Back again! I'm really happy right now! I have this one friend who I haven't seen in over a year now but we've been talking online ever since he left, and he doesn't always reply to me, but earlier this week he and I had a really good discussion about why that was, and he was very honest. K, if you ever read this far into my story, I just want to tell you that you are awesome. Friends until time stops.
Gradyleeward- The only reason the enderdragon is Ty and Krystal's mom is because they were created from her lost egg. It wouldn't make much sense for Hector's dad to be the Wither because Hector is half wither skeleton, not half Wither. Also, as I stated in Hardly Human (Chapter 21), the Enderdragon, Wither, and Elder Guardian are not normal mobs, and there were no other hybrids of those three other than Krystal and Ty. However, wither skeletons are associated with the Wither. The Wither would maybe be somewhat familiar with Hector, and maybe even friendly, but not his dad.
Killerwolf99- (I know I answered your questions already, but I'm posting it here too so everyone understands my response to your review) No, Hector is not going to be "locked up" or a deadweight in this story, as shown in this chapter. The only reason he was in the child care place (nursery, as you called it) was so that he could have a more normal life than the others did, and so that he could be safer because they can't care for him as well because they're so busy dealing with all the threats. Also, he wasn't the most relevant character in the last chapter because why would they just bring him along on a potentially dangerous mission where they have no idea what they're getting into? Also, in real life, I don't really know that much about little kids except that they're annoying, my only siblings are close to my age, and I barely ever see my younger cousins. In other words, I don't really know much about how kids act. Okay, I think that covers that.
Wow, do you guys really like Hector or something? Two reviews about him, when he was barely even involved in the last chapter! Interesting... Oh well, new chapter time!
"So what do we do now?" Mist asked. It was the next day, and Shade had mostly recovered from the day before.
We were all hanging out in Ty's room, since it was the biggest. All five of us.
Once we had explained everything to Hector, we'd taken him out of the child care center for a while, maybe permanently. We wanted him to have a normal life, but that was going to have to wait. For right now, he was staying with either me during the days and Ty at night.
We couldn't risk something happening to our youngest member if we left him alone.
Because we had yet to find the priest, we couldn't leave either Hector or Mist alone.
"What do you think? We keep looking. We can't let a disgruntled priest who knows at least something about us that may involve Notch get away with this and unnerve us, now can we?" I said.
I was sitting on the edge of Ty's bed, with Ty was right next to me. On my other side was Hector, with one of my wings around him. Mist and Shade sat on armchairs across from us.
"No we can't" Mist growled.
Ty cleared his throat, "I just want to make sure that we're not overreacting. As far as we know, it might just be Vignar acting alone"
I looked at my brother, narrowing my violet eyes, "Shade could have died, Ty! Define what overreacting could be in this situation"
"Okay, you got me there" He said, holding his hands up defensively, "I just don't want to have Sky and the others concerned about us"
We'd been keeping our little personal quest secret from TeamCrafted. Mostly because of Sky. The only non-hybrid who knew of our venture was Eli, who I trusted implicitly. He hadn't even told Savannah, who he spent a lot of time with because she was still mourning the betrayal of her brother.
When you have a friend like Eli who will defend you even when you are at a disadvantage and cannot fight back, then you truly know who you can trust.
"You're right. We can't let them know what we're doing" I muttered. We were at such a stalemate. We had to search for the gods, but we also could not tell my brother's closest friends about it. Talk about infuriating.
A knocking came on the door, followed by a voice, "Ty, Krystal, are you in there?"
My brother stood and opened the door. Ian stood there, "Sky wanted to know if you two would be willing to do patrols of the city this evening and at midnight"
"Why?" I asked, coming up behind Ty.
"Well, first off he'd like to make sure everything's okay. Second, he kind of wants to know why you two have been so distant lately" Ian said.
Well, at least Sky knew better than to let a recruit carry the messages that might imply discontent within our group of generals.
"We can do that, make sure everything's all right with the city" I offered before Ty could open his mouth, "And we will talk to Sky. Thanks for letting us know, Ian" I practically closed the door on his face.
Immediately afterward, as soon as Ian moved away from the door, I turned to the others, "So, what's our alibi going to be?"
"We could say that we've been searching to evidence to discover whether or not there are currently other labs like the compound and the lab where Mist and I were created" Shade suggested, flicking his tail.
My brother looked nervous all of a sudden, "I don't want to lie outright to Sky, he's my best friend other than Seto"
I set my hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, Ty. We can't trust his allegiance right now, we can't tell what would happen if he discovers what we've learned. Normally, I'm all for avoiding lies, but now is not the time"
'You know she's right. We can tell Sky the truth later. Right now, it's best for us to use this excuse' Enderlox thankfully backed me up.
"If it's only for now, and we'll tell him the truth later, then fine. But you're doing the talking, Krystal!" Ty finally relented.
-Thank you, brother- I whispered to Enderlox, and could hear him laughing.
"I'm fine with that" I said aloud. "I can do the evening patrol"
"Why the evening patrol and not midnight?" Mist asked.
"Because, as we agreed prior, Hector is staying with me during the day. That way, I can show him around the city and spend some time with him. This patrol is only really checking on people, not looking for trouble or anything" I explained.
"That'll be fun!" Hector said. For the most part, he had been sitting there quietly and watching us. He was a listener, just like me. He listened to us and picked up information.
"Good, glad you like the idea" As I was responding, I turned towards the door, "Well, shall we go?"
We left my brother's room, and all five of us walked down to the main lobby-like area, where Ty asked the receptionist where Sky was. She sent us to the command room.
The command room was a meeting room of sorts which could only be accessed by the highest rankings of the Sky Army and their guests.
Sky was obviously waiting for us there, since he was the only one in the room.
"Hey, Sky" My brother and I greeted him as we sat down across the table.
"Hello, guys"
After a bit of small talk about patrols, I decided to get to the point.
"You asked us to explain, so explain we shall" I started off, "Sky, it's a personal little thing. We didn't want to trouble you or the army with it"
"With what?" His response was curt, yet a tinge of curiosity colored it.
"We've been searching library archives to see if there are or have been other reported illegal genetic research facilities like the compound. We have no idea if there are, but if there is, and if the scientists knew about them, then maybe we could find them there" I stated, "We haven't found anything yet, but we'll keep looking. You never know, there's always one article you might overlook"
Speaking about it, I almost wanted to go back to the libraries and look through their archives with this in mind. But no, the compound was destroyed, the scientists severely if not forever put out of everything.
The gods were our focus.
I noticed he kept rubbing his amulet with one hand as he thought, "Hmm... Well, I guess that's understandable. They're not an issue to you right now, are they?"
"No. We just want to be aware for the future"
"Good. Just don't slack off on your duties to do this, then. We're done here. Have a good day" He dismissed us rather quickly, but added, "Ty, can you stay back? I'd like a word with you"
I exchanged a glance with my brother, who sent me a thought, 'Go. It's fine'
I nodded, and left the room with the others. As we waited outside, Enderlox gave me a rundown of their conversation, which was technically not as cheaty as listening in on their thoughts myself.
'Sky's asking if we're really up to anything. He might think you're manipulating Ty, sister'
'Ty says we're not, but he's getting a bit nervous'
'Sky doesn't look like he's buying it. Oh! He's asking why we were going to churches. He must have had someone keeping an eye on us'
'Ty says it was because we were praying to Notch to help us find the information we need'
'Wow, I've never seen Sky this sleazy. He's asking if You have been acting strange lately'
'Ty's denying that, of course'
'Now he's asking if we really have been praying, since none of us have before shown any allegiance to Notch'
'Ooh, Ty's starting to get annoyed'
Through the wall, I could hear muffled shouting.
'Ty's asking if Sky thinks we're disloyal to the army. I bet you can hear him from out there'
'Sky says that's not what he thinks. Oh, Ty's storming out now'
Enderlox's calm voice did not ready me for exactly how angry my brother really was.
Slamming the door open, he stomped out. "Come on, Krystal. We're going" The beginnings of a violet hue were showing in his rust-red eyes, as what usually happened when he got really angry.
Exchanging a glance with Mist and Shade, I followed, along with the other hybrids. Ty eventually stopped beside a fountain in the outside garden, where we were alone.
"I'm sorry for looking so angry" He said, the violet fading from his eyes, "Just... Some of the things Sky was saying..."
"What'd he say?" Hector asked, inky black eyes wide and innocent. He understood exactly what was going on. The wither skeleton boy sat down on the brick rim of the fountain, his feet swinging.
"He thinks we're really up to something. He didn't buy it at all"
"I heard you guys yelling..." Mist added.
"Enderlox told me what went down" I admitted quietly.
"Yeah, I wasn't paying much attention to him, but I did hear him talking" Ty said.
"So what do we do?" I asked again.
"We do our best to act normal again, like we don't care about our little quest, just do our duties. Maybe one or two of us at a time could sneak out and continue doing stuff" Shade suggested. He was fairly good at coming up with smart courses of action.
I sat down beside Hector, handing him a small gold coin for the fountain. It was a wishing fountain, all the coins thrown in went to funding the Sky Army anyways. Might as well let the kid have a bit of fun.
"So we just act like nothing happened" Ty stated.
"I guess. Now I especially think we can't trust Sky" I muttered.
"I bet he thinks the same about us"
After a little while of just cooling our tempers, I took Hector's hand, "Come on, Hector, let's go explore the city"
"Yay!" He said, following me out of the garden.
In truth, the TeamCrafted building's garden was really more of a greenhouse. It was the biggest garden in the entire city, taking up more than a whole lot (a property lot) on its own.
"I know you've been into the city before, but let's take a good, long stroll. You never know what you can find!" I said, taking to the sidewalks to make sure we didn't get in the way of anyone's horses (yeah, no cars).
"Okay! I've only been to a few places before with the other kids, mostly the farm and one time we went to the market!" He said excitedly.
I'd gone out a bit early for the "evening" patrol, it was only late afternoon, but I really did want to show Hector around and relax more than anything.
As we walked down the sidewalk, I did feel relaxed for the first time since Mist told us that Shade disappeared.