Animorphs Alternate Universe Series

The Difference

Chapter 1 - Accidental Casting

(Sarah)

"No no no, see, Fire and Air can make fireballs, we know this, but Water and Air don't make water balls, just like Earth and Air don't make Earth balls."

"No, because Earth and Air make a dust storm. And Water and Air make clouds, fog, and/or ice, depending on the ratio."

"Exactly. And Fire and Water can't combine, because they're opposite elements. But everything else can. So if we combine Earth, Air, and Fire..."

It makes no sense to me. It never has. Casters have a language all their own. Unfortunately, that language was keeping me awake. It was enough to make wish I were an only child.

"Emmm," I groaned, hurling a pillow at her. "Shut the 'ell up!"

"Oh, bite me, mortal," she snapped good-naturedly as she tossed the pillow back from her spot on the floor. The dorms in the academy are not very big, so they took up the little floor space that was left over after two bunk beds and two sets thin wardrobes. "It is not my fault you need sleep."

"No, but it will be your fault when I have to suffocate you to actually get some!"

"Ha! I would like to see you try!" It was tempting, it really was, with an open offer like that, but annoying habits aside, I love my sister - and I was just too damn tired. I had to try another ploy.

"Itelan," I whined, close enough to dead for my Translator chip to give up. "Hei na kai lan? Vercha.... mer ni seh'!"

"Ahhh... I can not argue that." She gave me one of her customary sister smiles and closed the book that had been across her knees. "Let us call it a night, Sadie." Sadie gave her a blank look, but closed the book and slid it under her bunk anyway. "She called me heartless, itala. I can not argue that."

"I did not call her heartless!" I retorted. "I asked her if she had a heart and apparently she does."

"Veraha, itelan." Emily slid the book under our bunk and clambered up the latter do the top as Sadie practically fell into the bottom bunk. She was fast asleep before her head hit the pillow and despite my present exhaustion, I giggled as Emily did the same above me. "These Southerners are really the little milksops Father said they were." I had to bury my face in my pillow to hide my laugh and Emily leaned over the edge of the bunk to grin down at me. "Mei gen, huh?"

"Jai," I agreed. "Trainer Bily had us working drills from lunch to dinner and from dinner till the end. I am going to have sore muscles tomorrow that I did not even know I could hurt." She chuckled.

"If it helps any, we are learning how to Cast heal. I will heal you in the morning." There was silence where I gave her a horrified look. Emily is not a morning person. For that matter, the word 'morning' was not in her vocabulary until we got to the Academy. She had never actually been up before noon, ever, in her life. Poor child about slept through her first week, until she got used to the schedule. Even now, I do not trust her Casting in the morning. Period.

"No, that is okay, itelan. I think I will suffer. Better to be painful in one piece then painful in many." She dropped her pillow on my face as I laughed at the indignant expression on her face.

"The both of you, shut up!" cried Alay from her bed. "Please please please, before I'm forced to get up and injure you!"

"Alay," groaned Sadie. "Yell quieter. You'll wake up the whole wing." She rolled onto her side and ultimately off the bed, landing with the muffled thud on the thick carpet. That was end of that, pretty much. Emily and I lost it completely, to the point we were almost suffocating ourselves on the pillows to quiet our laughs and when Alay finally figured out what had happened, she had to do the same. Sadie merely shot me a dirty look and pulled her blanket off the bed before curling up the floor to go back to sleep. When the laughter finally died, I handed Emily's pillow back to her and grinned.

"Sehar desha, itelan."

"Sehar desha," she whispered back with small smile.

~*~
"No, Sarah, dodge! Don't block the hit - let him lose his balance when he fails to make it!" Matt came at me again, practice sword in hand, me with no weapon to fight back with. Drilling really, completely, bites. "Dodge, damn it!" The sword came from the left in a straight arc, about the height of my waist, a good blow meant to cut open the stomach. Of course Matt would try a killing blow straight off the bat!

Dodge, she says, when Matt is the fastest Weapon in our class and I am not even half his speed. I leapt back anyway, and felt the breeze of the blade as it passed inches from my front. Before I could gather my wits, he was coming at me again, then time from higher up. I ducked, barely, and felt the breath leave my lungs as he landed a kick in my stomach. Damn...

"Sarah, how many times have I told you to watch all the limbs and extremities when dodging?" I wanted to say something really not nice as a retort, but a lack of air held that back. Matt knelt down and gently helped me to my feet, abandoning the practice sword to put a supporting arm around my waist. Breathing took a great deal of effort and lack of oxygen was making my limbs weak. Thank the Four Gods for Matt... despite the fact it was his fault in the first place. "Now," said Trainer Rosette, with the air of superiority that only a Weapon Trainer can have. "Tell me what you did wrong."

"Got distracted," I managed to wheeze out. "Watched sword, not Matt." There. Now I could collapse like the good little injured child I was. Well, not collapse completely, more like fall into Matt, who braced himself and held me up.

"Hells, you hit her good." In the distant fuzz that was the world was becoming, I heard the sweet drone of the bell. Thank you, Gods, it was time to stop drilling and go take my weekly Casting class. It was a place they stuck us with a tiny amount of ability who were training as Weapons. And to add insult to injury, Emily had started to teach it as part of her requirements. So my sister, the Academy's little prodigy, was teaching me, who had absolutely no skill period. Oh yeah. Nice and fun. But it was not drilling, so that made up for something, at least.

"Come on," said Matt. "I'll take you to First Aid before your class. You want to be fully conscious when Em gives you a dressing down for getting distracted again." I nodded weakly and limped beside him, feeling every muscle and my lungs screaming for a proper dose of air. He scooped up our duffel bags and slung them over his free shoulder. You have to love Matt. He always thinks of everything. So gentle and kind and sweet and - air! Finally, a full breath of air to clear the fog from my brain. "Better?" asked Matt as we left the classroom. Two girls who were in the class below us passed us and went puppy-eyed at the sight of Matt. Why girls do that I will never know. He is Matt. How does that make him worthy of being sought after?

"Yes," I sighed. "Much-"

"Matt! Sarah!" Laurel was suddenly there, a whirlwind of Caster trainee white and black, brunette curls a messy wave across her face and shoulders. She looked greatly despaired.. "Matt, hurry, you need to find Caster Hannah. There was an accident and Sadie and Emily..." She trailed off with a pained look to match my confusion. Emily and Sadie? "We don't know what happened, Sarah. They were mock dueling, trying out some new combos, when the Casts hit and... All we know is it formed some kind of - of rip or something and they both got sucked in. Caster Joseph told everyone to stay back but Alay, she was passing on the way to lunch, went after them... We need Caster Hannah."

"Matt, go find the Caster." My voice sounded distant. I did not know I had talked out loud. My only thought was... It was not possible... Emily, Alay, Sadie...

"Sarah, what about you?" I didn't answer him, not trusting my voice to keep my pain silent. I took my bag from his shoulder and slipped it across mine. What I had in there would have to be enough... a set of Teslahani civilian clothing, another set of training clothes, various small weapons, Alay's dagger that she had left in the dorm, various other things. No food, but I would have to do without. There was no time to get anything else. I could feel that, the feeling like sand slipping through my fingers, and if I waited longer... it would all run out. "Wait a minute..." Trust Matt to figure it out. I meant to follow them, to bring them back. How, I did not know... "You can't, Sarah! We don't know what it is!"

"It is taken my sister and my italai. I do not care what it is, so long as it gives them back." I had a slight idea of what it what it was - a legend, a myth of the Caster, from a time when there was a great power to go around, and I could see the same guess in Laurel's eyes. But it could never be duplicated, it was all an accident, and unless Sadie and Emily knew what they had done, going through would mean not coming back. But I would not leave all that I held dear stranded... "Laurel, Caster Hannah will know exactly what it is and she will tell you the whole truth. Make sure all of our stuff goes back home - Alay's stuff with mine. She does not have any family to return things too..." I trailed off at the flash of pain in Laurel's violet eyes, but she gave me, chewing her lip to hold back the tears. She was only a child still, in her second year, our little sister... but Matt would protect her, as he always had. He would keep her safe when we could not. "I am sorry, itala..." She nodded tearfully and I took her in my arms to give her what I hoped was a reassuring hug. Reassuring for whom, I did not know. "It will be all right, lina itala. Wi ria gewmani, jaia?"

"I should've tried to keep them here," she sobbed into my shoulder. "We wouldn't have to lose all of you."

"Hey hey hey! Don't talk like that." Matt pulled her from me and she cried in his arms now instead of mine. Her protector, her Matthew, but the look of frustration he gave me was solely for me. "She's not going. They'll send the Weapons after them, and full Casters. This isn't your battle, Sarah." Even as he said, I knew he knew that his attempts were in vain. He was mi atala, my brother of heart, and he knew that I was going, no matter what. "Come back in one piece, will you?" he said quietly. I gave a nod.

"We will sure as the Five Hells try, atala," I answered with my best attempt at a smile. "Hedashan jei, atala, hedashan."

"Don't make promises," he murmured, holding Laurel tighter. "You don't know-"

"But I do, atala, I do." I did not, I really had no clue, but sometimes having a promise to keep you going is what makes a journey worthwhile. "Hedashan jei." I smiled again, this time less forced and somewhat genuine, and left them to find Caster Hannah. She would know... she knew it all about the history of the Academy. And Emily was her protege, so Emily would know almost as much as she did. It had been Emily that had told me about the... thing I suspected had sucked her in. I still was not sure it was what I thought it was.

But when I walked into the almost-empty classroom, even I knew what it was. The swirling whirlwind of all four elements passed over and pressed against my skin like a gentle breeze, but I was only at the edge of it. Closer towards the center of the storm, towards the Transgate, it would be like walking through a tornado. Oh, Four Gods, a Transgate. Capable of transporting objects miles at a time, even leagues.

And it had my sister and friends.

Surrounding it were three Weapon Trainers and Caster Trainer Aaron, the teacher who had been present at the duel. And by his pale face and trembling, he felt the power more then I did and knew more then I did what it was. The three Trainers were unaffected, being full blooded Weapons with no Caster in them at all, but they were guarded and ready for whatever came out of the Transgate. Not for someone else going in, because no one was that stupid and foolish. My Caster was in there, in that thing that lead to who knew where. That was a good excuse as any to go rushing foolishly into an uncontrolled Transgate.

I hoped so anyway.

Just run and do not stop, I told myself. They are watching the giant hole in the middle of the room, not you. And it was a giant hole, as tall as I was, and as tall as it was wide. But the size changed at irregular intervals, sometimes taller, sometimes wider, sometimes no bigger then my hand, just constantly changing and shifting. I had to time it right so as not to miss it. Just run...

Yes, just keep running, whispered a dark voice in my mind as I took a step forward. Never stop or you will fail and failure is not an option. Keep running, little Seharenae, and nothing will ever catch you... I gave my head a little shake and ignored the voice beyond that. Adrenaline did strange things to a person's mind and I had plenty of that pumping through my system at the moment. The pounding of my heart soon drowned out the voice that was repeating its little speech over and over like a mantra. Run or you will fail... No, I would not fail. Never fail. I was a Weapon and Weapons never failed... never.

I hit the Transgate at a full run, amongst the yells of my Trainers, telling me to stop, trying to stop me, but they could no and I would not. It was over before it began. I hit a small resistance, like running into a wall of water that gave under my weight. And then I was falling...