Chapter Ten: The Search.

Meanwhile, Daggeron was still fast asleep, when suddenly, Nick came bursting, "Daggeron!" In the blink of an eye, Daggeron awakened. "Daggeron, the others are gone!" Nick panted.

"What do you mean they're gone?" Daggeron asked, as he sat up.

"I found this on the table." He passed Daggeron a piece of paper, it read:

Daggeron and Nick,

Xander has run away, he said that the curse is starting to worsen. I've gone to find him, Bridge and Jack are assisting me, so don't worry about me, going alone. We'll contact you as soon as we find Xander.

Clare.

Daggeron got out of bed, and stormed out of his room. As Nick followed him, he asked, "Daggeron, where are you going?"

"I'm going to find them," Daggeron replied, as he ran downstairs. "We don't know how the curse is affecting Xander." Daggeron went up to Crystal Ball, to see where the others were. As Nick went up to him, he asked, "Did you find them?"

"I haven't got any traces of Xander, but I've found Clare and the S.P.D Rangers. With any luck, we'll be able to catch up with them. Then, Daggeron went up to the bookshelves, to find Jenji's lamp. But when he got there, his lamp wasn't there. "Have you seen Jenji?" Daggeron asked.

"No, not since last night." Nick replied.

"His lamp's gone." Daggeron started to worry.

Meanwhile, Clare, Bridge and Jack were walking through the forest, still searching for Xander, when Bridge suddenly stopped. "Guys, there's something yelling in my bag."

"Well, take it out." Jack replied, as he and Clare continued to walk. As he was walking, Bridge opened his bag, to see what the yelling was coming from, when he pulled out something. "Guys, I think I know where the noise was coming from." It was Jenji's lamp. "How did he get in there?" Clare asked, as her and Jack stopped.

Suddenly, smoke hovered out from the lamp, and Jenji came out. He started to stretch and spoke, "Finally, do you guys realise how uncomfortable it was, sitting in a bag with these heavy equipments?"

"Jenji, how did you get in there?" Clare asked.

"Xander had put me in there. He was really upset about something," Jenji replied. "I was only asking him if he was okay, then he told me to leave him alone, and he forced me into the lamp and stuffed me in the bag."

"Bridge, have you got any more readings from Xander?" Jack asked. Bridge placed the lamp on the ground, took off his left glove, and waved his hand. He detected an energy force. It was Xander's energy force, Bridge said, "I found him. Uh oh."

"What?" Clare asked.

As Bridge continued reading the energy force, he replied, "Some zombie foot soldiers are following him."

"They're Hidiacs," Clare corrected him. "Come on, we have to get to him, before they do." As Clare and Jack ran, Bridge picked up the lamp and forced Jenji into lamp. "Hey, let me out." Jenji yelled from the inside of the lamp. Bridge crammed the lamp back into his bag and caught up with others. They ran as fast as they could find Xander. Clare and Jack stopped when they noticed that Bridge had stopped. Jack turned round and asked, "Why did you stop?"

"I heard something." Bridge replied, "It sounds like, someone's…crying."

"Where?" Clare asked.

"From those trees." Bridge pointed to the left side of the forest. So they crept towards the trees, when the sobbing was getting louder. They saw a cloaked figure, sitting on a log, sobbing. Clare crept towards the figure, when she accidentally trod on a twig. The figure turned round in fright, they couldn't tell who it was, as the cloak's hood was covering the person's face. "Why did you find me?" The cloaked stranger asked. Clare recognised his voice, "Xander?" She asked, as she went up to him, to take a closer look, but he stepped back, "No, I can't let you see me." He spoke, "Not like this." Clare, who started to worry, went up to him again, and removed the hood from the cloak. It was Xander, she gasped. Bridge and Jack look shocked. Xander didn't look like himself. Instead of having brown eyes, he had piercing, red eyes. Xander covered his eyes with his Yellowish bone like arms. "Xander, we have to get you to Rootcore." Clare said, as she grabbed Xander's hand and pulled him.

"No," Xander replied, as he had let go of Clare's hand. "I can't take the risk of putting you all in danger."

"Xand-" Clare was about to answer back, when he interrupted, "No Clare, you have to leave, now."

"No Xander, we're not leaving you." Jack yelled, as he and Bridge walked beside Clare. Suddenly, Hidiacs jumped out from the bushes and surrounded them.