Everglade: The Underaged

Chapter 23

Like Forwin had said, it wasn't long before they heard a noise in the sky. They all looked up. There was a Pegasus in the sky coming toward them. Forwin got to his feet eagerly.

"That was fast." Korman said. The Pegasus landed and a boy got off.

"Henain?" Forwin inquired.

"Forwin?" Hanain asked. Forwin smiled and embraced his brother. Luke got a happy feeling inside of his chest. He'd done something good. Something helpful. He'd saved someone's power, then used only memories to find someone. The happy feeling went away as he realized a normal telepath couldn't use memories to search for thoughts. Nor could they delve into a mind that was five miles away. How powerful was he? Is that why The Crows wanted him? What else could he do? Why couldn't he be normal?

"Luke! Hello?" Korman said. Luke looked at him.

"Huh?" was all he could say.

"You alright? I was trying to get your attention for the past five minutes,"

"Yeah." Luke lied. He wasn't okay. He was having doubts. "I was just lost in thought."

"How'd you find Henain? Telepaths aren't that strong." Isabella asked

"I... I..." Luke looked away. He really didn't want to talk about it. He would have to express his doubts. He wasn't sure how to do that.

"Luke? What is it?" Ailwin asked.

"I need to be alone." Luke stood up and walked away. He went into the woods. He could hear his friends calling after him, but he ignored them. He needed alone time. Luke felt tears prick at his eyes. He tried to hold them back, but couldn't. They fell out of his eyes. He couldn't wipe them away fast enough. He sat on the ground and wrapped his arms around his knees and put his head on them. He let all of his emotions out.

"Oh, you poor thing. What's happened? Someone hurt you?" someone said. Luke stood up fast, pulling out his stiletto. There was a man in brown clothes in front of him.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Just someone who wants to help." The man said.

"That's not a good enough answer." Luke began to back away. The man followed. Luke sheathed the stiletto, turned and ran.

Eclipse! Help me! There's someone after me!

I come. Luke continued to run while he waited for Eclipse. He could hear the man running after him. He glanced back. The man's appearance had changed. He was now a man wearing feathered clothes. A Crow. Luke realized. He turned his head forward just in time to dodge a second Crow. Both continued to run after him.

"After him!" he heard one yell in a raspy voice that sent chills down Luke's spine. He pushed his legs to go faster. He noticed a tripwire. He jumped over it. He heard colorful language behind him. That tripwire had been for him. Luke wasted no time in glancing back. He kept his eyes ahead, keeping an eye out for more tripwires. He found a second one and jumped over it, only to fall into a hole. He desperately scrabbled up the side, dirt flying under his hands and continued running. He heard more colorful language. Eclipse landed in front of him. Luke got onto her back.

Go! Fly! She took off. Luke watched the two Crows shrink until he couldn't see them anymore.

Too close. Eclipse said.

Agreed. Luke replied. He glanced back again. No one was following them. Eclipse suddenly dove to the right. Luke felt something fly past them. He looked. There was a Hippogriff with a kid on its back. Another Underaged. He reached out his mind to the Underaged's. He found the chains and broke them. He retracted out of the Underaged's mind. The Underaged shook their head and spirled to the ground. Luke and Eclipse followed him. When they landed they found that the Underaged had crash landed. They crawled out from under the Hippogriffs wing. Luke realized with a jolt that the Underaged was a girl.