Family is Forever

Chapter 6

The bus ride was fine....up until the hydra attack when they got off bus at the Pennsylvania border. No one really spoke on the bus ride, but Katt had to do some heavy charmspeak on the concerned bus driver, who wasn't all that happy in driving five children who should be at school instead of on a bus.

"Oh no, ma'am," Katt told the driver when she started asking them why they weren't in school, "we're not from here. Right, guys?" They all nodded their heads, then sat down in the back of the bus.

"Ma'am," Katt said to the confused bus driver, "you have a bus full of passengers who need to go too. Please, go back to your original plans." The bus driver, now seriously charmed, closed the door and started driving.

Katt sat down next to Jasper on the bus. Sapphire, who transformed into a cat before they got on the bus, curled into Katt's lap and fell asleep. Ace and Alex were whispering back to one another about Arina's phone location.

Everyone got off at the bus a few hours later when they got to the border between New York and Pennsylvania. The plan was to crawl through a tunnel that Jasper was going to create for as long as Jasper could sustain it, since it makes him really tired whenever he does. Once he was tired, they would get on a bus or something.

"Come on guys," Katt said, leading them to the woods. "Jasper, how long do you think you can hold the tunnel up?"

"An hour or two, at most," he replued. "It could be longer if I was by myself, but...."

"But you gotta bring us," Alex said, "sorry we slow you down and make you tired."

"Shut it, Valdez," Jasper warned, "or I'll-"

"Enough you too!" Katt said to them in an angry tone, with charmspeak mixed in her tone. The two boys then mumbled something, then Sapphire in between them, a job she was used to. 

Ace, who was walking next to Katt, muttered to her "They can't get along for five seconds, can they?"

"Ace," Katt said softly, "don't start anything. Please." Ace nodded his head, muttering "Of course." Then everyone walked in silence again.

"Guys," Sapphire whispered when she heard a noise, "hide." She turned into a bird and began to circle around the woods. She saw a creature walking around with multiple heads, walking straight towards her friends.

"Guys," Sapphire said as soon as she transformed back to human in front of her friends, "hydra coming at us right now."

"Looks like a fight is a'coming," Ace said, taking out his sword.

"We can't fight it like that, Ace," Katt said, "the only way to kill it is to cut off and burn the stumps with fire-"

"That's where I come in!" Leo saud, setting his hand ablaze. " Alex Valdez to the rescue." Sapphire smiled and took a step away from the flames; Jasper rolled his eyes. Everyone got their blades out and Jasper got his bow and arrow ready, and they all prepared to fight the hydra that appeared in front of them.

"Split up!" Katt ordered, then everyone ran to one side of it. A hydra head focused on on one of them each, but, with the sixth and last head looking at all of them. They heads were spitting acid at all of them, but the five were quick and were able to avoid the acid spit.

Jasper was shotting arrows at the monster's body, while Alex and Ace were fighting next to each other, trying to set the cut heads on fire. Katt and Sapphire were fighting the other side of it, while Jasper kept firing from behind. Eventually, Ace was able to cut off twk heads, and Alex burnt the neck remains to a stump; the heads aren't able to grow back that way. Once they finished the monster's one side, they ran over to help the girls. They defeated the hydra barely, the escaped to underground where Jasper created a tunnel.

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Jasper opened a tunnel and they all began walking for a couple hours. He said "Alright guys, I can't hold it any longer." He made an opening for everyone to crawl through. Once he did, the tunnel exit collapsed, as well as Jasper.

Katt looked up at the setting sun and said, "Well guys, let's take a rest. I'll take first watch." Sapphire said thank you and turned into a pug, then fell asleep. Alex tinkered with some stuff for a few minutes before putting it away and falling asleep, using his backpack as a pillow. Ace just layed there looking at the sky, which was slowly becoming dark and starry.

"You should get some sleep," Katt suggested to him, "you'll need it."

Ace kept staring at the night sky. He eventually fell asleep, which he just regretted.

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In his dream, he saw Arina, but she didn't seem like herself. She was kneeling down, holding her hands up like she was holding something up, but Ace couldn't see anything visible. He ran over to her, calling her name. She looked up and Ace almost thought she was someone else.

Her face, which was brusied and cut, had a mix of pain and fear in her expression. Ace was surprised; his sister never showed him when she was scared. But Arina hurt and scared made Ace want to cry. But he stayed strong for her.

"Ari," he said in a heartbroken voice, "what did they do to you?"

"I'm fine," she responded, "but the weight is killing me! Hurry!" Her image began to flicker, as if she was the flame on the wick of a candle. Ace looked at her desperetally, trying to comprehend what was happening.

"Ace," she said, locking her gray eyes with his green eyes, "you're not going to find me as fast as you think."

"Wha-what do you mean?" Ace asked his sister, but her image was flickering even more now. "Be safe," was the last thing he heard her say to him before she completely dissapeared.

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Ace woke with a start. He sat up and looked around to see they were still in the Pennsylvanian woods. Sapphire and Alex were having a conversation not too far away from everyone else, who was sleeping. They were using their hands a lot whike they talked. They were too far away for Ace to hear them, but when they saw he was awake, they went back to him and all talked about how their lives were up until recently until Katt and Jasper woke up. Then, the five friends walked out of the woods to a town in the middle of Pennsylvania.