Disclaimer: I just feel like putting a random disclaimer here to remind
everyone that everything is the property of KAA... the only thing that
belongs to me is....pretty much nothing.
A/N: Yay! Another chapter! Could be longer... but oh well. Please, please, review at the end and tell me what you thought/what I could do to make it better! Thanks for reading, you guys!
"Everyone, stay still!" Jake yelled.
"Ya think?" Marco muttered. I knew that even though he was being sarcastic, he was shocked. We all were.
{Good idea,} Tobias said in a mocking, un-Tobias like tone to Jake.
Tobias had his blades pressed against an angry, fighting, Rachel. "What the hell are you DOING?" Rachel shouted at him.
{Shut up,} Tobias growled at her. He squeezed her harder.
This was crazy. Rafe and Tobias had both turned against us. Rafe was suprising enough...but Tobias? I couldn't believe that. None of us could. Was he...could he be ... a controller? No, he couldn't be. It was impossible. Or was it?
And now, Tobias was holding Rachel in a death grip, and there was a cold, hard, look in his eyes that told us he wouldn't be afraid to hurt her, or possibly kill her.
Rafe strolled casually into the room with ten Iskoort behind him and surveyed the scene.
He said carelessly to Tobias, {Don't kill her.} Tobias immediately relaxed his grip on Rachel.
Tobias was taking orders from Rafe? There was something that we had missed there. It was something very big, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
Jake had a tense look on his face. "No one move," He instructed again.
{Good idea,} Rafe said. It sounded familiar. In fact...it was the same mocking tone that Tobias had used. Exactly the same tone.
Something clicked there when I realized that, but I couldn't figure out what.
"Screw that," Rachel snapped, and concentrated on becoming a grizzly.
"Rachel!" Jake yelled at her. Tobias moved to slice her throat, but Rafe waved a lazy hand. {Leave her,} he said. He waved his hand again, and two Iskoort clamped a big lock over the cell that Jake, Marco, Ax and I were in.
Rachel was slowly growing. Rafe said to her, {If you change any more, your friends will be obliterated.}
Rachel stopped midmorph.
But Rafe wasn't done yet. {And, you will be forced to kill Tobias. Can you do that? Will you do that?}
The tension was evident in the air. It was a standoff.
Rachel, a human and bear mess, stared defiantly into Rafe's eyes. She glanced over at us, and without a word, began to reverse the morphing process.
Rafe smiled. He had won. I felt a queasy feeling in my stomach.
{Tobias!} Rafe shouted suddenly. Tobias was startled, and his blade flew in a reflex movement. It flew straight...time seemed to slow down....into Rachel's throat.
And suddenly, I wasn't there anymore.
"Aagh!" I fell onto the floor, startled. I took a deep breath, and looked around.
I was in complete whiteness. It felt like I was in the air...but beneath me, the floor was solid. I was standing....on air. Completely white air.
There was only one explanation.
"Ellimist."
CASSIE. The voice reverberated all around me.
"Where am I?"
YOU ARE IN YOUR MIND.
"Why...why am I here?" I felt stupid. I was asking why I was in my own mind.
YOU MUST SAVE YOUR FRIENDS.
"What? I don't know what to do! You brought us here! We don't even know why we're here, or what we're supposed to do to get back home! Is this some other world or something?"
IT IS...A CHALLENGE. A CHALLENGE FOR ALL OF YOU.
"What are we supposed to do?"
YOU HAVE SAVED THE ISKOORT ONCE. YOU MUST DO IT AGAIN.
"How? What am I supposed to do?"
YOU MUST SAVE THE ISKOORT.
"How? We're in the worst possible situation right now! Rachel's about to get hurt, Tobias betrayed us, and we're all about to be killed!" My voice was more frantic than usual.
ONE MOVE, AT THE RIGHT TIME, CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING. A WORM CAN MAKE ONE MOVE THAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING. YOU CAN DO EVEN MORE.
"What? That doesn't help! How are we supposed to get out of here? How did we get in here? Why are we here? How do we beat this stupid challenge?" I was frustrated. We were about to get killed off by the Iskoort and the Ellimist was just giving crypti answers.
ONE MOVE, AT THE RIGHT TIME.
And I was back. But...I was in the past. Jake was saying, "Okay, first, we need to get out of this cell, but without them knowing. They'll figure it out if all of us morph, or if even a few of us do, so only one of us will."
{I will,} Tobias volunteered. {I'm the smallest.}
Jake nodded and started to talk again.
What? This was before. This was before we had figured out Tobias was a traitor, before we had been at a crucial stand-off.
One move. The Ellimist had said one move, at the right time, could change everything.
What move? What move did I have to make to change the outcome from positive to negative?
And like magic, it became obvious. Blaringly obvious.
"I'll do it," I said.
Five heads snapped towards me. "Do what?" Jake asked, confused.
"I'll be the one to get out of the cell." My mouth said the words before my brain could stop it.
Jake tried to not have a worried look on his face. "Tobias is the smallest," he said in a neutral tone. He wanted to keep me safe, but he didn't want it to look to the others like he was giving me special preference.
"No," I insisted. "I'm the fastest morpher. I'll morph, get out, demorph, than morph to something else to break you guys out."
"Makes sense," Marco said with a shrug. He started to say something about how hungry he was, and I turned towards Jake.
"I'll be fine," I whispered, squeezing his hand.
"Yeah, I know," He whispered back. He didn't sound convinced.
But I had to do this. One move. This was my move.
But would it change everything? Would it change anything? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N again: You guys knew I wouldn't kill Rachel, right? I mean, KAA did enough of that... Uh-oh, I've run out of chapter titles...any ideas, people?
A/N: Yay! Another chapter! Could be longer... but oh well. Please, please, review at the end and tell me what you thought/what I could do to make it better! Thanks for reading, you guys!
"Everyone, stay still!" Jake yelled.
"Ya think?" Marco muttered. I knew that even though he was being sarcastic, he was shocked. We all were.
{Good idea,} Tobias said in a mocking, un-Tobias like tone to Jake.
Tobias had his blades pressed against an angry, fighting, Rachel. "What the hell are you DOING?" Rachel shouted at him.
{Shut up,} Tobias growled at her. He squeezed her harder.
This was crazy. Rafe and Tobias had both turned against us. Rafe was suprising enough...but Tobias? I couldn't believe that. None of us could. Was he...could he be ... a controller? No, he couldn't be. It was impossible. Or was it?
And now, Tobias was holding Rachel in a death grip, and there was a cold, hard, look in his eyes that told us he wouldn't be afraid to hurt her, or possibly kill her.
Rafe strolled casually into the room with ten Iskoort behind him and surveyed the scene.
He said carelessly to Tobias, {Don't kill her.} Tobias immediately relaxed his grip on Rachel.
Tobias was taking orders from Rafe? There was something that we had missed there. It was something very big, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
Jake had a tense look on his face. "No one move," He instructed again.
{Good idea,} Rafe said. It sounded familiar. In fact...it was the same mocking tone that Tobias had used. Exactly the same tone.
Something clicked there when I realized that, but I couldn't figure out what.
"Screw that," Rachel snapped, and concentrated on becoming a grizzly.
"Rachel!" Jake yelled at her. Tobias moved to slice her throat, but Rafe waved a lazy hand. {Leave her,} he said. He waved his hand again, and two Iskoort clamped a big lock over the cell that Jake, Marco, Ax and I were in.
Rachel was slowly growing. Rafe said to her, {If you change any more, your friends will be obliterated.}
Rachel stopped midmorph.
But Rafe wasn't done yet. {And, you will be forced to kill Tobias. Can you do that? Will you do that?}
The tension was evident in the air. It was a standoff.
Rachel, a human and bear mess, stared defiantly into Rafe's eyes. She glanced over at us, and without a word, began to reverse the morphing process.
Rafe smiled. He had won. I felt a queasy feeling in my stomach.
{Tobias!} Rafe shouted suddenly. Tobias was startled, and his blade flew in a reflex movement. It flew straight...time seemed to slow down....into Rachel's throat.
And suddenly, I wasn't there anymore.
"Aagh!" I fell onto the floor, startled. I took a deep breath, and looked around.
I was in complete whiteness. It felt like I was in the air...but beneath me, the floor was solid. I was standing....on air. Completely white air.
There was only one explanation.
"Ellimist."
CASSIE. The voice reverberated all around me.
"Where am I?"
YOU ARE IN YOUR MIND.
"Why...why am I here?" I felt stupid. I was asking why I was in my own mind.
YOU MUST SAVE YOUR FRIENDS.
"What? I don't know what to do! You brought us here! We don't even know why we're here, or what we're supposed to do to get back home! Is this some other world or something?"
IT IS...A CHALLENGE. A CHALLENGE FOR ALL OF YOU.
"What are we supposed to do?"
YOU HAVE SAVED THE ISKOORT ONCE. YOU MUST DO IT AGAIN.
"How? What am I supposed to do?"
YOU MUST SAVE THE ISKOORT.
"How? We're in the worst possible situation right now! Rachel's about to get hurt, Tobias betrayed us, and we're all about to be killed!" My voice was more frantic than usual.
ONE MOVE, AT THE RIGHT TIME, CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING. A WORM CAN MAKE ONE MOVE THAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING. YOU CAN DO EVEN MORE.
"What? That doesn't help! How are we supposed to get out of here? How did we get in here? Why are we here? How do we beat this stupid challenge?" I was frustrated. We were about to get killed off by the Iskoort and the Ellimist was just giving crypti answers.
ONE MOVE, AT THE RIGHT TIME.
And I was back. But...I was in the past. Jake was saying, "Okay, first, we need to get out of this cell, but without them knowing. They'll figure it out if all of us morph, or if even a few of us do, so only one of us will."
{I will,} Tobias volunteered. {I'm the smallest.}
Jake nodded and started to talk again.
What? This was before. This was before we had figured out Tobias was a traitor, before we had been at a crucial stand-off.
One move. The Ellimist had said one move, at the right time, could change everything.
What move? What move did I have to make to change the outcome from positive to negative?
And like magic, it became obvious. Blaringly obvious.
"I'll do it," I said.
Five heads snapped towards me. "Do what?" Jake asked, confused.
"I'll be the one to get out of the cell." My mouth said the words before my brain could stop it.
Jake tried to not have a worried look on his face. "Tobias is the smallest," he said in a neutral tone. He wanted to keep me safe, but he didn't want it to look to the others like he was giving me special preference.
"No," I insisted. "I'm the fastest morpher. I'll morph, get out, demorph, than morph to something else to break you guys out."
"Makes sense," Marco said with a shrug. He started to say something about how hungry he was, and I turned towards Jake.
"I'll be fine," I whispered, squeezing his hand.
"Yeah, I know," He whispered back. He didn't sound convinced.
But I had to do this. One move. This was my move.
But would it change everything? Would it change anything? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N again: You guys knew I wouldn't kill Rachel, right? I mean, KAA did enough of that... Uh-oh, I've run out of chapter titles...any ideas, people?