The Shadows- *Started, but spots still open!*

Jacob

"Rosey!" I shreiked grabbing her arm. Why was she going? Why was she leaving us? The prince grabbed her and took her away. I backed away to stand by Maria. I heard a key in the lock and we were left alone. I slumped down by Maria.

"What are we going to do now?" I asked quietly. She shrugged and to my surprise burst into tears. I put my arm around her shoulders awkwardly. She sobbed into my shoulder.

"Um...Don't cry Maria..." I said unsure of the best way to approach the situation. She sniffled.

"Thank you for being so nice to me Jakey," she whispered. I smiled glad that she seemed to have calmed down.

"Zan will be back soon I think," I said trying to sound smart. She nodded and smiled.

"I know that she won't leave me behind, she is my sister after all."

Zanea

I stalked up to Han. I tried to look like I wasn't worried, for the kids, but I was. "Can I talk to you alone?" I asked quietly.

I led him a ways away and then said, "Listen, Han, we need to get Rose, Jake, and my sister now. We can't wait any longer."

ANNAROSE

We stood, glaring at each other for who knows how long. I was more afraid than I ever had been in my whole life, but I wasn't about to tip him off.

"Well?" He asked, raising an impatient eyebrow.

I breathed in deeply, trying to swallow my fear and shook my head slowly, not removing my glare. In all honesty, I really didn't know where the others were. They could be miles away, or hiding in the forest only metres away from us.

He sighed. "It's a shame, that Jacob boy is kinda cute..." My eyes widened in horror and he smirked at me. "Your choice."

"Don't you dare touch him!" I hissed, fighting back the tears.

He shrugged. "If you tell me where the others are, he'll be fine." I doubted it. It probably didn't matter what I did, people were going to get hurt. "You have until tonight to make your descision." He walked me back to the tent and unlocked it.

I stumbled into it and scrambled over to where Jakey was sitting. Maria had been crying, too. I let my own tear slip down my cheek and motioned for Jakey to climb onto my lap.

"What's wrong Rosey?" he asked, giving me a big hug.

"Don't worry about it, Jakey. I'll be okay." I glanced at Maria, she seemed to understand a little better.

Maria

I watched as AnnaRose comforted Jacob. What was going on? Nothing I understood perfectly, but I knew it wasn't good. And that it involved the group of people my sister was in.

Jakey slowly fell asleep, but I turned to AnnaRose.

"I'd like the truth please," I said quietly, "Since I can tell it affects my sister."

GINNY

I pursed my lips. Zanea took Han away and now we would never get to go see the stream! I stomped over to Parker. Nobody had really talked to him that much lately. "I want to go see the stream!" I announced, crossing my arms.

He chuckled at me and shook his head. "Well, go tell Han," he told me.

But I couldn't tell Han! I uncrossed my arms and bunched my hands into fists. "I. Can't. Tell. Him!" I turned on my heal and walked away to where Lex was standing. "Grownups are so annoying," I grumbled at him.

"Well, they aren't completely grownups."

I glared at him and sat down, huffing. "They're close enough!"


ANNAROSE

"I'd like the truth please. Since I can tell it affects my sister," Maria whispered.

I bit my lip, wondering how on earth I could tell her I had to betray either her or her sister. "Scyth was--"

"Who's Scyth?"

Change of subject. I sighed. "Scyth is the prince. I doubt it's his real name, but that's beside the point. You really want to know?"

She nodded. "I need to know."

I took a deep breath and swallowed a fresh batch of tears. I had done way too much crying the past few days. "He said that if I don't tell him where the others are, he'll do something horrible to Jakey, and I'm guessing you, too." There was a little more to the story. My past, the way he looked at me like I was a beast from the deep...

"He wants you to what?!" Maria gasped.

I sighed and wrapped my free arm around her shoulder. "They'll be back for you tonight, but so will he..." I bit my lip harder. What if they came when Scyth decided to question me? Panic coursed through me. "Come on Han, you've got to come sooner!" I planned on staying behind anyways. No way would I be any help to the group at the moment anyways.

Thomas

I headed back into the camp with the girl hung over my shoulder. I was going to just leave her there but that stupid ghost girl had insisted that I did something nice. I had to obey her, otherwise she'd probably send me into a coma. Spirits had made me pass out before, Lord knows what else they could do.

"Hey!" I called, mainly at Han. "I found some chick lying on the floor in the forest!"

"What on ea-" Han froze as I dropped the girl onto the floor.

God, my shoulder wasn't half hurting after that. As I rubbed my aching shoulder, the rest of the group ran over to where I was. I thought that they were going to ask me if I was okay or something, but they all seemed too interested in the girl to notice me.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks. My shoulders hurting and so is my head, thanks for asking." I said sarcastically. "As you can see, I still haven't been able to clean the blood from my head. In case anyone hadn't noticed."

I loved a good bit of sarcasm. The other group members obviously didn't. They just looked at me funny like they always did. I'd actually been pretty nice to them, for me anyway, and they still treated me like a piece of dirt. They were probably still angry after that Anna chick got kidnapped along with the little boy.

"Is it Pierce?" Parker said, sounding surprised.

"Yeah! It is!" Lex exclaimed.

I simply sighed and sat down on the floor, still rubbing my shoulder. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink in days and my entire body felt weak. I felt like passing out again, not that anyone of these guys would notice if I did. While the others observed the girl, I let my eyelids drop, along with my consciousness.

Maria

"Are you going to tell them?"

AnnaRose looked at me and said quietly, "I don't know. It depends."

"On what?"

"Whether Han comes to get you and Jake earlier than that."

I nodded and looked down, about to cry. I wanted my sister. I wanted my family. But they were dead, and my sister was forming a plan to rescue me.

I put my head in my hands asnd cried.

Jacob

I drifted awake a little and sighed. I caught the end of Rosey and Maria's conversation: "....gets you and Jake early enough." If I hadn't been so tired I may have been interested at the mention of my name, but as it was I was exhausted and so I fell quickly back to sleep.

Pierce

Who was that guy? He said his name was Tom. That name is weirdly boring, and he seems...weird in general. Aren't we all? He also seemed kind of...like the irritable type, even more so than myself.

I just woke up...he was there, I drifted off again, and it almost felt like there was a rocking motion beneath me. It was all I could do not to get sick. Now I opened my eyes again and everyone...almost everyone is here, looking at me. Jake's gone, I know that...but where's Anna?

Doesn't matter. I'm tired. So I drift off into a dreamless sleep yet again.

[I apologize if my tense is screwed up. It is 12:41 AM as I am writing this. Pierce isn't the only tired one. G'night.]

Helen

Helen sighed as the new guy, Tom, passed out next to the unconscious Pierce.

“Geez,” she said, almost laughing. “It seems like everyone around here is fainting… even me!” She crouched down between the sleeping pair and examined their faces.

“Well, Pierce is exhausted from using her powers, probably…” she said to herself. “And it could be blood loss for Tommy here. But,” she stood up, brushing the dirt from her hands. “The point is that they aren’t going to go anywhere in a hurry.” She crossed over to the packs and retrieved a rag to bandage the gash on Tom’s head. However, she found that the dried blood was stubbornly refusing to come off his skin.

“Do we have any water?” Helen asked, after having found her own water bottle empty. A few muttered replies came, but it seemed that everyone was either busy planning to retrieve Jake, Anna and Maria, or off somewhere minding their own business.

“I’ll take that as a no, then.” Helen sat, stumped as to what to do, when she remembered the stream Lex and Ginny had seen.

“Hey, Ginny, Lex,” she called to the two children, who trotted over. Ginny looked slightly annoyed at something. “Hi, sweetie, you said you two found some sort of stream?” Both children brightened noticeably.

“Yes!” they cried in unison.

“A weird round one,” said Lex,

“Over that way,” said Ginny pointing.

“Do you two think you can find it?” Asked Helen. Another eager ‘yes’ was her answer. “Right, then,” she said standing. “Han," she called over, "I’m going with the kids to find this stream. We’ll be back in a mo,” and with that, the three headed out of camp, the two children eagerly taking the lead.

GINNY

FINALLY! Helen was going to come see the stream! I pulled her along, almost skipping. I turned to Lex. "Umm... I can't remember where it is!"

"I'll climb the tree again," he assured me before climbing up a big tree. How was he such a good climber with only one arm? I could never do that!

"You sure he can find it again, Ginny?" Helen asked me.

I nodded. "He found it first. Listen and you can hear it I bet!" We both listened hard, but it was really, really quiet.

Lex scampered down from his tree, grinning at us. "This way!" He shouted, running ahead. I giggled and grabbed Helen's hand again, towing her behind me. I was tired when we got to the stream, panting. It was big, but not really, really big.

"So?" I asked, taking big breaths.

ANNAROSE

Jakey stirred in my lap and I bit my lip, willing him to fall back asleep. Thank the heavens he did. "You have no idea how hard this descision is, Maria. No matter what I do, people are going to get hurt..." I took a deep breath, trying to stop a fresh batch of tears.

"Zan probably won't listen to whoever's in charge if they told her not to come. She never listens," Maria whispered in attempt at reassuring me. Or maybe she was only reassuring herself.

I forced a weak smile. "She seemed to listen to me alright."

"Really? She never listened to mom or dad..." she trailed off and I didn't force her into saying anything else; mostly because I didn't know what to say. All that I was now aware of was that we only had until tonight to get the kids to safety. A task much easier said than done.

"Here's to hoping," I mumbled half sarcastically.

"To hoping," Maria mumbled back, half nodding.

Zanea

Han still hadn't replied and I had no time for this. I had to at least check in with them. I raced through the forest, praying I would remember right where it is.

Yes! I silently cheered as I reached the tent. I could see AnnaRose discussing with Maria. I lifted up the flap a bit and quickly ran inside. "Zan! We were just-"

"No time for talking," AnnaRose said. "We have to get to work."

ANNAROSE

"Get the kids out! And be quiet about it if you will," I murmered. "I can't come yet, I'll just slow everybody down. Cut this back hole wider so that these two can squeeze through. Not too big though." I was rushing, but it didn't matter. As long as these two were safe, I was okay.

I kept glancing back towards the tent flap, afraid that the guard would hear us and walk in at any moment. I shook Jakey's shoulder and he shot up. He opened his mouth and I put a hand over it. "Shhh, Jakey. You're getting out."

He pushed my hand away. "What about you?" Jakey whispered.

I smiled at him. "I'm not coming yet. I need you to go take care of everybody okay?" I gave him a big hug and helped him to where Zanea and Maria were. Maria was already out, embracing Zanea.

"Anna, I can't leave you here! He'll kill you!" Zanea hissed.

I shook my head. "I have a plan, don't worry. Just make sure these two get back okay. I'll find you guys somehow." Did I actually have a plan? Ha. Not a chance. I had planned on making a plan, which had to count for something.

Zanea nodded and scooped up Jakey. "I'll tell the others you're all right then," she whispered. I nodded, averting my eyes.

"Jakey, remember what I told you. Take care of the others and listen to them, kay?" I asked, trying to smile.

He nodded at me and I sighed, crawling back to my original spot in the tent.

Zanea

After a last glance at AnnaRose, I led them back to the camp. There Han stood, furious.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"Where's AnnaRose?!"

I was taken aback. That was what he was angry about. "She insisted on being left behind-"

"And you let her?!"

"Yes!" I shouted defiantly.

"Lead me to her," Han said.

"No." I said. "If she wanted you to come, she would've asked."

Helen

Helen was staring awestruck at the stream. The kids had not been telling tall tales; it really was a circular stream.

“This,” she said, walking up and peering into the stream. “Is pretty amazing.” She beamed at Ginny and Lex. “And it would make a great place to camp. If you hadn’t seen it from that tree, we never would have found it. Let’s take a look around.” She jumped into the shallow stream and waded across, lifting the kids over it.

She heard the two chattering excitedly as they rushed ahead of her. “Wait up!” she called, laughing. “Don’t get lost!”

Scyth

Scyth paced about his tent. AnnaRose was stubborn and proud, but she had a soft spot for small children. All he needed to do was wait until she worked herself into a knot. He smiled grimly. Maybe he wouldn’t kill the kid right away. Maybe he would send Jake back to the tent with few scars and a serious fear of lightning. Yes, it would be best not to get rid of his only bargaining tool without making AnnaRose suffer the full extent of worry. A good plan.

“Well, Anna,” he said to himself, pushing the tent flap carelessly aside. “Your time is up.” He smiled ruefully. This would be fun.

Striding across the space between the tents, he made a mental note of the guards’ positions. They were all at their posts. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so he proceeded to the captive’s tent without delay.

“Have you made your choice yet, Anna?” He said, pushing the flap aside… only to find that AnnaRose was alone, and that a large hole had been torn in the back of the tent. He swore silently.

“Clever. So, your friends are helping you out.” He glared at her. She probably did not understand the gravity of her situation. She was smirking at him!

“Yep,” she said smugly.

“Too bad you didn’t go with them,” he said before shooting a bolt of lightning through her. God, he loved his power.


*Yes... I've been given permission to take over Scyth until Ben 10 decides to show up again. *