I'M BAA-AACK! AND THANK GOODNESS FOR IT. I HAVE MISSED FANTASY SO MCUH I CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO TELL YOU.
FOR NOW, ENJOY.
{SEE YOU SOON [will] NOOS UOY EES}
I hung up with Jaeson, feeling pretty depressed. I was happier, though, that he'd told me the truth rather than given me false reassurance.
But I was still depressed.
The phone rang again. I sighed and picked it up.
"Hello?" I wondered.
"Um... Will?" asked a familiar voice.
It took me a moment to put a thumb on the voice's name. "Myles?"
"You got me, mate," Myles said. He sounded firstly exhausted, secondly... something else. Behind the tiredness I heard a dim somberness, something grim threaded with a tiny needle into his voice.
"What's wrong?" I demanded abruptly, clutching the phone and tensing my body. Was someone dead? Did he find Eve's body somewhere? Laek's? Another legend's? What if-
"I found Laek. He's-"
"Is he dead?" I almost shouted into the phone. I could feel the plastic cracking under my intense grip, and I was nearly shaking with tension. 'No, no, no... He can't be dead...!'
"No, but he isn't in terribly good condition," Myles told me. I felt an immense sense of relief wash over me. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down and suppress the shout of joy I wanted to give in order to focus on Myles's words. "He was severely beaten and probably starved of food and water." Myles's voice cracked on the last syllable, and I could picture him flinch.
"And of love and warmth and peace and light," I whispered into the phone.
"Probably," Myles whispered back, a tremble in his voice as well as mine. Terrible memories of a basement were shimmying their way into our consciousnesses. "He's conscious now, by the way. He told me to tell you he's alright. And on a separate note, he said something to me and I got my memories back. But I didn't remember until then, which is very, very strange. Did you experience something similar?"
"I didn't. Laek, either. We believe it began happening right after the two of us were reincarnated into the world," I told Myles, the fear leaving my voice.
"We?" he wondered, no traces of the emotion left in his voice, either.
"Jaeson, Jay, Lily, Austin, Destiny, me, and several other legends," I informed him.
"Okay. Good to know the others are alright," Myles told me. "Thanks."
"You're very welcome. And... Um, could I talk to Laek?" I wondered, feeling hope surge in me.
"Yeah. Hang on. Just so you know, he's really tired, like me, since here in Sydney it's really, really late. It also takes a lot of energy for him to talk a lot," Myles told me. I almost did a face-palm. No wonder he sounded so tired. They were a good seventeen or so hours ahead and it was in the middle of the night there. "He might faint, he says. But here he is."
I waited a moment before asking hopefully, "Laek?"
"Hi, Will," Laek's voice drifted into my ears, and another, bigger wave of relief and thankfulness washed over me. Myles was right; Laek sounded totally exhausted. But I was glad to hear my friend's voice either way.
"Hey," I said softly. "Are you alright?"
"I will be," he told me. "Eve is totally fine. Her powers are getting stronger, I think. She teleported me here. How are Knight and Thunder and everyone else?"
"Knight's... in the hospital. Pratt shot him off the roof of a building," I told my friend, but then added quickly, "But he's fine. We believe Eve had something big to do with it, especially since he hasn't broken any bones."
"Wouldn't surprise me," Laek admitted.
"Everyone else is fine. Thunder has been keeping a silent vigil over him. I think he's afraid he'll lose Knight as well as Eve," I said, sharing with Laek my thoughts.
"Eve is strong as ever. Knight I'm sure will be fine, especially with Eve's power kicking in to help him out. In fact, Will..." Laek paused, thinking about his next sentence.
"Something wrong?" I asked.
"Nurse Joy said I should be dead," Laek told me, sounding a tad suspicious. Suspiscious in a good way, though. "I think Eve had something to do with me, too. What's... what is her power developing into, do you think?"
"I spoke with Jaeson, just a moment before you called, actually," I told him. I floated my eyes up to the ceiling, thinking about what he'd said. "Apparently Eve has a Nexus between you and her and Knight and her. Possibly Thunder and/or I as well."
"Nexus? The term sounds familiar," Laek told me. He began to sound more tired as the conversation wore on. "What is it?"
"A strong bond between a witch and her friends," I informed him. "Yes, Eve is considered a witch. Or a black/dark magician. This also means she has a slight split personality, one side considered a power side because she rids herself of all emotions except friendship, mercy, and anger to conserve energy, and her normal side, which is where you know her as. But according to Jaeson, Eve is strong enough that she is capable of consciously switching between the two, which is considered extremely rare. Very few witches and wizards are capable of it as it takes a lot of ability to do so without exhausting yourself."
"We knew she was powerful..." Laek whispered, now sounding near exhaustion.
"...But we didn't really know how powerful she was. Maybe we don't even know now," I finished.
"Yeah," Laek said, and I heard him yawn. "I'm going to fall asleep. I'll ask Myles to get me too you guys tomorrow sometime. Can you tell me your address?"
I told him where our cave was, feeling overjoyed that Laek would be back and Knight would be out of the hospital tomorrow. With Thunder and I already there, we'd only be missing Eve.
Poor Eve. I hoped she was alright.
"See you tomorrow," I told my best friend.
"See you," he said quietly, and he hung up.
{SEE YOU SOON [jaeson] NOOS UOY EES}
The phone rang about seven minutes later. I picked it up and said, my tiredness ringing in my voice, "Hello."
"Laek's alive," Will told me, his voice light with joy. "He's in Austrailia with Myles. I just spoke with him."
"Really? Is he alright? Is Eve alright?" I demanded, abruptly clutching the phone in anticipation. I found myself hoping they were both in good condition, though I knew it was nearly impossible for that to be true, given who Pratt was.
"They'll both be okay. Eve somehow protected him, too," Will said to me, sounding relieved.
"That's great. Is Eve still with the bastard?" I asked.
"She is. But in three days' time we- Laek, Thunder, Knight, and I- will go and get her," Will told me, sounding determined. "Knight's coming home tomorrow from the hospital, and Myles is taking Laek here. Actually, would you like to see the cave?"
"The... cave?" I wondered, frowning.
"Our house. It's also a training facility. Bring Austin and Jay and everybody, if you will. I'll give you the address," Will said, and told me it. He then, upon my request, proceeded to tell me about the facility.
I found it quite interesting, so I called Austin and everyone.
I AM STILL BACK AND STILL RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY ABOUT IT.
HOPE YOU ENJOYED.
BUT BECAUSE YOU ALL WAITED SO PATIENTLY ALL MONTH LONG THERE WILL BE MORE UPDATES TODAY.
