Poppy itched to get down from her sisters' arms, excited to see different people other than Lina and Doon. She managed to break free from them and ran towards the village, ignoring the calls from Doon and Lina to come back. With no other option but to follow, the two teens headed forward quickly. Lina kept her eye on her younger sister as they speed-walked to catch up to her. Reaching Poppy before she stepped a foot inside the marked outline of the village, Lina and Doon grabbed a shoulder each, and pulled her back.
"Poppy!" Lina exclaimed, turning Poppy around so she was facing the two teens. "What are you doing? You know you're not supposed to do that!" Lina sounded angry from the outside but Doon knew her enough to know that she was just worried. And maybe a little bit mad.
The younger sister cringed away from Lina's outburst but knowing it was fully appropriate.
"Sorry, L-Lina," Poppy stuttered, those words the only one's she was able to get out.
Lina held Poppy's hand tightly in her own. "Good, just be careful," she sighed. Doon stood beside the two, his frantic heart slowly starting to beat proper again. That had been a close call. If Poppy had of stepped one foot inside the lines, he wouldn't have known what to do.
"Slowly," he warned when he realised Lina was walking slowly towards the village. Lina threw a smile over her shoulder, and shook her head in the direction of the civilisation. "Seriously?" he asked, "You want to go even though we stopped Poppy from doing exactly that."
Lina shrugged. "Just didn't want her on her own."
"Lina," he breathed, reaching forward towards her, "we don't know who these people are. What if they're not even people?"
Lina smiled. "They might not be, but we've gotten this far. We can't just give up now, can we?"
Doon hesitated, letting that thought sink in. It was true. Never in a million years would he have imagined he'd get out of Ember, let alone discovering a world he never thought existed.
"Fine," he finally answered, void of any emotion except for doubt, "we'll go. But if I get a bad feeling, we're out of there."
Lina nodded slowly. "I know."
"Just as well," he grinned, walking up to Poppy and Lina. The three of them stood together, and stepped over the line together.
As soon as their feet hit the ground, explosions were heard. Lina grabbed Poppy and hoisted her on her hip. When something else exploded they immediately hit the ground, Poppy under Lina and Doon leaning over as much as he could to protect the two girls. More explosions sounded, making being able to hear a painful advantage. Fog or smoke, they didn't know what, clouded their vision and made it hard to see anything.
"Intruder, intruder," a female voice repeated, over and over again.
"What the hell?" Lina shouted to Doon.
"I don't know," came the quick reply right in Lina's ear. She cringed but didn't make any movement as she was sandwiched between her friend and sister. Doon suddenly gasped as someone grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him up. The same happened to Lina, and when she was fully upright, Poppy was wrenched from her grip.
"Intruder, intruder," a new voice joined, repeating as well.
"Arli!" a male voice shouted over the noise, "Axil! Shut the hell up!" The voices ceased at this command, as did the explosions.
The three children were able to hear again but not by much. Ringing was still in their ears. They let out synchronised deep breaths as their vision came back too.
Surrounding them, in a circular manner, were 8 people, 4 men and 4 women. Holding onto them, though, was a man for Doon and a woman each for Poppy and Lina. The woman holding onto Poppy had her on hip, the exact way Lina did. Lina went to reach out to her sister but the woman held her at bay. Tears threatening to flood, Lina tried hard to keep them from falling down her cheeks.
A man with a black beard stepped forward. He had an authority aura, and gave Lina the creeps. "Well, well, well," he cooed, "what do we have here?"
Lina and Doon's mouths thinned, keeping them from saying anything. They were being held against their will, something that didn't go well with Doon so he certainly wasn't saying anything to this man.
"Not going to say anything, are we? Stranger danger and all?" he teased.
Doon and Lina gave questioning glances to each other that meant 'stranger danger'?
"Okay, then I'll introduce myself and the rest of these wondrous people. When that's done, you introduce yourself and we won't be strangers." He seemed happy with this logic, gap-tooth smiling while talking. "Deal?"
The two teens said nothing again but the man took the silence as a yes.
"Harvey," he began, pointing to himself, "Louisa is the blonde one next to me. Next we have Jonno, the bald one beside Louisa. Then Opal is the short one and Ruby her twin. Beside Ruby is Scott then its Yelena with the frizzy hair. Last but not least is Kameron." He grinned a one-hundred watt smile. "Your names?" he asked politely.
Doon and Lina looked at each other, their eyes mirroring the other ones. Do we tell them our names? was the million dollar question. Lina nodded first, unsure but Harvey had introduced anyway. Doon followed Lina and spoke first.
"Doon," he got out, his throat raw and his voice raspy from the smoke.
Curious glances swept around the circle. Doon didn't know why.
"Lina," Lina answered strongly, her voice and throat a tad better than Doon's.
"And the child?" a female voice, Ruby they thought, asked.
"Poppy."
Doon became curious too. "And these people holding us against our will?" he asked.
"Ah," Harvey murmured, "I forgot them."
The woman holding Poppy scoffed. "Of course you did, Harvey."
Harvey waved her away, though looking at her. "I did. But anyway, Caroline, just settle. See? There, I introduced you." He turned to us, sighing and suddenly looking very tired. "Lina, the person holding you is Garcia and Doon, your person is Jamison."
"He's not my person," Doon said through gritted teeth. Jamison quickly realized what had been said about him.
"Yeah, I'm not anyone's person," he protested.
"You finished with introductions, Harvey?" the bald guy, Jonno asked, looking at his fingernails, bored.
"Yes, yes," he answered.
"Then what are we going to with these three?"
"I dunno," Harvey shrugged.
"You don't know?" a new female asked curiously, pushing in between Harvey and Louisa.
Everyone, excluding Lena, Doon and Poppy, dropped to their knees, bowing to this new woman. Caroline even did, dropping Poppy in the process. Lena lunged and managed to grab her before she hit the ground. Lena hugged her tightly as everyone stood up. Sending glares to Caroline, Lena moved Poppy around so she was comfortable. Doon moved to where the girls stood, and wrapped arm around Lena's shoulders. Lena relaxed into them, glad for the safety.
"Scarrlett," they all breathed in sync.
Scarrlett smiled sickly sweet, and then turned to Doon, Lena and Poppy.
"I'm Scarrlett," she said, holding out a hand.
Lena and Doon looked at each other, terrified expressions on their faces.
Who the hell was this chick? Doon and Lena didn't want to find out.
They ran.