Chapter 11

Kook was walking glumly outside the Stockade.

He'd only slept a few hours last night. He'd kept thinking of Shaiden, having wonderful dreams, but which soon turned into horrible nightmares.

He was the last Defender to go to bed, and the first to wake up. He didn't really care about being tired. He had just enough energy to look for Shaiden, and that was all that mattered.

He leaned against a dark purple wall. It was covered in ivy, but Tinkor had tested samples of it some time ago, and it had proved to be harmless.

He hummed a tune. It was nothing special, just something he made up on the spot. It cheered him up for a little bit.

He was quite proud of his singing ability and his dancing ability, too. He chuckled, as he remembered the time Thorne had stopped him from doing a happy dance, after another Attacker had captured the crown.

Dancing was, in fact, the very first way he'd tried to attract the attention of Shaiden, whilst him, her and Ballista had all been defending the Stockade. From what he could remember, she quite liked it. What had she called it again?

Oh yes, he remembered. Awesome. She'd called his dancing awesome.

Strangely, their relationship hadn't really gone on anywhere from that point. The other Defenders had kept asking why he cared about her so much, what on earth he saw in her.

And every single time, he couldn't tell them the honest answer. He was perfectly capable of giving it, but there was one problem- he didn't quite trust any of the other Defenders to keep his secret. It seemed silly, not trusting the friends he'd had since his days at the Academy, the ones who'd he'd always been close to. But inside, he knew that at least one of them, as soon as he'd told them, would sell the exclusive story to Gossip International, and his face would be on the front cover, for all the wrong reasons.

He sighed, and starting playing around with his Sling Splatter, which was basically a little slingshot, modified specially for firing paintballs. The others had never let him use it in tournaments, he'd always had to use the Splatzooka, and most of the time he did that, he'd be paired with at least one other Defender. He hated that. He always worked better on his own; he'd known that since his first day at the Academy.

He pulled back, took aim, and fired. The paintball flew through the air at great speed. Kook expected it to fall to the ground with a squelch, but instead, it seemed to hit something hard, and bounce off straight after.

He stepped back, feeling slightly scared.

The space before him seemed to wobble and ripple, before bursting open with a bright flash.

Kook shielded his eyes, before peeking out a few seconds later. What he saw before him made him almost jump out of his skin.

There was a forest, which looked pretty normal, no reason to be scared there. But, there was also a small creature, grey, with darker grey stripes, and a mark over its eye that reminded him of someone, but he couldn't figure out whom.

"Hello?" he asked, his voice nearly a whisper.

The creature seemed almost oblivious.

"Are you OK?" he said, his voice now slightly louder.

The creature quickly turned, and gave a feral growl.

Kook shrieked.

He cocked his head, almost certain about who the creature was meant to be.

"No way..." he said, his eyes wide.

He crept closer, hardly believing his eyes.

"Thorne, is that you?"

No answer.

"Thorne, what's happened to you? Where are you? Can you hear me?"

Still no answer. Thorne didn't take any notice.

Suddenly, something clicked in Kook's mind. He knew he shouldn't say it out loud, but what other choice did he have?

"Thorne, is Shaiden there with you?"

Kook was getting frustrated now. Thorne hadn't heard a word he'd said.

"Seriously," he said his voice now lower and seemingly more desperate. "I know you'll probably think I'm crazy when I tell you this- heck, you ALWAYS think I'm crazy- but, there's something I need to tell Shaiden. Something really important, a secret, which I've been keeping for a long while."

He took a deep breath.

"I-" he began, but he was soon interrupted.

"Kook, what are you doing?" came a strong voice from behind.

He whirled around, to see Gildar standing a few yards away from him. Had he heard everything Kook had said, seen everything he had seen?

"Gildar, I can explain..." he started.

But, before he could explain, there was a noise, another flash, and, almost as soon as it had appeared, the portal had gone.

Gildar raised an eyebrow. "You sure are funny, Kook." he said with a smile. "Slightly dumb, but funny all the same."

Kook blinked. "But... but... the portal... it was right there!" he stuttered.

"What portal?" Gildar laughed again, and held up his mirror.

Kook groaned, feeling relieved inside that Gildar hadn't seemed to have heard any of his ramblings about Shaiden.

Does he ever go a day without looking into that mirror of his? he then thought to himself. Probably not, a surprisingly bitter voice answered.

Without thinking, Kook snatched the mirror from Gildar's hands and ran.

"Hey!" he shouted, fuming. "GIVE ME BACK MY MIRROR!"

Kook didn't know exactly why he'd done it. Gildar was a good friend. Slightly vain, but a good friend all the same.

His mind was focussed on one thing. He needed to tell the others about the portal. Fast.