Hi! Sorry I took sooooo long to post chap 2 up, my comp died. Anyway, thanks for the 1 (miserable, but still existent) review I got. (big cheesy grin) THANKS!! On with Chapter 2!!

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Surrounding them were several people wearing masks. All had long, white hair & all carried assorted lethal weapons. Elie looked around nervously, her hand instinctively reaching for her guns.

The people in masks were making strange noises that sounded like whistling, clicking & hooting. It was very soothing. In fact, it was too soothing. You get the idea.

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Haru was the last to wake up. At first he thought the world was upside-down, then he noticed that HE was upside-down. He & everyone else were hanging upside-down from thick, coarse rope, all of them several meters apart. Iulius looked slightly sick. The people in masks were sitting on a log, watching them with interest, still making the strange noises, except that this time, it was evident the noises weren't meant to send them to sleep. In fact, it was starting to sound like nonsensical chatter.

Nearby, several children were playing what appeared to be a game. The unusual thing was that they were all levitating. For what seemed like hours, they remained suspended in the air. No-one said anything, all keeping deathly quiet. Elie broke the silence when she noticed Haru was awake.

"HARU! HI!" she sounded very cheerful for someone in this sort of predicament.

Suddenly, the noises stopped. The people sat upright, not moving an inch. The children stopped playing. For some reason, everyone seemed angry. You could practically feel their glares from behind their eyeless masks. All was silent for about a minute. Then the noises started, except that now it was more rapid & brisk. One of the people stood up & walked up to Sieg.

He/she (it was impossible to tell) seemed to study him for awhile, occasionally poking him. Then he/she walked to Reina & proceeded to do the same. He/she did this to all of them. Musica was, surprisingly, ticklish.

He/she seemed satisfied after poking everyone & turned back to the sitters-on-log & gave a rapid succession of clicks & hoots. He/she turned back to Iulius. Swiftly & unexpectedly, his/her hand flew to his throat. He/she looked like he was about to kill Iulius.

Then, for reasons unknown, he/she let his/her hand down. He/she pulled back her mask. He/she had cold gray eyes & his/her skin was pale. His/her teeth had been filed to make them sharp, giving him/her a potentially dangerous set of fangs. Then he/she spoke.

"I isn't too… urm… nice at… um… sa-pay-eaking zees Eing-al-eesh…" they now knew that the person was a girl, judging from her soft & creamy voice. She spoke slowly & hesitantly with a weird accent.

She continued "Eef you isn't hunt-a-stanting me I ees soree. I ees Zalem, eef you ees saying I name in Eing-al-eesh. You ees in I villa."

"Villa?" asked Lucia, insultingly. "This isn't a villa."

She glared at him with her cold gray eyes. "I ees meaning villa-age. Yoo has betah not bee macking I angeree beecos I ees onlee Eing-al-eesh sa-pay-eaking person haer!"

She looked at all of them. "Hoo-at is yoo doo on zees ai-land? Hoo-ai ees yoo haer?"

Sieg answered her questions, after taking awhile to decipher what she was saying. "Well, um, Miss Zalem, we weren't doing anything on this island. We don't know why we're here. In fact, we don't know how we got here."

She turned to look at Sieg, her expression softened. "Aah, yoo ees zee time keepah. But, I ees no undastandin oo. How oo is caa-min here so koo-ickally? Vee ees tinkin oo ees spies. Eef oo ees spies, vee ees killin oo."

"We're not spies, we just suddenly came here. Um… could you let us down?" asked Sieg, his face red, though that was because of the blood slowly going to his head.

She gave a quick laugh. It was a beautiful laugh that made you want to laugh with her. She turned back to the log-sitters & gave another succession of hoots & clicks. Then, she produced a sword & suddenly, they all fell to the ground. The ropes had been cut. She had moved so fast, she didn't appear to have moved at all. She gave another quick laugh, seeing all of them sprawled on the ground.

They stood up gingerly, their head hurting because they were upside-down for so long.

"Oo foloween mee, ooka?" she pulled her mask back on & led them to what appeared to be a café. A waiter, in a mask as well, click & hooted at her. She whistled back 4 times & the waiter levitated a tray with empty glasses to their table.

"Tay-ke a galls." Said Zalem, motioning to the glasses, taking one herself. It immediately filled itself with a red drink. They all grabbed a glass & it filled itself with their favorite drink. She handed him two gold coins the size of doorknobs.

"Vee ees not sa-pay-eeking Eeng-al-eesh here, ve is talking oosin clickin & vee-sall-in & whootin." She explained. "Here omos evairee thin ees oosin mageek. Our lang-oo-age is like zees bee-cos eet ees not dee-stur-been dee fo-rai-est." she took a long, ungraceful slurp from her drink. "Now, oo please hexpalainin how oo ees comin here."

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All 4 now. Sorry Zalem's speech is hard 2 read. No, nothing is going on between her & Sieg, I wouldn't want it that way. Pls r& r!