Flame Touch

Chapter 43- Melody

The next morning, I expected everything to be in total chaos.

 I mean, you tell a group of teens, especially teens like the Aquatics and Luminosity that didn't like each other, that they'll be off fighting a war in the morning, chaos seemed inevitable, but Libra's kids were stronger now and were working their magic. Everyone had a job to do and disorganization was kept to a minimum.

"Unite at home" I mumbled, impressed with how well everyone was working together.

The same could not be said for our group.

"Mel, could you pass me the last pack?" I heard Taris ask as I stared at Knox staring at Caprin (the goat boy had insisted we call him that instead of the obvious choices like goat-head, no good son of an alpaca, and the like). In no less than in the half an hour she had been awake, Knox had managed to give him a count of three bruises. I heard a thud as he tripped on Knox's outstretched leg, making the total four.

"Oops." Knox said sweetly and tossed the last pack to Taris, who had been looking at me expectantly.

"Hello, earth to Melody?" he asked, waving a hand in front of me after a few moments as I snapped out of my daze. The six of us, including the goat who was rubbing his newly bruised leg, were sitting in a circle. Caprin was looking at me intently, as if he had asked me a question. I just used the trick I had picked up from sleeping in all of my classes and answered with a confident "uh huh!". 

He smiled thinly, "Great! So we all know the plan! I'll see you all at the tunnels in an hour!" he said and marched off with Sunny and Semba (who was glaring daggers at Carprin's back). 

"There are tunnels here?" I asked, earning me a surprised look from Taris and an eye roll from Knox.

"I do not  want to sit through that whole thing again" she said and rose to leave and prepare for whatever had just been discussed. Taris looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"You didn't hear any of that?" he asked, his tone hopeful that I would contradict him.

I didn't.

"Not a word!" I replied cheerfully as I could hear his mental face palm.

"What am I going to do with you, Mel?" He asked, more to himself that to me. I shrugged, trying to hide the fact that I really liked it when he called me Mel. Even though usually I'd yell at someone for not being able to come up with a whole three syllables for a name. He sighed.

"Ok, I hate to admit it, but Caprin's plan is a good one. There's a tunnel system under this dormitory that connect to ancient passages under the surface. Apparently, the Terra and Vent clans adjoin underground, and that's where we'll find the next Libra light. Unfortunately, the same tunnels are guarded by the Scorpio bugs that are, apparently, visible in the tunnel system."

"So how are we gonna get through?" I asked, not wanting to have another run in with the cheerful, man-eating, insects.

"Well, that's where these," he held up a pack, "come in. Caprico-er-Caprin, will lead us into the tunnels as if he were still a part of the TerraVent alliance and lure the other figure heads away and we'll be disguised as-" he stopped. I already looked into the pack and was thoroughly disgusted by what I saw.

"No friggin' way" I said, horrified.

"That's right," Taris said with a little less enthusiasm and motioning for me to follow him into these 'tunnels', "time to get our bug on."

                                                         ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

If anything, I wanted to get my bug off. 

The bug suit disguises, apart from being disgusting and nightmare invoking, were sweltering hot, especially in the tunnels. The others didn't seem to mind much, but I felt like I was melting. 

So far, Caprin had been doing a good job of not totally stabbing us in the back. Though I didn't carry the same unshakable hate for him as Knox and Semba (I hadn't seen what happened that day, but I can guess it wasn't pleasant), I still didn't trust him. Regardless, we had made it deep into the tunnels, though I was still expecting someone to rip off the bug mask and yell BOO! 

The reason was probably that the tunnels were pretty empty due to the wide scale attack the Aquarius, Libra, and Luminosity forces had begun above ground. 

"Here we are" Caprin said and I stared at the scene in front of me.

There was a large opening in the tunnels where five large tent sets were set up around what looked like a blazing fire.

Except the fire was black.

"Alright!" Caprin called out into the encampment, " Let's begin our next phase!"

With his words, the tents (guarded by more than five bug monsters each) opened and out came an odd assortment of people who radiated power.

The two I recognized, Lunar and Stella, came out of the first tent. Stella, bouncing up and down, ran up and gave Caprin a giant hug while Lunar waved shyly.

"There you are you silly goat! I've missed you, I thought you were gone forever. It's absolutely stellar that you've returned!" She said with a squeeze and I could hear Sunny gagging from her bug costume.

A tall man with pointed eyebrows and a shaved head came out of the second tent. He wore a giant armor that looked like an exoskeleton and his eyes bugged out of their sockets. All the bugs stared at him reverently.

From the third tent came a petite woman who could have been someone's aunt had it not been for the set of killer antlers on her head and dagger set at her side. With her, the last woman from the fourth tent seemed to float at her side. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with shimmering silver hair and wide golden eyes that seemed to hold all the world's tears.

Caprin nodded to each of them, "Hello Gemini, Scorpio, Taurus, and Virgo. I assume you know why I'm here. The other colonies, and their figure heads, have waged war above us. Even figure heads who are not as present, like Aries and Cancer, fight together like old friends!"

The tall man who Caprin had called Scorpio nodded his head, "But how are we to combat them? Had it just been the Luminist and Aquatic colonies we may have survived, but I heard that Libra has been restored. We shall have no chance!" he said and stomped his feet, making the bugs scuttle around him. I also flailed, just to make the act look a little more realistic.

"But there is one thing. Libra has chosen five warriors that can set the scales of the war. We capture these warriors, we win."

What?  I thought and my ice turned cold.

"And how do you propose we do that?" The lady known as Virgo asked sonorously.

Caprin smiled wickedly and ripped off Sunny's bug mask.

"It's already done."