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

[wait, I'm lost, whats going on?]

Zanea

I couldn't believe what was happening. Confusion clouded my mind. What was going on? "AnnaRose!" I screamed. Jacob was crying. Someone was fighting.
Help me, please, I prayed.

sunstarfrozenlife wrote:[wait, I'm lost, whats going on?]

[AnnaRose was fighting and I heard the clang of metal, rushed in, and used my ability to immobilize a guard and the prince. I also used my ability to make her follow the rest of you. You guys were running. My ability, by the way, is to send signals into OTHER people's brains that tells them to feel pain in whatever part of their body or to move whatever part of their body. Just...sending signals into other people's brains.]

ANNAROSE

I shook my head. What was going on? I didn't want to run, I wanted to finish off the prince! Who the heck was that guy back there anyways? I stopped cold and turned around to face whoever had made me run.

"Get your butt out here!" I shouted into the trees.

A girl dropped from the trees, grinning at me. "I helped you, you should be greatful."

"The prince deserves to die. I could have finished him!" I shouted. She shook her head at me. "How did you do that anyways?" I grumbled.

"I can send signals." She shrugged her shoulders. I stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out the weakness in her power. We all had them, what was hers? There had to be a limit somwhere. "My name's Pierce," she said, breaking into my thoughts.

"AnnaRose. I need to finish what I started." She nodded so I continued. "There's a group of people up there, three girls and two men plus two little boys. I need you to do something for me and I feel over-trusting. Could you do me this favor?" I stared her down, hoping she got the picture.

She stared at me for a moment, but nodded anyways. "What do you need?" She didn't seem thrilled with the idea, but she wasn't refusing either.

"I need you to talk to Han. Just ask for him, tell them that Rose sent you. I need you to tell them that I've gone after the prince and that if I am not back by tomorrow morning, I've been captured."

She nodded again. "Do I get anything out of this?"

I rolled my eyes. There was always a catch. "Food, a place in our little group and protection." I waited for her reply. Half of me was screaming at her telepathicly to refuse my offer, but the other half wanted desperately to finish off that brat of a prince.

[Trying to talk in past tense]
Pierce
I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. For someone inviting me into her group, she didn't seem too happy about it. In fact, there was obvious murder in her eyes, hopefully directed at the prince.

"Well?" The girl, AnnaRose-Rose-growled impatiently.

"Sure," I replied pleasantly, tossing in a too-happy-to-be-real smile. That ticked her off and earned me a death glare. Sure, I was not off on the right foot, but what could I say? I hadn't run into actual people for weeks, I was starving, and I was sick of trees which for me is not normal! Result? Bad mood. Fact of life.

"I swear, if you betray us...," she shook her head angrily. Rose seemed to have the admirable quality of appearing in charge. As much as I liked her for that, I wasn't having any of it.

I crossed my arms. "Not unless you give me a reason to." Rose continued glaring for a couple seconds then turned and walked back towards the prince, and I walked towards the group. What was that guys name? Han? As stupid as it is, I want them to like me, or at least trust me. Rose's trust-o-meter was deep in the red zone.

After a bit of walking, I found the group, huddled in a circle, looking up at me like I had three eyes and a tail. One of them was cuddling a small wolf. "Who are you?" a little boy whispered.

"My name is Pierce, and I'll be part of your little group from now on," I announced, plopping myself down into a sitting position.

"Do you have special powers?" asked the girl with the wolf. I nodded, and looked into her eyes, sending a message. Suddenly she stood, ran around the tree twice, and sat back down, excitement in her eyes. "How did you do that?!"

Shrugging, I said, "I can send signals. Hey, which one of you is Han?"

"I am," mumbled a boy around my age.

"Rose sent me. She told me to tell you that she's after the prince, but if she's not back by tomorrow, she's been captured." He looked up, worried. "Don't worry about her," I assured him, "she seems like a pretty capable person. Besides, I...incapacitated the prince." The way they were staring at me didn't exactly make me feel welcome, more like someone to be feared. Fear felt good, but it also hurt.

ANNAROSE

I was annoyed. Peeved really. Afraid also, for myself and for the rest of the group. What would happen if I was unsuccesful? I sighed and ran back to where the prince was.

He was only just recovering when I got there and he glared at me. "You little..." I grinned. It ticked him off more by the looks of things. "You. Will. Not. Get. Away. With. That." He almost scared me.

"I didn't do it," I shrugged. I couldn't show my fear. I needed to go back to the old Rose, the fearless, hidden one.

"You almost took my life once. You're back here and you look fearless? What? Do you think that I won't kill you?" He was pissed.

"Oh, I know full-well you'll kill me given the chance. Don't think that I'm any different." I shrugged. I felt more like myself again.

He opened his mouth, but I lunged at him before he could say anything. He knelt down and picked up his sword, blocking me. He was quick. Two more guards appeared out of the forest. Great. And this time Helen wasn't around with her arrows. I sighed. Better now than never.

I dodged a blow from one of the soldiers, blocking a blow from the other. I rolled out of the prince's way. This was going to be interesting. I brought myself up and jumped onto one of the guard's back. He started flailing wildly. I almost laughed, but it didn't see appropriate. I wrapped my legs around his stomach, catching his sword with mine and flinging it into the forest. My new favorite move. I grinned.

The other guard grabbed my soldiers and tried to drag me off of his companion's back. I flipped over his head, wrenching my shoulders free from his grasp. A sharp pain ran up my arms, but I ignored it.

I flung myself over the prince, grabbing two fistfulls of hair and pulling them backwards. He landed on his back in a scream of pain. He flipped up, an unexpected move on my part and kicked me in the face. I grunted and stumbled backwards. Not a bad move. I could feel blood dribbling down my lips and chin. Not a bad move at all. I was hurting, but I had to ignore it.

I was still in a daze, one of the guards elbowed me in the cheeck and kneed me in the stomach. I felt something jab into my leg and I screamed. A blade.

Pierce
The second her scream carried to our part of the woods, Han was up on his feet and running towards the sound. I scrambled up and tripped, landing face down in the dirt. Wow. How graceful am I. Then I was running again, and managed to get Han to turn around and come back.

"She needs help," he protested. I stood there, arms crossed, and shook my head.

"I'm sure she only got hurt or something. It happens in fights to the death. Let me check it out, okay? I began walking into the woods when I heard two girls said a simultaneous "Wait!". To my right, they came up beside me. The one closest to me was dark skinned, and the other one looked...well, vampirish. Pale skin, dark hair.

"I'm Helen, she's Zanea, and we are coming with you," declared the girl closest to me.

"Yeah, we can't leave her!" growled Zanea. I guess I'd forgotten that other people might feel strongly about something like this, so I didn't protest. My fingers curled around the handle of my dagger, and I pulled it free from where it was tied around my leg. Not the best place for a dagger, but it works. We started to run.

When she came into view, she looked angry that we were here. Two guards were holding her down, a shocking amount of blood was oozing from her legs, and the prince's sword was raised, so I didn't think this was the best time for her to worry about her pride. Throw your sword into that tree, I thought, and the prince did so. He stared in disbelief over at me.

"It was you..." he murmured in disbelief. I was beginning to feel dizzy. That was the fifth time I used my powers in one day. Either way I managed a smug smile. Medium sized rocks began to lift from the ground. Startled, I looked around, and realized Helen was moving them. The rocks surged toward the guards, hitting them both in the heads. They went down like...well, rocks. Helen smiled at me as I stared, dumbfounded.

Using the last bit of strength I could, I made the prince freeze. I walked up to him, place my dagger under his throat, then whispered, "Now's your time to die."

"No! He's mine!" screamed Rose. I nodded, and released the prince. Run. He did. I used my ability way too much today. I passed out.

Zanea
"Pierce!"
Ok, so I couldn't be too mad at him for straining himself. He had just saved us all- and in a pretty cool way, too. But AnnaRose had good reason to be upset- she had just lost her chance to kill the prince. Which was apparently her deepest wish- she was willing to go to the dungeons for it.
"Alright, get him somewhere comfortable," Helen said hurriedly. I supposed she knew about this from having brothers. Poor girl.
Pierce didn't come to, though. Although I would expect Rose to be pissed at him for ruining her chance to kill prince idiot, she showed admirable concern. That girl was stronger than I gave her credit for.

ANNAROSE

"Helen, Zenea, help her out. Thank you for coming back." Tears threatened to overspill, because of both pain and that they had actually come back. I was surprised at Helen especially. I had been so hard on her... They nodded at me and managed to pick her up. "Take her back. Make sure she's okay." They nodded again. They paused, staring at the daggar protruding from my leg.

"Sit down. You can go after the prince once I get rid of this daggar," Helen demanded. I nodded. She sighed. "We should have gotten Erika to come," she muttered. "This is gonna hurt, sorry."

I nodded and braced myself against the tree as Helen yanked the daggar free. Her eyes widened as blood dripped from the wound. "Zanea, get me something to bandage this up with!"

Zanea nodded, her face going even more pale than usual. Obviously this wasn't her field. Zanea searched around for something to use but unable to find anything she ripped a piece of cloth from her own clothing and handed it to Helen. They wrapped it around my leg and fastened it.

Zanea stood up and brushed off her hands. "Can you walk?" I sighed and took a step. It hurt like nothing I had ever felt before. I shook my head.

"That arogant little brat doesn't deserve to live," I snarled through gritted teeth. Even I knew that I couldn't go after him.


"The moment this heals up, I'm going after him. If he comes back, he takes me and only me. Feel free to rush to my rescue only after you're well-prepared though." I still couldn't believe how foolish I had been. I couldn't take on all three of them. Three guards, no sweat. Four soldiers even, but the prince? He had trained hard. "Take me back. The prince will get what's coming to him soon enough," I muttered.

I let them help me back to the group.

[sunstar! Pierce is a girl! It's not just a boy name, you know.]

[i know. Sorry, Raz, i was thinking she was Jacob's sibling who is a guy 0.o oops]

back to the story

Jacob

I watched Han walk up and down irritably. I could tell he wanted to know what was going on; he kept muttering to himself. I turned back to Lex.

"What do you think is happening?" He asked worriedly biting his bottom lip. I shrugged and poked a stick in the ground. I glanced up from the hole I was making and listened hard. I thought I had heard a shuffling and a groaning noise. Was it a guard? No, it sounded like three or four girls. I looked around us, squinting through the trees.

"Rose!" I said as I spotted her. I ran through the trees to meet her and gasped when I saw her pale face. "Rose?" I asked confused. She attempted a smile through gritted teeth and said,

"Hey Jacob." I noticed that she winced every time her leg touched the floor. I tried to push in next to Helen who was helping support her.

"Let me help!" I said jumping up to try and reach Rose's arm. Pierce, the girl who we had seen briefly when she came to tell us about Rose, picked me up and gave me a cuddle.

"Come little strong man," she said as she put me back on the floor, "take my hand and lead me back to the group yeah?" She asked. I nodded and took her hand, pulling her in front of Helen, Zanea and Rose.

"This way!" I said confidently.

ANNAROSE

I smiled weakly at Jacob. He had lost so much, but all he wanted was to help. I watched as he led a staggering Pierce back towards the group. She had just come to and still wasn't in the best shape, but she refused help.

My leg felt like it was on fire and my face throbbed. I could taste the copper on my lips; it made me want to vomit.

The rest of the group came back into view, all watching with worried expressions. Parker was leaning against a tree tsunk.

I looked at him with mock fury. "I thought I told you that you owed me your life," I said through gritted tteeth.

"I didn't think you met-" hevstarted, but I cut him off.

"I'm kidding Parker." He rolled his eyes and I managed a short laugh.

Han approached me, wide-eyed. "You're such an idiot, Anna," he muttered.

Making it back to the group took longer than necessary. I kept seeing more than one Jacob and following the wrong one. This was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me, ever. One thing I learned about passing out: Thinking = Major headache.

Once we got back I thanked him and he beamed at me. Children are so eager to please, so ready to help that I felt sorry for this boy. Just the very fact that he was here meant he had nowhere else to go, no one to help but this group...yet this group was pretty good by themselves.

After a few moments of sitting on cold hard ground I was already getting twitchy. It felt so much better to be above the world looking down on everyone and everything, peaceful and alone. I pulled myself awkwardly up a large oak and once I settled between two branches I was out cold again. Or asleep. Either way I was unconscious and exhausted.