Hidden Magic

by Emmy Oakes

  Chapter Five.

  “How much further?” Alexia complained. They had been walking for a little over an hour. “Can’t we use magic to get to where we’re going?”

  “No,” Lacier said shortly.

  “Why not?” Alexia was confused. They used magic for everything else after all.

  “The soothsayer has a magical boundary around his home.”

  “But isn’t this your planet?”

  “It’s for everybody’s protection. The boundary doesn’t stop the soothsayer from using magic, just anybody else,” Polly explained.

  “You see, if somebody like Temorvick got a hold of the soothsayer, he could use him to predict our every move,” Lacier said, admiring the second sunset of the day.

  “Why doesn’t he let Sians use magic?”

  “We can’t just differentiate between different races. It’s too hard. Temorvick could make himself appear Sian and enter. We have to use our judgment,” Lacier explained.

  “Okay. So are we nearly there?” Alexia’s legs were getting achy. Walking on water was similar to walking on sand, her feet sunk into the water with every step, turning a pleasant walk into a workout.

  “We’re here,” Polly said, pointing to a small section of the water that had a pink tinge.

  “It's just more water.”

  “Follow us,” Lacier said, as she and Polly walked toward the lake. Alexia hesitated and then rushed to catch up to them. Lacier and Polly stopped before the water and looked at Alexia.

  “There’s one thing you should know about the soothsayer,” Lacier warned. “He is always fishing for compliments.”

  “Yes, so compliment him whenever you can otherwise he may not be very helpful,” Polly added.

  “Okay,” Alexia said, nodding her head. “So we go over the water…” Alexia put a foot towards the water and screamed as her foot didn’t land on the water but went right through it. Her body followed her foot and she fell into the water.

  To her surprise, and relief, she didn’t land in water. She landed on a soft spongy like material that bounced like a trampoline when she landed. Alexia looked up, and gasped. The ceiling was made out of a thin layer of the pink tinged water that swirled around and behaved as though real water would. It looked as though the water could fall on top of her at any moment and drench her. Luckily, it hovered above her like a horizontal waterfall. She figured that it was a way of camouflaging where the soothsayer lived.

  Lacier and Polly emerged from the water ceiling and landed much more gracefully than Alexia did. “You guys could have told me we couldn’t walk on that,” Alexia moaned. Polly looked at her blankly.

  “We are not guys, young lady,” she sounded displeased with Alexia. Lacier laughed and shook her head.

  “Don’t worry, Alexia. She isn’t familiar with many Earth terms,” Lacier said.

  “Okay, I’ll try to be more clear,” Alexia promised.

  “Thank you. One could be easily insulted around you,” Polly snorted.

  Lacier gave Alexia a look that said don’t worry, you’ll get used to her, and walked toward something that looked like a scratching post. Lacier scraped at the post with her neatly groomed nails making a loud screech. A small flap appeared in the muddy wall. The door started to move, Alexia watched eagerly as a small cat appeared from behind the flap. It was a cat-flap, Alexia thought.

  “Aw a kitty!” Alexia gushed. Lacier looked taken aback. She looked at Alexia sternly.

  “Alexia, this is Adair, our soothsayer,” Lacier said proudly.

  “Oh, hello.” Alexia didn’t know what else to say.

  “A kitty?” Adair looked upset. His deep voice surprised Alexia.

  “Sorry, I…”

  “I am more than a mere cat!”

  “I love cats,” Alexia tried to redeem herself. “I want-wanted to be a vet.”

  “Well I don’t need a vet.”

  “No, I can see that,” Alexia said.

  “Adair, this is Amosa’s twin sister,” Polly pointed out.

  “I can see that, I’m not blind you know,”

  “No, you have magnificent eyesight I bet,” Polly gushed. Adair stood up on his toes and purred. He did seem to respond to compliments.

  “Yes, yes I do,” his voice sounded lighter.

  “You have such lovely orange fur,” Alexia said awkwardly. Adair stared at her vacantly.

  “Lovely fur?” He looked at his fur doubtfully. “You really think so?”

  “Oh yes.”

  “I always thought it was kind of ragged.”

  “It looks wonderful. Can I pat you?” Alexia tried to sound excited.

  “Why, of course you can!” Adair’s purring became louder. Alexia bent down and stroked his fur. She was suddenly reminded of stroking the large shark earlier, and wondered how many animals she would have to charm.

  “You know, I have painted many animals. I would love to paint you sometime,”

  “I’m no animal,” Adair snapped. Lacier sucked in her breath.

  “Of course not. I was just mentioning that so, so that you know I am an experienced artist,” Alexia said quickly.

  “In that case, I would love for you to paint me,” Adair purred. Lacier let out her breath.

  “Adair,” Polly started. “We need for you to help Alexia sense Amosa.”

  “Of course.”

  “Oh thank you, Adair,” Lacier said, placing her hands together in front of her chest as though she were praying to him.

  “Follow me.” Adair walked toward the cat flap with his tail high up in the air, and disappeared through the tiny flap.

  Lacier turned to Alexia. “That was close. If he didn’t like you he wouldn’t help us.”

  “How come?”

  “Amosa didn’t exactly make a very good impression on him. He doesn’t like her very much.”

  “Doesn’t he have to help you? I mean he lives in Siania.”

  “No, he’s not a Sian. He can do as he pleases,” Lacier said. “He used to be the pet of a very powerful sorcerer from a different planet. This sorcerer was a good friend of mine and asked me to look after Adair if anything happened to him.”

  “I guess something happened to him,” Alexia said to Lacier. She nodded back.

  “Temorvick took over his planet. Adair narrowly escaped and managed to contact me. I brought him here and made sure he would be safe.”

  “She always keeps her promises,” Polly added.

  “Yes, I do. So Adair can live here as he pleases. Plus he comes in handy.”

  “If you’re nice to him,” Polly said.

  Alexia nodded thoughtfully. “Quite an amazing pet.”

  “He didn’t used to be. Once his master died, he inherited all of his powers,” Lacier explained.

  “So he is the sorcerer in a cat’s body?”

  “No, he is still the cat, just with powers,” Lacier said as she motioned for Alexia to go through the cat-flap. “The sorcerer was far less self absorbed than Adair is.” Lacier chuckled to herself.

  “Interesting.” Alexia frowned. “How do I go through that? It’s tiny,” she said, staring at the cat-flap, which she wouldn’t even be able to get her head through.

  “Adair! Could you possibly use some magic for us?” Polly yelled into the cat flap.

  “Oh, silly me! I haven’t had company in awhile!” Adair yelled back.

  Suddenly the cat-flap began to grow. It turned into the biggest cat-flap that Alexia had ever seen. “That’s more like it,” Alexia remarked as they all walked through the over sized cat-flap.

  Inside the cat-flap was quite different to the muddy room they were previously in. There were large fluffy cushions spread around the room, four large empty aquariums lined the walls, and to Alexia’s surprise, a bookcase heavy with books.

  “Now,” Adair spoke as he stretched out and yawned. “Do we know if Amosa is on this planet?”

  “Certainly not,” Lacier responded quickly. “I would be able to
tell if she was.”

  “All right. We’ll need to use the ball,” Adair said, looking around the room.

  “A ball?” Alexia was confused. She couldn’t work out how a ball was going to help them.

  “A crystal ball,” Polly said,

  “Oh, they actually work?”

  “If you use them right,” Polly said, frowning at a cobweb that was hanging down from the ceiling.

  “Ah, here it is!” Adair sounded happy with himself. He rolled a perfectly round ball, made from a flawlessly clear crystal, out from under a miniature bed as though it was a bowling ball. Alexia watched patiently as he rolled the ball with his fuzzy paws to a small indentation in the floor. A click was heard as the ball locked into place. Once it locked into place, a tiny table emerged from under the ball, and rose into the air. Two chairs also arose from the ground opposite the table.

  Adair jumped up onto one of the chairs and motioned for Alexia to sit on the other chair. She nodded and sat down. Adair closed his eyes and cleared his tiny throat. Suddenly he bellowed out in a loud voice, “Who do you wish to seek?” He opened one eye and peeked at Alexia and then shut it again.

  “Oh, Amosa,” Alexia was still getting used to the idea of talking to a cat.

  “Watchers of Siania, Amosa Sian’s twin sister Alexia Sian is here. By using her bond we need you to show us Amosa’s location.” Adair’s eyes were closed but his head was darting around in different directions as though he was looking at something Alexia couldn’t see. Polly and Lacier looked indifferent, as though they had seen this a hundred times. Alexia however, was truly fascinated.

  “We will grant you this request, Adair,” a voice belonging to an invisible source filled the air.

  “Thank you, Watchers,” Adair opened his eyes and looked at Alexia. “Place both hands onto the crystal ball,” Adair ordered. Alexia did as she was told and placed two shaking hands onto the ball. Lacier leaned in close to her.

  “Don’t be nervous, you’re doing fine.” Her voice was calming and made Alexia feel at ease. Although she didn’t know Lacier very well she couldn’t help but admire her.

  “Concentrate, Alexia. See Amosa in your mind.”

  “I’ve never seen her before.”

  “She looks just like you. How hard can it be to see her in your mind?” Adair sounded slightly annoyed.

  “Okay. I’ll try.” Alexia concentrated as hard as she could. She imagined herself sitting in a dark room and kept thinking Amosa’s name over and over.

  “You did it!” Adair purred proudly. Alexia opened her eyes. Polly and Lacier leaned in close to the ball which was now showing an orange swirling planet.

  “She’s on Flameia,” Lacier said solemnly.

  “What on Earth is that?” Alexia asked.

  “It isn’t on Earth. Do you even know that we aren’t on Earth now?” Polly snapped at Alexia. Lacier gave Polly a stern look.

  “It is a saying from Earth, Mother. It does not mean that she thinks that Flameia is on Earth.”

  “Right. I just wanted to know where it was.” Alexia was getting tired of Polly.

  “Flameia is a planet that Temorvick took over a few weeks ago. We haven’t thought about trying to take it back because all inhabitants of Flameia are, well, nothing we would bother saving,” Lacier said as she paced around the room avoiding the large cushions on the floor.

  “I thought Sianians were supposed to guard everything?” Alexia said.

  “The creatures on Flameia are soulless beings. They only exist to kill. Temorvick has probably sent enough shades over to take over all of the population of Flameia,” Polly explained to Alexia. Lacier looked deep in thought.

  Adair took a soft paw and tapped Alexia’s hands. He curved his pointy mouth at her and seemed to smile. “Good job, Alexia. You found her.”

  “It’s bad news though isn’t it? She could be dead.”

  “No. You wouldn’t have been able to sense her. Keep up please, Alexia.” Polly was staring at Alexia disapprovingly.

  “Mother! Would you please be a little more sensitive? Alexia has lived a normal life on a planet that doesn’t believe in magic. Be good!” Lacier seethed. Polly looked like a scolded puppy but didn’t show any shame.

  “Quiet!” Adair commanded silence. “What are we going to do about Amosa?”

  “I’m going to the command center. Come on, Alexia.” Lacier stormed toward the giant cat-flap. She stopped before exiting and turned to Adair. “Thank you, Adair. Your services won’t be forgotten.” Lacier disappeared through the cat-flap with Polly following closely behind.

  Adair surprised Alexia by jumping into her arms. She laughed and smiled at Adair. “You are still a normal cat in there aren’t you?”

  “I still enjoy the benefits of being a cat,” Adair mewed as he showed the back of his head to Alexia. “See the back of my head here? I can’t reach it. Would you mind?”

  “Oh sure,” Alexia said as she began to scratch the back of Adair’s head. He purred uncontrollably and leaned against Alexia.

  “That feels so good!” His purring became louder. “You were going to be a vet.”

  “How did you know?”

  “I’m psychic remember.”

  “Sorry, Polly was right. I just can’t seem to get my head around all of this.”

  “Forget about Polly. She is just cranky because she hasn’t had chocolate for a couple hours.” Adair said, enticing a laugh from Alexia. “You have potential. Wait here a second.” Adair jumped down from Alexia’s arms and pulled something out from under his bed. Alexia bent down toward him.

  “What is it?” Alexia inspected the tiny bottle Adair was holding. An intense red liquid sparkled inside the bottle.

  “It’s an elixir. I don’t have a name for it yet, I just call it a miscellaneous elixir. Save it for a special occasion. It will help you in any situation.”

  “Do I drink it?”

  “You can drink it or do anything you like with it.”

  “Thank you, Adair. I hope I see you again.”

  “You will.”

  “Alexia!” Lacier’s voice echoed into the room. Alexia looked toward the exit.

  “I better go,” Alexia said as she ran a hand over Adair’s smooth fur.

  “Adair, when you said I was going to be a vet, does that mean I’m not going to be one anymore?”

  “You will help many more animals as a Sian than you ever would have if you were a vet. Believe me.”

  “Bye, Adair,” Alexia said disappointedly. She didn’t want to leave Adair. He was the first person, or cat, to make her feel welcome in Siania since she arrived. She took one last look at Adair who looked equally as sad to see her leave.

  Before she knew it, Alexia was back in Polly’s kitchen. They only had arrived five minutes ago but Polly had already baked and eaten a whole cake. “Much better!” Polly exclaimed. Lacier leaned in close to Alexia and spoke into her ear.

  “At least she won’t be as cranky now,” she joked. Alexia giggled. Polly looked over at them, licking her fingers.

  “What’s so funny?” She narrowed her eyes on Alexia.

  “Nothing, mother,” Lacier lied.

  “Okay, I’ll pack some food for the mission. You girls get to the center. Once you have informed the girls of your mission you can come and pick up a box of food to take with you.”

  “That’s is she doesn’t eat it first,” Lacier whispered to Alexia. Alexia stifled a laugh and hurried out of the room before she angered Polly.

  The Sian command center wasn’t what Alexia was expecting. She was standing in a large room with the protective water floor and a special pool of water in the middle. Her feet sloshed across the water as she tried to keep up with Lacier who was walking very fast.

  “This is the wisdom pool,” Lacier pointed into the floating pool that reminded Alexia of a paddling pool she had when she was young. However this pool was filled with a shiny black liquid and the exterior was made out of thick wood.
“It changes colors to let us know important information.”

  “What does black mean?”

  “Black is the default color. I haven’t asked it anything yet.”

  They were interrupted by a bevy of about twenty Sianians who entered the room. They were all approximately the same height but looked completely different. Their hair colors ranged from blond to pink and they all had distinct delicate faces. They all wore the same purple uniform and dark makeup. They reminded Alexia of feminine ninjas.

  The women all nodded at Lacier and glanced at Alexia who felt slightly intimidated. “Ladies, this is Alexia Sian,” Lacier pointed at Alexia as though she was a game show prize. “She is Amosa’s twin sister, as you can all probably tell,” Lacier continued to address the attentive crowd. “With her help we have discovered Amosa’s location.” This produced an excited chatter among the group.

  “Where is she, Lacier? I’m going to crush whoever took her!” A Sian yelled out from the crowd.

  “She is on Flameia,” Lacier said sternly. The chatter stopped. The room fell silent. Alexia surveyed the women’s faces. They all displayed looks of despair.

  “If we don’t act quickly they’ll kill her!” one of the Sian's yelled.

  “They must want her for some reason,” Lacier explained. “Otherwise they would have killed her already.”

  “When do we leave?” an eager Sian asked.

  “Right away,” Lacier replied. “Are you ready, Alexia?” Lacier turned to Alexia.

  “Ready as I’ll ever be,” Alexia said, uncertainly.

  A few minutes later, Alexia was standing in a line behind Lacier holding the box of food that Polly had prepared. She had made two of everything so that there would be food leftover by the time Lacier went to pick it up.

  Behind Alexia were the group of women she met earlier. They were all eager to go and had strapped various weapons to their belts. The girl behind Alexia had a massive double headed axe which was stuck to her belt as though it was a cell phone.

  “Departure in twenty seconds!” Lacier yelled out. Alexia bit her lip nervously. Lacier turned to face the women. “Positions!” Lacier ordered and watched as the women placed a hand on the shoulder of the woman in front of them. Lacier smiled at Alexia and placed one of her hands on Alexia’s shoulders. “Let’s go.” Lacier said as she clenched her fist and then opened it, releasing a purple powder. Then they were gone.

  Flameia was just as bad as Alexia had imagined. They had arrived in a desolate wilderness that was full of active volcanoes and blazing fires that shot up out of the sandy ground in no apparent order. There wasn’t a tree or bush in sight.

  “Everybody eat something, we’re going to need the energy,” Lacier commanded. They quickly and ravenously ate chocolate cupcakes and fudge and branded their weapons. Alexia leaned in close to Lacier. “I though they would fight with magic?”

  “They do. But it never hurts to have weapon skills as magic barriers are common,” Lacier explained to Alexia who nodded in reply. “Move out!” Lacier oozed confidence even though this was her first time in charge.

  They marched forward taking care to avoid any fire that would randomly erupt from the ground. Lacier stared straight ahead as she walked with a determined look on her face.

  A few minutes later they came to a square building made out of steel that looked like an army barracks. Lacier placed a slender hand into the air to halt the women. Alexia felt her heart rate climb. “This must be where Amosa is. There was never any buildings here before,” said Lacier.

  Suddenly a large metal door opened. Alexia held her breath and watched as a creature as tall as the doorway appeared. Its skin resembled molten lava that seemed to crawl around its body as it slowly approached them. There were no visible eyes or mouth where its face should be. Alexia shuddered at the sight of it convulsing towards them. As it got closer Alexia could make out a round mouth that opened and closed at it walked, revealing teeth made of molten rock.

  Lacier raised her arms into the sky and held them above her head as though she was holding a basket. With force, she flicked her fingers out sending a rush of cold water down onto the creature. The water froze it in place turning it into a statue. Lacier pointed at the woman with the big axe. She nodded and raised her axe into the air and threw it at the creature. Just as Lacier expected, the creature exploded into large chunks and fell to the ground.

  “Let’s go,” Lacier yelled and ran toward the building. They all followed and rushed inside.

  Alexia looked around fretfully. There were black marks all over the place caused by the hot, fiery creatures that patrol the floors. “Be careful, ladies. If those things touch you, your skin will melt,” Lacier warned. They all nodded and continued to walk further into the building.

  A loud scraping sound was heard from around the corner. “Another one is coming!” Somebody yelled out.

  “Ready yourselves, girls!” Another one yelled. The sound got louder as the creature turned the corner and became visible. This creature was different to the one before, his skin wasn’t made out of lava, it was made out of stone. He was holding a large pole that had been sharpened at one end and was scraping on the ground making a terrible screeching noise. Two pupil-less white eyes were visible in his rocky head along with three bottle cap sized holes were where his mouth should be.

  He stared at the women and shot long flames out the tree holes in his face. The Sians rolled out of the way, dodging the attack. Alexia felt the hot flames whip past her face narrowly missing her skin. She cried out and fell to the ground. Lacier looked over at her.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Alexia replied. Lacier nodded and stood up once the creature stopped firing. She put her right hand out and summoned a glowing spear. With great speed, she ran toward the creature holding out the spear. The creature held up his sharpened pole and dodged Lacier’s attack.

  Just as the other Sians ran towards Lacier to help, ten other stone men emerged from around the corner. The Sians engaged them and fought fiercely. Alexia screamed as a stone man approached her. His expressionless face locked onto her and began to shoot flames out his mouth. Lacier heard her scream and pushed the creature she was fighting onto the ground. She dodged the battling Sians who were destroying the stone men and rushed to Alexia’s side. Lacier waved her hand in the air and brought up a shield of water that blocked the flames from hitting Alexia.

  “Thanks,” Alexia’s voice was barely a squeak.

  “If you’re in a situation like that, try to use magic,” Lacier said, breathlessly. She dismissed the shield and bashed her spear against the ground. The spear started to turn red. Alexia felt the ground rumble beneath her feet. She had to lean against the wall to stop herself from falling over.

  Suddenly the spear changed from red to blue and shot out a intense blue light that lit up the whole room. The light cut through the stone creatures and they fell onto the floor making a heavy clunking sound. The Sian fighters cheered at the sight of the broken men. Lacier raised a hand. “Quiet! We don’t want to alert the whole place.” Lacier’s words silenced the women. “Let’s continue,” Lacier said as she walked purposefully ahead. Everybody followed closely behind her, Alexia especially.

  Lacier led the group of women around the corner that the stone men came from. They treaded lightly to make sure that they didn’t alert anymore unwanted presences. Lacier stopped walking. Even though they were trying to be silent, their footsteps echoed in the long metal halls. “What is it?” Alexia whispered.

  “Look,” Lacier said as she pointed down the hallway. “There’s a door, heavily guarded.” Standing outside the door were four guards. They had black force fields swirling around them. “Temorvick’s guards. They’re wearing magic force fields,” Lacier sighed.

  “Can’t we overpower them?” Alexia asked.

  “Our magic won’t work on them, but they can use magic against us. We’d be beaten for sure.” Lacier looked deep i
n thought.

  “What are we going to do?” One of the women asked.

  “We need a distraction,” Alexia suggested.

  “Or we need their shields taken down!” Lacier sounded excited.

  “How?”

  “Well they stole those shields off of us. Some Sians left them behind after a mission. They are actually vests.”

  “Why aren't we wearing them then?”

  “They are heavy and uncomfortable,” one of the fighters told her.

  “So what do we do?” Alexia sounded confused.

  “We can use magic to lift the vests off of them,” Lacier said, staring at the goons. “Our magic can’t hurt them while they are wearing them but we could still remove the vests with telekineses.”

  “Sounds like a good idea,” Alexia said. Lacier’s face turned grave.

  “The only problem is, you and I are the only ones who can perform such magic, Alexia. These women are mainly warriors, they have limited magic.” The women looked slightly insulted. Lacier noticed this and rephrased her sentence. “Of course they are magnificent warriors.” The women looked much happier and Lacier smiled at them.

  “Lacier, I haven’t had much experience with my skills yet.” Alexia was getting nervous.

  “You have the ability inside you. We will both concentrate on two vests each. See them being ripped off in your mind.”

  “Lacier I don’t know if I can…”

  “Go!” Lacier ordered. Alexia didn’t have time to protest, Lacier had already started removing the vests off of her two targets.

  “You can do it, Alexia!” a Sian encouraged her. Alexia nodded and stared at the guards who had just noticed the crowd of Sians. They started to approach them.

  Alexia concentrated as hard as she could on the ugly guards. Their skin looked like sand paper, they were three times as wide as Alexia, and they had deep set black eyes.

  Alexia imagined the glowing vests being ripped off of the guards. To her surprise, when she opened her eyes the vests had done just what she imagined. They were now hovering in the air. The Sians behind her cheered. Alexia smiled widely and flung the vests hard against a metal wall.

  “Go Sians!” Lacier yelled for her soldiers to attack. They ran bravely forward toward the guards who were now defenseless. Lacier turned to Alexia and smiled then joined the other Sians who were overpowering the four guards.

  Alexia stood alone in the corridor watching the Sians fight. They moved so quickly and gracefully it didn’t seem like she was watching a battle, it looked more like a choreographed ballet recital. The last of the four guards hit the ground. He looked like he was struggling to talk. Alexia leaned forward and tried to listen, all she could make out were the words 'stupid' and 'successful.'

  “Come on, Alexia, let’s go,” one of the girls shouted at her. “Quickly, before more guards come!”

  “Coming,” Alexia shouted back and nodded as she ran towards the Sians who were already working on the locked door the guards had been watching. “Lacier, that last guard said something-”

  “Not now, Alexia, we’re nearly inside!” Lacier interrupted anxiously. Alexia nodded and didn’t say anything else.

  The heavy steel door flew open with a bang. Lacier pushed her way through the cheering women. Alexia watched quietly from behind the crowd. “Mother!” A frightened voice cried out from inside the room. Mother? Alexia thought suspiciously. “Oh, mother I was a fool!” Amosa Sian jumped up from the warm stone floor and hugged Lacier. Amosa was the spitting image of Alexia. She had the same thick brown hair but slightly longer, they both had brown eyes and pale skin with slender faces.

  “What do you mean you were a fool?” Lacier said, running a hand over Amosa’s hair.

  “While guarding Trio, I fell in love with a boy called Vince. What I didn’t know was that he had been taken over by one of Temorvick’s shades. I thought he really loved me,” Amosa started to fiddle with a choker that was around her neck. It looked like a dog collar made out of steel. “He gave me this,” she pointed tugged on the choker. “I thought it was a necklace but it’s a magical barrier. It stopped me doing any magic. Once I put it on, it wouldn’t come off. That’s when Temorvick’s guards took over Trio and abducted me.”

  “Mother?” Alexia whispered to herself in the background. Her head had started to hurt.

  “It’s okay, Amosa. It wasn’t your fault. We got your distress call, we saved Trio. I was more worried about you though.”

  “I’m glad Trio is okay. It’s a beautiful planet.”

  “Yes it is. Temorvick has never seem interested in it before though. There’s no chance of the amulet being on Trio. I wonder what he wanted there…”

  “He just wants to rule everybody, Mother. Don’t worry about it. How did you find me?” Amosa asked as Lacier wrapped her hand around the choker. Her hand started to glow red and the choker fell off and landed by her feet.

  “We,” Lacier hesitated, “your sister found you.” Lacier looked toward the ground.

  “Sister? What sister?”

  “That would be me,” Alexia said from outside the room. Amosa stepped closer to her, squinting her eyes.

  “How is this possible?” Amosa said, bewildered. “This is a trick!” She rubbed her neck which had a red mark from the choker.

  “No, Amosa. It isn’t, she’s your twin,” Lacier confessed. The Sian fighters looked around uncomfortably.

  “Commander Lacier, if we aren’t needed anymore, we will travel back to Sian and report to Polly,” one of the girls spoke up. Lacier was thankful for the interruption.

  “Thank you, ladies. Excellent job, I’ll see you all later,” Lacier said, distractedly. The girls looked relieved as they disappeared from the barracks leaving Lacier, Amosa and Alexia.

  “Where have you been hiding her, Mother?” Amosa's face was turning a deep angry red.

  “Amosa, I had no choice,” Lacier tried to explain.

  “So you are my mother,” Alexia said solemnly.

  “This is a mess,” Lacier said, placing her hands against her temples. “I didn’t know how to tell you, Alexia.”

  “Oh, so she lied to you too,” Amosa snapped. “Your name is Alexia?”

  Alexia nodded.

  “Well, Alexia. Do me a favor and keep away from me.” Amosa teleported herself back to Siania. Lacier sighed out loud.

  A tear formed in each of Alexia’s eyes making her vision blurry. Lacier had a look of bewilderment on her face. “Alexia, I’m so sorry.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Alexia croaked. “Were you even going to tell me?”

  “Please, let’s not do this here. More guards could be here any minute.” Lacier clenched her fist and slowly opened it, releasing the purple gas. Alexia stared at her through watery eyes as they disappeared from the hot steel barracks in Flameia.