Defying Chaos

by MadMaudie

About a girl and the choices she has to make in life. It has a bunch of sci fi. in it the setting is placed on different planets. Lots of action. I tried to make it echo the life of me, my family and friends. The emotions are very real hope you enjoy.

Defying Chaos

Maude Triss Green- Loft

To all my friends who have helped me throughout the years.

I love you all.

To my new sister Amber who made it possible to continue living when I thought it wasn't

To my best friend Lakota, who has helped me through everything.

To my friend Logan who saw me from the inside and not the outside.

To my new friend Breigh who always puts a smile on my face even when it doesn't seem possible.

To Brandon he always makes me lift my chin up.

All of you will be in my heart forever.

Welcome to our adventure….

Introduction

Ok, let me explain something. My planet is named Athera. We are a nice, happy, peaceful planet with a deadly military system. The people on my planet are special, as in super human beings with powers. My name is Mari. I can control any type of water. I can also swim and not get wet. When I swim, I can also hold my breath for countless years, not that it matters since Atherian's don't need oxygen to live.

Lets go to Sagan. This planet is our neighbor and a bad one at that. They started the "war" around 10 years ago. Sagan is evil and are kind of like dictators who are obsessed with power. The inhabitants on Sagan consist of reptilian humanoids and super powered people like Atherian's. The only difference is that they use their powers for evil.

Another thing you must understand is that our "planets" are part of the human solar system, but we don't orbit the sun. We can make our planets move like in that Earth movie, Star Wars, the death star or whatever. On Earth Athera is also known as Neptune and Sagan as Jupiter. There are a bunch of other planets, but they don't come near us because of the war. To govern our race of planets we have the mother ship. She is huge and also known as the sun. The mother ship is known for keeping peace and so therefore she doesn't really like Sagan that much.

Anyways the Sagan's attacked us 10 years ago. I would also like to state that Atherian's and Sagan's don't age the same as earth people. For every year we age humans age two years. Anyways we were caught by surprise and didn't have enough time to fight back. So most of us abandoned Athera and migrated to Earth. Well I didn't go to earth on purpose I was actually abducted, but that's another story. Earth is conveniently in the middle of Sagan and Athera. A neutral point. For killing that is. Both Sagan's and Atherian's are now on Earth. Sagan's to find and imprison Atherian's. Atherian's to escape and create a resistance against Sagan. The sad part is that not all Atherian's escaped. 10-12 are still imprisoned on Sagan and I plan to help them. Oh and by the way I just found out that I'm the last remaining princess of Athera. The number one target for Sagan's to capture.

So I'm basically furious that my planet was over run and my people are being held hostage or hunted. So I decided to gather up my people on earth and go back to Sagan. That way I can kick their asses and be rid of them. The convenient thing is that all the people from Athera go to my school. They are all my friends so gathering them won't be that hard. This is how the rebellion started.

Chapter 1

The next day I decided to put my plan into action. I ran to school the way I always do. We have to go to school because Earth has odd rules, and if we don't, the cops will start coming around. Any sniffing cops would be like sending out an announcement to Sagan spies,

"Here we are! Come kill us." Gwen, my sister for all intensive purposes, was sitting on the steps drawing, big surprise. I went up and poked her. She let out a yell, fell off the steps and sat up rather slowly. I then had to stand through her tirade of insults and criticism. Once she had finished she took a deep breath and said,

" Hey sis, what's up?" I laughed and said,

" Yeah, so um I was kind of thinking that we could startaressistanceagainstsagan.

What?"

"Shush, do you want the whole planet knowing?" I said, and glanced around quickly ( you never know who's listening). She quieted and , said,

" Ok how are we goanna do this with two people? Even our powers combined aren't enough to make a dent in Sagan's defense."

"I know, but I'm talking about all of us." I said. She looked at me critically and finally agreed. I told her that her power of drawing things then giving them life was amazing.

" We can't do it without you Gwendolyn." I said, calling her by her full name. She turned and gave me hug .

" Where should I meet you?" I told her at my house around eight PM. We said bye as the bell rang for first period.

On my way to Algebra, my first class, I met up with my boyfriend Kieran. He has probably the most bizarre power of us all. He can control darkness. Like shadows and the absence of the sun kind of darkness. Kieran's power is interesting because it comes from Sagan. Actually Kieran comes from Sagan. Kieran won't talk about what happened that night , but I don't really blame him. As I walked beside him my eyes roved over his tall dark figure. His hand was warm in mine, and his eyes were a pleasant brown. His shaggy black hair didn't seem so messed up and undecided today. Kieran turned and caught me looking at him.

" What is it?" he asked.

" Nothing" I answered, perhaps a little too quickly. He stopped and effortlessly swung me around to face him.,

" No, really what is it? You seem more agitated today." I avoided his eyes and mumbled something. Kieran always knows when I'm lying. He took his hand and gently lifted my chin up so our eyes met,

" Mari, what is it?" I blinked and said,

" We should get to class." He sighed and let my chin go.

"You are not moving another step until you tell me what's wrong."

" Fine, I want to start a resistance against Sagan." I watched his reaction carefully. He tensed when I said Sagan, but quickly covered it by saying,

" Ok, we will talk about this during break."

He put his arm around me, and we continued to our first class. I got to algebra right as the bell rang. Receiving a disapproving look from Mr. Norris,( Don't care)I hurried and took my seat. Kieran had forensics and I wondered if his class was any less boring than mine. He was the strongest person I knew and also, the most deadliest fighter. I knew that he cared for me more than almost anything though or else he wouldn't of helped me. I snapped out of my day dreaming just in time to hear Mr. Norris say,

" Mari can you tell us how to do number five?" I slouched down in my chair a little more and replied,

" Sorry Mr. Norris I wasn't listening." (And why would I want too, Boring.) He sighed and called on another person.

My thoughts in the rest of algebra revolved mainly on my friends. Gwen is 16 almost 17. She is not that tall, but has a pretty mean temper. She has curly shoulder length brown hair. She is a wonderful person except for the fact that her and Kieran don't get along so well at all. I'm not really sure seeing as I don't know what's going on inside his head without Avery. I miss Avery and Peyton. Peyton one of my best friends, but I can't stand her. She is fire I'm water. Complete opposites, but I couldn't care less. One of the most powerful fighters we have besides Rockell.

Rockell one of my other really close friends. One I have trusted my life to many times. She can talk to animals and is one of the deadliest fighters I know. She has beautiful blond hair at a medium length that she has taken to wearing down lately. She is extremely pretty, but has um Self confidence issues. She is also not that tall, but very well built and she reminds me constantly of a puma when fighting. I love her so much and she cheers me up quite a lot. Kenna is pretty much the exact opposite of Rokell, and although there's no doubt that they're friends they clash a lot as well.

Kenna is difficult, to say the least. We have many understandings but we don't get along. I have no doubt that we are friends, but we just don't mix very well. Kenna's power is by one touch she can make you believe you can do anything. Basically liquid luck. She also has the power of a seer, which makes her calm but deadly seeing as she can throw hexes. She has a short, sturdy figure with dirty light brown hair, which she argues is blond. She is very pretty and doesn't believe it. Her main interest is focused on school. Which I think is a total waste of time. I guess Aaron gets her the most because he can just shrug off whatever she says.

Aaron is also a close friend of mine. He is a techno path. He is constantly in trouble with Kenna because he hacks into computers and messes with his friends grades. None of the teachers have any idea that it's him, but the teachers are not Kenna. Aaron also has problems with eating my food. I'll go to get something and I come back and half my pizza's gone or something. Aaron is a pretty good fighter. He's very static friendly. I once saw him shock one of our teachers Mrs. Hamming pretty badly. She took a whole week off from school which made me extremely happy. Aaron is tall. He has blue eyes and in one eye is a small red dash. He also has messy light brown hair, that will not stay neat. Other than Kenna, he gets along best with Cale.

Cale's one of my other friends that annoys me to all ends. He is constantly fighting with Gwen about something. It is very tiring. I keep having to choose sides and always end up in the middle of their bickering. Besides having a unhealthy relationship with Gwen, Cale is a healer. He can heal anyone but himself. He is quite strong and has to be. He apparently likes pissing girls off, so having good self defenses has helped him live a bit longer. His power is immense and does not need to be regenerated that often. He has sandy hair and hazel eyes, but he's really not a tall person at all. Harvey on the other hand is well on his way to 6 feet.

Harvey is one of my other friends. He is Marie's ex. This is somewhat awkward but not as bad as it could be. He is very powerful. He and Rockell are the most powerful people we have on this mission except for Kieran. Harvey has the power of invincibility. The only down side is that he has the curse of Achilles. Meaning there is a spot where he is completely vulnerable. No one knows where it is. Harvey is also vulnerable to mind games. He is strongly built. His hair is a light brown. He is very strong and is a good fighter with both knife and hand.

Marie is my best friend. She is probably the craziest person I will ever meet. She is very funny and can get me out of low moods with a snap of her fingers. We have had so many good and bad experiences together. She is pretty short, has blue grey eyes, and bronze hair with tons of blond in it. She is one of the most beautiful people I have met, on the outside, but not so much on the inside. She has the power of laughter, as in she can control it. It's a funny and very serious power at the same time. Marie can't stand Chase, he's different and she hates him for it, which plays on her already twisted personality.

Chase is also a good friend of mine. He is funny and nice. His power is one of teleportation. He can teleport himself and others. Kieran and him have had quite a few fights because of his protectiveness over me as a sister. Despite his younger years he treats me like his little sister. Even despite that Kieran and Chase are pretty good friends. Chase is really tall with bluish green eyes, with gold around the pupil. He has light brown hair that is usually in his face making it hard to see his eyes. He is a pretty good fighter and has definitely had his share of action.

Chapter 2

The meeting was set for my house at 8, but I still had a whole day to get through before that. After algebra I had break. Kieran met me in the hall outside the classroom. He looked troubled and I tensely asked him,

" Well, what do you think?" he looked straight ahead and didn't answer. I asked him again, nothing. I waved a hand in front of his face. He didn't react at all. I got annoyed and turned,

" What is your problem?" He still said nothing which annoyed me to no ends.

" You are acting like an immature two year old", I yelled at him. That got his attention briefly. His eyes flicked to catch mine, then he stared straight ahead again. I attempted to push him over, failed and contented myself with punching him in the chest. I spun on my heal and stormed away. I stewed through my next class which was biology. I was less mad through my 3rd class which happened to be dance. Lunch was next, and to my great annoyance Kieran walked up to me and said hi as if nothing had happened. I sniffed and made a beeline towards the lunch line in an attempt to get away from him. He caught up to me easily and said,

" Why are you ignoring me?" I barley managed to control my rising temper as I got my food. He followed me to the table and snickered. I plunked my lunch down on the table and, whirled around to face him. Taking my pointer finger I stabbed him in the chest and said,

" You are about to cross a very thin line, and if you cross this line you will be sorry." He grabbed my stabbing finger and, held it in his iron grip.

" Let go" I said.

" Why you're the one that started it." I busily tried to un latch his hand from my wrist to no avail.

" You are very close to crossing the line dude." I spat at him. As water spurted from the hand he held. He chuckled infuriatingly and said,

" Mari, I have crossed that line more times then the you can count, I have come back alive. what could you possibly do to me that you haven't already?" I opened my mouth to give him a smart remark and closed it again. My shoulders slumped in defeat.

" What do you want?" I asked . Sensing all the tension leaving my body he adjusted his hand on mine so he was holding it instead of pinning it.

" I want to talk, that's all." He said. I was just about to ask him what he wanted to talk about when my little brother Ersken came tearing down the hall. I caught him as he stumbled over his feet.

"Oh my god Ersken what's wrong with you, why are you even here?" He gave me a frantic look and said,

" I'm sorry, but I was out for recess with Ben and this guy comes up to us. He was as tall as Aaron and when he came close to me I felt like I couldn't move. It was like I was trying to run in water. So I panicked and it just came out." I thought hard and sighed heavily, the only person I knew of with powers like that had to have come from Sagan. The thing though is that this particular power was identified to me as Damien's power. Also known as Kieran's biological brother. I picked Ersken up and digested the rest of his information.

" Wait you said it just came out, what do you mean?" I set him down and he said in a shocked whisper,

" I got scared and pretended I was like you and I froze the really scary guy." I looked down at Ersken,

" You froze the guy like made him inside a block of ice?" Ersken nodded. I didn't think his powers would develop him being six years old and all. Ice that's what his power was as mine was liquid water his was solid water. I looked at Kieran who seemed to be a little dazed and told Ersken to take us to where he had frozen Damien. He grabbed my hand and ran toward the consolidated school. We arrived at the spot where it happened. Damien was nowhere all that was left was a piece of his shirt. The ice berg had melted entirely like it was never there. I picked up Ersken and said,

" Try not to use your power again, I'll start training you tonight." He nodded and I put him down just as Kieran showed up still looking like he had seen a ghost. Ersken ran back to school and I waved my hand in front of Kieran's face,

" Earth to the prince of darkness." He blinked and said,

" Yeah, I'm here." I looked at him shook my head and started walking back towards the school. He caught up to me and said,

" You never said your brother had powers." I looked at him and said,

" I didn't know he did, he didn't know he did." Kieran looked troubled so I went on ,

" The worst part is now he is a target, when we go to Sagan I 'm going to have to take him with me." We walked back to school and Ersken ran back to his friends. Kieran was silent for a long time. I finally said,

" After school gets out I'm picking up Ersken and going home are you coming?" He was still silent, but he nodded. I sighed and said,

"Ok then." Almost back at school I glanced at him peering through my bangs. He was still brooding and chewing on his lip. I gave another half sigh and yawned, my fangs were clearly evident. I guess I forgot to mention that people from Athera and Sagan have fangs. Atherians are not vampires but some Sagan's are.

Chapter 3

After school I ran to the middle school to pick up Ersken, Kieran was meeting me later at the house. I walked into the packed lobby full of parents, kids and teachers. My eyes searched around the turmoil for my little brother. I finally spotted him talking with a few of his friends. He looked up saw me and ran toward me. I got down on one knee so I could better receive the hug he gave me. I heard one of his friends ask him why I always picked him up and not his mom or dad. His eyes turned downcast and he looked like he was about to cry, but he said that they were on a business trip. I grabbed him, gave him another hug and, a kiss on his head. He said bye to his friends, grabbed his backpack and slipped his small hand into mine. We walked together out of the school. Following the worn path into the woods I looked down at him, he was kicking a stone in front of him. He suddenly stopped and said,

" Mari, why did mom and dad have to go so soon, Why did it have to be their time already?" I went down on my knees to the soft woodland floor and pulled him close,

" I don't know Sken", I said using his nickname. He started to cry then quietly. I crossed my legs and pulled him into my lap,

" Oh Sken I know it's hard, there are times when I can't believe their gone either, But you know what mom would say? She would say to keep your chin up, be strong, go and fight those demons, and you know what? We would grab our swords and go after the bad guys. There wouldn't be any left once we were done with them. Victorious, we would come back and she would say there are my heroes. I also remember her saying something for you to remember, I will always be in your heart no matter what, right?" Ersken looked up at me and smiled through his tears.

" Right", he said. He got up grabbed a stick and pretended to fight battles. I called him my hero just like mom used to do. Then I gave him a medal like the ones dad used to make from plants.

The rest of the walk home was good. Ersken was happy and had all his energy back. After about 10 minutes of walking we came to the little bridge that spans the ford by our cabin. Crossing it Ersken ran ahead and leapt onto the porch and ran inside. I walked up to our cabin it was situated so far back in the woods that only the people who knew where it was could find it. There was not a drive way, but worn out paths leading away from it. The color was a warm red with white sidings. The porch was small and brown with old wooden chairs for furniture. The entire house was made of wood and a few metal pieces. The screen door swung back and forth from where Ersken had dashed inside and not bothered to close it. I sighed and walked up the three steps following my brother inside. He was in the kitchen doing his homework as usual. The cabin was a nice size. It had no cellar or upstairs. The rooms included two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen/ dining room, and a small living room. The kitchen was an old farm house style, gas stove, porcelain sink, fridge, table, and microwave. The living room had a bunch of beanbags and a few rugs, we also possessed an old television set that worked very well. The two bedrooms were fairly similar; small but cozy. Mine and Ersken's. The bathroom was small but very sturdy. We had three doors in the house each one led to the lawn which is basically soft grass with no trees for 25 feet around the cabin. We had wood piled up near one entrance for feeding the woodstove in the kitchen on cold winter nights.

Chapter 4

I walked over to the kitchen table to see how Ersken was doing. He asked me for help and we puzzled out math for the next half hour. Once we were done I made him some macaroni and cheese for dinner. He ate it all and then I said,

" Ok, kiddo time for your first power lessons, the first thing you are learning is control." He clapped his hands and said,

" Ok, what do you want me to do?" I filled a glass with water and told him to freeze the water inside the glass without breaking the glass. Several glasses later he froze it perfectly. I made him do it three more times until he had the feeling for it. Half an hour later Kieran walked in to find me teaching Ersken how to put a fine layer of frost over another glass. He stood by the door and watched the learning process commence. Ersken caught on to it pretty fast it took him ten tries before he reached his goal. When he finally succeeded I proceeded to grab him and swing him around, Kieran watched impassively, but I could see a small smile hovering about his lips. I cleaned up the kitchen while Ersken sat down and finished his coke. Kieran dried and I washed in no time the kitchen was sparkling. I looked over at Ersken and said,

" Bud, you need a shower what have you been doing having a mud war?" He giggled and said,

" Nope, I played soccer at school today during recess." I pretended to have a stern face and said,

" Soccer huh?, well ok then go take a shower hot shot." He giggled and skipped off to do as told. I turned to Kieran he was watching the place Ersken had just vacated. I want up to him and touched his hand, I noticed a cut so I slid his black sleeve up farther. A cut ran down one of the long scars he had on his arm. I sighed and ripped a piece from the bottom of my shirt and tied up his cut. He looked at me then and smoothed the makeshift dressing.

" I could go and get the first aid kit." I said and started away. He caught my arm and pulled me back,

" No, It's fine, I'm Ok." I nodded and then I heard a knock on the door. Pulling my hand from Kieran's grip I opened the door and let Cale in.

" Hey, hey, hey guys I've come to crash your little party." I rolled my eyes and turned away from the door as he snickered,

" I'm just havin fun, so what's up?"

" Nothing just waiting for the others." I said. Cale nodded and went to the fridge dug himself out a coke and sat down at the kitchen table. Gwen came next she tripped up the stairs as usual and stumbled in. She saw Cale at the table and directed a scowl at him. I sighed and said,

"Gwen, Cale please don't do this tonight." They both nodded somewhat grudgingly before taking seats at opposite ends of the table. Rockell followed them in around five minutes later. She expertly swung the two blades she carried into their sheathes on her back.

" Why are you carrying around Chaos and Serenity?" I said, naming the two legendary swords she had just put away. She grinned and said,

" There's trouble lurking around." I caught her hint of later. Kenna came soon after she was doing homework as usual in the form of memorizing lines. She walked in the door still talking to herself,

" Kenna, what are you doing?" She looked up smiled briefly taking a seat and said,

" Memorizing lines for Joseph." Harvey came in next, he to had his weapons drawn in the form of a dagger in each hand. He walked into the house and sheathed his daggers with practiced ease. I shot him a questioning look he answered,

" There's somethin out there." He said. I exchanged a look with Kenna who had stopped memorizing to listen . Aaron came in around ten minutes later he was rushing again,

" Sorry, I'm late Bill kept me to dismantle the lights and then I had to fix about eight of the computers because some dumb kid was screwing about in the light booth." We all smiled and assured him it was fine. He sat down with a huge sigh and started eating the remains of Ersken's dinner. Chase was the last to show he stumbled into the house with his swirled green eyes wide with knowledge and disbelief.

" Chase what is it?" I asked frantically. Rockell pulled him into a chair and got him a glass of water. He nodded his thanks to her and turned to me.

"It's about Marie" He said. My eyes narrowed and my breath came tighter.

" What happened?" He glanced around the room that had gone deathly still,

" Marie, I saw her she , she, she was talking to Damien. I hid in the shadows, and listened she made a pact with him. She's changed sides."

The whole room was still no one spoke the silence was broken by a single gasping sob that I realized was mine. Rockell came over to me and hugged me she too was crying. We stood there for quite a while in the still quiet room. I broke the silence by saying,

" Rockell, Harvey what made you guys so edgy?" Harvey went first in his explanation.

" Well I dunno, but it was really clammy almost ya know like misty. The thing is though it wasn't a friendly kind of mist if you know what I mean it was like sticky." Rockell backed up Harvey,

" Yeah, it just didn't feel right out there like I know something is brewing and it's not good."

All of a sudden there was a thump on the porch Six people with weapons crouched into the ready stance. Rockell her twin swords glittering in the lamp light, Kieran with his black stygian steel blade, Aaron with his hands sparking, Harvey daggers out radiating strength, Chase's scythe out and me water swirling around my hands, my saber over my shoulder and my bow strung. The door crashed in and Jake came hurtling through the door to slide gasping for breath into a circle of weaponry.

" Holy shit, what are you guys doing? You could seriously hurt someone with those things." He yelled, everyone sighed and put away various weapons.

" Jake, what do you want, and why are you here?" I asked him. He said,

" Well I heard you were a man short and I don't like Sagan either, plus I love a good party." I couldn't help smiling as I said,

" Well you've come to the right place my friend." He laughed and said,

" I thought you would say that. You got anything to drink I'm parched?" He went looked in the fridge and grabbed a water bottle.

" No, everyone is taking my water bottles, those are special I need them, take anything else from the fridge except my water!" I yelled.

" Gawd ok, I'll have a coke then." Jake said, as he took one and pulled up a stool to the counter.

Chapter 5

Kenna had watched the whole exchange skeptically. She slid out from behind me and Rockell. ( We protect her from harm usually, don't get me wrong Kenna can fight but only when she gets so pissed off that no one can bring her back from over the edge. Her getting that mad though is like a one in one thousandth chance. It's become a sort of habit I guess. Let those " hot heads" as she calls us fighters, take care of the physical work while she goes after the mental battles.) She went over to Jake stared him straight in the eyes and said, " You have a gift, you wish to share with us." It wasn't a question, it was more of a command, a statement. James stopped mid slurp , and looked at her as well.

" You caught me, yes I do have a gift, you must have a formidable talent if you could spot my gift. My gift helps me control the emotions of others around me." He stood up, and towered over Kenna,

" And what is your power o wise one?". She tried to take a step back, but he put a hand on her shoulder. I was between them in a flash. He wisely dropped his hand when he saw the look in my eyes. Kenna touched my arm and, shook her head. I disappeared swiftly to stand back in my old position. Kenna looked up at him and said,

" My power troubles the fates for an answer or a favor. I have powerful forces at my disposal, as well as powerful friends who would die for me. Choose your words carefully in answering me, will you fight for us until your last breath?" Jake met her gaze squarely and said in a strong steady voice,

" Yes, I will fight for you all until my last breath." Kenna reached up and patted him on the shoulder.

" I can see your words are genuine, welcome to the resistance."

This exchange happened relatively quickly, and Aaron's remark of awkward turtle lightened everyone's mood. Rockell went over to Aaron and said,

" Uh, Aaron your not doing it right that's more like an awkward sloth." She demonstrated what Aaron had been doing and then corrected the turtle. Aaron leaned in indignantly and said,

" No, you do it like this."

" No, bud your doin it wrong, it just doesn't work that way." She said shaking her head. I came over and, formed a crocodile with my hands,

" Oh look, I ate both , now what?." Rockell stuck her tongue out at me and said,

"Meanie."

Chapter 6

I looked over the people gathered in my house with a smirk. At that moment Ersken came running in and said,

" I'm done getting ready for…, Whoa where did you guys come from?"

He stopped dead and looked around at the packed room. Seeing Rokell he ran to her and gave her a hug as well as Kenna. I was just about to explain to Ersken what was going on when there was a bang from outside and orange light danced off the walls of the hushed room. I threw myself out the door followed by ten people. Peyton backed across the lawn shielding Alice. I screamed Peyton's name. She didn't hear me and continued spurting fire in the direction of the trees. I saw her then, Marie slowly advancing with Damien and the Hunt behind them. I grabbed my sword and leaped off the porch into the fray. Rockell landed beside me Chaos and Serenity shinning in her hands. We threw ourselves at the advancing Hunt. Alice beside me was grey with exhaustion, but she drew her gun and began firing with deadly accuracy. Peyton was fighting her own battle, she through grenades while battling with her fiery fists. Cale grabbed Alice and carried her inside as she collapsed senseless. Harvey cracked his knuckles once looked up and began his onslaught. Ersken snuck around me I saw him and yelled, but my words were lost in the heat and noise. He held in his hand a silver throwing disc. I saw it leave his hand and hit Damien sticking into his shoulder. He roared in pain turned and saw Ersken. He ran toward him with his sword upraised and stopped. He fell the sword clattered out of his grasp and landed a few feet away from him.

" Ow, that frikken hurt you bitch!" he screamed.

He grabbed at the darts in his chest while shuddering in pain. His eyes locked with someone behind me. I turned around, and saw Kenna lower her dart blower. His voice was gravely and dark, but we could all hear it,

" You have made an enemy of me, Kenna Forsling." He got up slowly and time slowed. He walked toward Kenna gun raised, he stopped and pointed the gun and fired. I could see myself, the scream of pure rage seemed to flow from my mouth like a hurricane destroying a city. The whole battle seemed to have stopped as the bullet soared through the air, and that's when I jumped. The bullet pierced my shoulder, but I kept on going. Damien didn't quite recover from his surprise when I landed on him. We crashed backwards into a tree locked in each others grip. No one interfered incase they hurt me on accident. We disentangled ourselves from each other and stood up. My shoulder hurt like bitch. Damien stood breathing in heavy gasps surveying me with a weary eye. I said through clenched teeth,

" I f you ever try to harm her again, I'll take your other eye." With a yell he brought his sword down in an arc and it was stopped by mine. He strained trying to force me down as we locked swords,

" That was pure luck, little girl. You will pay for that eye you can bet on it." We broke and clashed again, and again. Then with one last effort I sent his sword flying into the trees. He looked at me with pure hatred, and whistled to his gang. In a trice they were gone except for him, he stood at the edge of the woods and his voice echoed out to me. His threat was clear as he said,

" Mari, this isn't over. I'll have Kenna and your friends tortured before both your eyes. Then we'll see how good the Sword Maiden is." He spat the last two words out and disappeared into the darkness.

Chapter 7

Back in the house Peyton was drinking a huge bottle of water, and Alice was laying on the couch sleeping. I was sitting on a stool as Harvey braced me while Cale picked out the bullet.

" Oww," I gasped through clenched teeth as Cale dug in with tweezers.

" Hold still I'm almost there." He said as he went in again.

" What the hell are you doing to me Cale" I screeched through clenched teeth. I lifted up my good hand , and smacked him across the face. He flinched and said,

" Harvey". Harvey grabbed my good hand and held it down,

" I know this is not fun, but smacking the healer is just not a good Idea." I growled at both of them but stayed still.

" Ok, done the bullet is out, now I just have to clean it and stitch it up." That was done in a matter of seconds. I got off from the stool and dug in the fridge for some pizza, healings always made me hungry. I knelt by Alice and put a cool hand on her head, then I turned to Peyton.

" I thought you two were on Sagan." She looked up, her orange eyes were tired as she said,

" We were. I broke out and took Alice with me. We were both in holding cells cause they hadn't finished our prisons yet. I stole a pod and raced back here. We were almost to your house when Damien and his Ilk caught us. I thought at first they were good guys because I saw Marie in them, but when they started trying to capture us I knew. Alice is exhausted she has been using her power non stop. The conditions are bad on Sagan, horrible in the cells. I'm going back Mari, with or without you." I smiled at her and said,

"You'll be going back with me and all of us Peyton. She held up her hand and I held up mine our palms touched and, water and fire banded together throwing an eerie light over the room. (This happens when two opposite elements meet, they can be used as a scrying glass or an elite power force.) We clasped each others hands for a minute more and then let go. Ersken ran over to Peyton and hugged her she hugged him back. I looked over at the packed room silent except for Alice's shallow breathing.

"Tomorrow I'm training Ersken in ice movement and later I'll be holding a sword session and along with Kieran a hand to hand combat session." I said. Harvey piped up and said,

" I think it's best if we stay here tonight , Mari. Damien might still be out there with his lot." I agreed and sleeping arrangements were made more or less,

" Just sleep where you want I have a couple of air mattresses, some sleeping bags, but most of the house is carpet so knock yourselves out." I told them. I went up to get ready for bed and to my surprise Kieran followed me up. I went into the bathroom and grabbed my tooth brush, he leaned on the door frame staring at me.

"What?" I asked as I searched around for my toothpaste. He breathed deeply and smiled,

"What, I can't be with you?" he asked. I scowled at him and he chuckled and handed me my toothpaste. I finished brushing my teeth and, took his arm looking at the long gouge in it. He watched me for a moment then pealed my fingers off his arm. My shoulders stiffened and I turned away from him, annoyed. He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him, I struggled to get out of his grip without success. I stopped struggling when his lips found my mouth. He hadn't kissed me in a long time and definitely not like this. There was passion there but there was also a hunger. I kissed him back my annoyance quickly fading away to nothingness. Cale stomped up the stairs, and I expected Kieran to break away to my utter surprise he held me closer. Cale stopped walking when he saw us and just stared. It was really uncomfortable and I tensed a bit. Kieran pretended he didn't notice, he kissed my neck a few times and stopped. Looking over at Cale he asked in a cold voice,

" Can we help you ?" I looked at Kieran shock running through me. I saw Cale open his mouth, and I said,

" Sorry, I'll show you where the dishes are."

Guessing he would be trying to unload the dishwasher. I started to walk towards him, and Kieran grabbed my wrist and pulled me back for one last kiss, it was a quick one but, it lingered on my lips even after he had let go and I was walking down the stairs with Cale still staring at me.

Chapter 8

Sleeping arrangements were interesting that's all I can say. Alice stayed on the couch in the kitchen/living room, and Peyton, Chase, Cale and Gwen stretched out on other furniture and floor of the living room. Ersken went to bed in his room and Kenna opted to sleep on the floor in his room. I slept on my bed with Kieran beside me on one side and Rockell on the other. Jake slept on the foot of the bed with his feet hanging off the other end. Harvey slept on the floor, and Aaron fell asleep in a beanbag chair.

I woke up at dawn like always. Everyone was still sleeping in my room. I got up slowly and crawled over Rockell. I stepped onto the floor avoiding Harvey who was spread eagle with his face planted in the carpet. Aaron had turned over so that his lower half was on the beanbag while his upper half occupied the floor. I took a blanket out of the closet and, laid it over him gently, then I left the room pausing only to turn Jake over so he wouldn't fall off the bed. I opened the door a fraction and saw Ersken sleeping in his bed while Kenna slept on the floor in a superman sleeping bag. When I got to the kitchen I peered over into the living room where people were sleeping. Gwen was rolled up into a ball on the floor by the couch, Peyton was sleeping in a chair as her hands glowed red hot like a burner cooling down. Chase was stretched out on the recliner his legs hanging off the edge owing to his tallness. Cale slept as far away from Gwen as possible and while still being on carpet. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Alice was sleeping evenly now her face had returned to a healthy glow and, the plants in my window were fresh and alive again. I looked behind me as Kieran tiptoed down the stairs and motioned for him to come outside. We opened the door quietly without a single creak, and slid out the door. I sighed hugely and went to the woodpile. I was about to scoop up an armful when Kieran blocked my path. I stood there not really knowing what to expect. He folded his fingers under my elbows, and pulled me forward. I snuggled into his chest, he was warm and smelled of cloves and pine. I felt him press his lips to the top of my head. He turned around , and grabbed an armload of wood. I tried to help him, but he wasn't having any of it. He put an arm around my waist and we walked inside together. I watched as Kieran piled logs into the fire place as silently as possible. We both heard a noise and turned, Peyton walked over to us still rubbing sleep from her eyes. She snapped her fingers and drew a little flame from one of them, tossing it onto the fire. The room immediately became warmer, chasing out the mornings chill. I walked into the kitchen and started preparing breakfast. One by one my guests woke up and made their way downstairs. I was sitting on the counter watching as Kieran cooked, he had refused to let me help knowing my history with cooking. Peyton sat at the counter on a bar stool, drinking a glass of orange juice.

The first person to wake was Kenna, who tiptoed down the stairs and grabbed a glass of apple juice. Next came Chase from the living room. Scratching his head he sighed hugely and stretched out at the table. Ersken stumbled down the stairs next, and I jumped down to make him some chocolate milk. Harvey came down rubbing his face which looked pretty red, probably from the carpet. Cale and Gwen came afterwards. It was to early for arguing, thank God. Alice woke up soon afterwards and came in smiling.

Everyone was halfway through breakfast when there was a thump from over head. The majority of people stopped stuffing their faces to watch in puzzlement as Jake fell down the stairs. He hit the bottom with a grunt and just laid there. Rokell walked down the stairs past him ignoring his prone figure on the floor. She walked into the kitchen and said,

" What's for breakfast?" I handed her a plate and pointed to Jake who was getting off the floor rubbing his elbow,

" What's up with him?"

She took her plate and said,

" Oh, he's just being a jerk wad, nothing new." Jake let out a chuckle and said between mouthfuls of food,

"Not my fault you can't take a joke."

Rokell stiffened and plunked her food down on the table, she grabbed one of her heaven blades, unsheathed it next to his face and stalked out of the house slamming the door behind her. ( Some background on a Heaven blade is needed. They are huge, 2.5-3 feet long and 1.f feet wide. They can cu through anything. When sheathed they are the size of a regular knife. Only a few people own them let alone know how to use them, and Rokell is one of the best.) We all watched as Jake unfroze and said,

"Well, shit." Aaron came down after all this drama yawning, he looked around and said, "Wassup?" I shook my head and handed him a plate. He sat down and began to eat.

Chapter 9

After breakfast various people went upstairs to take showers or grab clothes from my un ending supply of hand me downs. Kieran and I were left to clean up the kitchen alone. I gathered up the dishes and, dropped the handful I was carrying as I slipped and fell over backwards.

"Shit" I said as I gazed at the broken dishes on the floor. Kieran knelt down and grabbed me as I flopped over.

"I feel really dizzy." I said. He looked me over and swore silently.

"What is it?" I asked. He picked me up and, proceeded to scream for Cale. Cale practically fell down the stairs,

"What?" Kieran deposited me on the kitchen table and said,

"She slipped in her own blood, Why is she bleeding aside from having glass in her from the dishes?" Cale looked alarmed and pulled down my shirt a little to reveal the bullet hole that was bleeding sluggishly,

"God fucking damn it!" he said.

"What?" Kieran asked. Cale replied his face grim,

"That bullet was a gold bullet, it was meant to make whoever it hit bleed to death, and in Kenna's case if it hit her she would be dead." Kieran's eyes filled with pain and rage,

"Help her." Cale grimaced and said,

"Hold her down this is not going to be pleasant." He drew out a huge needle and some silver thread. Kieran looked at the thread and asked,

"Is that Fenya thread?" Cale nodded and Kieran said,

"Shit."

He leaned his full weight on me pinning me to the table. (Fenya thread is web from the most poisonous spider in the universe, its thread will heal any wound, but it hurts worse than anything imaginable if it touches skin). Cale put on gloves and threaded the needle. He took a breath and stuck it in the bullet hole, the pain was unreal I couldn't register it, it was so intense. My body arched in seizure like movements. I thrashed about my screams reverberating through the house. Cale kept threading the needle in and out steadily. The pain got worse which I didn't think was possible. I lost consciousness then, my brain shut down not being able to handle the amount of pain. Even though I was not conscious my body bucked and jerked as Cale finished the job. I slowly came awake to Cale saying,

" she's gonna have a shadowy webbed shaped scar there." I heard someone grunt and, Kieran came into view. My body still spazzed a bit even though the pain was gone.

"Why is she still having spasms?" I heard him ask. Cale brushed sweaty hair out of my eyes and said,

"Shock, too much pain does that. She'll get over it in 24 hours or so." Kieran sighed and nodded. They both looked down at me.

"Mari, can you hear me? Can you talk?" Cale asked. I opened my mouth and licked cracked lips, my voice raspy as I said,

"Yea." Kieran sighed in relief. But was cut short by another spasm from me.

"How long until I stop doing this?" I asked Cale.

"24 hours and it should stop." He replied. "We need to strap her down she's gonna be a while." I watched as Harvey and Kieran buckled me down to my kitchen table.

"Is this really necessary?" I asked.

"Yes" said Kieran. One by one everyone came to check on me. I was glad for such good friends and family as I waited for the 24 hours to be up.

I woke up early the next morning still strapped to the table. Kieran was sleeping in a chair next to me. I licked my lips and murmured,

"Kieran! Let me up." He woke up with a start and stared around disoriented. His gaze fell onto me, and took one look at my face then grabbed a knife and cut the ropes. He helped me sit up. I rubbed my stiff back gingerly, and realized that my shirt was gone, instead a small towel was there. I gaped at it and held it close to me and said,

"When the fuck did this happen?" He smoothed his hair back sheepishly and said,

"Erm, a little while after you passed out." I glared at him and said,

"Who?" He didn't meet my eyes as he explained,

"Cale couldn't get done threading the wound so he asked me to, ahh help him with it." My eyes went wide with disbelief,

"Help him? Was he with you?" Kieran looked shocked and said,

"No, no of course not! No I did it myself he left the room. Are you kidding? I wish to live and not be killed by you, Rokell or Kenna." I eyed him suspiciously for a few more seconds then sighed and said, "Ok, I believe you."

An hour later everyone was outside sparring with each other. Kieran was walking around coaching. Rokell was annihilating Jake. Apparently they hadn't resolved what happened yesterday morning. Rokell was grinning triumphantly as Jake struggled to get out of the headlock he was in. I shook my head at her and she sighed and let him drop to the ground. Alice and Kenna went at it pretty good. Alice obviously more skilled, but Kenna had calm and brains on her side. Peyton and Chase were also well matched. They played on each others strengths and weaknesses. Cale and Gwen were all over. Cale had the upper hand most of the time, but Gwen flipped him over her shoulder with strength she denied she had. Aaron and I went pretty good as well. I was faster and he was stronger. Harvey and Kieran had a go. That was interesting. In truth they were pretty even and surprised each other with their strengths. Ersken went at it with everyone. He learned a bunch from all the different fighting styles. The next thing we did was weapon sparring. Out of the different pairs, Rokell, Peyton, Cale, me, and both Kieran and Harvey won. Next was power sparring. Jake, Peyton, Gwen, and Ersken won these. Alice and Kenna were very different and there level was the same. Kieran and Harvey again had a draw. Aaron and I were not inclined to fight each other seeing how water and electricity do not mix, and would cause more harm than good.

At the end of the practices I sat out at the edge of the property, listening to the noise behind me. I stared into the woods and saw a figure walking towards me. I stared harder and the figure seemed to split into five different people. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes, but the figures were still there. As they drew closer I caught my breath as I began to recognize the Midnight black hair flapping in the wind. Little wisps coming out of the braid that snaked down her back. I got up as if in a daze and walked towards her. The closer I got the more clearly I could see the grayish blue of her eyes. They reminded me of lake Erie before a storm. We stopped three feet apart from each other, and I gazed at the person I believed to be dead. "Ember" I whispered with gentleness in my voice as if I was afraid she would vanish. She blinked and smiled at me melting back into her one form.

"Mari" She said. Suddenly I was squeezing her. I would never let go. Tears were streaming into her shoulder as I sobbed into her hair. I wanted to bring her as close to me as possible, to make sure she was real and not a phantom of my imagination. She hugged me back, her aura glowing to entwine mine, like it used to be. We walked back to the house arm in arm. I had refused to let go of her. I had my other half back, the girl I thought to of been killed, My sister Ember Saveno.

Chapter 10

I walked into the house with Ember and the group of people gaped at her. I looked over each one individually. My gaze stopped on Kieran, he was frozen in place. He met my eyes, I walked out of the house with him while Ember stayed, to be reunited with lost friends. Once outside Kieran turned on me. He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. His voice was low and deadly as he said,

"I thought she was dead." I yanked my shoulder out of his grasp and took a step back,

"I thought she was too." Kieran grabbed me and flung me to the ground,

"She killed my mother, Mari! Does that mean anything to you? When she got struck by that energy bolt I decided to leave my vengeance behind, and help you because you needed it. You were about to kill yourself and everyone you could take with you! And now you bring her back here." I got up slowly, my good mood gone. I brushed myself off and said,

"I know what happened that night, but it's the past. You need to let that go! Your mother was an evil bitch and you know it. I'm starting to think the only reason you helped me was because you were scared of me taking you down with me." He tackled me then and pinned me to the ground,

"I am not scared of you, Mari!" I kicked him in the groin and, leapt up. My body automatically going into a fighting stance,

"I'm a threat to you Kieran and you know it. Why else would you not participate in the confrontation with Damien. You could have stopped me from getting shot!" I blocked his slap directed at my face, and pulled out the gun, clicked the safety off and placed it to his head. I had let him get too close his knife point pressed to my neck.

"What now? We both go down?" He asked. I didn't answer his question I said,

"Your going to have to accept that Ember and I will always be together. Your going to have to except that when she killed your mom, she rid the universe of a parasite and saved my life, and your going to have to except that I love her more than you."

His knife dug into my neck briefly, then he took a deep breath and relaxed lowering the knife. I clicked the safety back on and lowered the gun from his head then turned away. He grabbed my arm, spun me around and brought his lips to mine. He reached down and knocked the gun out of my hand, and kissed me hungrily. I had no choice, my senses were to overwhelmed by this new feeling. With a groan I gave into it rather than fight it.

A little while later we walked into the house. Our hair and clothes were messy and rumpled. No one said a word. I caught Ember's eye and she followed me upstairs to the roof where we sat side by side. She turned her head towards me and said,

"You brought me back, you know." I looked at her and said,

"Yea, I know." She turned and stared over the trees into the setting sun and said,

"I was gone. The bolt hit me directly, and I could feel myself slipping away. I saw him take you, screaming and fighting. I saw how berserk you went after the bolt struck me. Then he came in the nick of time after you had killed 100 people in your rage. He shackled you and took you away , and my heart ached and I lost the will to live." I turned to look at her. She continued gazing out at the trees, her black hair sparkling in the last rays of the sun. she continued to speak,

" I was almost dead, and then I saw you." She turned to look at me her eyes a brilliant blue with a faint trace of grey.

"You grabbed my hand as I was falling and held onto me, even though the fire of the otherworld consumed you. You called me back and wouldn't let go. That's when you gave it to me. You gave me half of your soul. That was enough and I recovered." I gazed at her with a new dawn of understanding in my eyes. She held out her hand, which held a perfect gold strand in a half circle. I held out mine and on it was a perfect silver half circle. We took each others hands and around our entwined limbs the strands grew like ivy. To come together in the middle like a glove finding it's missing partner. Light flared out from our fingers, the two halves had become a whole. She laid her head on my shoulder and I rested my head on hers. We sat on the roof as the fiery sun sunk behind the horizon, leaving night to take over her shift in the world.

Ember turned to me after the sun went down and said,

"So, obviously Kieran and you are a package." I looked at her and blushed I was glad of the dark, "Yea, sort of." She laughed and said,

"Oh come on! Sort of? Well certainly not after tonight." I blushed even harder and said,

"We didn't make a home run, ok? I don't even know why it happened in the first place." She looked at me and even with the darkness I could see her teasing laughter in her eyes. I pushed her gently, "Ugg, Emberrr." She couldn't hold it in anymore. She started laughing practically falling off the roof. I couldn't help my self I started chuckling too. After the laughter had subsided I mumbled,

"Your so mean to me." She looked over at me and smiled,

"I know."

We climbed down from the roof and back into the house. Everyone was engaged in various activities. Peyton stopped us in the hall and hugged Ember. She looked at me and said,

"I lit a fire downstairs and cleaned up the dishes, now I'm gonna go take a shower I have a headache." I hugged her and said,

"Thanks Hun." She nodded and continued up the stairs. As we got down to the kitchen I saw Jake down on both knees looking up at Rokell attempting to say something. She glared at him and said,

"I still can't hear you." He glanced around and saw he had gathered an audience. His groan was cut short by Rokell's glare. I nudged Aaron and whispered,

"What the hell is going on?" He smiled and said,

"Jake put a spider close to Rok's head while she was sleeping as a prank and she woke up with it like six inches above her face. That's what happened a few days ago. He's paying heavily for it though. She's making him apologize to her on his knees." Me and Ember both cracked up at that. I couldn't help it. I caught Rokell's eye and I knew she was playing with him. It was a mean prank and she loathes spiders, but she wasn't that mad anymore she just liked how oblivious he was. Ember and I fought to regain our composure as the urge to roll on the floor laughing became overwhelming. Jake finally managed to say in a louder voice,

"Rokell, I am very sorry for putting a spider in your face. It was a mean thing to do and I beg for your forgiveness." Rokell was having trouble now, keeping a straight face as were the rest of us. Jake seemed the only one who thought this was completely serious. Finally Rokell couldn't take it anymore and busted out laughing which was a good thing because Ember and I had tears running down are cheeks with held back laughter. Jake finally realizing what was going on jumped up and shouted,

"HEY!"

This did not help the laughter situation, the whole room went into further hysterics as Jake's rant went unnoticed. Finally in a last attempted to get even he did the stupidest yet bravest thing anyone has ever done. He grabbed Rokell and planted one right on her lips. Everyone stopped laughing to stare at Jake and Rokell. Rokell went deathly still and then with out any warning she raised her foot and kicked him in the balls. He fell like a rock. She stood over him and in an almost shocked yet pleased slash angry voice said, "What the Fuck!" She left the room and retired upstairs. Chase bent over Jake who was still on the ground clutching his crotch.

"Are you gonna live, dude?" He asked. I could tell he was trying to sound concerned, but he was laughing inside. Jake uttered a groan on the floor and said,

"Ohhhh my testicles." Ember had just taken a huge drink of water and at this exclamation it came out in a phenomenal spit take. Jake finally got off the ground and went to get some ice mumbling about the loss of babies and clubbing or the possible deformity that could happen and the lost opportunities at college. I was laughing so hard while patting Ember on the back after her minor accident. The room of people eventually wandered off into various rooms of the house to go about their nightly business.

Ember hugged me and tromped upstairs to take a shower. The only people left were Jake, Harvey and Kieran. Harvey looked between me and Kieran and said,

"Imma go help Jake with his err problem?" I giggled and nodded. He awkwardly looped one arm about me and gave me a reassuring squeeze before he walked into the kitchen. Kieran for once was not looking at me. He seemed to be very interested in the wall above my head. I on the other hand wasn't much better as I examined his shoes. I finally sighed and walked out onto the porch. Kieran followed me. I sat down and watched the approaching storm, listening to the thunder rumble in the distance. Kieran perched himself across from me on the railing. He looked out at the sea of lightning that was coming closer. I watched him for a moment and said,

"I have to go prepare the house for the storm." I heaved myself up and started walking towards the wood pile grabbing the tarp from under the porch. Kieran followed me, and once I had gotten everything covered. He grabbed me slung me over his shoulder and made a dash for the house. He got under the roof right as the storm hit. The rain came washing down in buckets. He put me down and we watched it for a while and then went back inside.

Two o'clock in the morning Damien hit again. We piled out ready this time. Truth to tell you we expected it, this was just the kind of night. The storm was still in full throttle. Damien came straight for me. He was met with Ember and had her and me to deal with. Ember split into four people and engaged his "posse" in battle. I was left with him. He baited me and I shouldn't have fallen for it, but I did. A trap, I got myself into it. There were to many. They had me on the ground and Damien raised his sword and Kieran came out of no where. He drove his half brother back. Picking me off the ground , he took out the same pair of handcuffs and shackled my arms around a small tree. I spat rain water and struggled to no avail. He went at Damien again who retreated pretty quickly. In the meantime I was furious, I screamed at the top of my voice,

"KIERAN! GIVE ME THE DAMN FUCKING KEY YOU SON OF A BITCH. I'M GONNA TEAR YOUR THROAT OUT WHEN I GET OUT OF THIS." Ember hearing my rant came over quickly and saw my predicament. She looked mystified, and tried to get me free. Suddenly she was one person and she was down on the ground gasping for breath. I got on my knees and turned my head as much as I could, "Ember, are you okay? What's wrong?" She didn't say anything. I screamed at the top of my voice,

"HARVEY!" He appeared by my side and took it in pausing only to say,

"What the hell?" "See what's wrong with Ember." I rasped. He bent over her and she sat up. She looked at the cuffs that bound me to the tree and said,

"There's dark magic in those." Harvey went around to the other side of the tree where my trapped limbs were. He examined them and said,

"Yep, these are defiantly Sagan technology." I struggled some more, and Harvey helped Ember up and they spread around me in a defensive movement. I tried to summon some water, but it wouldn't come. "It binds my powers.' I said to them, my voice cracked as I said it. Harvey and Ember turned around and shouted,

"WHAT?" I just nodded helplessly. Kieran came back. He had a cut on his cheek. Harvey confronted him and said,

"Why did you bind her and her power?" Kieran pushed past him without saying a word, and undid the cuffs from the tree. I thought he was gonna let me go, but he simply pulled my wrists behind my back and cuffed them there. I struggled, my body shaking with rage.

"Let me go!" Ember and Harvey both blocked his path and said,

"Let her go, dude." Kieran tossed me over his shoulder and said,

"I'll explain once were inside." They had no choice. They followed him into the house with me in tow. I struggled and Kieran growled,

"Stop it!" I hissed at him. We got to the living room, and he unceremoniously dumped me onto the floor. I just lay there on my side, because I couldn't do anything else. Ember ran over to me and, placed my head in her lap as she glared up at Kieran.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM! LET HER GO!" Kieran was a hell of a lot bigger than she was, but that didn't matter she was mad. You don't get Ember mad. Kieran glared right back and said,

"I need her like this because her fricken aura is like a beacon to Damien. She doesn't need to be tracked right now." Ember was not convinced,

"Why now? Why not earlier? Why does she have to be in cuffs? Why in such a vulnerable position?" Kieran just said,

"I need some sleep." He stretched out on the couch and fell asleep. Harvey went back outside to help the others, and Ember stayed with me keeping a weary eye on Kieran. I fell asleep with my head resting in her lap.

It was morning and everyone was gathered around me. I woke to Kieran, taking the cuffs off me. As soon as they were off without warning, I leapt on him. He uttered a small grunt of surprise as we crashed over onto the floor. For once in my life I was winning against him. He had made me so pissed off that I got a huge adrenaline rush. I kicked, punched, clawed you name it. By this time I was crying. I was mad, but at the same time hurt that he would do that to me. Cale pulled me off of him and held me back as I was still trying to maim him. As suddenly as the rage had come over me it left and I collapsed against him crying. He pulled me into a hug and I buried my face in his shoulder. Once I had finished my mental break down I turned to face Kieran who was sitting on a chair with his head in his hands. Ember went up to him and said in a cold voice,

"I think you owe us and her an explanation for your behavior." Kieran looked up he had a black eye and a cut on his lip and it vaguely registered in my mind that I had given them to him. He shot a dirty look at Ember who just sneered at him, and looked at me.

"I'm sorry alright? None of those reasons I gave you were true. I was just confused." I glared at him and said,

"Confused about what?" He got up then and came towards me,

"Do you know how big a price is on your head? If I switch sides and bring them you, I get my life back." Rokell jumped up and unsheathed Chaos. Kieran took a step back and said,

"But, but I won't. I just got caught up in the moment of seeing Damien. It won't happen again, I promise." Rokell remained where she was sword out. Ember had just plain frozen. She had a look on her of disbelief at what she was hearing coming out of his mouth. I on the other hand sighed. They turned to look at me and I said,

"No, he's right. I know how big a price is on my head." I took a few steps until I was close enough to touch him.

"I know how much you want the throne. I know it's a constant battle in your head as to support the side of good." I put a hand on his heart and said,

"Listen to it and it won't ever lead you wrong." He put his hand on mine and pulled me into a hug. Ember unfroze and Rokell put her sword away. She and Ember both gave dirty looks at Kieran before going into the kitchen.

Chapter 11

Who would go for Athera and who attack Sagan. That was what we were left to figure out. We were to leave earth tomorrow to start on our mission. Those who would go to try to free Athera were Cale, Gwen, Kenna, Chase, Ersken, Jake and Alice. The rest would go to Sagan and free the others. That party consisted of Kieran, Aaron, Harvey, me, Rokell, Peyton and Ember. We had complications once the groups were planned out. Chase refused to go anywhere without Ember and Me. We ended up switching him into our group so he wouldn't be a problem.

Kieran spent a lot of time on the front porch, thinking. I was to busy to deal with him. The day passed rather quickly and the following morning we had a hurried breakfast. Since Chase was in our group he could teleport us to Sagan, but the others needed a way to get to Athera. Gwen solved the problem by drawing a space ship which Aaron assembled. We said our goodbyes to the other group wishing them luck and good hunting. Chase stepped forward and spread out his arms and legs each of us took a step towards him and grabbed a limb. Amber and I both grabbed him about the waist and buried our heads into his chest. We hate teleporting it's disorienting and scary. We all shimmered briefly then faded into invisibility as our beings traveled to Sagan. The hard dust that appeared beneath my feet signaled our arrival. I peeked out from my nestled position unwrapping my arms from around his waist. I stumbled as I took a step tripped over my feet and would have fallen on my face if Kieran hadn't turned lightning fast and caught me. He stood me up and steadied me as I tried to stop my head from spinning. Ember detached one arm from Chase, but kept hold of him as she suffered through the same dizzy spells as me. The rest of the group flopped on the ground and looked around cautiously. I was the first to hear the pounding of feet coming from the south,

"Hide, it's a patrol!" We scattered. I immediately jumped into the lake we had landed by without a splash. Ember spattered herself with mud. Kieran melted into the shadows. Rokell crouched by the fire that Peyton created. Peyton crouched by the fire as well. All the girls took positions on their hands and knees. Chase sat on a log facing the fire and overlooking the girls on the ground. He grabbed a stick and let it hang loosely from the palm of his hand. Aaron and Harvey stood on either side of Chase arms crossed also looking down on the women in the sand. This was to create the allusion that Chase was the "Master" and , Ember, Rokell and Peyton were the "slaves." Harvey and Aaron were chase's body guards or posse or whatever you want to call it. Sagan being a male dominant society didn't take to nicely to females being in charge at all. We were attempting to make it look like we were one of the random tribes camped on the outskirts of Tanzan, The capital of Sagan. The patrol broke over the hill. I recognized the leader as General Geffen. A cruel sadistic man. The girls tensed, and Chase muttered under his breath,

"Easy." He was relaxed his eyes half closed, the stick hanging from his hand and his legs stretched out. The girls relaxed visibly and continued to "cower" on the ground. Geffen called his troop to a halt and swaggered up to Chase.

"Good evening Master…..?" He asked. Chase immediately replied,

"Fenris." Geffen eyed him up and down, his eyes straying to the stick Chase held loosely. The general was known for his dislike of women and his brutal treatment towards them. Chase shook hands with Geffen, and got up and walked towards Ember. She just sat there trying her hardest to look petrified. He kicked her over. It looked like it hurt, but I knew he would rather die then hurt her. Ember played along and gave a small intake of breath as she fell over. He poked her with his stick, and 'kicked" her again. Geffen walked over to Ember and looked at her distastefully. He stepped over her and shook hands with Chase again.

"Well, Master Fenris I see you run quite an efficient camp here. These bitches will be kept in line. I hope that maybe we can have supper one night and discuss breaking methods." Chase agrees whole heartedly to what Geffen was saying. The general turned and said a few words to his patrol and they left, marching on towards Tanzan. Chase didn't turn around until they were well out of sight. He then helped Ember up and brushed her off. She smiled at him and said,

"Fenris? Where did you come up with that?" He smiled thinly and said,

"It's the name of the brand that made Mari's backpack, she left it over by that tree." Both Rokell and Peyton got up and cracked their backs. Aaron and Harvey stretched their arms above there head. Kieran appeared out of the shadows his face looking troubled. I came out of the lake dripping wet. I glared at Chase and said,

"I'm so glad I could be of service to you." Chase guffawed , grabbed my hand and, pulled me over to Peyton who reached out a hand and steam dried me. I smoothed out my wrinkled clothes and wrung out my dripping hair.

Chapter 12

We stood on a little hill overlooking the valley where Sagan was situated. Ember had a tight hold on Chase's hand, and I refused to touch Kieran. Instead I walked over to Rokell and put my arms around her shoulders. She put both hands up and patted my forearms reassuringly. Kieran took this all in silently. I looked over at him and couldn't help but roll my eyes at him. He stiffened and something glittered in his black eyes that made me shiver. Rokell sensing my uneasiness turned slowly and gave Kieran a look that could peel paint off of a house. He met her death glare with small sneer that turned up his face making him ugly. Harvey moved up to the ledge and looked down the slope at the outskirts of the urban life. He put his arm around me, and shot a look at Chase who was playing with Ember's hair. My scar left from the bullet hole prickled, and I turned and shoved Ember off the small cliff we were standing on. She gave a small squeal of dismay and fell in a heap at the bottom and just lay there. By this time I could hear the steady hoof beats of horses. I grabbed Rokell and shoved her off the cliff as well. She too fell and scrambled over to Ember who seemed to be out cold. Peyton turned quickly, and jumped off the cliff herself. Chase just stared around in shock,

"What the hell is going on?" Before I could answer they rode into view. Damien at the head and Geffen at the rear. Chase swung around his eyes full of anger and questions. Tears streaming down my face. I whispered,

"I'm so sorry Chase. I love you. It's me they want. GO. Get Ember, Rokell and Peyton out of here." Then I shoved him over the edge. Harvey and Aaron both drew their weapons and stood on either side of me. I unsheathed my sword and, waited as Damien dismounted. He was smiling widely. All of a sudden Kieran came out of no where. The next thing I knew I was in a headlock and the cold metal of a gun was pressed to my head. Kieran said,

"Gentlemen I suggest you drop your weapons, and surrender quietly or else she dies." They had no choice. I sucked in a deep racking breath my body threatening to shut down. I watched helplessly as Harvey and Aaron were patted down and led away. I felt the ice cold black metal of the power cuffs glide onto my wrists. Immediately I felt weak, my powers were bound, but so was my physical strength. Damien did a hideous thing then he opened his mouth and laughed, long and hard. He then turned to Kieran and said,

"Welcome back, brother." I felt sick. I couldn't even look at the one who had ripped my heart out. He grabbed me roughly and slung me over his horse, mounted and we were off.

Meanwhile Ember stirred slowly in the rubble heap and woke to Rokell staring down at her. She gave a start and said,

"What happened?" Rokell blinked and rubbed her eyes. At this streams of tears trickled down her face.

"They took Mari, Aaron and, Harvey." Ember leapt up,

"THAT FREAKING SON OF A BITCH! I AM GOING TO KILL HIM!" Peyton slogged over to where the two of them stood.

"Come on you guys, were getting them out." Chase stuck out a hand and helped Rokell up. He hugged Ember and said,

"Everyone grab me were going to give those bitches a run for their money."

I opened my eyes and the first thing I noticed was being unable to move. I was in a slouched position with my wrists stretched above me. I looked up and saw that they were chained to the concrete wall. I tried to summon my powers but I was just left weak and gasping. I realized my clothes were torn and dirty. I ached for the need to curl up into a ball which proved impossible, because of my restriction. I took stock of my surroundings. I lay in the middle of a concrete box and on one side there was a wall of windows. A viewing hallway, of course. The door was impressive it was the latest technology and it was at least five feet thick in concrete. I strained to see anyone outside of my cell. After hours of nothingness someone finally approached. The one person who I did not want to see. Kieran stood, looking through the viewing screen at my prone body chained to the wall. I looked up and met his eyes. They were full of power hunger. I hoped that would pass, but I knew that it had gone to his head. I fell asleep I didn't realize it until I was roughly jerked awake. Two big guys were sliding the power cuffs onto my wrist. I struggled and one of the guys smacked me across the face. I reeled from the blow and when I came back from the shock it was too late. They dragged me to the middle of the room. Dropped me in the center and stood on either side of me like sentries. I looked up from the floor as a third person walked in. Damien adjusted thick leather gloves while smiling at me. I glared back and he chuckled mirthlessly. He picked out a long thin knife from the case he carried, and soaked it in lemon juice then rolled it around in salt.

"Hold her." he barked. The guys held me up and Damien came up behind me to put the blade close to my neck.

"Where are the other's, Mari?" he asked.

"I don't know what your talking about." I said. He took the knife and made a thin paper cut on my arm. I took a deep intake of breath, the salt and lemon stinging the wound.

"Where are the other's, Mari?" he asked again.

"I don't know what your talking about." I said. Again the knife made a sliver cut on my arm. I gasped again.

Where are the other's, Mari?" He asked a third time.

"I don't know what your talking about" I said. Cut after cut came. I wouldn't give away the information he so desperately needed. An hour later my arms looked like that of a tiger pelt. He asked a last time,

Where are the other's, Mari?" I rasped out my answer,

"I don't know what your talking about." He grabbed the bowl of lemon juice and splashed it over my arms then dribbled some salt on top. I fell to the ground writhing in agony. My arms were on fire, everything was on fire. They left me lying on the ground in horrific pain. Still in power cuffs, my clothes now torn and bloodied. I just lay on the cold floor and finally was enveloped in blackness.

Before they could grab onto Chase the patrol rode down on them. Rokell leapt up Heaven Blades out and spinning. Fire sprung from Peyton's hands, and Ember became four people. The first two squared off with Rokell. One of them ran at her, the coolness of her eyes the last thing he saw. He next attacker circled weary having saw how easily she had killed his partner. They clashed, Rokell brought up her foot and hooked her leg around his so he toppled heavily. She stabbed downward , and turned towards Peyton who was finishing off her opponents. They both turned to watch Ember, who for all her size was kicking ass. She stepped neatly aside as the two fighters speared each other instead of her. Chase leaned against a tree casually wiping off his scythe. He helped Ember up, and held out his hands to the other two. They each took a hand , their bodies already beginning to shimmer and they disappeared with a soft sigh like a breeze.

Chapter 13

By the time I woke up I was chained back against the wall. I looked up at my arms and were shocked for only a moment before I realized I had been healed. I gritted my teeth. Hurt and then heal was the Sagan way. I licked parched lips as I looked around. I looked at the water dish full up to the brim with water, just out of my reach. I struggled violently for a few moments before I realized someone was watching me. Kieran stood at the same place as yesterday. He regarded me for a moment more and walked out of sight. A minute later the cell door opened. He stalked through gracefully. I tensed and, let out a hiss. He smiled sardonically at me and kept walking. He stopped at the tip of my feet and just looked at me. I glared at him. He reached up and pushed a button on the top of the wall above my hands. I slid to the floor, and couldn't get up. He rolled me over and slid his power cuffs onto me. They were colder. He ripped off a piece of cloth from his shirt and gagged me with it. Then grabbing a chain he fastened it to the cuffs and pushed the button again. I could move, I got up on my knees and then on my feet. He walked around to where he was standing in front of me. Taking out a stick that looked suspiciously like a riding crop, he placed it under my chin.

"Were going for a walk, dear one." He said. His voice cool and distant. I did my best to snarl at him with the gag it was rather difficult. He let the crop fall as he walked around so he was slightly behind me when he stopped. He smacked me with it and I let out a muffled noise. I stumbled forward a few steps. I stopped and refused to move forward. He walked up to me and squeezed the pressure points in my sides on which I immediately fell to my hands and knees. He circled me once and then tugged hard on the chain and I was forced to crawl along or be dragged. We made it out of the cell and down the hallway, him pulling and me crawling. We got to the dungeon stairs and he jerked me up onto my feet and slung me over his shoulder. When we got to the bottom he set me down. Again I was forced on my hands and knees where I crawled steadily as he hauled on my leash. We passed the room with all my friends in them. We got to one room and, Abbie was chained to a wall. I leapt up and dove on Kieran. He gave a grunt of surprise and fell over. We grappled several minutes before he gained the upper hand by pinning me to the ground , and holding a knife none to gently at my throat. He dragged me over to a couple of huge prison guards and barked,

"Hold her." He was breathing heavily. He un cuffed my wrists and cuffed them behind my back.

"Put her down right here." He said. They deposited me in the middle of the floor on my side. I lay there looking up at Kieran. He walked around me a couple of times his chest still rising and falling rapidly. Suddenly he lashed out with the crop. I flinched as it connected with flesh. He lashed out again and again. With each blow came more pain. I writhed on the floor unable to get up. My screams were largely muffled by the gag. I saw Abbie watching and I tried to be strong for her but, the fact that it was Kieran who was doing it broke me down. By the time he was done I was crying silently. He raised the crop one last time and stopped. He stared his face flitting through a series of emotions. Anger, Greed, sadistic, then came recognition, shock, and finally pain. The crop dropped from his nerveless fingers as he dropped to his knees beside me. He ran his hand across my back and I let out a muffled yelp of pain. His hand came back red, I vaguely realized that it was blood and my blood at that. I shuddered suddenly feeling cold. I could feel the blood dripping down my back and sides now. I felt dazed and dizzy. Kieran left me lying on the floor. I remember through the haze, Damien bending over me.

"She's about to die of blood loss." He remarked.

"Get me a needle, some of her blood type, and restraints." Blackness rushed through me. I felt cold, but peaceful un stressed, at peace. Death was so much easier, painless, and dark. All to soon though it ended and I was awoken by a sharp pain in my arm. I tried to move it but, I couldn't. I opened my eyes to see Damien stabbing a needle in my arm. My eyes traveled upward and I recognized it as being an IV. He checked my pulse, and looked down.

"Ah. I see your awake then. Good." He smacked me across the face none to gently. I flinched and he laughed. I looked around for Kieran and saw him watching from the glass. I was back in my old cell. Home sweet home…. NOT. Kieran wouldn't meet my eyes when I looked at him. I could tell his face was a mask of pain as I fought for my life. Eventually Damien removed the big ass needle from my arm, and cleaned the wound and wrapped it. He un strapped me from the table I was lying on and stood me up. He got tired of my swaying drunken steps so he picked me up and carried me across the room plonking me down on the floor. He tied the upper part of my arms together and, tied a length of chain that connected to the wall to it. I lay slumped on the floor for several days as my body recovered.

On Athera Jake smashed the last tie that bound the planet to Sagan. Everyone watched as the planet came back to life. Cale headed toward the military center, followed by the rest. They just about made it there when the shimmering bodies of Chase, Ember, Peyton and Rokell intercepted them. Ersken ran up to them and yelled,

"Where's my sister?" Rokell hugged him to her and remarked quietly to everyone present,

"She was taken along with Aaron and Harvey." Ersken let out a piercing scream and flung himself towards the edge of the planet. Peyton grabbed him and held him so that by the time he stopped struggling she was hugging him tightly. Gwen, Kenna and Ersken opted to stay behind and watch the liberated planet. The rest opted to go to Sagan and, liberate everyone else.

Chapter 14

I woke up still on the cold floor, I wiggled towards the wall and rubbed against it. I was rewarded when the edge of the rope caught on something. I rubbed back and forth on the point I had managed to create a day earlier. My ropes gave on last effort at staying together and fell away. I massaged my arms gingerly as blood started recirculation again. I stood up silently, and walked up to the door. I focused and punched in the combination. The door swung open soundlessly, and I slid through. My mind's eye saw Ember through the bond we had, just crossing onto palace grounds. I worked my way silently through the building, finding the stairs I descended them carefully. The guard standing there didn't have a chance, plucking the sword from his belt I ran him through. He fell without a sound. I reached the first corridor, in my wake dozens of dead guards slumped against their posts. The first person I came across was Byron. He was curled up sleeping in his cell his foot chained to the wall. I entered his cell using the access card I'd swiped off Kieran during our scuffle the previous day. Byron gave a start, and I clamped a hand over his mouth and put a finger to my lips. He nodded and stayed silent. I broke off a piece of the sword I had taken from the dead guard and, picked the lock. Byron got to his feet slowly, and clasped my hand once. The next cell we came to was Beck's. Telekinesis required a bit more technology restriction. I placed my hand on the keypad and let the water soak in. The keypad short circuited, and the door swung open. Beck gave a start but kept silent largely owing to his brother who shook his head. I crawled into the room, and swore silently as I saw the faint shimmer of power cuffs. Beck nodded in agreement. I heard a noise at the door and looked up just as Peyton, and Ersken walked through the door. Ersken ran over to me saw Beck and promptly froze the power cuffs. Peyton held out her hand and as I clasped it fire and water twined around our interlocked hands. She reached into her pocket and dug out a long shard of stygian steel. We both took an end of it even though it cut through our skin causing our blood to run. I took the shard and smacked it down on the power cuffs. They shattered like ice sickles dashed on a rock. Beck got up slowly with help from me and Byron. He massaged his sore wrists and whispered,

"Where's Avery?" I looked at him sympathetically and said,

"You and Byron are the first we've gotten out." I froze as the bond between me and Ember became stiff. I watched as several Saganians closed in on her and Chase. She struggled feebly but the cuffs were already leaching away her strength. Chase dived headlong into the fray in order to get to her. He took down three before he was clubbed over the head and slipped unconscious. My face went wide with horror as Ember and Chase were carried away. Byron shook me roughly,

"Mari are you Okay?" I shook him off of me, and said

"Take Ersken with you and free the others. I have to find Ember she's in danger." I dashed off not giving him time to argue. I stopped for a breath and I could see Ember in my minds eye chained in a circular room to a metal bar. She stood barely on her tip toes with her wrists stretched above her. I turned a corner and collided heads with Damien. I don't know which of us was more surprised. He let out a yell and grabbed at me. I dogged to the side almost bumping into the wall in the narrow hallway. He braced his hands on his knees for a brief moment and looked up at me,

"How….. the hell…. Did….. you get out of….. your cell." He panted. I couldn't help smiling. He stopped panting long enough to say,

"Oh hell no." I just kept on grinning. He took another grab at me on which I danced out of.

"That's right, you made the mistake of thinking that I was that injured. Please I've had much worse." I said. He roared and lunged at me. His nose made a crunching sound when it hit my fist. He let out a enraged bellow and knocked my legs out from under me. I fell heavily opening a cut on my knee. I rolled quickly onto my back and punted him in the groin. His eyes rolled upwards and he gave a girlish moan. He half sank to his knees before he recovered. I slammed against the wall and got up rather slowly. Licking my lip from where my teeth had clacked against it making it bleed. I tackled Damien around the stomach and we crashed over onto the floor with me on top. He made an oof sound , and lay still. I got off of him rather quickly and leaned over him. His hand shot up connecting with my eye. The stars I saw were a brilliant bursting of fireworks. I sort of remember him tying my hands in back of me and hoisting me upright. I stumbled around and almost fell over had it not been for his grabbing my waist and steadying me. By now as I had hoped Damien had forgotten about where I had come from and that I might have broken someone out of their cell. I stumbled down the hall as Damien pushed me along with one hand while the other pressed a piece of cloth to his broken nose. He pushed me particularly hard and I fell on to my knees. I picked myself up and was pushed again with the same ferocity. With a small cry of dismay I fell over. Damien grabbed my arm and wrenched me upright. He pushed me again and I swung around to face him.

"Leave me the fuck alone you dickless shit head." He stopped short and, proceeded to stare at me with his mouth hanging open.

"careful, a bird might fly in and make a nest inside your brain I mean there's plenty of room." He closed his mouth with a snap.

"I don't think your in any position to be making these remarks, my dear" He spat. I just smiled at him politely and kneed him in what was left of his testicles. He gasped and fell over. I'm not a guy or anything, but I imagine being hit there twice in 15 minutes does not do wonders for having children. He recovered yet again and slapped me across the face. I promptly body slammed him which didn't work as well as I thought it would. He ended up slammed against the wall and I ended up on the ground. I rolled up in a ball gasping for breath as my side seared with pain. Damien having slid down the wall dazed pulled himself upright.

"Shit." I gasped as my right side flared up in pain again. Damien was rubbing his head as he walked around to the other side of me.

"Why can't you make this easier for the both of us and just give in." he snarled. He nudged me with his foot, and I screamed in pain.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he yelled.

"I cracked a rib, you dolt." I gasped back. He sighed in irritation.

"You fucking broke my nose and my god damn balls." He yelled. I giggled feebly and said,

"It's not like you had any to begin with." He grabbed me, and pushed me onwards. I gritted my teeth as my side ached ferociously. We stopped for a moment and I heard the faint sounds of a wall crashing down. Damien swung about and looked from me to the sound and back again. Through the pain I smiled. He took one look at my face and shoved me to the ground. I fell heavily and my back gave a twinge of pain as I jerked it.

"What's going on down their?" he screamed at me. I simply smiled he gazed at my face and a look of recognition dawned on him.

"no" he breathed. My smile widened.

"NO, NO NO NO!" he screamed. I couldn't help it, I started laughing. He picked me up and threw me down the hall. I landed with a thud the breath knocked out of me. I picked myself up painfully just in time for him to kick me down. He grabbed my arm and slung me down the hall. We turned the corner and I saw Ember and Chase in the next room. I swung around suddenly the rope finally coming undone. I turned my back on Damien and put my outspread palms on the glass. The tidal wave split the glass apart instantly freeing Chase and Ember. At that moment Sagan soldiers poured down the hall. I hoisted Ember to her feet. She had a head wound. Chase didn't look so good either he had cuts on his arms which I barely recognized as whip marks. He grabbed Ember holding her to his chest. Then he reached for my hand and tried to teleport. He was too weak. Damien turned a dark smile spreading across his face as his reinforcements flooded around him. I looked helplessly at Chase then at Ember. I slipped my hand out of his and he immediately began to disappear.

"Mari!" He said panicked.

"It's okay. Get my sister out of here. I'll be fine. I'll see you outside." I said. I hated lying but he wouldn't have gone if I told him this was the last he would ever see me. I watched him disappear with Ember in tow and turned to face Damien, Marie, and 100 Sagan warriors.

"Do I at least get a sword?" I asked mildly. Damien snorted and threw me one. I looked at him in surprise, and lowered myself into a ready stance.

"Who's first?" I asked. They came in a huge tidal wave. I focused and it started. My mind detached from my body watching the scene of carnage unroll before me. Wounded in too many places to count I sank to my knees. Marie leapt on me her ax flashing down. I parried and knocked her weapon aside with feverish energy. My hands found her throat and I squeezed hard. She gurgled and fought to loosen my grip. I shook her like a rag doll. I didn't realize I was screaming and crying. My mind reentered my body and it dawned on me what I was doing. I let go of her and slumped to the floor. She dropped to the floor unconscious. Damien strolled up to me raised his sword and brought it down towards my neck. His sword rang as it collided with another sword. I looked up in time to see Kieran push Damien away from me.

"What are you doing?" He hissed. Kieran looked at him with eyes of steel.

"I won't let you kill her, brother." He said.

"Stand aside. Let me finish the job." Damien spat.

"If you want her you have to go through me first." Kieran said. Damien nodded once and said,

"So be it, brother." The battle began in earnest. I stayed still not able to get up. Brother fought brother in the circular room. Glass crunched under feet as they tested each others skills. Damien faked a slice and, thrust at him. Kieran stumbled backwards and tripped. The sword flew from his hand and landed a few feet from me. He brought his sword up angled it at Kieran's chest.

"Goodbye , brother." He said and struck. It took all my strength to lift the sword and angle it up. Damien's blade bounced off stygian steel and, I pulled myself to my feet. He turned quickly and I stopped a knife stood buried in my shoulder. I felt numb all over; no pain. I wrenched it out and cast it aside. I came at him again and didn't stop. I got to him and he didn't stand a chance. His head rolled into the empty cell that had once held my sister. The sword clattered from my nerveless grasp and I looked down at the three knife handles protruding from my chest. With a sigh of irritation I slumped to the ground.

Chapter 15

Again my mind detached from my body. I saw Kieran leap up and, kneel over me. He shook me roughly. I saw his moth opening and closing. I realized he was screaming something. My body refused to move. Kieran struck at me blindly, still screaming. No response. My being stood over him and I clicked my tongue at him. Of course he couldn't hear me. I screamed at him to leave me alone and let me rest. He still couldn't hear me. I ground my teeth in frustration. I walked through the carnage I had created. Stepping silently over dead soldiers as I made my way towards the prison wing. As I walked down the long hall. I glanced at the blood splattered on the walls and recoiled slightly as a dead soldier fell through me. Walking into the circular room with cells around it I saw Avery, Beck and Byron huddled together as a wave of soldiers over took them. Abbie still locked in her cell watched helplessly as Byron stood in front of his brothers deflecting all objects that came at them. Beck sent stone and masonry at the horde coming towards them. Suddenly an explosion scattered the mob and when the dust cleared a ring of fire surrounded the brothers. Peyton walked out of the ring through the flames. And on either side of her Rockell, Harvey, Aaron and Jake fanned out. They crouched ready gripping weapons. Harvey, Rockell, and Peyton advanced on the army. The others made for Abbie's cell. Aaron threw up his hand and lightning struck the glass. Not meant for that kind of abuse it shattered with a roaring tinkling. Jake reached out his hand to help her up. She rose to her feet and stumbled out of her cell leaving her imprisonment. Akayla was on the ground of her cell. Abbie gasped feebly and said,

"They have her in noise. It's too much noise. It's overpowering her sanity." Harvey slammed into the glass and I heard him grunt. He turned around and in a temper punched the glass, leaping back into the fray with a demonic yell. Open mouthed they watched as hairline cracks flowed through the glass. It gave one thump and Byron threw out a shield covering everyone as the glass exploded outwards. I squeaked as glass particles zipped through me. Then realizing I wasn't really there I sat down dejectedly. Akayla uncovered her ears and lifted her head up. Her eyes uncrossing slowly. Aaron picked her up and carried her out of the cell. He set her down and turned to the next cell. Peyton was already there looking at her brother, Hunter. He was frozen half in half out of a wall. She lit up white flame consuming her, and threw herself at the concrete wall. The flames consumed the wall and it melted. Hunter dropped to the floor and lay there for a second. He tensed suddenly and plunged a hand inside his stomach. He came out with a fistful of concrete.

"This does not help your freaking digestive track." he muttered. Peyton laughed delightedly and curse her, turned her back on the fight. Immediately someone snuck up behind her and was just about to stab her when Hunter produced a gun from his foot and shot the guy. He dropped like a rock. Hunter is known for his marksmanship. She turned around and shrugged at the dead guy and pulled hunter out of his cell. He gave her a quick hug and immediately began firing on the Sagan's. The very air shimmered as Chase appeared out of it. He took one look at Riley who's power it was to confuse and smashed his way through the cell door. Riley woke up with a start and began screaming at Chase to get her out. He bent down and started to pick the lock on her ball and chain while yelling back. They screamed at each other for about two more minutes before Abbie got fed up with it and smacked them both across the face. They stopped arguing long enough to hear her yell the crap out of them. Both looked rather sheepish and tromped out of the cell to join the fray. Alex was already free. No surprise there. She was taking away people's sight. Five soldiers felt there way towards her and she evaded them easily as they smacked into walls and each other. I fell through the wall laughing at the spectacle. The freeing of Zander and Molly pretty much pulled the last straw on the already half defeated Sagan army. Zander drove them into a frenzy and Molly stared at them all. They turned on each other in a rage and in minutes the room was littered with dead corpses. Molly and her mind control no wonder Damien hadn't wanted her free.

My mind froze. Damien! Kieran! Me…

I watched as Chase and Molly gathered everyone together. Chase looked around and said,

"Where's Mari?" everyone looked at him.

"She went looking for you and that's the last we saw of her." Rockell said.

"NO, no no no no no!" screamed Chase.

"What is it?" Rockell asked.

"She said she would meet us outside." he said brokenly and explained the whole story. I strained to hear what they were saying. I felt a tug and I was being pulled back into my body. I entered and everything was hurting. I mean it was painful like holy shit someone shoot me, painful. I struggled to open my eyes. I succeeded and I wish I hadn't. It was bright and cold. I swear the temperature dropped like 20 degrees just then. Kieran was bending over me. He saw my eyes open and grabbed me by the shoulders,

"MARI, TALK TO ME. STAY WITH ME." he yelled. I looked at him weakly and scanned my surroundings slowly. My eyes flickered down to my chest where the knife handles still stood up like foreboding sentinels. I felt sick like really sick. I wanted to puke my guts out. The full blow of holy shit you have three knives in your chest, had hit me. My shoulder bled sluggishly, and when I glanced at it that funny roaring sound filled my head. Blackness hovered at the edge of my vision and I felt light headed. Oh god your seriously not going to faint now are you? I mean come on this is totally going to ruin your rep. I opened my mouth but all that came out was a cough. It gurgled as it got chocked off by blood. ewww gross, that is disgusting. The fact that I was dying was not probable to me.

The air shimmered and Chase and Ember popped into existence. Ember let out a broken cry and ran to my side. Chase would have dived on me if Kieran hadn't held him back. He was yelling again. He seamed to be doing a lot of that lately. Not that I'm judging or anything it just gets annoying after awhile. Ember leaned down and placed her palms on my chest drawing out the knives one by one. The golden glow circled her and my wounds started to close up. She gave a last push of energy and slumped to the ground. I took a shuddering breath filling my lungs with air not blood. I was stiff but I uttered one word.

"Ember." I reached down and clasped her hand in mine. It was cold for the first time ever. I let out a cry and pushed all the energy back out of me. She breathed and I didn't so much. I was going under and I knew it. I gave up for the first time in my life. I felt my life slipping like silk. I didn't try and hold on I just let it go. I was almost at the edge of the darkness descending into it and I was jerked rudely from my death. Black energy jolted through me rolling and convulsing wildly. I jerked up and opened my eyes. Kieran let go of my hand and stepped back. He was breathing heavily. I looked around my eyes going hard as I saw Ember, Chase and Kieran standing around me. I jumped up and launched myself onto Kieran. He jigged about trying to throw me off his shoulders where I was clinging. I didn't realize I was screaming like a psychopath. He slammed me into the wall and I slid off his figure. Ember ran over to me and I grabbed her roughly putting a knife to her throat.

"Nobody move or she gets it." I snarled. Ember squeaked in alarm as the knife pressed harder. Chase started forward, but stopped hurriedly when I locked eyes with him. He glanced questioningly at Kieran.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" he yelled. Kieran shot him a dirty look and said,

"I brought her back with dark energy, she's gonna be pissed for a while."

"Pissed? She's fucking gone crazy." he yelled.

"Naw she was already crazy." Kieran replied. Ember took this opportunity to reach down and throw her shoe at them.

"What am I, an art exhibit? Get her off me!" she said tightly. Rockell burst into the room took one look at the situation and bent down to lock eyes with me.

"Mari, your hurting Ember. Let go of the anger. Let go, just let go." I stared into her eyes and slowly started to realize who she was and who the person I was drawing blood from was. The knife clattered from my nerveless hand and I grabbed Ember's waist and started bawling.

After my mental break down I sat on the floor with Rockell, Ember, Kieran and Chase. I kept having violent anger spells that according to Kieran would continue for a while. Also according to Kieran I would have three pretty massive scars on my chest where the knives entered my body.

Chapter 16

The black energy that had brought me back was not working for me. At random times I would take on a demonic possessed nature. My eyes would turn black and I would become extremely strong. The first time the rage took over was after we had all left the god forsaken castle behind. We were back down to our original party having sent all others ahead. The group consisted of Aaron, me, Ember, Chase, Kieran, Hunter, and Harvey. Rockell had taken Jake on a "alternative" route back to Athera. The storm of rage hit when Aaron accidentally stepped on my foot. I gave a demonic yell and leapt on him. Later Harvey said it was the most awesome tackle he had ever seen. Aaron screamed like a girl and crackled up with electricity. It took all four guys to pull me off of Aaron. Kieran conked me over the head and I woke up tied to a tree. Ember was stroking my back and, smiled at me when I woke up. The blackness faded out of my vision immediately. I looked at Ember and attempted to rub my head, which didn't work out at all.

"Are you feeling okay?" Ember asked looking concerned. I nodded my head slowly and said, "Yeah better but I feel like someone hit me over the head with one of those cute little hammers." Kieran had been walking towards us, but on hearing that last remark altered course. I looked suspiciously at his back, and tried to rub my head again. I turned back to Ember and said,

"I am so sorry I don't know what came over me. I just got really angry really fast and I couldn't control it." She laid a cool hand on my head, and said,

"It's okay. You can't help it the black energy that brought you back is unstable." I sighed and looked at the tree in front of my face. I laid my head against the singed bark of the tree and let the tears slip out one by one. Ember hugged me close and I felt myself calm down ever so slightly.

"I don't want to be a danger to anyone." I sobbed. She hugged me tighter and said,

"You'll learn to control it, but your always going to have a demon inside you now." My eyes flew open and I practically screamed,

"WHAT?" She soothed gently and said,

"Kieran brought you back with dark energy aka, dark blood. His blood and the darkness that had possessed him for a while so now your half demon." She untied my hands from the tree and tilted one palm upwards. On it was a crescent moon that was my normal silver but it was tinged with blackness. I looked at it fearfully and wonderingly. I took Ember's hand and tilted it up on her palm the crescent moon glittered gold and silver with a tiny hint of soot. I got up slowly everything seemed different even though it wasn't. The new knowledge that I was a berserk creature of the night scared me witless, more than anything that had previously happened. I looked down at the girl's long black hair that flowed around her in straight curtains, and I met her eyes that flashed a violet hue jarring with my now scarlet eyes. I would deal with this anger and this new way of life. Nothing else mattered as long as she was safe. Pouring myself into her and receiving demon qualities was all worth it to see her alive and whole.

A few hours later saw everyone sitting huddled around a makeshift campfire. Ember had her arm wrapped around me and me her. Kieran kept glancing at me haphazardly. Every time I would look up at him and see his eyes on me, I met them with a glare of dislike. He would gaze a moment longer then look away. I got up slowly stretching the kinks out of my back. My turn to get the firewood. I walked a short walk into the woods by our camp. Taking a deep breath I tried to summon my water power once again, and once again nothing. I took a deeper breath and tried again. A hot arid wind whistled threw the trees black clouds boiled overhead. I heard a noise behind me and whirled around instinctively going into a fighting stance. My back smacked painfully into the boulder he had pushed me into. I let out a string of curses that would have left a truck driver speechless. Kieran clicked his tongue at me and shook his head. He pressed me against the boulder and looked me over critically.

"Stop trying Mari. It's gone and will always be." I pushed him furiously, he let me.

"You gave me your curse. How can I forgive you? Your pure now. I'm not and I have half of me missing!" He frowned at me briefly and said,

"I'll never be pure Mari." I let out a snort.

"Save me your pity party." His eyes flashed in annoyance, and he reached for me. I jumped back out of his reach and , gave him a look that could've killed. He darted forward and grabbed my wrist turning my palm upwards. On it the crescent glowed dimly laced with black, but one gold vein like ribbon snaked it's way through the sootiness. He growled in anger once then turned and stomped back towards camp. I stared at the gold thread than at his retreating figure then back again.

"What does it mean?" I called after him. He stopped and his shoulders stiffened. He turned around slowly, and walked back towards me. He grabbed my wrist roughly and held my palm facing up.

"It means, Oh pearl of darkness, that she's connected to you, and she's the only one who can calm you down." I yanked my wrist out of his grasp.

"Don't call me that!" I growled. He smiled sardonically and said,

"Your wish is my command opal of happiness."

"Why do you hate her so much? What has Ember ever done to you besides past offences?" He smiled bitterly at me and gave a mirthless grunt.

"You wouldn't understand." He said.

"Explain it to me then." I said. He spun around and grabbed my shoulders.

"She stole you from me. We were in love then she came along and stole your attention, love and your heart."

"She never stole me. We grew apart I tried to hold onto you, but you wouldn't let me. I made a huge mistake in barring you from my life and I know I can't take it back. Kieran it's not that I don't love you because I do more than you know. It's just she's my everything you can't fulfill for me. She makes it worth living the life I'm bound too. I wish that you could be the one to do that, but your not willing to share me with her." I was crying now, God dammit, I hate crying. He rested his head on mine in defeat.

"Your right I don't want to share and I probably won't, but I can't let you go altogether." I looked up at him and said,

"I can't let go of you either, and I probably never will. You'll always have a special place in my heart, but this is not going to work out right now. I don't know if it ever will but if there's ever an opportunity I'll be the first one there. I love you Kieran." He kissed me softly on the lips and turned away. I sat down and cried myself to sleep in the dark woods. I woke up to find Ember sleeping beside me the warmth of her body helped warm the ice in my heart. I fell asleep again and didn't wake up until the next morning.

Chapter 17

We continued on our long walk to the evacuation point. We met up with Rockell and Jake a few more miles down the road. They were walking steadily the only change was Jake was carrying Rockell. I ran up too them and questioned her,

"What's wrong, are you hurt?" She smiled at me and shook her head. Jake shifted her in his arms slightly. I looked questioningly at her she laughed outright and said,

"Chill Mari, I got tired so I told him to carry me." I shook my head and turned away from them. The only other incident that rose up was the fact that Harvey walked into a tree and we stopped for 10 plus minutes to laugh our asses off. The next night I walked ahead a ways to scout out our path. Kieran wasn't far behind me. I could feel he wanted something but I wasn't sure what. I found myself on a smooth plateau of rock. There was one vertical rock face, stretching up to the sky maybe 12 feet. I turned to Kieran who had stopped behind me, I saw something in his eyes and turned away with a muttered never mind. He grabbed my shoulder and turned me gently around, I looked at him. He was waiting for me to say something. I gave a sigh of defeat and said,

"Look, I already told you now isn't the time, so I'm going back to camp and you can stop being a creeper who follows me everywhere." I turned away once more, quick as lightning he grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. I would have smashed into him if my hand hadn't been there. It connected with his chest and I was so close to him I could smell his Smokey sent. I jerked back, my hand leaping off his chest like it burned.

"Leave me alone, Kieran!" I said. His features didn't change. I turned away again and I felt the incessant tug on my arm that brought me crashing into him. I pushed off of him rocking back onto my heals in the process,

"What the fuck is your problem, asshole!" I yelled. Still nothing no change of emotion. I sighed with frustration and turned away once more. This time the tug on my shoulder was strong and forceful. I spun into him my hand again connecting with his chest, but this time I brought my mouth to his in a anger filled kiss. He responded immediately and I realized this was what his goal had been the entire time. I broke away and took a small step backwards. He smiled teasingly and said,

"Was that so hard?" I shoved him backwards and groaned,

"Shut up." He only smiled wider. He reached out and wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me to him again. Yet another half willing kiss on my part. He tilted my chin up and went for another one, I broke away in the middle pushing myself away from him. I took my index finger and spelled the letters N. O. on his chest.

"That spells NO." I said sternly. He gave me another of his teasing smiles and said,

"Yes, but if you switch it around it spells ON." He pulled me to him again, but this time I wasn't having any of it. I broke away from him and said,

"Enough of this." I kneed him in the groin. He gave a grunt and doubled over.

"Stupid boy." I said with what I attempted to make contempt. I turned away no hand stopped me this time. Walking back to camp more quickly than normal I put a finger to my still burning lips, my thoughts in a turmoil.

I sighed in exasperation as a arm encircled my waist. Kieran had pained smile on his face. I tried to get out of his grip , yeah epic failure.

"Leggo!" I said, tugging away. He laughed mirthlessly at me and said,

"You injured my manhood, the least you can do is humor me." I scowled at him. He wasn't looking at me instead he had his head up and seemed to be listening. His hand tightened suddenly around my waist and he threw me down. I fell flat just as the knife whizzed past my ear. Geffen emerged from the trees grinning crazily. He cocked the gun he was holding and aimed it at me and pulled the trigger. A black cloud enveloped me and he stared wide eyed as the bullets bounced harmlessly off. My eyes stared into him deep dark twin pools of nothingness. He stumbled back shrieking about eyes of death. I came towards him my black cloud expanding, foggy arms reaching for him. Hot arid wind blew through the trees blowing back Kieran's hair. Mine however was unruffled. Geffen gave one more crippled scream before the cloud descended on him. Stillness I turned looking at the pile of ashes at my feet. Kieran stumbled backwards. For the first time in my life he looked uncertain. My dead lonely eyes took in the world slowly. My hair turning to black locks and my skin turning a glowing white. Dark storm clouds boiled above me and I raised my hands to the sky.

Chapter 18

Ember came out of nowhere she downed me in a impressive flying tackle. I hit the ground with a thump. She intertwined our hands and the darkness flowed out of me into her. She shuddered for a moment her complexion turning slightly pale and then she let out a deep breath, expelling the darkness from her body. I lay on my back staring up at the orange sky. The first time I'd ever gone full demon, and the first time I really discovered Ember's powers. Ember Saveno my guardian angel. I lay on my back gazing at the sky. Ember's head rested on my stomach our hands intertwined. My gaze I turned nowhere but up. For hours on end. No movement just stillness and silence.

Two days later found me sitting on a rock steadily munching down a pancake. I looked up in time to see Ember push Chase backwards. I smiled to myself shaking my head. I was about to go back to eating when Chase grabbed her and pulled her towards him, she fought against him. I jumped up dropping my half eaten pancake. My hands smashed into Chase's chest he stumbled backwards and almost fell. I felt Ember touch my elbow, and spread my arms out blocking her from Chase. He leapt back up and tried to push past me, my shoulder connected with his stomach and he doubled over.

"Don't fucking touch her!" I yelled. He coughed and straightened up, without warning he slapped me across the face. I reeled from the sudden blow and toppled over. Ember gasped in shock,

"Chase!" I got up from the ground slowly, and my eyes turned black. I turned and saw Chase arguing with Ember. She wasn't talking to him. He shoved her, his frustration getting the better of him. I grabbed his collar in one fluid movement and body slammed him into the ground. Reaching out I steadied Ember who was on the verge of falling over. Chase jumped up from the ground and shoved me. I tackled him and we crashed to the ground.

'I just want her safe on earth!" He yelled.

"I don't give a shit what you want Feldon!" I spat. His fist connected with my eye. I rolled off him stars bursting behind my vision. He bent over me and said,

"She goes to earth! You hear me?" My uppercut shot up and connected with his nose. He staggered back clutching his face. The crunch was audible. I got up slowly one eye swollen shut.

"No Chase I'm sorry I didn't hear you, would you like to repeat it?" He looked up at me his eyes blazing, and uttered a string of profanity.

"What was that?" I asked cupping a hand to my ear. Hunter glared at me and put his arm around Chase leading him away. Chase swung back around and said,

"Oh Mari, did I ever tell you you're a faggot?" He smiled tightly. I smiled and said,

"Chase?" He turned towards me again.

"Hmm?"

"Suck my dick." He clenched his hands into fists, I felt Ember tug on my arm. I put my middle finger up to my lips in an expression that said oh my gosh did I say that? I allowed Ember to tug me away, but not before Chase said,

"This isn't over Mari!" I lunged towards him, stopped by Harvey who grabbed my biceps. I locked eyes with Chase and said,

"Bring it Feldon!" Harvey tugged me away from both Hunter and Chase. Ember followed me rubbing my back soothingly. The cold wet meat was slimy but soothing as I pressed it to my eye. I was ranting again.

"Ember don't let him tell you what to do he's not the boss of you." She sighed and put a hand on my shoulder.

"I have never seen you two go at it before, what's up?" I glanced at her and then at the ground refusing to speak. Harvey was cleaning the blood off my cuts and he looked up into my face. He grunted as he stood up, heaving a gusty sigh.

"Chase and Mari have been rivals for a while, Ember." he said. She spun around and stared at me, "Is that true?" I didn't meet her eyes,

"Yes, it's true. We didn't want to upset you so we kept it hidden." I drank a swallow of water. She knelt down so she could look into my eyes.

"Why?" she asked. I mumbled,

"I dunno." She stared into my eyes and said,

"Tell me the truth, Mari. Why?" I sighed becoming less stubborn with each second.

"Because we both want you. In different ways yes, but we both want your attention and alone time and you know me I can't share so well. He sucks at it too." She shook her head.

"I'll make time for you both and you both play completely different roles in my life. I have to say though you in your current state need me more than he does." I smiled briefly and nodded my thanks then gave her a warm hug.

At dinner was the next time I saw Chase he had some ice on his nose and there was dried blood on his lower lip. I got up slowly and came up too him. He looked up at me his face turning upward into a half smile half sneer. I bent down and rubbed the blood off his lip. He looked surprised then pushed me backwards with the strength of irritation. I stumbled, and tripped over a stick and fell over backwards. I was up on my feet pretty quick. Kieran caught me in midair as I was leaping for Chase who had stood up. He snapped power cuffs on me. My energy immediately draining.

"Scuse me, while I deal with this" he pointed to me,

"dilemma." He laid me on the ground by the tall pillar of rock where we had our first eventful meeting. I struggled slowly up to my knees and leaned exhaustedly against the stone. He shook his head,

"Will you never learn to control your temper?" I swore at him and said,

"He freaking started it I was trying to be nice, but no he had to push me." Kieran shook his head again and, stuck out his hand, I reared slowly away as his fingers came towards my swollen eye. To no avail he probed gently.

"Ow, stop touching it! Owww, STOP IT!" He took his hand back.

"You have a nice arrangement of colors on that eye, yellow, blue, black and green." I did my best to give him a death glare with one eye. He smiled back at me.

"Take these off there sapping my stamina." I shook my hands and the cuffs clacked hollowly together. He sighed and said,

"Fine. Turn around." He fished around in his pocket for the key as I turned around. Finding it he unlocked them and they slipped off. I turned to face him again rubbing my wrists. He tucked the cuffs in his pocket and sat back down. I itched my eye and sat down too. He gazed warningly at me and said,

"Don't itch it." I itched it.

"Don't or I'll put them back on." I fidgeted and then itched. He grabbed at me but I stumbled backwards. I itched again. He grabbed and I jumped up. I made a run for it even though I had no chance of making it. He caught me in a matter of seconds his arms encircling my waist. I itched furiously in the last moments I had left. We made it back to camp. Ember saw us and jumped up stopping short to glance curiously at Kieran as to the predicament of my hands.

"She wouldn't stop itching." He explained. She smiled and I glared grumpily at both of them trying my hardest not to go insane with the need to itch.

"No one unties her hands until she can control that problem or else her eye will get infected and she'll go blind." To my annoyance everyone agreed. Rope is not exactly the best thing to tie me with. It's relatively easy to get out of hence me getting out of it within a few minutes. Ember forbid the power bands being placed on me saying we still had a long journey ahead and I needed my strength. I itched my eye when I thought no one was looking and was rewarded with silence. I itched again feeling bolder the third time however Harvey turned around and caught me in mid itch. He snatched at my hands and held them down by my sides. I screamed in frustration because it hurt it itched so bad. Harvey put some herbs on it that took away some of the itch. Which was good because I was really not digging the feeling.

Chapter 19

It turns out that the pillar and the cliff that had been a sentinel of the past few days drama was where we had to go. Everyone we had freed from Sagan were by now on Athera with those from our party we had left behind. In other words we were the stragglers. The task ahead was a big one. Seeing as no one could fly without being effected by the laws of gravity it was also dangerous. The cliff face extended down wards into a void of nothingness. Intercepting the void however was a plateau. It looked to be about 80 feet down from where we stood. We would repel down the cliff face and the have to swing over the 10- 12 foot gap onto the plateau. Ember handed me my bow and I strung an iron arrow, sighted and let loose. It flew out over the abyss and plunged into the rock face. The next ones followed in suit landing diagonally like stairs. I threw a knife at one of them it pinged off the arrow and hurtled down into the darkness. The arrow didn't even wiggle. I nodded my head in satisfaction, it wasn't going anywhere. Harvey passed me the rope tied to the next arrow. I angled my shot sideways and loosed. The rope sailed through the haphazard arrows and snagged on the ledge then came hurtling back towards me.

"Heads" I called. Everyone got out of the way of the flying missile. It thudded into the ground right by my foot. I bent down and tugged at it. Kieran bent down and tugged at it as well. Once we were sure it was solid and dormant, I straightened up and called everyone together.

"Alright I've made a sort of zip line across the gap when we get there. The arrows on the rock are not stairs but hand holds. We will be tied together for safety and balance. Look where you place your feet and hands. Do not be hasty. This is a tough climb. I will be stopping every once in a while to shoot more hand holds. Let's get crackin."

The first part of the climb was relatively simple everyone moved as one and we got half way down, when one of the arrows came loose. Several others began to wiggle dangerously. The whole group was in peril of falling into the void. A second arrow popped out of its place. I looked up at everyone else who was swaying back and forth. My eyes met only one persons. Chase locked eyes with me and I nodded at him. He looked back at Ember who had buried her head into his back. I unclipped the knife from my boot. He shifted Ember onto Harvey who took her with a small nod. He leaned down and reached for the knife I was holding. I clutched it, locked eyes with him. I dangled three feet below everyone else I was the reason we were slipping. He leaned farther down,

"Give it." he snapped. I made as if to give him the weapon and sliced through the rope that bound me to everyone else. I watched as the shocked look in Chase's eyes faded away as I fell into the void. I fell for at least ten minutes. My severed line snagged on a protruding rock. I gave a sharp intake of breath as the rope constricted on my stomach. It broke and I fell a foot. Landing in a heap in black sand. I lay there for what seemed like eternity. My head lifted and I sat up slowly staring around at my predicament. Black sand covered the ground. There was a tunnel and darkness lay beyond. The object that caught my attention the most however was a pool. It was the size of a big round kitchen table. The liquid was as still as death. The color as black and alien as the eyes of my demon form. I walked towards it, stopping at its edge to stare into the depths. As I stared into its surface it reflected to me back my face. Dirty and scratched, but another face appeared next to mine. Damien stared back at me. The only change was the fearsome scar across his neck. I tore my gaze away from the transfixing pool and turned around. He stood there at my shoulder. His complexion was full of static. He turned his gaze up to meet mine.

"This is not a coincidence." he said. His voice was a like hot wind blowing across the desert.

"Why am I here?" I asked in a hollow voice. He bent down and picked up a handful of the black sand.

"Time is running out. You must make the choice. This is your destiny." I watched him.

"What do you mean time is running out? What choice? What's my destiny?" I asked slowly. He let the sand dribble through his fingers.

"The demon will posses you as it does to everyone who has taken it on. Your time is running out." I opened my mouth to interrupt him, and he put a finger to his lips. I closed my mouth with a snap.

"The pool of souls can help or hurt you. To bathe in the water is to give up everything. To bathe in the water is to become human. You are 17 as an immortal. As a human you will be seven. You will die at a normal age. You will have no powers. No special ability. You will be fragile and breakable. You will forget everything, all your skills. Most of your family and friends. As a demon you will grow stronger and live to see your friends and family forever. You will never be able to love or stay in one place. When your human however you will watch your friends stay young as you grow older." He stopped talking and looked at me. I just looked at him. He held out his hand to the pool and in his other hand an hourglass formed. It was halfway empty as the black sand ran faster and faster with each second. I took one last look at Damien and myself, then slipped into the Pool of Souls. The black liquid sucked me down eating away my clothes. It reached into my soul ripping it in half and putting a replacement in. I broke the surface and climbed weakly up onto the bank.

The first thought I had when I opened my eyes was where am I? I looked around at my surroundings my dark green eyes sweeping the black sand and the looming tunnel. I looked down at my naked body. My hands were chapped and red. I let out a small sound.

"Mom? Dad?" It was eaten away by the darkness.

"Where am I? Is anyone here?" No answer.

"Help me." Nothing. I started towards the tunnel it was the only place to go. Reaching it I could feel alien pulsing. My breath froze as I entered and the darkness closed around me. I squared my shoulders and took another step forward. Then another and another. Things slashed and tore at me. I don't want to know what. My older sister Ember said they were nightmare creatures. I emerged from the tunnel covered in blood and bruises. My hair was hardly golden anymore. I was on a plateau. It was so bright I had to shield my eyes. A dark figure loomed over me. I screamed and stumbled backwards. He wrapped a blanket around me. Told me his name was Chase and that I wasn't to be afraid.

Chapter 20

I don't remember the rest of the trip. Just that we arrived at Athera and I didn't know anything. I remembered Ersken, Rockell and Ember and the History of Athera that's all.

Diary 1.

Today is June 16 it's my birthday and I'm turning 11 years old. My sister Ember tells me that I defeated Sagan and it's evil before I was turned human. I want to believe that I was that powerful so I do. I love my life it's care free and exciting at the same time. I live in the palace with my large family. Ember is 16 now every two earth years is one Atherian year. Anyways she and I are really close. Rockell is 18 now and she's pretty much my best friend. Love her to death anyways. Her "special" friend Jake I like him but he gets on my nerves a lot. Harvey is teaching me how to fight and handle weapons. I love training with him. Chase is still after Ember which I dunno why but it irks me. He drives me insane, One day I'll beat him in sparring. Kieran is Kieran. He's nice, sometimes. He doesn't really talk to me much. I can always feel him there though even if I can't see him. Peyton, Akayla and Hunter are still talking to each other which I think is good considering how much the argue. Cale is one of my buddies he always has time for me. Alex and Zander go around terrorizing other planets. Abbie and Riley are pretty much the happiest people in the world. Byron, Beck and Avery are observers I love talking to them because their great listeners. Kenna and Gwen are still drama queens, but I think that Athera wouldn't be Athera without them. Alice is amazing I love gardening with her. Molly and I have sort of grown apart so I don't really see her much anymore. Marie I saw her one day. I hardly recognized her and as I looked at her she disappeared, Rockell said she went back to earth. Aaron is the last one he is our handy man. He fixes everything electrical and not, well he even fixes things that aren't broken which sometimes isn't so good. Anyways that's about it I'm going back to earth for my birthday did I forget to mention that? Well I just did so obviously not. Okay well I saying bye now. Oh look I'm talking to a book now -.-

~Mari Sinclair

The trip back to earth was interesting being human and all that I had to hold onto chase, unfortunately. While we popped down. We walked into the woods on this path Ersken was right by me holding my hand. Strange images flashed through my mind. They were blurred and every time I tried to grasp at one it would float away and I would forget. The images increased when I saw the house and the woodpile. Somewhere I vaguely remember seeing them before being there, but I couldn't quite get a grasp on anything. Walking into the house I sat down on the counter and held my head as the images whooshed by unceasingly. I walked around the house and into a room. I bent down and opened a drawer. Inside was a small metal ball. I recognized it as a bullet. I picked It up and rolled it around between my fingers the images were now whipping by in a frenzied blur. A sharp pain flared from my finger, I looked down and saw the bullet had nicked it. I dropped it on the carpet and sucked my finger. More images. I wasn't going to tell anybody they would think I was crazy. I turned as Ember entered the room and watched her gaze around lovingly. Without thinking I brought my injured hand up and itched the tiny black spot on my shoulder that I assumed was a birth mark. A tiny drop of blood landed right on it. I took my other finger up to wipe it off and fell to the ground clutching my head. Ember ran over to me asking if I was alright. The images swarmed my vision finally making sense. I stopped trying to block them out and let my walls down. They poured in and enveloped me in a wave of memories. I came up from the floor gasping,

"I remember!" I said. Ember looked startled and asked,

"Remember what?"

"Everything!" I whispered. I gazed down at my seven year old body restored to me by the Pool of Souls. Every detail came back to me what happened on Sagan, who I was, what we all had been through. This was almost worse, having a 17 year old mind trapped in a eleven year old body. The last thing I remembered was the part of me I had given up. I was human. I had no powers no immortality and I was fragile. It bugged me a lot.

Epilogue

The night after I remembered everything I spent half a day trying to convince Ersken what human meant. He wouldn't believe me because he didn't want to. I hope he excepts it in time so it won't come as such a shock when I grow old and he stays young. We went back to Athera the planet that is in my control. I still have responsibilities to my people human or not. Kieran and I talk a little, but it's clear we have grown to far apart to mend the rift. Chase and I still have a love hate relationship. Jake and I are much better now that he and Rockell have quit fighting. Harvey is really the same as ever. I finally managed to beat Chase in a hand to hand combat match today which left me excited. When your human beating an immortal is really not that easy. I run every day to try and keep my stamina up. I have to eat so much more now and it irritates me. Life here at the palace and surrounding planetside has been peaceful. I have ordered our military system however to be on alert 24/7. Ember and I are as close as ever maybe even closer. At night during certain parts of the year when the sun goes down. A red moon is born and you can see the crumbled remains of Sagan in the distance. A reminder and a warning of the time and effort we spent Defying Chaos.

~ Mari Sinclair, August 26

11 years old physically, 17 years mentally.

Last Human Princess of Athera.