Izabelle: Book 1

Izabelle: Chapter 11: Off on our Own

We followed Rona through Aragle City and through the gates. On our way there, I saw the guy who took Mollie, but we didn't bother tracking him down. We had a quest to begin. We didn't need a cat to care for on our adventure.

When we got through the gates and into the normal subway, Rona stopped suddenly.

“What's wrong?” Andrew and I said in unison. We seemed to be doing this a lot and I began to worry.

“I forgot, the last time I led my recruits through here without a veil of magic, we got a lot of funny looks. Retreat back into the tunnel. They can't see it.”

Then I thought, “If they can't see the tunnel, then why did people give us looks on our first day?It must be some thing where they can't see us coming out only or something.”

When in the tunnel, Rona gave us both small disks that appeared to be made of plastic.

“They are weapon covers. You slide them on your visible weapon and makes a veil of magic so the normal people don't see them and call the police. Believe me, it's happened before,” she explained. I slipped one on my bow and it covered the bow and quiver. Andrew slid his on the hilt of his sword. It covered the sword and sheath. Luckily, my Aragle jacket was long enough to cover my knife, so I didn't need to get another one.

We passed through the subway. We still got a few looks because Rona didn't have any armor covers. When we got to the escalators leading out of the subway station, I realized how much brighter it was outside in real sunlight than in the artificial sunlight of Aragle City.

I had to cup one hand above my eyes in order to see. I noticed Andrew and Rona doing the same thing. At street level, I stepped onto the real ground and felt a pulse of energy underfoot. I lost my balance, and Andrew had to catch me before I fell. I was really glad that he was paying attention, unlike usual, which was letting his eyes roam around and not pay any attention. This was mostly in math class.

He had his arms under mine and he hauled me up to my feet. I faced him and quickly looked to the ground as I felt my face get red.

“Um, thanks, I guess,” I told him.

He didn't say anything. I elbowed him in the ribs.

“Oh, um, what were we talking about?” he said, once he left his trance.

I placed a hand to my forehead and shook my head. “You're hopeless,” I said under my breath.

“Okay. Let's get going, shall we?” Rona said, breaking Andrew's moment of brain-loss.

“Yes, Rona we shall,” I responded and turned from Andrew. After that, I didn't want anything to do with him. And to think, I thought I might actually like him. Wait. . . did I just admit that? Forget about that last part. It is completely untrue. I must be going crazy. I've lost my mind. Just forget all about this. Just. . . read on!

With that out of my way, we began to walk again. We were absolutely silent. The only sounds were the honking of horns, people bustling along, and our rhythmic footsteps.

I was getting annoyed by the silence, so I spoke up. “So, Rona, what do you think that pulse of energy was?”

“Oh, I'm not sure. It could be many things, but you shouldn't worry too much about it.”

I kept that in mind and I began thinking. A great question came to my mind.

“I was wondering, how does Aragle stay underground with a fake sun and sky? It looks just like the real world, but is underground. How can it not be crushed?”