Reflections; a KOTLC fanficion

Chapter 2

The group kept walking in silence. Eventually, they found a large open area that was not occupied by houses. In the middle of the city stood a large square plot of grass and trees, littered with golden leaves. It almost reminded them of the Lost Cities, but pollution still reeked. It was now the early afternoon and the sun beat down on the teens, burning their skin even though it should feel cold outside.

"Pick a weather will ya!" Christian yelled into the air. "It was cold this morning."

"Weather patterns are different here," Caroline told him. "Much more unpredictable."

"And so are the locals," Thor said. "We need to find shelter before dark."

Kyreen pointed to a building on top of a field that looked like some sort of castle, "There, we solved that problem. Now for our more pressing issue—food."

At the mention of food, everyone's stomach growled with an intensity they had never felt before. Never had any of them gone without food for more than 12 hours. Suddenly, their noses could pick up more than just the pollution. The smell of buttery, greasy food drew them towards a trail where a line of food stands was set up. Smoke trailed from a popcorn stand and the sound of sizzling hotdogs on a grill seemed to be now the most important thing in the world.

"I would like one of those please," Eve said, pointing to a hotdog that was grilled to perfection.

"Oh! And one of these!" Kyreen exclaimed, looking at a cooking pretzel.

Thor waved them over to a bench. "You realize you have to pay these people for the food, right? Like how you have to pay for things in the Lost Cities." He held up a small rectangular piece of green paper with a man's face, and the number 5 depicted on it.

"But we're homeless," Kyreen complained.

Thor shook his head and walked over to one of the stands. He came back with a hotdog and pretzel and handed them to the girls, they broke off a piece and passed it around.

"This is delicious!" They exclaimed.

"Where did you get the money?" Caroline asked.

"I take it everywhere with me. Dad gave me that when he came back from an emissary trip. He said it was currency humans used. It's my lucky dollar."

"Do you have any more?" Caroline continued.

Thor shook his head. "But they are pretty common among people. Maybe someone has dropped some?"

After the group had finished their meager portions, they headed out in search of money. Digging through trashcans and scrutinizing trails only produced three dollars.

"I think we need to try a different strategy," Thor concluded.

"I'm not begging," insisted Kyreen.

Christian and Eve came walking over with a wallet full of cash and a laminated card. "Will this work?" Eve said, holding up the many twenty-dollar bills.

"I think that classifies as stealing," Caroline told them.

"No, it's not, the man just left it there on the bench to go and talk to some guys in sunglasses." Eve pointed to where the man was talking to a couple of men in jackets that read, POLICE. He was pointing at them.

"Oh No," Caroline pulled her friends behind a tree, but thought better of it and started running. "Those guys are law enforcement, if we get caught, especially with the wallet, we will never see the light of day again."

Instead of leaving the wallet on the bench, Eve pocketed it and started running. The group ran off the trail and towards a thick grove of trees.

"Why is running so much harder now?" Christian complained. "I swear, yesterday, I could run a mile in three minutes."

"Did you miss the part where we lost all of our abilities?" Thor yelled.

"There!" Caroline pointed to a large group of people gathering near a stage. "We can hide in the crowd until they pass."

They split up and mingled in the crowd until they didn't see the policemen anymore.

Christian and Eve didn't seem to get the idea of not stealing and came back with baseball hats and sweatshirts. "We need to disguise ourselves," He shrugged.

"This is not a crime movie," Caroline countered the over-enthusiastic pair. "We just committed a major offense in this world,"

"I don't see how this is a major offense," Eve told her. "It's just a couple of pieces of paper and a laminated card."

"That card holds probably hundreds of thousands of U.S currency," Caroline scolded.

Eve suddenly stared at the card with newfound realization. "Well, we don't really need that much money, do we? We can get by with the bills."

"Okay, so we ditch the card," Thor said. He grabbed the card from Eve's hand and set it down on a nearby bench. "Now they can't convict us?"

Caroline shrugged, and they left the crowd, walking towards the castle-like building just as the first rays of light left the horizon.

"Anyone know how we're going to get back?" Eve asked. They had all settled down on the floor of the open structure on the hill. From the high point, Caroline could see twinkling lights of high buildings surrounding the little oasis of trees.

"If we knew where one of our estates was, we could get there by human means," Kyreen said.

Eve sighed, "I faintly remember seeing that all of our estates were off the coasts of the continents, because, the humans take up the actual land."

"We could always go back and ask Tiergan, they've probably healed him by now," Caroline suggested.

"I didn't keep track of where we were going, so I doubt we'll be able to figure a way back without a map," Thor said.

Everyone stared at each other with defeated looks. "That means we'll have to go out and ask, I guess," Kyreen said.

Christian smiled. "Don't look so sad guys. We're in a new world! Aren't you the least bit curious as to what's out there?"

"A lot of crumbling buildings and grouchy people?" Thor said. Christian's enthusiasm didn't raise the mood much.

"And don't forget hot dogs and pretzels," Eve chimed.

"And some pretty interesting décor," Caroline added.

"And cute outfits," Kyreen said, reminding Caroline about how Aunt Biana used to talk.

"See? And I'm sure we'll find other cool stuff here too. This just gives us a new perspective," Christian smiled. "And I'm betting that secretly somewhere humans have developed a way to travel to other planets, with like a wormhole or something!"

"I'm pretty sure that we would notice if something like that were to happen. Spaceships are not necessarily invisible," Kyreen said, spreading her jacket out like a pillow.

"Wormholes are," Countered Christian.

Kyreen sighed, "Whatever."

The five set out their jackets and laid down in a circle below the skylight. A few stars showed through.

"There are a lot less stars here," Eve commented.

"Hopefully, soon, that will change," Caroline said; the rushing sound of cars sending her to sleep.