Ring of Sagacity

Disclaimer: Du, du, du…Oh, yes, I don't own this story, the original characters, blah, blah, blah! You guys all know that whole spiel, I hope.

Setting: Again, in America. I am boring…

Chapter 2: Plans Anew

Artemis arose from his bed early that morning, hoping to get a start on where the White Bringer might be. He had repeatedly searched the file on Anya's memory, but had come up empty when it came the other Sisters. As frustrating as it was, the boy genius knew he would develop a plan, and had.

He dressed in clothes quickly, and checked on Deidra. Since being sedated in Russia, the girl had been kept in the unconscious state. Currently, she lay comfortably on a guests bed on the second floor of Fowl Manor with Juliet guarding her. Speaking of Juliet, the young warrior had returned only hours before them and had been informed of the whole plan and her position in it.

"Baby sitter? You mean I have to watch all these girls?" Her pouty expression did nothing to sway the young man.

"There are only three of them, and they shall be sedated at all times. You do not want to deal with the magic these girls wield." Artemis said from the bathroom in the guest room. He was looking in the mirror at the lovely addition to his face. He rubbed his chin, which had turned a brilliant purple and blue color. Juliet had let him borrow a bit of make-up, and after a brief walk through of how to apply it, Artemis had attempted to make it all one color again.

"Not bad, but you missed a spot." She pointed out. Several minutes later, he had a single pigmented face.

After he made it downstairs, Artemis found Butler and Mulch, who was snacking on some random food item again. He moved them both to the living room for a brief talk through of the new plans, and preparation for upcoming action.

"I didn't actually find anything on the White Bringer in Anya's memory, so that was a complete dead end. I have since gone over the Book, and found another of those poems." He began to read it aloud.

White Bringer hides,

Like the others.

Parents are gone,

No sister, or brothers.

The Guardian seeks,

Leaving behind

A hot desert

So she might find.

She has gone,

Before you look.

This always happens

As predicted by the Book.

She can be found,

But won't wish you well.

Watch out for her mind,

The miniature Hell.

Butler and Mulch both looked utterly confused. Artemis had to admit it was a bit of a stumper. It had taken him sometime himself to figure this little puzzle out. He cleared his throat, catching their attention yet again.

"All it means it that this pattern in which we are going will repeat itself through time. The last person, or persons, who looked for the Sisters would have gone through the same events. The first sister's guardian gave her away, the seconds sister's guardian will have always left before you can find her home. Also, the White Bringer may be able to mentally confuse us or play with our minds in some way. Can you follow that?"

Butler nodded uncertainly. "Basically, history repeats itself with these girls. When ever someone looks for the second sister and tries to find her guardian, the guardian will have always already left her home. You'll never be able to find the second guardian in her natural home, because according to the book, she can't be there if you're looking for her."

Artemis nodded, and then looked to Mulch. "Got me. I don't understand it at all. But I'm sure you don't care much about me." He was sulking after being separated from his food by Butler.

"So how do we look for the White Bringer than?" Butler asked Artemis.

"I'm almost positive the Bringer is here in America. I think we should watch all flight patterns coming in from west and see if anything odd comes up from there. Once we find the Guardian, we can follow her to the Bringer." Butler nodded yet again.

"I'll get the jet ready."

Vesta dove to the left again, avoiding another large island. She raised her altitude a bit, hoping it would stop these sudden near-collisions with the small land masses.

The sprit had been traveling for two days with very little rest and sleep. It wasn't taking much of a toll on her, but she would soon need somewhere to rest. The problem was she was currently in the middle of an ocean, and aside from several unfriendly looking islands, there was no dry land.

She had had a vision of the White Bringer while flying the night before, which had resulted in a several bruises on her head (she had collided with at least one of the islands, but she might have hit more than that. She wasn't quite sure, seeing as when she had the vision she had her eyes closed.)

The vision had been quite disturbing. There had been a young woman in it, whom she could only assume was the White Bringer, but she was quivering in fear. A large human was moving in on her, and there was a small female hiding behind her. The man had attacked the smaller girl, and then dragged the Bringer out of where ever it was she was hiding. The White Bringer had cooperated with him, yet he still used some type of pointy instrument on her that made her sleep.

When Vesta had awoken from the vision, she had been on the top of a large nearly leafless tree. It was called a palm, if she remembered correctly, and only grew on the hotter islands in this ocean. She must be getting close.

Huyen settled down on the couch and flicked on the T.V. Her parents had left several hours ago, and nothing exciting had happened since then. Mindy had called, but her parents had trusted them to be alone, and so she had hung up within an hour, and left Huyen to her own devices. Honestly, you'd think that at fourteen they'd have some faith in you…

Some movie about World War II was playing. Several American soldiers had been caught by the Germans, and were being held at one of their camps. There had been a murder, and then an a follow up trial by a young man who had been studying law. Collin Farrell was starring in it, but she didn't bother to look at the information. She knew how it would end, she always did. These movies were so very predictable.

What Huyen really wanted was a movie with a different type of ending. Not one with a cliff hanger, or tragic ending, or even a happy one. She wanted an evil ending, where the antagonist won out in the end, and the protagonist died, or something along those lines. Why couldn't anyone make a movie like that?

Probably wouldn't sell very well, she thought to herself. Who wants to watch the villain triumph? The law of man said that good always wins, and evil shall fall. She hated that stereotype. Well, she hated every stereotype, but that wasn't the point.

The movie came to the typical ending, good winning, evil being conquered, everyone going home happy, and Huyen dragged herself from the sofa. She dragged her feet across the carpet flooring as she stalked over to the window.

A beauteous view of the not- so- beautiful apartment behind her shone back. There was a TV's vibrant mixes of colors reflecting from one house, and several candles burning in another. The setting sun's silhouette was just barely noticeable above the uppermost part of the apartments, but would soon vanish.

Huyen sighed and lumbered to the kitchen. After retrieving some rather fattening foods and a couple sodas, the girl settled down on the cool leather couch and searched around for something interesting to watch. One of the less popular cartoon channels was showing several hours worth of anime, which caught her immediate attention. Huyen flicked to that channel and then sat back to enjoy.

She wheezed and groaned, but had to do it. Vesta aimed at the nearest island and began a slow descent toward it. She had hoped that she'd be able to make it to the mainland of the Bringer's home, but was several miles away.

It was night time, wherever she was, and had been for only a short span of time. Vesta looked about and noticed that there seemed to be no population, as she had thought, and very little, if any, wildlife. This was the kind of island she had been looking for.

She began to gather dry tinder for a fire, when there was a sudden crackling sound behind her. Vesta peered into the dark, seeking out anything that seemed to be alive, but could find nothing. She shrugged and moved on to gather more wood.

As she made her way back to camp, Vesta could have sworn that there were eyes following her, but wouldn't play into anything that childish. She ignored the instinct and arranged the wood into a teepee. Her hands before her, Vesta called upon the small magic that was instilled into her body and soul, and the tinder burst into flame.

She would have settles back to enjoy it, if it hadn't been for the eyes. It wasn't the feeling that they felt like they were on her that bothered her now. It was the fact that they were on her. Across the burning flames was a pair of violent yellow eyes that were moving steadily closer. Vesta began to back away slowly.

The creature emerged and growled. She had seen something like this before, but it was a different color. Where she came from, it was called a cheetah, and was covered with spots. Where she was now, it was a coal black cat that was much bigger and brawny than her small, scrawny desert cat.

As she pulled away from it, the cat stalked around the fire, hoping to get closer to its prey. Vesta reached in vain for her weapon, only to realize it was back at home in her small hut. The cat seemed to know what she was reaching for, because it let out another growl and pulled back its upper lip, exposing razor sharp fangs that glinted with light from the fire.

Vesta was planning out her escape. She could dodge around the fire, and while the cat followed her, she would pull a stick from the flame and use that to fend off the wild animal. This was assuming of course that the cat was afraid of the flame. She prepared her legs, making sure they were ready to move, but never had to chance to fulfill her plan.

Before the sprit knew what was happening, the large jungle cat had made its own move. It had prepared its own legs and quite suddenly lunged at the girl. With a shriek of pure terror, Vesta went down under the wild animal in a tangle of fur, claws, and the small magical flame she had attempted to conjure as a last minute defense.

Author's Note:

Ha Ha! I am done with yet another chapter! Ah, well, it's only number two in this story, but still, Ha! I know it took me awhile, but I wasn't sure how I was going to have this story go, and what to do with this chapter, but now I've figured it all out. The whole story's outline and plot are sitting in my head, waiting patiently to be let out.

Well, not many reviews… thanks to those who do give them to me though! I do appreciate it. Also, I have joined up at Fiction Press, I have an account there, and there is a link to that account on my profile here. Actually, there's a link both ways, so you can find both of my accounts.

Alright, so, I've got the third chapter planned out, I need a title, and the words to go with it (lol, can't have a chapter if there are no words) Ok, see you guys around here soon.

Finelley