Weeeeeeeee! This is fun!!!!!!!! I'm going to post the entire fic either today or tomorrow! I'll try for today…

Chapter 8

Isabel

Of course, I know that Arkarian's right, but all the same…

"I'm worried about how she'll act when the baby's born. Hopefully she'll be a good big sister and help out, but she might also feel like she's not important to us. I mean, she's only 6! She's still too young to understand-"

Arkarian breaks me off. He looks around the room, then says, "Ophelia, come out."

At first I'm confused, but then a mosquito flies down and changes into Ophelia. I'm surprised to see tears running down her cheeks.

"What am I too young to understand, Mom?" she asks.

"Only how much you mean to me and your father," I reply truthfully.

"Oh, I understand perfectly." There's so much hurt in her voice that it almost makes tears come to my eyes. "If I mean so much to you, then why did you tell me to go back to bed? I wanted to know what was going on, but you wouldn't tell me!"

"That's because you didn't ask," I try to explain, but she won't listen.

"I didn't know that I had to ask to be included!" she cries, tears flowing quicker. "You told Dad, and I was standing right there! Why not tell me, too, and get it out of the way?"

"Hey, your father just happened to see. I didn't tell him a thing!"

Ophelia just glares at me. "But you were going to. Or maybe you thought it!"

I shake my head. "I may have thought it, but I always keep my thoughts well protected." I glance at Arkarian. "I kind of have to, what with four Truthseers in the Named."

"It doesn't matter." She crosses her arms in front of her. "You would have told him anyway."

"Well yes!" I exclaim. "He's my husband, and this involves the both of us, as well as you!"

"Then why didn't you tell me?!" she screams. "If it involves me, why didn't you say anything?!"

I'm trying, honest and truthfully, to keep my voice calm, but Arkarian's the one who's good at that. It just won't work for me. Who know that one child could do all this! "It's not like that, Ophelia, and you know it."

"What, so now it doesn't involve me? But you just said it does! You make no sense whatsoever!" And with that, she walks ­– no, stomps – out the door.

"I think she got your temper," Arkarian whispers.

I smile, but only momentarily. Just then, we hear a door slam. Something you'd expect, coming from an angry child, right? Yes, well this isn't her bedroom door that slams, it's the front one.

I run out, opening the door in time to see Ophelia's long brown hair trailing after her as she runs. "Ophelia!" I call, but that only makes her run faster. I try to run after her, but Arkarian puts his hand on my shoulders, stopping me.

"Don't wear yourself out," he says. "I sent a heads up to the others, so they know that Ophelia's coming."

"But how can you be so sure?" I ask fearfully. "I mean, we don't know where she's going!"

"Maybe not, but by telling everyone else, we have a better chance of catching her."

I nod, knowing that he's right. "So…what do we do for now?"

He sits down on a nearby boulder and I sit beside him. "Now," he replies, "we wait."

XXXXXXXXX

After what seems like hours, we hear footsteps coming towards us. I jump up and run towards the sound, to see Ethan, Matt, Dillon, and Crystal.

I hug my brother tightly. "Did any of you find her?" I ask, though by the looks on their faces, and the fact that she's not with them, I can already tell the answer.

Matt shakes his head slowly. "I'm sorry, Isabel, but none of us saw Ophelia anywhere. We all looked everywhere we thought she could possibly be."

"Where are Neriah and Rochelle?"

Ethan answers my question this time. "Did you really think we'd leave our kids alone? Neriah brought Ambrosine over to mine and Rochelle's place, so they're both looking after the kids."

I nod to show that I understand.

"There's just one thing I'd like to know," Dillon says.

"A-and what's that?" I ask, tears forming in my eyes at the thought of answering what I'm sure he's about to ask.

"What the hell happened here?"

I sigh and sit back down on the boulder. "I guess you all should know," I say, and proceed to tell them.

Alright, I'll try to at least post the next chapter tonight, but I'm kind of busy, so it might not get posted until tomorrow, k?