Family is Forever

Chapter 4

Ace didn't start crying until he could no longer see his sister. As soon she was too far to see, he threw his sword down and fell to his knees crying, sobbing into his hands. Katt and Alex were looking at the sky in shock but then went on either side of Ace and tried to comfort him. Alex was on the verge of tears, which he blinked away. Not here, Alex, he thought to himself, not now. Be strong for Ace and Katt.

"Hey, she'll be okay," Katt said, "she's smart and has the will to survive."

"Yeah," Alex told Ace while patting his shoulders about as manly as he possible. "There's that... and the fact that we're going to save her!"

Ace, with tears in his eyes, stood up and looked at his two best friends. "You guys," he started, "I can't ask you to do that."

"We know," Alex said, "but that's why we're doing it. Well, with some help."

"Yeah," Katt said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder, "we're gonna drag the Zhangs along. They're great at fighting." Alex wasn't all that excited on bringing the Zhangs, 13 year old twin sister and brother Sapphire and Jasper Zhang. Well, he was okay with Sapphire. He was really worried at bringing Jasper, the younger twin. Alex was nervous that Jasper was gonna steal his crush.

"We should bring Sapphire," Alex suggested, "and you know, leave Jasper out of this."

"Why?" Katt asked. "He's part of the group you know. Why do you hate him so much?!"

"I don't hate him," Alex said, kicking the ground, "but you should mind your own business, Katt."

"Oh really, Valdez?!" Katt said back, suddenly angry, "well maybe you should-"

"Guys!" Ace then yelled, "Arina is kidnapped and instead of finding her we're gonna fight? Well, I'm not!" He then bent down to pick up his sword and saw his sister's knife laying next to his weapon, which made him feel worse. He picked up both and after putting his sword away, looked at the knife in his hand, memories of fighting monsters flooding his brain.

"Ace is right," Ace said. "Fighting will get us nowhere." He put his knife away and pulled out a golden drachma from his pocket. "Katt, do you want to Iris message them?" She took the coin and walked off, leaving Alex and Ace alone in the now empty yard. Neither said anything for a few minutes, just standing there trying not to cry.

"I hope she's okay," Ace said mournfully after the silence started to bother him. "She's such a fighter..... I couldn't live with myself if she got hurt...." He wiped his eyes, trying not to cry again.

"Hey man," Alex said, "Arina is wicked smart and quick. Wherever she is..... I'm sure she's fine." He wanted to say more, but just then Katt ran up to them.

"They're coming," she said. "But from underground. Come on!" She ran off, both boys following her.

                      *****************

They didn't stop running until they were deep in the woods near the school.

"Katt," Ace asked, "why are we here?"

"See that hole?" Katt answered, pointing to a hole in the ground, probably dug by a rabbit or something. "They're gonna come from the that hole," Katt explained, "because we can't run to Canada to get them. Jasper is using his powers to expand the tunnel."

"That's nice," Alex said outloud, then mumbled to himself, "a little show offey, perhaps."

Just then, the ground around the hole started rumbling. The three friends took a step back as the hole started quivering, then expanding.

"They're here!" Katt announced as a boy with light brown skin, gold eyes and black military cut hair crawled out of the hole with a honey badger following him.

"Hey guys," Jasper said not smiling, "long time, no see." The rabbit then transformed into a teenage girl with curly black hair covering her face. It was Jasper's twin sister, Sapphire. The Zhang twins had finally arrive.