Disclaimer: Nights and crew does not belong to me. Mirror, Scyffer, and Eve do. Do not use them without my permission.
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Reala and Eve appeared back in the throne room of Wizemans castle. Eve was a Nightmaren again. Reala had a dead hold on her so she could not escape his grasp. She looked up at Wizeman with hatred. "Let us go!!" Eve yelled as she struggled against Reala. He managed to take her sword off of her hip and throw it across the room.
"This is your last chance Eve… Give me the Ideya you carry."
"I will never give it to you!!"
"If you don't I shall kill you." Eve remembered what Nights was about to do before Wizeman took control of Reala.
"Fine… I will give up the shard." She saw Wizeman grin. "But only to Reala…" His grin disappeared fast. He knew that if she gave it to Reala the spell that he had placed on him would be broken.
"If you do not give it to me than you will give it to no one at all…" Reala released her as Wizeman blasted her with an energy beam. She yelled out in pain as her body fell limp to the floor. Reala watched and did nothing but a small tear trickled down his right cheek. Wizeman chanted another spell and her fallen form vanished.
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Jackle and Nights appeared in an encampment of some kind. There were many Maren wandering about. "Come on…" Nights glided forward.
"Where are we?" Jackle inquired.
"Jackle welcome to the rebel base." Jackle looked around in awe.
"This is it? This place is way bigger than I expected it to be."
"Well get used to it. Come on in here." Nights turned into a building and Jackle followed. It was a storage building for clothing. Nights grabbed several articles of clothing and handed a pair to him.
"What's this for?"
"We're going undercover. We can't go to Nightmare looking they way we do now.
"But I like what I'm wearing now."
"They'd know us on the spot. So deal with it." Jackle grumbled and obeyed. They went and changed into the undercover suits. Jackles' was teal with black boots, vest, and hat. He felt naked without his cape. Nights' was red with white boots, vest and a red and white hat.
"Are we going yet?" Jackle asked in an annoyed tone.
"Yes come on…" Nights replied as he slung his sword around his waist.
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Tara awoke and found herself in the alley that she had been in last night. She got up and dusted herself off looking herself over for injury. The only one that she accounted was the pain coming from her ribs. She looked around for Reala expecting to find his dead body lying nearby but he was gone. Where has he gone? She wondered. She had had the strangest dream, although she could not remember it. She looked down at her watch, it said that it was 10:30 am. Her manager would never believe the night she had. Being chased by a gang and rescued by a hot guy who disappeared and then sleeping in an alley. She took off out of the alley toward the little dinner that she worked at. She had noticed that it was freezing out and there was a light frost on the ground. Wasn't it supposed to be spring outside? She was glad to get into the dinner where it was warm. As soon as she stepped thought the doors all worked stopped when people noticed her. Tara wondered why everyone was staring at her. Samantha the manager and a good friend walked up to her. "Tara where have you been!?"
"I'm sorry I'm late. It's only a half hour I'll make it up." Samantha looked at her strangely. She took Tara by the hand and walked her off to the break room. "What is this all about Sam?" Sam shut the door and picked up the phone.
"I'm calling your parents they'll want to hear about this."
"What? Why? Sam I'm 18 years old I can take responsibility for being late."
"Tara you've been gone for over 6 months." Tara shook her head.
"Quite playing Sam…" The receiver on the other end picked up.
"Mrs. Valenstine? This is Sam, down at the dinner… She's here right now… Yes she came in just a couple minutes ago… Okay see ya in a few. Bye bye." Sam hung up the phone. "Okay they're on their way here."
"You've got to be kidding me. If I had been missing don't you think I'd remember it?"
"I don't know, but your parents have been worried sick about you. Just like all your friends were. We're all curious as to where you've been all this time."
"If I've been missing. I don't know where I've been or who I've been with." There was a bit of commotion coming from the dinning area that took Sam's attention away from Tara. Heading toward the back break room. Tara's mother and farther burst into the back break room door. Her parents were high-class people with plenty of money to throw around. Tara didn't much like the idea of having everything bought for her. The reason she took up a part time job to earn her own money.
"Tara!!! Oh my dear lord where have you been?!" She raced over to her and gripped her daughter in a bear hug. Her father did the same. "See! What did I tell you about this working thing!! Why didn't you just let us buy you that car!? Thank god you're safe."
"Mom I'm fine really. Ow!" her parents released her.
"What's wrong my darling are you hurt? Oh my god my precious daughters hurt. Charles we're taking her to the hospital right now to get her checked out!"
"Mom calm down. You're overreacting again."
"No honey your mother's right. We're taking you to the hospital and you're going to get the best doctors money can buy…" Tara sighed. Even though she loved them, the two of them could be a major pain.
"And don't you worry dear I've already put in your resignation five months ago."
"Mom?!"
"Come along dear. You're in need medical treatment." They three of them walked out to the limousine. "To the hospital Jacob! And step on it!"
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Nights and Jackle made their way to Nightmare. They were extremely careful not to speak of what they were planning while they were there. Spies had crude ways of sneaking up on you. They made it into the territory without any trouble. The disguises where working splendidly. No one stopped them or asked any questions. Nor did anyone recognize them. They approached the castle and stood there for a moment before proceeding inward. The castle was just the way Nights had remembered it being, dark, dank, and dreary. He didn't miss this place one bit. Eve and Reala were no doubt taken to the throne room. That's where they were headed. They made it to the giant oak doors. Nights felt sickened by the very site of them. He remembered all those years of walking through those doors to see what Wizeman wanted it was always what he wanted.
Jackle cast a spell so that they could hear what was going on inside of the chamber. They could not hear Eves' voice. The only two voices they heard were Reala's and Wizeman.
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"What was your relationship with her Reala?" Wizeman's voice boomed. Reala glared at the lord of nightmares. The spell over him had subsided now. "You know that she was holding you back. It's better that I took her out of your life…" Wizeman was obviously enjoying himself while toying with Reala. "Now she will be imprisoned in the Ideya palaces forever. And there is nothing you or anyone else can do about it…" Wizeman laughed and Reala snapped. He flew at Wizeman while shouting out at him. His fist reeled back ready to punch Wizemans' lights out. But someone else got the drop on him first. Planting his heels into Reala's back and dropping him to the hard obsidian floor. He jumped off of Reala's back and flipped in the air before landing in front of Wizeman. Reala looked up from the floor and stared at the one who actually grounded him.
He was a young Maren boy about 15 years of age. His hair was jet black that was tied back with a white rag and his eyes were ice blue. He had a thin black mark like Reala's on his right eye. He wore a tight white suit with a black vest and boots. He had body armor on his shoulders and forearms. They had the crest of Wizeman on them. He had a large sword strapped to his back. He was very buff for being so young. A very cocky age to be at and stupid. Reala got up and glared at the young Maren. He glared right back at him. "Reala, I would like you to meet your replacement. His name is Scyffer…" Reala turned his head slightly to the right and spit never taking his eyes off of him.
"And I'm supposed to be impressed?" Reala whipped off the bit of blood that was on his lip.
"You should be considering he is your offspring…"
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"What'd he say?" Nights and Jackle looked at one another for a second not believing what they had just heard. They continued to listen in before they had to intervene. It sounded like Wizeman intended for this Scyffer guy to kill Reala.
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"Why was I never told of this?"
"Because, as always I was taking responsibility for your actions Reala. Your endless struggle for lust with every female you found worth your time. Ended in the result of Scyffer here… His mother died birthing him… So what could I do other than raise him and teach him how to survive in this world. He hated you all on his own."
"I see what this is Wizeman… you want us to fight to the death don't you…"
"Actually Scyffer came up with the idea not me… You see unlike you, he uses the one muscle that counts. And lately Reala, you've started to get on my nerves, and I hate Maren that get on my nerves."
"Well you know something Wizeman, you've been on my nerves ever since I met you…" Reala grinned smugly. "In fact I loathe you more than I do Nights…"
"I'm flattered…" Wizeman mused. "Well enough of this melee chatter I want to see some action. Scyffer do with him what you will."
"Yes Master Wizeman…" he said lowly and drew his sword without trouble.
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Tara sat on the hospital bed in a gown awaiting the doctor. She was very bored although waiting in the room was better than the waiting room. Her mother and father were sitting in the chairs that were near the bed. The doctor walked in and her parents got up greeting and shaking the hand of the doctor. He looked down at his chart for a few seconds. "Well it seems your daughter has a few broken ribs." Her mothers' face became frightened.
"Is it fatal?"
"No she'll just have to take it easy for a while. But the memory loss concerns us. Traumatic events can cause memory loss so she'll have to stay with us for a while for some testing."
"Yes but isn't six months a little extensive?"
"We're going to determine what has caused it. It would be best if you two go home and got some rest."
"No! I have spent six months with my little girl missing. I'm staying here with her."
"Okay then, but you'll have to go to the waiting room while we conduct the tests." Her parents nodded and went off to the waiting room to wait with their older daughter, Tara's sister Meghan, who had come up a little while after they did. For the next few hours the doctors did their thing. Asking her questions and doing different tests. After a while they called her parents back in to tell them what they have found. "We have concluded that there is nothing wrong with your daughter besides the fact that she has been raped."
"She… she what?" her mother began babbling and then fainted.
"Mom!" Her father had caught her.
"Sharon, speak to me?" he began to wave his hand in front of her face.
"Nurse could I get some smelling salts in here please?" the nurse went off to get some. She returned and waved it in front of her nose. Sharon shot up and began bawling.
"My poor baby!!" She went over and hugged Tara tightly. Tara just sat there and didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say really.
"Good news is that she isn't pregnant. But we have to keep her longer for STD testing." Sharon stared at the doctor and fainted again.
"Smelling salts doctor?" the nurse asked.
"No just stick her on the bed and let her wake herself up. Our patient doesn't need anymore hysterics today I'm sure." Mr. Valenstine and the nurse picked up Mrs. Valenstine and set her on the bed next to Tara's.
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Nights and Jackle continued to listen in. They didn't like what they heard. "He wants to kill Reala? Good luck… If you couldn't do for whatever some odd years there's no way he can do it."
"That's only because Reala and I are very evenly matched…" Jackle looked over at him.
"So then what was the point of you two fighting each other for all this time?"
"Reala as you know is as stubborn as a Krickle…"
"Good point…"
"You two!! What do you think you're doing there?" a cat Maren guard flew up to them.
"We can do whatever the hell we feel like!" Nights grabbed him placing a hand over the mages mouth.
"Don't listen to him… he's just an idiot, way to many blows to the head. We'll be on our way now…" Night dragged off a protesting Jackle. The guard watched them as they left flexing his claws. He grew suspicious of them.
"Hey what are your names…?" they stopped and Nights glared down at Jackle. He grinned and shrugged.
"I'm Coss and this is Bins."
"Funny I've never seen you two around before."
"We're new… Duh…" Jackle retorted.
"We just got lost is all. How exactly do you get to the Food court?" the cat Maren grumbled lowly to himself before he answered.
"Take this hall way all the way down to the end then hang a left, keep going until you see the signs."
"Thanks sir, appreciate it." The Maren said nothing and continued on the hall patrol. They flew off down the hallway.
"What about Reala?"
"We'll have to come back." They flew down into the Chamber section. As the two of them were a door opened as they were passing a hand flew out and grabbed Jackle by the collar and pulled him in.
"Gah!" He was pulled in and slammed against the wall just beside the doorway. Night's stopped and looked back.
"Jackle! You jerk!"
"Oh hi there Mirror… heh heh…"
"How could you do that to me!?" Mirror was slightly shorter than Jackle and dressed and the mage attire. Her cape looked like a tie die of dark and light blues and purples. Her hat boots and gloves were the same. Her hair was blonde, long and wavey with a few streaks of light brown.
"Do what to you?"
"Leave me behind… You said that if you ever left that you'd take me with you…"
"You remembered that? I said that like 9 years ago…" she smacked him upside the head.
"Of course I remembered! Why didn't you!?" She started to cry.
"Come on Mirror don't be sad."
"I'm not sad I'm crying out of frustration!"
"Hey I hate to break up this uh… moment but we have to go miss…"
"Butt out of this Nights, he'll go when I'm through with him!!" She slammed the door in his face. Nights stood there for a moment and looked around to make sure that now one was around to hear his name being called. No one to be seen anywhere but that didn't mean that there wasn't anyone around. Some mages did have invisibility spells. Shouts could be heard coming from within and then there was silence again. Then the door opened Jackle zipped out and shut it behind him leaning against it afterward.
"Women are so frightening when they're mad. I'm glad I'm single."
"From the way she was talking to you it sounded to me like you two had something going."
"What? No way! She's just a friend… that's all…"
"Sure…" the door suddenly opened and Jackle fell backward onto the floor.
"Okay I'm ready!" She looked down at Jackle. "What are you doing on the floor?"
"Nothing… Absolutely nothing."
"Okay then let's go."
"What? What do you mean lets?" Jackle got up and looked at her.
"It's just what I said, let's go." She smiled sweetly.
"You can't go, it's too dangerous…" Jackle got up off of the floor.
"Are you calling me a novice?"
"No… I didn't say that…" Jackle put his hands up.
"Are you saying that I can't handle myself." Nights backed away from the two of them.
"No I didn't say that I just said it was too dangerous."
"I am just as capable as you."
"I didn't say that you weren't."
"You just said it would be too dangerous."
"Yes exactly." She narrowed her eyes at him.
"I AM GOING WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!!" the castle seemed to shake with her words.
"Okay okay okay sheesh you can go…" She smiled again and the three of them took off down the hall.
"So where are we going?" Mirror asked.
"To Wizeman's throne room."
"Ooo, sounds dangerous…"
"We are here on a mission so don't call us by our names got it."
"Right right got it… Um… so what do I call you then?"
"I'm Bins and he's Coss."
"Right okay… So, who're you again?" Jackle groaned.
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Scyffer leaned forward lifting his foot and pushing off with the other to throw himself at Reala. Raising his sword above his head in order to slice Reala in two. Reala dove into a roll to avoid his blade and in the process of getting back to his feet drew his own sword just in time to block the boy's next attack. "Is that the best you got boy…" Reala mocked.
"I must have inherited it from you…" Scyffer insulted back. The two of them leapt back and then raced at each other again for another round. It didn't help that Wizeman had neglected to cast his silence spell on the room. They were so loud in fact that the doorway had collected a few bystanders whom wanted to listen in as well. By the time Nights, Jackle, and Mirror got there the hall was quite crowded.
"What's going on?" Nights asked one of the many Nightmaren that were huddled next to the door.
"It's a fight between some kid and the General."
"It's already begun." Something happened and the crowd huddled near the door again.
"Reala got knocked down." One said.
"I don't believe it!" another shouted.
"This kid must be really good if he's beating Reala."
"Think about what a better general he'd become."
"Think of if he actually kills Reala. Then he won't be able to rape our females anymore." Another said happily.
"Yeah I hope he cuts off his head and mounts it on the border. Keep the rebels away." the other laughed. Nights was becoming unhappy with all the Marens were saying.
"Stand aside!" Nights yelled out as he pushed past people to get to the door.
"Hey buddy, get in line we were here first." Nights looked down at the Maren when anger welling up in his eyes. The Maren took a good look at his face. "You're… you're Nights!!" the crowd split apart when the name was mentioned. He took off past the Nightmaren lined up and practically spin dashed into the door. The fight between the two did not stop on his behave they both kept fighting. Scyffer had Reala down with his sword over his head ready to slice off Reala's. Nights sprang forward drawing his sword and countered the boys own sword before it hit its target.
"What is the meaning of this intrusion!?" Wizeman bellowed. Jackle and Mirror stopped in the doorway and Nights stared at Wizeman with hatred.
"Wizeman! It's bad enough that you brainwashed my people but now you're kidnapping humans from the waking world. How despicable you are."
"Why thank you Nights…"
"Where is she? She does not belong here."
"Well that's too bad because now she's a permanent part of this place." Reala got up off of the floor holding his arm where his opponent's sword had cut him. He walked over toward the rebels.
"He trapped her in the Ideya palaces…" Reala growled.
"It's too bad that you won't be able to save her because when Scyffer is done with you'll be cut up into little pieces."
"Not today Wizeman…" Jackle whipped out in front of them and chanted a spell and they all disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
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They appeared in the Twisted Meadows where the Ideya Palaces were. There must have been millions of them. Some of them contained Nightmaren but most were empty. Nights wondered how many were just innocent people who refused to obey Wizeman. They walked down isle after isle in search of the illusive Eve. They split up hoping that would make the search quicken. Jackle stopped when he located her and looked at her. Something wasn't right at all about her. Her skin was dark and see through. No part of her body was solid looking only the clothes she wore were still normal. It was like she was just a shadow of her former self. "Hey over here!!!" the four of them gathered around the Ideya palace.
"What happened to her?" Reala asked.
"Something…" Jackle thought. "Maybe she's not all there…"
"Come again?" Nights said.
"Think about it. If the Ideya she had kept her from becoming all Nightmaren then her human half could not be imprisoned in the Ideya Palace…"
"That makes sense." Nights said.
"Then where would her human half be?" Reala asked.
"In the waking world…" Jackle looked over at Nights.
"To save Eve we have to find Tara and get her to come back with us." Nights said looking to Reala.
"That should be a piece of cake…" Jackle stated.
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After all of her tests came up negative at the hospital Tara was allowed to go back home. It felt so good to sleep in her bed. It was so comfortable and soft and clean. Of course it would be much better if her mother wasn't checking up on her every five minutes to make sure she was still in bed. And then escort her to the bathroom. She even hired extra security to guard the house. She couldn't wait until this whole thing died down and she could go back to being herself again. Do all the things she used to do. And go places and see people and… have sweet dreams.
She awoke the next morning rested and refreshed. She looked over at the clock. It said that it was 7:48 a.m. She wished she could have slept longer. She would never be able to go back to sleep now. She sat up and felt the pain in her ribs was less than the day before. She heard a knock at the door. She looked up at the door and sighed. "Come in!" a servant entered her bedroom and sat a tray of breakfast on her lap then left. 'Great... breakfast in bed... like I couldn't walk to the breakfast table...' she thought to herself.
After a few days of rest and being waited on hand and foot and being given all sorts of presents and flowers. She was able to go out with her friends again. Of course her parents had to know them and trust them. She and a few of her friends decided to go to the downtown and shop at the clothing stores. She was actually enjoying herself now. It had been a while since she had been out and having fun with her friends. Her friends were glad to have her back. They were out all day long and finally stopped at a small outdoor/indoor restaurant for lunch.
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A little hollow watched the Nightmaren listening carefully to their conversation. He stayed hidden so that they would not see him. As soon as they vanished in the bright burst of red light he came out and jetted toward Nightmare. As soon as he reached the castle he went to Wizeman's stone window and flew in. Wizeman was grumpy as usual and he approached cautiously. "Lord Wizeman?" the hollow chirped. Wizeman turned his large body toward the tiny hollow.
"What is it?" he asked annoyed.
"I have some news that you may find interesting."
"Out with it..."
"I witnessed Nights, Jackle, and Reala in the twisted meadows. They were gathered around the Ideya palace of Eve the former general. Something was not right about this."
"They cannot release her without a dreamer..." Wizeman stated.
"I know this sir but they said that the human part of her was not there. Whatever that means."
"What!?" the hollow cowered. Wizeman went into thought and it finally hit him. He hadn't thought about it before he had done it. With the Ideya the human girl could not be imprisoned in the palace. "So where would she be then?" Wizeman asked no one.
"They said that she was put back into the Waking World sir."
"You will be rewarded for this information." the hollow bowed and flew off. "Send for my Elite team now!!"
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The four Maren appeared at the Rebel base. Some of the Rebels were startled that Nights had indeed brought Reala to the base. The guards approached them and Reala growled. Nights put up his hands. "It's okay, he's with us now." the guards looked at one another in disbelief.
"But sir, he's..."
"My brother..." the guards were silenced.
"We realize that sir but he's a murderer."
"That's in the past now."
"Some of the rebel families of his victims will not like this sir."
"They may not but he's the enemy of Wizeman now, and any enemy of Wizeman is a friend of ours."
"If you say so sir."
"That's what he said..." Jackle threw in. The guards just stood there as they walked by. "Now where's my clothes? I want to get out of this hollow suit..."
"You better hurry up because I want to find Eve as soon as possible."
"We're going to have to locate her first. Do you know what city you were in when you met her?"
"It had a name?"
"Yes, all human cities have names. I'll have to go see Elliot and see if he can find out where she lives."
"Well hurry up." Reala scolded. Nights lead them to a place where they could rest.
"I'll be back soon..." with that he vanished in a burst of red light.
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Nights reappeared at Elliots' house and by then it was dark out. He flew up to Elliot's window and looked into it. He saw Elliot sitting at his computer desk typing away at his computer. Nights gently tapped on the window to get his attention. Elliot looked over at the window and fell out of his chair when he saw Nights. When he realized who it was he jumped up and ran over to the window and opened it.
"Nights! I wasn't expecting you." Elliot said delighted to see his friend. Nights glided into the window.
"I need your help. Wizeman trapped Eve in the Ideya palace." Elliot looked shocked.
"Do you need me to free her?"
"I don't' think you can... thing is I think that the human part of her is free. And we think she may have been sent back to her home but we don't know where she is."
"Lemme check out the net... there are tons of newspaper reports that might tell us what city she's from." Elliot typed away on the keyboard searching the net and so many things popped up. Nights watched in amazement, he had never seen such a device before. Elliot found a site about her and clicked on it. It had scanned newspaper clippings posted on it which he read until to found the city they were looking for. "It says that her home town is Chicago Illinois... Home of the Chicago Bulls." He scrolled down and found that the page had been updated recently. With a fresh new newspaper clipping. "Whoa wait a second this one says that she has been found!"
"What?" Nights read the clipping. "That's it then just as I thought. A human dreamer cannot be trapped in the Ideya palaces, so she was just sent back to the waking world... Thanks Elliot you helped big time."
"Wait Nights? Are you planning on going to see her? From what this report says I don't thinks she remembers ever being in the dream world. Believe me the reporters would find out if she were talking about it."
"So what should we do?"
"You should let me and Clare come along just in case, she might be frightened if you were to reveal yourselves. And if Reala really loves her that much you know he's bound to mess up. In any case you should let us approach her first."
"Good idea... but will your parents let you go?"
"I'll just tell them it's a class trip." Nights shrugged. "It may have to wait two more days since we have to buy the train tickets first."
"Alright... I'll be back." As Elliot got everything ready in the waking world Nights got everything ready in the Dream world. And Reala was not pleased that they would have to wait two more days to find Tara in the Waking world. When they returned to Elliots house the two Dreamers were packed and ready with the five train tickets in hand.
"Alright I told my dad that this was a class trip to Chicago for a history lesson. We have a few days to locate her."
"Good... Now let's get going...." Reala growled. The two dreamers still felt uneasy around the Nightmaren that had once been their enemy. The three Nightmaren morphed into their human forms and they were off to the train station. It was a long ride to Chicago and the Maren felt awkward with all the single girls and one guy on the train staring goo goo eyes at them. A few of the girls gave them little pieces of paper with numbers scribbled on them and they promptly said "call me". The Maren didn't know what they were talking about. After what seemed like an eternity, the train stopped at its destination. The five got off of the train and looked around. It was a first time for all of them to see this big city, well save for Reala. He was the only one to have been there before. But this area was far away from where he had been. Luckily Elliot came prepared with a map he had printed off the net. The group made their way out of the train station and out to the street. There were so many people walking it was hard to get around without running into or stepping on someone. What they didn't know was that someone else was looking for Tara also or well more like a few someone's.