Guest: Yes he should.
Onwards!
We continued to sit. I felt like they were taking too long, but I kept my mouth shut. Maybe it just seemed like a long time.
"So Echo, what about your powers?" Nancy asked.
"My powers? Uh, I can make storms...that's all there is to tell," I replied.
No, how did you discover them? Caleb asked.
I thought for a moment. "Molly and I got back early from candy sales and then Pythor attacked. I didn't know it was my powers until the next day though."
"Pythor?"
"Big purple snake. He's a serpentine, but I forget which type."
So nothing major happened with your powers? Caleb questioned.
I frowned. "I tried to get rid of them, but I couldn't. They were only surpressed and even though I tried to get hem back, I'm sure if I didn't they would've came back anyway."
"I wish I had some kind of powers," Nancy mumbled. "And I wish I could be a ninja...and yet I don't...is that weird?"
No, I feel the same way, Caleb signed. Being a ninja and going on missions sounds cool but it also sounds like a lot of work.
"I wish I would've had some sort of choice with it," I said. I sighed and looked down the hall. "Where are they?"
"Calm down, Echo, maybe they just got held up in the fight," Nancy said.
I stood up and started pacing. "No, it shouldn't be taking so long." I glanced down the hall. "Maybe we should..."
"What are you three doing here?"
We all turned to see a skeleton. "Um, we got lost," Nancy lied so good I almost believed her. "There were these woods and then we found this entrance and then we found a castle and then...we're here."
The skeleton frowned. "That's not very detailed."
"I'm eight!" Nancy exclaimed.
"And I'm almost eight," I added with a smile.
Nine, Caleb signed.
"What's wrong with him?" the skeleton asked.
"Nothing's wrong wih him, what's wrong with you?!" Nancy and I both snapped at the same time. It made us look at each other for a moment. How we did it I may never know!
The skeleton crossed his boney arms. "You three need to leave before things get messy," he growled.
"I think I saw the exit this way," I said, pointing down the hall to where EC16 was. "Come on, guys." We hurried down the hall.
"Hey!" the skeleton called, chasing after us.
I stopped at the door that had a 16 carved into it and tried to open it. Something was keeping it from moving. "It won't open!" I said, struggling. I felt a hand on my arm pull me back.
"You three have to leave now!" the skeleton said. "I'm giving you one last chance since you're so young."
"Uh..." I stared at the skeleton for a moment. I needed a plan, but what?
"Excuse me, but can you please release my friend?" Nancy asked harshly.
The skeleton let go of me. "So if this isn't the exit what is it?" I asked.
"A trap," the skeleton mumbled. "But it's none of your concern. Please come with me before you have to permanently join us down here." He eyed Caleb.
All right, he signed. Where is the exit?
The skeleton frowned. "Have you been here before?"
Caleb stiffened and shook his head.
"I'm sure you have," the skeleton mused. "Blonde...sage...how old did you say you were?"
That was as good enough a distraction in my opinion. I pulled out a kunai and struck at the skeleton. He fell apart. I smiled. "It's good to know skeletons break easily." I turned to Caleb who was as pale as Tove. "You okay?"
He slowly nodded. 'Fine.' His hands were shaky which meant he most definately was not fine. I would've pressed for it, but if he wanted to tell us he would.
Nancy kept trying at the door. "It won't open!"
"That's because it was a trap for the ninja, silly girl," the skeleton's head said. "That door won't open, but the other will."
I shivered a little. It was weird for the head to not be attached to the body and still talking. "How do we get in?" I asked.
"You don't," he growled. "Guards!"
We have to go, Caleb insisted.
"How? That's the only way out," I told him. "It's the way the guards are coming."
Before we knew it we were surrounded by skeletons. "Think we can take them?" Nancy asked.
"Maybe if we were on the surface and I could use my powers," I said. "But down here...I don't know."
"You kids have meddled enough," one of the skeletons said.
I closed my eyes. Maybe if I tried hard enough I could make a storm, even just a small cloud, but nothing worked. I opened my eyes again. "I never meddle...sometimes I just spy a little."
"Let us go, we didn't do anything," Nancy said. The skeletons looked to the one that I had knocked apart. "Uh...Echo did that. Take her."
"Nancy!"
"I'm sorry, Echo, but I don't want to be trapped down here again...maybe I should stop talking."
"You were already captured once? Do you have the mark of the Underworld?" a skeleton asked, stepping forwards.
"The what?" Nancy and I questioned.
Caleb grabbed his shoulder for a moment before signing, Just let us go.
Something clicked into place. Caleb was in a car accident when his parents died. Was it possible that he ended up in the Underworld for a shot time before someone got to him? I looked to him. The skeletons kept saying he looked familiar, so that must've been it, yet he still insisted he come with us! Something else twisted to and I had the same feeling I had right before I fought the serpentine. This was why neither of them should've come down, they couldn't fight like I could, even though what I could do wasn't much to begin with.
"Run," I said softly, but loud enough that Nancy and Caleb heard. I didn't give them time to argue. With my kunai firmly in my hand, I attacked the skeletons.
Echo is such a good friend!
Nancy: She's like a mini Alex!
Echo: Uh...thanks.
Caleb: *signs. "Review!"
Kai: Don't flame!
Alex: Since ANs are all in your head, can I kill Kai?
*nods* That would be awful. (NOT!)
