alright...i have no excuse. well, kind of, it's at the bottom. I'M SORRY! here's the next chapter!
a/n: I own nothing
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful."Neriah
Lord Penbarin is going to help us get to the Underworld, since I'm not the most experienced immortal and mistakes can't happen with this shift. I'm nervous…the last time I went to the Underworld, it was with my father, and I ended up hovering in an inescapable cage hundreds of feet from the ground.
Of course, Matt rescued me, so I guess it wasn't ALL bad.
Still, it'll be a challenge, especially since we have no real idea of who's out there, controlling these rifts. Or what is out there, knowing Lathenia.
I've never seen calm, collected Arkarian so nervous. He's pacing around and around. I look at the floor, expecting to see a path worn into the floor (there isn't one). Finally Isabel smiles gently and gets up, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Arkarian, stop worrying."
"Ha." He says wryly, but stops and wraps his arms around her waist anyways, burying his face in her hair. I smile and remember Matt holding me just like that a few minutes ago…
"Matt…is everything all set?"
"With the mission, yes" he scowls. It's such a cute scowl. "With me, no."
"What's wrong?" I step forward and hug him. He's got more on his shoulders than any of us. Good thing they're gorgeous. I think I already know what's wrong here, though.
"Is it me? Going to the Underworld?"
He sighs and buries his face in my hair which means yes. "I don't want you in any danger…maybe I should go and you should just-"
"Matt." I say softly. "That's not going to work, and you know that. We're both needed here. And I'll be fine."
"Be careful. Very careful," he whispers in my ear. This gives me the shivers, as it does every time.
"Of course." I smile and kiss his nose. "And you'll be careful not to fall in love with Guinevere?"
"She's already got two guys after her…she's too…" he searches for the right words, knowing that he probably just dug himself a hole. Anything he says could possibly get him into trouble. "Not you."
Well, except that. That was perfect.
"And you know that by 'careful' I mean really careful. Like, extremely. Sacrifice Arkarian or Isabel if you have to." He calls as I walk away. "AND BY EXTREMELY I MEAN DRASTICALLY CAUTIOUS!"
"Neriah, we're sorry we took so long, let's go!" Isabel's snapping her fingers in front of me. I focus on what Lord Penbarin is handing us: cloaks, designed to keep us warm and hidden.
"You are just reconnaissance-spies. Do not take action, just find out all you can and report back here."
Then he seems to realize that he's talking to a fellow immortal, Arkarian for gosh sake's, and Isabel. We're not stupid. "Right, well…everyone ready?" he clears his throat and motions us together and to close our eyes.
"When you're ready to come back, Neriah can bring you."
I can? Right, Matt did mention something about this. That I'd be responsible for the lives of my friends during transport back. He also told me how to do it too…
Crap.
But before I can ask for a refresher course, Lord Penbarin is whisking us away. And he does it pretty smoothly too…the next time I open my eyes, it's black. No matter if evil is still here or not, the creepy feeling will never go away.
"Well, it's still barren and scary as hell." Isabel mutters, voicing my thoughts.
"Can you see anything?" Arkarian asks her.
"Nothing's moving. I think I can make out Lathenia's palace…it's not too far away. And it looks to be abandoned."
"Obviously, it's not." I say, rubbing my arms. Even though this cloak makes me completely warm, I can't shake this feeling. The one that we're not alone. The weird animal cries that used to be here are no more, the landscape is completely silent. Either they've gone, or are still here and something's scared them into silence. I'd prefer to think it was the first one.
"Come on, we've got to go." Arkarian whispers. The silence is eerie, and the sooner we get started, the sooner we can leave.
I finally become helpful and put an invisibility shield around us. At least we can run faster without the fear of being seen.
Keziah, the old wizard, is undoubtedly gone. The magical shields around the palace are no longer up, and her 'cage' is no longer levitated in the air. The abandoned air of the palace is unreal.
We walk through the halls, looking at the rooms that are empty of life forms, and yet…
Somehow I get the feeling that they're not completely abandoned. There's no dust. And it just feels…like it's had people in it. Well, living things. 'People' is a relative term here. But whatever, it's for this reason that I leave the invisibility shield on.
"Nothing!" Isabel sighs disgustedly. "Maybe we should just-"
But before she can finish, I hear something. We all do actually. It's a clacking on the marble floor. Like claws. Lathenia's hounds? We didn't check for them! Suddenly, I'm wishing that there was another exit out of this room.
The clacking gets closer and closer, the door is pushed open to reveal…
A cat. Well, like a winged cat. With some dog mixed in.
This is so weird. I've never even imagined one of these before. And I have a natural affinity for animals. Go away, honey. NOW. I plead with my mind. Either the thing can't hear me, or is ignoring me, because there are more footsteps and another life form appears. "Fluffy? What'cha got there?"
It's a wren, a female one. And she's obviously the owner. This thing is called Fluffy? Arkarian sends the thought to me. I just nod. Apparently that's the general idea.
"Oh, hello."
The wren is looking right at me. I look around, seeing if there's another person in here who isn't invisible. Nope. Arkarian and Isabel have frozen, staring at me too.
"Are you okay?" she says to me. Me. I'm invisible. Right? Obviously Arkarian and Isabel aren't anymore, since Fluffy has come up to sniff them cautiously.
Wow, either I really suck at being immortal, or there's more magic left here than we thought.
"I'm Nikki," the wren says finally. "And you are?"
Once again, the humanity these things display shocks me. "I'm…from Lathenia. I've encountered your friends before. I'm here to…do an inspection. Are you happy working for…your boss?"
Arkarian shoots me an appreciative look at my quick thinking, and Isabel mouths "an inspection!" I ignore her and focus on Nikki's answer.
"New Master is…more understanding." She looks suddenly hesitant while talking about the change in management. "But he also doesn't value us as much."
"There are more of you?" Arkarian jumps in. She looks him over appreciatively, making Isabel glower.
"Oh, much more," she giggles. "But they're hiding."
"Why?"
"To…wait." She stops and frowns at us. "Why do you need to know all this?"
"Just to help you." I answer soothingly. "Why do you stay here?"
"For Fluffy," she answers, picking up her pet. "He's a pain sometimes, but I love him."
Hearing a wren talking about love is strange, but I don't think about that now. Her next question is more important. "Wouldn't you rather talk to New Master?" she asks curiously.
"Oh, no thank you!" I answer lightly as Arkarian coughs. "I think it's better if he doesn't know we're here for awhile."
"Okay!" she says brightly. We're lucky that she's not as suspicious as some of her kind. Still, I like her despite myself. But there's no way to help her. Not here. And we can't take action.
"We're going to look around for a little while longer." Arkarian says. "Thank you, Nikki."
"You're welcome." She replies, looking serious for the first time. "Say bye-bye Fluffy!"
I can only assume that Fluffy says goodbye as she leads him away, talking about the tea she put on. Whew. I let out a breath that I'd been holding for 5 minutes.
"Good thing she's a few cards short of a full deck." Isabel sneers.
"You're just jealous because she likes me." Arkarian smiles.
"No, that's not-"
"You guys, let's go." I say, cutting off the argument. "We don't have a lot of time before she invariably mentions something to her master. So let's find him, and get out."
I lead towards the way that she went, being careful not to be seen, since it's obvious that invisibility doesn't work here. We get to a room and hear her voice inside…she's got to be talking to New Master.
And then my blood freezes as I peek around the doorframe and see who it actually is…
okay, so it's been a little while. i've been so busy! in fact, this would prolly still be sitting in my archive, if that last review by IssyArkarian hadn't come in. i can't imagine how long it took to write that! elven-jewel-18: I fit you in! i did! she's nikki everybody, and she invented fluffy. be proud. Agate-16: thanks for the birthday wishes! they made me feel good! this updates for you too!
anyways, i'm off to new york for a few days thursday, but i'll start writing again next wednesday, and hopefully have a new chapter by friday. once again, I'M SORRY! please don't be too mean in reviews, and i want lots of them!
-HaLo