The Hunt for Aquatenite

Chapter - 21 Liza

I was so engrossed in thinking about Nexiana and Rilserk's argument that I didn't realize we were teleporting to Antarctica. I couldn't brace myself for impact when we teleported. It was like being strangled by someone. I was getting stretched and twisted by the air. It was a violent act. I tried to breathe but everything happening to me wasn't letting me. At some point, everything stopped. And by everything stopped, I mean everything stopped. I couldn't move. I couldn't see. And most important of all, I couldn't breathe. There was no movement around me. There were voices around me but I couldn't make out what they were saying. At last, I blacked out.

* * *

My head throbbed. I couldn't get up. I was cold. I felt a warm, fuzzy coat being draped on me. I opened my eyes but everything was so bright. I shielded my eyes. The light gave me a more severe headache. Someone rushed to me. I couldn't see his face but something was familiar about him.

"Open your mouth." I heard. I knew that voice. It was Rislerk. I did what he asked and something sweet was poured down my throat.

"Will she be fine?" This was Oliver's voice.

In a matter of time, I could see clearly and my voice came back to me. I was able to sit upright but when I tried to stand, I fell on my butt. This was not good. I didn't want to sit there my whole life.

"Wh-where are we?" I asked, holding my head. That sweet liquid did help a little with my headache but it wasn't enough.

"Where we should be," Oliver answered almost immediately. "Antarctica."

All the memories flooded back to me. Why we had come to Earth and what had happened on our way. I realized some of us were missing.

"Where are the others?" I panicked. What if something happened to them? What if they'd been killed? Or had they suffered what had happened to me? What about Lucy? My head pounded harder even thinking about it.

Oliver growled at Rislerk. "If someone hadn't messed up hertillision, they would have been with us."

"What do you mean? Where are they?" I croaked. I had a feeling it was not good.

"I might have sent them somewhere else. It might be some part of Antarctica. Or the other side of the world." Rislerk looked scared of how I was going to react to that. I liked to see him afraid of me.

I looked at both of them. Oliver had lines building up between his brows. Rislerk was trying not to show his worriedness but he was failing at it miserably. And me? I was a mixture of both of the boys' feelings.

For a while, no one said anything. Both of them were so tense that they forgot about anything happening around them. I couldn't tolerate the silence. I was so heated up inside that I burst out.

"You don't think we would ever get to meet them again if we sit here all our lives, do you? We need to do something."

"I have thought it all over and over again about what I did wrong in hertillision. I didn't catch anything." Rislerk looked about ready to cry. I couldn't understand who he was so worried for. He was the most stressed out of all of us.

"You know you can't solve everything on your own, right?" I said, keeping a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and instantly, I pulled back my hand.

"I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to-" I apologized. 

"No, it's fine. I think I was just surprised." He quickly said.

"I know we don't know each other that well, but I'm still worried. Don't blame yourself for what happened."

"Even though it is your fault," Oliver added, crossing his arms, and shot Rislerk a death glare.

"And he didn't mean to do it." I added, giving him one of my looks that meant 'if you don't take that back you are dead'.

Oliver rolled his eyes. "If you both are done with your self-esteem workshop, then can we plan for what we came here for?"

"But first, please tell me what happened to me." I made a puppy dog face for instance.

"According to our master, Professor Rislerk Mansolin here, there was a sudden change in your body that it reacted like that. He gave you special medicines to cure you." Oliver explained, still growling at Rislerk.

"Well, um, thanks, Rislerk." Okay, that wasn't me. Why was I being so nice to him? 

"What are we going to do now? We don't know where they are."

"What if we telepathically talk to them? But guess what? We can't." Oliver stomped his foot. He was very, very mad.

"When will you start saying things that help us?" Rislerk said, raising his voice. "All that you have done is yell."

Oliver grabbed Rislerk's collars.

"Is it my fault that we have split and don't even know if my sister and Lucy are alive? No, it's yours!" Oliver's eyes were red. If Rislerk said even a little word, Oliver would be ready to take out his dagger.

I heard him mutter Nexiana's name. But why her?

I stepped between the two of them, releasing Rislerk from Oliver's grip and pushing them away from each other.

That little act made me weak. I fell to the ground and clenched my fist. I felt 2 pairs of arms lift me.

"Oh, now you work together? No, go and kill each other!" I screamed. I screamed out all the emotions that were burning inside me at the time. "You are both selfish. We are stuck in this icy cold place and don't know what's happening to the others. But your solution is to fight. Why don't you fight now!"

They looked at me with concern. "Because you're right. We were acting dumb. Fighting will not change anything. We're sorry." Rislerk said finally.

Oliver nodded. At last, they agree on something.

For the next ten minutes, the boys pleaded for forgiveness while I acted like I wasn't satisfied. To be honest, I had forgiven them the moment they'd apologized but it was fun enjoying the hospitality.

"What do you want?" Oliver cried.

"You have already done what you had to. I'm fine." I continued to lie.

"We will do anything. Just wish for it, mistress." Rislerk pleaded.

"Fine! I wish that you don't get mad at what I'm going to say next." Rislerk and Oliver shared confused looks. I wanted to have more fun, but at this point, I was running out of ideas to irritate them so I did my last move. Tell them the truth. Now that I had to finish this joke, I was scared. What if they got mad again? And this time, at me.

"Remember, do not get mad," I reminded them one more time. "I was joking all this time. I forgave you the moment you said sorry. I couldn't be mad at you guys!" I waited for their reaction but they stood there, motionless.

"Hey, anyone there?" I waved my hands over their face.

They wrapped their hands around me so tightly that I almost choked. But I hugged them back.

"You got us so worried!" Oliver said, pulling away.

"Don't ever do that agaiiiiiiiii-" Rislerk screamed.

The ground trembled and the ice cracked beneath our feet. The crack stretched until it was no longer a crack. It was a hole in the ice. And we fell into it.