Seth's face.

"She also said that we were chosen because of our strong bond, but she said, not to test it," I continued. "She also told me not to go into the shadows."

Seth stretched. "So the usual confusion?"

"I got more this time, Seth. Anyway, do you have any information to offer here?" I asked with an edge to my voice.

Seth put his arms in surrender. "Hey, don't start yelling at me. We were getting a long pretty well last night, let's keep it that way."

I felt my face flush when I remembered last night. "Yes, you're right." I was eager to change the subject so I said, "Are you going to tell them when they wake up?"

"Yes I will, Jazell. I promised."

I sighed in relief. "Good..."

I heard a loud yawn and Emily stretched her arms in the air. She stood up and walked the couple of feet over to me and stopped. I pushed myself up and leaned against the tree. Emily gave me a light smile.

"Good morning!" she said and twirled around. "Hello bare ground that has no forest!"

"You seem to be in a good mood today," I mused and watched her twirl.

She stopped and her face crinkled up in thought. "I think it's because I didn't wake up to be in a never-ending forest. Plus, last night Jason got so sick of arguing with me he just gave up. I think I won."

"Great," I said half-heartedly.

"That's only because I was too tired to keep arguing with you," Jason said and he sat down next to Seth. "If it was morning, it would have been different."

Emily sighed and shook her finger. "Excuses."

"Listen guys," Seth said, "I have something to tell you." He looked at me and I nodded.

Emily twirled her hair. "Hm? What is it Seth?"

"I've been hiding this from you for a long time," Seth began. "Only Jazell knew what it was because she found out that I was hiding something, and demanded to know what it was. So I told her, and ever since I did she's been bugging me to tell you too. But I didn't want to, I was afraid that I would get you worried about nothing. So far it hasn't turned out to be nothing. The incident with the faery guard showed that clearly." I walked over to him and sat at his other side. I gave him a smile. He smiled back and continued. "The faery could have easily stabbed me through the heart but he didn't because he wanted me alive; to give to Kojas."

Emily gasped and covered her face. "Why, what would he want with you?"

Seth closed his eyes. "He's saying that I'm going to be his key to success, in taking over Igneeria and Earth. He wants to use me, I don't know how yet. They're going to do whatever they can to bring me to him; I'm going to have to be extra careful. I don't know-"

"Seth," Jason interrupted him. Seth looked up at his best friend. "Seth," Jason repeated, "you aren't alone. Kojas isn't going to get a chance to use you because he's going to have to get through me first."

"And me," Emily added. "Don't count me out."

I stood up and faced Seth with Emily and Jason. "And he's going to have to get through me too."

Seth smiled and stood up. He sighed in relief. "Well, that's a load off."

"I don't know whether I should be mad at you for not telling us or be happy that we're all on the same page," Emily said thoughtfully. "But you better not keep anything else from us or Kojas won't be your problem." She winked at him and set off with Jason on her heels. I think they were going to start arguing about the water war.

"Great job Seth!" I said and hugged him.

His eyes seemed to widen in surprise but he didn't tell me to get off. I pulled away, blushed, and started to follow Emily's tracks. Seth followed behind me and there seemed to be a new spring to his step. I couldn't even keep the smile off my face. Everything seemed a lot better to me. At the top of the hill, Emily and Jason were waiting for us. A shadow formed behind them and I screamed for them to turn around.

"What the heck?" Seth shouted and pointed.

Oh snap.

Chapter 10

Emily and Jason dashed back to our sides as the shadow became a body. It was bigger than the dragon we had rode. It had the body of a huge cockroach but its tail was a giant stinger. Large, bat wings were holding it up in the air.

"What is it?" I asked. I turned to Emily and said, "Emily, you know anything about this creature?"

She looked pale. "It's saying, 'Kill half-lings, kill and eat.'"

"Well, you better tell it that it's going to have to starve this time because it's not going to be eating anything," Seth said confidently and held his sword out.

She shook her head. "There is no way that I'm going to say that."

"Jazell, can you see its weakness?" Seth called to me.

I squinted at the creature, and saw a dark circle under its belly. "It's under its belly, but you have to get by the stinger first. That might cause us a problem."

"No problem," Seth replied and swung his sword in an ark. "We'll just cut off the stinger."

"Seth it's not that simple..." I said but he ignored me. Ug, the nerve of that boy.

"Jason, try to hit its face," he instructed. "Emily, knock it off balance."

"Can I skip while I do it?" Emily asked.

He gritted his teeth. "Fine." He turned to me. "Jazell, you'll aim for the belly while we hold it off. If you can't get an arrow in before I can cut off the stinger, then I'll have to do it myself."

"Fine boss dude," I said with a snort.

Seth ducked and charged the creature, his sword held out behind him. Jason flicked some knives into his wrist and flung them at the creature. Some hit their mark, which was signaled by the creature roaring out in pain, others fell into the dirt. Emily danced close to it, spinning fire from her fingertips. The creature raised a leg and swatted at her but she just twirled away. The stinger narrowly missed Seth, and I saw him stumble back in surprise. He swung his sword at the stinger. It sliced through and the creature screeched so loud I was afraid everyone would hear it. The stinger fell on the ground and dark blood oozed from the cut.

"Now Jazell!" Seth yelled to me.

I notched an arrow and took aim at the thrashing belly. I pulled the string back and released it. The arrow whizzed through the air and sunk into the creature's belly. It shook and fell to the ground. Seth ran from underneath it right before it crushed him. He turned around and studied it.

Then there was a horrible sound, like ripping metal. The belly of the creature seemed to open up and winds picked up. Seth threw down his sword as the wind sucked at him. He tried to keep himself from being pulled in. I ran up to him with Emily and Jason right behind me. The winds were so powerful I started to slide toward the body, before I was even close enough. Seth's knuckles were white in the effort to hold himself down.

"Get back," he ordered. "Get back or we'll all-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence because his sword came loose and we all we're sucked into the black void of the creature.

***

I hit the ground so hard my breath was knocked out. I laid there, sucking in painful breaths and staring at the sky. There was something different about it, even though it was gloomy. There was more than gloom and sadness in the air this time, it was something cold, like death. I shivered because the ground was so cold and hard that it chilled me to the bone.

Seth's head blocked out my vision. "Hey, you alright?"

I sat up and Seth helped me up. I rubbed my sore back and looked around, taking in the dead looking trees and shadows. "Where are we?"

"I don't know, Jazell. The creature must have been a setup to bring us here," he replied. "I think I know who did it."

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out, Seth," I pointed out. I looked around. "Where are the others?"

Seth went pale. "I don't know Jazell, they aren't here. They're just gone."

My stomach twisted into a knot. We had always been a group of four and now it was just the two of us. The ghost girl's words came back to me. The four of you were chosen because of your unbreakable bond, but even that can be broken. You are strongest when you are together, but don't let yourselves be separated.

Kojas had separated us because he already knew that. The girl had warned us for a reason. She had known that Kojas was going to try to split us up into groups so that we would be weak. I watched Seth pace back and forth, nervously running his fingers through his hair and drumming the hilt of his sword.

I can also tell you to be careful about Kojas; he's tricky and will use your emotions against you. He'll find a way to get you to come to him instead of him coming to you.

The girl had told us more than we had thought. Maybe Kojas thought we would both imagine that he did something to the other two so that we would come running to him. I had a feeling that Emily and Jason were okay and just as confused as us.

That also meant that Kojas knew as much, and maybe more than us.

***

Emily pushed herself into sitting position, ignoring the sharp pains in her elbows and knees. Jason was leaning against a tree nearby, tossing a knife from hand to hand. She saw a deep, red scratch on his left cheek and the way he winced every time he moved his right arm, she could tell she must have injured it.

"Do you know where the others are?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "No, they're just gone."

"We're separated?" she said nervously.

"Yes," he replied. "What do we do?"

"Why are you asking me?" she demanded.

"You're the one who comes up with plans."

Emily paced back and forth, trying to think. Where were Seth and Jazell? Were they okay? More importantly, where were they?

"I don't know," she said finally. "I just don't know."

"Oh no," Jason said nervously. "When Emily doesn't know, the world ends. Do you wish now that you were at home, curled up with a book?"

"Yes."

***

"Seth," I said, "calm down and think. We can't stay here forever, and pace."Seth didn't stop and he started mumbling under his breath. I walked up and pushed him around. "Seth, you have to think. Kojas did this on purpose, he's trying to weaken us by splitting us up. He wants us to go running to him."

"I know what he's trying to do, it's driving me crazy. The nerve of this guy."

"Faery," I corrected him. "He's not a 'guy', he's some demon faery. Calling him 'guy' makes it sound like he's just a normal human."

"Does it matter right now?" he asked, through clenched teeth.

I looked away. "I guess not."

"We should move," he said. "I want to find out where we are and where the others are. We're going to find them and I swear by the Bible, if Kojas hurt them, I'm going to kill him myself."

"Seth!"

He shrugged. "It's too late now Jazell, I just swore by the Bible. Kojas means business and if he wants this to be a war, I'll give him a war." Then he stormed into the trees and disappeared.

"Wait, Seth!" I yelled and ran into the trees. I scanned the trees. "Seth! Seth where the-"

A hand clamped down on my mouth and I spun around, knife in hand. Seth dropped his hand and pushed past me. "Stop yelling my name, Jazell, or you'll tell the whole world that I'm here."

My arm dropped and I slid the knife back in its sheath. I followed Seth through the trees. This time there were less of them and the only ones that around us looked half dead. The bark was peeling off and I could see the tree branches leaning towards the ground. The air was cold and heavy, like a mound of snow on your shoulders. The trees parted to show a cliff. We walked up to the edge and the wind whipped at my face. A feeling of déjà vu came upon me. I knew where we were because I had been here before.

"Seth, I was here in my dream, the one with Kojas and the dwarf," I said.

His eyes widened and he looked down at the ground below, obviously trying to imagine what it had looked like. I had seen it and I was seriously scarred for my life.

"You sure?" he asked. "You know that this means that Kojas was here, so he can't be too far away."

"Don't get your hopes up. I saw him once and I have no intention of being near him anytime soon."

He sat on the edge, the wind tossing around his hair. It was going to be seriously wind-blown later. I sat down next to him and I was trying to forget the dwarf's mangled body. I shook and hugged myself.

"Are you cold?" he asked, his voice full of concern.

I just shrugged and squeezed my eyes shut. I saw Kojas' glowing eyes and sword, the dwarf, his armies, the ghost girl, the dark woods and her haunting voice. It all crashed down on me, the weight of the whole situation. We were being hunted, I could die. Oh boy, this is what happen when I think things out.

"You are cold," he stated. "Don't deny it; you're shaking like a leaf. Wait I don't like that analogy, you're shaking like a mole rat."

"Do mole rats shake?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. We sat there in silence and I leaned on his shoulder. We both stopped shivering as we stared at the sky.

"Seth, I'm scared," I whispered. "What happens if something goes wrong?"

"Nothing will go wrong," he said fiercely. "I won't let it happen."

I closed my eyes. "I keep seeing what happened that night."

"It'll go away," he said. There was a long silence. "This is too awkward and I don't like the silence. It's not normal for us."

I laughed. "Someone make a joke quick!"

"Okay," he said. "This feels like those weird movies where the boy puts his arm around the girl and then something comes out of nowhere and eats them both."

I laughed so hard I gagged. "I've never seen that kind of movie."

"I did and it was lame."

I smiled and twirled a leaf in one of my hands. Maybe everything was going to be okay after all.

***

"Hurry up Jason, you're so slow!" Emily yelled at him.

Jason walked the rest of the way up the hill and bent over to catch his breath. "We've been walking all day and you're not tired?"

"Nope, I've got dancer muscles."

Jason sat on the ground. "Well, I have artist muscles and those are in my hands."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Then walk on your hands."

"No way!" he said.

"Fine, then don't complain." She climbed into a small tree that was near the cliff she had spotted. She leaned back and let out a sigh of relief. Her legs were killing her but she wasn't going to tell Jason that.

He got up and sat at the base of the tree. "You had to take the good tree?"

She motioned around. "There are plenty of trees to pick from Jason. So pick one."

He mumbled something and closed his eyes. Emily shook her head. He was too stubborn sometimes.

Emily stared at the sky and then she knew what he had said. She looked down to say something but Jason was fast asleep.

He had said he wasn't going to leave her alone.

***

"Jazell, maybe we should try to go down there," Seth said and nodded to the ground below.

I shrugged. "Why?"

"It might lead up somewhere. Plus, if Jason and Emily see it too, they might go down. It'll be easier to find each other."

"Okay," I said and stood up. I brushed the dirt off my pants and followed Seth, who was walking off to the side.

He went down to the left of the ledge and followed a steep path. I walked behind him and had to dig my heels in to avoid from slipping down. The path ended and Seth had to jump down to reach the bottom. He landed gracefully but almost tripped. I walked up to the edge of the path and jumped off. I flung my arms out to steady myself. Seth grinned at my clumsiness and waited for me to walk up to him. I wacked his head with the back of my hand, making his hair stick up. He smoothed it down and we walked across the flat ground.

The ground had spots of grass sticking out of sand and rock. Luckily, there was no wind down here to toss up the sand and dirt. I think I passed the spot where the Kojas had stood in my dream. I threw the thoughts out of my head and tried to think of something else. Like, where this flat plain of flatness ended.

"Where are we going, anyway?" I asked and stared at the sky. It was going to get dark soon.

He looked up at me through his hair. I could see the curved end of his lip, which met he was smiling. "Do we ever know, Jazell?"

"Good point."

***

Emily couldn't sleep. She kept closing her eyes but it didn't seem like a time to sleep. She wanted to do something, just to occupy her busy mind. She watched a strange creature fly over to her tree and hook itself on a branch near her. It looked like a butterfly with only one set of wings, which were transparent and seemed to glow. It had a tail and curled around the branch so it could rest its middle. Emily watched it and its beauty; she didn't think that something this pretty could be found in a place so dark and full of death.

"Hello," it said.

Emily propped herself up on her elbow. "Hi, what are you?"

"An augothas." it replied and fluttered its wings. "Are you a half-ling?"

"Yes, how did you know? Is it that obvious?"

The augothas seemed to cock its head. "Well you can't be a faery because you don't have the ears and you can't be a pixie because they're always giggling around. How can you understand me?"

Emily shrugged. "I don't know, it's this new power I have. My friend has one too."

"That sounds like the other one."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

The augothas uncurled its tail and took off in the air. "I must go, friend. Good luck." It took off into the sky and Emily couldn't see it anymore.

She sighed and leaned back. This was getting too complicated.

Who had the augothas meant?

***

The sky had turned gray and the sun, which was still hiding behind the clouds, seemed to drop. I was still walking and walking and walking and walking and walking...

You get my point.

I was so sick of walking I couldn't explain it in words. Maybe in a song, here I go:

Lalalala!

So sick of walking!

Lalalala!

My legs are gonna come off!

Lalalala!

I want a golf cart!

That's how much I was sick of walking; I was making a freaking song up in my head. I never do stuff like that, never. But I guess my mind was tired of seeing the same thing over and over again. I wish it would get interesting.

Oh, it was going to get really interesting.

The ground rumbled and we both stopped dead. I looked at the earth and cracks appeared. Then dirt started to cave in. I screeched as the ground gave way under me.

Can my life get any worse?

***

"Emily," Jason said, "I heard something."

Emily's head jerked up and then she remembered that Jason was below her and she looked down. Jason was staring at the plains below the edge. Emily climbed down the tree and ran over to him. She could see a puff of dirt that was tossed up in the distance.

Emily squinted her eyes. "What is it?"

"I don't know," he said. "Should we head out there?"

"I think we should," she replied. "We have nowhere else to go."

Chapter 11

"Jazell!" Seth yelled, but his voice was muffled by the dirt flying everywhere.

I grabbed at something, anything, but there was no hold. "Seth, where are you?"

I thought that he said something but, I couldn't hear him. All I could hear was the blood pounding in my ear and my racing heartbeat. Dirt fell into my mouth and I coughed, trying to get rid of it. My vision was closing, getting dark.

I'm tired...

I closed my eyes as I fell into darkness.

***

Seth opened his eyes and curled up, retching. He took in deep, shaky breaths and laid back, staring up. He narrowed his eyes and saw a small spot of light. What the heck? He was underground, in a cave.

He groaned and sat up, his back throbbing. His head was pounding so hard he had to close his eyes to keep from passing out. He felt worse than he did when the stupid faery smashed his sword into his head. He looked around the dimly lit cavern and spotted Jazell, sprawled out on the floor. He crawled over to her.

***

I couched and gagged, turning over. Dirt fell to the ground from my dry mouth. I looked over to see Seth fall back on the ground, breathing heavily. I looked around the room and up at the sky, but I couldn't really see it.

"Seth, where are we?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

He sat up. "I think we're in some underground cave. When the ground collapsed, it must have carried us here."

"That stinks," I said. "Are we stuck here?"

"Not unless you know a way to grow wings with nothing but dirt."

I stood up and tried to rake the dirt out of my hair. "We're stuck here."

Seth sighed in frustration and brushed his blue hair. He fluffed it up but the dirt was still stuck in globs. I rolled my eyes at his attempts.

I turned around to see an entrance. I walked over and bent down. There seemed to be some kind of sign or symbol. It was two circles with a sword through the center of both.

"Seth, look!" I said and pointed to it. He came over and bent down, tracing the sign with his finger. I waited and finally said, "Well, do you know what it is?"

Seth dropped his finger. "It means, 'slayer of worlds'. Does that ring a bell?"

"How do you know that?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know how, I just do. Maybe that's my power."

"Well, I want to go this way," I said and pointed to the entrance. "If something like that is on the entrance, I want to know where this goes."

"I agree but aren't we supposed to be trying to find Emily and Jason?"

"I have an idea," I said and pulled my bow off my back. I removed one of my arrows and put my bow on the ground. I walked over to Seth and pulled his sword out of its sheath. He grabbed for it but I already had it in my hands. I put the tip against the arrow and carved the same sign as the one on the wall. Then I tossed Seth's sword back at him, which he caught without a problem, and picked up my bow. I notched the carved arrow and released it. It whizzed up and out of sight. "There, now they'll know how to find us."

Seth whistled. "That's a good idea." He gripped his sword and walked through the tunnel. "Follow me."

I followed his steps as we. "When you tell someone to follow you, it usually means that you know where you're going."

"Not this time," he said over his shoulder.

The tunnel ended and opened up to the sky. For a second I thought we were back on the plain, but we weren't. The sky was blood red and a crescent moon was rising up. From the feeling of the air I knew we weren't underground anymore but I didn't know where we were. Skeleton trees were scattered to the sides. There were long hills ahead, the grass a light gray.

"This place looks like it's from a book about hell," Seth said.

"Where are we now?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Do we ever know where we are?" I shook my head and he sighed. "Exactly, we never do. You really got to stop asking that question." He started to hike the hill. "We're trying to find out."

I walked up behind him, my leg muscles cramping. When we got to the top, I fell on my knees and breathed heavily.

Seth looked over his shoulder, his eyes twinkling in amusement. "Am I too fast for you, Jazell?"

"No way," I huffed. "I just need to catch my breath." I stood up and looked around. The hill was pretty high and I could see better. The land was hill after hill, tree after tree. It didn't seem to end.

"Hey, I'm king of the hill," Seth joked and reached for the sky.

I walked over and pushed him gently. He fell backward on his butt and I laughed. "More like goof of the hill."

He stuck his tongue out. "You're just jealous."

"Of what?" I asked. "What do you have that would make me jealous."

"Uh..." he stumbled. "I don't know, that's what you usually say in this type of situation."

I laughed. "Then what happens?"

"I don't know."

Seth whipped out his leg and tripped me. I landed with an oof, and got dead grass all over me. He chuckled as I gave him a deadly glare.

"Oh!" He said. "You're jealous because I'm not covered in grass."

"Not yet," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

I lunged at him and he rolled to the side. I kicked dirt at his face and he spit it out. I kicked at his legs but he moved, and I kicked his arm instead. The whole time we were laughing like two crazy six year olds. Who knew that you could have fun in a place like this?

Life is full of happy surprises.

***

Emily was seriously freaking out.

Jason and her had run the whole length of the plain and found a giant hole in the ground on the way. Yes, a giant hole. It sounded crazy to Emily but her eyes didn't lie.

And what made it worse was Jason found one of Jazell's arrows sticking out of the ground. But there was no Jazell. An arrow without its shooter was never a good sign.

Emily twirled the arrow in her fingers while Jason paced back and forth. Emily had offered to be the one who paced but Jason had waved away her offer and started pacing. So all Emily could do was sit there and twirl the arrow in fear because right now it wasn't looking good for Jazell and Seth.

"What I don't get," Jason said, "is how the arrow managed to stay in perfect shape when the ground collapsed. The arrow should be broken and not sticking out of the ground a few feet away."

"Maybe she shot it after," Emily suggested, because that meant that she was alive.

Jason rubbed his eyes. "I guess that's a possibility. Jazell and Seth were always too stubborn to die anyway." He stopped pacing. "But why would she shoot it up here?"

"Maybe she wanted to show us that she was alive," Emily said.

"A sign," Jason muttered and snapped his fingers. "That's it! Jazell likes to leave clues, check the arrow."

Emily turned the arrow and saw a sloppy line drawn through two squiggly circles. She squinted closer and saw that Jazell had tried to make the line some sort of sword but epically failed.

Emily showed Jason and he nodded. "That's what I thought. Now we have to figure out what it means."

Emily walked up to the edge of the hole and looked down. "I have a feeling that we have to go down there."

Jason sighed. "I guess we're jumping down."

"Why would we do that?"

"Because," he said and sat on the side, "we don't have a rope."

Then he jumped.

***

Life is good when you don't have to worry about anything and everything is calm and peaceful.

Well that's not my life.

My life isn't peaceful by any standards. It involves lots of smart remarks and bad decisions involving life or death. It also involves a bad choice of a place where you roll around pretending like your life could be normal for a second.

Yeah...

Seth sat up quickly and looked around. He must have heard it too. The ground rumbled in the distance and I didn't know if it was an earthquake or a stampede of elephants.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Seth crawled back to the edge and I joined him. We peered over and I spotted a bunch of monsters stomping their way across the hills. Seriously, do these guys know how to walk?

"Great," Seth hissed under his breath. "Company for us."

"Whoo..." I mumbled.

He rolled his eyes and shifted his gaze back to the monsters. "Where are they going?"

"Uh, we follow them," I said. "I think."

"Yup, we just follow a bunch of monsters that would like to smash us to pulp and serve us for dinner," Seth said and started to slide down the side of the hill. "Brilliant idea."

I followed him down, feeling the grass and dirt scrape the bottom of my leg. My pants started to scrunch up causing this slide to be very annoying. I decided to ignore it because I had my bow in my hands and had more important things to worry about.

We crouched behind a rock and watched the group walk off. Seth started to stand up and signaled me to wait for him. He jumped over and ran out into the open. He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes, probably trying to see the disappearing bunch. He held his hand out, signaling me to wait. Then he beckoned me and I stood up. Then someone tapped me on the shoulder.

I bit back a scream and whipped out my knife. But I dropped it in surprise as I spotted Emily standing over me, rocking back and forth on her heels.

I squealed and hugged her tight. Jason was limping over with a grim expression on his face.

"What I don't get a hug too?" he asked. "I jumped down a deep hole for you."

"Uh..." I said, feeling awkward.

Seth walked over and patted Jason on his back. "Tell you what, when we defeat Kojas, I'll give you a hug."

"Uh, fine dude," Jason said and whispered in Seth's ear. Seth's eyes widened and he smacked Jason on the head.

"Dude, you're crazy," he said as Jason rubbed and smoothed his hair back down.

I shook my head and said, "Anyway, Emily how come you two didn't destroy each other?"

"Hey you're right," she replied and her brow furrowed. "I really don't know."

"Jazell, we better move or we'll lose them," Seth reminded me and started to walk up the hill.

Emily raised an eyebrow. "Loose who?"

"We'll explain later!" I said and ran after Seth. "Right now we have to move!"

We dashed up the hill in the direction the monsters were going. When we reached the top, Seth stopped and stared down. Emily and Jason looked confused but joined us. We looked down at the ground and I gasped as I saw all the monsters gather around in a semi-circle, waiting.

"What are they waiting for?" Emily asked in a hushed voice.

Seth squinted down. "I don't want to know."

"Do you think it could...?" I asked.

"Let's hope not," Seth interrupted me.

Oh course; being ourselves, we don't have any luck at all.

The sky darkened even more, not that I thought that was possible. The mist swirled and a cold chill that ran shivers down my spine ascended on us. And out of the mist stepped a dark figure.

Kojas.

Again.

This time for real.

Not in a dream/vision.

My heart stopped and my blood froze. Kojas' red eyes gleamed in the darkness and his cloak snapped at the wind. He looked up and his red eyes stared at me. Me of all people in this horrible world.

He smiled in triumph.

Seth stared stone faced at Kojas as he slowly walked towards us. With every step, Seth's hand inched closer to his sword.

Emily cracked her knuckles quietly and held them stiff at her sides. Her face was determined, but I saw her eyes flicker.

Jason flicked out his knives and held them so tightly that his knuckles were white. If he gripped any harder, I was afraid he would snap his fingers off.

And, me? I pulled an arrow out faster than you could say oh-my-god-there's-a-hideous-monster-coming-to-whip-our-butts. And then I launched it.

The arrow shot at Kojas, speeding through the air. But what did Kojas do? He whipped out his sword and slashed the arrow in half right before it hit him. The pieces fell on the ground.

Holy tamale.

I stared at the cracked pieces of my arrow and my flare of determination went out with a poof. Great, now what do I do?

That was a fail, I scolded myself. A FAIL!

"Nice try," Seth whispered and I think he really meant it. Or maybe he was teasing me. It's hard to tell in these situations.

Seth brandished his sword. "My turn."

"Really, warrior?" Kojas said and laughed. His laugh was like a bunch of spiders running down my back. "You think your sword will do any more than the pathetic archer girl's arrow?"

"Hey," I shouted, "I'm not a pathetic archer girl!"

Oh course, the two ignored me. I swear the air sizzled with the tension between Kojas and Seth. Seth stood ridged and I was pretty sure that it was taking all of his will power not to jump at Kojas, sword flying.

"I believe it will," Seth said through gritted teeth.

Kojas laughed again but I don't think any of us saw what was so funny. Emily leaned towards me. "I think you were right, when you said that I wouldn't want to meet Kojas."

"Uh-huh," I said but didn't really pay attention.

"I would like to see you try with that sword of yours," Kojas said and smiled wickedly at Seth. I knew he was baiting him.

Seth narrowed his eyes. "You can't trick me into fighting you, Kojas."

"Yeah, we're not stupid," I said and stepped next to Seth with my hands on my hips. "I mean, if you're so smart, than why is your name so stupid." I giggled. "Kojas sounds like toe jazz, whatever that is."

I heard Emily laugh and Jason say, "Burn!"

Kojas' eyes flamed but he formed a tight smile. "Let me inform you, Jazell, that you are outnumbered five to one?"

Man, this guy is good.

"Um, well we...are cooler than you," I stumbled.

"Really Jazell?" Emily hissed from behind me.

I turned my head to her. "Well, you come up with something to top that and we'll see how well you do."

"Nah, I'm good," she said quickly.

Kojas laughed again. Seriously, was this faery guy crazy or something? "You are mistaken," he said. "I am cooler than you because I hold all the cards." Then he turned to the army and yelled, "Attack!"

Chapter 12

The monsters surged up the hill, blocking out Kojas' delirious laughter. Seth shouted, "Stay together, don't get separated!"

A troll charged at me and I jumped to the side. I looked up and saw that Emily, Jason, and Seth had been swallowed by the rushing creatures.

So much for that plan.

"Emily!" I yelled but my voice was drowned out. I saw a flash of fire off to the side. Emily was fine.

I twisted around so that the troll charged past me. I turned and plunged my knife into its back before it could respond and it fell to the ground. I felt pain flare in my right foot and looked down to see a frost beast with its teeth in my leg. When I tried to pull away, in bit down harder.

"Ow," I yelped. "Ow,ow,ow, get the heck off me!"

I slashed downward and the frost beast let go of my leg. It zipped between my legs and launched itself at my left leg. I stepped to the side and slammed my foot on the beast's back. It yipped and went still.

I raced through the crowds, jumping and ducking. I looked over my shoulder and up the hill, wishing I could escape all the bodies that were pressed together in combat. Then I rammed into one.

"What the heck?"

I fell on my butt and blinked as Jason picked himself off the ground. "Sorry," I said and stood up.

"Watch where you're going... Jazell, look out!" Jason suddenly yelled.

I dove onto the ground and felt the monster brush past me. I looked up to see Jason rolling on the ground before jumping on the faery jerk's back. He yelled at Jason right before I saw the knife disappear somewhere in his neck. The faery's yells turned to screams and then nothing. He fell to the ground and Jason brushed himself off.

"You okay, Jazell?" he asked me and held out a hand.

I took his hand and he pulled me up. "Yup, I'm just peachy."

"At least you can use sarcasm in a time like this," he said and started to fight his way through the crowd. I followed him quickly. I had no desire to become separated again.

"When can't you use sarcasm?" I asked loudly.

He didn't reply to me because he had spotted Emily. She was slowly backing up with her palms out. Fire danced from her fingertips and twisted towards the troll and frost beast. The beast breathed and ice sprayed from its mouth. Emily moved her hand over and the ice evaporated into mist. She was holding up fine but I didn't know how much longer.

I strung my bow and released an arrow. It pierced the frost beast's pelt and it fell to the ground. Emily turned to me with huge, confused eyes. She mouthed the words, thank you.

I nodded in response. Jason threw his knife at the troll and it landed in its leg. The troll collapsed on the ground and Emily raised her hands in the air. The ground rumbled and the troll disappeared in the dirt.

I ran over to her and hugged her. "Thank goodness we found you." I looked at her pale face and frowned. "Are you okay?"

She nodded vigorously. "Yes, it's just hard work to use my magic. I need a lot of concentration."

We all ducked behind a half-dead tree to escape from the swarms of monsters. We were breathing heavily. I leaned my head against the tree's cold bark, wanting to disappear from it all.

"Where's Seth?" Emily asked.

I raised my head. "We haven't found him yet."

Her eyes widened. "What do you mean, you haven't found him yet?"

"I crashed into Jazell, who was doing, like, forty," Jason pointed to me. "Then we both found you fighting beasts with your fiery fingertips of death."

She raised an eyebrow. "Fiery fingertips of death?"

"Hey," he shrugged, "Jazell's sarcasm is contagious."

"Anyway, we better find Seth before he gets into some serious trouble," I said, and walked off.

I went farther down the hill and the fighting spread out more. I tripped on a dead root and cursed as I stood back up. The slope started to even out more and the trees popped up again.

Be careful.

I stopped. The voice had come out of nowhere.

The time is near. The voice whispered as faintly as the breeze.

What, I thought, was that?

You must stop it.

I gritted my teeth in annoyance. I'm sick and tired of your riddles, whoever you are. Just give me a straight answer or I can't do anything.

It all comes down to this.

What is coming? I cried out in frustration.

It didn't reply to me again, so I continued to walk down the hill. What did I have to stop? What was so important? Why wasn't I allowed a straight answer in this stupid world?

I heard a faint clang ahead. I walked faster and with ever step the noise got louder. When the ground became completely flat, I stopped at the scene in front of me.

Seth spun around, bringing his sword up to block Kojas' swords. Kojas pulled his swords back and slashed through the air. Seth ducked and stabbed at his opponents' middle. Kojas brought his sword down and swiped Seth's. It twisted out of Seth's grip and fell to the ground.

I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. I was frozen in fear. Seth dashed to his sword, hand out stretched. Then Kojas raised a hand and something dark shot out of it. It slammed into Seth's side and he fell to the ground.

NO! I wanted to scream. NO, Seth!

I saw Seth squirm as Kojas walked towards him. I heard him chuckle.

"Seth," Kojas said. "Seth, oh when will you learn?"

Seth groaned and grabbed at his sword, but Kojas kicked it away. Then he slashed his sword across Seth's face. I saw the thin blue line well up on his cheek.

Kojas laughed. "You can't beat me; you can never be safe."

Seth pushed himself up and dove for his sword, which was off to the side. Kojas flicked his sword down and I saw Seth flinch. He looked at his arm in amazement where a deep cut had sliced through his clothes. He pressed his fingers on his arm to stop the blood and continued to scoot towards the sword.

Kojas stepped to the side and blocked his path. Seth gazed up at him and I saw his eyes blaze in hate. "What do you want?" he snarled.

"Seth, I think you know what I want."

"Never!"

The faery chuckled and I saw his greasy hair bounce up and down. "You seriously think that I assumed you would walk away with me? Oh, I had no intention of it being this simple."

I knew what he meant, and I yanked my bow off. I pulled my arrow out and notched it, aiming it at Kojas' back.

"Jazell, wait!"

I didn't turn around as Emily and Jason skidded to a halt behind me. I didn't drop my bow either.

"Wait Jazell," she panted.

I tightened my grip. "Why? He's going to try to take Seth. We have to stop him."

Then I released my arrow.

It's an understatement to say all hell broke loose. In my opinion, it was way crazier than that. Kojas sidestepped my arrow and it disappeared somewhere in the trees. Emily raised her hands and roots twisted upward, trying to encase Kojas but he kept slashing them away. Jason attempted to distract him by running around throwing knives at him but I think Jason was too busy ducking the black stuff that shot out of Kojas' hands.

I ran right past all of them and towards Seth. I knelt down and smacked him across his good cheek.

"Ow, what was that for?" he grunted. "I don't have enough bruises for your liking?"

"That's for being a jerk and not telling us you were going to fight Kojas on your own," I said angrily.

"Hey in my defense, he found me first."

I opened my mouth to say something smart, but I hear Emily scream. I turned around to see Jason crash into a tree and not move. Seth jumped up and grabbed his sword from the ground. He ran for Kojas.

Kojas turned around and looked like a kid on Christmas morning. He raised his sword to block Seth's blow. Seth pulled back and parried Kojas' swing.

"Emily, is he okay?" I yelled.

She looked up and nodded to me. I turned back around to see Kojas slash Seth across the stomach.

That's when I screamed.

Seth fell to his knees, holding his midsection. His sword fell out of his grip and to the ground. Kojas grinned in triumph and kicked Seth to the ground. I screamed again, when he didn't move.

"At last," Kojas breathed.

"Monster!" I cried. "You're a monster!"

He didn't answer me. I looked up the hill to see a bunch of faery jerks running down the hill towards us. Emily stood in front of Jason and raised her hands. I notched an arrow and aimed.

Dust kicked up everywhere as I aimed blindly. I heard one of them shout out in pain. I shot another and another, anger burning through me.

Stop him.

I turned around and saw Seth's body through the dust. He looked up at me and mouthed, Jazell.

"Seth!" I yelled.

Then the dust and darkness swallowed him up until I couldn't see him at all.

Epilogue

I padded silently through the long, dark halls. Emily and Jason walked wordlessly by my side. No one spoke because there was nothing to say, and so much to say, at the same time.

It had been almost a day since Seth disappeared.

A day since Kojas took him.

I had told him, when he had first said that Kojas wanted to use him that he didn't have to worry. I should have known that Kojas would do anything to get him, and now Seth was gone.

After he had been taken and Jason had awakened, the faery jerks had scattered. Then a light pixie had showed up, the same one who had saved my life a while ago, and led us all the way to her majesty's place. She was apparently the queen but she was nothing like a stuck up royal leader. She was more like a warrior who lead Igneeria in the 'good times.'

She was really nice but when we had met her, I was in an awful mood. No one blamed me; I had just watched one of my best friends get beat up and taken right before my eyes.

Her Majesty said to return in the morning when I would hopefully be in a better mood. So Jason, Emily and I walked to her throne room. Emily pushed open the door and Queen Crystalla turned to us. She wasn't someone who you'd expect to be named Crystalla. She was more of the tough type.

"Jazell, Emily and Jason!" Crystalla beamed. "I'm so happy you can finally join us!"

Crystalla was dressed in a hunting jacket with a dark blue top underneath. She had dark green pants with simple brown boots. A gleaming sword was slung on her back. My heart ached because she somewhat resembled Seth. Man, I missed his stubbornness.

"Yup we're happy too," Emily said with a sigh.

"So, um, what did you need?" I asked.

She nodded. "Right, you must meet your destiny. It's a shame the other one couldn't be here right now." She looked upset but she wiped it away with a small smile. "Follow me, please."

We followed without any words. We went outside and past some light pixies that were milling around the very small garden. One waved to me and I raised my hand in greeting. Crystalla walked into a small, dark building and I followed.

It opened into a room with a high, glass ceiling. Ahead of us were four doors, each with a symbol I couldn't see from here.

Crystalla stopped and faced us. "Find the door with your symbol on it."

"Uh," Jason raised his hand sheepishly, "how do we know which symbol is ours?"

She smiled. "You will know." She motioned for us to move up to the doors.

I walked slowly and leaned forward to see the symbol. Amazingly, I walked right up to the one with an arrow on it. I looked to the left and saw a door with a sword on it. I sighed and pushed open my door.

The small room also had glass ceilings but they were dimmer. The room was dark and cold, with dust in the air.

"I was wondering when you would get here," a familiar voice said.

I jumped and looked into one of the corners. The girl from my dreams walked out, shimmering. She smiled and I then noticed the bow hanging on her back with a quiver of arrows.

"You know how you asked for my name before? I can tell you now," she said. "Actually, I can tell you a lot."

"Great, I'm all ears."

She laughed. "My name is June and like you, I was once a full human."

"You're a half-ling?" I asked in amazement.

"I was a half-ling.," June corrected me. "I'm dead now. But I can still speak to you because you have to complete the job I did before with my friends."

"Wow, back up a second," I said quickly. "You're dead?"

She tapped her foot impatiently. "Do you know how long ago I defeated Kojas? It must have been over one hundred years ago."

"Wow, that was a long time ago," I said. "You defeated Kojas?"

June sighed in frustration. "Did you pay any attention to anything? Mackenzie, David, Mark and I beat Kojas the first time he appeared. It wasn't easy; let me tell you that right now."

"How did you die?"

"Mark died of a wound after we beat Kojas. He was too weak to live. David and I died in an ambush of what was left of Kojas' army. Mackenzie died from a fatal fall, I don't remember how."

"Oh," I said and rubbed my neck. "I don't want to be rude, but do you need to tell me anything else? I have to try to come up with a few explanations for back home." A lot of explanations.

June walked towards me until she was standing right in front. I could almost see through her body, which was really starting to freak me out.

"You have to get back Seth," she whispered. "I know David was supposed to see him right now and I know he's disappointed. You can't beat Kojas without the four of you. You can't unleash the Night's Circle without all of you. And without the Night's Circle, you cannot destroy Kojas forever."

I started to shake with the intensity of it all. "If the Night's Circle destroys Kojas forever, why is he still here?"

June backed up a bit. "We think that our Night's Circle wasn't strong enough because Mark was seriously injured. But no problem, you guys have to destroy him now." She must have seen me shaking because she added, "No pressure."

"No pressure?" I practically squeaked. "You just put the fate of both worlds on my shoulders."

"No," she said, "I put the fate of both worlds on all four of your shoulders."

"Alright, is that all?" I asked, eager to leave.

June nodded and I turned to open the door. I was just about to turn the handle when she said, "Jazell, don't be scared to bring out your emotions. They make you stronger."

I looked over my shoulder to see June standing stiffly. "Thanks," I whispered. "Thanks June."

"Good luck, Jazell."

I opened the door and saw that Emily and Jason were also coming out of their rooms. Emily looked a little shaken but she gave me a thumbs-up.

Good luck, June's voice whispered one more time.

Yeah, I was going to need it. Big time.

Seth, I'm coming, I thought, and I meant it. Hold on.

Then I walked out to face my destiny.

Don't Miss Book Two in the Fall of Igneeria Series!

Fall of Igneeria: The Night's Circle

