Screw It, Let's Be Magic

Chapter ten

"Okay. So what you're saying is... You didn't come to break us out?" Inquired Fern, his head balanced on his hands. I had spent the last hour relaying information, with the help of Sam and Fennec.

"Well, not exactly," I said, unsure of how to address the situation. "We didn't really know you were here." He frowned.
"That's funny. Would have thought your friend 'Kaliah' over there would know." He said. Kaliah went pale, and froze up. "Why though? She's lived with us, on earth." He smirked, and shook his head. "How long have you known her?" he asked. "Since we were nine! Right, Kaliah?"

I looked over to Kaliah, who was slowly curling up into a ball. She tapped her fingers like she used to when she was stressed.
"Kaliah? Kaliah, what's ..." I trailed off, staring at her shivering form. She peeked through her fingers, black eyes shining have through. No one was quite prepared for what she said next.

"That's not my name." She forced out, and curled her wings around her like a pillow fort around a small child. A fort shielding them from what they think will hurt.
"My name is... it's Thorn."

"Like the plant! That's so weird." Exclaimed Sam. Kaliah shook her head.
"Yes, she had a plant name, like the rest of us." Pine smirked, and took a small bundle from a crate of belongings next to the wall. He tossed it over to Kaliah. A child-sized tunic and pants rolled out, wrapped in a faded cloak. Her face clouded with recognition and anger. She held onto the tunic, hands turning to fists. Pine proceeded to speak, as she wouldn't.

"It's her fault that the door was open anyways. She left six years ago, when she was eight. The youngest one here by far. Most likely took a year watching humans before she enrolled into school, and met you all." He leaned against the wall nonchalantly. Kaliah scowled, threw the tunic at him, and stood up.

"I came back. That's what matters. I could have left forever! But... I came back." She lifted her head, and put a hand to her forehead.
"It doesn't matter anymore anyways. We need to hurry get out before we all die."
Heather looked up from her book, and set it aside.

"Why would we die? We are immortal. Indestructible. So long as the Darkworld is here, we cannot die." She rolled up the sleeves on her tunic, and twitched her rabbit ears.
"That's just it!" Cried Kaliah. "The adults of our world plan to burn this one down. You mean nothing to them anymore. Now, with science AND magic, they can destroy this world. They will burn you down, reduce you to nothing, because they can. It's the easiest remedy, and you're in no way enough to stop them."

Fern put down his whittling, and stood up.
"Well how can we escape? We are bound here, by the seal. And why should we trust you anyway? You abandoned us." Kaliah turned and grabbed Adrian's charm, and thrust it towards Fern. "My blood, Oceans tears, and this charm are our ticket out." No one spoke. The silence grew heavier, and Kaliah started to wilt.
"No one wants to survive then?"

Juniper flitted over to Adrian's charm, and knelt down on the charm. Once touched, it let out a red glow. She stood and raised one hand, and nodded. Pine nodded back.
"I don't trust you anymore Thorn. You remember that."

He turned and grabbed a bow from a pile of assorted weapons. Heathers ears twitched to attention, and she tossed each of us a cloak. Fern scooped up a bundle of magic tools, and threw open the door.

"Put on your cloaks for camoflouge. Then follow us," said Juniper as she perched on my shoulder. I craned my neck to get a good look at her. Her hair was black and unbelievably curly, sticking out at all angles. Her wings were a dark and shimmering gossamer, and her dress was simple, and almost identical to her wings. Her head snapped back around, and she glared.

"Do as I say, half-wit." I was amused by such a tiny girl making commands, but threw on the cloak anyway. Once the pin holding it together was clasped, Sam tapped on my shoulder and held out her cloak.

"Is it safe?" She asked. I nodded. She relaxed, and threw on her cloak. The others followed suit. Once they had walked out the door, I cornered Kaliah.

"So you're real name is Thorn."
She fidgeted slightly, and her shoulders drooped.
"Yes. I said what I had to to survive. I'm not gonna say all that 'it was all to protect you' nonsense, because it wasn't. It was to get them out." She looked me right in the eye, jaw set. I sighed, and put one hand on her shoulder.
"You don't need to be so protective. It's not like we can do anything about that now. You're still who you are, just with some secrets." She nodded.

"So," I called over my shoulder while walking towards the door. "Do you prefer Kaliah or Thorn?" She smiled, and caught up to me.
"Kaliah's good with me."

                                                       ~*~

"Look who finally made it!" Called Fennec when we caught up to the group. Kaliah smiled, and shoved him playfully. He shoved her back, right into a giant bubble leaf. Once she managed to get out of it, she was covered in bubbles and we were giggling like maniacs.

"So I take it you two are in a better mood?" Asked Ocean, turning to face us. Kaliah nodded, and he grinned.
"Good. I was kinda worried that you'd punch me again to get my tears or whatever, so I did you the favor." He tossed her a vial, and pointed to Fennec, pulling a silly face. "He bites hard when he needs too!" He chuckled, causing her and I to laugh again.
"Thanks."

Yet again, the scenery began to change. The plants grew smaller and more normal, and the ground grew steadily harder. And monster sightings began to grow more frequent.
"We'll be near the door soon enough." Called Heather over her shoulder. As soon as her head was turned, an arrow whizzed past her, narrowly missing her ears. She jumped, and saw that Pine had been the one to fire the shot.

"Stop it you imbecile! You nearly pierced my ears!" She grabbed him by the cloak, and he held up both hands.
"Woah! You haven't gotten that mad since Fern pulled your tail! But as you can see," he pointed to the arrow. "I wasn't aiming for you." I turned my head towards the arrow, and saw it poking out of a pile of ash. A wisp of smoke rose from it, and the arrow began to smolder. Heather let go of Pine, and he ran over to the ash. After sifting it through his fingers and inspecting his arrow, he turned to Fern.

"A shadow spy." He jumped up, and knocked three more arrows. Heather pulled out a crossbow, Juniper had a load of blow darts, and Fern looked ready to kick anything in the face. Kaliah opened a portal, ready to banish anyone who came near. And the rest of us.. Well, we all huddled together like a bunch of pansies. (Weak, I know.)

Another shadow shot above us, and Heather hit it with her crossbow. She immediately knocked another arrow. Two more shadows came into view, taken out by Pine. Little by little the crowds grew worse, and they realized that they wouldn't be able to fight them all off. So Kaliah opened a portal, and shoved us all in.

"Who turned off the lights!" Screeched Fern in a surprisingly girly voice after we hit the ground. A slap could be heard through the darkness, and he stopped.
"Where are we?" Asked Heather, voice sober.

"The space between worlds." Answers Kaliah, lighting the space around her with Adrian's charm. I brought mine to light as well, and soon we could see. Kaliah held up the bottle that Ocean had given her, it's contents now stained red. Her arm had a scrap of her shirt tied around it to stop the bleeding.
"How do we leave?" Asked Juniper, her tiny voice ringing through the void.

"Well," said Kaliah, shadows playing along her face. "As some humans say, sometimes to go forward, you have to go back."
"How do we go back though! We'd be completely surrounded." Fern whined.
I looked around at the people around me, their faces lit with the warm light. I took a deep breath, and did one of the stupidest things I had in awhile.

"Anybody bring a spare weapon?" I could almost see Pine smile.
"Well... I might have a few."