Alrighty, back with chapter 8! Sorry it's such a short chapter, I'm trying.
Dis: come on, by this point, it's second nature to know that i don't own anything
"I'm heading to the library. If any of you don't want to go…" she paused, then shrugged, "I guess that's too bad, since you'll get pulled along anyway. I'm going up to change and brush my hair," she said. With that, she walked upstairs. She could feel the tug of the spirits being pulled behind her. She felt her hair and winced. It was in desperate need of a good brushing.
Once she reached her room, she fished around under her bed a bit, looking for her brush. With a soft "Aha, found you", she sat up and began yanking it through her rat's-nest hair. Still trying to pull it through all the knots and snarls, she walked to her closet and looked through the clothes.
'Hey, kid, doesn't that hurt?' Gibari asked after a particularly hard pull of the brush. Arietta shook her head.
"Nah, not really." She looked at her shirts. Finally, she pulled out a fleece one with long sleeves. It was mainly white, with green snowflakes and blue flowers. Grinning, she pulled out a pair of plain jeans and her blue and white sneakers. With one last tug of the brush, she got the last knot out of her hair and deftly tied it back. She was about to change her clothes when she remembered something.
"Uh… Kalas, Gibari, Lyude? Think you guys can go outside my door for a minute or so? I kinda have to get changed…"
'Of course,' Lyude said, immediately going through the door.
'Sure, kid,' Gibari agreed, following the Imperial Spirit.
'Alright,' Kalas said, going through the door as well.
Quickly slipping out of the pink, white, and green, how am I still wearing these, anyway? she pulled on the fresh shirt and pants.
'What an adorable stuffed animal,' Xelha said, hovering in front of Arietta's favorite teddy bear. 'What's its name?'
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Arietta said, digging around under her bead for her shoes. "Alright, you guys can come back now," she called as she put them on. She watched the colored lights float through the door again and she grabbed her cell phone and her wallet. "Now, where are my keys…?" she asked, mainly to herself. "I know I left them here somewhere…"
'You mean these?' Mizuti asked, her yellow light circling a key ring that was more key chains than keys.
"Thank you, Mizuti, that's them." Arietta grabbed them and glanced out the window. Upon seeing the snow on the ground, she frowned, thinking. "Must have had an early snow, it's only October…" She took her coat off the back of her door and put it on. She looked at her Guardian Spirits. "Let's go."
Once she was out the door, she locked it and looked at the three cars in the driveway. There was a purple minivan, a red Jeep, and a silver PT Cruiser.
'Uh, hey, Ari… What are those?' Kalas asked.
"They're cars. It's the main way of transportation. And I gotta find the right key…" She looked though the different keys on her key ring. "Jeep… van… front door, back door… Andri's place… Eb's place… Aha, Cruiser!" Grinning, she got into her car and turned it on.
'That's a strange noise, but it's not loud,' Savyna commented as the engine stirred to life.
"It's just a quiet engine. But we heard all sorts of sounds like this back in Alfard, remember?" Arietta said. She noticed with some satisfaction that Lyude seemed to relax.
'Oh, so that's why you weren't surprised by all the noise when we were there,' Xelha said.
Arietta pulled out of the driveway carefully. Soon, she and her six Spirits were on their way to the library. She could hear their gasps of wonder as she passed all sorts of places. Glancing in the rearview mirror, she thought she actually saw the forms of her friends, but it faded back to the colored balls of light before she could get a good look.
As they approached the place of books, she could feel the growing excitement from Lyude. She grinned.
"Hey, who's closest to the seat next to me?" she asked, turning in to the parking lot.
'I am, why?' It was Kalas.
"Somewhere around there is a large bag with some books in it, think you can find it?"
'Yeah, it's right here,' Kalas circled the large tote bag. Arietta parked in an hour parking spot and turned the car off. She reached over and grabbed the bag before getting out of the car. The six former fighters followed her.
The second she was in the building, she felt bursts of curiosity and amazement.
"Hey, Ari, back for more?" the librarian on duty asked.
"Of course, Joan. You know how I am."
"I know, though it amazed me how much you wanted to know about alternate dimensions. Fascination, perhaps?"
"Just curiosity. Anyways, today I just want some good reading material, I ran out at home about a week ago."
"Ah, well, you know where they are."
"Yep." Turning around, she could see the six lights zipping around the library, almost straining the distance limits of the bonds. Sighing, she headed to the fantasy section.
She was on the floor looking for her favorite author on the bottom shelf when something caught her eye. What looked like a large card was stuck between two books from the same author, some MAG. Working the card out, she gasped, not noticing the second card fluttering to the ground. Her mind screamed 'not possible' at her.
'Hey, what'cha got there, kid?' Gibari asked from behind her. Wordlessly, she turned the large card around to show him.
The picture was of a choker on a red background. The ribbon was a fiery red-orange, and there were stringss ofyellow beads draping from it every inch or so, with small strands dangling from wherever the drapes connected with the ribbon. The name at the top was written in the same fiery orange.
Sunspot Choker
The rest of the card looked just like any other Magnus. Her breath caught in her throat.
'Look, there be another one on the floor,' Mizuti said. Arietta jumped, not having noticed her strange young friend there. She picked up the second Magnus and her eyes went even wider.
"Gibari, Mizuti, one of you go get the others. Now," she said, still staring at the card. A few seconds later, the six were arranged in a semi-circle around the still-shocked young woman.
'Hey, that looks kind of like my anklets,' Xelha commented.
'What's the other one, then?' Kalas asked. Arietta put the second Magnus on the floor between them all, face-up. The tension flowing through the bonds instantly spiked.
It was Hellfire.
Well, everyone else gets equip Magnus...
