Young Writers Society

~Lillith~

I yawned, bored and tired. "If I go back, no one is going to believe our story. We'll be put in the nut house. As much as I want to be in a padded room for a day, I don't want to be in there for a lifetime. And plus, you know how much homework I'll have to make up."

I sighed, still tired. I want to stay with Twili anyway. "And...well..." I hesitated, "those kids...I want to help them..."


~Erica~

I didn't say anything; no, I couldn't say anything. More than anything, I wanted to go back. My brother was going to kill me, but I wanted to hear his reassuring voice. But...Lillith and Twili were right. Those kids deserve a good life. A life without evil.

Still, I didn't say anything. I was afraid that I would confess my urge to go back.

Dusty:

Dusty looked at the door way and then at Caleb. He crossed his arms.

"Y'all are stuck wtih me." He said as he leaned against a wall.

"Dusty?" Someone asked.

"Caleb's only family I got. I want to help too." She shrugged.

Gregory-

"Well that's unexpected," I thought, "why would they be doing this?"

But I didn't have the time to think up the answer to my question. Right now all of us had a big decision to make. Twili quickly decided to stay which didn't surprise me. But when Haven said that he was staying too, it totally caught me of guard. From what I knew of Haven I was expecting him to be one of the last people to decide. In a flash I had made a mental note to write down my new information on Haven.

Lillith yawned, made her decision to stay, then went back to sleep. But the rest of us couldn't make our decisions as quickly as the first three. Some of us stared at the door lost in thought, others paced up and down the floor muttering quietly under their breath.

"I'll be able to keep the portal open for a little while longer," Jaden said, "so I suggest the rest of you make a decision quickly."

I wanted to help the people of Eniyeth, but was staying the right decision. It felt like I was straddling a cliff while blindfolded on a windy day, I had to step to the left or to the right, but if I didn't do either the wind would make the decision for me. I wanted to know which way was the right way? Then I remembered something, Jaden had said that I was master of the Air. Without warning, the wind in my mind shifted, pushing me with a powerful gust. My heart felt light and free and I realized that the wind was my friend and that I could trust it. For the first time on our journey I truly believed that I was Gregory, master of Air.

Trusting my newfound friend, I took a deep breath and said, "I'm staying!"

Okay, so Kneph is the only one left to decide.

Sorry 'bout that. Being grounded with a mom that works out of the house is never a fun thing. No time to sneak on the computer.

Kneph

The door was the only thing I could see. Jaden and Sam were gone. The other kids were gone. Their announcements to stay were deaf to my ears. The only thing I was even aware of was the door and the ever-circling thoughts in my head.

Stay?

Or go?

Stay?

Or go?...

To simply step through would be so easy. There wasn't anything for me on this side of the door. I hadn't connected to any of the other kids. Sam and Jaden hardly noticed me, but I suppose I liked it that way anyway. The only thing for me here was the possible prospect of death waiting by the hands of whoever it was who wanted me and the other kids dead.

I hadn't even discovered my powers. The only way I even knew they were there (and even that was iffy) was the magical voice had told me when we had been transported here.

But if I went back...would it be any better?

I weighed the options in my head.

After a moment, my mind was made up. I took a deep breath and said, "I'm staying."

Jaden-

They had stayed. My own inner fears were wrong. They had stayed. The light illusion faded and the door looked normal again.

"Thank you."

"So what happens now?" Kneph asked.

"You get your gifts."

"But it's not my birthday! I feel so special!" Lillith shrieked.

"They aren't those type of gifts. These gifts will help you control your elemental powers."

"There's always a catch," Lillith muttered.

~Lillith~

I sighed, there's always a catch. And now I was awake and it would take forever to fall asleep. I turned to a random person: Kneph.

"So...Kneph..." I started, bored, "How does it feel to have enslaved Jews for...er...a long time?"

"Lillith!" Twili jabbed me inbetween my ribs. "That's politically incorrect!"

"Since when am I politically correct? I abhor poliltics. And it's historical fact, so, Kneph?"


~Erica~

I thought back to my decision. Did I make the right one? It was for the kids but...I miss my family so much. Smiling, I pushed it back. It was too late to worry and I really did believe I made the right choice.

Jaden-

I went back to Sam, who had finally calmed down. I told him about what I had just done.

"Did I do the right thing? Giving them that kind of choice?" I asked.

"I can't really say. Though now they may have a little more trust in us, and we should show them the same trust for their decisions, I'm not sure what will happen if they found out you lied."

"I will gladly let them kill me once Eniyeth is out of danger and Sarnom is gone. It just felt like the only thing to do."

"Then I say go with your instincts. And speaking of instincts, mine are telling me that we need to get out of here soon," said Sam.

"We will once they sleep. They will need all their strength for the upcoming journey."

......................

The next day we all left the spell-bound village. The little children all looking more depressed as they watched us leave.

"When we get rid of Sarnom, the spell will be broken right?" Lillith asked. I looked back and nodded.

"Yes. Sarnom's power will not hold once he is gone."

"Good, I hate leaving them like this."

"So where do we go next?" Gregory asked.

"West. After these woods there will be a lake where we will stop next."

~Lillith~

I just found out how boring the traveling part of our adventure was going to be. I couldn't make fun of Sam like I though I would, because when he talked in his sleep, he'd pretty much had a nightmare except a gazzilion times worse. Not fair. Twili was too used to me to really notice any of my anitics, which was just as fair as the the thing with Sam.

It seemed everyone had decided to ignore me...except for the Egyptian. Okay, he was, but I was bored and he STILL hadn't answered my question.

"You gonna tell me now?" I poked him. He glared at me, but I was used to that.

"What?"

"How does it feel to have enslaved the Jews for who-knows-how-long?"

"Lillith...just drop it." Twili sighed.

"No, I want to know!" I was really pushing it, but I hadn't been able to sleep all night and it was starting to come back to me and bite me in the butt.

Jaden-

I was walking to the side of Kneph and heard the entire conversation. Note to self: Lillith needs to work on her mouth or get us all in trouble.

"Well how does it feel to have enslaved the african slaves for so long?" he retorted. Lillith smirked.

"Tushay." (I'm so sorry. I don't know how that is spelled) After his answer, Lillith dropped the question and the journey continued on in silence.

Gregory-

After what seemed like hours of straddling the mountainside Jaden and Sam came to a sudden stop next to an oak tree.

"Can you climb it?" Jaden asked Sam quietly, as if she didn't want the rest of us to hear. In fact I was pretty sure I was the only one to hear it.

Sam’s eyes were glazed over with uncertainty, but he quickly shook it off and nodded firmly.

"May their spirits be with you!" she said earnestly.

He nodded, "And with you also!" then he started climbing.

Jaden-

I looked up as Sam climbed the tree. We needed to see how far we were from the lake, and this was always the way to do it. At least it became that way when I couldn't sense water anymore. We should've asked Erica. Maybe her powers had developed enough to sense where water was.

Sam looked down from a branch. "It's a little over half a mile. We're almost there!" he called down.

"Okay!"

Lillith came up to me.

"Are we lost?"

"No, Sam just looking to see how far we are from water."

"So... we're lost."

I sighed. "We aren't lost Lillith." And I left it there. Arguing with Lillith was like telling a rock to pick itself up and walk away.

~Lillith~

"You wouldn't need to know how far away were are if you knew where we were. So, clearly, we're lost." I folded my arms across my chest. It had been quiet for too long and I had started to freak out. Silence bothered me...a lot. It explained a lot about me, I thought.

"Lillith, shut up." Twili said, rubbing his temples.

"Must I?"

"Yes. At least until you have something intelligant to say."

"Darn it. I won't be able to talk at all." I muttered.

"Exactly."



~Erica~

"What's going to happen when we get there?" I wondered outloud quietly. Everything so far had been shrouded in mystery and I didn't like not knowing at least a little something of what was going to happen.

Jaden-

"What's going to happen when we get there?" Erica asked. I looked back at her.

"Nothing, it's just a rest stop."

Erica became silent again and we continued walking. "Are we going to be safe from that Sarnom guy?" Haven asked.

"Not at the lake. But since we left the village early we will have extra rest time."

"Is this some sort of game between you two and this Sarnom?" Kneph asked.

I was losing my patience. "No, it isn't."

Twili~

I rolled my eyes. "Well, then, why are we even going to the lake? Why don't we just go get our presents?" I squeezed Lillith's hand and she smiled ever so slightly.

Jaden sighed, exasperated, "We are going to the lake because there is a stream leading out of it that comes from were you will get your gifts. Is that clear?"

"As clear as mud." I was about to give up on ever getting to the lake when we passed through a particularly dense patch of trees and stepped into a clearing with a lake stretching in front of us. We had made it to the lake.