Young Writers Society

Haven
~~~~
Sam said nothing, simply looked at Caleb holding his baby sister. I suddenly envied Caleb. He was so lucky to be able to do that.

I took a deep breath, looking to where we had been playing with the children. They were so young...one little girl had reminded me so much of Allie.

I suddenly felt anger bubble up inside me, like I hadn't felt in a long time.

"That's not fair." I said suddenly, startling a few of the people around me. I didn't care.

I looked straight at Sam. "It's not fair." My hands were shaking, as well as my voice, with barely contained anger.

"They're just babies!" I said, raising my voice to him. "They don't deserve this! They're-" I quickly cut off what i was about to say when I heard a yelp from Erica, who let go of my hand quickly. I hadn't even realized I'd been holding her hand.

"Haven!" She said, looking down at her hand. It had a burn mark across the palm which was glowing with a white light, and looked as if it hurt, badly.

"Erica, I'm sorry! What happened?!" I said to her, the anger having left me and horrible guilt having replaced it.

"Your powers are out of control." Sam said, and as I turned to look at him, I thought I saw him smile just a bit. I could have killed him right there.

"Well, how do they stop? And why are they out of control in the first place? Dash it all, why are we even here?!"
~~~~
(Sorry for hurting Erica, Risa!)

**tis okay. We's missed yous all**

Erica~

"It's okay Haven, realax." I said quietly, the pain had slowly ebbed away but it still hurt.

Dusty looked just as angry as Haven had been, "Answer his question!" She cried.

I looked at her and Caleb and thought of David. I missed him. We all looked really mad. Those poor mentors...then I remembered that I was mad at them too.

Lillith~

"No, seriously, answer the question!" I said, glaring at them.

**
Sorry it's so short, I have hw to do**

~Twili~
"Well," Sam slowly enunciated, "you can't go back to Earth. Not yet. Sarnom has to be destroyed before it’s safe to travel back to Earth."

"Look," I said, "I don't mind working with you. Especially if it helps get us back faster, but, isn't there a way to send some of us back? I mean, some of us have people to care for at home." I felt an uncomfortable urge to look at Lillith.

"No," Sam shook his head, "It's too dangerous. If something happened to one of you, everything could collapse."

"So, what could happen to us? And what could collapse? You haven’t explained anything and you expect us to follow you blindly. How do we know you're on the right side anyway? Can you prove that we should trust you?"

"No. Trust has to grow. We can't give you a set of facts that have ‘you should trust us’ written all over them. You just have to do it." Jaden smiled shakily, "These people were my friends, I trusted them. And now they're gone. I can't tell you why I trusted them. I just did. Trust is like that. Sometimes you just do. And sometimes you have to."

I rolled my eyes and heard little sighs. And I realized, I couldn't see anything anymore. It must be really dark. Then I heard Lillith's voice, close beside me. "Can we go inside? I'm tired. And cold."

Jaden-

I nodded and we went inside the abandoned inn. The elementals couldn't last outside at this time of night. What was I thinking!

There was a tinderbox in the back and we lit a fire using dried up brush and some of the smaller furniture.

"You asked about trust. We can't answer that question for you... but we will tell you what could happen here and how everything could collapse," Sam said. I didn't argue.

"What could happen?" Haven asked.

"Here, almost everything bad imaginable. We explained a little bit before that Eniyeth is ruled by an evil being named Sarnom. He's the elemental master of illusion and he can torture a mass of people in their minds with a single thought. Bad things can happen especially if you all are not kept in secret. Nightmares, halucinations, feelings that could lead to suicide, homocide, arson..."

"Jaden that's enough."

"They asked. I am explaining Sam. They want to know the truth and how terrible this place is."

"We didn't think it would be that bad," Erica whispered.

"This is real life, not a fantasy book where everything isn't so bad..."

"Jaden, stop." Then Sam looked at the elementals. "She is right, but that is why the elementals are needed. Trained masters can stop Sarnom. We know what it's like to be taken away from our homes and asked to do something that could end our lives. We know how you must feel."

"How? How could you possibly know how we feel?" Lillith snapped.

"Because both Jaden and I were the previous elementals. We used to live on Earth and were taken."

Gregory-

We stood there for a second in shocked silence. The idea seemed impossible, but at the same time it was the most probable. Then Lillith started giggling.

We all looked at her, trying to figure out what she was laughing at. "He," started Lillith pointing at Sam, but then she bursted out in another fit of laughter.

"At least someone can find some humor in this," said Jaden.

Then I noticed what Lillith was laughing at. A tiny spider was on top of Sam's head and was doing what looked like a dance. I refrained from laughing, but I couldn't help but grinning at the sight of it. From the look on Erica's and Twili's faces they had noticed it too.

Jaden frowned at us disapprovingly but Haven grabbed her attention.

"So what you're saying is you want us to fight a battle that you yourselves couldn't win," Haven said.

"We wouldn't ask it of you if it were impossible," Jaden said.

"But you couldn't win it," Haven stated shortly, "so why would you expect any different results this time. You're holding out on us, so until we find out what's really going on we'll hold out on you."

Jaden looked shocked for a second, but she quickly pulled herself together and walked briskly up the stairs. Sam looked uncertainly after her, looked back at us, and then followed Jaden up the stairs.

"So, operation Sleep Talking Sam tonight?" Dusty asked.

"As long as the bugs don't keep him awake," Lillith said with a grin.

Sam

I followed Jaden up the stairs, not knowing what to expect once we were away from the kids. Haven's comment had struck her deep, that was easy to tell. I just didn't know how deep.

She turned and entered one of the rooms, leaving the door open for me to follow. I shut it softly behind me and turned to see Jaden sitting on one of the two beds, a grim smile on her lips.

"They're so stubborn," she commented, without bothering to look at me. "So in control, they think. If they knew the whole story, I think they'd be different, but I'm just afraid that if they learn the whole story, at least all at once, they'll lose all trust in us..."

She turned to look at me, eyes wondering. "Were we like this?"

I shrugged and kicked off my boots, sitting down on the bed opposite hers. "Some of us might have been. I don't really remember. It seems like it's been forever ago."

She smiled grimly again and turned away."It does, doesn't it?"

I nodded sadly and glanced at the door, when the faint sounds of bickering floated in from the hall. I looked back at Jaden, but she didn't look like she was in the mood to go back and help the teens. Sighing, I stood, and went to the door.

"I'm going to see if I can't get them situated for the night," I said, before disappearing back down the stairs.

Jaden-

I sat and rubbed my temples as Haven's words came back in my head. [i]"You want us to fight a battle you couldn't win"[i/]

"But that wasn't the battle we had fought. Sarnom turned on us before we could fight. We were caugt off guard."

A battle that we couldn't win. But we could win it if... if only it wasn't them as elementals. If it were us again. Am I jealous. I am! Oh goodness!

~Erica~

I watched the mentors go upstairs then turned to my fellow students. Somehow, we'd become a We-Hate-Our-Kidnappers Conspiricy or something.

"Now what? You know they won't be up there, with us down here, for long." I said.

"I say we leave and scare 'em to death." Lillith said, "Though I really don't want to miss the whole sleep-talk expidition."

"No, we should stay here until we figure out whats going on. THEN we bail." Twili said, grining at Lillith. Making sure Haven wasn't looking at me, I rubbed my aching hand. It still hurt a bit and seemed it wouldn't quit hurting. Gregory saw the movement and raised an eyebrow at me, then glared at Haven. I gave him a smile, trying to convince him it was nothing but guys are stupidly stubborn sometimes.



~Lillith~

"Agreed." I said, glaring at Twili. I looked around at the other teens. "What do you guys think...hurry up, their gonna come back soon."

I looked at Erica and noticed that she was rubbing her hand. Did it still hurt? Oh well. She'll survive, we have more importnant matters to attend to at the immediate moment.

~Erica~

I watched the mentors go upstairs then turned to my fellow students. Somehow, we'd become a We-Hate-Our-Kidnappers Conspiricy or something.

"Now what? You know they won't be up there, with us down here, for long." I said.

"I say we leave and scare 'em to death." Lillith said, "Though I really don't want to miss the whole sleep-talk expidition."

"No, we should stay here until we figure out whats going on. THEN we bail." Twili said, grining at Lillith. Making sure Haven wasn't looking at me, I rubbed my aching hand. It still hurt a bit and seemed it wouldn't quit hurting. Gregory saw the movement and raised an eyebrow at me, then glared at Haven. I gave him a smile, trying to convince him it was nothing but guys are stupidly stubborn sometimes.



~Lillith~

"Agreed." I said, glaring at Twili. I looked around at the other teens. "What do you guys think...hurry up, their gonna come back soon."

I looked at Erica and noticed that she was rubbing her hand. Did it still hurt? Oh well. She'll survive, we have more importnant matters to attend to at the immediate moment.

Gregory-

I glared at Haven. A small part of wanted to punch him, but the larger part of me reasoned that it would do nothing to help our predicament and only worsen the situation, so I refrained.

Shortly after we all agreed on operation STS Sam came down the stairs.

"Is everything alright down here?" he asked shortly.

We all nodded in agreement. Sam raised an eyebrow but didn't question us.

"Girls, you can have the bedrooms downstairs. And you boys can have the bedrooms upstairs. And the night watch will be Dusty, Erica, Haven and Twili in that order."

Sam quickly showed them an hourglass that was on the front desk of the inn so they could time their watches. Then he went back upstairs.

~Lillith~

"Of course they wouldn't trust me to watching anyone." I grumbled.

"They probably don't want to to lose sleep." Twili laughed, poking her. I punched him in the shoulder. Hard.

"SURE they do." I said, pouting. Dusty rolled her eyes.

"You're insane, you know that?"

"Yes, and I happen to enjoy it."


~Erica~

I closed my eyes, sighing. I didn't really know any of the girls yet. Lillith was funny and Dusty seemed really cool but I didn't really know them.

Thunder boomed out and I shot up. Rain started pattering on the roof and the ground, calming me. The panic I usually felt wasn't as bad since I wasn't in our world. It wasn't like bombs for some reason. I got into the bed near the window despite some protests and watched the rain flow down the window pane. It was beautiful. Like music made completly natural.

Dusty:

Dusty sat up on the counter of the inn and watched the sand fall her ears listening for anything. She heard footsteps and she looked up. Colt slipped down to where she was and sat next to her.

"Figured you might want company and I couldn't sleep knowing you were down here by yourself." HE smiled.

"THanks." She said leaning against him. "Do you think anyone misses us?"

"I'm sure someone does." He replied softly as they watched the rain. "We won't know for a while."

~Erica~

I watched the rain fall, the urge to climb out the window overwhelming. Jaden was tossing and turning.

Finally, I couldn't stand it. Trying not to make a sound (not that you could hear a lot besides the rain over Lillith's snoring), I went out the door. Dusty and Caleb (ooc/ I thinks TN mixed charcters up?) were talking and jumped when I entered.

"Just need to get some fresh air." I smiled. The sound of the rain was making my heart ache. I wanted it.

I stepped outside without another word. Going out into the haze of the rain. Then, grinning and hoping no one saw her, started spinning around. The rain washed her fears away and gave her a blind happiness.

Haven
~~~~

I growled. I wasn't able to sleep for two reasons:

The first, and most obvious, was that I was in a room with Gregory. Neither of us dared to sleep while the other was in the room. He was afraid I would try something (aka, strangle him in his sleep....hmm, good idea...). And he knew I knew it.

I, on the other hand wasn't scared. I just found it funny to lay awake and watch him pretend to sleep. And his fake snoring was keeping me awake. Yeah. That's it.

The second reason was that I was worried. About a lot of things. About the crazy situation we were in, for one thing. I was worried about Erica too. I had hurt her. I hadn't meant to...it just happened.

After counting the boards in the ceiling once more, I gave up on sleep. I quietly got out of bed and walked to the door.

"Where are you going?!" I heard Gregory hiss. I ignored him.

I closed the door behind me quietly, and walked down the hall to the main room where Caleb and Dusty were sitting, watching the rain.

They looked up when I came in the room, and I shrugged sheepishly.

"Couldn't sleep." I offered as I sat down on one of the ragged chairs.


Dusty nodded and turned back to the rain.

"It's almost Erica's turn...you can stay up with her if you want." she said as she snuggled against Caleb's shoulder.

"Oh...okay."

It was silent for a few moments until Caleb spoke up.

"I wonder what she's thinking about." he said, motioning outside.

I followed his gaze until I saw Erica, spinning and twirling in the rain, dripping wet but looking so happy.

For a moment, I couldn't breathe. It was like my heart had skipped a beat...no make that two. She was absolutely gorgeous. She was amazing.

"She's beautiful." I said before I could stop myself.

~~~~
lol, Haven needs to learn not to talk out loud....btw, I love writing lovesick Haven...so funnn....lol.

Twili~
I lay on the floor, embracing the darkness, letting it sweep over me. As another torrent of rain swept down on the roof, I realized Sam was murmuring to me. No, he was just... talking. Sleep talking. Wait, who was supposed to be listening in on Sam??? I started to get up, ask Haven or somebody. Then, I thought better of it. It didn't matter who was listening, as long as somebody heard. I would do it. I closed my eyes and listened.

*It's your turn, Sam.*