Okay, this chapter officially pissed me off, because when I saved, it totally fucked itself up. I mean, seriously. It had ten thousand words (probably more) and they were all repeats of the chapter pasted over and over, and everything was bolded and italicized and-ugh! Here, I'll try one more time, and if it doesn't work I'm going to kill .
Kaia stretched in her seat, twisting headphones into her ears, preparing for a long, boring flight.
Her sister clenched her teeth beside her. "Four people, now. How the hell are these people getting here?" She growled. "And here I was thinking I could relax…"
She poked her, smiling. "You said you wanted to meet new people! Go ahead." She ignored her and stood up instead.
Not bothering to look at her sister, she pulled something out of her bag.
*^$$R^(#R#(FRGF*W#%EB$#(
England stretched. "I think I might try something…Canada!" Said nation was sprawled across one of the seats, looking bored as anything. Canada ignored him. "Whatever it is, no. I'm not going to go run around invisible and look at them sit there."
He smacked him halfheartedly. "Then I will."
Muttering some words under his breath, he spread his arms out and felt himself disappear. "Ha! You can't see me!"
Russia glared at him from the corner. "Even though you're invisible doesn't mean we can't hear you." Cursing something in Russian and turning away from him, he wrapped one arm around America, who returned the gesture.
Quietly sliding the door open, he ghosted down the aisle. He reached the seat where Kaia sat, and a long haired brown cat sat sleeping on the chair beside her. Cat? Glynnis didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. The cat shot him a quick glare before hopping off the chair and stalking off towards the front of the plane. He leapt back, stunned, and nearly ran back.
"Glynnis has somehow disappeared on this plane and there's a cat." He panted. America nodded. "There's a cat. Hmm."
Russia nodded. "Let me guess: the cat scared you, and now you've run back here."
He scowled. "It looked at me! It stared right at my eyes and glared at me!"
America checked his watch. "You two can bicker over that for the next hour or so." He looked at his brother and shared an exasperated sigh with his rather translucent relation.
England massaged his temples. He didn't quite have a death wish that strong yet.
R!T$&*! R)SB^!R$DFGV&C(#*C#IKM
The plane eventually touched down…England disguised them all and they snuck off just in time to see the plane rattle away to God-knows-where.
"Home!" Glynnis shrieked, repressing the urge to kiss the ground.
Tanaquillia was equally overjoyed, spinning circles and grinning. "We're staying at your place?"
"I guess." She twitched. "Whatever's there, it's following us. It's scaring the hell out of me. Let's go." She set off at a purposeful stride down a worn dirt path that lead to a sleepy town. A cat lounged indolently on a doorstep. Women hurried by with umbrellas clutched in their hands.
Leaping up the mountainous path, she wove through dark pine trees and ended up at the front door of a small house painted a deep burgundy nestled in a copse of trees on the top of a cliff, pulling a key out of her pocket. "Home…" She let herself in and dragged her sister's bag after her. England told the others to wait somewhere else before he let them in.
"Sure!" America whispered back. "I planned for this, anyway." He somehow pulled a tent out of nowhere and skipped off.
He shook his head. "I'll never understand him." Canada massaged his forehead in agreement and followed his brother. Russia grinned and wandered after them.
Nearly forgetting what he was supposed to be doing, he sprinted through the door as it was about to close.
They set their bags down. Glynnis walked off into another room, returning with several leaves of iceberg lettuce. Her sister shook her head. "I'm never going to understand how you eat. All hours of the night, and the strangest combinations."
She cocked her head and laughed. "Sorry? I was too busy ignoring you to hear." She crunched on another leaf before scowling. "There's something following us! I can smell it. Like…I'm not even sure." Walking up the stairs, she called over her shoulder, "I'm going to my room. You can go to yours if you want, or something." Kaia nodded and pulled out a laptop from her bag before running up the stairs.
He followed, ending up in a room with black walls, matching carpeting, and one enormous glass wall with shades draped across. The ceiling twinkled with LEDs. A platform bed in black wood stood in the middle of the room, piled high with quilts. The dresser, cabinets, and various chairs and tables were all built into the wall. In the corner was a walk in closet with frosted glass walls. Very faintly, a panel could be seen in a wall, probably leading to another room. Kaia sat on the bed and flipped open her laptop and began typing…with three fingers. Shaking his head, he retreated.
He slid back through the door, carefully tiptoeing down the hall and sliding through the open door.
*T(*TGFY$VFR#^ND#%&(*CH#*$
He padded in the room, footsteps effectively silenced by the thick burgundy carpet. What is with this girl and red? The room had weathered, mahogany shelves built into the deep green walls. A platform bed was nestled in one corner of the room and piled with mismatched quilts so thick he could not see the actual bed underneath. The shelves were laden with old books, pieces of glass, and boxes of varying shapes, sizes, and colors. From the ceiling (painted gold) hung a set of baubles glowing brightly in different colors.
Tall windows were covered with patchwork curtains in a million patterns, crazily stitched with various colors of thread. A pile of cushions sat in between the two casements. A door covered with pictures and various materials was next to the head of the bed.
He almost didn't notice her sitting in the quilts, scribbling away at a notebook. She convulsed slightly, head snapping up.
"Okay," she growled in a dangerously low voice. "Whoever's there, you're really annoying the hell out of me, so either show yourself, or go the fuck away." She stared right through him. Not daring to say anything, he waited until she left the room to look at what she was writing.
Strange scrawled characters he'd never seen before covered each sheet, written in bold red ink…or at least he thought it was ink…Some pages were written in other languages as well. He saw a chunk filled with nothing but Cyrillic. Several sheaves of paper were painted with delicate Chinese characters.
He shuffled backwards, sliding down the stairs and outside.
!TB&2Gn$t^*NGY*OGMY*VFCVC
The sun sank below the horizon, igniting the bruised dark clouds into bright golds and reds. Dark shades covered the windows, and finally the moon rose high, glittering coldly in the midnight sky. England sat in the cramped tent with Canada, America, and Russia, still puzzling.
"There's something up. First of all, how does an island appear out of nowhere without anyone noticing it? And weird things just happen. Things materialize out of nowhere, people do weird things, they're just…off."
America, face solemn, leaned closer to whisper. "Hey, if you can listen really closely, you can hear that no one is listening to you." He laughed at his own joke. Speaking louder, he said, "If this has anything to do with ghosts, I'm out. Other than that, we should be okay."
Canada trembled under Russia's glare. "Um, if you really wanted to find anything out, the best time would be now, when no one 's awake."
He blinked. "Thank you…Matthew." The pause was noticeable, and America slapped his arm. "You idiot, how did you forget his name?" Still fuming for his brother, he let England go back outside without contest.
He opened the door cautiously, the pale sliver moonlight bleaching everything of color. Everything was silent.
The slight padding of footsteps down the stairs alerted him. He spun around-but too late.
Okay, the damn thing worked. *lets out breath she's been holding*
Once again, ignore the fucked up linebreaks. And free pasta, wurst, onigiri, potatoes, cheese, scones, hamburgers, vodka, salmiakki, kimchee, ice cream, maple syrup, or whatever the hell you eat for the reviewers...even though it's virtual. m(_ _)m Thanks for sticking with me, and expect a dry spell in January (damn midterms...). Until then, my lovely readers, goodbye~