Into the wrong hands: chapter 5



Last time: "Hi," she said pleasantly to them, "I'm Daine, what are your names, and why are you running around in the hidden passageways?"

Theo looked at her with a slight amount of surprise, having used up all of hers on the emperor. "I should have known." She muttered to herself.

Daine and who Theo was pretty sure was Kaddar looked at her strangely, and Justin sitting next to her looked at her.

"You know these people too?!" He asked her quietly, surprise clearly evident on his face. "Where are we Theodora, and how did we get here? And why do you recognize all these people?"

Theo sighed. She knew it would come to this eventually. "I don't know how we got here," she told him warily, and I don't know why the emperor wants us." She paused, not sure if she should tell Justin here, in front of Daine and Kaddar, who were presently staring at the two newcomers with great interest and confusion, that they were in the world of her favorite storybooks; that all of these people were characters that a brilliant woman in New York had thought up in her spare time. As wonderful as she thought all of Tamora Pierces characters, she was not sure how they would take finding out that they were not real. But maybe they are real, Theo thought suddenly, they're just real in another dimension or something then our world. Surly that doesn't make them any less real than us, Theo mused. She resigned to figure it all out later, and simply told Justin that she would explain the rest of his answers at a later time. Theo now turned towards Daine and Kaddar, who were talking in rapid whispers between themselves.

When the two realized they had the newcomers' attention, they looked up. Daine started. "You guys did not answer my question. Why are you in the secret tunnels, and what were you running from?" There was a suspicious tone in Daine's voice, and Theo knew that they would have to gain the trust from the wildmage and the heir to the Carthaki throne before they went any further. Theo couldn't blame her. Daine did not know whom they were, and she was not going to trust everyone who just happened to run into them in these tunnels.

"Well, umm, Daine…" Theo started, not sure of were to start. Justin saved her though.

"Theo, and um, you guys," he said with a slight smile, looking at Daine and Kaddar, "we really need to get out of these passageways before those guards come back.

Of course!! Theo thought. She stood quickly, and Justin stood with her. "He's right. The emperor's guards will find us eventually if we linger. All of this time Kaddar had not so much as moved, but at the mention of the word, 'emperor' he sat up quickly.

"My uncle is chasing you?!" he asked Theo directly. Theo, startled, only nodded mutely. At this, the prince started walk down a passageway to his right. "We must leave immediately. My uncle will go to any means to get back anything he has lost." He sounded sure, and the other three followed swiftly, Theo and Justin hoping he would lead them someplace safe. The prince continued talking, mostly to himself. "We can hide them at Lindhall's quarters at the university. The only problem is getting them there." At this statement, Daine spoke up from behind Theo and Justin.

"Numair can put an invisibility on them, and himself for that matter, and we can pretend to go over there for the day." She said, hope apparent in her voice.

"I think I have another idea." Kaddar told them.

Theo and Justin were silent, letting the more knowledgeable plan their escape. All Theo wanted was to not have to worry about anything for a while. That didn't seem like it was going to happen any time soon. She sighed, and wished she could just go home. That she had never come here. A scary realization when she remembered that when she was reading Tamora's stories, all she had wanted to do was go to Tortall. But I'm not in Tortall, a nasty little self-pitying part of Theo's mind pointed out. We didn't land in Tortall like I wanted; we had to land in the middle of a horrible battle in Carthak. Theo stopped feeling sorry for herself. She had wanted more adventure in her life, now she had it. She sighed again, and this time, Justin was by her side with a worried look on his face.

"Are you alright?" he whispered to her. She nodded, and he held her hand again. Theo felt all of her worries suddenly melt away, as if she needn't be worried anymore. She knew this wasn't true. She needed to be on her guard in this place, but she wanted to just put it all on hold for a moment and just be with her best friend and crush. Justin interrupted her thoughts with a question. " Are we sure we can trust these people? And how in the world do you know them?" he asked the questions as noiselessly as possible so as not to be overheard.

"First of all," she started, being equally quiet, " I know for a fact that they can be trusted. They don't like the emperor anymore than we do. And second," she paused, and went on trying not to be overheard, " I know them because they're from my books that I read. The ones by Tamora Pierce." Justin looked at her as if she was crazy, but started to realize and piece together all that had happened over the past 24 hours.

"How is that freaking possible?!?" he said out loud, stopping outright in the tunnel. Kaddar turned around to look at him and Daine stared at him from behind.

"I will explain later Justin." She told him forcefully, not bothering anymore to keep her voice low.

"Don't be so loud," Kaddar told them, "we're almost to the gate." The walked down the corridor for about two more minuets in silence, Justin sill holding Theo's hand in his. If Daine or Kaddar noticed this, they didn't mention it. They made a right turn and came to a dead end. That was when Theo noticed the ladder that was perched against the wall. She followed it with her eyes up the wall, and she saw it on the ceiling. It was a door of some sort. Kaddar stopped here, and began climbing the ladder. When he reached the top, he pushed open the trap door a tiny bit, and looked around. He silently motioned them to follow him, and proceeded to go through the door, into the…

"Sunshine!!!" Theo whispered-squealed. It seemed as if it had been forever since she had last seen it. Just just that little bit of sun excited her, and her entire outlook changed from gloomy to hopeful. Kaddar finished climbing through the whole, and motioned for them to follow him. Theo went first, and she climbed the ladder as fast as her tired muscles would allow. She wanted to be out of this horrible tunnel and into the real world. As she climbed out and sat down next to Kaddar, she looked at her surroundings. They were in a stable of some kind. Theo had never been around horses much at all, so she didn't know a lot about them, but she could see that there were many different kinds of horses in their own stalls on both sides of the corridor they were in. There were at least twenty, maybe more, and all of them had their own stall, and a trough, and saddle and reins hanging on the door. She thought it was pretty cool, despite the fact that she was in a storybook situation. When Justin and Daine had finishes climbing through the trap door, Kaddar closed it, and threw a blanket of hay over the top of it so that it looked like a normal floor again.

"Come on," he told them quietly, and started towards the door to the stable, which was closed. Just as they were about to reach the door, Kaddar stopped suddenly. Theo almost bumped into him, and was about to ask why he had stopped, when she heard the reason. There were voices coming from the other side of the door. Theo could not understand them, they were in that language again, but the prince obviously did, and he motioned for them to follow him as he hurried down the corridor between the stalls, and ducked behind one. The other three followed, Daine bringing up the rear. Much to Theodora's surprise, Kaddar was not squished against a wall, but he was standing with a door way open, motioning for them to hurry. Theo could hear the voices had now entered the stable, and so she hastily ran in the door. She found herself in a small room that was dark, and looked to have dirt floors and walls. She sighed inwardly. She was beginning to hate secret rooms and passageways. As the rest of their party filed into the hallway, Kaddar shut the door, and the hallway was pitch black. Kaddar must have done some kind of spell, because he was suddenly illuminated by a fire glowing in his open palm. That's right, Theo thought, he has the gift. She suddenly remembered something, and before she could stop herself, she turned to Kaddar.

"I thought you only had magic with plants?" she asked him. She realized immediately what she had just said, and hit her forehead. "Dammit" she muttered to herself. Kaddar looked at her as if she had sprouted wings. And Theo didn't know what to do. She had totally given away that she knew about them, as she had wanted to avoid.

Kaddar stared at her for a moment longer, and then started, " how did you know what kind of magic I have? And who are you, really?" The last question had been an accusation, and Theo knew it. She cringed, but knew that she would need to explain now.

"Umm… see, we were at the football game, and we were getting some nachos," she paused at the very confused faces of Kaddar and Daine, and then realized that they would have no idea what football was or nachos. She saw Justin out of the corner of her eye stifle a laugh. She made a face at her friend, and turned back to the prince. "Don't worry, you don't need to know what those are. Anyways, we were going down the stands, and we fell…" she paused here, not sure how to put how they got here, because she wasn't sure herself.

Justin saved the day. "See," he began, "we were going down these stairs, and we fell, and we fell into here. When we should have been at the bottom of the stairs, we were in this big grassy thing, with a lot of people around us, that kinda looked like you," he pointed to Kaddar, " and one of them was umm…." Theo noticed he paused were the man cam in who was glowing. She took over, giving a look of gratitude to Justin.

"He was glowing. Red. I'm assuming this means that he has the Gift, but I'm not positive." Daine and Kaddar looked surprised at this, and Theo knew that she had done it again. Let them know that she knew about their world. She cursed again under her breath, and looked back at the prince and Daine. They were not looking at her funny anymore, but Kaddar looked to be thinking hard about something, and Daine's face brightened as she watched.

"That's the feeling Numair had!" she exclaimed. "He thought he felt someone drop in on Carthak the other day!"

"Dropped in is right." Theo heard Justin mutter under his breath. She smiled slightly, but looked again at Kaddar. He seemed to make up whatever he was thinking about as she looked, and he turned back to the newcomers.

"I am pretty sure that I know now why my uncle has brought you here, and we now need to get to the university now, before my uncle sends out search parties. And he will." He added. Theo didn't like the sound of that last part, and she shuddered. I seem to be doing that allot lately she thought to herself.

Will this, Kaddar put his ear to the door that he had closed. "It's clear," he whispered. He motioned for the others to follow, and opened the door. They filed out, silent as cats. They went back into the stables main hallway, and towards the door again. This time there was no one on the other side, and they walking out into the light of day. Theo took in her surroundings. They were in a small courtyard of dirt, and Theo noticed that there were horseshoe marks everywhere on the ground. She thought of a problem, and walked to catch up with Kaddar, who was walking quickly towards some unknown destination. When she caught up with him, she turned to see his face.

"How are we going to get all the way across the river with out being noticed, Kaddar?" She asked him in a quiet voice. He looked at her, and she noticed that for the first time, he didn't look sure of everything, and he might even have looked worried.

"I don't know," he told her softly, and went back to thinking to himself. "I don't know."



A/N: okay folks!! Here is my plea again!!!! I NEEED REVEIWS!!!!!!!!!! Desperately!!!! Please review this story if you would like it to continue!!!!!! Oh and to all the peeps who reviewed, Kristy, Safiya, Arram, Saturn, Galadriel, leafdarking, and jade dragon, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! I appreciated the feedback very much!!!!!!! Thanks a lot everyone, and PLEASE review this chapter. I need info on how u think the satory should go from here, I'm outta ideas!!!!!! So, please, if you want this to continue, please, review!!!!!!!!! Thanks, and good nite folks!!!!!!!!!!!

And ps. To whoever reviewed as 'ME!!' you owe me a cookie!!!!! :D