Chapter 6

Aelita woke up, feeling as if her body had died. All of her limbs felt heavy and her thoughts were fuzzy. She had only felt this way once before when she had been sick. Jeremy had told her that it was because sometimes the body became very tired after illness or after a lot of stress. If last night counted as stress, then she was certain that she had been experiencing it.

Getting out of bed, Aelita wandered over to the window, looking outside. It was raining, but there was enough light out there to see by. She could see the front lawn, the wall, the driveway, and the road, but there were no other buildings. No, there was only forest for what seemed like miles. Where on earth was she?

She remembered everything that had happened and what that man—Uncle Jules—had said, but she wasn't sure if she believed it or not. How could he have known about Lyoko? If he was who he claimed to be, then what would happen next? Would he try to help them shut down XANA? If they managed that, would he try to take her away from Kadic and her friends? From what she'd read in books, he could do that. After all, he would be her guardian, wouldn't he?

Her head started hurting, so Aelita decided not to think about it anymore. Her stomach was rumbling, and she wanted to clean up and find something to eat. She checked every door, and on the third try (after finding the way out and a closet), she located the bathroom. A quick bath and she felt ready to face whatever would happen once she went downstairs. She found an outfit laid out for her on a chair and once she was dressed, decided to find everyone else.

Getting downstairs was the easy part, but finding other people was a little more difficult. She was in a part of the house that she had never seen before when she smelled something absolutely fabulous, so she followed her nose until it led her into a kitchen that would have been bright and sunny had it not been for the rain outside. The three men were sitting around the table drinking coffee, but all of them stood up once they realized she was there.

"Good morning, Aelita!" Uncle Jules said brightly. "How are you feeling?"

She shrugged, not able to think of anything polite to say.

"Want some breakfast?" he offered, pulling out a chair for her. "We have ham-and-cheese scrambled eggs. You loved them when you were little."

Without her saying anything, he loaded up a plate for her as she sat down, and, feeling a little wary, Aelita looked at her breakfast. It looked all right and smelled all right, so she took a tiny taste. Almost immediately, she realized how wonderful the eggs tasted, so Aelita polished off her plate of scrambled eggs, croissants, and mandarin oranges. The glass of milk he poured her tasted even better, and she had two more glasses.

"My, someone was hungry," Campbell teased, smiling behind his cup of coffee.

"It tastes good," Aelita admitted, and then she remembered something. "You said last night that we would call my friends."

"Ah, yes. Thank you for reminding me," Uncle Jules said, getting up from the table. "Let's go to the study, and we can call from there."

Aelita followed him out the door, down a hallway, and through another door. She was surprised to recognize the study since she had trouble telling where she was in the house. It was all so confusing! Hallways intersected, and there were several ways to reach every room. She was certain that even if she stayed there a hundred years, she'd never learn her way around.

Once in the study, Uncle Jules held out the phone to Aelita. She took it, feeling very relieved. For a moment, she'd thought that he'd changed his mind, but no, he simply sat back and said, "Take as long as you like, Aelita," and opened up his newspaper.

Aelita dialled Jeremy, hoping against every hope she had that he would answer.

Space

Ulrich shook Jeremy awake. He'd been the first to fall asleep while Jeremy kept working, but when Ulrich woke up, he saw that Jeremy had slumped sideways in his chair and was deeply asleep.

"Jeremy, wake up," he said, taking his hand away from his friend's shoulder. "Find anything?"

Jeremy's eyes opened and he sat up, rubbing the side of his head. "Not really. She's not on Lyoko, in Carthage, or anywhere. I've been keeping an eye on the police scanner as well, and they haven't found anything."

Jeremy's phone rang, making him jump. "That'll probably be Odd," he said, pulling it out. "Hello?"

Ulrich saw Jeremy's face change and go a funny gray color.

"What is it?" Ulrich demanded, but Jeremy waved him silent.

"Where are you, Aelita?" Jeremy asked. When Ulrich heard that, he shot a fist in the air in excitement. Aelita was okay!

I don't know, Ulrich heard her say. Where are we?

"Who's with you, Aelita?" Jeremy asked, surprised.

Long story, Aelita answered. He says we're on R 22, no. 31,Ancienville.

"Ancienville?" Jeremy sputtered. "But that's two hours away! Is that where you were taken?"

Uh-huh. I'm all right, though.I'll have him bring me back to school.

Jeremy heard a momentary pause as someone said something in the background.

What do you mean, you're not taking me back!