AB: (Sits in favorite chair and folds knees into chest. Buries head)
Dr. Grey: AB? AB, is everything okay?
AB: No. My neighbor and family friend passed away last week suddenly, but I hadn't seen him since last month because I was away.
Dr. Grey: AB, that's not your fault. What could you have done to prevent it?
AB: (Sniffles.) Nothing.
Dr. Grey: Exactly. I know how hard this is for you. I'll start the chapter if you want.
AB: You would do that?
Dr. Grey: Of course, AB. (AB hands Dr. Grey her notes before AB starts crying.) Disclaimer: The Secret Saturdays belongs to Jay Stephens and Cartoon Network. Here's Chapter 6: Echo
(3rd Person POV)
As the Great Serpent waited for the Nagas he had dispatched, he thought of his conquest over them. He smiled to himself at the thought of the government the Nagas once had.
When the Great Serpent had first found his way to Thailand, to the Nagas, he was exhausted from his mission. Thankfully, though, these were the last of the world's cryptids. He knew he could soon return home; before a little voice reminded him that he had been banished to the underworld to reign.
The Great Serpent slithered his way to a river to take a sip. Suddenly a giant fireball shot up from the center of the river. This scared the Great Serpent, and he fell into the river. In his panic, the Great Serpent took a large gasp of air, only it wasn't air, it was water. His lungs began to fill with water the more he tried to swim. As he realized his life was ending, something came from the darkness and grabbed him.
When the Great Serpent came around, the first thing he noticed was that he was in a stone room with a pale blue colored snake, but this snake had arms. The snake hissed loudly towards an open door, and five more armed snakes rushed in. The Great Serpent asked if they were Nagas, and one of them, a sand colored female, nodded. The Great Serpent asked to speak with the leader. The pale blue Naga shook his head.
The Nagas and the Great Serpent continued like this for a while. They told the Great Serpent that they used to have a republic, but a recent revolution left them with total anarchy; the revolutionaries failed to come up with a new type of government after they killed the old leaders, so they fled.
The Great Serpent took advantage of the Nagas' anarchy, and set straight to work convincing them to join him. At first, the Nagas rejected the Great Serpent, and made sure he knew it. They kept him locked in a cell hidden deep beneath the Nagas' land. They only let him out once a week. This continued for several weeks. Finally, one Naga, the sand colored one from earlier, dared to speak to the Great Serpent. She gave him her name: Gulama.
The Great Serpent and Gulama communicated a lot, as she visited him often. He was soon able to convince Gulama that uniting the Nagas and other cryptids under a single power was a good idea. Gulama thought long and hard about it, and she concluded that it really must be a good idea. Gulama talked with her friends and family, who talked their friends and family, so on, until the entire Naga population was split in two: those who opposed a single power and those who supported one. There was a great civil war between the two sides. Many lives were lost, including Gulama's family.
The Great Serpent was released and commanded to use his cryptid powers to end the war. Knowing he had not yet won control over the Nagas, the Great Serpent improvised, and he called upon nearby cryptids to come to his aid. They came, and the Nagas realized the Great Serpent's power. Hundreds of Nagas, those fearful of the Great Serpent, fled the land, but majority stayed. They had no idea what would happen after the Great Serpent completed his mission and gained power over the Nagas.
(Iris's POV)
My heart races as I wake up in the dead of the night once again. That's the third time this hour I've done that, and it's only midnight. I just can't seem to get Master, the Saturdays, or Dr. Grey off my mind. Something's happening around me that I don't understand, and I'm somehow caught in the middle of it all. "Sauve ma sœur. (Save my sister.)" I blink back the frustrated tears. Qui est ta sœur? (Who is your sister?) I think for a moment. Non! Ce n'est pas Mlle Abbey Grey! (No! It's not Ms. Abbey Grey!) My heart races even faster than it did when I woke up. I can just tell that saving Dr. Grey's sister will be no easy task. For starters, I don't know from what I'm saving her or where she is.
I manage to calm myself down enough to go back to sleep, but it's not for very long. I wake up several more times throughout the night, each time more afraid to go back to sleep than before. I don't know how Master sleeps at night knowing the danger of this world.
I wake up for a final time and brush off the leaves from the bushes and trees concealing me from the lab's sight. The sun has not yet risen, meaning my escape will be both easy and hard. I have to find my way up and over the mountain the lab is nestled in. That'll be easy to do without being seen, but incredibly difficult without being able to see. I decide to crawl until I know I'll have to climb. I start crawling until I reach an steep upward slope with no path.
My first obstacle is scaling the mountain side. I should mention that I have no climbing skills, nor do I have the muscle to do so. I fumble my way upwards, and I seem to be doing pretty well all things considered. Suddenly, the ground I'm standing starts to crumble before giving way completely. I flail for an overhead ledge, but I can't find one. The bottom of the mountain gets closer as I start sliding. I don't know how long or how far I slide, but I eventually see a bush. I reach for it and grab it; I stop sliding. The only problem now is that I'm dangling, and that sun is starting to rise. Zut! (Drat!) I swing my left leg in hopes of reaching it. I get my leg up there, but I realize I'm unable to pull myself all the way over, so I bring my leg back.
I reach my right arm up, feel a handhold, and pull myself. It's a struggle, but I'm eventually able to pull myself up and find where I was before I slid. Tired and heaving, I finish the climb to the top of the mountain. The sun illuminates the morning as I start the climb down the other side of the mountain. I fear I may never find Ms. Grey at this rate.
When I finally reach the bottom of the mountain, I am hot and sweaty. But that's not my main concern. I am in Nazca, Peru, in a village where the people speak Spanish, but I speak only French. Comment suis-je censé parler aux personnes? (How am I supposed to talk to the people?) I stop myself from worrying anymore than I already have. My goal at this point is to find Ms. Grey, save her, and return to the Saturdays. Nothing else matters. Nothing.
I get off the path to the mountain and start walking. Quite a few people stare at me as I wander, and a few bother to ask me some questions in Spanish. All I can do is shake my head and hope they understand that I can't speak their tongue. This is going to be harder than I thought.
A flash of jet black and pale blue catches my attention. I turn to face where it disappeared, but there's nothing there. I see it again, and again. Each time, I chase after it, only to find there's nothing. Finally, I see it and jump at it. I tackle somebody, but it's not Ms. Abbey. In fact, it's a village woman; now that I take a closer look, I see that almost all the women have long black hair and are in pale blue dresses. The woman I tackled starts screaming at me in Spanish. I can't make heads or tails of it, but I stand up, brush myself off, curtsy an apology, and offer my hand to help her up. She slaps me across the face. Then she spits something in Spanish I have a feeling is a curse before storming off. The people who stopped to stare begin leaving too.
"What do you need done?" A female, British voice asks with a slight metallic echo, as if something is just in front of the speaker's mouth; it seems to be coming from nearby. I don't hear the other person's response. "That'll be $158, plus a $30 tax." I know that voice. "You'll know. Besides, I always get the job done," the woman assures the other person. I follow the sound of the person's voice until it takes me to a corner. I stay pressed against the side and listen. When I hear a set of footsteps leaving, I reveal myself. I look at the woman with jet black hair, a pale blue jumpsuit, and a metal mask like my father's. She turns around with her wrist blaster pointed at me. She drops her wrist. "Iris."
(Abbey Grey's POV)
I look at Iris and hold my breath. I've never seen her in the sun, and her ridiculously pale skin gives her the appearance of a ghost. I can't help but say her name again. And this is the girl I'm hired to find. We look at each other for a few moments; neither of us says a word. I can only imagine what she's thinking. I can't seem to calm my heart down, not even for a moment. I remind myself that I was hired to find Iris and take her back, but now that I've seen her, I'm not sure I can. She's so sick, it's as plain as day with her sickly pale skin and bony figure.
"Iris, my gosh. What happened? You were so different when I saw you last." I can barely string a sentence together, I'm in such shock. This is not how a mercenary behaves, Abbeygale. Get a hold of yourself and finish the job. I walk next to Iris and bend down to whisper in her ear. "I'm sorry," I half hiss. Then I grab her arms and hold them behind her back. She tries to fight, but she's too tired and weak. Iris pulls with much less strength for a while longer, but she stops once her strength gives out. As I dig for some handcuffs out of my sack, I notice Iris is holding a piece of paper in her hand. How did I miss that? I grab the handcuffs, secure them on Iris's wrists, and snatch the paper out of her hand. I read it, or at least attempt to read it. It's written in French, of course. "Sauve ma sœur." The loopy cursive and incredibly fragile penmanship looks strangely familiar, almost like something I saw in my childhood. Then it hits me: Miranda! Darn it, Miranda. Why can't you stop asking people to do things behind my back? First Derek, now this, and who knows what else in between. Iris seems to realize that I'm no longer holding on to her and that she can still run away, but I stop her before she can take advantage of the opportunity. "What does it say?" I demand. Iris shakes her head. "I know you can speak, Iris. Answer me. What does it say?" My fury is growing rapidly. This is the kind of temper Mother always loved.
I give up trying to get any information from Iris. She's not going to speak ever again as far as I'm concerned. She could die right here and now, and I sure as heck wouldn't care. Now, Abbey, I know you're not really this heartless. Show some empathy. My father's wretched voice fills my thoughts. I immediately shove him out. There is no way my Father is going to ruin my career, especially now that I'm doing better than ever with Grey and Apprentice (Grey and App.), the business I stole and renamed. Isn't it enough that I have to live with the fact that he raised me to have a conscious?
I grab Iris's arm and tell her to come with me. I feel every muscle in her body tense up, so I give her a little poke with my wrist blaster. Then I turn around behind me and see a couple people onlooking. I point my wrist blaster at them and fire. I toss a few concussion grenades over my shoulder just to be sure nobody saw anything. I continue with Iris until we reach my ship. We board, and-
"HALT!"
I turn to Iris. "Not one sound." Then I march back to the door, open it, and get out. "What do you dogs want? I'm late for a very important meeting," I demand to the two men and one woman in uniforms; they do not look pleasant.
"We have reports that you kidnapped a girl and shot four people."
"What makes you think I did it? Besides, what can you do? I'm not from here."
"We'd like to search your ship."
"Why? The only thing to see is right here." I point my blaster at all of them, and shoot them dead before they even know it. Then I return to the cockpit, and try again. There are no interruptions this time. Iris just watches the world out the window. She doesn't ask where I'm taking her, who hired me, or why. She just sits and stares out the window. I could get used to dealing with people like her, but then my job would lose all the fun and excitement.
We travel for a long time, or at least that's what it feels like. Neither of us says a word. I just can't seem to get that dad-gum note out of my head. If only I had taken French along with all my other languages. Miranda's handwriting will not leave me alone. What about the note being in Miranda's handwriting in another language is bother me? Is it a warning? Could my sister, my own flesh and blood, the one who couldn't kill anything, not even a bug, be planning my demise? Could Miranda have given Derek a warning like this before he died? Could Miranda have killed Derek? I focus my attention instead on the air I'm flying my ship through, rather than on Iris and my sister's note..
My phone rings, filling in the silence. I answer it and roll my eyes as the client talks. I am so not in the mood for this. He demands to know where I am and how soon I can get to Paris. I tell him that I am working at the moment for another client and that he will have to wait for my apprentice. He begins yelling in French; I wish him a good day and hang up. Men! Boy am I glad I dumped Doyle, but I regret I didn't kill him when I had the chances. As soon as I put my phone away, it rings again. I snatch it up and answer the call. "Now what, Epsilon?! I'm on the way, just wait a minute for me!" I yell, recognizing the number as his; this is the eighth time he's called in the past hour.
"I'm calling to tell you our reservations were cancelled." He seems so calm and collected despite my yelling at him.
I swear into the phone. "It's a good thing I love you," I say coldly as I hang up. I am so done dating after today. It's bad enough he has the same name as those people Miranda's job sometimes hires. I throw the phone into my sack and ignore the calls. I have a job to finish, and a bunch of angry clients. "Remind me to kill myself at the end of the day, Iris," I say half jokingly, half seriously. Iris looks shocked, but I don't bother to explain anything to her.
The ship suddenly starts shaking, but I'm holding the controls steady. It can't be turbulence because there's no wind, and the weather is fine. I try to land the ship, but my controls have stopped working. No, no, no. This isn't happening. I cannot die. I keep trying to gain control again, but nothing's working. I know the ground is getting closer by the second, but there's nothing I can do to stop the ship. Iris looks at me, terrified. I try to look back at her, but I can't. I close my eyes. It'll be over in just a second. There will be impact- Everything stops and fades into darkness.
(Iris's POV)
I open my eyes and breath rapidly. Dr. Grey's note haunts my mind. "Sauve ma sœur." Etait-ce ce que j'étais censé la sauver de? Ai-je déjà échoué? (Was this what I was supposed to save her from? Have I already failed?) I can't unfasten my seatbelt or free myself, so there's nothing I can do. I see Ms. Grey's body, her breathing labored. She's alive. Je dois aller à elle. Il n'y a pas beaucoup de temps. (I have to get to her. There isn't much time.) I spend a while trying to wriggle out of the seatbelt and eventually succeed. S'il vous plaît laissez ce travail. (Please let this work.) I try to call a cryptid, and I get a response. A group of three Peruvian Mystery Jaguars arrive. They see the crash and immediately rush to my side. I turn around and telepathically ask one of them to break the handcuffs. One of them does, and I race over to Ms. Grey. Her breathing is still labored, so I undo her seatbelt and lie her down. I put my hands over her chest and imagine taking her labored breaths and replacing them with healthy, strong ones; there's no push, and Ms. Grey is still having trouble breathing. I look down at my gloves, soiled and covered in dust and who-knows-what-else. Les choses darn. (The darn things.) I tear them off and stuff them in my pocket. I don't understand how my powers worked on the ladybug with the gloves, but they don't work on Ms. Grey while I'm wearing the gloves. I'm scared of what may happen, but I try again anyways. This time there is a push, and Ms. Grey's breathing steadies. It's another few moments until she wakes up.
She gasps as she looks around at the crash. I look behind me; the jaguars are long gone. "How long have I been out?" She asks. I shrug. Ms. Grey twists her wrist to look at her watch; her eyes widen. "Two days." I have to use every muscle in my body to keep from reacting. Deux jours?! (Two days?!) I begin to fear for the Saturdays and Dr. Grey. Ils pourraient être mort à l'heure, et personne, pas même Dr Grey peuvent garder un secret aussi évident que le nôtre pour cette longtemps. (They could be dead by now, and nobody, not even Dr. Grey can keep a secret as obvious as ours for this long a time.) "Come on, Iris. Even if I am two days late, I can still finish my job." Ms. Grey starts walking and shouts over her shoulder, "Well hurry up. You know the way better than I," when she realizes I'm not right behind her. I look blankly at her. "Just get us back to Nazca." My sense of direction is horrible, but with the help of a few cryptids, I'm able to get us back in one piece.
When we get there, Ms. Grey plugs in the coordinates her client sent her into her phone, and we start going that way. I come to a standstill, for I recognize the route she's taking. Ms. Grey asks, annoyedly, why I stopped, but I shake my head. She sighs, and then she basically drags me up the mountain and back down to Dr. Beeman's lab. Ms. Grey, realizing that she does not have an extra set of handcuffs on her, finds some rope in her sack and ties my hands behind my back. Then she walks up to the lab's entrance and knocks. The dull sound echos through the lab. We wait for a few agonizing moments. Finally the door swings open; it's Dr. Beeman. One look in his eyes tells me where Dr. Grey is. Elle est morte pour lui. (She is dead to him.)
AB: Dr. Grey? This is probably the result of you going missing in the chapter isn't it? (There's no reply.) Okay, well, since it seems that I am alone for the end of this chapter, I will take advantage of this opportunity. For those of you wondering, I do use an online translator for the French; my knowledge of French is not as advanced as I need it to be for this story. Also, when Abbey refers to a person named Epsilon, she is referring to her boyfriend, who is NOT the Epsilon from the show. They just happen to have the same name. Does that make any sense? Sorry if this chapter was a little darker and shorter than what I normally write, but I hope you all enjoyed it. Don't forget to follow, favorite, or review! Love you all!