Grave of the Shadows (Starting!)

Tess

"Go quickly, be careful," he instructed.

To me, the words sounded hollow, almost as if he was saying them just to say them. Without thinking about it, my eyes traveled back to the red spot on his coat. It had gotten slightly bigger, but not by much. I felt sick with worry, would he really be okay?

Right after I thought that, Jackie came around with a first aid kit, bandaging up those that were hurt. When she got to Laim, I slipped off his lap and watched as she bandaged his wound. It looked bad, from my point of view. After she was done, I climbed back in his lap. I didn't want to leave him now.

Unconsciously, I clutched his jacket and buried my head into his shoulder. Now that he was here, I felt somewhat better. I would not feel completely better until I was able to see Kyle. Silently, I hoped that Celeste and Anna would come back soon.

Reyna
When Jackie came to bandage me up, I turned away.
"No, don't." I said, and stood up. I was about to walk out, but Liam set his hand on my shoulder.
"No... Reyna. Don't go. It's really dangerous." I pushed his hand off.
"I just almost got killed. I just saved somebody's life. I just got scarred for life. I just got my hair completely chopped off. And you say to stay here. I'm not afraid, and you know it." I said wiping away tears. I ran out, and ran for the woods. When I got there, I climbed into a tree, and tied myself to it. For some reason, I loved trees. They gave me a kind of... comfort. I leaned back. and covered myself in leaves. Then, I rested my aching body.
How Reyna looks now:

Spoiler

Her hair looks somewhat like this, but black.

Jackie

When I went to bandage Reyna's wounds, she flinched away, nearly knocking the bandages out of my hands. As I bent down to pick them up, she started yelling at Liam. I stayed bent down until she was done, not wanting to get caught up in whatever she was going on about.

"I'm not afraid, and you know it!" she screamed, wiping away tears. Then she took off into the woods.

"Reyna!" I called after her, my voice hoarse. "Reyna, we know you're not afraid! There's nothing you have to prove! Reyna--"

I threw my hands up. Shaking my head, I turned to Liam. "Why does she do that?" I asked. "Why does she think that we think she's scared? She just saved our lives back there."

"I don't know," Liam sighed. "I don't know."

"It's not smart," I continued. "She's a heck of a lot more useful alive and well than somewhere in the forest bleeding to death. Does she think she has to prove something?"

"Just give her time," Liam said. "Whatever it is, she wants to work it out on her own."

"Okay," I replied, reluctant to give up so easily. I made myself forget about Reyna for the moment, and got to work on Liam's bandages.

Alexa Noel

I watched Caleb chase after Kyle. At first I had followed, but they were my legs were too short and they were too fast. I saw a fallen tree that made a sort of cave. Silently I curled in and began waiting. A small tear ran down my face and I started wondering where the others were. Finally it was too much. What felt like forever had gone by, and Caleb wasn't back.

I slipped through the forest and into the outskirts of town. I knew the city well, we all did. Up ahead was a little shack where an old couple lived. Liam usually had me bring them food on days when we were assigned missions. Now I was freezing, and I knew they would give me a seat by the fire. I knocked on the door and was admitted with a warm hug and soon awarded a bowl of soup. The woman was quiet, knowing I would give short answers anyway.

"I won't ask what's the matter," her husband murmured after a while, "if something happened to any of you there's nothing I can do about it anyway. I just want to make sure you know to ask for anything that we might be able to help with. I also wanted to warn you, there's a buzzing in the streets that the Nights have caught wind of rebellion among the people. You had better be extra careful for the next few days."

I nodded, finished the soup, hugged them both, and ran back out into the cold evening. My feet carried me to our mansion. I stopped a block away, trying to make sure all was okay. Finally I entered to find the place completely abandoned, and Kyle's sketchbook no where in sight.

Anna Noel

Celeste and I walked quickly through the forest path on our search. We agreed to look for them in the forest areas near the mansion, before we enter the mansion itself.
We searched the perimeter around the mansion as thoroughly as we could before meeting up at the starting point.
“Any luck?”Celeste asked
“no.” I said biting my lip nervously, “I guess you didn’t either.”
“It’s okay. We still haven’t checked inside the mansion yet, they could be inside you know.” She tried to comfort me.
“Yeah” I said while heading towards the mansion.
Though I didn’t feel anywhere near comfortable I appreciated her concern. My reckless brother and my baby sister are missing, I can’t even think straight.
“Anna!” Celeste called in an urgent whisper when I reached the porch.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t think walking in through the front door is a good idea.” She stated.
“Umm… I think your right.” I say sheepishly, as I mentally slap myself.
We use the back window, the same one I used to get to the roof, to climb inside.
We walk through the corridors cautiously, weapons ready in our hands. There seemed to be no life in the house, except us, until we get to Kyle’s room.
Celeste and I stood on either sides of the room, it could either be a night in their or the shadows. Let’s just hope it’s a mouse if not the shadows I thought
Celeste swings the door open and we charge in, only to see a very shocked looking Alexa.
To my relief she looked unharmed. I dropped the dagger that was in my hand and ran to her.
“You scared the life out of me, Alex.” I said and pulled her into a hug, which probably made her uncomfortable, but I didn’t quite care right now.
“You’re not hurt right?” I asked while pulling away.
“”I’m fine. Don’t worry.” She reassured me in her quite voice.
“Where’s Kyle and you’re crazy brother.” I asked
“I don’t know, Kyle ran off and caleb took off after him. We got separated." She said
“great.” I heard Celeste sigh.

Alexa Noel

Anna hugged me and asked about Kyle and Caleb. I answered quickly, staring at the floor. "No sketchbook." I murmured.
"What?" Anna asked in surprised.
"I though that's what he was coming to get." I shrugged and let Anna pull me close. I didn't want to show it, but I was scared. I felt safer knowing that Anna was with me.
"What do we do now?" Celeste questioned.
"Find them." Anna started moving towards the balcony. She stood partly in shadow, gazing over the city. "Find them quickly."
"Where should we look?"
"Kyle wants his sketchbook, he'll go wherever he thinks it might be." I said quietly. Anna nodded thoughtfully.
"I think I saw Tess grab it. But would Kyle assume one of us Shadows took it or would he think it was a Night? He might be looking through our hiding places or waltzing up to the castle to confront the Nights. I'd suggest we start looking through hiding places." Celeste started out, closely followed by me and Anna.

Justia
I was running through the alleys. I ran and ran. The Night jumped in front of me, and struck me in my heart. I screamed.
I sat up, and saw the room become quiet around me. Liam had his hand pressed to my forehead. I screamed. His face was black. He was a Night. Now a pink pony was flying around my head. Then, I felt an arrow graze my cheek. I saw a raccoon on my lap, and a parrot on my shoulder. I screamed again. BLACK.
"Justia! Wake up," I heard Liam say. I looked at him. He was normal. I felt my cheek. No arrow. I looked down at my lap, no raccoon. I looked at my shoulder. No parrot. No flying pony either.
"What's going-" I try to say, then everything turns black again.

Spoiler

She's hallucinating. She also has a fever.

Kyle

I turned to the right then left again and made sure I lost Caleb completely. I saw the house in front of me and raced to it. I ran through the door and up the stairs looking for my sketchbook everywhere. It wasn't in the hole I left it yesterday which means someone must have taken it. No one knew where it was except me, Tess, and Liam. Liam wouldn't have taken it. He didn't care anything about me and less about my drawing. Tess might have though. The Nights would never have found it and surely they weren't looking for it. They were more interested in finding the Shadows than finding my sketchbook. I jumped out my second story window and landed on the ground with my knees bent then sped off in the direction of the town. If someone saw me now I honestly wouldn't care. I wasn't so concerned about my sketchbook now but I felt that I needed to run from the rest. I felt I needed to get away. So I ran, and ran, and ran.

Liam Knightly

I sat with Justia, watching her scream and turn and murmur. I felt so helpless; I could think of nothing to do to help her. "We need medicine," I said into the air. Tess looked up, but she knew I wouldn't let her go alone anyway. Rodr seemed like the obvious choice, so I turned to him. "Do we have any friends that could help?"

"We've helped them out before, but I do not think that qualifies them as a friend. Still, I'll go and ask anyone trustworthy." As he reached the exit he stopped, "and yes, I'll be careful, and yes, I'll keep an eye out for Rosette and Kyle and, well, everyone else."

Jackie

"Rodr, take a sword, or something," I called after him. "That Night might still be out there." Rodr patted his sword, already strapped to his belt, and stalked outside, his footsteps silent.

"Man, I hope they're alright," I muttered, referring to the others. How had they all gotten separated? I knew they were all little kids, but they were competent, they knew what to do in a situation like this.

I patted Justia's head in a feeble attempt to comfort her, but my mind was elsewhere. I was worried about Jazz--he was sitting in a corner by himself, staring blankly down at the ground. I got up and sat down next to him. He glanced sideways at me, but other than that, he didn't move.

"You alright, little brother?" I asked, mussing his hair. He nodded without looking at me. He was trying to be strong, but I could tell that he was still really scared.

"What's going to happen to Justia?" Jazz asked timidly.

I hesitated before replying. "She'll be okay," I said, giving Jazz a little hug. "We're working on it." He nodded, content with my answer, and then curled into a ball next to me. I sighed, and looked across the room at Justia, hoping I hadn't just lied to Jazz.

Rodr

"We need medicine," Liam said after what could have been a minute or a year.Tessa started to stir, but Liam turned to me. "Do we have any friends that can help?"

I remembered an old herbalist we'd aided once, but I didn't really know him. I shrugged. "We've helped them out before, but I don't think that qualifies them as a friend." Then again, we were getting desperate. "Still," I added, rising, "I'll go and ask anyone trustworthy." I went to the exit and paused as Liam drew breath. "And yes, I'll be careful, and yes, I'll keep and eye out for Renya and Kyle and... well, everyone else."

"Rodr, take a sword, or something," Jackie called after me. "That Night might still be out there."

I just tapped a hand on the sword strapped to my back and left, sticking to the shadows until I was far enough away that no one would suspect. There were people out again, so I blended into the crowds, working my way to the herbalist's shop. Surely he wouldn't ask any unwanted questions, or tell anyone where we were. If he did - well, then we'd find a way out. We always did.

The herbalist wasn't there. A boy was - probably a grandson, or a kid from the streets who helped there - and he informed me that the old man would be back by tomorrow at earliest.

"Maybe I'll return then," I said, leaving. But something told me Justia didn't have until tomorrow - I had to find help now. But the herbalist was unavailable, and I didn't trust anyone else. Keeping myself as composed as I could, I set off, just another body in the dirty, forsaken streets. There had to be someone!

Suddenly I heard the tramping of marching feet, and I realized that there were patrols out still - patrols searching for the Shadow children. I recognized the man who had confronted me earlier and really did curse then. I ducked into an alley, but someone barreled into me, knocking me back out into the road and scattering people away. I realized with surprise that it was Kyle, running from the direction of the mansion.

"Freeze!" the decorated man bellowed, pointing at me.

"Run!" I cried at Kyle, grabbing his arm and sprinting back into the alley. Hopefully we could lose them. If not... I put my free hand on the hilt of my sword. I'd buy Kyle time to escape, if I had to.

Reyna
I woke up, and climbed down from my tree. Running through the woods, I checked that I still had my sword on my back. I did. I ran through the woods, and into the alleys. I didn't know where I was running, but I kept running. I've got to find someone to help Justia.... I just gotta. She can't die like---- It hurt me just thinking of my sibling. I ran on, then, I slammed into someone.
"Ooops I'm sorr--" I mumbled, but he caught my arm.
"Shadow... you?" He grunted. They've caught me.... I looked everywhere, and found a dark corner.
"Uhm, shadawow kwid?" I faked an accent. "Ooh... Me not shadawow kwid! You shadawow kwid?" I said, looking dumb, and drooling a little. "Cuz me no shadawow kwid." I said, slowly backing towards a wall.
"Oh, you aren't a shadow? Of course you are.... I think." he said, half mumbling.
"Haha. Me no shadawow kwid! You cwazy!" I said, drooling onto his hand. He pulled his arm away, and I spit into his face. He wiped his face, and in that moment, I ducked into the shadows. Shadawow kwids indeed. Huh. I'd teach them. He looked around, bewildered. Then, realizing his mistake, growled. Just then, I saw two running shapes, with many other shadows behind them.
"Run!" I heard. It sounded like Kyle. I saw Kyle and Rodr run, closely followed by some mean looking people. I pulled out my sword, and twisted it slightly. It lit up. I charged at the mob, and slashed at the shocked people. Then, before they could swipe back, I ran. With all of my strength I ran. I was a fast runner, and in a few minutes, caught up with Kyle and Rodr.
"Reyna!" said Rodr. I nodded. An arrow whistled by and I pushed Kyle just in time for him to miss it. I kept running, but could see that Kyle was tired. I'm good at running. I've been running all my life. Well, but then I was running from Celeste, and now.... Kyle was slowly slowing down. He was sobbing for air, and I could feel my stomach knot up too.
"This way." I said, and turned into a side street. I knew this is the street of my best friend. I ran until I saw her house, then ran for the door.
"What are you doing!" said Rodr, following me. My friend opened the door, and I ran in with Kyle close behind me. She closed the door, and barred it. She put two locks on it too.
"Come. We must hurry. They're after you, Reyna and ----" she said.
"Oh. These are Rodr and Kyle." I reply. She took us through the house, to the back. Then, as if expecting us, had three cups of water out. We gulped it down, and ran out of the back door, with a small thanks. I hugged her. We ran, and ran.
"Where now? We've lost them...." I asked Rodr.

Kyle

I grabbed Rodr's arm and ran. He was practically pulling me through the streets behind him. The Night's were chasing us and apparently gaining on us. Just then, like a lightning bolt, Reyna jumped from the shadows and joined us. We were all running together and I began to slow down. What was I doing? I wasn't quite ready to return and face everyone else. Especially not Alexa. She and Caleb probably thought I was crazy to run off like that! I wanted to give them time to forget. I lagged behind even more and after some exasperated glances from Reyna, we turned into an alley and into a doorway. There a girl gave us some water and we set off again. I began running with them and make sure to stay behind them. When I was sure they weren't looking at me, I darted into a side alley. Just as took off again I heard Reyna.
"Where now? We've lost them..." There was some shuffling and then Rodr spoke up.
"I think we've lost more than the Nights! Where's Kyle?" I heard footsteps and darted off, making sure no one saw me. I'd get back to them eventually. I just wanted to give it time...

Alexa Noel

We heard a commotion coming from a nearby street. Celeste peeked out just in time to see a two boys charge out, followed by a fat bumbling soldier. Celeste growled and uttered a curse under her breath. "Kyle and Rodr. What do they think they're doing? And where's Caleb, I thought he was supposed to be with Kyle. They're lucky the Nights are letting their incapable soldiers lead the chase rather than doing it themselves."

"Caleb," I murmured. I had seen his almost invisible form behind an empty market stall. It took Anna a few minutes to spot him.

"I'm going to kill him," she whispered, but I knew she had been worried. Caleb caught our eye and we started walking in the direction Kyle and Rodr had taken off. The few people in the streets were pointing and whispering, and it was easy to follow the curious crowd that was following behind the soldier. It seemed the chase had ended in a ramshackle street.

"Reyna's friend lives here," I said, interrupting Caleb's rant, trying to figure out where we were. He seemed upset that I had figured it out instead of him, but gave me a smile anyway and together we all slipped through the door. A girl was waiting for us, I had gone with Reyna to visit her a few times.

"They went out that door," she told us, handing each of us some water. We drank it eagerly, and as we rested I listened to Caleb and Anna catch up. It was amazing to think it had only been a day. Though now it was getting late and too dark to do anything. "Maybe you should stay here for the night. The Nights have been posting that no one is to be outside after dark. It's already dark. They know the Shadow Children are out, and plans to trap you."

"I need to find Rodr and Kyle," Celeste said, "but the rest of you should stay."

"I'll come," I murmured. Everyone glanced at me. "I want to. I'm closest to Reyna and Kyle." It wasn't exactly true. No one was close to Reyna, and Kyle and I rarely spoke. But I was closer in age. Besides, Caleb and Anna wanted to talk. Reluctantly they agreed.