This is a dramatic chapter of awesome!

Callypso: How modest.

Kat: Especially for someone who has procrastinated this chapter for such a long time.

SILENCE!

Jo: REVIEW!

I was so dazed by Basta's rage that it took me several minutes before I could finally raise myself to my feet. And even then I could only hover for a few moments before I started walking back through the trees.

It was safe to say that Basta had terrified me back there. Never before had I seen him so angry and that was saying a lot because he had gotten angry plenty of times. I still felt myself trembling from the encounter.

My mind was in such a rush I didn't even realize that I had been going the wrong way until several minutes later. I stopped and looked around. It was getting close to dark… and I was lost.

"Shit." I muttered. "Why the hell wasn't I paying attention?" I looked around for some land mark that might tell me where I was. But I could find nothing. I looked back the way I came. Maybe I could re trace my steps? Of course I hadn't been paying attention to where I was going in the first place so that wouldn't be much help.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect you to be alone out here." A voice said from behind me.

I whirled around… and froze. For a moment I could only stare at the figure who had come out of the trees. Slowly I opened my mouth to speak. "I… William?"

The boy did look almost exactly like William. The same hair, the same age, the same look. The only discernable difference was the eyes. William's eyes were a warm brown. This boy's eyes were a frightening dark green.

He cocked his head to the side, observing me in a way that I could only compare to a snake. "William?" There was a long pause before he smirked. "Of course. You must be confused. I heard he was once imprisoned in the village. You must have met him them. But I am not William."

"Who… are you?" I asked slowly.

He gave a mocking sort of bow. "I am William's twin brother. My name is Drake. It's very nice to meet the old writer."

"Jo have you seen Callypso?" Kat asked nervously.

Jo stared at her before rising to her feet. "She's not here?"

"She said she was going for a walk an hour or so ago." Kat licked her lips. "And… it's almost dark and she's not back."

"Why did you let her go off on her own?" Jo said. "She probably got lost or…"

"Kidnapped." Kat whispered. "Oh, no."

Over Jo's shoulder she saw Basta coming through the trees and she hurried over to him. "Hey, have you seen Callypso."

Basta stared at her for a moment before he answered. "She's not here?"

"No she's been gone for an hour or so." Kat was starting to feel panic rise up in her chest.

There was only a brief second's pause before Basta turned and was running back through the forest.

"Hey wait!" Kat called. But he didn't turn back. So she had no choice but to run after him.

First thoughts about Drake? Bad freaking news. Not only was a pretty sure that he was with Capricorn but I was also pretty sure that he was going to hurt me. There was a glint in his eyes that made me shiver. A sadistic gleam. Like he was looking forward to making me suffer.

I didn't see any of his allies in sight. But that was the only plus side.

"You're… his twin brother?" I whispered.

Now Basta's question to me a week ago in the car made sense.

"That boy… does he have a brother?"

Basta must have known who this was. That's why he asked. And anyone that Basta knew was bad news in my mind.

"That's right." Drake said, taking a step towards me. I took a step back, swallowing. He smirked. "You look nervous sweetheart." I flinched and he laughed. "Yes, I know you loathe that nickname. As you loathe all nick names given to you."

"How?" I choked out.

"I am mind reader, little writer." Drake took another two steps forward. I stumbled back into a tree. The closer he got to me the more my heart pounded a little faster in my chest. "I can read your thoughts right now. And you're terrified aren't you?"

I swallowed and shook my head, trying to look him square in the eye.

Drake chuckled softly, continuing his steady pace towards me. "You're lying. You are afraid of me."

I swallowed and tried to step further back. But the tree was still there. My way was barred. Drake was smirking as he stopped right in front of me. Instinctively I threw my fist at his face but he easily caught my wrist. He glanced at my fist and then back to my face. "You're shaking, sweetheart."

With a shaky breath I tried to pull my wrist away but he held it fast. "Let me go." I whispered, trying to move away. His other hand clamped down on my shoulder and held me still.

"Ah, ah, ah," Drake said. "No struggling."

"What do you want?" I whimpered. I couldn't believe how truly scared I was of this mind reader. The only mind readers I had ever had experience with were Jo and she was so moral that she barely read any minds at all. But Drake wouldn't have such values to hold him back. And that scared me.

"Well, of course I am supposed to bring you back to the village just like the rest of Capricorn's men." Drake said. "But I did finally get my permission from Cockerel to use my gift a little bit on you."

"Wh-what do you mean?" I stuttered.

"Mind reading, of course." Drake said. "The only restriction is you must remain sane. But there are plenty of things I can do within that boundary, don't worry."

Now I struggled harder, but his grip was like iron on me. He pinned me hard against the tree. "Stop, struggling. I'm going to need you to look at me."

I twisted my head as far away from him as it would go. He seized my chin and turned my face roughly back to his. "Look at me." He said softly, staring right into my eyes.

"Stop." I whispered. I did not want to be trapped under his gaze. His green eyes were so cruel. So sadistic.

Drake only smirked. "No. I can't do that." He brushed a strand of hair almost gently away from my face. "This might be a bit painful for you, sweetheart."

With these words his eyes seemed to flash, and my world was plunged into darkness.

"Enjoying yourself Drake?" Cockerel asked, stepping out of the shadows. The writer was on the ground, out cold. Already she was shivering. Drake was very good at his trade.

Drake smirked at his victim then glanced back at Cockerel. "Most definitely. But you might want to keep it down, this takes a bit of concentration, and I want to make sure it's as painful as possible for her." He looked back at the girl.

"Whatever." Cockerel took a cigarette from his pocket and stuck it in his mouth. "Just make sure she doesn't go insane alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Drake said.

The shuddered in her sleep and Cockerel smirked lighting his cigarette. "Take your time."

"But you don't have much of that." There was a metallic zing as a knife flew from the darkness. Drake winced as the blade embedded itself in his shoulder and whirled around. Basta was stepping from the darkness, drawing another knife from his pocket.

"Damn it." Cockerel growled taking a step forward. "You-"

"Freeze." A dark voice said to his left.

Slowly Cockerel turned his head to see a girl standing beside him, a gun aimed at his temple. A girl that he knew should have been dead.

"You." He hissed.

"Me." Kat agreed, a dark smirk curling over her face. "Take your hand off the barrel of that gun."

Cockerel just stared at her. "How in the hell are you alive? I shot you!"

"Yes, yes you did." Kat nodded. "So I guess there are two options here. Number 1: I'm too awesome to die and I am fully recovered due to some awesome healing skills on my friend's part or Number 2: I'm a ghost and I've returned to reap fiery vengeance on your ass." She clicked back the safety on her gun. "Either way, you're just about screwed."

Cockerel's lip curled up in a disgusted sneer and his eyes went back to Basta. "So you really are helping them aren't you? That whole hostage thing was just a stupid act."

"A stupid act that fooled you." Basta said flatly.

"Funny, but I was under the impression that you hated the writer. Why the sudden change of heart?" Cockerel snarled.

Basta shrugged. "Maybe because I hate you, Capricorn and the rest of his men more."

"Yeah, so there." Kat said snidely before looking to Drake. "Now what are you doing to my friend? If you don't tell me I get the pleasure of blowing about rooster guy's brains."

Drake smirked. "You do that and he can easily be read back out of the book. I won't tell you."

Cockerel also smirked. "He speaks the truth sweetheart. You can kill me but it won't help anything."

"I'm sure it would sting a little." Kat growled, jamming the barrel of the gun against Cockerel's skull. "So it would be pretty satisfying."

"I have a better idea." Basta seized Drake's arm, twisted it behind his back and slammed the boy to the ground. Drake's eyes widened slightly as Basta pressed the blade of his knife to his throat. "It's true, Cockerel can be read back out of the book but you can't. You're completely of this world so if I slit your throat right here, you don't come back." He looked at Cockerel. "So either of you can tell me what's happening to the writer but I know that Drake here is a favorite pawn of Capricorn's so talk fast."

There was a brief silence before Drake spoke. "Think of it as a nightmare. A very vivid nightmare in which I can take all of her worst fears and put them into one dream. It's her personal… hell." He grinned. "Problem is, only a mind reader can stop it."

"Then you'd better stop it now." Kat snarled.

"And if you kill me" Drake continued. "That will probably make her go insane since I am the instigator. Our minds are currently bound. You can't do anything to me that won't affect her too."

"I think you're bluffing." Basta growled.

Drake smirked. "You want to call it? Wouldn't be very good for her if I'm telling the truth."

Basta's hesitation gave Drake a window to ram his knee into his gut. Basta rolled off of him gasping for breath.

"Hey!" Kat started to turn her gun towards Drake. Cockerel grinned and elbowed the girl in the stomach. She dropped to her knees and he turned to Drake. "Let's scram."

"Yep." Drake ran after him, a smirk still playing over his face.

"Cowards." Basta muttered when they had disappeared.

"That mind reader." Kat whispered. "That mind reader looked like William. But he… wasn't."

"No, that's his twin." Basta said. "As I recently figured out." He knelt down next to Callypso. She was still shivering violently. Still stuck in a nightmare. Kat ran over to her.

"Callypso can you hear me?"

"It's no good." Basta said. "She doesn't wake up until he wants her to."

"Yeah, and when is that?" Kat snapped. "How long do I have to wait for him to let my friend out of Hell?"

Basta said nothing for awhile before he sighed. "Jo might be able to help. She's a mind reader. It's worth a shot." Carefully, he picked Callypso up.

"Alright." Kat stood along with him. "Hey I…" She stopped.

"What?" Basta asked as he began walking.

"Just out of curiosity. Is it true that you hate us like Cockerel said?" Kat asked.

Basta cast her an amused glance over his shoulder. "Well, when you get over your own hatred you can criticize me about mine."

Kat didn't have an answer to that. Instead she just pressed her lips together and trotted after him.

I enjoyed this chapter and I enjoyed Drake. And speaking of which. It's time for Original Story News!

ORIGINAL STORY NEWS: Yes, I promised I would talk a bit about this character, Drake, in my original story news so here it is. Drake gets a lot more focus in the original story because he becomes a much more prominent villain. And he is my most whole heartidly evil character. Sure Kronehelm is bad but he's sort of possesed by something not of this world. And Crow is a bastard but that's all he is. A slightly psychotic bastard. There is something wrong with Drake on a psychological level and I really enjoy exploring mind reading through him as well as through Jo.

Drake is actually introduced in the first chapter of book 3 along with his little sister who I will discuss later. He's so horrible that even Crow is slightly afraid of him. COWER! Drake probably becomes one of three prominent villains in the third book, the other two being Kronehelm and Crow.

I'd say he replaces Roten in the line up of villains but he's just so despicable I can hardly compare both of them. Maybe he replaces Toothless, another complete bastard. Who knows but I enjoy writing him. He's in my second tier of favorite characters along with Jake, Callypso, Jack and Jo. Roten, Lana and Kat take the first tier. I love them all.

Thanks for listening and REVIEW!