The following was written by yours truly. :D Enjoy!
Dictionary
Spelling
• Rayne: Ray nn
• Xander: zahn der
• Umbra: umm bruh
Meaning: Shadow
• Quitze: cwit zee
Meaning: Fatal Laughter
• Solaris: soe lar is
Meaning: Sun
• Vox: vo cs
Meaning: Voice
• Ubiquitous: uh BI cue tus
Meaning: Always present, Everywhere
• Balum: bah lum
Meaning: Sorcerer
• Amalgam: uh MAL gum
Meaning: a Mixture
• Meztli: mez th lee
Meaning: Moon
• Eleuia: eleh u ee a
Meaning: Wish
• Etapalli: eet uh pah lee
Meaning: Wing
• Atl: ah tuhl
Meaning: Water
• Izel: iy zehl
Meaning: Unique
• Ollin: oh lihn
Meaning: Movement
Untitled
Written by: Lily
Prologue
When Rayne was three, she went to preschool for the first time. Her teacher asked the students to draw pictures of their favorite animal. Without thinking Rayne drew a picture of a dolphin, her hand seeming to know where to go on it's own. The end result was a dolphin that looked better than something a highschooler could do, much less a preschooler. The girl next to her leaned over and copied her exactly, but Rayne didn't mind until the teacher came around and said that the girls work was amazing, and she had never seen anything like it before, and gave her a gold star. This still didn't annoy Rayne too much, but then teacher had to look at her drawing, pat her on the head, and say "Good job, Rayne, but please don't copy June's work from now on, ok?", which would have been bad enough, but then June gave her a little smirk and said "I don't like it when you copy me." , before going back to admiring her gold star. Rayne glared at her with all her might and clenched her fists together as tightly as possible. All of a sudden, she found herself above a picnic table, floating above it but when she looked around she realized she held no true physical form. She was looking down on a little girl’s third birthday party, and she realized with shock that the little girl was June. She was blowing out the candle on a cupcake while everyone around her sung happy birthday.
Startled, Rayne felt herself plummet back into the little red chair she was had been sitting on, her fists uncurled and palms facing up towards the sky. She turned to stare at June with a look of horror. June seemed to be thinking of a pleasant memory, a faint smile playing on her lips. Her eyes snapped back into focus and she dug around in her backpack for something. She retrieved her hand holding a little cupcake, almost identical to the one Rayne had seen. She gulped it down in one bite.
Chapter 1
Rayne
Rayne tried to forget what had happened that day, but it was hard to. She wondered what had actually happened, and often she sat, staring into space, dreaming up theories that held one flaw or another. She often dreamed about floating, floating above people she didn't know, watching them hastily. Almost every night this was her dream, but always with different people doing different things. She didn't think much of it, to her, these were just dreams, unimportant and unordinary.
She was 15, and the smallest sophomore at the James Garfield Day School, the school she had gone to since kindergarten. She was short, and dainty, with long, thin, very strait light brown hair, the longest in the class. It fell all the way down to her waist, and whenever she tried to cut it short it just grew back again. Finally she stopped trying. The thing most peculiar about Rayne were her eyes. They were big, and full, rimmed with lots of long, brown lashes, just like an ordinary eye, but the color was unusual. They were lavender. Light, airy lavender, not blue or green or brown or black, like the other people Rayne knew, but lavender. She loved her eyes, she said that they were what made her unique. Her science teacher loved her eyes as well, because as he said, lavender was not supposed to be an eye color, and that all people with violet eyes actually had very dark blue eyes that looked almost violet but weren't, really.
Rayne was a feisty little minx, who always had a clever thing to say or a witty comeback to someone's failed attempted at an insult. She didn't like physical fights, though, and whenever she saw two people fighting she would run in between them and brake them up, regardless of who it was fighting. Because of this, her mother had forced her to take Tae-kwon-do, a form of martial arts that had come to America from Korea, and a self defense gymnastics class. She couldn't ask Rayne to stop trying to break up the fights, in fact, she was proud of her daughter. Because of Tae-kwon-do and gymnastics, Rayne was stronger, quicker, and more agile then all of the people in the 10th grade, even though she was the smaller as well.
Rayne's best friend was Xander Frost, a boy who had lived next door to her ever since she was born. He didn't relate well to people, and his only friend was Rayne, but they had been best friends for longer then anyone could remember and knew every little thing about each other, like what their face looked like when they lied, what they was allergic to, what movies made them cry (Rayne, Christmas Carol) and which ones made them laugh (Xander, Christmas Carol, though most of his laughing was at Rayne). Rayne always said that Xander was the strong, silent type, which made him blush and punch her lightly in the shoulder (although even 'lightly' for Xander was pretty strong). He was one of the tallest people in 10th grade, but he was also the most muscled. His hair was sleek black, falling lightly over his black eyes, his skin light brown. He had an infectious laugh, and a cocky little half-smile that made the girls swoon. Rayne spent most of her time with Xander, occasionally hanging out with the other girls in her grade, unlike Xander Rayne was very relaxed around people, in fact most felt kind of drawn to her, but she didn't like the other girls much, in her opinion they were boring, open books who held no mystery.
When dating first came around in the 7th grade, Rayne was asked out so many times she couldn't count, but after a continuing string of disappointment, the boys stopped trying. Sometimes a new kid would come to the school and believe he had a chance with her for a little while, but eventually they would come to understand that she wasn't looking for a boyfriend and give up. During times when school dances were coming up, it was hard to avoid dates, because Rayne loved school dances, dancing and singing at the top of your lungs to some songs you didn't really know with a bunch of friends. Everyone knew that, and so boys jumped at the opportunity in hopes that she would just, for once, say yes. Unfortunately she never did. Some of her friends that were obsessed with dating couldn't figure out why she wouldn't date, and tried to set her up on dates that never happened, because of a fake birthday occasion or family gathering, Rayne just couldn't get out of. The truth was Rayne had no family other than her mom, her mom's parents had died before she was born and she had been an only child, and whenever Rayne brought up the subject of her father, Elena (that was Rayne's mother) promptly changed it. All Rayne knew about her dad was that he had never bothered to meet her, he had never gone to see her after she had been born. Rayne didn't even know his name.
Rayne was a very good student, she turned her work in on time and did things well, at least in most classes. Literature was her best subject, but science was her worst, by far. She got horrible grades in science, and as much as she tried to change them they stayed that way. Elena was strangely understanding, she never seemed surprised when her daughter came home holding a crumpled science paper in her hand, "not wanting to talk about it". It was the same with literature, whenever Rayne came home holding an assignment she had completed with ease and gotten an A+ by a stunned teacher, Elena would smile faintly and murmur good job, but seem as if she had always known Rayne would get nothing less than an A+.
It was on a day of a great literature grade, coincidentally an especially horrible science grade (you had to write an 18 page essay about what people in ancient times thought was magic, and what we know it really is today, and since Rayne was a firm believer in magic this was a very hard thing to do) that the whole adventure began. And, like any good adventure story, this one started with a kidnapping.
Chapter 2
Kidnapped
It all seemed like a normal day, Rayne walking home from school, her nose half buried in a book, her literature assignment folded up neatly in her pocket, her science one crammed into the depths of her backpack, when two large, sinister looking men appeared at the end of the sidewalk. Rayne walked right into them, as she was absorbed in her book and not completely aware of her surroundings. She looked up, her face deep scarlet, and smiled nervously.
"I'm sorry." She finally stuttered, trying to find her voice. Finally it came back to her and she started talking again. "I'm really sorry I didn't mean to bump into you and you're right I shouldn't read while walking and I'll never do it again and . . . " she trailed off when she realized she was going on to no point.
"It's ok, little lady." The fist guy said, causing Rayne to glare.
"I'm not that little." she muttered.
"In fact, we've been looking for you" he continued. Rayne took a step back.
"You've . . . been looking for me?" She repeated.
"Yup!" The second guy said. "And now we've found you."
"Shut up, Curly." The first guy muttered, elbowing Curly. "Now come on, little lady, we haven't got all day." He reached out to grab her. Rayne screamed as loud as she could, for she had read somewhere that when getting kidnapped, it's good to make a lot of noise.
"Shut her up Curly." The first man hissed, and Curly lunged at her, her giant body engulfing her. His paw-like hands clasped over her mouth. They tasted like sweat. Rayne opened her jaws as wide as she could and bit down hard. Curly screamed and let go of her, stumbling off in blinded pain. Rayne saw her chance and took it, roundhouse kicking him in the gut. He went flying and smashed into the wall, then slowly sunk to the ground. While all this had been happening man number one hadn't just been standing there watching. He had rushed to a bag by the side of the street, and was rummaging around in it. Finally he came up with a small, green rag. He held it away from his face and ran towards Rayne, preparing himself for a chase. Too his surprise she didn't move a muscle.
She must not hear me, and think I got scared and ran away, or something. He thought, smirking. The truth was Rayne heard him coming as clear as day, for he did not move as silently as he envisioned himself to. She stood, perfectly still, sure of what she was about to do and yet at the same time very, very unsure.
"It's just like in gymnastics class. It's just like in gymnastics class." She silently repeated to herself. When he was close enough that she could feel his hot, sticky breath on the back of her neck, she flipped. It was like a back-handspring, but she shot of her feet as hard as she could and flipped herself up, over, her hands landing on his shoulders, she landed on his back. There was no time to be pleased with what she had just accomplished, Rayne punched him in the face, back and forth, back and forth. But he was stronger that Curly and with a roar he threw her off his back. She landed hard on the concrete. And then he was over her, placing the drugged rag across her mouth. Rayne struggled to get up, to move, to scream, but all she could manage was to lie there and let the darkness engulf her.
Chapter 3
It All Begins
Rayne's eyelids flew open. She looked around, hoping that she would be in her own bed, in her own room and that it would all just have been a bad dream. But no, she was in the middle of a large, spacious clearing. Sunlight flooded the space, and the sky above her shone, brilliant, sparkling blue. She was suddenly aware of the dull ache the haunted all her muscles. She tried to move her legs, but was surprised to find something restraining her. She looked down and saw that she was completely bound to something (she twisted her neck around to bet a better look, it was a metal pole) by long, thick ropes. She tried to move, but the ropes were so strong they cut into her skin. She winced.
“Is ya’ll awake already?” A mans voice asked. Rayne squinted in the light to make out the shape of a man she had never seen before. “You’re a bit of a trouble maker, aren’t you?” he said cheerfully, talking to her as if this were a normal situation and she wasn’t tied to a pole. “Curly’s got one nasty concussion from that bump you gave him, and we had to resign him from the mission, and send him back. Now Harry didn’t suffer as bad as Curly, but he has two black eyes from those punches and his lip still hasn’t stopped bleeding.”
Send him back? Thought Rayne. Back where?
“And ole’ Harry’s mighty angry with you, so he’s back too, otherwise he’d kill you in an instant, instead of with a proper ritual, and then who knows what your ghost would do. . .“ He trailed off, a glazed expression in his brown eyes. All of a sudden he smiled. “Well ain’t that rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Umbra, the head chief of this mission, which means if we fail I get the worst beating! These here are all my men.” He gestured around him and Rayne realized that there were other people there too, about five or six men sprawled about on the camp ground, for Rayne was sure that was what it was, eating food like there was no tomorrow. Thoughts raced threw her head. What did he mean, he’d of kill her without a proper ritual? What was all that stuff about a mission? And why did he say he didn’t know what her ghost would do? Finally she choose the most obvious question one would asked when kidnapped .
“Who are you and why did you kidnap me?”
“Well darlin’, I’m, sorry to tell you this, but your poppy dun finally found out about you.” He smirked.
“I don’t have a father.” Rayne spat.
“Now ya’ll know that’s not true, even if he’s not here, and you never met him, and your ashamed to call him your father he still exists. . . wait. You don’t know?” He asked, obviously surprised.
“Know? All I know is that my father never even bothered to meet me after I was born.” Rayne cried. “For the love of god, I don’t even know his name!” Umbra looked startled. The men sprawled out across the ground stopped eating and looked up at her. Suddenly a nasty grin spread across Umbra’s face.
“Well this could be a pint of fun, now couldn’t it?” He said mockingly. “Your mama kept you in the dark for almost,” he inspected her, “I’d say about 11 years.”
“I’m 15.” Rayne growled.
“Sure you are, little honey.” Umbra laughed. Rayne glowered at him.
“Umbra, I agree it would be fun to mess with the kid for a while, but if she isn’t dead but sundown none of us will live to see the next day.” One of the men said, gathering nods and cries of “yeah!” and “he’s right!” from the rest of the men.
“Wait, wait, hold on.” Rayne cried. “You’re going to kill me?!”
“Well what did you expect?” Umbra laughed. “We didn’t kidnap you just for the sake of kidnapping you, we have a purpose.”
“But what is that purpose?” Rayne shouted, and all her questions came tumbling out. “What does all this have to do with my dad? Why do you want to kill me? What do you mean, “my ghost”? Ghosts don’t exist!”
“I’d love to explain everything to you, young un’, but I’m busy preparing your death.” Umbra said absently. He turned to his men. “I’ll let you decide how to kill her.” He said. “I’m feeling generous today.” All the men trouped over to a spot next to the woods and formed a little huddle. Rayne could only catch bits and pieces of their conversation, “I say we drown the sucker!”, “Why don’t we use her for target practice?”, “Is there any other ideas?”, “Your idea sucks!”, and so on and so forth, until finally they all came back to Umbra. One man stepped forward and presented proudly, “We have agreed to burn her.”
“I know.” Was all Umbra said. “You talk very loudly.”
Chapter 4
Xander
The next thing Rayne knew she was lifted up and moved to the exact center of the clearing. All around her the men placed white stones, creating a little circle. She was again drugged, as much as she tried to resist, and when she awoke she was no longer tied to a metal pole but a large, sturdy stalk of straw.
Perfect for burning, Rayne thought. One man brought forth a large bowl of dark red paint, which he smeared across her for head, cheeks, and chin. A tall, hooded man walked over to where Rayne was standing. She looked around. All the men sat, with their heads down, their eyes closed, kneeling in front of a single stone. They seemed to be chanting in a language Rayne didn’t understand. The She know saw the torch in the hooded figures hand. He brought the torch down to the straw. Rayne shut her eyes and tried not to think about it.
She thought about her mom, how she would read her stories every night and sing to her when she was sad. And Xander, who would comfort her when she needed comforting, and who helped her with her science homework, and who was always there when she needed him most.
Xander, She called out to him in her mind. I need you. Help me. Please come. The smell of burning straw wafted up to her nose. Suddenly there was a large crash from behind the trees and a tall, dark haired figure dressed all in black flew threw the air, landing a few inches away from Rayne.
“Xander?” Rayne gasped. Xavier winked. “Go away! They’ll kill you! Get out of here! Go!” She cried, but Xander merely chuckled. “Did you not hear me? They’re dangerous! Run while you still have the chance!” Rayne could now smell the rubber soles of her sneakers burning away.
“Piece of cake.” Xander murmured. The men were looking up now, their faces filled with hatred.
“You!” cried Umbra. “I thought we saw the last of you at the Zarmethian border!”
“But I just keep coming back, don’t I.” Xander said with a smile. “Now first, I’m going to save my best friend.”
“It’s almost finished with the shoe. Soon that fire will be eatin’ away at her flesh. I’d like to see you try.” Umbra sneered.
“Watch me.” Xander said with a grin. “Try to save me a little time, Rayne!” He called to her. Rayne lifted he feet out of her shoes as much as possible, and watched, in amazement, as Xander fought. He was like your shadow, he was there, right there, but as hard as you tried you couldn’t touch him. He threw punches and kicks and catapulted over people and smacked others in the face and soon he was at Rayne’s side, untying the ropes and trying his best to put out the fire. Rayne stepped off the pole and out of the ropes and stretched her limbs. Her feet were pricked by the rocks and leaves under foot, for her socks were mostly burned up, and there was no saving her shoes now, but she didn’t care. All she knew was how good it felt to not be bound. She stared at Xander in awe.
“How did you learn to fight like that?” She exclaimed.
“I’ll tell you later. I’ll tell you everything later. But right now we have one more fight to do. But this time it’s two against one.” Xander smirked, and we both turned to face an enraged looking Umbra.
“You twon’t not get away with this. The king will kill her even with you at her side, oh protector of wonderment.” He said in mock adoration.
“Ah, but Umbra, my good man. If you don’t return victorious you won‘t even live to see that death you’re so sure is going to come.” Xander said cockily. Something snapped in Umbra’s face and he lunged forward, about to punch Xavier across the face, but Xander caught his hand in one swift movement and twisted it in a way I was sure hands were not supposed to twist. Umbra crumbled to the ground in pain. Xander bent down and pinched a particular place in the man’s neck. He froze, and then his eyes closed and he slumped over, unconscious.
“What did you do?” I asked, amazed.
“I’ll tell you everything on the ride home.” He said, leading to the edge of the clearing and through the bush he had come. Standing there, pawing the ground, looking as majestic as horses can look, were two sparkling white horses.
“Where did you get horses?” I cried, running over to stroke the closest one to me’s mane.
“That’s not important. All I want to know is if you know how to ride a horse.” He said, walking over to the other horse.
“I went to a horse riding camp once for the whole summer.” I sighed. “Do you ever pay attention to what I say?” Xander paused.
“No.” he said finally. I rolled my eyes. He helped me onto one of the horses, got onto the other one, and we took of.
Chapter 5
The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth
For a while they rode in silence. Then suddenly out of the blue, Xander started talking.
""There are other dimensions, other worlds outside of earth. Not very many, maybe six or seven, bur their there. You can't get to them with any car, or boat, or spaceship, even if you searched your planet, and then your whole universe top to bottom, you wouldn't find it. The only way to get in or out of a dimension, and into another is through portals. There aren't very many portals, I'd say that there are about five portals on earth, and they all go into a different dimension. The only one they don't let into is the sixth one. I mean the seventh one, yes there are seven, now I remember, because there are five portals here, one for each dimension, except the seventh one and itself." He paused, and looked up from his horse at me. "Are you understanding everything so far?"
"Yes!" Rayne cried, indignant. "I'm not a little kid, you don't have to talk to me like that."
"Good. Then I'll continue. As I was saying, There are six other dimensions, and those people who kidnapped you were from one of them. The third one. Now-"
"Why did they want to kidnap me?" Rayne broke in. Xander gave her a cold stare.
"Don't interrupt. I'm getting there." He said. Rayne blushed and looked down at Miracle, for that was what she had named her horse. Xander smiled. "Good. As I was saying, the people who kidnapped you were from the third dimension. But before I can explain about that, I need to tell you the history of the third dimension so you'll understand better. The third dimension was a place of magic. Magic ran free and people used it for good, and everyone was happy. There was no hate and anger, no wars. No thievery and no murder. But there was a prince. This prince thought that since he was royalty, he should get more magic than anybody else. His father thought him mad, and told him he would never be king. In a rage, the prince killed his father, releasing a new kind of magic into the world. Dark magic. With dark magic in the dimension, everything turned evil. It was like no other horror you have ever seen. The people, the desperate people, turned to the prince for help. You see, no one knew it was him who had released the dark magic in the first place. They made him king, and all the dark magic seemed to have vanished, just as it had come. The people were joyous once again. But then something strange began to happen. All the good magic, the kind that had been there before the murder of the king, started to disappear. And then the people knew. The king was not only taking away all the dark magic, he was taking away all the good magic to. You see, his name was King Vox, which means voice, and his voice was so sweet and beautiful that all the magic came to him when called. He stole all the magic, and used it for himself, yet people still worshiped him and did his biding, mostly because of his miraculous voice. But he is the leader in a world of death and destruction, and people won't stand for that for long. There is already a group of uprisers that are plotting to overthrow the king. They are getting more powerful, though, because some of the chosen are joining."
"What do you mean, the chosen?" I asked when he paused.
"The chosen are a special group of people who do not use the magic how they want, in any way they want, the magic chooses them for a special purpose. The magic can not be taken away from them, because it refuses to. They can only perform one kind of magic, but it's the most powerful magic they can use. Do you understand?"
"Yes. I mean, I think so . . . this is kind of . . ." Rayne paused, unsure of what words to use. "Big," was what she finally came up with, although big was an understatement.
"Yes. I know. It's hard to understand right know, but you have to process that earth is not the only world out there, and that magic exists, and that somehow, you tie into everything." Xander said softly.
"How do I tie into everything? You still haven't explained that to me, and I'm tired of waiting!" Rayne cried, exasperated.
"I'm getting to it." Xander sighed. "Well, it started with a prophecy. Before all the magic was gone, a fortune teller went to the castle, and, warned the king that his first born child would overthrow him. The king threw him in the dungeon and demanded the fortune teller to change his future. The man said that he could not change his future just like that, he had to change his path when the time came. The king flew into another rage and ordered his guards to kill the fortune teller. But the fortune teller managed to escape. Now, the king had many, many wives. And, finally, one wife became pregnant. The king tossed her through a portal, one that he thought led to Merquisios, a dimension that killed all who entered. But the fortune teller, who had never gotten over the almost-being-killed thing, switched the portals with the very last of his magic, and energy, dying. The woman fell into earth, and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, 15 years ago . . ." He looked expectantly at Rayne, who sat frozen on her horse. Chills ran up and down her spine.
"You don't mean that . . . that I'm that girl?" She finally spit out, unable to say "kings daughter".
"That's exactly what I mean." Xander said slowly.
"So are you from that . . . place?" Rayne asked.
"Yes." Xander said solemnly. "I am also and upriser, though I am not one of the chosen. We thought the king didn't know where you were, but I came to earth to pose as your next door neighbor just in case."
"But I've known you since you were a baby." Rayne said.
"When I came to earth, my life cycle started over again, which is not a common thing to happen at all, but helped with the mission. I was still me, just in the body of a one year old, then two year old, then three year old, etc." Xander explained. "As I said, we didn't know the king knew you where here, and for the past 15 years, he didn't. But he must have recently found out."
"So what did Umbra mean, I thought we'd seen the last of you at the Zarmethian border?" Rayne asked.
"The Zarmethian border is where Zarmethia ends,- Zarmethia is the name of the third dimension- and there are the six portals, all going into other dimensions. We were battling there, when the uprisers had come to send me away. They somehow knew we where going and snuck up on us. Umbra thought he had killed me, and they ran away, but in truth I was still alive, although the cut was pretty deep, and managed to crawl through the portal with the last of my strength. When the cycle started over, all my wounds were healed and I was fine. My "mom" found my by the side of the street. She cared for me as her own son. I wish I could tell everything, but I can't. I love her as much as I love my own mom, who I haven't see in 15 years." Xander said, a far away look in his eyes. He sighed.
"So what do we do now?" Rayne asked.
"Now, we find a portal and go through into Zarmethia." Xander said, clucking his tongue. "The bad new is, there's only one portal on earth that leads to Zarmethia. The good news is that it's very close. The bad news is that the king is going to send his best men to try to kill you, which is going to be one hell of an obstacle."
"Where is the portal?" Rayne asked. The horses were slowing down now, and finally came to a stop in front of Rayne's house.
"It's a vintage clothing store on 25th street." Xander replied, and, climbing off the horse, he shoed it away.
"It is a vintage clothing store?" Rayne asked.
"Well technically it's inside the store, at the back, but I just say it is the store. It practically is." Xander said.
"Fine." Rayne sighed. She got off her horse and Xander shoed it away. "Will I see her again?"
"You're to kind hearted. But yes, I think you'll see her again." Xander laughed. Rayne blushed and crossed her arms.
""She was a good horse!" She muttered.
Chapter 6
Questions
They walked into Rayne's house and set their stuff down on the chair closest to the door. This drove Elena crazy, but as many talks as she gave, they still refused to put their stuff in the closet.
"Hi kids," Elena said, wandering into the room.
"Hi Mom." Rayne murmured. "Me and Xander'll be in my room, ‘k? Great!" She grabbed Xander and sped out of the room.
"What was that all about?" Xander asked once they were in the sanctuary of her room.
"I just realized that my mom is that wife from the story." Rayne gasped.
"Well, yeah. Of course she is." Xander replied, plopping down on her bed. "Didn't that cross your mind even once?"
"I guess not . . . it's just weird thinking about my mom like that. I mean, I have so many questions. Why did she marry him in the first place? How come she never told me? And doesn't she hate it on earth? I mean, that world, before the king, sounded, kind of, perfect." Rayne replied.
"Key words: before the king." Xander reminded her. "Right now my world is a catastrophe. Compared to that, life on earth is heaven, and your mom really appreciates it here. The king forced her to be his bride, she was the only one smart enough to know that he wasn't good. She's a smart woman, Rayne. You should appreciate her."
"I do!" Rayne said indignantly. "It just is weird thinking of her like a . . . a person from another world."
"Ah, ah, ah, it's not another world, it's another dimension. There's a difference. You really have to start watching how you throw your words around." Xander said with a slight smile. Rayne walloped him with a pillow. Xander laughed and threw a small, tasseled pillow back. It hit her hard in the face before she had time to duck.
"I'm just warning you now," said Rayne slowly and quietly. "You are dead. So very, very dead." And then there was a pillow fight like no other, one that completely destroyed the room (not to mention Rayne and Xander), broke a cup or two, and sent the other next-door neighbors into a fit about the noise. When it was finally done they collapsed on the bed, laughing and panting. Rayne sat up.
"Now back to the topic at hand . . ." she said, glancing at Xander.
"Oh yeah." He muttered. "I forgot that you know."
"Well I do." Rayne said, glaring at him. "And I want to know some things. So have a seat, this might take a while." She said with a smirk. Xander groaned.
"I am sitting." He protested. Rayne rolled her eyes.
"You know what I mean." She said, tucking her legs under her butt. Xander flopped backward so he was half-lying down half-sitting.
"Fine." He said. "I'm ready. Shoot."
"Ok, my first question is obvious. Why didn't you tell me before?" Rayne asked.
"Well, it's not actually that important, if you think about it. We hoped we wouldn't ever have to tell you. At least, your mom didn't. I was pushing towards your 18th birthday, but when all this came I had no choice but to tell you." Xander explained. "Next?"
"Well, how can he not know I exist for 15 years, and all of a sudden, he does?" Rayne asked.
"That’s one thing I don't know the answer to," Xander admitted. "But I have a suspicion that you did something powerful, magical, that could reach Zarmethia, and disturb it, because it has been so long that one of their people created big magic. It would probably take a long time, though, so it was most likely done as a child, unintentionally. Do you remember experiencing anything as a child, that might have been you, performing magic?" Xander asked, a very serious expression on his face. Rayne couldn’t help but giggle. “I’m serious!” Xander cried, but he was smiling.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Rayne laughed. She tried to composed herself, but the exasperated, smiley look on Xander’s face caused her to fall over in a fit of laughter. Xander waited patiently next to her, a bemused smile on his face. Finally Rayne collected herself. She thought, hard, about a time when she had experienced something like magic as a little kid. It wasn’t until twenty whole minutes had passed that she remembered that first day of preschool. Her eyes lit up and she turned to Xavier excitedly. He was staring blankly at a random comic, that had been strewn across her bed in an effort to clean her room as fast as she could.
“Xander!” Rayne cried, shaking him furiously. “I thought of something! Only I don’t know what happened, really. But it seemed like magic! And I’m sure it was real, I’m sure of it” And so she told him everything, from the drawing to the cupcake, in as much detail as she could remember. Xander sat through it, occasionally nodding, his brow furrowed.
“I’m not sure what happened.” He said when she was finally finished, frowning. “I really don’t know what that was. But I bet that, whatever it was, was the thing that let the king sense you. I suppose he felt that it was coming from earth, put two and two together, and sent his men.” Xander mused. Rayne sighed.
“Ok, so what do we do now?” She asked.
“I think that we have to go to the store,” replied Xavier with a sarcastic smile. Rayne rolled her eyes.
“All right, Mr. Obvious,” she said. “So when should we do it? And how long will we be gone? Should I tell my mom about it? Should you tell your mom? What do we do once we get there? How did-“ she said but Xander cut her off with a laugh.
“You’re over thinking it.” He said, “We just need to tell our moms that we’ll be out on a, I don’t know, trip or something. For school. We don’t need to worry about all that other stuff until we get there. And I think we should go as soon as possible.”
“Like tonight?” Rayne asked.
“Not that soon. I was thinking like tomorrow.” Xander said, sitting up straighter. “We shouldn’t bring much, if anything. Maybe a toothbrush in your jacket.”
“Okay,” Rayne said slowly.
“We’ll leave for school together and . . . I know! We’ll tell your mom that you’re sleeping over at my house, and we’ll tell my mom that I’m sleeping over at your house!” Xavier cried excitedly. The first time Rayne and Xavier had a sleepover it was their fist sleepover ever. At first, their moms weren’t totally happy with it, seeing as it were one girl and one boy, but after time it became something completely normal.
“Ok . . . but what happens when they realized we were lying?” Rayne asked. Xander thought for a moment.
“We’ll leave a note for your mom, explaining everything. But we’ll make sure she doesn’t get it until after we’re gone.”
“How do we do that?”
“Umm . . . we give her a call when we’re about to enter the portal and tell her that you forgot something . . . your pajamas, and ask her to go get them, and on top of your pajamas is the note that says “ELENA” really boldly, so she’ll read it, and inside we’ll have explained everything.” Xavier finished, taking a big breath. Rayne laughed.
“Ok.” She said thoughtfully. “That would work.” She smiled. “Great! I know I just might be heading towards my doom, but I can’t wait!” Xander looked at her funny.
Chapter 7
The Plan Begins
Everything was in place. Rayne’s mom thought she was at Xander’s house. Xander’s mom thought he was at Rayne’s house. They had just left school, Rayne carrying her toothbrush in her inside coat pocket. They both wore black, for Xander had thought it would be best if they weren’t very noticeable. He knew that the king would send more guards when he found out the past men had failed. He would stop at nothing to kill her. The headed down 25th street, staying close to the walls. They had chosen the busiest street, and, sure enough, people were rushing about left and right, the crowd so thick it was hard to make out two 15 year old kids, walking cautiously against the walls, wearing black pants and large black overcoats. Even if you did, you probably wouldn’t guess that one of them was from another dimension, and that the other was the daughter of the evil tyrant who ruled that dimension. They crept along, and slid into an alleyway that was not crowded at all. In fact, it looked as if there was no one there, besides the two children. Xander muttered something under his breath that sounded like a curse word, but Rayne couldn’t be sure.
“Stay close to the wall. Try to be invisible.” He whispered in her ear.
“Gotcha.” She whispered back. But they couldn’t stay against the walls for long, the small, vintage clothing store was right in the middle of the street, out in the open. They made their way to the center of the street, and Xander was about to open the door to the store, when two rough hands grabbed Rayne and Xander by the shoulder and tossed them backwards. They landed in the middle of the alley, surrounded by men who had hadn’t been there before. Xander muttered something again, and this time Rayne was sure it was a curse word. She glared at him.
“This is no time to contradict my speaking.” He said, rolling his eyes. Rayne continued to glare but said nothing. She didn’t approve of curse words. Xander pulled a knife from his jacket. It was small, but the blade sparkled in the sun.
“You brought a knife? We were aloud to bring knifes? You’re going to kill them? I know they’re going to kill us, but still! That’s inhuman!” Rayne cried.
“I was aloud to bring knifes.” Xander said. “Because I know how to use one. They won’t die. This is a special knife.” And he lunged. The man closed to Xander knew it was coming, and ducked, grabbing Xander by the waist, but before he could do anything else, Xander thrust the knife into his back. Rayne screamed. The man gave a sickening groan, dropped Xander, and fell to his knees.
“Don’t worry, he’s not dead. As I said, this is a special knife. I’ll explain later. Start fighting!” Xander said as he whizzed past her. Rayne barley had time to catch what he was saying, but she snapped into action. She thrust herself at the man closest to her, side-kicked him in the gut, and then hooked her foot around his ankle and pulled before he could do anything. He fell to the ground and lay still, unconscious. Before she could stop to catch her breath, two men came at her, running full speed. Rayne leapt into the air before she had time to fully plan out what she was doing. The men smashed into each other, confused, as she dropped back down. Before she got past their heads, she hooked one leg around each of their necks, smashing their heads together once more, before jumping off them and kicking them both in the face. One man flew back into a garbage can, the other was thrown with such force he catapulted threw an air vent, breaking the screen and falling down to who knows where, his neck slumped over in a funny way. Rayne almost laughed, but there was no time. Another man was already charging towards her. She threw a kick but he caught it and threw her leg back. Rayne looked at him, stunned. She shook herself, and punched him in the nose. He stumbled back, but wasn’t finished with her. He came running back and kicked her in the side. Hard. She doubled over, but kept her ground, and a moment later she was back up.
“That,” she said softly “was my favorite black jacket. And now there’s mud on it.” The man smirked. Rayne took this opportunity to kick him in the face. He spat out blood and glared at her, but before he could react, Rayne grabbed each side of his head with each of her hands, palms flat, and kneed him in the face. He was taller that her so she had to jump, but she connected with him and heard a crack. She winced. He went down.
“Rayne!” shouted Xander, and she whirled around to see a man charging towards her, his head down, a growl emitting from his throat. He looked a little bit like an ox. Rayne jumped to the side and the man, who not only looked like an ox but acted like one, too, crashed into a wall behind her. Rayne giggled. She turned to face a man that was coming towards her from her left. She could sense Xander standing directly behind her, awaiting the charge of the man in front of him.
“Switch double front kick.” He murmured. Rayne clucked her tongue in agreement. Just as the men from either sides were about to collide with them, Rayne flung her hands above her head in time with Xander’s, they caught hands, and Rayne flipped over his back, push-kicking Xander’s guy in the face. He flew back and crashed into a man who had been trying to sneak up on them. They both smashed through a glass window in the church behind them all, and lay still. The man who had been charging at Rayne was about to make contact with Xander, when Rayne remembered and pulled him over her head. She turned to face the man and slapped him across the face, which dazed him for a second, giving her just enough time to punch him in the nose. His head popped back, and he threw a punch. It was a slow, un-thought out punch that was easy to block, and Rayne caught it with both hands, kneed him in the ribs, then yanked down and chopped his neck. She hit a pressure point, and he giggled, said something unintelligible, and suck to the ground. Rayne turned to look at Xander. He grinned at her.
“Congratulations! You did it.” He said. They high fived. Rayne sighed, looking around the street. It was littered with the bodies of men that Xander had stabbed and Rayne had tae-kwon-doed, as Xander called it.
“I don’t like hurting all these innocent people.” She said. “What if I killed one of them? My conscious is forever scarred.” She sunk down so that she was sitting on the sidewalk.
“Innocent? They were trying to kill us!” Xander cried, laughing.
“Under the king’s influence.” Rayne reminded him. “What if they had families? They’ll never see them again.” She buried her head in her hands.
“Yes they will. We didn’t actually kill anyone.” Xander said. “The one who was most badly injured has a concussion. Although I’m pretty sure someone here hit his head pretty hard and got amnesia . . . “ he trailed off, looking around. Rayne groaned.
“But what about your knife?” she asked, but Xander didn’t get a chance to answer. It seemed that there were two guards that Rayne and Xander hadn’t seen, one of which had been sneaking up behind Xander, sword in hand, ready to end his life in one swift movement.
Chapter 8
Solaris
He was about to thrust the knife into Xander’s back when the other guard lunged at him, jumping atop his back, punching him, and then stabbing him with his own sword before jumping down. Xander and Rayne watched in amazement.
“Thank you.” Xander finally managed. “You saved my life.”
“Oh yes!” cried Rayne, breaking from her trance. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she rushed towards him, but Xander pulled her back. “Hey!” she exclaimed.
“That was very kind of you, but you’re still a palace guard. Why did you help us? You were sent here to kill us.” He asked accusingly.
“I may be a guard, but that does not mean that I worship the king.” The man said sharply in a Spanish accent.
“I thought it did.” Rayne said, cocking her head.
“It does not always, un poco, for I am a double agent. I am a guard, but I rescue people. And I do it in sneaky ways, so the king does not suspect. My name is Solaris.” He held out his hand. Xander cautiously took it, his eyes weary.
“Oh Xander, lighten up.” Rayne said, exasperated, rolling her eyes. “He’s helping us. He’s not evil. So get over it!”
Xander flushed. “Sorry.” he said.
“I want to help you. To overthrow the king. Right on the other side of the portal my sister lives. She will house you until you are ready to storm the castle.” Solaris said with a smile.
“Thank you so much!” Rayne exclaimed. “I’m Rayne, this is Xander. Welcome to team Overthrow The King Who Also Turns Out to be My Father!”
“So we’re . . . O.T.K.W.A.T.O.F. Otkwatof. Ok . . . “ Xander said with a smirk. Rayne bopped his shoulder. He laughed.
“It is my pleasure to meet you, Lluvia and Xander.” Solaris said, kissing Rayne’s hand. Rayne cocked her head at Xander.
“Lluvia is the Spanish word for rain.” He told her. “Think about it.”
“Oh,” said Rayne, thinking about it.
“We should be getting through the portal soon,” Solaris said, looking up at the darkening sky.
“He’s right,” Xander replied. “Let’s go to the shop.” They walked into the shop, and a tiny bell tinkled. As far as Rayne was concerned, it appeared to be an ordinary, a bit small maybe, but that was it, store. Clothes hung on racks and were piled high in shelves. The woman at the counter smiled. She was young, only about their age, at least that was what it looked. She was twirling a light blond curl around one finger.
“Can I help you?” she asked in a honey-sweet voice.
“We are here to watch the river over-flow.” Xander said, placing his hands on the counter-top. A look a surprise flitted across her face, but it was gone almost before it had come.
“Of course,” she said, smiling flirtatiously at Xander. “Let me show you the way.” She stood and took his arm, leading him around back to a door way hung with blue and white beads. Rayne and Solaris followed behind.
“My name’s Suzette. Can I help you with anything else?” The girl asked.
“No thank you.” Said Xander firmly but politely. “Thank you for showing us the door.”
“My pleasure.” Said Suzette, batting her eyelashes. Xander paid no attention, instead, he turned to me.
“Ladies first?” he said softly. “Might as well just get it over with.”
“The phone call!” Rayne suddenly remembered. “I’ll go in one second, I just need to call Elena.” She took out her phone and dialed. It rang for a few seconds before Rayne hear her mothers voice asking hello?.
“Hi Mom, it’s Rayne.” Rayne said quietly, suddenly aware of the fact that she might never see her mother again.
“Hi honey! I something wrong?” Elena asked worriedly.
“No, I just forgot my-“ she glanced a Xander. Pajamas, he mouthed. “Pajamas. Can you get that for me?”
“Oh course,” said Elena. “Is it in your room?”
“Yeah. You can drop it off at Xander’s house.” Rayne replied, biting back tears. She was going to miss her mom. Her protective, worried mom, who loved her more than anything else.
“Ok, honey. Oh yes, I see them. Oh, their folded! How nice,” Came Elena’s voice from the other end of the line. “Wait, what’s this? Is this for me? What does it say?” There was the sound of paper crinkling.
“Bye.” Rayne whispered. She quickly shut off the phone before she had to say anything else, and felt the tears she had been trying to push back run down her cheeks. Xander was with her in an instant, his big, strong arms around her.
“I’m going to miss my mom too.” He murmured, stroking her hair. “But don’t worry. We’ll see them again.”
“But what if we don’t?” Rayne choked out between her tears. “What if we die?”
“Don’t say that. We won’t die. And do you know why? Because you don’t give up, Rayne, you’ll fight until we’ve won, and I know that for a fact. No one can keep you down.” He pulled her out, his hands on her shoulders, looking her squarely in the eyes. “You’ve got courage. Remember that.”
Rayne dried the last of her tears. She smiled up at Xander. “Thanks.” She said. Xander smiled back.
“Alright, into the portal you go,” said Suzette, who obviously was not pleased with the events that had just taken place. Solaris ducked through the beads first. There was a flash of white light so bright that Rayne had to shield her eyes. Next went Xander. The light came again. Rayne took a deep breath and plunged through the curtain, into another world. She felt herself roll down onto hard, flat ground. She lifted her eyes from the floor and slowly peered around. One thing was certain. This wasn’t earth.
Chapter 9
Zarmethia
The world around her was gray, all flat, gray earth, with tall, gray trees. But faeries flew in between those trees, and dragons roared in caves far off in the distance. Rayne slowly got to her feet, her jaw dropped clear to the floor. The world around her was infested with magical creatures, but everything seemed sort of gray, and dull. No one moved quickly, and the wind blew hard, turning Rayne’s cheeks a ruddy pink. It seemed as if something, or someone, had sucked all the life out of this place, leaving behind the creatures that lived there to wallow in the emptiness. It was horrifying.
“This place, it’s so,” Rayne paused, searching for a word that described the devastation she felt, “hollow.”
“He’s done so much, so much magic is gone.” Xander whispered, dropping to his knees.
“Yes,” said Solaris gravely, “he has taken muchas vidas as well. We are beaten down, our people, and though we wish to continue fighting, it seems impossible. But now you are here. Now there is hope!” He threw his hat into the air. “But at night, in the woods, things come out that you do not want to tamper with. We must get to the house of my sister, Meztli. She lives not far from this place. I will summon horses for us.”
He took from his pocket a small, silver whistle and blew it hard. No sound issued forth, but somewhere a horse must had heard it because almost immediately two tall, black horses ran into view, followed by a smaller white one. Rayne would have recognized that horse anywhere.
“Mirage!” she cried, running towards the horse, and wrapping her arms around its neck. The horse must have recognized her, because he whinnied in pleasure.
“How did you get here?” Rayne asked, laughing.
“We don’t have much time before puesta del sol, we must hurry!” Solaris said, hoisting himself onto the horse. Xander helped Rayne onto Mirage, and got onto the last horse. Solaris whistled, and all the horses took off, top speed. Finally, they stopped, in front of a small tree. It was no ordinary tree, though, for there was a door at the front, with three small, wooden steps leading up to it. Two windows were neatly placed on either side of the door, flower pots hanging loosely from them. Solaris swung himself off the horse, and beckoned to Rayne and Xander. Xander helped Rayne down, who was staring at the house with a mix of wonder and amazement. Solaris rang the doorbell. They waited patiently, but there was no answer. He rang again. Still nothing. Finally Solaris tried the doorknob. The door swung open with ease. Solaris’ eyes widened.
“Meztli never leaves the door unlocked.” He murmured, his brow furrowed. The house was in wrecks, the couch on its side, a painting of its hook, books, and other small household objects scattered across the floor.
“She is the neatest person I know,” he said, his voice rising. “Meztli? Hermana, where are you?” There was no answer. “Meztli?” he called, his voice strong, but frightened.
“Tio Solaris?” came a small, scared voice from somewhere in the room.
“Eleuia? Eleuia, where are you?” Solaris cried.
“Behind the couch.” Came a muffled voice. Solaris strode towards the couch, easily tossing it aside, to reveal a small, pale, little girl, shaking with fright. Her long, dark hair was twisted up in her fists. Solaris swooped her up into his arms.
“Eleuia, what happened? Are you alright? Where is Meztli?” he asked.
“The big men came.” The little girl whispered. “And el hombre que lleva la corona. He is evil. I will not call him king. He took mama, and papa, and brother,” she paused, looking at us. “Etapalli,” She said. Rayne looked at Xander, wondering what the little girl had just said.
“Etapalli is her brothers name. It means “wing” in Aztec.” He murmured in her ear.
“But he could not find me. I was behind the couch.” Eleuia continued proudly. “He said you are a traitor,” she gestured to Solaris, a look of fear and sadness crossing her face, “and he cannot trust anyone related to you either. He said they will all go to jail and-“ she could say no more, for she had started sobbing.
“It’s ok, it’ll all be ok nina.” He crooned. “When did they take them?”
“Yesterday, tio,” She sniffed.
“Then you must be hungry! We must get you to someone who can take care of you, while your mama is gone.” Solaris said. “You can stay with your mama’s friend, Atl. She lives just a few houses away, I will go deliver you to her. I’m sure she will take you in.” He headed out the door.
He returned shortly, rage burning in his eyes. “My sister! Her husband, her children! He has gone to far this time!”
“I’m very sorry, Solaris, to bother you, but do you know of any one else who we can stay with?” Rayne asked shyly.
“I’m afraid not.” Solaris said darkly. “We sleep in the woods tonight.”
Chapter 10
Captured
They made their way into the thick forest, an adventure filled with coats getting stuck on underbrush, twigs snapping back into faces, and many a knee or arm being scraped. Finally Solaris declared one spot the spot for them, and they made camp. Camp consisted of Solaris’ extra over coat rolled out like a sleeping bag, a tiny tent made of twigs and leaves, and a long, hollow log that Xander had draped his jacket over the bottom of. Solaris had made the tent, and he crawled in there to sleep, and Rayne snuggled into the coat made sleeping bag that was her bed for the night. It was to late to catch dinner, so every one went to bed with an empty stomach. They had slept for about half an hour when suddenly there was an interruption. Men from all angles were running through the camp ground, shouting and yelling things, all dressed in an army uniform.
“The King’s men,” cried Solaris, “They are here! Run, Lluvia, run Xander! You cannot let them catch you!”
“But they’ll get you!” shouted Xander, who had whipped out of the log and was now in action.
“I would sacrifice myself to make sure they don’t get you!” Solaris said, who was know unsheathing his sword and fighting back. Rayne crawled out of her sleeping back, tripping the man who had been coming at her from behind, and sighed. She was to sleepy to fight.
“Couldn’t we just have five more minutes?” she murmured to herself, pulling herself up so that she was standing. She stuck out her leg and twisted it around one man’s leg and then pulled, sending him sprawling. Before he hit the ground, she grabbed his head and slammed it against the leaves.
“Behind you!” shouted Xander. Rayne turned and slapped the man. It was all she could think of doing, she was so tired. She new that it probably wouldn’t do anything. However, the man was so stunned that he dropped to the ground. Rayne gave a short, surprised, laugh. She punched the man running towards her in the face and sent her knee into his ribs. She kicked the next guy on the side of his face and karate chopped his neck. She turned to her next opponent. All of a sudden she realized that she was surrounded by men, closing in around her. She froze. They probably think I’m frozen with fright, she thought. Good. The moment they were about to grab her, Rayne jumped in the air as high as she could, above their heads, and came back down, hard, on all them. She darted over to Xander, and they stood, back to back, as the final men came towards them. Suddenly something occurred to Rayne. Solaris wasn’t with them.
“Where’s Solaris?” she hissed to Xander, under her breath.
“I don’t know.” He said, sounding as if he had suddenly realized that no, he didn’t know. Rayne looked around. Suddenly her eyes widened.
“Xander!” she cried, “look!” across the green, behind the closing in men, was Solaris. He was with another soldier who’s sword was at Solaris’ neck, about to kill him.
“No!” screamed Rayne. She darted out of the circle, sliding between one man’s legs. She grabbed a large stick and ran up to the soldier. Solaris’ head was down, his eyes closed. He knelt in front of the soldier, grabbing a wound at his side. The soldier lifted the sword to chop off his head. Rayne thrust the stick on his head as hard as she could with a desperate cry. It snapped in two, and the man slowly sunk to the ground. Solaris dragged his eyes up from the ground to look at her. At first his expression was one of great relief, but quickly that changed to one of great horror.
“Watch out Xander! Lluvia!” he cried. Rayne turned just in time to see a soldier hit Xander in the back of his head with a stick. There was a sickening crack, and Xander fell to the ground.
“Xander!” Rayne screamed. She ran towards him, not caring about anything else. But the soldiers were soon upon her. Rayne screamed as one brought a stick down on her head. She tried to dart out of the way, but he was faster. Rayne felt something hard against her scalp. Pain filled her head. She tried to cry out for Xander, for Solaris, for anyone, but her voice would not come to her. Don’t you dare hurt them. You’ll regret it, was her last thought before everything went black.
Chapter 11
Lost and Found
When Rayne awoke, she was in a cell. It was dark and damp, with a single, tiny mattress pushed up against the wall. That was about as much furniture there was. Rayne lay on the mattress, her hair spread out around her. Xander! She suddenly remembered the sickening crack, and him falling to the ground. She had to get out. She had to find him! Rayne hopped to her feet and immediately groaned. Every part of her ached. She fell down back onto the mattress. What could she do? She was to sore to move. Finally she closed her eyes and let sleep over power her.
Rayne was awakened by a strong man’s voice from outside the prison.
“Wake up!” he shouted. “The king wants to see you.” Rayne groaned.
“I’m to tired to get up.” She said.
“Too bad. If the king wants you to go see him, you go see him. Come on.” He unlocked the cell door and walked inside, took her roughly by the arm, and led her away. He was the tallest man Rayne had ever seen, so tall he had to stoop down so that his head wouldn’t hit the ceiling. He had a long, bushy beard, and muscles rippling down his arms. Rayne decided not to argue. He led her out of the dreary prison house and into a sunny, brightly lit hall.
“So let me get this strait. We’re going to see the king, now, while I’m a total mess! Is that even allowed?” before he could answer, Rayne continued. “I mean, seriously. My hairs a mess, I haven’t showered in two days, I’m wearing the same rumpled black skinny jeans, long black over boat stained with blood, and black tank top since we went to the portal, and someone took away my boots? You can’t make me see the king when I look like this. I won’t allow it.” She turned up her nose and stopped walking. She prayed to god that he would let her change. She needed to buy more time!
“Typical prisoners,” muttered the jail man. “Fine. Let’s go to the dressing area.”
Rayne smiled. “Thank you.” They turned around and walked through a door labeled “dressing area”, into a room that looked sort of like a small Macy’s. It was full of racks and shelves of clothes, and at the back stretched a long wall of dressing rooms.
“Don’t think you’re going to get away. I’m going to be with you 24/7 during your little shopping spree.” The jail man grumbled. Rayne nodded and rolled her eyes. She walked over to a rack and started picking out clothes. She basically needed to get as many clothes as possible to buy her more time. She finally found what she really was going to change into, another pair of black skinny jeans, easy to move around in, and stretchy black tank top, and a long dark over coat like the one she was wearing. All of them were her size, fully ironed and clean. Her arms were bursting with clothes, as was the jail mans, as she walked to the back of the room to change. She pulled open the curtain and looked back at him, daring him to move. He furrowed his brow.
“I can’t go in there, but don’t you dare try escaping. There ain’t no windows, so don’t get your hopes up,”
Rayne nodded innocently and walked in. The moment the door had closed behind her she sprang into action. She made lots of noise, changing into her coat, jeans, and tank top, to make it seem like she was changing into more than just thee articles of clothing. Once everything was on, as quietly as she could, she slipped under the tiny crack in the dressing room that led to the next dressing room. Her gymnastics skills were useful in times like these. From there she slipped through the crack that led to the next dressing room, the same thing in the next dressing room, the next, the next, and so on, until finally the crack she slipped through led to the room. It was a very tight space, but she saw a door right there. She grinned, and as softly as she could, turned the handle and slipped out. She ran down the empty corridor, back to the way the jail had been. She opened the door to the prison just as someone else opened the door from the inside, and they slammed into each other.
“Xander?” Rayne cried at the same time Xander asked,
“Rayne?” They laughed and hugged each other.
“How did you get out?” Rayne asked once they were on their way through the castle.
“I was about to ask you the same thing.” Xander retorted. “But I used my incredible lock picking skills. There isn’t a lock in the world that can hold me!” He grinned. Rayne laughed.
“I’m sure.” She said. She told him about her dressing room escapade.
“Very clever. What about the jail man?”
“I took so many clothes in there, he probably still thinks I’m trying on clothes.” Rayne giggled.
“I see.”
They ran along the corridor, which was surprisingly empty, stopping in front of the room labeled “Throne Room”.
“What should we do now?” Rayne asked, “We have no game plan.”
“I think that we should find Solaris,” Xander answered. “Did you happen to see him when you were running around?”
“No. Did you see him in the jail anywhere?” Rayne asked.
“No. At least, I think I didn’t . . . there was one man who looked like Solaris, but when I said, ‘Solaris, is that you?’, he turned away.”
“What are we waiting for?” Rayne cried, “Let’s go!”
They ran back to the jail, panting all the while (running back and forth from different places is tiring for even the most fit people), slipped inside, and looked around. There were two passages leading away from the door.
“Which one did we come through? He’s probably close to were we where.” Xander said.
“Yeah,” Rayne agreed, “I think that’s the right one.” She pointed to the tunnel on the left.
“Let’s go,” Said Xander. They ran down the hall, peering into each cell and saying ‘Solaris?’, with no luck. When they got to the end of the left tunnel with no avail, they tried the right one. Still no sign of Solaris.
“Where did you see the man who looked like him?” Rayne asked.
“He was in the left tunnel, I think. I don’t know, he might’ve been in this tunnel. Xander put his head in his hands. “I’m to sore to think clearly.”
“I know what you mean,” Rayne said. She looked around. “Hey!” she suddenly cried.
“What?” asked Xander, looking up.
“We missed one cell!” She pointed to a small cell, caked with dirt and grime, almost invisible in the dark.
“Solaris?” Rayne asked, approaching the cell.
“Lluvia . . . “ came the soft, tired voice of a man with a Spanish accent.
“Solaris! Solaris, we’re here to come get you! We’re going to rescue you!” Rayne cried.
“No . . . no Lluvia. I have . . . failed you once before. I will not . . . not do it again.” He sighed.
“What are you talking about? You didn’t fail me! You helped us!” Rayne cried, getting down on her hands and knees and peering into the dark cell.
“I h-helped you?” he stuttered. “How did I . . . help you? Because of me we are . . . we are all. . . stuck . . . in a jail! Except for . . . you . . . and you. So really I-I’m the only one . . . stuck.” A confused expression crossed his face.
“No! Our plan was to overthrow the king. But we had no way to get to the palace, much less a way to get inside of it, and even when if we managed to get inside, I’m sure soldiers would be chasing us full speed. But no, we had an easy trip with no soldiers stopping us along the way – although that was because we were riding with the soldiers – ,“ she admitted, “we came in easily, and no one is looking for us because they think we’re in jail –or trying on clothes – , so really it’s good that we got captured!” she ended, grinning at Xander. He silently applauded her little speech.
“I-I suppose . . . you are right. I was being a . . . fool, Lluvia. But I am wounded. I can be of no h-help, no help, to you.”
Rayne had noticed that his speech was slightly slurred and drifty, but she had just thought that was due to lack of sleep.
“Can you move?” she asked.
“It – it pains me too much, Lluvia. I am sorry,” he murmured.
“Don’t be sorry!” Rayne ordered, getting up and looking around. “Is anyone here a doctor? Can anyone help him?”
“I can help him,” came a scraggly, choked up voice from somewhere along the dark hall.
“Who?” cried Rayne, looking around.
“My name is Balum. I am in a cell here, follow the sound of my voice,” the voice came again. Rayne followed the voice to a cell at the end of the passage. She peered in side, but saw no one.
“Are you in here?” she asked.
“Yes,” said the voice from directly inside the cell. Rayne jumped back as a face suddenly appeared, pressed against the bars. It was the face of an old man. “I can heal your friend. Before the king locked me in here – taking back a book that the king stole from you is not stealing – I was a doctor,” he grumbled. “If you free me, I will heal him.”
Rayne looked at Xander. His face was grim but he nodded. “We have to take this risk. It’s the only option we have.” He said. Rayne nodded.
“We accept your deal.” She stuck her hand through the bars. He took her hand in his and shook it. His hand was rough, papery. Xander picked the lock and the old man walked out, stretching his legs.
“It’s been so long since I was out of that cell. Thank you,” he said, smiling at Xander and Rayne. “And now I will heal your friend.”
They opened Solaris’ cell door and the man went in. He took something out of a pouch at his hip and smeared it all over Solaris’ wounds.
“He will now be completely healed. However, he will not be able to hear out of his left ear for the next 12 hours.” Balum said, wiping his hands on his pants. “Thank you for freeing me. Good day to you all.” And he walked away.
“I- I am cured! It is a miracle! I feel no more pain!” Solaris cried. He leapt to his feet. “Thank you Xander, thank you Lluvia. But he is correct I cannot move my right arm.” He shook his limp arm as if to show them.
“That’s alright, we’re just glad you’re ok!” Rayne cried, throwing her arms around him. Solaris jumped a little, surprised, then blushed and hugged her awkwardly back.
“Let’s go. We have to find the king,” said Xander, and they took off. It was good to get out of the dark cell and back into the life. They ran until they reached the door labeled “throne room”.
“You ready?” said Xander, looking at his comrades.
“No,” Rayne squeaked. Xander laughed.
“We can do this,” he said, smiling. “I love you all, and I know that we are going to emerge from this door victorious.”
Rayne nodded. Solaris smiled gravely.
“Good luck,” Xander murmured, and he pushed open the door.
Chapter 12
The Fight
The jail man stood leaning against one of the dressing room doors.
She’s been in there a long time, he thought, looking down at his watch. Almost, he struggled to tell the time, he had never been good at that. Half an hour? He wasn’t sure. All he knew for certain was that she had been in there a long, long time. She did have a lot of clothes, he thought, but no girl takes that long to change. And she’s been very quiet too. Finally he decided to check.
“Little girl?” he said cautiously, “I’m coming in now. If you’re changing you better speak up because I’m coming in now.” All he heard was silence. “Did you hear me? If you don’t say anything I’m going to come in,” he warned. After another silence, the jail man shrugged. “Okay,” he said, just to be safe. “Here I come, into the dressing room.” He turned the door knob and opened the door. The site that met his eyes was an empty dressing room. Clothes were scattered all over the place, yes, and hangers were tossed about and dented as if someone had flung them about in an effort to be loud, or fast. But no humans stood, or sat on the bench, or sat folding clothes in the corner.
“How did she do that?” he murmured, gaping at the empty room. Suddenly it hit him. If she wasn’t there, then she . . . had escaped! The jail man ran out of the room marked “dressing area” and didn’t stop until he had reached the highest tower.
“Hello Amalgam, part human, part giant. You really are a mixture, huh? You know that you only come to this tower to make a speech that everyone in the castle can hear, right? Usually it’s the king. What do you need to say that’s so important the whole castle needs to know?” He asked, shifting his feet or moving about the small tower all the while.
“Ollin, a prisoner has escaped! I must warn the king, he told me to be very careful not to let her escape, she wants to kill him!” Amalgam cried, running to the bell. He grabbed the enhanced bull horn – it had been given the gift by a mighty sorcerer that made it so whenever shouted into, the whole castle would hear it (sort of like an intercom, but with no need to install speakers anywhere) - and began to ring the bell, shouting, “Prisoner #12948574894 has escaped! I repeat, prisoner #12948574894 has escaped! Otherwise known as Rayne, and she is out to kill the king! Prisoner #12948574894 has escaped!”
~
Two Minutes Earlier
The door was silent, and they edged into the room unnoticed. It was a large room, with surrounded by pillars. In the center of the room was a platform, and resting atop that platform were two regal looking thrones. Sitting atop those thrones was a woman, her long, blond hair streaming behind her, her dress of spun silk, and a man. At least, Rayne assumed it was a man. She couldn’t see him from her spot behind one of the pillars. The woman had a bored expression on her face, she twirled a lock of hair idly around her perfectly manicured finger. The room was littered with guards, all standing around very strait and doing nothing. Rayne turned to tell Xander that they did a very good impression of the stone pillars, but no one was behind her. She looked around until she spotted him, and Solaris, inching along the wall, trying to get to a good spot where they could reach the king. She sprinted up to them, careful to make no noise. Finally they reached a spot where behind the king where there were no guards. They slowly tiptoed forward. None of the guards noticed. Rayne’s heart was beating so loud she was sure they heard it as she stealthily crept forward. They were almost upon the king when Amalgam rang the bell and started to shout. One hundred and four pairs of eyes turned towards them, fifty swords were raised.
“Oh no.” Rayne murmured.
“We have to get out of here!” Solaris hissed. “There are to many of them. If I help you up we can swing onto the rafters. There is a hidden door there that will bring us to safety!”
“We can’t all make it!” Xander cried. “I’ll hold them off, you two get out of here!”
“We can’t leave you here!” Rayne shouted over the roar of running feet.
“I’ll be fine! Just go!” yelled Xander.
“We can try!” Rayne cried, grabbing his arm.
“It wouldn’t work.” Xander said softly, looking into Rayne’s eyes. “Go.”
Rayne opened her mouth to protest, but the urging look in his eyes made her shut it. “Okay,” she murmured. “Don’t you dare get hurt.”
He smiled. “I won’t.”
“Come!” cried Solaris. He grabbed Rayne and hoisted her up, then swung himself up. Rayne looked down to see Xander pull out his sword. He fought mercilessly, but there were to many men. As he fought two men at once, a man snuck up from behind and whipped out his sword. Blood spurted from the wound on Xander’s stomach and he fell to the floor.
“Xander!” Rayne screamed as Solaris yanked her through the door. The last thing she saw was two men clicking handcuffs around his wrists and dragging him away.
Chapter 13
Untitled
He can’t be gone. He can’t be. He’s Xander. He always finds a way to dodge trouble, were Rayne’s first thoughts. She stared at the door they had come through. He can’t be gone. Rayne lifted her hand to her mouth and bit down on her knuckles to stop the tears that were threatening to escape her eyes. A rush of anger suddenly overwhelmed her, and she glared up at Solaris.
“We have to go back there!” she cried. “We left him! We have to go back for him!”
“We cannot, Lluvia. All of us would get captured if we went back now. I’m sure that is exactly what Xander was intending not to happen.” Solaris said softly. “Your friend, he is a brave man. He gave up his freedom, possibly even his life-“ Rayne let out a sharp gasp, “-to save us.”
“We have to go back. We can’t leave him.” Rayne whispered, a fat tear rolling down her cheek, followed by another. “We have to save him.” Now she was just saying it for the sake of saying it. “We have to rescue him. We can’t leave him.”
“I know, Nina, I know. But if Xander were here, he would want you to stay. He would not want you to risk your life to help him. All we can do now is wait,” Solaris murmured, stroking her hair.
“We can’t leave him with them. We have to save him.” Rayne sobbed, curling into a ball. “We have to.”
“I know.” Solaris whispered. “I know.” He wrapped his arms around her and waited for the sobbing to subside. Finally no more tears would come, and Rayne let herself fall asleep, her face wet with tears, screaming out for Xander in her dreams.
~
“Hah-we-we-we-we-we. Hah-we-we-we-we-we. Snark! Hah-we-we-we-we-we.” Rayne looked up and rubbed her eyes. She had a pounding headache, and somewhere in the room was a bulldozer. She looked around, trying to find the source of the noise. Before, she had been too upset to really look at the tiny, cramped room, but now she took in every detail. The walls were a milky white, with a small, roaring fireplace in one corner. A rusty table surrounded by three rickety, plastic chairs rested in the center of the room. There were no windows, and the door was almost invisible, hidden by a small closet. That was about it. Rayne now saw what had been making the awful noise. It was Solaris, snoring away. She laughed quietly to herself. He grunted and rolled over. Rayne sighed. Now that she could think clearly, she knew that he had been right, She couldn’t just “storm the castle” and bust him out of there. She needed a plan. At the moment, she couldn’t think of anything, but she knew Solaris would. And maybe he could tell her more about the revolution. She had so many questions! Where did they meet? Did they meet? Would did they do? Was there a leader? If so, who was it? Finally, after contemplating all the pros and cons, Rayne decided to wake him up. Slowly, awkwardly, she moved towards him and gave him a little nudge. Nothing. She nudged him harder. A short grumble, but that was it,
“Wake up!” she hissed, shaking him lightly. He rolled over. Rayne shook him less lightly, then hard. “Wake up!” she cried.
“Cinco minutos,” he mumbled sleepily. Fed up, Rayne squeezed her eyes tightly, then, so she couldn’t change her mind, slapped him across the face.
“I am awake!” Solaris cried, sitting up so quickly he almost knocked her over. “I apologize! Now, what is so important that you must wake me up at-“ he glanced down at a slightly scuffed, cheap looking watch on his wrist, and his face fell. He blushed. “- . . . Eleven . . . a.m. . . . ?” Rayne giggled.
“Sorry, but I think you slept enough. And I can’t just sit there watching you snore when I could be doing something to help Xander!” He opened his mouth to interrupt her, but she spoke again before he could say anything. “I know, I know, you don’t want us to risk our lives and blah blah blah. But I thought about what you said, and you’re right! He doesn’t want us to just run in there and risks our lives for him. We don’t want that either. What we need is a plan. And since I don’t know anything about anything in this world, I figured you could help me with one.”
“I do not snore, is what I was going to say.” Solaris said. Rayne blushed. “But,” he smoothed back his hair and straitened his tunic, “I suppose you might be right. We may be able to rescue Xander, if we have a plan.”
“Hooray!” Rayne cried, throwing her arms around him. He laughed.
“I must take you somewhere. It is not in the castle. But it is not too long a journey, if you know the right people. Which,” he added, “I do.”
“Where? What do you mean?” Rayne asked.
“I cannot tell you. Even in a place like this, secret place, there could be bugs. We must go now. Come.”
“That reminds me, where are we?”
“We are in a secret place the revolution has built just for situations like the one we are in. As you can see, it is very helpful. Now we will go?”
“Wait. How did they build this without being seen?”
“There are spies all over, Lluvia. Even in the castle.” He looked at her. “The revolution lives here too.”
“Oh.” Said Rayne, softly.
“Yes, is very deep. Now come!” He lifted her to her feet and pulled her through the tiny, hidden door. They re-entered in a small, dark, damp hallway. Solaris hurried her down until they reached a dead end.
“We’re trapped! We have to go back!” Rayne cried.
“Do not worry,” Solaris laughed. He gently pressed his palm against the wall. To Rayne’s surprise, a red beam flickered on, seemingly from nowhere, and moved back and forth across his hand. A bell dinged. Solaris lifted his eye to a small crevice in the wall. Another red light scanned it, and the same bell dinged. He searched the wall, as if finding the right spot, running his fingers over the dents and warps in the wood, until he rested his fingers on a small streak darker than the others. Then he licked it. Rayne winced, but the bell dinged again and a robotic voice declared:
“Access granted.” The whole wall slid open, and they stepped through.
Chapter 14
Untitled
They stepped out into bright sunshine.
“Come!” Solaris ordered. They walked hurriedly over to a large pasture, filled with horses. He opened the gate and swung himself onto a black horse. Rayne hesitated.
“Can you call Mirage?” she asked timidly. “Like you did before? With that whistle thing?”
“Oh, yes. I forget about the little horse you love. Wait.” He retrieved the tiny silver whistle from his pocket and blew into it hard. Again, Rayne heard nothing. But the horse must have, somewhere, because in seconds, she heard the stamping of hooves and the neighing of contentment. A small white horse galloped into sight. Rayne laughed in excitement, twining her fingers through Mirage’s mane and stroking her head. Mirage whinnied.
“I missed you! Guess what? We’re going to a secret place! Solaris won’t tell us, which is very mean of him.” She giggled. In response, the horse glared at Solaris. Rayne slipped onto Mirage’s back, enwrapping her fingers in the horse’s silky mane.
“Cover your eyes!” Solaris commanded.
“Then I’ll fall off Mirage!” Rayne cried, giggling. Solaris and Mirage both knew there was no way Mirage would let that happen, but he sighed and said:
“Use the handkerchief.” So Rayne tied his silken handkerchief around her eyes, took a firm hold of Mirage, and settled down to enjoy the ride.
In some ways, traveling horseback blindfolded was awful. Rayne felt completely powerless, knowing that if they ran into a tree or off a cliff she couldn’t even know she was dying until she died, and she couldn’t do anything to stop it. She had no idea where they were going, and did not want to get lost in this wood at night. But after a while, those worries slipped away, and it became bliss. Rayne could feel the wind on her face, and the ferocious speed of Mirage, as she lay low to the horse and hung on for dear life. The smells around her were sweet, somehow sharper than before. She could hear the pounding huffs and the occasional neigh, the singing birds and the snapping of tree branches, but the world seemed quiet, peaceful. The sun was warm on her back, turning the insides of her eyelids red. She nestled deeper into the warm fur, her eyes relaxing from the state of being squeezed shut, so they were closed on their own accord. She yawned. Even with the summer breeze, it was a warm day, and nestled in the soft fur of a horse while it ran along at a lulling speed, was quite enough to put someone to sleep. And so Rayne, her arms still tightly wrapped around Mirage, nodded off in the midday sun, so that the horse now carried a sleeping child on it’s back.
~
Rayne awoke because Mirage had stopped moving.