At first there was just silence. Everyone was trying to comprehend the fact the roamer had just so bluntly announced. Bandits? In Sparks? was what many people thought. Others simply scoffed the idea, thinking Sparks was too big, too grand of a town to be attacked by bandits. And yet some feared; they feared for their lives and the others around them, and worried about what would happen to the town.

Doon was at first stunned - like most people were. Then he tried thinking about what the roamer said. She said the bandits might come to Sparks, he calmly reasoned in his head. There's no way to be sure unless she heard them herself. This thought gave Doon some comfort, but he was still as wary as everyone else.

After the fact had sunk in, the silence was shattered with hundreds of voices all talking at once. Doon slapped his hands over his ears as the people behind him kept screaming at the roamer to be more specific.

"When are they coming?" and "How many are there?" were the shouts Doon could make out over the other noise. Then the crowd started pressing forward, trying to hear if Penny would say anything more. Doon felt people shoving him from behind and bodies pressing against him from all sides. He heard a shout from his right and realized Lina was trying to call out to him. He managed to grab her hand before she got swept away by the crowd, and pulled her close so they wouldn't get separated. If Doon wasn't so focused on keeping Lina and himself from being trampled, he would've enjoyed having her so close to him. In the back of his mind, he had been secretly hoping to be able hold her in his arms like he was now, but not in this type of circumstance.

Suddenly there came shouting from the front, and Doon glanced up to see the three town leaders -Mary Waters, Ben Barlow, and Wilmer Dent- standing in the bed of the truck with Penny, shouting for silence and order. Finally after shouting the message a few more times, there was silence again.

"Thank you," Ben told the crowd rather coldly, "lets let her finish her story," and then turned back to the roamer and said, "What else do you know about these...bandits?"

Penny scratched her chin, then said, "Well, when they attacked Shiloh - and completely destroyed the town, by the way -" she added, much to the crowds dismay, "- one of the survivors who escaped to Brooks said he had overheard the bandits talking about the route they were traveling on. He said he didn't hear everything they were discussing, but he was absolutely, completely certain he heard them talking about Sparks, so he figured that's were they were headed next."

"And these bandits were just discussing their plans in front of him...?" said Wilmer doubtfuly.

Penny shook her head, making her braid swing back and forth across her neck. "He said he was hiding in one of the buildings," she said, reverting into her story telling mode again. "He was hiding 'neath the bed when the bandits entered, thinking the place was empty. Then they started discussing their plans and where they'd head next. He said he was trying to listen, but was trying even harder to stay still, and not make a sound. Lucky for him those thieving scoundrels didn't discover his hiding place, or else he wouldn't have been alive to tell me all this!"

Doon felt as though something was off about the roamers story, but was too distracted by what Penny was saying next to put much thought on it. "The man said there was about six or seven of them in the room, but he knew there was more outside, cause he could hear them," she was addressing the crowd again, waving her arms around animatedly as she talked. "He said he heard horses, and wolves, and lots of screaming."

The crowd started murmuring. Wolves? Lots of screaming? Doon thought. He could understand screaming, but wolves? Lina (Doon had let go of her after the danger of being trampled had passed) must've been having the same thoughts, for she turned her face towards Doon and frowned, with her eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"Wolves?" Lina whispered to Doon, then added, "maybe it was dogs instead." Doon shrugged. It was a theory, but why would bandits keep dogs with them? The only thing the few dogs in Sparks did was bark, dig holes, and go to the bathroom everywhere.

Doon turned back to Penny, who continued to speak. "He also told me he saw one of the bandits. It was the leader, he said. He even managed to get a glimpse of his appearance! The man said the bandit had clear, cloudy eyes, blue hair, and a wolf clinging to his back, and -"

"Wait, just stop a minute," interrupted Ben. "What do you mean clear, cloudy eyes? They contradict each other! And blue hair? No one has blue hair! And a wolf on his back? This is absurd! I suggest you tell us what the man really said, and cut all this nonsense," Ben ordered, looking more annoyed than before.

Penny shook her head and turned towards the town leaders. "Sorry, but that's how he described him, and I just quoted him word for word."

"Perhaps you can tell us who provided you with this information," Mary asked firmly.

"Cordy Booth, did."

The three town leaders looked surprised at the sound of the name, and a few people from the crowd gasped.

"Cordy Booth, as in, the tall, skinny, balding man who was known for his compulsive lying and story exaggerating?" Wilmer asked timidly, as though afraid of the answer.

"Well, the first part was right, about his appearance and such, but I don't know 'bout the lying stuff," remarked the roamer.

Ben sighed slightly, put a hand up to his forehead and closed his eyes. "Well, if we are indeed talking about same man, then we've, uh, had some...experiences, with him, you might say," Wilmer explained. "You see, before the Emberites came, Booth used to live in Sparks, until he hitched a ride with a roamer into the outer lands. He would always come up with these, uh, hairbrained stories, and try to convince people they were true, and well, after a while it kind of became a well known fact, that -"

"The point is," Ben cut off Wilmer's rambling with a stern voice, "Booth got a bad reputation here because of his stories and lies, and no one knew when to trust him. And I still wouldn't trust him, as a matter of fact. He probably just made up this whole story!"

The crowd started stirring and talking amongst themselves. "I think I remember Torren mentioning this guy," Lina told Doon. "He said he caused a lot of trouble one season, and was banished from Sparks. Although I'm not completely sure that Torren's story was right either - cause he also exaggerates things."

Doon nodded, deep in thought about all the events that had just taken place. What he had thought was going to be a normal roamer visit had turned out to be one of the most exciting things that had happened to Doon in the last few months. Yet there was still something about the whole story that seemed wrong to Doon. It was like a giant puzzle that had missing pieces, and the missing pieces had been hidden where no one would ever look. And for some strange reason, Doon felt as though the Cordy Booth man hadn't made the story up. Despite what Ben and everyone else thought, it seemed like a lot of trouble to go through to make up a whole ridiculous story about bandits with blue hair and wolves on their backs. There has to be some truth to it all, thought Doon.

Apparently Mary thought the same as Doon, for she told Penny, "Thank you for alerting us to the potential danger." Then she turned back to the crowd and said, "The trading is over for today. Please return to your homes and await further notice from us leaders. I would suggest everyone stay indoors for the rest of the day, and only go outside for extreme necessities. We will take caution of the matter, and hopefully solve this predicament soon. Thank you."

Ben, who was standing right beside Mary, huffed in disbelief and whispered something to her. Doon couldn't tell what he was saying, but figured it was something about not having to take precautions, for he believed that Booth was crazy. Mary shook her head firmly, and mumbled, "Just in case," loud enough for Doon to hear.

"You are all dismissed," Mary commanded to the crowd. Everyone quickly shuffled back to their houses, all talking about the different possibilities of what would happen to their town.

"Doon, I've got to go find Poppy and Mrs. Murdo. I'll see you soon," Lina said, and dashed off in search of her family.

Doon nodded, though he knew she couldn't see him. "See you soon then," he mumbled. He was kind of disappointed she had run off like that, for he was hoping he would be able to talk to her about the strange 'Bandit Mystery', as he called it. It seemed exciting yet frightening to know bandits were going to possibly come to the town. Maybe Lina and I can stop them, and save the town...again, Doon thought. He didn't care about the credit or recognition he would receive for saving Sparks, he was just anxious to do something -something exciting. And finding these bandits and stopping them, with Lina at his side, seemed like just the thing.

Doon had just turned to leave and find his father when a sudden thought about what Lina had said earlier that morning, during the trading, struck him. He glanced down at the diamond in his pocket, and turned back to the roamers truck, where Penny was piling up all of her items into large crates. He slowly walked up to her, contemplating his idea, and then made his decision.

"Hey Penny, I was wondering if I could buy one of your items that you showed earlier," Doon said.

"Well, if I still have it, you can buy it," the roamer remarked.

"Well, you see, I want to buy this necklace..."

Authors Note:

I'm so so sorry it took so long to upload this chapter! And I promise things will make sense later in the story, but just bare with me now. I'm trying to tie in a mystery with the rest of the story as well, so I'm hoping for the best.

Review and tell me what you think!

Thanks! :)