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

GINNY

"Well then hurry up Helen!" I giggled and tugged at her hand. The water was running so fast it was hard to stand up. I was too excited to care. Lex was already on the other side, exploring.

"I can't believe you guys actually found this," Helen whispered. She was staring at the stream, her eyes wide.

I giggled again and handed Calile to Lex. "I don't think Helen likes snakes very much. Can you take him?" I asked, blinking like I always used to do with my mommy. Mommy said that me blinking with my puppy-eyes worked magic.

He shrugged and took Calile from me. "I guess so..."

"Thanks!" I stubled onto the land, looking around. It was so cool!


ANNAROSE

I shrieked as the electricity coursed through me. "you-are-insane!" I hissed after thing cooled down, breathing heavily. My whole body was tingling and my heart was pounding so hard I thought it would stop from exhaustion.

It was his turn to grin. He eyed the whole in the side of the tent. "So this is how you got them out. You don't have a knife, which means that I was right about one of the others coming and helping. Which was it?" He strode towards it, his back to me. Oh how I would love to slice that back open...

I closed my eyes, leaning against the back of the tent. "What-differece- does it make?" I choked out, still gasping for air. I hadn't even known our precious little prince had a power. Insane. Just insane.

He turned back to me, eyes flaring. "Oh, it matters all right. Which one was it?" He rose his hand and I knew he was threatening to strike again.

Why not play along? Why not let him think he had me, that I was weakened by his display of power? I cowered, rising my hands infront of my face. "A new man. Named-" I hesitated for a moment, trying to remember his name. "Chris," I lied at last. There was that other one, but I couldn't recall his name no matter how hard I dug. I lowered my hands slowly, forcing myself to keep a look of fear on my face. It was hard not to smirk, but my pride would get me killed as far as I could tell.

"Strange. This Chris has very petite feet." Scyth was back at the flap, looking at remnants of footprints.

That one I almost didn't have an answer to. I was still too dizzy to think up anything decent. "Actually, yes he does," I muttered. It was the only thing I could think up.

Scyth

“AnnaRose,” Scyth smirked, pulling back from the hole. “You are a very bad liar.” He crouched down so he was eye to eye with his prisoner. “And you’re going to pay for your lies. You, and your friends.” He smiled in a way that was far more evil than nice and let a small shock reach AnnaRose. She winced.

“You know that this ‘Chris’s’ tracks will be easy to follow?” Scyth sneered as Anna’s face flickered, and a flash of defiance showed through her carefully constructed mask. “So, whether you talk or not,” another, stronger bolt hit the captive. “You have led me to them.” He smiled as he let that sink in. AnnaRose looked like she could rip his throat out.

“But still,” he continued, ignoring her furious expression. “What fun would it be, to leave you here while I find your friends? No, I do believe that you would do something heroic and idiotic to save them – again. Not this time. This time, I won’t let you out of my sight.” AnnaRose opened her mouth angrily, but Scyth wordlessly hit her with a strong lightning bolt. She collapsed, unconscious, to the floor.

“Guards!” Scyth bellowed. “Tie her and haul her along beside me – We’re going hunting!”

Jacob

We arrived back at the camp. I didn't really pay much attention to Zanea arguing with Han, this was a regular thing now-a-days. Instead I looked around for Lex and Ginny but I couldn't see the anywhere. I tugged on Zaneas clothes.

"Where is Lex?" I asked looking up at her. She glanced around.

"Um, actually I don't know. I guess he's with Helen and Ginny," she said looking around. Han cut across her.

"The kids were raving about a circular stream or something. Helen went with them to get water from it."

"Oh," I said dissapointed dropping down to sit on a log to wait.

ANNAROSE

I groaned and forced my eyes to open. My vision was swimming and for a moment I didn't know where I was. For all I cared I could be dead. Was I being carried? Or just dragged maybe? So I'm not dead....sadly enough. I thought to myself.

I shook my head and my vision returned slowly. We were in a forest... They're tracking them! I was now fully conscious, fully aware of the danger I had put everybody in.

"She's awake!" A male voice announced at my side. I was too busy glaring at Scyth's back to look up and see what was going on. I was tied around my legs and hands. Rope was digging into the wound on my leg. I was just beginning to realize how painful it was.

Scyth turned around and smirked. He was having fun with this wasn't he? He raised his hand. "If you want me dead why didn't you just kill me back in the forest?!" I demanded. His expression faltered momentarly. "You didn't hesitate to slit my mother's throat. Why would you hesitate to slit mine?" I glared at him, not willing to look away. "I'll never know why she abandoned me now!"

His brow furrowed in confusion. "You don't have a mother. You never have."

It was only then I realized that I was indeed, being dragged. I was only faintly aware of the two guards on either side of me. I straightened myself out. "She abandoned me at birth for reasons I don't know." I paused. "Do you remember that rebel village you destroyed?" He nodded. "That was my mother. You slit her throat right infront of me." There were tears in my eyes now, but I made no effort to hide them. I let one slip silently down my cheek. "You've taken almost everything from me already. Why them, too?" I shouted.

Scyth just stared at me for a moment, unblinking. Silent tears slithered down my cheeks and landed on the ground below me. This was not over.

Helen

“Hey, Ginny, Lex!” Helen called after them. They had explored quite a lot of the little patch of land in the middle of the stream. “Let’s go back and tell the others. This place would make a safe camp.”

“Okay,” said Lex brightly.

“Back over the stream!” Ginny piped up before dashing back.

“Geez, you two, slow down!” Helen chuckled, sprinting to keep up with them.


A while later, they children arrived at camp with an out-of-breath Helen in tow. However, the minute she saw Jacob back in camp, A smile split Helen’s face and she dashed to the little boy, scooping him up.

“Jakey!” she cried happily. “You’re back!” He hugged her for a minute, but then began to squirm.

“Can I go down and play with Lex?” Helen laughed and set him down.

“Fine. Go have fun.” It was then that she noticed young girl who must have been Maria. “Hello,” she said.

“Hi,” said the girl, smiling awkwardly.

“Do you know where Anna is?” Helen asked, finally realizing that she was not in the clearing.

“She wanted to be left behind.”

“… Great. Wonderful. We are in so much trouble here.”


Scyth

“Hmm. Imagine that.” Scyth shrugged. So what if he had killed Anna's mother? He had killed people before. Killing people, in fact, barely even jarred his conscience anymore. It was just something he did.

“Look, the unconquerable AnnaRose, crying over her lost mommy.” He rolled his eyes. “I shall wipe away a tear.” He made a signal to one of the guards holding AnnaRose, who then brought the pommel of his dagger onto the back of the captive’s head. She went limp, but the Prince could tell that she was not completely unconscious.

“Keep her quiet. We’re nearly there,” he pulled out his sword without a sound, motioning for the guards to do the same. It was time to attack.

Maria

I walked up towards Jake nervously. "Hey," I said, sitting next to him.

"Hi," he said, smiling. Then his smile drooped. "Do you think AnnaRose is ok?"

"I'm sure she is," I said quickly. "I mean... she has to be. She saved us, and... well, she's probably just making a really big plan or something." I knew better, but I kept my mouth shut.

GINNY

I frowned. Jacob didn't even say hi to me! "Jakey!" I screached, forcing a smile and throwing my arms around him. I hated it when people didn't pay attention to me.

"Hi Ginny!" he piped up, smiling.

I stared at the new girl. She looked sad. "Who are you?" I asked, trying to sound nice.

She sighed. "Maria. I'm Zania's sister," she muttered, drawing something in the dirt.

Strange, I hadn't known Zanea had a sister... "Move!" I heard Han shout. I jumped and turned around. Han was leaning on a tree, breathing hard. Zanea stared at him, shocked. "Somebody help those two," he ordered, straightening up. Zanea and Parker rushed to help Pierce and the new boy, Tom or something. "Ginny, Lex, we need you to take us to the stream, okay?"

I nodded and ran up to Han, grabbing his hand. "It's this way!" Something was wrong. Was Rosey okay?

ANNAROSE

I kept my eyes closed, fighting off the pain. I was aware of what was going on around me, but I knew what was happening, I could hear them talking, but I couldn't respond. The unconquerable AnnaRose, crying over her lost mommy. The words swam through my head, feeding my rage. And what would he do if I killed his mother? I relished the thought, thinking about how sweet revenge would be. I would remain unconquerable. Wounds healed with time, and when mine were gone I would make sure that our dear prince's life would end.

I prayed that Han had sensed this, that they were long gone and somewhere safe. They had to be alright... I was beginning to argue with myself, thinkig about how truly stupid I had been to stay behind. No. I told myself. Now you can distract Scyth, keep him as far from the others as possible.

I tried to force my eyes open, but it was hopeless. The guards were talking to eachother, but I couldn't be bothered to listen. Until my name was said. "AnnaRose? You don't know? She tried to take the prince's life!" One muttered.

"I hadn't heard actually. The poor girl, I almost feel sorry for her," the other whispered.

"Don't let Scyth hear you saying that."

So I had a sympathizer? How deliciously interesting...

Thomas

"Hey!" A voice practically screamed in my ear.

"What?!" I suddenly shot up.

As I did so, everyone around me stared at me. I couldn't blame them, it did look like I was screaming at thin air. No wonder these guys hated me so much, I probably looked like a complete nutter. Pfft, and they thought I was mean.

"Uh... are you okay?" Ginny asked quietly.

"Yeah, I just had... a... bad dream." I lied.

Han narrowed his eyes at me, clearly not convinced. Well I was hardly going to tell him that some dead chick had just screamed in my ear. They all thought that I was weird enough as it was.

Rubbing my head, I slowly sat myself up. There were still blood stains on my face, but I didn't really care anymore. I was completely shattered and seriously hungry. I was pretty darn thirsty to. As I continued my mental rant, I had forgotten that there was a dead girl standing right beside me. I slowly turned to her.

"You've got to get them prepared!" The little girl spoke quickly. "It's the Prince. He's coming!"

Shit.

ANNAROSE

It seemed like it took forever, but my eyes finally fluttered open. I didn't lift my head for fear of alerting Scyth. I looked up at him with my eyes, he was inspecting the ground. Had he found something?

There was a cold hand on my shoulder and I turned my head slowly. I had just realized that I wasn't being dragged along by guards. I was tied to a tree, the guards were sipping something around a small fire and chatting. Behind me was a woman dressed in black, she had a finger to her lips.

"I was from your mothers village," she whispered in my ear. My heart lurched forwards. So there had been survivors? She moved behind me and quickly sliced through the ropes on my hands. "It would be wise to stay put. Don't let them know that you're untied." She pressed a note into my hand and I wrapped my fingers around it. "Also, I'm a healer. You should be strong enough to put up reistance, but please, do not fight unless you must. My powers aren't strong enough for that." With that she turned and fled into the bush.

Scyth heard and started to turn, so I presumed unconscious position until I was sure he had looked away. The guards were still busy talking about who-knows-what, their backs to me. I fingered the small piece of paper, placing it in my pocket to be read later.

I still didn't feel wonderful, but my leg had stopped its infurnal throbbing and my dizziness was gone. I still felt awefully weak, which could also be from hunger. I groaned, pretending to have just woken up. Scyth turned around, a coy smile spreading across his face.

Jacob

I followed quickly on the heels of Ginny and Lex. Maria seemed to be lagging behind a little so I grabbed her hand and pulled her along with me. Ginny was still pulling Han with her towards the stream.

I temporarily forgot to worry about Rosey when I saw the stream. It was round! I was fascinated by it. I pulled Maria to the edge.

"Wow," she said. "I wasn't really expecting it to be round."

"Yeah, but it is!" I laughed and splashed through it pulling Maria with me.

"Ahh!" She said as I splashed at her. I laughed.

"Lex! Lex!" I shouted and as he turned around I splashed him in the face. He spluttered and laughed splashing me back. I shrieked as the cold water hit me. Han and Helen smiled at our little water fight.

Lex & Atashi

Atashi stared out from the shadows to see Lex, Ginny and Jacob water fighting. He could make friends so easily, Atashi on the other hand was never very accepting. And in this group those who don't accept aren't accepted. Pushing her face against the hard tree trunk, Atashi smiled at the thought of her and Lex sitting on a straw bed listening to their mother weave a story. Those day's had been prefect.
"Hey..." Someone mummbled behind Atashi.

Lex dived into the water kicking his way around Jacob and Ginny. Holding his breath he sunk lower towards the floor of the sea bed, picking at the slippery seaweed. Placing it over his head, he kicked upwards. Emerging out of the water he let out a voilent shout.
Ginny and Jacob screamed wildly. Lex giggled pulling the sea weed off of his head.
"Gotcha!"

GINNY

I screamed when the seaweed touched me. My eyes widened. "Just wait a second!" I shouted, running back towards land. Calile was all wet, he was going to get sick! I looked around for somebody to hold him for me. Helen didn't like snakes. I didn't think Zanea did either. I walked up to Atashi. "Can you hold him for me please?" I gave her my best puppy-dog pout and held out Calile.

She smiled and nodded. I beamed and ran back to the stream, jumping in as hard as I could and splashing Jakey and Lex. We started laughing and screaming and splashing again.

I looked at Han. He was leaning on a tree trunk, staring at the water. He looked really sad. "Poor Han," I whispered and stopped splashing.

Jacob

I stared at Ginny as she stopped splashing. "What's wrong," I asked worried that she was hurt.

"Han looks sad," she said biting her lip and clearly thinking hard. "I know, we need to get him a present to cheer him up!" Her face lit up.

"But what are we supposed to get him in a forest," Maria said matter of factly. Ginny's face fell. In order to keep the peace I said,

"Well there are lots of nice nature things we can get him, let's look now!" I said running off into the trees.

Maria

I grinned and followed Ginny and Jake. Even though I didn't know what kind of a present they could find in a forest, it still amused me to see them acting like this, and it made me happy too.

Zanea

I sighed. I wish we could have brought AnnaRose.... I shut my eyes, trying to stop thinking about it.

Han:

I stared at the water, not really seeing it. Lost in my own thoughts, I failed to feel that sense of danger sneaking up on me. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the dull feeling.

"Han!" Someone called and my eyes flew open. I frowned, watching as Ginny, Jacob and Maria ran off into the forest. What where they doing?

I shook my head. Kids. Sighing, I thought of AnnaRose. What was she doing? And there was the prince, my brother. What did he have planned?

I winced when another strong sense of danger snuck up on me. Then I glimpsed my brother and AnnaRose, though it wasn't in the present. I knew I'd look like I was in shock to the others, but this was important. And then it was gone before I got a good look at them.

I sighed, frustrated. Why did my sight never work right? Oh, the danger sense thing worked fine...but my future sight? No, it had to do it's own thing.