“I still think it was weird,” Rose defended.
“Well, there's nothing we can do about it, Rose”.
“Unless you want to arrest everyone like Vister,” Kris tuned in with venom in his voice.
Rose grew quiet and thought,in a way I do sound like him.
“I'll see you guys,” Kris said when they reached the door. He gave her a hug to show he hadn't meant what he said.
Later that night, Rose thought long and hard about the first man she found. She was debating who could have had enough water magic to do that, as it was a level of magic years of experience could not get you to. Even her grandma, who was said to be one of the most skilled women in the world, could not do it. While everyone was talking and trying to find out what might have happened, Lena went upstairs alone. Rose waited two minutes and then followed her, ready to apologize.
“What's wrong?” she asked, for Lena seemed even more down than before with her hand wiping her eyes.
“Nothing,” Lena sighed, though she stopped and shook slightly.
“Are you sure?”
“Definitely.”
“Really sure?”
Lena turned around, “I don't like this. I don't like the fact that no one knows anything about what's going on. I don't like that in a world full of bad things everyone is innocent.” “Me too, I hate it too.”
“How does no one ever know anything?” She demanded.
“Well, a lot of people are in denial.”
“It's more than that. Do you ever think that, even the ones we can trust, are lying to us?”
Rose reflected on that. “I think it's a bold assumption to assume they told the truth.” Lena kicked the wall. “I hate politics. I'm a fighter. This isn't what I'm built for." Rose grabbed Lena's hand to try to calm her down, for they were starting to attract stares. “I hate being in the middle of both sides, but I do it because it's better to know. Hate people all you want, but not the truth, it never did anything wrong.” Lena grew quiet for a time. “Do you think, when the day comes, it will truly be up to us?”
“I'm just doing everything Daniel would have done,” Rose admitted. “The world needs Daniels."
When they were in the room, Lena laid down. Rose kept walking to her bed, but then stopped and turned around. She climbed next to Lena, who was caught slightly off guard and then reacted amazingly. She wrapped her arms around her, they shifted till she was almost laying on Rose's shoulder. Together, cheek and cheek, they went to sleep. Aylea came in the middle of the night to tell them to be up early. As soon as daylight came, they were having the memorial.
When the next day came, Rose dressed in a pretty black dress and black heels. Her curly hair went into a bushy ponytail with a few curls out to give a prettier effect. A letter was sent to her window, and she caught it. According to the letter there had been fifteen deaths in total, so ten more than the five she had found. She also discovered that Lena had found a girl that had been crushed - literally crushed entirely by a tree and she had had lifted it up - so she was being given a courage award. Before they went downstairs she gave her a hug.
They rode separately because Ana wanted more people to see her niece stand on her own.
The outside of the old funeral house was crowded with adults landing clumsily and then sobbing on their way to greet other families. There were occasional death glares at the ones who didn't wear black. People waved to the other counselors, smiled, took pictures, and this made her insides melt to dust. They shouldn't be there for them. They didn't die and they weren't good people. They shouldn't be there for Ana either, but of course they would be because she was meant to give fifteen speeches. One for each of the victims, and something like that hadn't happened in a long time. After making sure all the families were there, the procession went inside and Rose nearly cried. There were beautiful paintings of each of the people. She sniffed and it was real paint. Whoever did this must have stayed up all night.
There were fifteen speeches to get through, but Rose only made it to five, for then she saw the girl and her horrible broken body had been mended and fixed so that people could bare to look at her, and Rose's eyes welled up in tears. That wasn't what fighting, death, and war looked and felt like. Most of her “mended” body probably wasn't even real, it was fake parts made by creature crafting. Someone sent a flower, through the air, over to the girl in the middle of the service. It was the girl's mom, Rose saw. The man at the front shooed it away at first but then, realizing what it was, put it gracefully on top of the girl. This made Rose smile. When it was on properly, everyone turned and beamed at Vister, full of pride as if he was simply the greatest thing to ever exist. Rose found out he had promised the family a great sum of money and never ending flowers. He flashed a golden smile; another two cameras snapped.
Without a second thought she got up and ran away out the door deaf to anyone who called her name, deaf to anyone who noticed. A hand grabbed her but she pushed it off. She froze the water when she made it outside and then walked across.
At first she considered unfreezing it, but then she remembered she'd have to go back in, eventually, so she sat herself on the big rock to take a breath. At that she heard footsteps and she yelled, "Go away," but whoever it was didn't go away. To spite her they kept walking. Noah? Lena? Kris? They'd better leave her alone, whoever it was, as they should know that by now. But it probably wasn't Noah, Lena, or Kris, for they would have at least stopped. She looked up at a huge ghoul. It breathed its ugly breath in her face.
"Leave," she said and kicked it.
Monsters like that had a bad reputation. She knew the ghoul was there to try to drag the people's souls away to the underworld. Normally they had to wait a few grief days, since the people would be talking to the dead and none of their spirits would hear the words if their soul was gone.
The ghoul snarked at her and she kicked it again; it jumped up and hissed at her, so ugly and menacing.
"I said go. You're so stupid."
It scratched at her and tried to pull her leg, which lead to a deep cut. She heated her hand up to a thousand degrees and punched it with a touch as hot as lava. "GO." She threw ice at it, and it took off into the sky.
"Rose, Rose." Great, now someone was calling her. She turned around in just enough time to see Noah fall through the ice, surprised, which made her laugh out loud despite herself. Without her help he grabbed onto a nearby vine and forced himself up, walked over to her shaking and shivering. "Are you okay?"
“No," she said. She shouldn't have done that, it was mean.
"Are you staying out here long?" he asked, ignoring what she'd just done. "No.”
“It's very peaceful,” he voiced aloud.
“It is.”
He sat down on the ice at her feet and gave a quiet sniffle that was not just from the cold. The only person that she could think of, that might be causing him to break down, was Artisan. His dad hadn't been the same since he came back, she knew it as well as everyone knew it. Anyone looking would have thought he was Mr. Clark's child; still, something told her it was more.
"Did the taken do it?" he asked.
"No," Rose said, almost one hundred percent sure.
"I thought so."
“We all know they didn't; it's not that easy."
“Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever get them back,” he admitted, sniffling harder than ever.
She thought of saying no, but Noah needed comfort and that was too cynical, so she instead said, "We will. I know it."
"Do you miss him? Your uncle?” He asked.
“Every day.”
“All of them?”
“All the time.”
Noah looked around them and said, "Sometimes in order for it to be good, a story can't have a happy ending."
Whoever he cried for, it was not Artisan. Instead it was someone completely gone like the people in the funeral house. Was it his mother who she'd never met? Or was it someone else who died yesterday?
"The writer
decides that,” she pointed out, and it was true, to a certain extent, they had a choice.
When the time came, Rose walked back into the memorial bravely.
She expected to be the center of attention, for Ana was well into her eight speech and people were bored, but as soon as she sat down, the door flew open and a man with the all black uniform of the guard stumbled in. He had cuts all over his face and bruises all over his visible body. His hair appeared as if a child had cut it, for it was longer and shorter in random places. When he walked fully through the door and everyone silenced, he announced, “I'm home."
Whoever it was caused a great stir. Once word reached everyone, people were literally jumping over seats to get to him first. Even the parents.
"Naclipse," many yelled.
Why does that sound familiar, like I should know it?With the sight of Ana's face she understood. Naclipse was a counselor, and he had been one of the men taken. Now he was here. How?
She tried to rush up too, but the people gathered around him, asking two questions at once, grasping for parts of his clothing. Rose stood up but sat down as not to ruin the memorial. There were still seven lives left who might have stories to tell. Ana said nothing yet. It seemed that she knew, that they would all have to calm down a little, before she regained control. Finally, as the crowd grew smaller, Ana stood and yelled, “Everyone quiet.”
Chapter 13☆
"You can't skip a season," Lena said nearly scandalized. It was November second and the leaves had turned green again. The idea had been Sam's. (The only person Naclipse would talk to before locking himself into a hidden room, allowing very few people to visit.) No one warned the people that it would happen, so all morning people had been knocking on the house's doors to ask if this was another attack, and after that they stayed to ask Rose questions as they wanted details on the award show that was at the end of the week. The one she was dreading. She stared at her notebook, tired, wondering what Mr. Clark would say when he walked into the room. "Humans can't skip a season," Hazard corrected, continuing their argument. She had snuck into their class in order to watch them, which Rose had also not been happy about; anyone could easily point out that she wasn't a student.
"No, WE can't. Don't you think it's a little too far?”
"Far? Maybe. But- " They were cut off by someone opening the door and everyone looked up. Noah came in carrying a big box that cleary had a bunch of new textbooks inside. He immediately smiled at Rose, who smiled back. Mr. Clark came in after, his fear lurking behind him. This made Rose question:If an emotion is always out, what is his full personality?
"Hello class, books out, pens ready.”
"We're going on a trip," Noah added, excited.
Mr. Clark lifted his chin and said, "That is correct, but first I want a paragraph on what you plan to learn by the end of the first term.”
Many people groaned heavily while Rose tapped a pencil next to her cheek. She wondered if "everything" would suffice since there wasn't anything she thought was unimportant. Quickly, as not to give off the idea she wasn't doing the paragraph, she began writing. Somehow as they wrote the room grew colder, and she looked up to see equal mask of confusions.
"Sorry," Evan said, trying to push away a floating snow cloud that had formed over his head, "concentrating too hard."
"We noticed," retorted Mr. Clark as he waved it away, and Rose couldn't help but to put on a face of admiration. Just the other day he had shown them the proper way to control a large fire, and last week he had made beautiful gems that could be taken home for the class. The interesting part was that none of those things were actually his core powers.
Rose wrote "as much as you do," seriously wondering if he was skilled at everything. Everyone else seemed to be writing essays. "Okay pens down," Mr Clark said finally. "Now I have an announcement to make. To get to where we’re going, we’ll be traveling by light.”
The room's mood grew rather happier while Rose frowned.Why would we go anywhere by light?Especially in a school group where anything could happen. Yes, it was efficient, but the thing about light travel was that it was very easy to get lost and go too far. Daniel had done it more than a few times and, after that, the man of light had warned everyone in the city against it. There was even a case of a man flying to the moon, along with other cases too brutal to be mentioned. So why were they doing it? Mr. Clark read her mind.
“For those of you who don’t know what that is, I will give a brief explanation. Light traveling is a very dangerous means of traveling that involves attaching yourself to a light beam that is going the direction you’re going. The beam will not stop, however, so it will be your job to make sure you only go to where you need to.”
He surveyed them all, waiting for questions, but no one raised their hand. "No joking or tricking others while we're doing this, as nothing that could happen would be funny. I need you to understand that the smallest error could put your life at stake. You will be traveling at the speed of light and it will only feel slightly slower in your minds.”
The girl named Chase called, “why don't we just catch a wind or wave or something?” “We would go the regular way, but paths have been closed off and many transportation methods have been cancelled due to our latest accident - the principal called us all in a meeting this morning to tell us. I would postpone our trip but the exhibit will not be open again until March.”
Rose raised her hand. “How will we know when to let go and jump down?”
“I'm going to let you know that in a second.”
“Is there a specific way we have to be?”
“Yes. I want to make sure everything is done right, so firstly, everyone stand and make sure you hold hands with someone."
As she stood she felt Lena's hand wrap around her own and then Noah's hand went around her other one. She dared not look at their faces, she was going to be one hundred percent focused.
"We won't be where we're going long, but I felt it would prepare you for the upcoming season. Now, to choose a leader; Kana, take my hand." Some laughed as her hand slipped in his, but Kana stood very still, taking the command very seriously.
"I will say now and pull really hard. The thing about light magic is that you can't really slow down, but as long as you have control it won't feel as strong. Don't panic if you don't hear me, because you will all let go one after the other."
He was putting the trust, of what could be all their lives, into Kana. Without knowing why, Rose felt a slight pang of jealousy.
“If you miss it or feel as if you can't get yourself to jump down, just relax and think about going back, it will immediately take you back to the room more slowly. It’s actually much easier to go back than to go forward.”
Kris asked, “When we don't go back to the room, then what?”
“I'll have noticed and I'll go to get you guys."
“Can you get hurt doing it?” another student called out.
“Only if you land somewhere dangerous. If you don't land at all, you'll just keep traveling. There's no end to light.”
“And if we get stuck somewhere else because we jumped down there?” “I'll get you. I know enough about light magic to be able to round all of you up. Don't worry, I'm ready for anything, I know your parents will all kill me if something happens.” The room all nodded to show they understood.
"Are we ready students.?”
They all agreed. “Now."
There was almost no way to describe it if you hadn't done it before. They went from one room to the next, being completely conscious of every place they had been before, all the distance they had traveled, yet feeling it slip through their minds. It went so fast you could barely comprehend what you knew. Too soon Rose felt Lena squeeze her hand and wink at her, just then Lena let go and Noah let go right after her. Rose looked around confused and recalled, shocked, she had passed it. Before she could even argue she thought, "I have to go back," and it happened. She went back to where they were and jumped down. Man
y turned to look at her, relieved.
"Experienced, Rose?” Mr. Clark asked.
"Daniel," was all she said and the majority turned around, nothing special to see.
"The real question is what happened?" demanded Lena, clearly upset. "It was me. I didn't want to miss it, so as soon as I saw you go I was ready. I tried to pull Rose down too, but it made me lose my grip," said Noah, breathless. "Well, thank God your uncle is a genius."
"It was his favorite way to go places.”
"Why are we here, Mr. Clark?" asked Bash impatiently as he gave him an evil look. "Yeah, why ARE we here. I'm ever so confused at why school students go to museums?" tuned in Evan and many students laughed.
"Because.” Mr. Clark said, trying to end the spark before it lit, “I wanted to show you something very very important.”
They rounded the corner to the museum entryway, and Rosalie gasped. It was a tree that appeared as if it had been dead for thousands, to millions of years. It was all black and reached a little before the roof of the building, which stretched for miles. The swirls and designs carved on it were absolutely beautiful and in some places there were even names and pictures. You could tell they were natural and that time had carved them. The leaves were a white so pure that she wondered if they could be real.
Mr. Clark waited a minute and then coughed to take them out of their trance. "What do you think?"
"What is it?" Lena asked.
"Her name is Winter, and I'll give you a brief history." The room grew so quiet you could barely hear the breathing. "She was born the day the first civilization formed, a known tree that tended to die out fast. They watered her and nurtured her, thought that they could make her live a thousand years, but as all tales go she started to die, so a man came forward, who thought of a trick to prolong her. Each winter she'd lose her leaves and go into a dream like state; after the season was over, she'd wake up. The season winter itself was made way before her, but she was a symbol for a system, the system of many of the plants you see today. Also, she's been here so long they say that as long as she's still alive, earth can be saved. No matter how badly it is mistreated." "But isn't she, like.... dead?"
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