Ok another chapter! Yay! I thank everyone for the reviews and reading my story. I personally like this chapter and I hope that you do too.

Chapter 4: Friends

Jess stood there with her feet frozen in place. The woman seemed like she was gliding towards Jess. Her dress moved as if it was the waves of the sea. Her hair glowed a shimmering blue as she stopped in front of Jess. She raised her hands and placed them gracefully on Jess' shoulder. Jess gasped as an unknown power surged through her body. She closed her eyes as she felt the power tingle through her veins. When she looked at the woman again, life was draining away from the beauty.

Jess panicked but she was helplessly watching the woman's face lose firmness. The woman smiled at Jess but then her facial expression fell as she collapsed. Jess quickly kneeled beside her and felt her pulse; it was terribly weak. Jess felt tears welling up in her eyes and just allowed them to fall from her face. When her tears landed on the woman's face, the skin instantly absorbed them. The woman stirred and looked up at Jess.

"Thank you, little sister. Go and join the sisters of the triangle and save our world. I will be watching." She pulled out a blue necklace that was the same design as mine. "Take this and may the water of the earth protect you."

The woman's body disappeared from the bubble and water started to seep in. Jess ran over and picked me up as the bubble filled with water. "Water, protect us!" she yelled and her own bubble formed around us, taking us to the surface.

I opened my eyes and looked up at the ceiling. When I sat up, I noticed that Rhys, the healer, was resting his head on my bed. He was handling his staff so I guessed he stayed up late healing everyone, including me. I slowly got out of bed so I wouldn't disturb Rhys. I walked up the steps and proceeded to the deck. When I opened the door to the deck, I gasped. The ship was moving but animals that looked like dragons were circling us. I ran back down and grabbed my bow. Back on the deck, I strung an arrow. I aimed for one of the animals when –

"Brenna!" I was glomped.

I was tackled to the ground in a big hug by Jess. I did fire the arrow but missed horriblyI looked up to see the strong animals descending to where Jess and I were and I panicked. "We all thought you and Rolf were goners!" Jess said as she helped me up.

"I think that I made them mad," I said, looking up.

Jess raised her head as the animals came closer. When I could see them, I noticed that they had a resemblance of a dragon. They landed in a circle around us and I saw that each one had a person riding them and directing them where to go. I started to reach for my bow when I heard a familiar voice.

"That's just like you, Brenna." A girl around my age walked out from behind the dragons. She wore blue slacks with a matching blue tank top. On her hip was a belt holding a sword. It was her mixed brown and blonde hair that gave away her identity to me.

"What's just like me, huh?" I asked with a grin.

"Shoot first, ask questions later." She smiled.

I ran to her and gave her a huge hug. "Staci! It is you!" I exclaimed as Staci gave me a hug back. "You do know that I learned to shoot first from you, right?"

"Of course, that's how I knew it was you," Staci said, laughing.

Jess just stood there, staring at us like were crazy buffoons.

"Oh, sorry Jess. Staci, this is my friend, Jess. Jess this is my cousin, Staci."

"We've already met." Staci smiled.

"Yeah, when I got you to the surface, the waves were crazy," Jess said, starting to explain yesterday. "You were comatose so it was hard to keep you afloat."

"That's when we came down and rescued you," Staci put in. "I was riding with the Wyrvern squad and spotted you guys in the sea."

"So those things are Wyrverns?" I asked.

Staci walked over and started to pet one. "Even though they look vicious, they're really gentle."

I walked up with Jess and petted some of the dragons until –

"We are about to reach land! Everyone gather your belongings!" Ike yelled.

All three of us scattered to gather our thing. Plus, Jess and I couldn't wait to touch land again.

The ship docked at the edge of the Bengian and a plank was lowered. Jess and I were so excited to touch land that Staci had to restrain us from plowing people over. When docking was complete, Jess and I ran off the ship. As I was running I tripped over a piece of the wood that was sticking up. Jess saw my tumble to the ground but it didn't clue her in. She ran right over the top of me and plummeted to the ground. Staci walked down the plank, shaking her head at us.

Finally we were on our way to Bengian castle where we could find someone to help Princess Elincia. The scenery was breath taking with all of the high buildings and clear blue skies. When we entered the castle, Ike and Elincia had to speak to the empress. Staci, Jess, and I had to wait outside for the longest time. We tried to find different ways to keep ourselves entertained for the longest time. We played Truth or Dare for a while. Jess was dared to run up and down the hallway yelling, "Sugar!" A guard started to chase her, yelling that she was disturbing the peace. She was running in our direction so Staci and I took off. We finally were able to ditch the guard and we ended up at the grand kitchen entrance. That gave me an idea.

"Staci, truth or dare?" I asked her.

"Dare," Staci replied.

"Okay, you have to get some food for us for lunch," I said, pointing to the fridge.

She winked at me and crouched into the kitchen, humming the Mission Impossible song. Jess started to laugh but suddenly stopped when she looked over my shoulder. I turned around and the guard from earlier was running at us.

"You!" he yelled and pointed at Jess.

"Me!" she exclaimed and ducked inside the kitchen.

I followed her but the chef caught sight of me before I could hide. He raised a butcher knife at me and started to yell. "Get out of my kitchen!"

I screamed and dodged the chef. I ran out the opposite door screaming my head off as the chef followed. Staci stood up out of nowhere with an armful of food. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Get her! She's stealing from the royal kitchen!" a guard yelled.

Staci ran out of the kitchen, still holding the food, with the guards following her.

"Where did everybody go?" Jess asked as she stood up from under a counter.

"There you are, you little pest!" the guard from the beginning yelled at her.

"Eeep!" Jess yelled as she ran out the door.

Meanwhile, Kieran was leaning against the wall close to the kitchen. When Jess sped out, she passed Kieran. He gave a confused look when the guard followed her. "What the heck?" he asked himself.

Eventually, we were causing such a disturbance that the empress herself started to wonder what was going on. The three of us were running back up the original hallway by the empress' throne room. Jess was in the front with her personal guard friend chasing her; Staci followed, eating the food, with a guard after her; finally, I was in the back running from the chef with the knife. The empress swung open the doors and we all stopped in mid-step.

"What is going on in my palace!" the empress asked.

"Your Majesty, these girls were disturbing the peace," Jess' guard said.

"And you aren't!" the empress yelled at him.

I looked over at him and saw that he was backing off a bit. I felt sorry for him so I had to say something. "Your empress, highness, ladyship… whatever. This man was just doing his job. We screamed merely because we didn't know him. He was in fact going to show us to our rooms," I said, winking at him.

"Is this true?" the empress asked the guard.

"Yes, Your Highness, with your permission," the guard replied, bowing.

"You may proceed. Please make our guests comfortable," she said, smiling.

The guard bowed and motioned for us to follow him. I looked at Jess and Staci and sighed. We all started to giggle and shared the food Staci got all the way to our room.

How was it? Thanks for the advise everyone and I hope that this chapter did okay. Please R&R and tell me what you think.