Reflections; a KOTLC fanficion

Chapter 3

"Wakey, Wakey!" Thor said over Caroline. The sweet scent of something unfamiliar jolted Caroline from her drowsiness.

Her brother held up a box of plump, round wheels that smelled amazing, and they tasted good too.

"They're called doughnuts," Kyreen said, as she took another.

"I like the cinnamon ones," Eve said through a mouthful.

Thor briskly stood up and closed the box. "We're taking them to go; we're going sightseeing today." He held up a big piece of paper with lines drawn across it.

"You got one!" Caroline exclaimed, but then quickly took back her excitement when she saw how complicated the map was.

"I figure we're here," Eve pointed to a green square in the middle of the map. "And since we were traveling with our backs to the sun yesterday, we should walk towards here." She then pointed to a tan area filled with little white squares. Caroline figured that was the estate area where they were found at.

Eve took the map from Thor and led them down the hill and onto a more populated area of the green space. "There seems to be a lot of estate areas. And this is just one of their cities. The humans are much more numerous than I thought," Eve mused.

The landscape changed very abruptly from rolling, leaf-littered hills, to a neighborhood that had much nicer houses. They had large balconies and doors, but every house was close together, creating many alleys, and the walkways beside the roads were very narrow. Piles of neat leaves were lined up on the sidewalk.

"I wonder what our families are doing in the Lost Cities right now," Caroline said.

Eve nodded. "They're probably worried sick."

"But they'll find us," Christian assured her.

"Are you sure? Because last I checked, we had no home crystal, registry pendant, and they even took away our Elvin DNA," Kyreen said.

Christian maintained his smile. "Never underestimate a parent. There was this one time, my mom..."

"We don't need to hear about it," Kyreen interrupted. They walked on in silence, pondering the weight of the situation. None of them wanted to stay here, especially with the council's new war-like stance. The worry that at any point an Elvin weapon, or even a human missile, could drop on them suddenly became a reality. Caroline sincerely hoped that was not the case, but really, anything was possible.

Thor held up his hand for them to stop.

"Why did we stop?" Kyreen asked.

Thor made the silent signal and pointed to where a bush was rustling. Seconds later a cloak could be seen rushing through the multi-colored foliage. A head of bright red hair popped out and grabbed Caroline, dragging her through the leaf piles to the nearest alleyway. Whoever caught her kicked up so many leaves Caroline couldn't tell who it was. She could hear her friends yelling her name, but they didn't come any closer. She figured they were confused by the explosion of leaves, so Caroline opened her mouth to yell, except that  her kidnapper stuffed her mouth full of leaves before she could react.

The leaves settled, revealing a tall girl about thirteen with bright blue eyes and fiery red hair that stopped at her neck. She wore raggedy clothes, and a cloak was laid across her back but, in her hand, she held a shimmering sword with a black handle. The girl moved with surprising speed and before Caroline knew what had happened, the point was held to her neck.

The redhead stared into Caroline's eyes, "Who are you? And what in the world is the Lost Cities?"