Ohhhh boy. Well, I feel horrible. Here I keep promising to update regularly and then I go and let real life intervene. I hope you're not all too mad at me. Or that you believe I must have uped and MOVED to New York. (is uped a word?)
Anyway, because I feel bad I will work really hard to get this story done without making you wait too long.
Rose: Liar.
Wren: Why do you get their hopes up?
OK, so maybe I'm setting up an unrealistic goal for myself, but hey, when there are long, dragged out months between updates you can comfort yourself by knowing that somewhere I'm sitting wondering if I should turn on the computer.
KonekOniko- I waved to you when I was in New York! Actually, since I have no idea what you look like, nor gender, age, ect, I wasn't sure. So I went around waving to different people. They kept giving me funny looks...----------------------------------------Chapter 6-Wren Rhymes----------------------
Snickerdoodle opened his eyes slowly and yawned as only a cat waking up from a catnap in a tree in the middle of the swamps of insanity can yawn. Although few are fluent in cat body language it would be obvious to even the densest dolt that this was the yawn of a cat much put upon. And they would be right. At the moment Snickerdoodle was lamenting to himself that his two favorite pets seemed to have wandered off again.
"I don't know why I take them to play with that Chihiro chit." He grumbled to himself. "She's nothing but trouble. Things were so much easier when I only had to worry about them eating too much junk food at that idiotic day care their parents used to take them to."
Snickerdoodle jumped out of the tree gracefully, an effect that was ruined by the fact that he landed in a puddle of sticky mud. Sniffing with disdain and wondering why he even bothered, Snickerdoodle proceeded to clean himself off. Cleanliness was on the top 5 cat priorities after all. Finishing quickly, he set off along one of the many trails that meandered through the cattails, yowling all the while about disobedient pets.
Chihiro couldn't help but groan. They were trapped underground, in a tiny cell with walls that seemed to be made out of shadow. Perhaps even worse, Chihiro mused, was that her cell mates were Wren and Rose, and they were fighting again.
"Lollipops! You idiot! You got use trapped here!" Rose yelled, completely forgetting the rather ominous nature of said lollipops.
"But they were going to EAT us!"
Chihiro sat back to watch. If they were going to be here a while, she might as well get comfortable. Now, more than ever, she wished she had thought to bring earplugs.
Wren sat in a corner and fumed. Rose was just unfair! Those lollipops were dangerous, and Wren knew it!
'Lollipops?' Alfred asked.
"WHAT! Who said that?" Wren jumped to her feet.
Chihiro and Rose just stared at her, identical looks of confusion on their faces.
"Umm, said what?" Chihiro asked tentatively. She furiously tried to think back and remember when Wren last took her medication.
"Said lollipops!"
"That was you, a while back, before we ended up in here, remember?" Rose answered in a tone one used to talk to small children. Chihiro did notice, though, that Rose looked more than a bit worried. That did not bode well.
'Good grief, hush. The rest of them can't hear me, only you.' Alfred said.
Wren looked around the room carefully, but if Alfred was nowhere to be seen.
"Where are you?" Wren asked, ignoring Chihiro and Rose for the moment.
'Do you have say and think things at the same time? It creates an awful echo you know.'
'Huh?'
'Look, I'm able to communicate to you only because you have just a tiny bit of magic that makes you receptive to such things. The others can't hear me. An effective sorcerer has captured me. An idiot, certainly, but he knows what he's doing. I'm being held in a hall with the others, I think Kohaku is here. Don't know, really. Everyone's unconscious, so I can't ask, can I. Thankfully I'm a wizard so he'll have some trouble getting magic from me. I'm rambling again aren't I...'
'Backup! You know, it would be helpful if you could be more specific 'cause "I'm in a hall" isn't going to do diddley squat in helping us find you. And what does being a wizard have to do with anything?'
'OK, back to basics. Wizards operate solely on the magic inside of themselves, while sorcerers get their power from nature and the elements. Therefore, while sorcerers are more powerful, some major problems are that occasionally their magic controls them or they find themselves powerless in a place with little magic. A good example of that would be your world. This sorcerer, as far as I can tell, has been trapping young sorcerers here for a while. I believe he is doing this to be able to tap into nature power through them, seeing as how a person can only channel so much power at a time, but a powerful person is capable of keeping a large reservoir of power in them. Naturally using a person like that is punishable, since if you do it constantly or try to channel too much power you could kill them. Wizards are a bit more immune to such treatment because a person's power is their own and won't answer to another. As to where I am, I can only tell you what I know. I'm in a hall.'
Wren looked around again. What Alfred had told her made sense, she supposed. Now all she had to do was inform Chihiro and Rose. Well, start with the good news.
"Guys, Alfred told me he's seen Kohaku." Wren waited. Humm, was uncomfortable silence a good thing?
"Wren. Alfred. Is. Not . Here." Rose stated.
"I know, he's talking to me in my head."
"Right...Now, if this voice in your head starts telling you to hurt people, don't do it." Rose said, wondering why on earth she had to be the almost normal sister. "Don't worry Wren, we'll get you help real soon."
Chihiro almost laughed. The high, hysterical kind. This was a little much for a 13 year old to go through after all.
'Alfred, what do I do?' Wren thought, starting to lose her temper. Rose was taking this annoying sister thing a littler far.
'Lets get you out of the cell first. When you only have a little magic rhyming is the most effective. Here in the spirit world you'll get interesting results. Experiment a little.'
"OK. Well, we don't know what to do about the shadow guy." Wren thought out loud. "I'll just try to find out more." Turning to a wall and ignoring Chihiro and Roses' mystified expression, Wren tried to think of a rhyme.
"well, bell, fell, smell... why am I rhyming ell words? Maybe something a bit traditional... Shadow, shadow, on the wall, show me how the mighty fall."
"It's a wall MADE of shadow you imbecile, not a shadow on a wall. And why the hell are you rhyming!" Rose yelled.
"Shhh!" Chihiro said, still looking at the wall as it started to sparkle. "I think Wren is on to something."
The three girls watched as the sparkles cleared up and the wall showed them...Julius Caesar tripping and falling flat on his face.
"Maybe I should have been more specific." Wren said
"I don't even want to know." Rose just shook her head.
"Wren, could you maybe rhyme us out of here?" Chihiro was the first to ask the blindingly obvious.
"Well, I could try." Wren answered, still trying to think of a rhyme for 'idiotic shadow dude'. "Hitchcock, hollyhocks, bed rocks, open locks."
One wall of the cell opened to reveal a darkened hallway light at intervals with torches.
"That was the strangest rhyme I've ever heard!" Rose griped, not about to let Wren forget who was the saner sister.
"Well, it worked, so lets get going." Chihiro stopped what could have been a lengthy argument. Maybe she was only tired, but she really wished she could close the two of them back up in the cell.
Once in the hallway they saw the strangest thing. The walls were lined with people! Spirits and humans held above the floor by ropes of shadow. It looked nothing less than a bizarre spider web.
"Kohaku!" Chihiro ran to one of the limp figures and attempted to tear the ropes holding him. Wren and Rose shared a glance. They had finally found him after all!
"Wren, can't you think of a rhyme to get Kohaku down?" Chihiro asked, worried for her old friend. They've traveled so far to find him that she couldn't give up because of some strange rope!
"Kay, let me think...Ropes long and thick like snot, now quickly unknot!"
"Gross!" Was Rose's only comment.
Chihiro tried to lower Kohaku to the ground, but instead only managed to break his fall. He was still unconscious, Chihiro noticed, worrying. She didn't know what to do to help him.
The "idiotic shadow dude" as Wren now thought, choose to make his appearance at this moment. Emerging in a suitably impressive cloud of black smoke he coughed
"Fools! hack hack I will slay you all!"
And with that he let loose a fireball straight at Chihiro and Kohaku.
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