They all ate breakfast soon. After a while Cleo got up the courage to ask "Is the story of Evil and Beauty true?" Crispin looked up in surprise and Troy looked disturbed. They all looked at each other's reactions. "Tell me, are you by any chance, magically linked to anything?" Crispin asked Cleo suspiciously. "Uh no. Well I don't think so. But then again, whenever those beasts come around, I get really mad. And there was my hand, which doesn't hurt any more. But what's with the mark?" she replied wondering why he thought she was linked with magic because she asked about a story. "We don't know about the mark. But we do know the story of Evil and Beauty is true. You get mad, because you are feeling the beasts' anger." Troy said, still looking disturbed. "Are you sure you're not a wizard or something?" Crispin said, still suspicious. "Oh just drop it, detective!" Troy said. "What? It's not every day we all share the same dream. As far as we know, Cleo isn't a dream sharer, like us." "Dream sharer?" she asked, even more curious. "You see, dream sharers are people who are magically linked with certain other people. And well, those people share the same dreams or visions obviously. Crispin and I are dream sharers. Apparently you are too." Troy said. Cleo realized that she had gotten distracted. "What do you mean that I feel the beasts' anger?" Crispin answered this. "It is said that the third to become attacked is to have the curse of feeling others' pain. Whenever someone is in pain, you will feel it." "Third to become attacked?" "Yes, you are the third to become attacked. That mark on your hand; whatever attacked you gave you that mark. Whatever attacked Crispin and I gave us our marks. We know one thing for sure. I was the first one. Crispin the second, you the third. We also know that we aren't like any other normal people. No, we are very different. We don't have souls. Some people would call us the living dead." Troy said sadly. Cleo was shocked. She didn't have a soul! She was the living dead! Her mouth dropped open and tears swelled in her eyes, but none flowed down her cheeks. "The story of Evil and Beauty is indeed very true." Crispin said solemnly. Cleo looked at him. He was staring at the ground, unsettled. "And… Evil has come back to life. But Beauty has been living inside of all people with a soul. Evil is trying to kill us. She wants to control all magic so she can be all-powerful again. She will make everyone her slaves if we don't stop her. Those monsters are her personal servants. They will do anything she tells them to. Haman is her personal assassin. He is not the only one. She has many assassins. She hates us. (Oh my goodness!!!)
She is very powerful, and sometimes pretends to be something else. We are Beauty's descendants. We fight for Beauty." he finished. The tears in Cleo's eyes flowed down her cheeks. "So… we are fighting the battle of Beauty and Evil? Why was I brought into this? Why was I robbed of my memories? Why was I the third one? What's the deal with magic? I can't fight Evil! I can't really use my sword. My body has a mind of its own. I'm so afraid!!!" she sobbed. She felt a mixture of emotions. She felt mostly despair, but also anger, fear, and sadness. She scrunched up into a ball and hid her face. "How did Evil even come back to life again?" "We don't know." Troy said. "There are a lot of things we don't know." Crispin added. The boys tried to comfort her, but the tears just kept flowing from Cleo's eyes. After a while, she had no tears left. She looked up. It was evening. She had spent the whole day crying. The sunset was beautiful. Now she wished she was blind like Troy. But the whispering woman told her she didn't have a choice. If she didn't save them they would perish. In other words, if she didn't defeat Evil, the whole world would fall into slavery. She looked at Crispin and Troy. She smiled, for a sense of happiness and protection came to her. (Yay! A new emotion!) They smiled back at her. She knew they were her new friends for life. They trusted her, loved her, and would always look out for her. She forgot about her troubles and had a nice dinner with her friends for life. When Cleo and Crispin were finishing up their meals, (Troy had already gobbled his up and went to bed.) they had a nice chat around a small fire they had built. "Are you scared?" Cleo asked after a while. He stared at the fire. The light danced in his face, which was emotionless. In his mind, he was searching for the right words. "I guess we all are at least a little scared on the inside aren't we?" he finally said smiling oddly at her. "Yeah" she agreed. There was an awkward silence, so Cleo piped up. "So, do you think that we should get away from here tomorrow? I mean because if we stay in one place, Evil will know where we are and send people to attack us." She felt strange saying something like that. Crispin nodded, but said nothing. She could tell that he didn't want to talk about that right now. "We should probably go to Bandi." he muttered. Cleo just nodded, assuming Bandi was a city, town, or possibly a person. He sure just wanted to ignore reality and have a nice conversation with her. And she still wanted to know more about him. But she was a little scared to ask, because of his reaction earlier. She decided just to ask and get it over with. "Um… I was wondering… not to barge into your personal space or anything… it's OK if you don't want to answer" she stammered. Crispin gave her a look that read "You're crazy." and said "Yes?" Cleo had become uncomfortable and embarrassed by now. "Um…" She looked up at him. She noticed his clothes looked expensive and remembered that his sheath had rich jewels on it. "Where did you get your clothes?" she bursted out feeling stupid. Now Crispin's face read "She's a psycho, maniac!" There once again was an odd silence. Cleo turned away and hid her face in embarrassment. She had meant to ask him about his childhood. "Uh… that's not what I meant to say! Um… earlier Troy said that your life wasn't boring and, uh, I would like to hear it." she finally said feeling even more stupid. She accidentally had raised her voice. Her face was as red as an apple. (a red one) Crispin's face broke into a smile, and he laughed softly. Cleo grew annoyed at this. "What's so funny!?" she yelled. He just laughed harder. Cleo realized that she had been mean and apologized. "It's OK to be mad. Don't worry. And it's OK to ask me things…even if I don't want to answer. That's only human. And just because you don't have a soul, doesn't mean you don't have a heart. And your heart is pure human." he said. Cleo just couldn't help but to smile. She felt right. She felt like she was the place where she was supposed to be. She felt like she was loved. She felt at home. He smiled back at her. The horses came up to them. (I love the horsies.) They were happy. Nia, the extremely strange horse, licked Crispin on the cheek. He burst out laughing. Troy woke up and said in a grumpy voice "Would you kindly shut your mouth please?" Cleo burst out laughing too. She was grateful to be with her new friends. The horses seemed to be laughing also. The look on Troy's face said that he was laughing on the inside. Cleo was so happy that she could laugh with her friends. When the laughing finally stopped, they all fell asleep under a starry sky. That night they didn't share their dreams.
Cleo was sitting by a very small fire. She realized that she wasn't in her own body; she was in a stranger's. It was dark. The moon didn't shine. A sorrowful yet angry air hung around the stranger's body. She heard a raven calling in the distance. The stranger stood up and looked up to the dark sky. Normally Cleo wouldn't be able to in such darkness, but since she was looking through the stranger's eyes, she could see perfectly. The raven became visible. The stranger lifted its arm where the raven perched itself. It looked in the eyes of the stranger. Cleo saw what the stranger saw. She saw the raven's glazed, black eyes looking into the eyes of the stranger. They were pure evil, yet sad. It crowed loudly and flew into the darkness. Rage overcame the stranger. Lightning suddenly flickered in the sky. A slight roll of thunder echoed through the night. It started pouring rain, which put out the fire. The stranger growled and ran to follow the raven in the night.
Cleo woke up to hear thunder crashing. It started to rain. "Uh oh. That dream might've meant something." Crispin woke up saying"Ah! Wet! Wet! Rain!" Troy woke up and growled. "Great. Just great. It's raining. Just my luck." he said obviously annoyed. Cleo kind of liked the rain. It was the first time she had gotten to enjoy it. It was cool and refreshing in a way. "What time do you think it is?" Crispin asked. Cleo looked up to the sky, because Roy couldn't really see. (Remember?) All she could see was grey rain clouds. "No way of telling" Troy sighed grumpily and hung his head. They all got up and ran to the nearest source of shelter from the rain. Cleo had forgotten all about her dream. She and Crispin sat and watched the rain, while Troy listened. "I don't like rain. It makes continuous noise and all I can feel are little splatters everywhere. I can't see my surroundings very well. Plus it just makes me grumpy." he said and covered his ears. "Don't worry buddy. We'll lead you anywhere you need to go." Crispin said trying to make him feel a little bit better. "I don't like to be lead everywhere." he answered stubbornly. Crispin's face fell. "Whenever you're grumpy, I'm grumpy. So stop being grumpy." "I'm not grumpy." "Are too." "Am not." Are too." "Am not." They sounded like children. Cleo grew tired of their bickering and punched them both lightly on the shoulder. "Ow!" they said simultaneously. "Oh that didn't hurt." "Did too!" they said again simultaneously. Cleo sighed angrily. Then she caught herself. "Look at us. We're acting like little children. We're friends aren't we? So I say we cheer up." "How can we cheer up when it's raining?" Troy said still grumpy. Crispin nodded in agreement. "We just have to look at the rain in the right way." "How am I supposed to look at the rain in the right way if I can't see at all?" Troy retorted. "You know what I mean." she answered, refusing to get mad. "How can we look at it in the right way?" Crispin asked. "You can look at it the fun way." she answered wanting very badly to play a game of some sort. "Fun way?" Troy questioned. "Yeah the fun way." "What is the fun way to look at the rain?" Crispin asked. "Let me show you." she said happily and grabbed their hands. "What?" was all that they could get out before they were tugged into the rain. Wet rain drops splattered on their faces as they ran. Cleo didn't know where she was taking them, but she was enjoying the experience with her friends. Pretty soon everyone was enjoying it. The horses had come along too. They were all having a good time running into each other and racing. After a while, the rain slowed down somewhat. Cleo didn't know how, but they had ended up in a dark, gloomy forest. They were on a beaten path. Lightning raced across the sky and made a loud cracking noise. They all jumped. Cleo became uneasy and came closer to the boys. How did this happen? Was this even possible? What was going on? Nobody was having much fun now. "Well at least the rain slowed down." Crispin told Troy. Troy ignored that comment and said "Does this look familiar to you Crispin? It feels familiar to me." Crispin scrutinized the place. (Wordly Wise Word!) "You know, it kinda does." he finally said. Cleo's attention went to a bird flying in the sky. It called out. It was the raven from her dream! Everyone's eyes widened. "That can't be…" Troy said. "Ramona." Crispin finished. "I saw that bird in my dream last night! I'm so sorry I didn't tell you! I guess I just forgot. I'm so sorry." she said worried that they might be mad at her. "That's not our problem now. We need to get out of here and fast before that bird of hers gives us away." Crispin said and lead her the opposite direction of the raven. Thunder rolled loudly and lightning made a slapping sound. Cleo was the only one that jumped this time. The boys were too focused on getting away from the raven. Even the horses were determined to get out of there. "By the way, who is Ramona?" Cleo asked as she was being hurried along. "She's one of Evil's most dangerous assassins." Troy said in a voice full of worry. The rain picked up and out of her own worry, Cleo grabbed both of the boys' hands so Crispin could guide her and she could guide Troy. She knew he didn't want to be lead around, but she knew he was struggling, and didn't want him to fall behind or get separated. The horses just followed Troy. Suddenly Cleo felt sad. Out of nowhere, a lady with thick, red hair came to stand in front of them. She was dressed in gray battle armor. "Hello there, I think I will be sincere and introduce myself before I slaughter you all. I am Ramona, daughter of Reyson and Elaina. I fight for the Dark Queen. I am the Sage of Sorrow. It is a pleasure to meet you." she said to Cleo. She turned her gaze to Troy and Crispin. "Nice to see you boys again." was all she said. Crispin looked angry and gripped his sword, ready to fight. Troy was emotionless, but ready to fight if needed. Ramona's raven was flying overhead. Cleo became more and more sorrowful by the second. Ramona walked up to her. Her eyes were like the raven's as far as emotions. They were sad, yet evil. A smile came to Ramona's face. It was angry. "I've been wanting to meet you. I've introduced myself. Now it's your turn. I know your name, but who are your parents? Are they still alive? Where are they?" she asked. The sorrow flooded Cleo as she heard these words. She couldn't answer those questions. She knew nothing of her parents. As far as she was concerned, she didn't have any. "I can't answer those questions." she said, choking back tears. She wasn't going to let one of Evil's assassins see her suffer. Ramona laughed at this. Her raven landed in a nearby tree and crowed. "He has something to ask you." she said gesturing toward the bird. It crowed again. "He says he would like to know if you really think you can defeat the Dark Queen." she translated. Cleo let the tears flow. She couldn't hold them back. She didn't know if she could even survive the pouring rain and cold wind right now. Ramona smiled in amusement. Crispin got a murderous look on his face and brought the tip of his sword to her neck. She stopped smiling. "Crispin! Don't be so stupid." Troy said. Crispin ignored him and kept his pose. "Fine. If that's the way you want to do it, then let's get going." Ramona said looking down at Crispin's blade. Cleo wiped away her tears and unsheathed her sword. She could control her body this time. Troy copied. The raven crowed. Ramona somehow managed to kick Crispin and escape his blade. Something had changed about her. Her eyes were different. They were the eyes of a snake. She wasn't a human any more. She was a beast with qualities of animals. She seemed to know that Troy couldn't maneuver well in rain, for she lunged strait towards him with fangs and sharp claws. Without hesitation, Cleo ran forward and kicked her aside. She fell to the ground, but got back up with the roar of a jaguar. "Nice" Crispin said to Cleo. She had no idea what she was doing. And she didn't like the idea that she was hurting Ramona, but she was attacking one of her dear friends and she wouldn't tolerate that. Ramona roared again, but this time sounded like a tiger. Sorrow returned to Cleo and she froze. She remembered what Ramona had said. The words still stung as they were repeated in her mind. Meanwhile, Troy, Crispin, and Ramona were having an all-out brawl. (Wahoo! Yeah a brawl! I crave action!) After she had beaten the boys to the ground, Ramona froze and gazed at Cleo. Her evil snake eyes placed fear in her. They were both frozen and the only thing that could be heard was the rain. Ramona snapped out of it and growled like a cougar. Cleo was too sad to care. Ramona took advantage of this and rushed forward. "Well are you just going to stand there and do nothing while I clobber you? I've already knocked your friends unconscious. Well?" she screamed a deranged voice. Cleo didn't answer. She just stared at the muddy ground. Why didn't she have the love of parents? Why did she have to defeat Evil? She couldn't do it. An evil smile came to Ramona's face as she reached out and punched Cleo in the jaw. She had the strength of a mighty dragon. Cleo yelled in pain and fell in the mud. She felt so helpless. She faded in and out of consciousness. Ramona came to stand over her. She opened her mouth to say something but instead was kicked over by Nia. She had completely forgotten about the horses. They trampled her until she screamed "Don't think this will be the last time you'll see me!" She was covered with black smoke. When it cleared away, she had vanished. Cleo instantly snapped out of her trance of sorrow. Her first concern was for the rest of the team. She ran over to the boys who were still unconscious. She knelt by them. Suddenly Crispin awake saying "Ah! Wet! Wet! Rain!" Cleo couldn't help but giggle. She was no longer concerned for him in any way. He was alright. But what about Troy? Was he OK? Crispin was worried too. They both sighed with relief as he awoke. Crispin smiled and helped his friend up.