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

Zanea

I walked up to Han. "We can't leave AnnaRose alone," I said, getting straight to the point.

He looked me over. "I know, but what can we do if we don't know where she is for sure and whats going on?"

I looked towards him, defeated. "But..."

"We'll find her," he said assuredly. "But we have to do this reasonably..... or things could turn out terribly."

I sighed but nodded. He was right.

...as usual.

GINNY

"We could bring him flowers," I suggested, staring at the forest. There wasn't that much here...at all.

Lex snorted. "Flowers? Han's a man! He doesn't want flowers!"

I stuck my tongue out at him and kept looking for something. "I'm going over there!" I announced, stomping away. Something glinted far away in the leaves. "What's that?" I asked, pointing.

Jakey ran up beside me. "I don't know. Let's go find out."

I nodded and we started to run over to it, Maria and Lex following. My mouth opened wide. "It's Rosey's sword!" I announced, picking it up carefully. Sharp things were kind of scary, I didn't want to get a cut.

Lex frowned. "How did it get over here? Wasn't the fight real far away?"

I grinned mischesviously. "Ghosts," I whispered, shifting my eyes back and forth.

Lex crossed his arms. "There's no su-"

"How do you know?" Jakey cut him off.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's go back and show it to Han." Before the others could answer I turned around and started running back to the stream.

Jacob

We followed Ginny as ahe ran back to the stream. We pushed through the bushes into view of the adults. Helen shreiked,

"Ginny! What are you doing with that, put it down before you hurt yourself!" She ran over to Ginny and took the sword from her.

"Are you hurt?" She asked addressing all of us. I shook my head. "Thank God," she whispered to herself. I ran up to her and gave her a big hug.

"S'ok Helen, we didn't hurt ourselves," I said trying to reassure her. I pulled out of the hug just in time to see Han gasp and make a grab for the sword. He ran his fingers over the flat blade.

"It's Anna's," he said, more to himself than to anyone else. Helen gasped and moved to look at the sword more closer.

"It is," she said in awe. "Where did you find it?" She asked me. I shrugged and pointed in the general direction.

"I could show you the way back to the spot if you like," Maria said stepping forward. Han nodded and followed her silently. Me, Helen, Zanea, Ginny and Lex stayed by the stream.

"I wonder how it got here," Helen thought aloud. She wasn't the only one left wondering.

Pierce

This is weird. There's a sword over there, and the little girl had it. Helen just freaked out at her. How did it get there? Is Anna near? Why exactly do I care?

[I'll post a lot more often I'm just unsure what lately. The 'rents are giving me the weekends! God knows how much I miss KEEPING the history and NOT looking over my shoulder every two seconds...]

GINNY

I pouted and sat down on the grass. "You go. I'm staying here," I told Maria. I didn't think she wanted me to come anyways. I looked up at Han, wondering if he was happy that he had Rosey's sword.

I saw Pierce was awake and I smiled sweetly at her. "You're awake!"

She just nodded, looking a little confused. I suppose she had missed quite a bit though. I remembered Calile. Atashi still had him! I got up and ran to where she was standing.

"Can I have him back now?" I asked, holding out my hand.

Atashi nodded and handed him back to me carefully. I smiled at her and walked back to where Han was.

Han:

I frowned, following the others. Anna's sword far away from the fight? That didn't seem right to me.

"This is weird," I whispered, more to myself. "This isn't right..." I trailed off as a sharp jolt of danger made me look up. "Something.... We shouldn't stay here."

{I don't know when I'll be on again so Isha, if she feels like it, can post as Han until I get my laptop back. Or someone else could... Anyhow, on with the story.}

GINNY

I took a couple steps back from Han. I wanted to stay here. I looked back at the stream, wondering what was so dangerous about it. Were the soldiers coming for us again? But that would be a good thing wouldn't it? Rosey would be with them and then we could save her...

"Han?" I asked, tugging at his clothes. "What's wrong?" I was getting scared. I wanted to go back home. I wanted to know why and how I even got here in the first place. I sniffed and wiped the tears from my eyes. I didn't want to cry infront of everybody. Lex would think I was a baby and Jakey and Maria would laugh.

Han:

I looked down at Ginny. "Nothing is wrong," I lied and slid Anna's sword through my belt. "Come on guys," I called. "Let's go back to camp."

Ginny frowned up at me. I wasn't sure if she could tell that I had lied or not, but it wasn't worth the risk of staying here when my senses were telling me that it was dangerous.

"You can come back tomorrow," I promised. "If we're still camped near here."

"What's wrong?" Ginny insisteted and I sighed. She knew I wasn't saying something.

I crouched down to her level. "We're being watched," I whispered.

Thomas

I must have been sat there, watching the others, for at least ten minutes. I had to tell them about what that dead girl told me, that The Prince was on his way. I'd realised that Han seemed to be the leader, therefore, I should have told him. The only problem was the fact that Han wasn't my best friend. Not that I wanted to be his friend anyway, he bugged me.

"Han," I said, trying to sound kind. "Can I speak to you for a second?"

The ginger kid, Ginny, looked at me and frowned. "Why?"

Telling Han about what I'd just heard was hard enough without some little kid pestering me. Rolling my eyes, I turned back to Han. Han stared abck at me, his eyes narrowed.

"Ginny, go and play with Jakey for a minute." He eventually said.

Clearly not happy, Ginny headed back towards where the others were. The second she was gone, Han stared at me hardly.

"What?" He asked.

"It's the Prince," I said, "He's coming."

"What?" Han's suspicion had turned into worry. He didn't seem surprised though, he'd obviously been suspecting something. "How on earth do you know that?"

What was I supposed to say? Some dead chick told me? No way was I saying that. Besides, that was the least of his worries right now. He and I both knew that.

GINNY

I kicked a rock and crossed my arms. I didn't like Thomas. I wanted to know who was watching us. The stupid prince? Jakey waved at me, but I kept pouting. "What's wrong Ginny?" he asked.

"I don't like Thomas," I grumbled and kicked another rock into the water. Maria raised an eyebrow at me.

"Are those blueberry bushes?" I asked, pointing to a bush that looked like the blueberries I used to have in my garden. It didn't have any berries yet.

Maria nodded. "I think so. Why? They don't have berries yet."

I rolled my eyes and stomped over to the bush, putting my hand on it and focusing as well as I could. Berries started popping up and growing. Their green turned into purple. I picked one up and shoved it in my mouth, turning around. "Well they do now."

*Sorry I've been away for forever, guys. BTW, I put in a POV change for Scyth.*

Scyth

I smiled to myself. The trail was fresh, the lighting good, and AnnaRose was behaving in a somewhat civilized manner. It was amusing to see her stare up at me, obviously angry, but unable to do anything. It serves her right for trying to kill me. Now, as for my half-brother…

“Han, Han,” I muttered to myself, eyeing the sudden twist in the trail. “Where are you going? It almost looks...” I paused. What it almost looked like was that two small feet and one normal set of prints had gone off somewhere, returned, and the rest of the group followed. However, the first tracks were nearly illegible, due to the other prints trampling over them.

“This way,” I said, straightening. “And keep quiet. They’re close… Swords out, men, and gag the prisoner.” I smiled nastily at AnnaRose.

“We wouldn’t want to lose your little friends, now would we?” I asked in a sickly sweet tone. “After all, it might force me to do something drastic… like set the forest on fire in order to flush them out.” I paused to let this statement sink in. Her eyes narrowed. “Got it?” I pulled away as one of my guards approached with the gag.

Helen

Helen rubbed her eyes and sat down with her back to a tree. Anna’s sword appearing so close to the stream was odd, and Helen did not like it. Not for the first time, she began to feel superstitious. Strange things had happened that night, and she could guess what the old village seer would say about the whole situation.

“Destiny and spirits,” the old man would croak. “Do not fight it, or the spirits will fight you! Respect and beware the dead. Never forget to wear turquoise on a knotted string, for luck.” Yes, that was exactly the kind of thing the old seer would say. Helen had never given much stock to the old man’s ramblings, but he claimed he could talk with the dead.

Her hand went up instinctively to her throat, where a simple knotted necklace and bead hung. While it was true that she did not believe in bad luck, she still wore the turquoise necklace the seer had given her. Just in case.

[I just need a quick update. I haven't read completely through what has happened so far, so I've missed a lot. Help!]

[Raz, basically Scyth's getting close and Han's working at saving our butts. You're still by the stream.]

ANNAROSE

I bit my lip, trying to figure out if this was a good time to spring. I fingered the note again and shoved it further into my pocket. I didn't have a weapon. What would they do when they noticed I was untied? I glanced above me, thinking as quickly as I could. If I jumped high enough I could probably reach the lowest limb...

The soldiers were already making grabs for my arms. I jumped up as quickly as possible, clubbing one in the jaw before the shock wore off. I jumped again, grabbing for the low limb and flinging myself up onto it. "You touch Han or Jakey or any of them and I'll rip your face to shreds," I hissed. Oops. I hadn't meant to say anything...

I climbed higher into the tree, ignoring the now tolerable pain in my leg. My head was clearing quickly, which I decided to take as a good thing. "I'll go with you, but I won't be bound and I most certainly will not be gagged," I announced, feeling slightly better. Thank God for mysterious women in robes and cloaks.

Scyth

I hissed in rage. So much for acting in a somewhat civilized manner.

“You try my patience,” I growled, resisting the urge to zap her out of the trees.

“Nyeh,” AnnaRose said, sticking her tongue out. I gripped the hilt of my sword. The impudent little –

“If you wish to act like a monkey,” I called up to her, “then do so. But if you so much as make a noise, I shall kill every last man, woman, and child in your party. No mercy, no acceptations.”

And, just to make sure she got the message, I shot a bolt of lightning at the branch she was sitting on, making it break off at the trunk. Anna yelped, but managed to jump to another branch in time.

Damn pesky, I thought. That’s what she is. Just a damn pest.

ANNAROSE

I yelped and swung myself onto another branch and narrowed my eyes at him. "Silent as the dead," I muttered. Keep it up and you will be the dead. I warned myself. A weapon... that's what I needed. My sword would be nice, but that was long gone now.

We were getting close to the others. And as far as I was concerned, that was not a good thing. The other would be fine and Scyth would still die, but not until I had the satisfaction of watching him squirm. Or this is what I told myself. Come on Han, get them out of there.

"What do we do with 'im?" One of the soldiers asked. I turned my head to see that he was standing over the body of the soldier I had rendered unconscious. Thank God above I had hit him and not my sympathiser. Then again, if they were close I had probably lost every ounce of sympathy I had.

"Sincerest appologies, I assure you," I muttered sarcastically, smirking. I felt like such a child. What had come over me? He killed your mother and is threatening your friends. That's what's come over you. Right, like that made anything okay.

Scyth was glaring at me. "Shut up or-"

I cut him off. "Or what? You'll shoot another lightning bolt at me? That seems to have gotten you far." I pulled back into the trees, jumping onto another out of sight.

"Whatever happened to silent as the dead?" he hissed.

I rolled my eyes. "Not like they can hear us where they are now anyways." I thought this a good time to shut up and read the note I had gotten. I pulled it out of my back pocket and opened it carefully.

AnnaRose,
I'm writing this now, incase you don't get
answers from me personally. You cannot understand
how happy I was to see you alive that day. I suppose
I chose the right place for you didn't I? You have to
understand that I never wanted to let you go. Every night
I would pray that you were alive and well. Your survival
depended on me abandoning you. Had I not, well let's just say
you wouldn't be alive any longer. This is a secret I cannot
disclose here. I pray that you find it out in time.
-Elizebeth Marie, you're loving mother.

My earlier childishness washed away and I fought back tears. I folded the note carefully and returned it to my pocket before lowering myself into Scyth's view. I glared at him hard. "I swear you die for what you did to my mother, but you'll suffer first. I won't be satisfied until your pretty little head is stuck on a stake and sitting infront of the palace, courtesy of the unconquerable AnnaRose." I disapeared into the trees again before he had a chance to answer. Out of sight, out of mind.