The Mark of Arella(Book One of the Dragonfly Chronicles)

Chapter Sixteen

Sam was sitting in the coffee shop waiting for Robyn. They had met here almost every day since Lilly disappeared trying to figure out a way to find her. Her parents had disappeared a few days after her kidnapping and didn't leave any information on where they were going. This made them suspicious. What if her parents wanted to move her again and this was an elaborate scheme to make it happen? That didn't make sense. Why have her attacked and abducted when you could just make her go with you? That left one other option, they had been taken too. They needed to figure things out and he was losing his patience. Shannon stopped coming to these meetings a few weeks after Lilly disappeared saying they needed to accept that she was gone, but he and Robyn knew she was afraid to be with them. They were a reminder of Lilly.  All three of them had been affected in different ways, Robyn and Kyle broke up. Sam was barely passing his classes and Shannon avoided everyone, except Ryan. Robyn walked in the door and sat down at the table. "Did you order for me?" she said. "Quad Venti 120 degree Latte, on its way". "Oh, thank you Sam, and you got me a scone! Wow, you know how to win a girls heart". She smiled at him taking a bite from his dessert. Sam's face flushed a bit as he looked away. Robyn cleared her throat, "So, I was thinking we should check the forest. The men who took her didn't have a car and I saw some backpacking equipment on them. What if they are in the forest with her right now? I think we should check Sam". "Robyn", he said back to her, "it's unlikely that is what happened", she interrupted him, "now you listen to me Sam, we have talked about and checked into every possibility we could think of. The police aren't helping and we are out of options. Let's check the forest!" Sam sighed and replied, "Ok, do you still have your backpacking gear? Let's go for a trip this weekend and see what we can find. We should probably look at the map and do a grid so we can keep searching and don't cover the same place twice" Robyn clasped her hands together, "Thank goodness! I'll make Shannon and Ryan come with us. I'll tell them we are going camping, she will say yes to that".

Lilly sat in Aeron's library while his stern expression stared at her. She was told to tell and retell the last 24 hours events with him until he memorized the details. "Hmmm", he said. "It seems your gift for seeing the future has finally come back. I am impressed that you were able to pinpoint exactly where the group was at and get Logan and Colvin there quick enough. You saved their lives and met Drexoste all in one day. He is a mighty force isn't he?" "Yes" she agreed, "I really like him and it was really cool that we could speak to each other". Aeron said, "Arella was a beast charmer, she could speak to any animal. We will have you practice more of that tomorrow. Now go get yourself cleaned up, we still have several hours left in the day for your practice. You can start with a run around the perimeter.  Colvin and Logan, I need to speak with you. Please excuse us Lilly".   Lilly left the room and shut the door behind her. Aeron turned to Colvin and Logan. "What did Rhylan find?" Colvin spoke up, "He found two of the three books and he thinks in order to find the third, Lilly has to be there. He found a passage that suggests it." Colvin pulled the two books out of his inner pocket and handed them over to Aeron. Aeron said, "I need to read thru these and I'll let you know. Is there anything else?" Logan and Colvin looked at each other. Logan nodded at Colvin so Colvin opened up his jacket again and handed Aeron three pictures. Aeron looked at them and said "where did you find these?"

Colvin said, "Rhylan intercepted some hunters going back and forth between the realms and discovered they were ordered to bring the people back to the dark queen. We sent some of our own hunters thru the portal to help but they couldn't find these people." Aeron said, "You could ask Ashley or William for help. They might know where to find them. I'll go to Brighton and see what Marlin and Jenna can offer. Colvin, keep her training intense and start working more on her magic. I'll try to be back in a few days. A week at the most." Colvin and Logan stood and headed towards the training area to wait for Lilly to finish her run. As they were going down the hall, Angela said, "she is exhausted, can't you give her a break? All you do is send her back with bruises Colvin" his cheeks flushed and she grabbed his hand, "all I'm saying is to be thoughtful of that ok? We need her strong,  not broken".  Colvin squeezed Angela's hand and said, "we need her to be able to come back from being broken Angela, you have heard what the prophecy says. We have to prepare her for every scenario.  I know she is tired, but we must proceed or all will be lost."  Colvin, "if we lose HER in the process it won't matter, and prophecies don't always come true, they can be wrong".