Chapter 6

Back at the theater...

Emma sighed as she didn't know what she wanted to do. She was a bit worried about Leo, but she wondered why he was so wary of Balan. "Maybe something happened to him and he doesn't trust adults so easily," she said to herself as she got up from her bed and decided to go exploring in the theater.

She had just left her room when two girls came down the hallway, one wearing a red dress and the other having glasses. "Hi!" The girl with glasses said. "Emma, right?"

The fifteen-year-old girl blinked. "Yes," she said softly before trying to remember their names. "Um, I'm sorry, I don't remember your names."

"That's okay," the girl in the red dress said. "I'm Cass."

"And I'm Yuri," the girl with glasses said. "I'm the one that likes bugs."

Now Emma remembered. "Oh, I remember now," she said. "Sorry, guess I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"It's okay," Cass said. "We're actually glad we ran into you. Yuri and I are going to go shopping in the real world."

"Want to come with us?" Yuri asked with a smile. "We'll make it a girls' day."

That sounded like fun as Emma recalled the few times she had been shopping when the orphanage director took the kids on a school class trip and the kids were allowed to earn a little spending money to buy something on those trips. "Sure," she said, smiling.

"Come on," Cass said, holding out a hand for Emma to take, which the green-eyed girl took gratefully.

They saw Lance and Balan at the door to the real world and though Cass and Yuri looked at Lance a bit worriedly, Emma looked at him curiously. The blue-eyed being looked at her before a smile graced his mouth and he gave her a nod before vanishing. She blinked, wondering what that had been about.

Balan smiled at the three. "Heading out?" He asked.

"Going to do some shopping," Yuri said to him. "We'll be back later."

He nodded. "Be careful out there," he said as he opened the door and they headed out, but just as Emma was about to head out after Cass, Balan placed a hand on her shoulder, gently stopping her. She turned to look at him curiously and he smiled, taking her hand and pressing something into it. "Have fun, my dear," he said, gently pinching the left side of her face in affection.

She looked at what he had given her and was surprised to see it was a few hundred dollar bills. She blinked and looked up at him and he smiled again. "So you can buy what you'd like," he said.

"But...," she began to protest softly. "It's...It's a lot."

Balan chuckled. "Don't worry about it, Emma," he said gently before gesturing to outside where Cass and Yuri were waiting. "Go on. And be careful."

Nodding, she took a step to go outside before she stopped and turned, hugging the tall being. "Thank you," she said softly.

Smiling, he hugged her back, chuckling again as he gently kissed her forehead in affection and she smiled before heading out, catching up to the other two girls.

Yuri grinned. "You know, Balan's acting like a dad to you, Emma," she said.

Cass giggled. "No surprise here," she said. "Balan's like a father figure to a lot of us, or even a brother figure or uncle to the others."

"He is?" The green-eyed girl asked curiously.

"Yeah," Yuri said before looking a bit sad. "No one really understood why I liked bugs and I was lonely a lot until Balan came to my school one day."

Seeing Emma and Cass were listening, she continued. "I was trying to show a classmate a spider that I had found, one that wasn't poisonous but actually quite friendly and they ran off, calling me a freak. When I turned to put the spider away, I saw Balan watching me and he startled me at first as I hadn't heard him come in, but he said he had been watching me and noticed how I treated each bug with care. I expected him to laugh at me, but he didn't."

"What did he do?" Cass asked curiously.

"He encouraged me to not give up what I loved to do, which was studying bugs, and he offered me a chance to have my own world in Wonderworld where I could come visit when I was feeling upset or overwhelmed. I agreed and he's now like an uncle to me."

Emma smiled. "I noticed how he seems to want to cheer me up if I'm feeling sad," she admitted.

"That's what Balan does best," Cass said, smiling before seeing they had arrived at a shop. "Oh, this shop is my favorite! Can we go in?"

"Sure," Yuri said.

It was a shop that sold clothing and accessories of all kinds. The three girls looked around and Cass gasped as she found a bracelet with cat charms on it. Yuri was surprised to find a bracelet with bug charms on it and grinned hugely.

Emma was looking at the items with wide eyes before she saw one that really stood out. It was a necklace with a white heart gem for a pendant and she liked it, picking it up and gazing at it. "That's definitely you," Cass said to her.

"I agree," Yuri said. "You should get it."

The green-eyed girl nodded as they looked around, finding a few more things and then going up to the counter, making their purchases. They were soon on their way and shopping at more stores, having a good time until Emma suddenly saw some kids from the orphanage she had been at and they were hanging posters.

Gasping, she quickly pulled Cass and Yuri into another store and quickly got behind a clothing rack, ducking down. "Emma? What's wrong?" Cass asked.

"Shh!" The fifteen-year-old girl shushed her urgently, watching the girls hang a poster before walking away.

Yuri pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the poster that had been posted on the store window and she enlarged the picture, gasping at what she saw and she showed it to her friends. "It's a missing poster for you, Emma," she said softly.

Emma blinked. "But...why?" She asked. "Those kids never liked me before, so why are they looking for me?"

"Where are they from?" Cass asked.

"The orphanage where I was kicked out because of a rumor that I had been returned there too many times," the green-eyed girl said sadly. "I don't want to go back there."

Her two new friends hugged her to comfort her before Yuri had an idea. "Come on," she said. "Let's get some ice cream. I know the best spot to get some."

The other two girls agreed and as Emma walked ahead of the two, following Yuri's direction, she didn't see both the bespectacled girl and Cass look at each other. "We need to let Balan know," Yuri said, quickly taking a posting and folding it up, putting it in her pocket.

"We'll tell him as soon as we get back and Emma is out of earshot," the other girl agreed before a thought hit her. "Do you think...they might have hurt her?"

"Maybe," the bespectacled girl said. "Might explain why Emma's kind of shy."

The two nodded, determined to be good friends to Emma as they all got their ice cream and sat down to enjoy it, determined to help the fifteen-year-old girl feel better.

That's what best friends do after all.

And now Emma's made some new friends, but why are the girls from the orphanage looking for Emma? That will be revealed soon. :)

Please leave a review, but no flames! :)

GoldGuardian2418