I looked around to find Tarutaru. We were searching throughout the markets of Primp town, looking for a clue or sign of where our friends had disappeared too. During this I had managed to be separated from him by the crowds of people. These people were as confused as I was, or so they looked.

'Hey Rider, I think he went the opposite direction, back through the alleyways to the right.' Said Popoi from my shoulder. Accord had given him to me before leaving for the police station yesterday, saying she'd be back soon. She wasn't.

I darted around the little stalls selling fruits and vegetables, trying to avoid being crushed underfoot by the tallest adults there. That threat was enough to keep me away from the streets on market day most times, but today was kind of different from regular days. Eventually, after running around and getting cries of "Hey, watch out kid!" I managed to find Tarutaru. He was in an alleyway, searching behind an old pile of boxes that looked like they had been there since last weeks rain storm. They were all mouldy and soggy and no one would want to hide there, would they? He looked up, the box he was holding having fallen apart whilst suspended in the air.

'Oh, Rider. Sorry for vanishing, but I thought I saw something hiding in here. I guess not.' He said, shrugging his shoulders.

'You know Tarutaru; you could have just asked me if I felt their magical presence. Then you wouldn't have to wander off and lose us.' Said Popoi from my shoulder, sounding annoyed.

I felt kind of similar- I hated being left behind when in crowded areas, but at the same time, I knew Popoi didn't like being asked all the time from the way he'd reacted the previous times. Maybe he'd changed his mind? 'Well, at least we are all together again' I said to Popoi and Tarutaru. 'Popoi, do you happen to feel anything magical around here?' I asked him. I hoped he would say yes even though I already knew the answer from his face.

'Well what do you think Miss Rider? Did I mention feeling anything? All I know is that you two are here with me, okay?' He hissed, drawing away from us, or at least as far as he could while remaining on my shoulder.

I tried to ignore the sarcasm. We did not need to start fighting now.

'Well, we could keep looking, I think all the market place has been cheeked by now.' Said Tarutaru, who was already walking towards the exit of the alleyway.

'Hey, Tarutaru, you have to wait for us. This is how we get left behind- you just go too fast.' Popoi yelled, as if to make sure Tarutaru heard him.

Apparently he had, because he stopped and waited for us this time.

Maybe this day won't be so bad after all. I thought to myself, walking along besides Tarutaru.

00000000

Soon we had decided on our next destination, the Haunted forest. I was tired of walking around all day, but I didn't have any chance to stop lest I lose Tarutaru.

Still, it could have been worse I guess. I could be wandering through here by myself…

After thinking that, I sped up to Tarutarus side- Usually I didn't go this deep into the forest, staying where the trees were thinner. This time we were walking through the deepest part of the forest. I looked at Popoi, he had said that someone was here, but he had been wrong before with the market place, confusing a gaoled Ms Accord for Amitie. Tarutaru turned around a bit, then looked ahead again after seeing it was me.

I nearly tripped up on some low brambles, stepping over at the last second. I couldn't take much time to think, otherwise I'd ether get lost or fall over something. For a while we just kept walking along the track, keeping pace with each other this time. After a while, the path petered out, turning from a red stone collage path into a dirt and plant covered trail. We all had to keep even closer together or risk tripping over plants and rocks from Zig Zag Peak. Not long after, even that track vanished, becoming entirely small plants.

I guess I wasn't the only one who didn't want to go deep into the forest. Except for the person who had gone before, or was it a group of people?

I stopped, waiting for Tarutaru to stop too. 'Hey, you two, I think someone has gone through this way.' I said. I didn't even have to try and be loud; there were no other sounds in the forest. 'It looks like there are places in the plants where they have been squashed by footprints.' I wasn't sure whether they had seen it yet, after all the only reason I'd seen it was because I'd been looking down for low bushes to avoid.

'Yeah, I wonder if the missing classmates have gone through here.' Asked Popoi.

'Umm, I'm not sure. Maybe they've gone through this way but I don't know.' I said, looking to the tops of the trees, or as far as I could look anyway. I thought I'd heard speaking up there, but it must have been the wind.

'Well I hope they haven't gone too far away, if they've looped back to Zig Zag Peak I'll be very annoyed.' He said. I believed him too. He'd said earlier that the sooner they were found, the sooner Ms Accord could be released.

I didn't remind him that the missing people could say Accord did this to them.

We both looked ahead after hearing footsteps. It was just Tarutaru turning towards us. 'Have you noticed that there are no birds in the trees?' He asked.

I could feel Popoi ruffling up- so I responded before he could. 'No I haven't, do you know why?

'Yes, it means someone's driven the birds away, as well as the creatures.' He replied to me. 'Someone may still be here; if they had left then the birds would have returned to the trees.'

'Well, hopefully we will find them soon.' Said Popoi, cheering up a bit by the looks.

I on the other hand, was kind of scared. What if the students attacked us? What if the person wasn't the students but someone worse?

Now the silence seemed much more foreboding.

'Rider, lets keep going, we'll find them up here I think.' Said Tarutaru, turning to walk away.

I followed him; there was no way I'd be left behind with strange things going on.

00000000

We walked for a long time without seeing anything at all. No monsters, no students, not even any Onion Pixy's. The birds did not show up and the walk remained silent except for questions asked between us.

'Popoi, do you sense them yet?'

'Nah not really, I think we're going in the right direction though.'

After a while, the crushed bushes seemed to get even more dishevelled than before. Now instead of looking like people had walked through them it looked like they'd stampeded through them. The good thing was that it was a lot easier to walk over flat bushes than rounded ones.

A new problem that had arisen was that vines were now hanging down from the trees; they were very easily tangled around things like hair and arms. This was really annoying, because now we had to stop every few metres to untangle ourselves. Tarutaru had the worse time of it. He wouldn't try and rip the branches like Popoi suggested; he'd just stand there untangling himself.

We took a long time to get anywhere much. After a while, we'd approached a clearing of sorts- it had less trees and a wide stream running through the middle, but you still couldn't see the sky.

In the clearing was Raffine.

She stood there with her back turned to us, looking as dishevelled as the bushes we'd past before. Her socks were ripped and one was missing as well as her skirt and shirt being scratched through by what looked like claw marks, she looked as if she'd been walking through the forest for days now.

Maybe we shouldn't be here… I thought to myself.

She turned around, muttering something to herself. She looked even worse from the side- she looked so scared and confused. It just wasn't right for her to be like this.

She was also missing her pouch that she always had with her.

I looked down at Popoi; he was trying to hide behind my neck. 'Popoi, did you sense her as being here?' I asked. I thought he would have given us notice we would have found her. He seemed just as surprised as we were.

'No, I didn't know she was here, she's missing something I think…'

I looked around at Tarutaru. He looked horrified by what he was seeing; it showed up on his face mostly. Popoi poked his head around my neck. We all watched Raffine.

She walked around slowly, as if she was hurt badly, she continued muttering to herself, though because she was closer I could hear her:

'Where is it, I've lost it, where is it…'

She didn't seem to be actually seeing anything, because otherwise she would have noticed us standing there.

The next thing I know, Tarutaru walked towards her. 'It'll be okay Raffine, we'll help you find it, would you prefer to come with us now or tell us where the others are?'

Popoi scoffed behind my neck, he obviously felt he could be better with subtlety.

Raffine just looked at Tarutaru getting closer. She didn't move or act as if she recognised him in any way. Eventually, after what felt like a decade she reacted to him.

'Get away from me!' She screamed at the top of her lungs. She almost sounded like her old self.

Almost. She sounded angry, but she still sounded confused and scared even when yelling.

He kept getting closer, walking almost at a turtles pace now. 'Raffine, please come back with us, we'll help you with whatever it is.'

I wanted to yell out to get away, I wasn't sure why, except that she was looking really panicked, edging away from him until the edge of the stream.

Instead I pleaded with him. 'Tarutaru, please get away from her. She might hurt you. Please stay away…' I could tell he wasn't listening to me, not this time.

I looked down at Popoi to see what he thought I should do. Then I heard Raffine scream. I looked up to see her kick Tarutaru in the stomach. I could hear myself calling out while running over to him. He'd kneeled over from the blow and was now lying face down. When I got to his side, I wasn't sure what to do- we were deep in a forest, our parents thought we were studying at school and no on was available for miles.

Please let him be okay. I thought to myself.

Tarutaru turned over from his front and sat up. He didn't look like he could stand just yet.

'Are you okay?' I asked him as Popoi jumped off my shoulders to take a look at him. He really didn't look like he was, but I could be wrong.

'I'm fine, where's Raffine?' He asked when he got his breath back. I really didn't know. I hadn't paid any attention to her after Tarutaru was injured. I was about to say that when Popoi spoke up: 'She'd turned around and ran through the stream.' He said. 'If we followed her now we could still catch up.'

We all looked over the river, the vines and bushes had been ether torn up or stomped on in an area that must have been her path. For a moment I just continued looking, then when I turned back I realised something from their faces: They wanted me to follow her. Popoi for his Mistress and Tarutaru for his friends and crush.

They must have been kidding. I couldn't just run after Raffine by myself. They must have read my face as well. 'Rider, it's not like Tarutaru can chase her now, And I'm too tiny to get anywhere fast.' Popoi said. 'I'll go with you if it makes you feel any better.'

It wasn't really making me feel any better, though I knew Tarutaru would hate me for not finding her. He looked like he was still in pain, but he would be in even more if I didn't find her. This was what made me grab Popoi and run through the river, shouting out 'Goodbye' as I left. I'd be back soon enough, he would be fine for a little while and besides- I had Popoi with me.

Why wasn't this helping at all? Every instinct was telling me to turn back and run, get help, and get Tarutaru out of there. I tried to ignore that. I splashed through the river, getting my shoes and socks all waterlogged and Popoi climbed back onto my shoulder quickly. Soon we were on the opposite bank. I still kept running. Now the vines were really annoying, I tried to rip them like before but I was already going too slowly, so I started trying to duck under them or go around.

After a while reality started catching up, as did my nervousness. Raffine was so much fasted than me; she was the best in Physical Education as well as out of school events. I wasn't even fast enough to stay with the group when running. If she continued, she'd be so far away. Was it really worth it?

Maybe there was another way…

'Rider, why are you slowing down?' Popoi asked as I started walking. Running was making too much noise; anyone could hear us and know where we are. I answered him when I stopped walking:

'I'm looking, I'm not even sure if Raffine is still following this path, or maybe there's a shortcut to look for.' He didn't answer, just started looking with me. I walked forward a bit more, then I saw it, an alternate path leading away from the right. This one had almost no sign of being different, except for some ripped vines and her wing hair-clip trapped on a broken branch.

'You know, I do think she went this way Rider' Said Popoi leaning forwards to look better. 'But I don't have any idea what's up ahead. Why would she go this way anyway…?' He asked. I didn't know the answer, but after a second he straightened up and said to follow the path.

Once we were on the path, more differences became obvious. One of them being that the bushes had been trampled in places, yet not in others, maybe she'd missed some while running? Another being that every so often, another bit of her hair could be found clinging to a branch or vine. She hadn't bothered to go slow at all through here. I could understand why, this part of the track wasn't letting the creepy feeling go away. If anything the feeling was intensifying the further we went along the path. After a while, I realised we'd arrived at something because we couldn't go any further. The vines were still clinging and the trees were still there, but they were backdropped by what appeared to be a tall mountain cliff. The vines climbed the cliff-face, almost hiding it; the trees surrounding it obscured it as well. I got closer to the cliff-face and looked up: we were at one of the bottom edges of Zig Zag Peak.

'So how did she vanish on us…?' Asked Popoi to himself. The edge was curved around so as to make it impossible to leave unless she went back through the forest. For a while we searched around the edge of the forest, but found no alternate paths. By then Popoi was getting impatient: 'She really could have made it easier, we're wasting time searching through the forest edge.' He said, and then jumped off my shoulder onto the ground.

'H-hey Popoi, where are you going?' I asked. He didn't usually run off on his own.

'I'm looking outside the box, that's what!' He yelled out, and then ran off to the cliff face. That really didn't explain much at all, so I followed him, keeping back in case something happened.

'Well you could be helping, Rider.' He yelled over his back. He still kept inspecting the cliff face, going underneath the vines at times.

'How do I help you, I don't know what you're looking for. Raffine couldn't be underneath the vines, would she?'

'Now she gets it. I think there's a cave underneath the vines.' He said, looking to another part of the cliff face.

I didn't understand for a minute, I thought he'd meant by looking there that he thought Raffine was hiding between the vines and cliff. I guess not. I didn't bother correcting him about my meaning; it would've just looked like an excuse.

Instead I started sorting through the vines as well, looking for any trace of a hole or maybe even a button needing to be pressed. For ages I found nothing. I could tell by Popoi's increased mutterings that he had found nothing either. We searched for another long while. The sun started setting; Mum would be wondering why I wasn't back yet.

'Rider, we might have to go back soon. It's getting to late too continue without a light of some kind, and we need to get back to Tarutaru, see if he's fine and find our way out.' He said softly, looking defeated. He returned to my side, but I kept looking.

'Rider, I told you; we should go back. It's too late to find anything.'

'No, we've still got some time left…' I said and continued looking. It wouldn't be worth it if we didn't find them, besides; Tarutaru would be upset if we came back without Raffine.

Besides, I wanted to ask some questions too, like why they vanished in the first place and why they didn't come to Tarutaru's welcoming party. I wasn't sure if finding them would answer those questions, but it couldn't hurt?

Popoi looked at where I was searching, staying nearby for a while which was nice of him. He could have just left me after all.

Soon the sun had vanished to the point that only a little bit of light was left. I was giving up hope at this point; I'd just have to return home as quickly as I could…

The next thing I knew I'd found a cave entrance at the very base of the cliff. I jumped back, having nearly fallen in after brushing away the topsoil and clearing the vines. Popoi looked down the entrance: 'I can't sense anything, but I couldn't sense her before so…?'

For a minute we just waited there, wondering whether to go into the cave. It wasn't very large, but it looked really steep, from the light that was still in the sky, I couldn't see the bottom.

'Well I think she's down there, and the others could be there too. Time to stop dawdling, Rider.' Said Popoi, and then jumped back onto my shoulder.

'Should we just say that we'd found them and go back? I think Tarutaru would be fine with that.' I said. After all, we'd found them and hopefully they wouldn't leave at night, what with all the strange creatures that patrol at night. Besides that the cave looked scary, with no light and no sound ether, it could have been a black hole for all I knew.

'We could come back tomorrow, but they might be gone, after all they can take care of themselves enough to not be trapped for long.' He said. Then he looked into my eyes. 'Look, I'll be with you, so you don't have to be scared of them or anything. Besides, if we bring back the students then Tarutaru will be happy too, won't he? Isn't that what you want?' He asked.

I looked down, he was right in a way. Tarutaru wouldn't mind knowing they were here, but he'd prefer to see them and know they were okay.

I made sure to remove any left over vines then looked down again. It was kind of steep due to going further down than ground level. In many ways it was like a rabbit hole. I made sure Popoi was still hanging on to my shoulder and that my shoes wouldn't fill with too much loose dirt. Then I dropped down into the hole, closing my eyes due to not knowing how long I would fall.

I wasn't sure how long I fell for, except that I fell onto my knees and hands at the end before rolling forward a bit. My knees and hands were now hurting from being fallen on, so I didn't bother getting up for a bit, just laying there instead.

'Rider, are you alright?' Asked Popoi from what sounded like a fair bit away.

'Yeah I'm all right; just hurt my knees a bit.' I murmured, and then decided lying in the dark was very possibly a bad idea and stood up. All I knew was that I was hurt and that it was really really dark. I'd thought it would be dark, but it seemed even more so than I'd thought; I couldn't see anything, not even my sleeves.

'Popoi, where are you?' I asked in a whisper, worried because anything could be here besides us.

'I'm over here' he whispered back. 'Just follow my voice and I'll find you, okay?'

At first I couldn't tell where he was, just stumbling around while trying to be silent, after awhile I was able to tell where to go after listening to him humming for a long time. After a while I found a wall to use as a guide. It hurt my hands to touch the wall, but it was good regardless, as I couldn't stop from tripping over rocks without sight to guide me.

'Popoi, am I near you now?' I asked. He'd said that he would find me when I was close enough. I hoped I was.

I waited about a minute, by then I was getting worried, but then I felt something poking my leg that felt like a puppet. It was Popoi.

'Okay, I think I've found you now, is that you?'

'Yeah it is, thank goodness you've found me.' I said, thinking what could have been there instead.

He jumped up onto my shoulder again; I could feel him close to my neck. Now at least I knew he was with me.

'So now I'm not really sure what to do, just keep following the wall I guess?' He said uncertainly after a bit. This was not very assuring to me, but I went along the wall anyway, all the while thinking that even Popoi didn't know what was going to happen next.

Many times I stumbled or felt that I was going nowhere, I worried that I was continuously taking the wrong path and that I'd never find them. I also wondered how much time had past. Was it half an hour? Two? How long would Tarutaru be kept waiting for us?

None of this mattered, because we kept going anyway. After a long while I spotted a light up ahead. Maybe we were going in the right direction, but even if we weren't; at least I could now see what I was doing. I could see that I was walking over a very uneven track, which I'd known even before sight, but I could also see murals on the opposite wall. I couldn't see the fine details and the colours due to the quality of the light, but I could tell creatures were on the walls of many different sizes and shapes. Some were big; some were small; some were almost human in appearance; some looked like monsters.

Before I'd know it, I'd stopped to look some more at the mural, crossing over to the other side without memory of it.

'Rider, these are very interesting, but we should keep going. Remember, the sooner we find them the sooner we get out of here.' He whispered and waited for me too move on. I didn't. The murals looked so familiar to me, like I'd once had a memory of them and just couldn't recall it. At the same time, I couldn't have seen them before; I'd never been down here before now.

'Hey, let's keep going already Rider.' He said exasperatedly, shoving my neck trying to get me to move.

I still kept looking, why though, why was this so much more interesting than other murals?

I guess I was looking for others like me in it.

I knew that they still wouldn't be here; the textbooks had said themselves that most of the different species of magical creatures had been driven extinct, except for the most common species like Onion Pixy.

At one stage I'd thought that I could find them, but not anymore. It really did seem I was one of the last to still be alive here; maybe they'd gone somewhere else for now, but none were still here with me.

But I wanted to know more; I wasn't sure just what exactly, but something. This something continued to evade me until Popoi shouted 'are you even listening to me?' into my ear.

The spell was broken, and I recoiled in pain. I hated it when people yelled right into my ear; it was bad enough when they were yelling nearby.

'Popoi, why did you do that?' I asked after the sound stopped ringing in my ears.

'You weren't responding, I had to do something didn't I?' He whispered fiercely.

I was about to tell him that it didn't matter whether he was whispering now that it was too late when I heard footsteps up where the light was. A voice could be heard, not yelling but just talking normally. 'Who are you, and where are you?'

We bolted back the way we came, running back into the darkness from before. We didn't bother trying to be silent now as we heard that voice behind us.

'Please stay still so I can find you already.' The voice said, reverting from the walls and echoing. Even when shouting his voice remained calm and formal sounding. This in itself was scary, because who has a voice like that?

I ran back towards the entrance, tripping over many rocks and other unseen objects whilst trying to get away. My knees and legs didn't want to keep running. Popoi was for once not speaking, just clinging to me. I wasn't sure of much other than that really, other than hoping we could exit as easily as we had entered and hoping we wouldn't be caught. I wasn't even sure why I wanted to run away from him, just that I could feel Popoi's apprehension radiating from him too. Maybe because I didn't have any idea who he was, I couldn't locate where he was from either, even though when people talk they tend to speak like where they grew up.

This was just too strange.

As I was running along the wall, I felt my hand fall away from the wall and fell forward, landing once again on my hands and knees. I wasn't sure what happened at first, but Popoi cleared it up:

'Rider, there's another passage; if we go down there we could get away from him.' I heard Popoi whispering. It sounded so far away over my heartbeat. However, I ran down there anyway. I had no idea whether it would help me to take this path or just further trap me, all I knew was that I was scared with no other options at the time. I tried my best to be silent, hearing the footsteps from the main tunnel. When I reached the end of the tunnel, I crouched down. I could still hear the footsteps and him calling out.

'Is anyone there? Can you tell me?'

I looked behind me anyway, hoping for an exit to suddenly spring into existence. I could see the rays of light bouncing off the wall, even though they were faint.

Just then I heard a scream. It wasn't the person, I knew because the voice was more feminine. I opened my eyes to see the beams of light flickering away.

'She must have woken early…' I heard him mutter, and then the light vanished completely. I could feel Popoi becoming less tense, though he didn't say anything. I followed his example and didn't speak ether. The screaming continued even after the light had completely faded away, it sounded familiar somehow but I couldn't place where I'd heard it before.

I waited for a little while, at least until I couldn't hear the footsteps any more. Then I started slowly creeping along the wall back into the main passage. Constantly I worried that I'd set a foot wrong and summon him back. Somehow I made it back to the main tunnel without any problems.

'What should we do now?' I asked Popoi, trying to make my voice even quieter than a whisper.

'I don't know anymore.' He said sounding defeated. 'I don't think we can get out of here, we could try but then what will happen to Raffine and the others? The only thing I think we can do is take a guess and hope it's the right one.'

I sat there for a second, waiting for an answer to suddenly pop out of thin air. The screaming was driving me crazy, it was so hard to think; what could we do about Raffine and the others?

'I guess we just go towards the screams for now, I really can't think of anything better.' I whispered, looking once again towards the light. I didn't really want to go there at all, I didn't know what I'd see when I got there. What I did know was that I wouldn't be able to get out of here by myself, besides maybe all of this is just a big misunderstanding? The disappearance, the cuts on Raffine's legs…

Raffine…?

The screaming was Raffine. She usually didn't, but it was her. But why was she screaming like that…?

I started running towards the light, feeling Popoi still clinging to my shoulder.

'Rider; hey what's going on?' I heard Popoi asking me.

'The person screaming, it's Raffine. We need to find her, we have to.' I said. I wasn't even sure why anymore, there must have been a reason, but all of them sounded silly in my head:

"If we find her Tarutaru will be happy, if we go down there it may all turn out to be a strange misunderstanding? If we go down there and Raffine is okay, she might help us get out of here."

None of these arguments helped me at all. But I still wanted to go there anyway…

"What was wrong with me today?"

I stopped running, making sure I was a little bit back from the point where the tunnel opened up. The light was so much here that I could see more detail than even before, that the walls were red coloured with yellow spots throughout. It looked really weird for a cave to have that kind of colour.

'Hey Rider, I know that the walls are a lot better looking than what could be happening down there, but shouldn't we at least see what's happening to Raffine, so we can see if we can help at all.' Said Popoi, quickly going from being quiet to sarcastic. I decided to go in, after all he was right, even though I didn't know what I'd see, even though I was scared, I just really needed to get this over with.

Meanwhile, the screaming and yelling had risen up a few notches. Not only that but I could now hear words in the mix. They weren't understandable, but that was because two people were talking at the same time.

I wandered into the room at the end of the tunnel. It descended down into what could be compared to an antechamber. The colours were even stranger here, the rocky ledges and floor dotted with all the colours of the rainbow. In the middle of this antechamber, Raffine and him were fighting. Raffine was on the offensive, kicking and punching whilst chasing him backwards. He however was on the defensive, dodging backwards and, from what I could tell from the way Raffine had more cuts every minute, he was also using either knifes or claws to attack.

It really did look like an unfair fight, and I was wondering how I could help her to make it more even. Magic could hurt her too and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get down there; the slope was looking way to steep. Besides, I wasn't any good at fighting.

It turned out that going down there was unnecessary, the fight changed its tide and Raffine was winning. She'd kicked away his knife, by the spinning silver I saw, and had now backed him up against the slope of the antechamber. She'd reached down, to pick up the knife by the looks and in a few steps had the knife up to the neck of the cloak.

All the screams and yells had stopped; I walked as far forward as I could without falling down the slope. She started ranting at him:

'You better give me back my pouch now before I get really angry, mister whoever-you-are. Because if I don't have it back you'll be wishing that you were dead.' The last words repeated over due to echoing. It sounded as if walls were chanting dead, dead, dead with her.

Then something really weird happened. The action stopped for a second, at least from what I could tell, and I heard a voice next to me:

'I really think I should step in now, don't you think Horned Girl?'

I jumped; no one had been there a second ago, how had someone got there so fast. The way she said it, it almost sounded like a joke. I know that Popoi thought so by the way he was snickering.

Well at least she looked like one until she picked up Raffine mentally and threw her into the rocks on the side. The fight that Raffine looked like she'd win turned around completely all in the space of a second.

I backed away from the girl beside me; I could feel Popoi hiding behind my neck; so much for helping me.

'Aww, poor little girl, I think I broke her.' She said. Then she dropped the joking demeanour. 'Cadel, why did I have to be called here this time? Further more, why had the girl been winning?' She glared down at him as he turned to face her, then he went to check on Raffine and restrain her.

'I'm sorry Mistress, I was sleeping due to different times…'

'Enough excuses, you should have realised that this girl, whose magic is not native to her would come out of her trance early. You should have been ready. What's more, where are the others? Don't tell me they went walkabouts too.' She yelled, looking like she would throw something soon.

'No Mistress, When I realised this girl was gone, I sent the others away first, then went looking in the tunnels.' He said, looking up once again at her. 'Please forgive me Mistress, I made a mistake and will not make it again.'

She dropped her scary demeanour after that, looking a lot happier than even when I first saw her. 'Well that's okay then, as long as you realise you're wrong when you are.' She said, looking down at him. I thought for a jiffy that I'd be ignored and forgotten about. Maybe if I was I would be able to plan to help Raffine better.

'But enough about that, you have a visitor.' She said, stepping away from me. I backed away further down the cave, I didn't want this creature to know I was here, I didn't want to get too close to him.

'Hmm, it looks like she's shy, hiding like that.' The girl called Mistress said, turning to look at me. 'Would you like me to send her down, Cadel?'

I couldn't hear the reply, because at that moment I had been picked up mentally. The difference was that instead of being thrown, I was placed down lightly on the ground again.

In the antechamber.

I looked behind me, spinning around. I was really panicking now. I was going to die.

The girl, Mistress touched down beside me, I backed away from her into a ledge. I twisted around, looking to see if it was climbable, but the ledges were much higher than me.

'Aww, she really is shy. Poor thing. But still I've got to ask you, is she a friend or Enemy?' Mistress said. I turned back towards them and slunk down against the ledge. I was going to die; I knew this because not even Popoi was offering solutions now.

I shut my eyes, trying to forget I was here. I could feel my heart leaping in my chest. Even the forest, even the cave, even when they disappeared, I'd not been this scared. I hadn't any outright fear for my life then. I'd always had a reason to suspect that I'd survive.

I could hear someone walking towards me.

"Please go away…"

The steps continued. I could feel Popoi poking me in the shoulder blades, trying to get me to move.

"Just leave me alone…"

The steps stopped in front of me. I could hear breathing.

"Please…"

Nothing happened, this nothing continued to happen for what felt like a long time. After a while, I opened my eyes again, expecting that maybe I'd see the knife from before, right up against my neck. Or claws soaked in blood.

Instead I saw a gloved hand holding still in front of me.

What was going on here? I couldn't understand it, was he going to kill me? Take me prisoner? Or was I going to be okay?

'Well, miss Horned Girl, are you my friend or my enemy?' He said in the same tones. Any body language like a smile was missed due to his cloak covering his face in darkness.

I looked beyond him, remembering that this girl; Mistress was still in the room. She was looking disgusted at the boy in front of me, presumably Cadel. After that I remembered his question and shook my head- I didn't know him, how could I be his friend or enemy? Even more, would it be safe to pick an answer?

'Girl, that was not really a yes or no answer, which are you?' He repeated, still keeping the same tone. I couldn't tell if he was getting frustrated or not.

'I-I'm not sure…' I said in a whisper, hiding my face behind my hands. I was still not sure what would happen to me, it seemed to change every second. Sometimes I thought I'd be okay, other times I thought much worse.

The only thing I knew for certain was that I'd followed Popoi's advice from the corridor, to make a guess and hope it's the right one.

'Cadel, if she's not a friend, then get rid of her! She'll just tell the entire world what's going on. Do you want your Infinity to fail?' Mistress yelled, looking once again as if she'd throw something.

I shut my eyes. I could hear him shifting on his feet and waited for the knife to cut into me, after all, he had to get rid of me now. My guess had turned out to be wrong and everything would end now.

Instead he grabbed my arm and pulled me upwards so I was standing. Once again I was surprised, once again my eyes opened. 'Do not look so worried, Horned Girl.' He said. I looked up at where his face would be; one yellow eye was visible. In it I couldn't figure out if he was telling the truth, about me not having to be worried.

He turned his head away to his right; I looked there too but couldn't see what he was looking for at first. 'Over there is a rope, I know you have a pet demon. If you use the rope and your wits you will be able to leave here.' He pointed it out when I still couldn't see it. It was really old looking and blended into the colours of the ledge as it had been painted exactly the same.

'Cadel! Why aren't you listening? You need to kill her, she'll just blab to everyone and they'll try and stand up to you if you don't.' She yelled again, getting even more infuriated. I shrank down, trying to hide from her and having no other way. Besides, what if he started listening to her? I could see a knife underneath his cloak…

He turned around and walked back over to Mistress, grabbing and dragging Raffine with him as well. 'I can not kill her Mistress.' He said when he was close to her. 'She might be a friend in the future, and if I did I would be as bad as the monsters I fight against.

Mistress turned away from him and said this, struggling to keep her voice toneless and calm: 'I have not been helping you for very long now, but you seem to think you're experiences outclass mine, that you are more likely to make good decisions. That is not the case. I've had to bail you out of problems caused by your own pigheadedness too much, and I'm over it. I know that leaving this girl alive will be bad for you, from millenniums of experience. From this same experience I know that showing mercy can be fatal to the cause.'

She stopped for a second, as if to collect her thoughts. I wanted to ask Popoi what was going on, but he ducked away and continued listening. Cadel just looked at her; it looked like he would soon drop Raffine due to either weight or surprise.

'But what I'm trying to say is, I've done so much for you, yet you still believe your decisions are better. Even when you say you're wrong, you don't really mean it. Your just trying to get me on your side of the argument and avoid punishment. I won't put up with this anymore. If you make a problem, from now on I won't be stepping in to fix it. I'll still help with your plan as it's a good one, but no more silliness- it just isn't the way to run a revolution.'

After these last words, she vanished, disappearing the same way a ghost would. The ramble over and Mistress gone, I didn't feel quite as scared as before. I was still scared, but Cadel at least seemed less ruthless, if only towards me.

Cadel looked over his shoulder at me: 'I told you where the rope is, little Horned Girl, you should think about using it, because now I'll be leaving and Mistress might change her mind and come back to finish you.'

I looked down at Popoi; he shook his head. I still didn't know what was happening to Raffine, though I think Popoi did: 'what about Raffine, you aren't taking her with you surely?'

Cadel didn't even bother responding, or asking us how we knew her name. He just nodded, and then walked towards the centre of the antechamber away from us.

'Oh, and little Horned Girl.' He said, briefly turning around. 'If you interfere with my plans again, I'll do as Mistress says. I won't take mercy on you next time.'

After that he turned around again and made sure that was holding Raffine properly.

'What is he going to do…?' I heard Popoi mutter to himself.

I was wondering that too, he wasn't going anywhere near the rope, he wasn't much taller than me so he wouldn't be able to climb the ledges. How would he manage to get Raffine out of the cave even if he did get out of the antechamber?

Maybe he'd do what Arle did, teleport through space by playing puyo. But that didn't make any sense, who would he play puyo with?

Maybe he had a way to teleport without puyo matches…and he was going to take Raffine with him.

Once again, I took a guess and hoped it was right. I ran towards him, hoping to convince him to leave her behind. The ground beneath him started shining, he was doing something magical for sure now.

He span around.

I grabbed his cloak.

Then I disappeared from the antechamber.

00000000

Once again I couldn't see anything. Everything around me was dark. It looked still. It wasn't. I could feel myself being dragged forwards by something. I could also feel Popoi clinging to my shoulder, as well as my hand grasping something. This something was twisting around and every second I thought I'd lose my hold of it.

I couldn't hear anything, even though I could feel the wind in my ears.

Was this what Klug sometimes mentioned? Travelling at the speeds of light and sound?

I wasn't sure, except now I was only hanging on by the tips of my fingers. I scrambled to secure myself and continue hanging on. I didn't know anything about this place, except that it was rough. My sleeves were being twisted around my arms and my dress kept hitting my legs.

I knew I didn't want to let go and see what this place was really like.

I tried even more to stay with Cadel and Raffine, grabbing at anything I could, hoping I wouldn't be shaken off.

Next thing I knew, an arm had undid my fingers and shoved me away.

I was falling, with no ability to see or hear. I was sure I started screaming, but I couldn't hear it myself. I could feel Popoi clinging to my neck.

What was going to happen now? Would I crash? Where? When?

Would I ever see my friends and family again?

I would have thought more, except that in that moment I crashed into something. All I could think about was the pain. I felt like I was burning.

Before I could recover my sight or hearing I blacked out.

00000000

You won't believe how many times parts of this had to be redone… But yay, another chapter finished, and only about a month after it was started. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I'm not used to writing yet. Hopefully next chapter will be completed quicker…a fortnight maybe :p

Anyway, about the cave. There are other tunnels that branch away and upwards towards the surface; they show up in another place. If Rider had followed the main path she would have found it. This was the tunnel used by the rest of the classmates, just in case someone was wondering how the other classmates could have gotten down there without following Raffines' path.