The Hunt for Aquatenite

Chapter - 25 Liza

I can't say how I felt when I found out Nexiana was missing. There were mixed feelings. Nexiana had been in our group but not exactly in our group. She was just there. But when she wasn't with us, it was like our shadow was missing. She was just like a shadow.

"Took you long enough," Another giant announced. "47 minutes 32 seconds 11 milliseconds."

I raised an eyebrow. "You were keeping track?"

"We're good with time. And, yes, it was a bet. I won." He stuck out his tongue, which was pretty gross, to the giant beside him.

Oliver pursed his lips. "So you guessed we would take 15 minutes 42 seconds and I don't know. 10 milliseconds? You know what? Forget it."

"Can we please focus on the bigger issue?" Lucy pleaded. "But, first, untie us."

"I can't. Only father and Geth know how to. They don't trust me with it." Zeth told us.

"Well, they are right. If you knew, you would have tried to untie us." Rislerk stated, earning a death glare from Zeth.

Lucy shot one of her ugly faces at him that said if ~ you ~ say ~ one ~ more ~ word ~ I ~ will ~ snap ~ your ~ head ~ in ~ half. And, trust me, you don't want that look. I've experienced it and the consequences can go from throwing a pineapple to your face to living like a beggar on the streets. BTW, I had to steal food from stores. Ah, those days.

"So, do you know where Nexiana is?" Rislerk asked the giant who had won the bet, whom we will call Betwin because he won the bet.

He shook his head. "Sadly, no. But she's in this palace." Betwin crossed the room to reach Rislerk's spot in the hall. He thumped his back which caused him to swing because of the rope attached to his waist. "I know how it feels to lose your girlfriend."

We all cracked up while Rislerk choked on air.

"Did I say something wrong?" Betwin asked. All of us answered 'no' while Rislerk said 'yes'. "You've got me a little confused here."

I had to admit, it wasn't so bad in the giants' realm if we weren't dangling a few inches above the ground, tied by a rope and surrounded by giant breath.

"She isn't m-" Rislerk started to say but I cut him off so he couldn't ruin Betwin's confused face.

"Where can we find this Aquaman?"

I saw Lucy shake her head in disappointment.

Zeth rubbed his chin, thinking hard. Then, in a painful voice, he said, "I don't know the exact location but I'm pretty sure it's somewhere in the neighborhood."

"So, what you're saying is that we are supposed to destroy something we can't even find." Olivia groaned.

"That's another issue. You'll have to find the other girl first. You can't do it without her."

I couldn't help but think about how his children put up with him. He was more boring than anyone I'd ever met. Yes, that was my only thought at the moment.

Zeth's nose twitched. His head shot up. He searched for something around his dad's throne. We asked what it was, but he ignored us. It irritates me when someone ignores my questions. And at the time, it was super frustrating. I was about to explode when a bright light shined from where Zeth was standing. Slowly, the other giants filed into the hall. A door opened up beside me, and Zeth's father and brother barged in. Geth's skin brushed on mine which was gross. I doubted he'd ever heard of a bath.

"The centaur's awake and free. He's making his way here. Get ready with the weapons!" The King's voice echoed through the hall and in my ear. I hoped my hearing wouldn't be affected by his roar.

I heard the voice of hooves. The noise grew louder and louder after every second. Each second, some giants held up their weapons. Half of them were armed with chains and the other half held super long metal maces. Each of them stood at the ready while we waited for an evil-looking centaur, but when the sound of hooves stopped, the one and only *drum roll* history teacher stood in front of us.

"Tyrek!" We all cried but the loudest was Olivia.

Many chains rattled and the giants with maces charged toward the centaur. The days we'd spent with him, he'd taken care of us. Like he was our father. I'd understood why Olivia liked to spend time with Tyrek. He treated us like we were the only ones in his life.

I tried to call for my powers but nothing happened. It usually happened when I was in rage. I tried again but failed. Apparently, Lucy was also trying to use her water powers but was failing miserably.

As soon as a chain reached Tyrek, Lucy and Olivia shielded their eyes, but the chain retracted when it reached him and hit another giant. The same happened with all the other weapons.

"Go on! Go on! Keep trying." Tyrek yelled. I could see the King's face turning red with anger. "Aww...See, the King is blushing."

I couldn't help but giggle when the King blushed harder. For another few seconds, all the giants kept trying to reach Tyrek. Even Zeth, who wasn't doing anything before to hurt Tyrek. He must have thought his chain wouldn't touch Tyrek like the others.

I could tell I was glowing from happiness but no sooner had Tyrek's face darkened. I wished I didn't hear him say 'oh no'. From the corner of my eyes, I caught a glimpse of a shadow. I wanted to discover more of it but Tyrek had started to gallop across the room. I wondered what was wrong until a chain caught him on his neck. Tyrek roared in fury. But what hurt more was that Zeth held that chain. He looked shocked for a second but soon it turned into a smirk.

"Aww...see who's blushing now?" The King said. He inched closer to Tyrek and his finger reached out to his face.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Olivia screamed at the same time Oliver said, "You don't know what the Bravens can do!"

The King stroked his chin with his pinky before ordering a bunch of giants to tie Tyrek with their special rope while he had a friendly conversation with us.

"We should have a conversation with our guests who will be quiet until, well, I finish."

"Oh, you bet," I said. If I could use my hands, I would have slapped him for additional effect, but I couldn't even feel them. They had turned numb.

"Let's start from this confident lady." He leaned closer toward me, folding his hands. "I captured your parents a while ago. You have got your mother's style. The same eyes. Always there to help the important people in her life. It got her into trouble. Hope you are going to turn out like her in this case." My heart skipped a beat at his remarks. What had my parents been doing here? Thankfully, he didn't say anything else as he caught sight of Olivia staring at Tyrek. He was being tied to the ceiling with a thicker chain beside Lucy and had handcuffs on his horse limbs.

"Aha, Albesterin! I always wanted to kill you. And your mother, and your grandma, and your great-grandma, and your great-great-"

"Grandma." Oliver finished for him. "I can even tell you their names, thanks to our extraordinary parents." He grumbled and murmured something under his breath. "You want me to spell them to you? Because, you know, you might not know how to with that thick skull of yours that has a cute, little brain inside."

The King took a step towards him.

"Jealous, huh? Every time, the females in your family get all the respect. The fame. And you're left behind, clapping for your relatives. For your sister. Join us and you'll get all the respect in this world."

Oliver gritted his teeth. "I'm not turning my back towards the good."

"Yeah, I didn't think you would join me that easily." He looked around to taunt another one and his eyes landed on Rislerk. He took slow steps toward him. He put a finger under his chain and lifted his face.

"If it hadn't been for those two, you would still be rotting in that cage." The King told Rislerk.

What was he talking about? Who are those two? Rislerk was captured by the giants?

He didn't say any more. He gave a bitter look to Lucy but didn't say anything to her which I was grateful for. He took Geth's hand, snapped his fingers, and they vanished.