Yeah yeah I know this is a relatively quick turnaround but I start school next week and I wanna get this out there before I'm stuck in the misery of two labs a week. *Shudders as tries to hold back tears* Just thinking about a whole year of organic chemistry and biology makes me wanna cry. *Takes a deep breath* Come on littlegirlwarrior! You can do it! Don't let it get to you! *Stops crying* Okay...I think I'm good now. Whew. Anywho, what were talking about before my emotional breakdown?
...
Oh right the story! My bad! As I was saying, the motivation to update this story before moving into my new sophomore dorm wouldn't be possible without the help of my amazing reviewers: Watership's Nightwish Rat (while bringing in Starfire and the Teen Titans would be an epic twist, I don't see that happening...but I love your enthusiasm!), Blindluck92 (love ya bro, but this is a spoiler-free zone...unless I'm the source of those spoilers), Superfan44 [(you're absolutely right on every count (and don't worry about Siria cuz we'll definitely be seeing her again)], Carlisle Fan 22 [woohoo glad I can still throw those literary curveballs (and I thought you might enjoy the Silver and Gold thing...especially considering that used to be your guest name when you left reviews on Something Greater Than Treasure)], Alice Gone Madd [not as cool as seeing a new face on my review history :)]
Disclaimer: even though I didn't get the scholarship I totes deserved, I still have this story!...which I don't own either...wow that's a let-down
*0*0*
True to his word, Silver pulled just the right strings and by dusk, he was taking off from the Benbow Inn and riding to Montressor Spaceport in his dinghy. The flight itself was pretty quick and Silver spotted his vessel immediately, but he had to take some extra time to fly over the nearby docks and use his cyborg eye to scan for any security cameras or night guards. Once he determined it was safe, Silver landed his dinghy right next to the ship, which was not that much smaller than the RLS Legacy but it could be maintained by a crew of, oh, five or so.
Silver grabbed his supply bags, pulled himself out of the dinghy, and was about to board his new ship when he froze in place. "You can come out now," the cyborg called out with a smirk.
The shapeless lump of blankets and sails on the dinghy swayed and shuddered before four heads popped out from underneath.
"Psh! Whaaaaat?! This isn't my bedroom!" Skylar scoffed in a high-pitched voice. "I must be...sleepwalking!" Skylar closed her eyes and stuck her arms out like a zombie.
"Us too!" Blaise and Marina quickly agreed as they mimicked Skylar's actions.
Silver raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Get out from under there."
The four kids climbed out from the dinghy to face their cyborg grandfather. On the upside, at least most of them were dressed for a summer of adventure. Adam was wearing a fitted pale green t-shirt and baggy forest green cargo pants tucked into his mud-coated brown work boots; Blaise had on a baggy red t-shirt, black basketball shorts, and his red and black sneakers; and Marina was dressed in a white and blue t-shirt, skinny jeans, and knee-high grey boots. Skylar, on the other hand, looked so much like her mother from the Treasure Planet voyage in her black denim shorts over grey knee-length leggings, black leather fingerless gloves, calf-high black leather heeled boots with purple laces, and loose but fitted purple short-sleeved shirt with a wide neck that showed her hot pink sports bra.
As usual, Adam was the one who knew they were busted and took responsibility for their actions. "How'd you know we were here?" the blonde boy asked plainly.
Silver chuckled. "Oh please! Like I didn't know what you kids were up to this mornin'."
"Um, Sky?" Marina stammered. "I-I'm not so sure this is a good idea."
"Come on, Rina. It'll be easy," Skylar insisted as she attached the listening device to the waistband of Marina's raindrop patterned-pajama pants. "I have to know what Dad and Pops are up to down there. You wanna help Mom, don't you?"
"O-Of course I do, but-"
"No buts!" Skylar interrupted. "Now lets go."
The two sisters tiptoed across their room - Jim and Siria's office was directly below them so they had to be careful - and Skylar slowly turned the doorknob to find their brothers standing on the other side of the door. Skylar and Marina flung their hands over each other's mouths to muffle their frightened squeals.
"What...are you doing here?!" Skylar hissed as soon as she caught her breath.
"Oh please, Sky," Adam replied. "I've known you your whole life and you've never been able to resist snooping around in other people's business."
Skylar crossed her arms over her chest and curled her lip in offense. "I do not do that!"
"Oh really? Then how do you always know everything that's going on in the house?"
"Teenage girl intuition," Skylar shrugged.
"Uh huh," Adam muttered skeptically. "And how is it that every year on your birthday, you always seem to know exactly what your presents are?"
Skylar pressed her lips together as she averted her gaze. "So now what? You gonna go rat me out to Dad?"
"No..."
"We're gonna help you!" Blaise chirped.
Skylar's jaw dropped. "Say what now?!"
"Follow me." Adam led his younger siblings to the top of the staircase, which overlooked Jim and Siria's office, and crouched beside a potted plant in the hallway. "Okay, so I'm gonna make these vines grow long enough and strong enough to use as a harness and lower somebody down right outside Mom and Dad's office so we can hear what's going on. Skylar, you can use your air powers to levitate the harness above the ground so the plant doesn't get pulled over the banister. Now, we're gonna need a volunteer eavesdropper. It would have to be someone really small and light so the vines can hold them..."
Skylar caught on to Adam's idea. "And it would have to be someone who's really good at being quiet..."
Adam, Skylar, and Blaise all turned and stared directly at Marina.
"Uh oh," the blue-haired girl squeaked.
Within a minute, Marina was wrapped in vines and dangling outside the office door while her siblings held on tightly to the second-floor railing. She was there just in time to hear Silver's proposal.
"If I leave now, I can find myself a ship an' leave for Elementia by nightfall," Silver said to Jim.
"But what about a crew?"
Silver's good eye flickered toward the door as he recognized the sound of soft breathing and vines rubbing over the wooden banister upstairs. The cyborg smirked. "Oh I don't think I'll have a problem findin' a crew."
Marina gasped and hastily yanked on her vines. Adam nodded at Skylar, who took a deep breath and slowly raised her hands, which caused Marina's harness to gradually lift toward the ceiling.
"Good, good," Adam whispered. "Just make sure we get her out of there-"
"Get some sleep, Jimbo," Silver echoed from the other side of the office door. "I promise everything'll be fine."
Marina squeaked in panic. "Pull me up, pull me up!" the blue-haired girl hissed.
"Gah!" Skylar exclaimed as she was pulled out of her peaceful state, causing her gentle breeze to turn into a strong wind that flung Marina up over the stairs and into the second-floor hallway.
"...unnoticed," Adam finished lamely.
All four siblings were on the floor groaning because when Adam's vines and Skylar's winds slingshotted Marina over the railing, she had landed right on top of her brothers and sister. All of a sudden, the office doorknob clicked.
"Quick, hide!" Skylar ordered as she shoved her siblings down the hall and crawled out of sight.
Silver stepped out of the office, glanced up the stairs, and chuckled softly before walking out into the dawn. He'd give his grandkids props for actually working together and using their powers to eavesdrop, but as for their technique, sloppy.
Once they heard the front door close, the four Hawkins kids finally released the breath they'd been holding. Adam held a finger to his lips then jerked his head toward his and Blaise's bedroom. The other three nodded and silently crept into the boys' bedroom, where they waited for Adam to close the door before saying a word.
"So?" Skylar prodded. "What'd they say?"
Marina chewed on her lip nervously. "PawPaw's going to go get the fountain water for Mommy."
"He expects to get to Elementia, find some legendary fountain, and make it back in three months?!" Skylar sputtered.
Marina nodded grimly.
Adam sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "So what do we do now?"
Skylar's frown suddenly turned upside down into that Cheshire Cat grin.
"What?!" Adam defended.
"You said 'we'! You're officially in! Awesome!" Skylar celebrated.
"Only for Mom's sake!" Adam insisted. "If she weren't lying down the hall in a coma, I would never go along with one of your stupid plans."
"Hey! At least listen to my plan before you judge it as stupid!" Skylar argued.
"Let me guess, it goes a little something like this: you take the twins, sneak on to Silver's ship, disappear for three months, somehow find the fountain water to save Mom, and leave me here to cover for you?" Adam proposed.
"Psh no!" Skylar denied. "Well everything except the last part."
"Huh?!"
"We're not leaving you behind...you're coming with us."
"There is no way I'm taking part in this!"
"Hey! If Dad sees they're gone, he'll blame me, then I'll figure out a way to blame you. We are all in this together!" Skylar hissed. "Besides, Silver's gonna need all four of us if he wants to get anywhere near that fountain."
"And you know this how?" Adam challenged.
Skylar gestured for the others to follow as she snuck down the hall into Jim and Siria's bedroom. Trying her hardest not to cry at the sight of her unconscious mother, Skylar crept over to the picture frame and began punching in the button sequence. "Um, hello? Have you ever heard of a story where only three elements were needed? No! It's always four!" The safe door swung open to reveal the knives of the Elemental chiefs. "If Silver's going to Elementia, so are we."
"'What Darkness takes away, the Fountain restores at tenfold. The powers of the Four will reawaken in the One, and the treasure will become far greater'," Adam recited.
"What the heck was that?" Blaise questioned.
Adam furrowed his brow like he was finally putting together the puzzle pieces. "I heard Mom say it to Dad after the twins were born. She said it was the last part of some prophecy...and now I realize it meant us." Adam reached into the safe and pulled out the bronze and emerald box.
Skylar followed Adam's lead and pulled out the diamond-encrusted black steel box, and the twins did the same with their gold and ruby and silver and sapphire boxes. The two older siblings locked eyes and silently called a truce until they saved their mother.
"Everybody go pack your backpacks," Skylar spoke up. "It looks like we're taking a little road trip this summer."
All four Hawkins kids stood slack-jawed on the dock as Silver simply strolled up the gangplank.
"Come on, then! Make yourselves useful!" Silver ordered. "Those supplies ain't gonna carry themselves!"
After recovering from their shock of being caught, the kids slung their backpacks over their shoulders and gathered bags, boxes, and barrels of tools and rations for the journey.
"The S.S. Booty Hunter?" Skylar read off the side of the ship before casting a look of disapproval at her grandfather. "Really, Pops?"
"Hehe booty!" Blaise chortled like the eleven year old boy he was, earning him an elbow-jab to the ribs from his twin sister and an eye-roll from his big brother.
"In me defense," Silver pointed out, "this ship don't belong to me. I borrowed it from a friend of a friend."
"Yeah well your friend-once-removed is either a perv or a pirate," Skylar retorted.
"Can't afford to be picky 'bout your friends when you're a fugitive," Silver muttered.
Skylar shrugged in surrender and continued to carry the barrel up on deck.
"So let me get this straight: you're not sending us back home to Dad?" Adam spoke up in disbelief.
"Hey, when I told your dad I had a crew in mind, I meant it. Now don't go makin' me a liar and prepare for takeoff!" the cyborg grunted as he dropped a load of boxes on the ship. "Besides, Jimbo took that trip to Treasure Planet when he was 'bout your age. What kinda grandpa would I be if I denied ya your rite o' passage?"
Silver and his adopted grandchildren finished unloading the supplies from the dinghy on to the S.S. Booty Hunter. The cyborg gave each of the four schoolkids instructions and assignments for takeoff and, as they moon rose in the night sky, the five adventurers took off for Elementia with a...
0*0*0
BANG!
"Gah!" Jim exclaimed as he rolled off the couch and landed face-first on the family room floor.
"Oh my gosh!" Melody gasped before she rushed forward to help Jim off the ground. "Uncle Jim, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to wake you up!"
"It's okay, Melody," Jim groaned as he managed to get to his feet, letting out a soft chuckle at the fact that even at seventeen, his goddaughter - the daughter of his best man - still thought of him like an uncle. "You're always welcome in our house. How's your head?"
"Just a little scrape to the forehead so no concussion," Melody explained as she gently touched her fingers to the gauze bandages above her eyebrow. "The doctors suspect the cause of my pain was actually from the volume of the blast."
"Oh yeah. I forgot that you singers have keen senses of hearing. Any damage to your eardrums?"
"Well they sedated me until they checked my brain condition and the ringing in my ears went away and then kept me for a twenty four hour observation period before releasing me this morning, but luckily there wasn't any permanent damage."
"Wait, twenty four hours?!" Jim interjected in disbelief. He quickly checked his watch and saw that, indeed, it was nine in the morning...on June 11th...two days after the twins' birthday. After Jim and Silver had their little meeting the previous morning, the depression part of the five stages of grief set in and Jim spent most of the day locked up in his office drinking the wine left over from the party. His only comfort was that his kids knew how to fend for themselves [Pol Prep had a mandatory life skills class (cooking, housework, basic plumbing and mechanics, etc.) so students would know how to take care of themselves in case their parents were ever called out on an emergency mission]. He figured he'd probably crashed on the couch in the family room when he was too drunk to make it upstairs. Jim had been asleep for over twelve hours...and now he had a massive hangover.
"Anyway," Melody continued, "I leave for my opera fellowship in a few days and Adam promised we'd be spending those days together. I tried calling him, but he didn't pick up so I got worried. Have you seen him?"
Jim rubbed his eyes to soothe the pain of his throbbing headache. "He's probably still asleep or helping repair the garden over at the Inn to ease his mind."
Melody chewed her lip nervously. "I just came from the Inn...he isn't there."
Jim's eyes widened in panic. "Oh God no! Please please no!"
The dark-haired man flew past Melody, ran upstairs, and knocked on Adam and Blaise's door. When there was no reply, Jim swung the door open to find empty beds and missing backpacks. He immediately did a 180 and barged into the girls' room, only to see the same thing. Jim could feel his heart racing as he rushed down the hall into his and Siria's room.
"No no no no no no no no..." the panicking father muttered pleadingly as he punched the code into the picture frame. But the safe - all the knives along with Siria's files and research - had been cleaned out. "NO!"
"Uncle Jim?" Melody spoke up timidly.
Jim spun around, his face similar to that of a wild animal.
"I found this in Adam's room. I think you should see it." The mulatto girl held out a folded piece of paper.
Jim took the letter, his fingers fumbling as he tried to unfold it, and immediately recognized his oldest son's handwriting. He could almost hear Adam's voice as he read it over.
Dear Dad,
We're so sorry for leaving you at the time when you need us the most,
but we don't regret our decision. Right now, we have to do everything
in our power to help save Mom, even if that means going to Elementia.
We know about the Prophecy...and now we understand our role in it.
You did your part to protect our family for all these years and now it's
our turn to step up to the plate. We love you, Dad, and we promise
not just to come back alive, but to come back with the cure for Mom.
Love,
Adam, Skylar, Blaise, and Marina
One of Jim's tears dropped on the paper and blurred the ink, causing Jim to fold the letter back up and tuck it in his pocket. "Did you, uh, did you get anything, Melody?" Jim choked out.
Melody gave him a small smile as she held up a second note with her name on it. "Yeah," she murmured, "but I figured I should give you yours first...save you the pain of not knowing."
Jim couldn't even come up with the right words to express his gratitude, so instead he wrapped his arms around Melody and held her close. With his wife in a coma and his children who-knows-where in the galaxy, Jim felt the need to hold on to any family he had left.
*0*0*
"Are we there yet?" Blaise piped up.
"No," Silver replied from his place at the wheel.
The other three Hawkins kids groaned. This right here was the very reason their parents had stopped taking them on vacations that required long trips. Not being near a sun or moon made it difficult to determine time, but according to Silver's inner clock, they had only taken off less than two days ago and already Blaise was getting antsy.
Blaise nodded in understanding and decided to take in the scenery. However, since they were floating around the endless black void of space, that didn't take long. "Are we there yet?"
Adam took a breath. "Not yet."
Blaise climbed up on one of the ropes hanging from the mast and swung around on it. "Okay, are we there yet?" he asked in a lilting voice.
"No," Marina answered instead.
"Are we there yet?"
"No!" Silver insisted.
"Are...we there...yet?!"
"Yes!" Skylar chirped.
"Really?" Blaise responded with a grin.
Skylar waved her arms around in front of the star-littered sky with not a planet in sight. "No!" Skylar retorted.
"Are we there yet?!"
"No!" Adam snapped.
"Are we there yet?!"
"No we are not!" Marina dismissed.
"ARE WE THERE YET?!"
"NOOOO!" Silver, Adam, Skylar, and Marina all yelled together.
Blaise grunted and crossed his arms over his chest with a pout. "I'm sorry, guys. I'm just so dang bored!" the red-haired boy said as he stomped his foot for emphasis.
"Well...find a way to entertain yourself," Adam proposed in a forced-calm voice. "Like finding out what happened to the two missing rations of food?"
Blaise shuffled away, muttering something under his breath about Adam probably taking the extra food for himself.
"Or..." Skylar spoke up as she stealthily reached behind her for two pieces of wood, suddenly feeling guilty for snapping at her baby bro, "maybe it was the Pirate Ghost! The one who steals food from little boys who repeatedly ask if we're there yet! En garde!"
Skylar tossed one of the wooden "pirate swords" to Blaise and the two of them started having a pretend swordfight, throwing in mispronounced fencing terms as they battled on deck. Eventually, Skylar let Blaise knock the wooden plank out of her hand and she "stumbled" on to the deck.
"Prepare to die, Pirate Ghost!" Blaise announced as he held his wooden weapon to Skylar's throat. "I mean...die again!"
"You think you're so clever, young swashbuckler?" Skylar challenged in a deep and dramatic voice. "But you've forgotten my real power: the tickle cannons!" Skylar grabbed hold of Blaise and the two of them rolled around the deck as the Air Elemental proceeded to tickle her little brother into submission.
Suddenly, the two siblings rolled into one of the barrels and knocked it over to reveal a stowaway with purple eyes and long black hair.
"Jaz?!" Blaise exclaimed at the sight of his buddy.
"Hi," Jaz replied timidly.
Silver couldn't believe this was the same girl he met at the party just a few days ago. While that Jaz had been all pink and frilly and girly, this Jaz had her messy black hair tied in a ponytail underneath her backwards bright green baseball cap and she was wearing a white sleeveless shirt, a dark green vest, tight brown cargo shorts, and bright green high-tops.
"What are you doing here?!" Blaise questioned in shock as he helped Jaz to her feet.
"I came to help my best friend," Jaz stated, putting her hands on her hips to make her look more serious.
"I can't believe this," Silver muttered as he walked down to the lower deck.
"I know!" Adam agreed. "How are we gonna explain this to her parents?!"
"No, not that!" Silver dismissed. "I can't believe that one girl did a better job sneakin' aboard than four kids! And not just any kids, but the kids of two of the Academy's top graduates...and who have Elemental powers!"
The four Hawkins simultaneously ducked their heads in shame.
"Not to rub it in," Jaz added, "but it was actually two kids."
"Two...kids?" Skylar repeated warily. "Who's the second one?"
Jaz grinned apologetically and pointed upward. The cyborg and the Elementals turned around and looked up to see a winged Hispanic teenager waving from his hiding place in the crow's nest. He was wearing a black tank top, ripped fitted jeans, and dark brown combat boots.
"At least now we know what happened with the missing food," Adam spoke up as an attempt to ease the inevitable tension.
"Please tell me I'm dreaming," Skylar pleaded as Tigre flew down from the top of the mast. "Please tell me this is a dream and that if somebody pinches me, I'll wake up and he'll go away."
"Sorry, mi cielo," Tigre replied with a smirk, sounding not at all sorry as he pinched Skylar's cheek teasingly. "But it looks like you're stuck with me."
0*0*0
Before you think anything, that part about Jim getting drunk is not to make him look like a bad father! He's just trying to deal with the loss of his best friend/soulmate. I can promise you right now that Silver and the kids will not come back from Treasure Planet to find Jim drowning himself in alcohol or anything like that. From this point on, no more depressed-drinking for Jimmy because he's way too good a person for that to happen. His method on coping from here on out will be trying to keep his life as normal as possible, which means going to work as usual but using every spare second to tracking down Gold and finding a way to charge him with as many felonies as Jim can come up with.
Oh I forgot to mention at the beginning of this chapter that I don't own the two Alex Russo quotes I borrowed from Wizards of Waverly Place for Skylar (expect several of those because Alex and Skylar are practically the same person in completely different universes) nor do I own the famous scene I used from Shrek 2 (it just popped into my head suddenly as I was writing that section and I ran with it). Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter because it's the last update of my summer vacation. Dang that went by quicker than I expected but I guess time flies when you're makin' minimum wage. I love each and every one of you readers and please don't forget to leave reviews.