I'm back, with the third and final story in Ember's life. By the way, if you haven't noticed yet, this trilogy now has a name. It's called the Treasure Hunter Trilogy. Hopefully, as the story goes on, you will be able to decifer what the treasure (or treasures) in this one is.
I'm going to start with some acknowledgements. First, I want to thank everyone who's read up to this point. I feel honored that you've liked my stories enough to read the trilogy in the making. Second, I have a lot of thank-yous to give to my good friend, Solaris Prime. Without his help, I don't think this would be possible, or at least it would have been much, much harder to do. Sol, your help in FTBM as well as in the planning for this story is greatly appreciated and I can't thank you enough for that.
Now, for those of you who loved Gale Hollow, he's going to be in this story, as well as a new character (also owned by Solaris Prime, who has given me permission to use her). Now, for the boring part.
Disclaimer: I don't own Treasure Planet or any of the characters. The basic plot (which hasn't evolved much past the basics) is the product of the minds of me, Solaris Prime and my co-author. Gale Hollow and Renee Firestone (now Renee Hollow) belong to Solaris Prime.
My eyes snapped open as I felt complete and utter terror coarse through my veins. Leaping out of bed, I ran down the hall to my young daughter's room. An ear-piercing shriek hit my ears and I burst through the door, my heart pounding. In my child's room, I saw two very muscular, rough-looking men: pirates. One had my daughter, kicking and screaming, in his arms and pure rage flowed through me. With a yell, I ran forward to attack the man holding her. She cried loudly and I felt the urge to kill this man. I kicked his arm, but his partner shoved me back into the wall. My husband, Jim Hawkins, ran into the room to see this scene play out. His eyes widened in shock and he launched an attack to save our daughter as well. He was thrown back just as I stood up again. The men were exiting through the broken window, my baby with them.
"Momma!" she screamed, her crystalline blue eyes filled with tears. I ran forward, but the man with his arms free pulled out a gun and shot me, hitting my right shoulder and sending me flying back.
"Siren!" I screamed as the men disappeared. Jim knelt beside me and applied pressure to my wound to stop the bleeding. He wrapped his other arm around me and held me tightly as I wept for our daughter.
I didn't sleep for the rest of that night. Instead, I sat in Siren's room, in the rocking chair in the corner, sobbing. The burning pain in my now bandaged right shoulder was nothing compared to the sharp, intense ache in my heart. By the time morning came, I'd run out of tears, but my body was still racked with sobs. Jim walked into the room and I was unable to look him in the eyes. Our daughter was gone and I'd been powerless to stop it. I cried out in anger and punched the wall, sending a fresh wave of pain through my shoulder.
"Ember, stop!" Jim yelled, running towards me and wrapping his arms around me. He led me out of our daughter's room and into the living room, sitting on the couch with me.
"She's gone," I whispered, my voice breaking.
"We'll get her back," he answered with the sure tone in his voice I'd so often used in the past.
The hours dragged on, but I refused to move from where I sat. Jim had draped a blanket over my shoulders and led the police around when they came. Only when they said something had been found did I move. I turned in my seat as Jim and a police robot entered the living room with a thin piece of metal. It was only about a foot in length, an inch wide and a centimeter thick. Jim pressed a button on the side, which dropped down a holographic screen. It was a ransom note.
"If you wish to see your precious child again, find the Stone of Knowledge and bring it to me on the planet Merkitan," Jim read the last sentence.
"Stone of Knowledge? What's that?" I asked.
"I don't know."
"We'll bring this in for further investigation. If we find anything, you will be notified," the police officer said, taking the note and leaving with the rest of his squad.
Not even an hour later, there was a knock on the front door. Jim glanced at me, noticing how I jumped slightly from the sound. Normally, I could sense when someone was at the house. Today, I felt nothing but my own grief. Jim opened the door to reveal a man and a woman. The man was someone I knew very well, having thick silver hair that reached the middle of his ear and blood-red eyes. He was my brother, Gale Hollow. Beside him was a beautiful young woman, appearing to be twenty or twenty-one, with long silver hair reaching her lower back, purple eyes and lightly tanned skin. She had a slim figured and wore a pair of black pants, matching boots and a navy blue tank top. The smile my brother wore quickly vanished when he saw the expression on Jim's face. He grew even more serious when he saw me. It was mid-day and my appearance was disheveled. My eyes probably had red rings around them, I could assume my skin was paler than usual, and was I sure my how shoulder-length brown hair was in serious need of brushing. Gale ran into the room, sitting beside me with one arm over my shoulders. I cringed slightly as his hand hit my wound.
"Ember, what happened?" Gale asked, clearly concerned.
He'd never seen me in such a state before. Tears began welling in my eyes once more I turned to cry into his chest. Gale wrapped one arm around my back while his other hand rested on the back of my head. He was probably throwing a questioning look at Jim.
"She's been kidnapped," Jim said quietly, bitterness lacing his voice. I could hear the young woman who'd come with Gale gasp.
"What?!" Gale demanded angrily. He'd come that day to visit Siren for the first time, and now that chance had been taken away from him. He pulled me away and looked me in the eyes. "Who took her?"
"I don't know. Two pirates," I answered. "I couldn't stop them."
"Ember's shoulder was hit when they shot at her," Jim added. Gale's eyes widened and I could feel the rage radiating from him. He cared deeply for his family and would do anything to protect them. I knew he was already trying to form a way to get Siren back.
"They want something called the Stone of Knowledge."
"The what?" Gale asked.
"The Stone of Knowledge," the young woman mumbled, causing Gale and me to look at her.
"Have you heard of it, Renee?" She nodded.
"I've only heard a few stories about it, though. It's said to be a key."
"A key?" Jim repeated. "To what?"
"Eternal Youth."
Yes, Eternal Youth is what the antagonist wants. As more is revealed in this story, though, you will find a few things that 'break the mold', so to speak, of certain aspects of many stories. You'll just have to wait and see what those are... unless you're Sol or Ashley... then you already know. lol.
Please R&R.