Hey! Sorry if this chapter's a little short. Enjoy anyway!
Chapter Six
"Where is it?" a raspy voice demanded an answer from Mei Li.
"Where's what?" she asked. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest.
"You know what I'm talking about!"
"No I don't! Let me go! Untie me now!"
Mei Li awoke in the middle of the night, her pillow damp from sweat. She wiped her forehead and tried to calm herself down, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't stop her heavy breathing. It had been eleven days since Zhen Ji and Zhang He had left her for Wei, and ever since she'd had a recurring nightmare about being tied up in a shed and a mysterious man interrogating her. Every night before she went to bed, it ate away at her, and she hoped with all her heart that she would stop having these dreams, but nonetheless, they came every night. So far she didn't know what the ending was to this dream, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out.
She went to her bundle of belongings and pulled out her locket. She was so surprised when she first discovered Zhang He had given it back to her, and she didn't even get to say thank you. He must have been the one that stole it from Cai Lang, and that's why the gypsy woman thought Li was the culprit, because everyone knew how special it had been to the young girl. Li was grateful to have it back, but she was still afraid to wear it in front of the gypsies, even if both Zhang He and Cai Lang said the matter was settled. She never did get the specifics on exactly what He told Lang, and she didn't want to take her chances.
Even though it was around midnight and she still had many hours of sleep ahead of her, Li wasn't tired. She attached the locket around her neck, glad to have its familiar feel back after so long. She quietly tiptoed out of her room and opened the creaky caravan door. Luckily it didn't wake up Cai Lang. She walked outside into the cool night air, breathing in deeply. The night differed so much from the day. Everything was quiet, the world seemed to be holding its breath, and Mei Li found it hard to believe she wasn't the only one alive at the moment.
Tomorrow the gypsies would be stopping at a large town. Being so close to the actual place at which she was probably going to get off, Li found it interesting that she still didn't know what the town was called. She made a mental note to ask Cai Lang in the morning.
Her peaceful thoughts were interrupted by a rustling heard in the bushes nearby. Li instinctively froze and held her breath. After waiting for what seemed like forever, Li finally calmed down and continued her nightly excursion.
She didn't get very far in exploring or staring at the night sky with a dreamy expression on her face when she heard creaking coming from one of the caravans. Before she had time to react, Cai Lang emerged from the shadows.
"I thought I heard you get up," she said, coming to stand next to Mei Li.
"Did I wake you?" Li asked, still wishing the magic of the night hadn't been broken by the intrusion of another person.
"No, I was already awake." Cai Lang answered. "I thought I heard something outside in the bushes, but I guess I was wrong."
Li didn't bother saying she had heard it, too. It was probably just an animal anyway; nothing to worry about.
"Do you miss your friends?" Cai Lang asked, glancing up at the moon. Li was surprised that she actually wanted to start a conversation with her. From the beginning, Mei Li had gotten the message that Lang didn't really want anything to do with her.
"Yeah," Li said. "They were really the only friends I ever had."
"You can count me in." Cai Lang said. Li was surprised. Cai Lang considered Mei Li her friend? Li's silence must have clued Lang in, letting her know that Li was surprised, so she started talking.
"You remind me of someone; a good friend of mine. She's gone now, though." Mei Li waited for Cai Lang to continue. "She was murdered."
Mei Li nodded, saying softly, "I know what it's like to have a friend die. Or at least, someone who you were close to, and then they were suddenly gone."
"Is that why you ran away, Li?"
Mei Li was silent for a second. "Yeah," she whispered.
Cai Lang turned to face her. "You can't run from your troubles, Li. Sometimes you have to face them. You have to stay and fight."
"But what if you don't know how to stay and fight?" Li asked. "What if in order to face your problems you have to run away first, to find yourself?"
Cai Lang was quiet for a long time. The two of them just stared out at the world, watching as if everyone's lives had been put on pause. Mei Li suddenly felt very tired and sat down on the grass. Cai Lang did the same and then started talking.
"I don't know how to answer that." She said. "But I can give you one piece of advice: everyone you meet in your life is there for a reason. You don't know what that reason is, so you need to find it."
"I need to find why people are in my life?" Mei Li asked, a little confused.
"Everyone touches you in some way. You can't go through life, meeting many people, and then come out in the end unaffected by any of them. Everyone teaches you a lesson in one way or another."
Mei Li thought about this revelation and found that she agreed with it very much.
"So, of all the new people you've met, what has each of them taught you so far?" Cai Lang asked her.
Thinking long and hard, she decided to start with Zhen Ji. "She taught me that looks can be deceiving."
"Why is that?" Cai Lang asked.
"When I first met her she seemed haughty and arrogant. But as I got to know her, I realized she was really nice and actually did care about me."
Cai Lang nodded, not saying anything. She let Li continue.
"And Zhang He taught me to appreciate beauty and nature in every form, no matter how insignificant or unimportant it may seem."
"Oh, you can't say that!" Cai Lang cried out, a smile on her face. "You're an artist. You already appreciated beauty before you met that guy."
Mei Li laughed. "Well, that's true in one way, I guess." She thought long and hard before saying, "Okay, then he taught me to laugh at the little things in life."
Cai Lang shrugged. "Okay. What about me? Did I teach you anything?"
"Right now I'm thinking you're the one who's taught me the most." Mei Li answered. She thought back to the very first day she met Cai Lang, when she had just run away and talked to the gypsy woman from outside the caravan. "But besides all that you've said to me tonight, I remember what you said to me the first time we met. You said, 'You'll have to make due with what you get,' because you said my two weeks counted whether or not we were moving."
Cai Lang smiled and nodded, recalling that day. "Well, the reason I decided to talk to you tonight about this is because you're leaving tomorrow, aren't you?"
"Yeah," Mei Li nodded. "I guess my two weeks will be up tomorrow. Plus you guys are stopping to put on a show, so it makes sense for me to get off at a town instead of the middle of nowhere."
"Well, if you can't find a place to stay in that town, you're welcome to stay with us until we leave."
"Really?" Mei Li asked, turning to look at Cai Lang. "For free?"
"Well, we wouldn't be moving anyway. And it's not like we won't be earning any money; we're putting a show on after all."
"Thanks, Lang." Mei Li said.
"Sure thing, kiddo." Cai Lang answered. "Well, I'm going back inside now. I think you should get to sleep as well."
"Alright," Mei Li agreed, and the two of them stood up from sitting in the grass and walked back to the caravan.
"Oh, and Li ..." Cai Lang turned to face her before they retired for the rest of the night.
"Yeah?"
"Why don't we keep this little talk we had to ourselves, okay? It's just that I'm the leader of this caravan, and I do have a reputation to uphold..."
"Don't worry about it," Mei Li smiled. "I know what you mean."
"Great," Lang said, looking relieved. "Well, get to sleep! We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
Mei Li saluted and started off to her bed, feeling the happiest she had ever since Zhang He and Zhen Ji had left. She turned around and caught Cai Lang before she went to bed.
"Oh, one more thing," Li said. "What's this town we're going to tomorrow? I know I'm going to be getting off at this place and I don't even know what it's called."
"The place?" Cai Lang said. "Shu." She turned around and went to bed, closing the door behind her.
Shu. Li hoped it was a nice place.
Like I said before, I know this was a short one, but it really serves as the transition between Mei Li with the gypsies and then Mei Li at Shu. Anyway, please continue to R&R! Oh and it's okay about your review not showing up, BlueSun91. I tried to submit this chapter yesterday, but the site had been really busy so it didn't work.