Well um yeah, weird things afoot. Noticed that the reviews have dropped, its so lovely reading what you think, please be kind and drop one off for me. Thanks ^-^

Chapter 12 – That's different.

Isabela landed in mulch, she swore and got to her feet. She caught Merrill as she fell through the door, Sebastian and Fenris soon followed bumping into each other. Isabela looked around while the men wiped the gunk out their eyes. Fenris pulled a leaf out of his hair.

'So this is Sea.. Brook? This forest?' He asked.

'Uh I think so? She did say she fell unconscious in the woods, apparently she lives nearby,' Isabela wiped a bit of muck off Merrill's shoulder. She giggled happily rubbing her toes into the soil.

'It feels so different! I feel different,' she said.

'That's because there's no magic here,' Sebastian said kindly. Isabela began following the path hoping it would lead out the forest, they dutifully walked behind her looking around at their surroundings.

'Are there no spiders here?' Merrill asked.

'Yeah but apparently they get no bigger than your hand,' Isabela explained stepping over a fallen log.

'No wonder she screamed loudly when the last one popped up behind her,' Fenris reminisced. He slipped on some wet bracken, Sebastian helped him upright.

'Fenris? Have any idea what time it is?' Isabela said. She lent against a tree, Merrill took the moment to search for interesting flowers cooing when she found one. Fenris looked at the sky, he glanced at Sebastian who shrugged.

'I don't know,' he stated.

'What? Why not?'

He rolled his eyes, 'I don't know because 1. I can't see the sun, 2. Time may be different here, and 3. Why do we need to know?'

'She said that in the afternoons she usually went to Uni-vere-city, I'm worried that we might not be able to find her in time, I suppose the only thing we can do is try to find her house,' Isabela sighed. 'There's a gap over there,' she walked over to the thinning trees, brushing past some nettles she walked onto a field. The sun was low in the sky, so Isabela guessed it was about five in the afternoon being close to winter.

'uh guys,' she whispered.

'Yes? What's the matter?' Sebastian shook her shoulder, concern written on his face.

She said nothing but pointed down the field. Sebastian followed her wavering finger and his jaw dropped open, Merrill wandered over.

'What's the matter?' She looked at what they were staring at, she gave a small squeal of horror and fell onto the wet grass. Fenris grunted and held out his hand for her to take, Merrill raised a brow but took his hand and he helped her up.

'Wh-?' She began to ask.

'I would never hear the end of it if I didn't. Makatza would never leave it alone,' he interrupted. He glanced at what had transfixed the others in place, he crossed his arms and regarded it carefully.

'What is it?' He asked Isabela.

'I-I think it's a, a caar? A cart without horses she said, it rumbles, sounds like growling,' she whispered.

'Right well, this is getting us nowhere, come on lets find her and get out of this confusing place,' he rubbed his arms, 'my markings feel strange, I don't like it here, the quicker the better.'

Cautiously they walked down the field and around the shiny, metal car, they stared at the houses and various different decorations. The path felt hard and gritty underneath Merrill's and Fenris' bare feet, they followed the slight hill downwards. They saw more and more cars but thankfully they all seemed to be still. They passed tall stone posts with lights at the top, Merrill asked about them but Isabella shrugged.

The path rounded onto another and split four ways. Isabela pointed at a street sign, 'This is it! This is the place! This is her street, I remember!' She spun around trying to find Makatza's house.

'Eversley road?' Sebastian asked out loud. 'This is where she lives?' He looked at the lawns of other people's gardens, winter flowers bloomed everywhere, the street was quiet none of the cars were moving, he could hear a dog barking in the distance. 'It's a nice place.'

'Which house is hers?!' Isabela cried. There wasn't anyone they could ask either, the whole street was deserted.

'I suppose we'll just have to call each house and find out,' Merrill chipped in.

They all looked at Sebastian, 'What? Why are you staring at me?'

'We have two elves and myself, they stick out a bit and I'm fucking freezing, so my temper, well I don't have one at the moment, also I went head first into that bloody mud so you will be the one calling on people,' Isabela said grumpily.

'But I-'

'Do you want to find her?' Fenris asked.

'Of course!'

'It's settled then, we're going to sit on this wall and watch you,' she grinned, 'no fear!'

Merrill handed a bunch of small flowers to Isabela who began to weave them into the excited elf's hair, Fenris watched as Sebastian wandered up a small cobbled path and knocked on the door. A old woman opened the door, Sebastian bowed slightly and began talking. The old woman replied. After a lot of nodding and cheek pinching, Sebastian was let go. He walked as fast that was as politely possible away from the house.

He crossed the road toward them rubbing his cheek. Before he could speak a car drove past behind them, the sound made all of them stand completely still. Isabela looked pale.

'They live with this? Bugger that, what did you find out?' She rubbed some life into her hands.

'She didn't know her by name but she said that there was a woman on the corner who runs an orphanage, she knows all the local children around here. I think it's in our best interest to go ask her,' Sebastian said calmly.

'Right that's our next stop, where is it?'

'Just there,' he pointed to a house surrounded by hedges. Isabela felt nervous, if this woman knew were Katza was then there was a chance to take her back, they just had to convince her to come. She could feel her breathing become erratic. Shakily she opened the gate and read the sign, the paint looked fresh, always a good sign.

Without prompting she knocked on the door.

… … … … …

'Makatza!' Ami yelled.

'Yes Ami?' She replied.

'Can you do my hair?' She pleaded.

Makatza nodded and motioned her toward her own room. Ami had changed since Makatza's accident, it had shaken her a bit, she had calmed, her bad language disappeared and her attitude changed over night. She sat excitedly at the end of Makatza's bed and turned on her hair straighteners.

For the first time in almost a week Makatza felt happy. The voice's had vanished, which meant the insistent headache had gone as well. True she felt slightly out of sorts still but that was to be expected when coming out of a coma.

'Are you feeling ok Katza?' Ami asked.

Makatza ran a brush through her blonde locks, 'yeah I'm fine,' she grinned cheekily. She put down the brush and decided to put the radio on. She turned up the volume and picked up the straighteners.

Yep I feel fine. For the first time since I don't know when.

'Did you take the boys to town yesterday?'

'Yeah they traded in some games, the ones they hadn't played.'

'Oh anything good?' She asked nonchalantly.

'Just some RPGs, now all they've got is racing games,' she shrugged, 'the usual.'

Well that takes one load of my mind, couldn't bare having it under the same roof.

Someone knocked on the door, Makatza looked at Ami who shrugged again, 'it's not for me. Jason isn't coming for another half an hour yet.'

'Oh well, mama will get it.'

… … … … …

Isabela stamped her feet, 'come on, it's cold.' They could hear some type of music floating out a top window. Merrill began to hum along when she gathered the gist of the tune.

The door opened and a woman was clutching a cup of tea in her hand. She smiled warmly.

'Yes can I help you?'

'Is this the orphanage?' Sebastian asked.

'Yes dear, what can I do for you?' She sipped her tea.

Isabela flicked her hair over her shoulder, 'do you know a young woman called Makatza? She has one blue and one brown eye, long hair, 'bout 5'8'' roughly?'

The old woman smiled, she looked Isabela up and down, she then did the same to the others. 'I bet you've travelled quite a way.'

'You have no idea,' Fenris muttered.

'Well you better come inside, I have a pot of tea on the go,' she motioned inside her house.

'I'm sorry but we're on a time limit, do you know where she is?' Sebastian apologised.

'Yes dear, that's why you better come in.'

Isabela shrugged and stepped inside the warm building. Fenris stopped in his tracks when he smelt the air. There was a perfume he recognized. A very familiar perfume. He smiled privately to himself knowing that it wouldn't be long.

Sorry I know that their reactions to our world isn't very like OMG! But Makatza has told Isabela a lot about our world, Isabela has passed on her knowledge so they were aware of things. Seabrook is a real place and I used to live there as a child so all these places are real, apart from the orphanage, that's my parents house lol :3 Please leave a review!