Into the Wrong Hands: Chapter 9

Disclaimer: you all kno the drill. If you don't recognize it, its not TP's, its mine.

A/N: usually I wait till the end to write the authors note, but bear w/ me! I am sorry for not writing sooner. School is hell, and teachers are evil. Anywayz, thank you sooo much to all who reviewed!! Hope you like this chapter!



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Theo and Justin began to talk. They told Numair and the others everything that had happened. The football game (Justin had tried to explain football to the Tortallans, but they just didn't get it, and he gave up after a while), the 'falling' into Carthak and the white room, the talk with the emperor, and for Numair and Lindhall, meeting Daine and Kaddar and escaping from the tunnels. After they had finished, they took a drink of water from Lindhall, and the questioning began.

"So," began Numair, looking thoughtful, "the emperor told you nothing of how you were going to win the war for him?"

Theo shook her head, and Justin said sadly, "No."

Numair nodded, and then launched into more questions. "Theo, how were you able to tell that myself and Kaddar had the gift?" he looked particularly interested in this, and Theo sighed.

"I don't know," she told him honestly. "I just saw that there was black fire coming from you (she looked at Numair) and red fire around that guy when we first landed--"

"Theo," Justin interrupted, "I still don't know what the heck you are talking about. I didn't see any guy that was glowing red. What are you talking about?" Theo looked at him with her mouth slightly open.

"What do you mean you didn't see him!? He was glowing red!" she exclaimed, standing up. She looked around at the rest of the room. They were all looking at her the same way; with a mixture of fear, confusion and awe. She sat on the couch quickly, feeling slightly lightheaded. What is going on, she thought crazily.

"Theodora," Numair said gently, "we are not trying to accuse you of anything, but we need to know what is going on with this -er- interesting talent, and figure out what you can do." Theo felt overwhelmed, but listened. "We should do some experimenting," Numair went on, tugging on his long nose. There was an amused look passed between Daine and Kaddar and Theo remembered something from one of her books that that meant he was going to learn something. "Let's try something." He held out his hands as a black fireball collected there. He looked at his palm in complete concentration and it got larger as the moments passed. He finally cut his concentration and looked back at Theo. The rest of the room looked at her too, and she suddenly got a bit nervous.

"Now," Numair began, the fire in his hand beginning to creep up and around his arm, then his head, and soon the rest of his body was covered in shimmering black fire. "What do you see?" he asked her calmly. Theo looked at everyone else. They were still staring. She wondered briefly if the others could see that the mage was glowing steadily.

"Ummm…." She started not sure. "Well, you're, er, you're covered in black fire, and glowing." Numair nodded, and closed his palm. The cloud of black vanished as if it had never been, and Numair leaned back. I think that we need to think some things through. He turned to Lindhall. "What do you think?" he asked his teacher.

Lindhall looked thoughtful for a moment. "I believe that we are discovering a new talent." He smiled and looked at Theo with amusement. "it seems the girl can see the gift on those that are doing spells, and tell what they are doing." He seemed happy, and Theo couldn't figure out why. She didn't quite understand what they were saying.

"So, wait a sec," Justin said, sounding confused. "Are you saying that Theo has a giflt or whatever you call it to see other people's magic?"

"That is precisely it Justin," Numair told him, and turned back to Theo. "Theo, have you ever seen this kind of glowing thing before?"

Theo shook her head slowly. "No. We don't have mages, or magic where we come from. I've never seen people glow before, or do any kind of magic."

"What!!?" came the surprised voice from the couch on the other side of the small office. Everyone had forgotten Daine and Kaddar, but now all eyes turned towards Daine, who had spoken so loudly. She continued sounding perturbed. "How could you not have mages? Who healed people? Who Saw things? How could you live with out magic?!" she looked appalled at the idea of not living with magic.

Theo sighed. She had not wanted to tell them too much of their world. It didn't seem safe for some reason. "Well, ya see," she started, thinking of how to explain it. "We have doctors, and people just… I dunno… live with out magic." She finished lamely. She looked at Justin for help, but he just shrugged, not knowing how to explain any better. She looked back at the others, who all looked thoughtful.

"Daine has brought us to another subject." Numair said slowly. "We need to find out where you two come from, so that we can send you back as soon as possible."

Shit, Theo thought to herself. I didn't want to explain the whole books thing. She quickly went through in her mind all of the excuses she could make up for knowing so much about them. Any that came to her were too far fetched to ever work. She sighed, and began.

"yes. Well." She paused, not knowing where to start.

"You see, we come from another world where you guys are all just book characters," said a voice simply next her. She turned to face Justin, her temper rising.

"God dammit Justin! I told you I wasn't going to tell them that because it could alter their very existence! You screwed everything!"

"Who cares about them!!" Justin yelled back. "We need to figure out how to get ourselves home! Not worry about other people who don't even exist!" Everyone else in the room was forgotten, and Theo and Justin were standing up throwing remarks at each other at full volume.

"I told you before. These people do exist! Tamora Pierce made them up and they exist!"

"No they do not, and I will not sit here and play stupid while they decide our fate! We need to look out for ourselves! Who cares about their country and their war! It has nothing at all to do with us!" The two teens were screaming now, and the spectators were dumbstruck. They had never seen anyone fight like this. Especially people who had been so close just a while before.

The fighting continued.

"Justin! I cannot believe that you would be so selfish!" Theo exclaimed, then turned away from her ex-best friend and sat down on the couch, hard. She had tears in her eyes, and would not look at anyone.

After Theo sat down, Justin seemed to realize that there were others in the room, and looked at each of them hardly. He crossed the room to be as far away from everyone else as possible, and sat down on a stool next to the door. He defiantly met the eyes of anyone who looked at him, but said nothing. There was a great pause before Numair finally stated:

"Well. *cough cough * I believe that it is time for us to get back to the palace," he said, with a meaningful glance at Daine and Kaddar. "We can decide what we need to do tomorrow. You will be able to stay here for the night in the guest room in master Lindhall's quarters." He stood up and headed towards a back room and Lindhall, with a startled expression on his face, followed. Numair proceeded to turn into a large black hawk and fly out a door that Lindhall held open for him into a garden. Theo assumed he was going back to the palace. Kaddar and Daine got all of their belongings in order, Daine picked up Kitten from the couch next to the desk, and they headed towards the door.

All was done with deliberate speed and not a lot of talking. Theo suddenly remembered something important and stood. "Daine," she said, just loud enough for her to hear. "I need to talk to you for a second." Theo didn't wait for an answer; she took Daine's elbow and dragged her into an empty study. Theo noted that it happened to be the room that held all of Lindhall's northern birds. She turned back to Daine and explained.

"I needed to tell you that, well, I was sorry. I should have told you guys sooner, but it was all confusing and we were just so rushed and I didn't know what was going on. I mean, I all of a sudden fell into my favorite story books and I didn't know what to do and I was scared and there is so much that I ruined like you and the bringing back to life gift and the badger and, and I …" she spoke so rushed that she was sure that Daine had only caught half of what she had said, but she couldn't help that. She looked back up at Daine to see reaction. To her surprise, Daine's face was thoughtful, not angry.

"Theodora," she started gently, "I don't care that you didn't tell me, but now that you mention it, it is true? We are from well, books? How is that possible?" she wondered out loud.

"I don't know." Theo said sadly. "Tamora Pierce is a great author where I come form, and she just, I dunno, wrote your stories." She told her lamely.

Daine thought for a moment, and then asked shrewdly, "How do you know about the bringing to life and the badger? That is a secret. And how could you know, well, all that other stuff? Unless…" she thought it out, and her face suddenly became clear. "I guess its true then. You can't know so much about us naturally. And I suppose anything is possible." She stated, shrugging.

"Yeah!" Theo said, brightening. "Yeah. Like you and your dad being Weiryn and all. Anything is possib… oh shit." Theo realized that she had rambled on again, and now she had let out a huge secret. "Shit" she mumbled to herself again. Daine just stared at her with eyes as big as saucers.

"My da is what?" she said quietly.

"Umm… I didn't mean to… well… Shit!" Theo couldn't think of anything else to say. I had blown a whole plot point of the fourth book of Daine's series in about five seconds and all she could say was 'shit'?! she thought wildly. "Oops." She said softly, to herself more than Daine.

Daine seemed incoherent. She was staring into space and Theo began to wonder what she was thinking. All of a sudden Daine snapped out of it. "My father is the god Weiryn?!" She said excitedly. Theo nodded mutely, staring at the ground. "Wow!" Daine breathed.

"I shouldn't have said that." Theo said miserably. "You were supposed to find out on your own."

"Oh that's okay!" Daine said happily. "I don't mind. I had a feeling that something like that was going on. But I still can't believe it." She said incredulously. Theo didn't have anything to say to that, so she let it be and changed the subject.

"Well, you see," she started, wondering how to put this lightly. "Well, since I am here and all, the whole rest of this book that she wrote has gone to crap and now I don't know what's going to happen." She trailed off, mumbling about the rest of the book and how it was screwed. Daine stared at her.

"You mean, you know how all of this ends?" she asked amazed.

Theo blanched. Oh, man! Why did Justin have to go and open his big mouth? She quickly stopped thinking about Justin. That just brought on more feelings of fury and distrust. She looked back at Daine. "Well, yes," She said slowly. "But don't ask me about any of it, because I wont tell you!" The thought of Daine finding out what was going to happen in the last book made Theo want to slap herself for even thinking of telling Daine. She could never find out how it would all end up. What the hell would that, or this, do to the rest of the stories?

Daine looked thoughtful again, and Theo was worried for a moment. "No, I suppose it wouldn't do very well to know what's going to happen to me would it?" She asked no on in particular. "Oh well." There was a knock on the door then, and Kaddar peeked his head in.

"Daine, we need to get back to the palace now. It's going to be sundown soon." He nodded politely to Theo, and turned back. Daine turned away form Theo, but turned back when she got to the door.

"Theo, was that all you wanted to tell me?" she asked her quickly. Theo nodded, not sure if it was, but felt that Daine needed to get back to the palace, before the emperor got suspicious. An emperor that suspected them of conspiring against him didn't live very long afterwards.

She sighed as Daine went out the door, and into the hallway back to the palace. She didn't want to face Justin just yet, so she turned and looked back at the room she was in. It was filled with the glass cage that held all of the birds that came from Tortall. They were all looking at her with their heads to the side as if trying to think of what she was. The thought was unnerving. Theo turned again and looked at a desk on the far side of the room. She remembered reading about Daine waking up Bone, the skeleton bird, there. Sure enough, there was a bird skeleton embedded in a rock slab sitting on the desk. So much for waking that thing up, she thought ruefully.

Everything was so messed up. How the heck was the book supposed to end if her and Justin were here messing everything up? Would the ending be different? Geeez, she thought, sitting on the ground next to a counter that was cluttered with ancient scrolls of animals or something. When did everything get so freaking complicated? She put her head up on her knees and just sat for a moment trying to clear her mind. It would not let her rest. Her thoughts swirled with Justin's outburst and Numair's theories about her new "gift" or whatever it was. She still wasn't sure. How could being able to tell if someone had the gift be able to help anyone, Ozorne in particular? It was all so confusing. There was a knock on the door after a few moments, and Lindhall put his head into the room.

"You will be able to sleep here in my rooms. But this is a study, there are sleeping quarters in the back rooms." He smiled warmly, and Theo was comforted by it. She smiled back, and stood up, brushing of her jeans.

"Thank you master Lindhall, sir." She said, and walked back into the main room. Justin was still there, this time looking at the iguanas in the glass cage. She ignored him and followed Lindhall through another door and into yet another room. This one was fashioned with a small bed and rug on the floor. It was very 'homey' looking. Theo felt a twang of homesickness, before pushing that feeling down. She didn't want to feel sorry for herself, she wanted to help the Tortallans with what they needed. Justin came in a few seconds later, and went straight for the couch next to the sole window of the room. The light from outside was fading fast, and Theo wondered where the day had gone. She sighed once more and sat on the small bed.

Justin coughed from behind her, and she looked around at him. "what?" she asked, distainfully.

"Are you going to be mad at me now, just because I said what I felt?" He asked sounding hurt, and looked at her with those gorgeous blue eyes of his. Theo felt her insides melt again. But then she hardened her resolve.

"These people are real Justin." she told him compellingly. "and I know that you don't think its worth it, but there are tons of people in Tortall that are good and, and stuff…" she couldn't figure out what else to say to convince him that Tortall a great place.

"But Theo," he started again, "you don't know that. All of those books tell about how great this fairy tale place is. It might be real, but we don't have anything to do with it. We need to worry about getting home." His argument was sound. She knew that they needed to find some way to get home, but she also knew that she could never go against Tortall. It would feel to much like betrayal. But they still needed a way home.

"What are you saying?" she asked, unsure of what he meant.

"what I am saying, Theo, is that maybe this emperor guy knows how to get us home. he is the one who brought us here. And these people don't even know what they did to get us here, let alone how to send us home. I am just saying that maybe we should consider all sides of this before we declare ourselves allied to any side." He stopped, not used to giving speeches on his beliefs. He watched Theo as she sat, thoughtful on the bed, with her knees up to her chest. She is so pretty, he said for the thousandth time in his head. But what mattered now was getting them back home, where everything was normal. He didn't care about these people or their problems. What he cared about was how to get out of this crazy place that was a danger to them and everyone they stayed with. He felt a little guilty about suggesting going behind these people's back that had been so nice to them, but not enough to consider being totally loyal to one side. He looked back at Theo, though, to see her reaction.

Theo was considering what Justin had said so passionately. She still couldn't do that to Daine the wildmage and Numair, especially after they had been so kind to them by placing themselves in danger to help her and Justin. It just didn't seem right. "I couldn't do that Justin. These people risked a lot for us. They could have been captured and killed by Ozorne at any time for this, but they still helped. I won't do that." She told him, making up her mind. "Besides," she continued, "do you remember what those guards did? They were mean and horrible, and the emperor was creepy. I will not go back to him!" She knew that she could never willingly go over to the emperor and bargain a deal like he was suggesting. It just didn't work with Ozorne.

Justin shook his head, but then sighed. "I guess your right," he told her dejectedly, "I just can't just stay here not doing anything when we could… I don't know, be doing something." He shrugged. "You know what I mean?" he asked her. She nodded, and sighed, for what felt like the thousandth time that day. All of the events of the day caught up with her at once, and she suddenly felt a thousand years old. She lay down on the bed, closing her eyes. She just wanted to sleep now. She could figure out everything else later. Now, she just wanted to sleep. And that was what she did.



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A/N: well hey folks!! Hmm.. I know its been umm… well, *cough * a whole month *cough * since I last updated, but I hope that this nice extra long chapter makes up for it!! Hehehe, anywayz, I want to know what everyone thinks!! Plz plz plz plz plz plz plz review!!!!!!!! I neeeed reviews!!! And PrincessWattNin, they are NOT evil!!!! They help me get to know what I need to do for future chapters!! *lol * anywayz, just please review!! And to all those who did review.. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! It means soooo much!!

And..

To arram, thanx for the ideas!! Hope that my plot is getting better….

To safiya, I read ur bio, thankx sooo much 4 the compliments!!!

Kristy, I luv compliments!! And I am glad to be one of ur first fics!!!!

To everyone!! I will try and update more often, and you all need to review!!! Review! Review now, or the leprechans will come after you!!! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Umm.. ya, just review plz.