A/n: Sorry it took so long to get chapter 3 up. I got a little sidetracked...hehe...Well, here it is at last, so enjoy!! Reviews are appreciated.

Wind Lover

Chapter III:

Two teenage boys walked down the crowded sidewalk. They looked normal enough—both had blond hair and blue eyes, and dressed in blue jeans and t-shirts. The younger of the two, a thirteen-year-old by the name of Dalryth Aidon of the Hylians and grandson of Sage Daiwen, pulled his sagging pants up. "I can't understand the strange fashion these people have," he said, speaking in the Ancient Hylian tongue.

"You didn't have to wear baggy pants," Alren said in English. "And stop speaking Hylian. We're going to attract attention."

"Like we haven't been doing that anyway," Dalryth muttered, but he obediently switched to English anyway. "These people treat us as though we are insane." A slight accent hovered on his words.

"We come from different cultures; it's only natural," Alren said. "But we have a lead now, so it hasn't all been a waste."

Alren, age fifteen, was Dalryth's cousin and the other grandson of Daiwen. The Sage had chosen them to search for the descendant of Princess Zelda, bearer of the Light Force and the Triforce of Wisdom. For the past seven hours they had wandered the city of Hiram, dressed in the modern fashions rather than their usual Hylian clothing, trying to find a hint about the Princess' whereabouts. At last, they had found someone who had witnessed the Fire Viseere attacking two girls. That person had pointed the boys in the direction of the shopping center they were now in.

"We have alreadhy checked three stores. I am beginning to dhoubt that man knew what he spoke of," Dalryth said.

"He described Vaati perfectly," Alren replied. "And we still have stores to check."

"I suppose."

They came to the entrance of the fourth store, Joanie's Fabrics. A bell chimed as the opened the door, and the blond girl at the single cash register glanced up from the book she was reading, a bored look on her face. When she saw the two guys, her visage immediately changed.

"Hi there. Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked brightly, smiling at them. Her eyelids fluttered slightly.

"We've heard that a strange man attacked two girls in this shopping center," Alren said. "Do you know anything about it?"

"Oh, you must mean the weird purple guy," the cashier said. A thoughtful look crossed her face. "Hmm…well, I don't know about two, but he was attacking this one girl. She's in here a lot; I think her name is…Lydia."

Alren and Dalryth exchanged glances. "Do you know anything else about her? Do you know where she lives?" Alren asked.

"Her information should be in our system, but we aren't supposed to give that out."

"You can make an exception for this. Her life is in danger."

"Well," the girl said. "Tell you what. I'll tell you what street she lives on, but you have to go on a date with me." She smiled innocently.

Alren raised his eyebrows. "Fine, then tell us."

"Of course!" The cashier turned to the computer and began typing speedily on the keyboard. "Here we go," she said. "Are you ready?" Alren nodded. "She lives on Glenn Eagles Way."

"Thank you," Alren said. "Let's go, Dalryth."

"Wait a minute!" the girl called as the two boys hurried out of the store. "Darn it…" she muttered. "He was hot, too."

Lydia lugged the heavy stack of books out of the library and dumped them in the backseat of her forest green car. Researching demons sure was a pain, especially since she didn't even know if it would do any good. She cranked the car up and turned the air conditioning on high. Between the heat and the humidity, summers in Georgia were always nearly unbearable. She was almost glad school was starting back next week, so she could stay inside all day. On the other hand, school was school.

Twenty minutes later, she pulled into her driveway and heaved the books into the house. Both of her parents would be at work for about another two hours, and that was how much time she had to start reading. She didn't even want to think about how her parents would react if they caught her studying demons. Her mom might not care, but her dad, well, that was a whole different story.

Sitting on her bed, Lydia picked up the first book and began flipping through it. She had tried to find information on the internet, but she never was too great at that, as Mika pointed out. So instead, she had been put in charge of doing book research while Mika looked line. She'd never had much faith in the internet anyway.

The first hour had passed, and the only progress she'd made was to learn that traditional demons in mythology were creatures from Hell or Hades. Okay…because she didn't know that already? Leaning back against the wall, she groaned in frustration.

"Maybe Mika's found something," she muttered. She stood up and grabbed her room phone, dialing her friend's number. The phone rang once.

"He-llo," Mika said, cheerful as always. "I was just about to call you."

"Have you had any luck?" Lydia asked. "I can't find a thing in these stupid books."

"I think so," Mika said. "There's one site that tells how to make charms to protect against mythological creatures. They have things like vampires and werewolves and kappas and stuff. Let's see…" There was a moment of silence on the other line, and then, "Yea! They have it!"

"Hold on, let me grab a pen," Lydia said, scrambling over to her desk and grabbing paper and pencil. "Okay," she said.

"Okay, to make a charm to ward off demons, you need…" Mika began to list the ingredients, and Lydia quickly jotted them down. "Place them in a bag with a strand of your hair, and keep it with you always. As long as you have it, demons will not be able to touch you."

Lydia wrote the last instruction and clicked her pencil shut. "Well, let's hope this works."

"Yep! Hey, I'm gonna come over and make mine there, okay?"

"Okay, see you in a minute."

"Bye!"

Lydia hung up the phone and stared at her list. It was all a bunch of herbs. She just hoped her parents had everything she needed. Heading into the kitchen, she started going through cabinets, getting the herbs down. Two minutes later and she'd found everything she needed. She got a plastic ziplock bag and put the ingredients in, along with a strand of her hair, closed it shut, and held it up to examine her work. Yeah, she was gonna feel really dumb carrying this around everywhere.

There was a knock on the door, and Lydia went to answer it, wondering how Mika had gotten here so fast. When she opened the door, it wasn't Mika standing there. Lydia's eyes went wide, and she stepped backwards.

"We meet again, Princess," Purple Man said, smirking and bowing in what she was pretty sure was a mocking manner. Wait…since when did he speak English? Oh, whatever.

"What the hell do you want with me?" Lydia demanded angrily. She had her charm bag, so he couldn't touch her now. She hoped… "Wait, did you just call me a 'Princess'?"

He grabbed her and pinned her arms to her sides. "Finally, I've caught you. And don't even think of trying to escape; I won't fall for your tricks this time."

'Mika, you're stupid plan did not work!' Lydia thought angrily. She'd made that dumb charm for no reason whatsoever. Maybe it had to come in direct contact with him though. She reached into her pocket as best she could, and pulled the ziplock bag out, swinging it upwards so it hit him in the arm.

"Let go of me, you weirdo," she said.

"What are you doing?" he asked, staring down at the bag like she was completely insane.

"Dammit, Mika!" Lydia shouted. She threw the charm bag on the ground. Useless thing.

"You are a strange girl, human, but it matters not." A gust of wind blew around them, and suddenly they were hovering over the roof of her house.

Lydia shrieked in spite of herself. The only thing she hated more than heights was spiders. She started to kick at the man holding her, but then decided that might not be a good idea. If he dropped her, she really was screwed.

"Vaati, let go of her!" a voice cried from down below.

Lydia and Purple Man/Vaati glanced down to see two teenage boys running up to her house. The taller of the two glared up at them.

"We are too late," the second boy said.

"Vaati, I am warning you in the name of the Knights of Hyrule, free her, or pay the consequences!" the first boy yelled.

Lydia raised her eyebrows. 'Knights of Hyrule?' This day just kept getting weirder.

Vaati, on the other hand, just laughed. "Let you little Knights try to stop me. Now that I have Princess Zelda, I will take the Light Force and become all powerful."

Right at that moment, Mika's car squealed into the driveway, and she jumped out. "Hey, Mr. Flying Purple Man! Let go of my friend, or I'll kick your butt in the name of books and all things cute!"

Lydia rolled her eyes at her friend's stupidity, and Vaati laughed again. With a wave of his hand, a strong wind hit the three people standing on the ground below and sent them flying into the yard across the street. Laughing the whole time, Vaati flew away with a terrified Lydia in his arms.