Hello! Here's chapter six!
Thank you all so, so much for reviewing. You are all seriously awesome.
Enjoy!
"Are we there yet?"
"You have been asking the same question for TWO WEEKS, Alvin," Brittany all but snarled. "When we're there, I think Ellie will TELL. YOU. THAT."
She was yelling at the end, flat-out yelling. She was tired and irritable. They all were. They didn't like being cooped up on a ship.
Eleanor came back downstairs after a while and consulted her chart. "All right. I just got a call from the doctor, asking for updates. According to this, Simon and Theodore are allowed to get up now, they've healed, and—,"
Her words were drowned out by a loud cheer from Theodore and Simon.
"Wait a minute!" Brittany snapped. "What about me and Alvin?"
Eleanor winced. "Unfortunately, you and Alvin have to stay in bed for a while longer. You two had the worst injuries, so it's naturally going to take the longest for them to heal."
"Whoa," Theodore murmured. "Alvin and Brittany are trapped down here…together…alone."
"Well, bye," Simon said hastily, scurrying out of the room and on deck.
Eleanor winced and ducked after him.
Theodore was quick to follow.
They had barely reached the stairs before they heard Alvin and Brittany yelling behind them.
Monique looked up, curious, as Adam stormed from Jeanette's room in a terrible rage. Monique shrank back into the shadows and pretended that she wasn't there. That ploy didn't always work, but this time it did, saving her from being the target of Adam's wrath.
She paused for a moment until he was out of sight and then scurried quickly into the room to see what damage had been done this time.
She stifled a shriek, though, when she saw Jeanette sprawled out on the floor, moaning.
"Miss Jeanette!" Monique wailed as she rushed to her new friend. She put one supporting arm under Jeanette and slowly helped her sit up.
Jeanette let out a groan, holding one hand to her face. "He did it again," she whispered.
"Let's get you to the bathroom," Monique whispered, helping Jeanette to the hot pool. She helped Jeanette rinse off and clean up.
Jeanette had to scrub her leg, which seemed hurt, so she had to gingerly take her paw off of her face for the first time.
Monique stifled a gasp when she saw how horrible Jeanette looked underneath. Her face was scraped, mottled, and bruised. Jeanette shivered.
"Does it look horrible?" she whispered, not meeting eyes with Monique.
"It's not…too bad," Monique whispered, but Jeanette knew she was lying.
"I'm trying to keep myself safe…for Simon," Jeanette murmured, "but it's difficult when Adam keeps hurting me like this."
"I'm so sorry, Miss Jeanette," Monique whispered. "I wish I could make it better."
"I appreciate that," Jeanette whispered back. Monique helped her out of the bath and into a smooth purple nightgown. Jeanette stumbled blindly into the next room and felt around on the hard rock floor until she found her glasses, which had been completely knocked off of her. Jeanette picked them up and felt them to make sure they weren't damaged. Miraculously, they weren't. She put them on the small ledge of rock jutting out next to her bed that she used as a table and then got into the bed. She was under the covers and fast asleep before Monique had even come back in from the bathroom.
Monique sighed as she looked at her friend sleeping.
Good, Monique thought as she began to straighten up the room. She's been so exhausted lately…at least she's getting some sleep. She's gone through such an ordeal…every time she refuses to go along with his scheme, he hits her and hurts her. It's horrible…
I worked for Adam and Callie back when they were superstars. I didn't know that Callie was really Miss Jeanette. I'm glad. Callie was pretty nice, but she never noticed me. I like Miss Jeanette much better.
Adam was so much nicer back then, though…
He was the sweetest, kindest, gentlest chipmunk that you've ever seen. He must have loved Callie very much, more than we gave him credit for. It's done horrible, dangerous things to him, losing her…poor Miss Jeanette. It's not her fault that Callie has been taken away from him. She was a prisoner inside Callie's brain, and I understand how she doesn't want to go back to that.
Adam, though…he doesn't. He's become dangerous. Unstable. I think he might be bordering on insane. This doesn't seem like him at all.
Oh, Miss Jeanette. I understand how you're feeling. You love Mr. Simon…you don't want him to get hurt, so you can't pretend to love Adam. But if you don't, then Adam will keep hurting you. What if…what if he goes too far? What if…
Monique shoved her fist in her mouth to keep from screaming.
No…no! That can't happen. It won't.
Miss Jeanette is sure that Mr. Simon will find her. I'm sure that he will. From what she's told me about him…
I only hope that he gets here soon, or Miss Jeanette may get seriously hurt.
Brittany was stretched out on the bed, sighing to herself. She didn't know what to do. Alvin was in the other cabin, having been allowed to leave the day before. He and Brittany had been only to eager to get away from each other. They had nearly killed one another in the four days they had been trapped together in the same room.
Brittany's cast was still on, and Eleanor had promised to remove it…in three days.
Brittany sighed and closed her eyes.
THWACK!
"Ouch!" Brittany yelled, blinking repeatedly. She sat up, and the thing that had struck her forehead landed in her lap.
She frowned, blinked, and looked at it.
It was a small package wrapped in an old-looking piece of paper. Then she saw the words that were on the piece of paper.. She frowned and pulled the paper off. A sparkly pink gem fell into her lap.
Brittany picked it up and looked deep into it, fascinated. Sparkly patterns were swirling just beneath the surface, and the gem was turning every shade of pink she had ever seen, one after the other, like a strobe light. Dark pink, deep pink, almost red, rose pink, dusty pink, magenta…
She examined the paper critically.
It was in fancy writing…
Brittany,
Do not destroy this gem. Keep it with you at all times. It contains your special power. You will find out what your power is. It is trapped in your gem for now, but it will come out to you only in the most dire circumstance when you need it.
This is why you must keep it with you at all times. Make sure you continue to wear it even when your powers have left it; for what if you should need to encase it in your gem again?
It will be transformed for you into something more easy for you to keep with you all the time as soon as you are finished reading this note.
"I'm sure," Brittany snorted, looking down at the gem.
She gasped in astonishment.
Before her eyes, in a flurry of sparkles, the gem vanished. When the light cleared, there was a beautiful silver ring. The gem was firmly implanted in the center of it.
Brittany cautiously slipped it onto her finger. It fit perfectly.
"Huh," she said aloud, and then snorted. "Ridiculous, of course." She laid down and began to read her book again.
But the ring never left her finger.
Alvin was hunting through his suitcase, trying to find his DS game. His hand hit something smooth and solid.
"Gotcha!" he said aloud, but when he pulled it out, he found that it wasn't his DS.
It was a gem.
A very beautiful gem.
It sparkled in the light as he turned it first one way, then another, trying to get a better look at it. It was a deep red, but then it changed to a reddish orange, and then a neon red, and a lighter red, almost pink. He watched in fascination as it changed again and again, but every time, it was a different shade of red.
He pulled out a note that looked exactly like the one Brittany had received…only it was addressed to him.
He read it quickly and frowned when he got to the part about it transforming when he was done reading. He looked down and cried, "What the—,"
The gem was gone, but his signature red cap was there instead. He frowned and squinted.
There, on each side, was a row of studded red gems. They were all fake except for the one in the middle on the left side. Alvin peered closer. It was slightly larger than all the others, and it was changing colors and patterns.
The gem was now disguised in his hat.
He frowned and put the hat on, tugging it a bit to make sure that it was firmly over his head.
Then he began to hunt for his DS again.
The hat never left his head.
Simon was frowning and squinting out at the sea. He periodically looked down at his phone, which was showing him the coordinates. Then he looked at the sea. Then the ship, and then the masts, and then the sky and the sun.
He was looking up at the masts when something shiny caught his eye.
He frowned and looked harder, but he couldn't make out what it was.
He carefully set the phone down under a bench and began to climb up the rigging, being careful not to slip and fall. He was nervous, but he forced himself to keep going.
He finally got to the top and saw something wedged in a crack in the mast. He tugged it out with some difficulty and examined it critically.
It was a jewel.
A very beautiful jewel. It was swirling and twisting just beneath the surface, as though something was hidden inside it, and it changed from ocean blue to sky blue to metallic blue, switching back and forth in all different shades.
He frowned and peered at it, trying to make sense of it, but nothing was coming to mind. He looked down at the crack again and saw a small piece of paper wedged in it. He tugged it out and read it.
When he got to the end, he looked skeptically down at the gem, and then gasped to see that it had changed. It was now fastened to a skinny black cord, looking as thought it had been made that way the entire time.
Simon frowned suspiciously, staring at it.
He cautiously reached out and touched it. It felt smooth and oddly warm.
He carefully tugged it over his foot and up a bit farther. When he let go, the anklet stayed in place, a perfect fit.
"This is ridiculous," he muttered, climbing carefully back down and shoving the paper into his pocket. He picked up the phone again and began his usual glances at the sky, sea, ship, masts, and phone.
But the anklet never left his ankle.
Theodore was hunting in the ship's kitchen, trying to find something to eat. He hadn't had quite enough at dinner, and—
Ah! Pudding. Perfect. He pulled it out and dug his spoon into it. He pulled the spoon back out and was about to close his mouth around it when he suddenly realized that there was something glinting in his pudding.
He frowned and pulled it out. It was round and smooth, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
He hurried over and rinsed it off in the basin. Then he took a closer look and let out a little gasp.
It was a jewel.
The patterns deep within it were constantly swirling, constantly changing, and it looked as though something alive was in it.
Theodore squinted. It was changing through all the darker shades of green that he knew—dark green, forest green, kelly green.
Then he noticed the note sitting next to the basin as though it had been there the entire time, even though he was quite sure that it hadn't been there just a second ago.
He picked it up and read it. Frowning, he looked back at the gem and gasped.
There, sitting in his palm as though it had originally been that way, was a pin.
He examined it closely. There was a line of small dark green jewels studded on the pin, which was a bright gold. The one in the very middle of the pin, however, was larger than the others. The inside of it seemed to swirl and change, and the colors were switching again and again like a strobe light.
The gem was in a pin now?
Theodore frowned and carefully pinned it onto his sweatshirt. After one last uneasy glance down at it, he pushed the paper into his pocket to examine more closely later and returned to his pudding.
Weird, he thought. I probably shouldn't think anything of it.
But the pin never left his sweatshirt.
Eleanor was bustling down the hall to the first aid closet, trying to find some more bandages. She opened the closet with a sigh and reached for a stack.
But something was on top of it.
Frowning slightly, she pulled it out and examined it.
It was a gem.
There was something inside the gem, though, that looked almost silvery. It twisted and swirled about this way and that, and Eleanor frowned as she looked at its patterns and spirals.
Eleanor lifted it to the light and saw that it was a beautiful pure green. Then it began to change to all sorts of lighter green shades. Ocean green. Spearmint green. Turtle green. Lime green…
Then Eleanor saw the note.
It was addressed to her, and she scanned it quickly. It was just like the ones that the others had received.
She looked at the gem again and gasped.
Now it was a silver charm bracelet. Dangling from the bottom was the gem.
She frowned and slipped it onto her wrist. It fit perfectly.
She stared at it for a while, mesmerized by the patterns and colors. Then she shook her head firmly and pulled herself out of it. She grabbed a stack of bandages and hurried back down the hall the way she had come, forcing herself back into reality.
But the bracelet never left her wrist.
Jeanette was stretched out on the canopy bed, where she spent most of her time. She was staring up at the gems on the ceiling.
Then she frowned and pushed herself into a sitting position. One of them looked almost…protruded. Loose.
Then it fell.
It unstuck from the ceiling and fell, dropping toward Jeanette. It wasn't quite falling, though…more like drifting or floating downwards.
It settled gently in her lap, and she picked it up, frowning.
It was a beautiful deep purple, but then it began to change colors. Violet, indigo, magenta…
Then the note fluttered down to land on the bed next to Jeanette. She scanned it quickly, and then read it more slowly.
Weird…
She peered down at the gem…and then gasped.
It was now hanging from a delicate silver chain as thought it had been there the entire time. She picked it up cautiously and peered into it, tracing the smooth surface, the patterns it was making, watching as it changed shades of purple.
Then she reached up and fastened it around her neck. She pushed the note into one of her books—Jane Eyre, a classic that Adam was sure to never read.
Then she laid back down on the bed to think some more.
But the necklace never left her neck.
"Are you doing all right, Miss Jeanette?" Monique asked politely, stepping forward.
"I'm fine." Jeanette stared down at her necklace, rubbing the jewel and twirling it absentmindedly on the chain.
"What's that?" Monique asked, curious.
"Just one of the necklaces I found in the drawer," Jeanette said, covering her yawn with one hand and pointing with the other.
"Oh," Monique said, disinterested now. She continued to fold laundry.
Jeanette was relieved. She trusted Monique, but she couldn't trust Adam. She couldn't tell anyone about the necklace. Not even her best friend.