Grave of the Shadows (Starting!)

Tess

When we were running, a strange noise echoed around us. Staring in the direction of the noise, a black flare appeared over the horizon and the dropped down. Suddenly, every nerve in my body was screaming danger.

Right as that happened Rodr handed Jazz and me some bags, saying that he was going to find out what was wrong and then he took off. Celeste looked like she was about to protest, but ended up saying nothing. After he left we continued to our new hideout.

Once there, the door opened and then someone ran out. I turned to look behind me to see who it was, but they were already gone. My arms had started to hurt by now, so I walked in and placed the blankets down. Looking around, I noticed that Kyle, Alexa and Caleb where not it in here. Which means that they are still out there, possibly in danger. Not only that but they didn't know where the new hideout was, which means they may return to the house. What if the bad guys where there when they go there? I could feel myself pale a the thought.

Silently, I opened the door and stepped out. Once in the clear, I took off back toward the house. I would wait in the safety of the shadows, until I saw them or I ran out of time. After all, I was 9, I could do this.

Celeste

I saw Tess walk out and I started to freak.

"Tess!! Stop!" I yelled. I turned to Jazz, "I'll be right back. STAY HERE."

I ran out after Tess and stopped her in her tracks. "What are you doing?!" I asked as I crouched down beside her. "Trust me, everythings gonna be okay," I said as tried to get her to come back.

Tess

"Trust me, everythings gonna be okay," Celeste said as she crouched next to me.

I could feel myself freeze after the words her left her mouth. I then proceeded to look at her and then stare back at the ground. If I looked her in the eye, there was no way I was going to be able to do this.

"But...what about Kyle and everyone else...they don't know where we are..." I whispered while trailing off. I could feel my eyes start to water, blinking rapidly I tried to get rid of the tears that clouded my vision. I would not cry, not now. I had to be strong.

Reyna
I screamed. The Night had me trapped. He had stepped in front of me, and had grabbed my arm. He had tried to stab my arm, but missed. Instead, his scythe went through my jacket, and through the top of the roof. I felt myself pinned down to the roof. I held my sword in my left hand, and protected myself against the blows that he was dealing at me with a sword. Then, I sliced at his feet, and he stopped slicing, and jumped up and down in rage. He threw a dagger at Liam who was coming to my rescue, and hit him in his shoulder.
"Liam! Move!" I screamed as he threw another dagger at him. Liam moved just in time to miss the dagger. The dagger stood there in the roof, quivering.
"Reyna!" shouted Liam. I lifted my sword just in time. He could have chopped off my head! I groaned in frustration. How could I possibly ever defeat him? As the Night left me pinned to the ground, to go attack Liam, who was trying hard to take the dagger out of his shoulder, I sliced my jacket, and stood up, blood trickled out of my wounds. My longer hair was now short, and got in my eyes. I had cut it off to save my life. Oh man. I was finally becoming beautiful... No time for beauty right now. I ran over to Liam's rescue, and stabbed the Night's back just as he was about to strike Liam. He turned around and brought his sword downwards. It hit grazed my right arm. I blinked away tears, and wiped my face. Blood mixed with sweat blinded me, and I used my jacket to wipe my face. When I looked back, the Night was gone. Gone? yes, gone.
"Liam... What-" I asked.
"Magic, Reyna. He disappeared." sighed Liam. He still couldn't pull the dagger out of his arm. I saw the wrenching pain in his eyes, but he turned away.
"Let me-" I said, sitting down beside him. I grasped the dagger, then sat back. I couldn't make myself do it. First I tore more of my shirt sleeve, and prepared it.
"Do it, Reyna." he said, and I pulled with all my strength. He turned away, I would guess to hide the tears. I wiped some of the blood away. He took his heavy jacket off, and I started wrapping his shoulder as best as I could. Then, he put his jacket back on. "Reyna... Your cheek, your hair, your arms..." he cried out as he looked at me, I felt my cheek, and when I looked at my hand, it was covered in blood. I felt my hair, and it was very short. I looked at my arms, and they were also bleeding. My jacket was torn, my shirt was torn, my pants were torn... everything felt torn. And I had not been able to kill the Night.... Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I stood up. Liam stood also, and started climbing down from the roof. He put his arm around me, and hugged me. I leaned my head on his shoulder as we walked, and wept bitterly. I'm ugly. I'm scarred for life, and I didn't kill the Night....

Rodr

I tried to shove through the masses of people in the streets, cursing under my breath at them. Before long, though, people started running away from the plume of black. I shouted in frustration as they pummeled past me.

"Out of the way!" I finally shouted, drawing my sword. Almost immediately the crowds made a wide path as they fled, and I ran towards the place where the blackness had been - it was gone now.

I saw two figures climbing down a roof - they stopped as I rounded a corner and came into sight. I shoved my sword in its sheath and climbed piles of rubble until I got to them.

Renya and Liam were leaning against each other, covered in blood and dirt. I was too late - I'd missed my chance to be a help. Liam looked bad, but Renya was worse. Almost all of her hair had been sliced off, and she was bruised and bloodied. She was sobbing as well.

"What happened?" I demanded, running to them. Blood poured out of Renya's arm - I tore off my coat and started wrapping it tightly around the wound. I had to stay calm. Calm. I felt stony hardness start to take over again. I had to be hard.

Suddenly a voice cried, "Don't move!" I looked down and realized that we weren't alone. There were a dozen archers down in the streets, bows at the ready. The speaker was a man who held a sword so ornate I wondered if he could actually use it. I rose, drawing my sword. "I said don't move!" he cried, and the archers drew and aimed. I had just enough time to dive back down as arrows whizzed over my head. I was safe for now, hidden by the flat roof, but this was bad.

Spoiler

You said there would be an army, right?.... This isn't exactly an army, but I thought I'd at least acknowledge that.

Jackie

I followed Liam down into the street. Liam was half-carrying Reyna, who had a nasty cut on her arm. We had to find the others fast--Reyna's sleeve was already soaked in blood. If we didn't get that bandaged soon, she might pass out.

Down in the street, Rodr had appeared, sword drawn, probably wanting to help us. When he saw us, he sheathed his sword and ran over. "What happened?!" he demanded.

"A Night," I replied. "The rest is pretty self-explanatory."

Rodr took a quick look at Reyna's arm, and started making a bandage out of his coat. I helped Liam support her as Rodr tied the bandage tight. She looked bad, but she was strong. If we could get back to the others, she'd be alright.

Then something down the street caught my eye. I nudged Rodr, but he didn't notice.

"Don't move!" someone shouted. It must have been a Night--no one else would carry a sword that huge. The Night was flanked by twelve archers, their bows aimed directly at us. Rodr spun around, drawing his sword when he saw the archers.

"I said don't move!" the Night snarled. The archers let their arrows fly. Rodr dived out of the way, and I followed him, rolling to break my fall. I hoped Liam would be alright with Reyna--I wouldn't have been able to support her on my own. I ducked behind a wide rooftop and immediately looked back across the street. Liam had dragged Reyna out of harm's way, but other than that, things weren't looking good.

"The others are back that way," Rodr said to me. "On the other side of the street, in the forest."

"Okay, good," I muttered. "Rodr, we can make it across if we move fast. Come on!"

I grabbed a plank of wood for protection, and darted across the street, Rodr close behind me. Two arrows embedded themselves in my wooden shield, and another just grazed my shoulder. I kept running, not even noticing the pain until I was across the street. I dived behind Liam's pile of rubble and sat there for a few moments, wiping the blood off my jacket.

"Okay, Rodr," I said. "Where did you say the others were?"

Reyna
I half limped- half ran. Liam was trying as hard as he could to carry my weight, but I could tell he was getting tired. I had wrapped his shoulder as good as possible, but it had bled through, and I could see that it hurt. Liam winced when he moved. Both of my arms were swollen. My left one was only slightly scraped, but my right one... That was a whole different matter. It was not only swollen, but bleeding like crazy! I kept dodging arrows that were shot at me, and ducked through alleys. I'm never going to be pretty now. Everyone will know me from the marks on my arms and face... Still tears of frustration were streaming down my bloody cheeks, mixing with sweat. I'll survive....

Anna Noel
After Reyna got us to the cave, I took off in to the forest instead of going in with them. I ran to where the flare was fired. I really wanted to help but I had to stop several times in the forest path in accounts of my ankle joints going numb. I guessed it was because of my wet clothes or because I’ve been running around a lot today.
When I finally got there I saw that my comrades had been surrounded by the nights.
I unstrapped the long range riffle that I had drabbed for the mansion and got ready to fire. I was just about to pull the trigger when I notice that the shadows were making their own escape.
I decided not to shoot at all because even if I got 3 or 4 of the bad guys, I’ll only draw unnecessary attention to myself and probably also put the shadow children in harms way. I got up off the ground and quickly made my way to where they should be.
They were all on the ground bloodied and bruised. I gasped quietly at the sight. I walked towards them noisily so I wouldn’t startle them. They saw me coming but didn’t say anything. It looked like Liam and Reyna had it the worst. Compared to them Jackie and Rodr looked relatively unharmed, but then again who am I to talk.
“How can I help?” I asked
“You can help us get home.” Said Liam
Even though they were all hurt, there was an air of satisfaction around them. The fought against a night and made it out alive. That was something that we weren’t sure of.

Spoiler

It could have been the girl, I can't remember what her name was. But if she was wearing a cloak they wouldn't know. The Shadows don't know much about the Nights except that there are five of them and they killed their parents.

Liam

Somehow we had managed to slip into shadow and avoid a second battle. A few arrows still flew here and there, but I could hear the frustration coming from the archers. How were they supposed to shoot at a target they couldn't see?
"Just get us home," I told Anna, who had slipped to join us. "Though we should wait, to make sure the archers don't see us. Then again, if we wait they'll have time to cal for help." As one we stood and started walking towards the forest. After a while I picked up Reyna, despite her protests, and carried her on my back. I ignored the pain in my left arm, feeling thankful that it hadn't been the right one.

Rodr began pushing at some kind of rock door, revealing a cave. I slipped in, instructing everyone else to do the same. "No one leaves or moves or does anything until I say," Anna opened her mouth to protest but once she caught the seriousness in my eyes she stopped. I began searching the dark room to see the faces of the Shadow Children. "Reyna, Justia, Celeste, Rodr, Anna, Tessa, Celeste, Jackie, Jazz," I froze. "Kyle's missing, along with Caleb and Alexa. They split off after the initial attack and fire. I imagine they went to the woods. We'll send a search party to find them later today, but for now we need to figure out what's wrong here. Celeste, has there been any improvement in Justia? Jackie, are you hurt? Reyna, I know you need to sleep. Is anyone else hurt?"

Tessa sniffed, and I motioned for her to come. She sat on my lap and gently wiped the spot where red was dripping through my jacket. I smiled, but I don't think it reached my smile. "I'm all right. So are the others. I would know if they were in trouble. Still, we need a search party."

Celeste stood up, and I nodded, she must have been tired of staying her, out of the action and not sure if the rest of us were okay. Reyna also stood, but I shook my head and told her to stay. Anna also joined Celeste, after all, it was her siblings. "Go quickly, be careful," I instructed, though I knew it was just for the sake of saying something.

Celeste

Before I went to go find them, I leaned over Justia. "I'll be right back. I promise. Stay good." I glanced at Liam and nodded for him to take are of her while I was gone.

I slipped through the opening with Anna and started looking. "Alright, So where did we see them last? Maybe they went back to the house to look for us, or..." I glanced around, pulling my hood over my head.

Kyle

"Kyle!" Alexa slapped me on the cheek despite my cut forehead. "You're not listening to me! I said we can't go back!"
"But," I said. "My sketchbook! I need my sketchbook! I can't leave it there!"
"Kyle, you have to come with us. It's too dangerous to go back. We have to find the rest!" said Caleb,
"No. I'm not going. You know what? You guys go without me. I'm quite capable of finding you guys later. I hate you two bossing me and I'm free to do whatever I want. Even kill myself if that's what I want to do. So just leave me alone!" I scream and run off in the direction of the house. Caleb chases me and grabs my arm but I bite his fingers, hard.
"If we're divided against each other we can't fight as one! We have to unite ourselves!" said Caleb as I kept running.
"Leave me alone! I just want to be alone.." I was sobbing. "I hate who I am. I want to change something, be someone special, but you guys always get all the fun. I need to do something for myself!" I blindly crashed through the bushes knowing that it's a stupid thing to give my position away. But currently I didn't really care what happened to me. If a Night killed me, at least that would be a glorious death.