Keeper of the Lost Cities Story; The Lost Secret

Chapter 28 (Marella's POV)

MARELLA'S POV

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT I DO NOT OWN MARELLA'S CHARACTER, AND I'M JUST TRYING MY BEST TO WRITE IN HER POV

Marella wasn't exactly excited that her former best friend Kai Behar was involved in the blackswan now. She was still upset with how their last interaction went.

"Marella, you ready?" Linh asks.

They all had met at Havenfield to prepare, but it was weird without Sophie. Marella grabbed her throwing star and ran to catch up to Linh.

"Yup,"

Marella walked with Linh into the main room. Dex, Biana, Keefe, Tam, Wylie, and Grady were already there. Blur and Wrath were also there, but not Forkle.

"Where's Forkle?" Marella said sassily. "He's coming right?"

"He should be on his way," Keefe said.

He didn't have his usual smirk and funny personality. He must've been missing Sophie, everyone could tell he liked her. Sophie was just too stuck on Fitz to notice, though the two were cute together.

"Good," Tam grumbled.

He seemed to be in a bad mood, but then again he always was in a bad mood. Marella had heard that Kai was staying with Tam and Linh at Solreef... it did upset her that her ex-best friend was staying at her new best friend's house.

All the goblins started talking about safety and boring procedures to keep everyone safe. Marella was zoning out though, she knew that she always had her ability to help her. Marella was a pyrokinetic, meaning she could produce fire from her hands.

"We should head out," Tam says. "It's eleven-thirty, we need to be ready for anything,"

"I agree," Mr. Forkle says from the door.

Marella didn't even know when he'd gotten there, but she didn't need to know. She'd learned from working with the black swan, it's better not to ask useless questions when you know you won't get a straight answer.

The group marched up to the leap master, each one of them was decked out in weapons and Dex's case, gadgets.

"This feels weird without Blondie," Ro says under her breath to Keefe.

Marella agreed it did feel weird to not have the moonlark there to boss them all around.

"Ready?" Grady asks them.

Marella was tempted to say no and run, but she knew she needed to be strong. For Linh and Sophie... but mostly Linh and definitely not Kai. They all grab hands and Forkle takes a deep breath.

"Wanderling woods," He shouted.

The leap master sprang to life and swept all of them away to the woods.

"Wow, so this is your elfy graveyard?" Ro asked when they appeared in the woods.

Marella really was beginning to like this ogre.

"Shhh Ro," Keefe snaped. He obviously didn't appreciate Ro's humor.

"Where's her dad's tree?" Biana asked.

Unfortunately, everyone looked towards Marella to give them the answer. They had obviously heard about her and Kai's former friendship. Probably from Dex, she has to remember to strangle him later.

Marella sighed in annoyance, "It's this way,"

Marella started towards the tree, which really was beautiful. It had ocean-blue flowers, that looked scarily similar to Kai's eyes.

"It's that one," she says pointing to the tall and broad trunk.

The goblins immediately surged forward and began doing... well whatever they do when they are "securing" an area.

Marella just scanned the tree for any signs of ruin. Although she hated Kai at the moment, she understood what Kai was going through. Marella didn't know if her mom was going to survive the fall, and it was honestly a miracle that she did. She almost knew what it was like to lose a parent.

"We're clear, they haven't come yet," Sandor informed them.

"So we should hide right?" Marella asked. She didn't feel comfortable out in the open.

"Yes," Mr. Forkle said, "I already have a plan,"

Forkle bossed them around for about a whole ten minutes about where to hide before they finally settled on a solution. Wraith, Blur, and Forkle would do the talking because they're part of the Collective and whatnot. The rest of them were spread out among the trees, farther away so they were in less danger.

Lastly, the goblins were hidden in defensive areas around the kids and Grady, except for Sandor, who insisted on standing with the Collective members.

"You think this will actually work?" Linh asked. She and Marella were crouched down behind a bush.

"It has to," Marella responded. If they could catch the Neverseen off guard, then this whole problem could be fixed and over with.

They sat in silence for a long time, so long that Marella had begun to doze off. It had to have been way past midnight now, and Marella could tell that the Neverseen weren't going to show so she stood up.

"This isn't working," She said loud enough for everyone to hear her.

Surprisingly no one argued and everyone stood from their hiding spot.

"I don't think they're coming," Wraith said. "It's one-thirty,"

The group of them headed back to the clearing, where Forkle Blur and Wraith were. They all looked tired, much like the rest of the kids.

"They must've caught onto our plan," Forkle said.

No one had an answer to that.

"I guess you kids should all-," He was cut off by a loud ringing, which made everyone flinch.

"I'll be just a minute," He said as he pulled out his imparter. He walked away, far enough so no one could hear his conversation.

Marella looks towards Linh, who just shrugs.

"Do you think that they are somehow watching us?" Dex asked. It was not a good question to ask when everyone was already on edge.

"Maybe," Biana whispers.

Marella was going to say something but was silenced by how pale Forkle looked when he walked back to the group. Something was obviously wrong.

"What happened?" Grady said worriedly, "Is it Sophie?"

Forkle shook his head, which washed relief over the whole group.

"It's someone else," Forkle said. "Kai is missing,"