I'm so unbelievably sorry that I haven't updated sooner!
My computer didn't get fixed for a long time after I posted last, mainly because the tech that Dell sent, couldn't fix it. So I had to send it to a factory to have them fix it. I just got it back a few days ago, and now it has different problems! The battery won't charge, so they're sending another tech to fix it.
Needless to say, I have been having some problems with Dell...sigh...
But anyways, here's the update! (:
Chapter Ten—"I Don't Think So"
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeeep!
Nita ignored the sound, and then she realized that something about this was different from yesterday.
She sat up quickly, scanning the room.
She rubbed her eyes, trying to clear her fuzzy vision, and squinted at her bedside table, where her clock read 7:20. Nita blinked several times, and then looked at the table again, noticing a small piece of paper set next to the clock.
Dear Neets,
You fell asleep last night, and I thought it might be good if I changed the batteries in your alarm clock, so you could wake up on time, this time.
If you're reading this, it looks like it worked! Heheh…
Love you, and I'll talk to you soon
Kit
She smiled as she read it, and set it down again, next to the clock.
Kit? Nita asked mentally, sending the thought across his mind.
So it did work! Kit responded cheerfully, and good morning, Neets!
Morning, Kit. Hey, thanks. I owe you one.
Nah—we're even. Can I come over?
Do you even need to ask? I'll be downstairs in a few minutes.
Okay, Nita. Love you.
Nita grinned, and replied, I love you too, Kit.
Nita fished through her drawers—scowling at how disorderly they seemed to be, now—and found a pair of Capri pants that came to right below her knee.
She dressed in that, and also a blue-grey T-shirt that brought out the color of her eyes.
Nita stepped out of her room, almost running into Kit, who had just finished climbing the stairs. He looked her up and down, and smiled.
"You look lovely," he said, brushing a strand of hair away from her eyes, and leaning down to kiss her softly.
Though thoroughly distracted by intense emotion, Nita and Kit both heard the footsteps coming up behind them.
"Good morning," Dairine muttered gruffly, with a hint of pain.
They pulled apart quickly, but by the time they did, Dair was already stomping down the stairs.
Nita buried her face in Kit's chest as she looked after her sister, frowning.
"I don't know what to do with her," she whispered, "I just don't. I hope that we'll find Roshaun for her, today; but if we fail…I can't imagine how crushed she'd be then…"
Kit ran his hands over Nita's back in calming circles. "We'd better go downstairs, and start the mission," he murmured.
Nita shook her head. "Breakfast first!" she said simply. "I'll make pancakes," she offered, "do you want some?"
"Please and thank you," Kit grinned.
They climbed down the stairs, and went into the kitchen. Nita went to work on cooking pancakes, and Kit went to talk to a depressed-looking Dairine.
Dairine didn't even look up when Nita placed a plate of syrup-covered pancakes in front of her, or handed her a fork. She ate like a robot; absolutely no thought being put into her actions.
"Dair…" Nita started, but sighed when her sister didn't seem to notice at all. She rubbed Dairine's shoulder absentmindedly, and she and Kit started to eat their breakfasts.
"How soon are we going to leave?" Kit asked between mouthfuls.
"I dunno…Dairine? When do you want to start?"
"Twelve hours ago," Dairine squeaked, looking away from them.
"Dairine," Nita said sharply, "There's no way we could have started last night. We were tired; and needed rest. We'll do better now, than we would have then." She sighed again. "Let's start after breakfast."
"Okay," Dari muttered half-heartedly. She suddenly produced a small piece of paper from her pocket. Printed on it, was the basis of a spell diagram
"All I need is the location," she said. "There's a shield put into that, so that we can't be hurt. I added a mental shield as well, to try to keep the world from getting into our brains, but it won't work for long."
"You did all of that yourself?" Kit asked.
Dairine only nodded. "I wanted to be prepared," she mumbled after a while. "I'm done eating now," she added, "can we start now?"
"Sure," Nita and Kit both answered at the same time.
"Is the backyard okay?" Nita asked.
"Yes."
They went outside, not before Nita put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher and turned it on. They closed the sliding door behind them.
The grass they were standing in was worn down by all of the transports and other spells that had taken place here. There was a slight overlay building up, but nothing too thick to deal with.
There was a small explosion of air as Spot appeared next to them. Dairine bent over to stroke his sleek case, and then opened the cover.
Displayed on the screen, was the entire spell diagram that Dairine had written on the piece of paper. Nita reached to touch the screen, and entered the coordinates of the location.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kit asked quietly from behind them.
"Yes," the Callahan sisters answered together.
There was a whirring of the computer's motherboard, and then the spell appeared drawn out on the ground. The symbols of the Speech were visible in a pale, glowing, substance that seemed unidentifiable.
They stood at the edges of the diagram, and grabbed each other's hands unceremoniously. Spot scuttled to his own segment of the drawing, and sat there; tucking his many legs back into his case.
The wizards breathed at the same time, and then began.
In a matter of minutes, they were standing in the morphius universe; but it looked much different. It was plain, blank, white-ish colored space.
"Blank your mind," Kit said carefully as the echoes of their spell faded into the emptiness.
They didn't speak again, for fear of thinking something and having the world transform into something dangerous.
"Look there," Dairine said, seeing something in the distance.
Without a word, the three of them (with Spot in tow) headed towards the slight darkness. They felt the shields stretching with them, protecting them. Somehow, none of them noticed that the world was gently fading darker, and into color…
The four of them did stop, however, when they realized that they were walking on asphalt, not emptiness.
"What the…" Nita muttered, and forced her thoughts away from her, harder this time.
They were standing on a street, walking through a city of tall buildings. The buildings looked like they were made of glass, or crystal. They shined in the strange sunlight that fell on them.
"Is this Manhattan?" Kit asked. "Only changed?"
"No," Nita whispered, eyes wide. "This is...the mountain…"
"What?" Kit asked.
Dairine suddenly let out a cry, and pointed to the right. All of the wizards turned, and saw that distant flicker of color, a spot of pure gold.
Dairine was running, before she had even fully realized that she wanted to. Her body had registered it faster than her mind had.
She slowed as she came closer, having to catch her breath.
"Dairine!" Nita called as she and Kit chased after Dari, "Don't do that!"
"Sorry," Dair breathed, leaning her back against one of the crystal buildings. She turned her gaze back to the speck of gold, which was closer, now. It was a wooden park bench, with someone seated on it.
"Roshaun," she whispered, starting to walk closer.
"Not without us, you don't!" Nita said, grabbing her sister by the arm. "We shouldn't get separated."
"And we shouldn't be talking," Kit added. "I don't know why the world hasn't tried to kill us yet…"
"It's the mind shield I put up," Dairine said, "remember? It won't let it hurt us, now, but it will probably fall apart soon. I can feel this universe trying to break through it."
Dairine continued on her path towards the bench, which seemed quite out of place in this city of sparkling diamond.
When she was less than five feet away from the bench, she took a breath, and called out.
"Roshaun?"
His head turned, and his eyes met hers.
"Dhairine," he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. "Dhairine!"
She threw her arms around him without even thinking, tears starting to run down her face. She felt like an idiot, crying like that.
Normal Dairine wouldn't cry because she was happy; normal Dairine would smile, and say she was glad to see him again, and ask why the heck he'd disappeared when she needed him?
Apparently, she had stopped being 'normal Dairine' when she'd met Roshaun.
"I missed you," she whispered, and finally pulled back. He was smiling, it was true, but he looked like a mess. His clothes were faded and torn in many places, and his usually vibrant eyes seemed dull. Also, his skin was far too pale, and he looked much thinner, as if he was starving.
"Are you alright?"
"I am now, Dhairine," he said, and weakly pulled her against him. "You found me," he whispered, "Thank you."
She could hear his thoughts, now, and Dairine smiled as he kept repeating her name in his Wellakhit accent.
"Um…Not to interrupt, but we really have to hurry up," Kit said quietly.
"Of course," Roshaun said. Dairine took his hand, and tried to help him stand up, but he was still weak. In the end, he had to lean against her for support.
"We have to get back home," Dairine said, "Nita, do you have the diagram?"
Nita was interrupted by a bolt of lightning that flashed across the sky, and the crack of thunder that followed it. Then came the rain, pouring down in buckets.
They all felt like they couldn't breathe; there was no way to get out of the burst of water that was drowning them so suddenly.
The mental shield must be breaking, Dairine thought to all the others.
Coughing, Dairine managed to say, "Spot!"
Immediately, the rain stopped. Or, rather, there was yet another shield, which blocked it out.To a normal human, all they would see was a small computer, and a bunch of people who were somehow not getting wet. But to a wizard, they saw Spot holding up what was basically an umbrella of wizardry, and keeping them dry.
The scene of the city faded into nonexistence, and the water that poured down, suddenly transformed into the ocean. They were underneath the surface, in a bubble of air.
The water darkened, and an ominous feeling fell around them as they saw ten or eleven whale-shapes moving towards them.
"No," Kit said suddenly, "Not again!" He tried to turn away, but couldn't move
"Kit," Nita said, moving closer to him, "Hey, Kit, look at me!"
He looked up, and their eyes met, his relaxing a little.
"I'm here, Kit, and I'm alright. Nothing's going to happen, I promise," Nita said, putting an arm around his shoulder. He hugged her, and buried his face in her hair.
"I just…don't want to see that again," he mumbled.
"It won't matter," Nita said soothingly, "I'm here this time. This can't bother you if you know that I'm okay."
Thanks, Neets, Kit whispered to her, mentally, I love you.
I love you too, Kit, Nita said back.
Roshaun looked at Nita and Kit, and then back to Dairine. So they're bonded, now? he asked.
If you're asking if they're a couple, then yes, Dairine answered.
A couple, Roshaun repeated, trying out the phrase mentally. It's an appropriate phrase, I suppose.
There were a few moments of awkward silence, before Dairine felt Roshaun shifting his weight slightly.
Are you doing okay? Dair asked.
To tell you the truth…not really. I'm worried…about Wellakh. So much could have happened in the time that I've been gone.
Your parents miss you, Dairine said sadly. I was the one that went back and told them…that you were gone.
Thank you for doing that. They needed to know.
No problem, Dairine said.
"Hey," Nita said, pulling away from Kit, but taking his hand. "We need to leave, before something worse happens."
"Alright," the others answered.
"So, then. We have the diagram," Dairine said. "Let's go."
Nita hadn't even touched the charm on her bracelet, before a loud voice cut through the wet darkness.
"I don't think so."
Oooh, cliffy! And this time, not even I know what's going to happen next! (I'm still working on that one. Heh...)
Please review! It reminds me to update faster...I need to do that...
Farewell, until I update again!
Techno-Poet