Family is Forever

Chapter 8

"West Virginia," Katt said, putting her feet on the ground. They were pedaling for hours throughout the night and finally made it to the state they wanted to be in while the sun was rising. All they had to do was figure out where Despard was from Blackville and then bring Arina home.

Ace and Alex were so visibly happy; their faces gave it all away. Well, everyone was excited to be getting their dear Arina back, but the two boys were the most visibly excited.

Sapphire turned back in her human form, and they all hid the bikes in some bushes, then started walking through the town.

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The five were so close to not having any attacks, but of course they had to see just one monster attack. Right before they walked past the town hall, they saw a hellhound that tried to kill them. It pounced on Alex and he swung his knife randomly around its head to get it to not bite him. The others ran to fight the monster, but it was Jasper's arrows that killed it.

"Are you okay?" Sapphire asked, offering her hand to help him up, which he took.

"Yeah," he said, "being attacked by hellhounds is my favorite pastime. Let's keep moving." Even though he was acting do calm, Sapphire saw him shaking from fear and put a hand in his shoulder and have him a look that said we got your back. He smiled reassuringly at her, and she moved her hand and kept walking.

The five friends wounded up in a tiny supermarket. In the store was an older man behind a cash register and a few mortals shopping. The cashier raised an eyebrow at them, but then went back to the book he was reading.

"Anyone got any money?" Ace asked, feeling his pockets for money. Sapphire and Jasper pulled out some money from their pockets that they were planning on using for lunch a few days ago. Alex and Katt shuffled through their bags until they found some money. Ace finally pulled out some money from his pocket. Combined, the five had about seventeen dollars, which they used to buy a few snacks and drinks. Katt paid for it all, and asked if there was a bus station or car rental or something.

"Ain't no bus station," he said in a slightly annoyed tone, "ain't no car rental. Too small for that. Say, shouldn't you children be in school?"

"Oh no, sir," Katt said, "we're just visiting. We don't live here." She flashed him a smile, said goodbye and walked out of the store to her friends.

"No luck?" Jasper asked. Katt shook her head and said, "Now what?"

"We'll figure something out," Alex said, "we always do."

"Yeah," Ace responded, "come on. We'll figure something out." He led everyone around the town until they ended up stumbling to a gas station.

They all collasped on a picnic table at the front of the station. It was about two in the afternoon and they were all tired from riding all night and walking around that day.

"Hey," Alex said, looking at all his tired friends, "we'll get there somehow. We'll figure something out."

Ace wasn't paying attention. He was focusing on one car in the parking lot. It was a blue truck, a Chevy. It was a five seater, two in the front, three in the back. Ace swore it looked so familiar.

"Alex's right," Katt responded, looking at her weary friends. "We can get directions and pedal-"

"We can take that," Ace interrupted, pointing at the truck. Katt looked back at the truck, slightly confused.

"Ace," Katt started, "we can't steal-"

"It's not stealing," Ace responded, "if it belonged to my family. It's simply borrowing." As he said that, he grabbed her hand and dragged her to the truck. He stopped in front of the driver's side door and looked under the handle, where there was a J scratched underneath it.

"That mark," Katt whispered as she traced the J with her finger, "you made this when you were five. This was your father's truck."

"Don't think of it as stealing," Ace said while the others were walking towards them. "Think of it as borrowing. We'll return it when we drive back up here after we get Arina." As he was talking, Alex was walking around, looking at the truck.

"Well, this shouldn't be to hard to do," he muttered to himself, "all I have to do is OH WAIT HE LEFT HIS KEYS IN!" Jasper scowled at him and shushed him while Sapphire frantically out a finger to her lips. Ace and Katt were walking in the gas station to get directions while the other three waited outside the truck for them.

Katt and Ace walked out a few minutes later. Ace had a piece of paper and opened the passenger door, pushing a button to make the seat fold forward so that Alex, Jasper and Sapphire to crawl in the back. Once they were all buckled in, he pushed the seat back up and buckled up. Katt started the car up, and she started driving.

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Ace, Sapphire, and Jasper were out like a light before they even hit the first mile marker. Sapphire turned into a cat and fell asleep on her brother's lap while he slept. Ace leaned his head on the window and fell asleep there. Alex was still awake, looking out his window.

"You should get some sleep," Katt said, slightly charmspeaking. "You'll need it." Alex didn't really want to sleep, but he knew she was right. He didn't protest much; he leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes, falling asleep quickly. Unfortunately, that meant his nightmare came just as fast.

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In Alex's dream, he was standing on a mountain, looking below at a fifty foot fall. He was on a cliff and below him was a rocky bottom. He turned around and saw three people: Arina, some other girl, and a giant man.

Arina looked like she was ready to break. Her face, which was badly beaten, had a certain expression that made him want to cry: she had a mix of pain and fear on her face. Her glasses were on the ground next to him, broken in half. She held some kind of pressure above her shoulders. Alex couldn't see it, but he could sense that it was really heavy.

The other girl was about sixteen with tanned skin, brown eyes that glimmered evily, and straight brown hair worn in a ponytail. She was dressed in a black tunic and dark blue jeans with black sneakers, an Imperial gold spear strapped to her back. She stood tensely next to the giant man.

The man was scary-looking. He had light brown skin and black hair. He had big shoulders and was wearing a tattered business suit. His eyes were like stone. Alex felt like the man was a statue.

"This is their offspring, Cruella?" The man asked the girl, who now had a name.

"Yes, General," Cruella responded blandly, stiffening up at her name. Alex could tell that she feared him.

"Hmm....she looks about ready to break. Weak," the General said, sneering.

"Yes, General."

"Is she ready for the exchange?" the General asked. "You know what to do."

"Yes, General," Cruella answered, an evil smile forming on her face. The General turned his back away from her, and that's where he made his mistake. As quick as lightning, she pulled her spear out and using the shaft, pushed him next to Arina. Then, just as quick, she pulled Arina away and the weight crushed onto the General.

As soon as Arina was out, she fell to the ground in exhaustion, not moving. Alex wanted to run over to her, to cradle her and tell her it would all be okay, but he couldn't. He was stuck in place.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" the General shouted at Cruella, who was smiling at him evily. "You dare turn agaisnt your server?!"

"Sorry Atlas," she said with fake kindness, "but I don't serve you." As she talked, Cruella walked up to Arina, who was still sitting there motionless. Cruella grabbed a fistfull of Arina's hair and yanked her up off the ground.

"Aw, what's wrong?" Cruella asked, holding Arina by the back of her neck. "Am I boring you? I don't think so. The fun's just begun." And with that, the Cruella girl dragged Arina away.

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"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," Jasper said with distaste when Alex sat up. Ace and Katt were sitting in the front quietly and Sapphire was still a cat, was awake and looking around. They were all driving in silence until Ace said, "Look, guys." They all looked at the sign that said "Welcome to Despard, WV." They finally made it to Despard. They were getting Arina back home.