The Magical Quest

Chapter 7

They all gaped as it landed. A girl with straight, shoulder-length black hair and pale green eyes jumped off and grinned. For some reason, there was a green blob on her hand. "Hi, Maia! Long time no see!" she said in a happy voice. Maia looked really surprised. "...Ravenheart?!" she yelped. The girl, who apparently had a weird name, sprinted down and hugged Maia. . "Wait," Chris said, "it's physically possible for you to hug?" As she ran over, a blue scroll fell out of her back pocket. Jess snatched it off the ground before it could get wet. The scroll was tied tightly with black yarn. She carefully slid it out of the band, and untied a black silk ribbon. It was a letter, written in perfect handwriting, she could only read "Dear Ravenheart," before Ravenheart noticed her holding the letter. "Thank you!" she said, and took the letter from her, as she did so, Jess saw a green blob on Ravenheart's left hand. Jess flinched when she saw the girl's eyes. They were a pearlescent green, but were oddly shaped. They were cat's eyes. They made her look more feline than human, combined with her graceful, slim form, and elflike ears. "I would like to introduce you to the other Chosen Ones." Maia said, still smiling even though she was still soaking wet. "This is Becka, the first one to be discovered. The one who's clothes are smoking is Thundra. That's Raj, the quiet one." Apparently Raj had showed up halfway through, and the cut on his arm had been sliced back open, and he was hastily wrapping some Ace bandage around it. "Also, we have four new kids. This is Jess, who showed up two months ago. And that's Luke, who came here when we had a little accident with a portal machine. Those two are Ella and Carter. We had to, ah, rescue them." Carter was fiddling with some pipe cleaners, wood screws, and a couple of foil taco wrappers, then looked up when he heard Luke's name. "Hold on. Did you mean the Luke? As in Luke Skywalker?" Carter said. "Um, yeah, that's right. Of course, I'm famous." Carter stared at Luke, and then pulled a Sharpie out of his pocket. "Can you sign my coat, please?" he asked. Luke let out a dramatic sigh, and signed the kid's jacket. Carter grinned. "I have a ton of Star Wars stuff. I even have Star Wars underpants!" Ella put her head in her hands. "TMI, bro. TMI. Don't be so gross." she groaned. Ravenheart looked a little surprised. "My life is getting weirder and weirder." she remarked.

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After they got back, Fircone immediately went to his workshop, and rolled open a hidden door. A giant, winged stone tiger the size of a pickup truck was sitting in the middle of the room, and there were countless tools, broken motors, and other things strewn around. He'd finally finished hollowing out the statue, but hadn't had the time to do the wiring. He grabbed his welder, goggles, a tool kit, some electrical tape, and a sheet of enchanted gold out of his tool chest. That thing could summon almost anything he could need for his projects, but if it got too complicated, it wouldn't work. Rummaging around, he finally found the box of copper wiring--coated in enchanted gold, of course--and climbed into the tiger's maw, dragging his equipment with him. After about an hour of failed attempts, Fircone managed to finish the leg structure. He was making it to mimic the bones of a real tiger, except nearly four times as big. It was tough getting the joints just right. He was glad he'd brought in his water bottle with him, because a loose wire sparked, and lit an oil canister on fire. "CRUD!" he yelped, and dumped it on the fire, and continued, muttering to himself. It was harder than he thought. He still had to program the droid brain, and figure out the fuel tank design. He worked past midnight. Yawning, he pulled himself out and tried to wipe the machine grease off his hands. Finally, he gave up and climbed up the dangerously rickety ladder that lead to his cot. "Wake me up for breakfast." he muttered to his voice-activated alarm clock, and he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the old feather pillow that was slowly falling apart.

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"Wake up. WAKE UP!" a voice yelled above Luke's head. He was used to his sister practically dragging him out of bed at the crack of dawn, but whoever it was really wanted him to get up. "Lemmealonei'mtrynasleep." he muttered, and grabbed a pillow and pressed it over his head. Suddenly, someone flipped him onto the floor. "Do you really wanna miss breakfast?" and irritable voice yelled in his ear. "You really had to make me land on my elbow, didn't you?" Luke huffed as he stood up. Thundra was glaring at him. "C'mon, I suggest you get moving." she snapped at him, and then marched out of the room. With a sigh, Luke found some clean clothes draped over the back of the couch, got dressed, and surveyed his living space. His bed must've been a pullout couch in what looked like the rec room. When he went down to breakfast, he was unfazed by the amount of people. He was used to crowds, though. He got his breakfast, and walked over to a random table. "Hold on, who are you, and why are you at our table?" demanded a brunette girl wearing an orange t-shirt with the sleeves torn off and a red symbol that somewhat resembled a flame.

"Uh, I'm gonna eat my breakfast?" Luke said. He had a sense that this girl was dangerous, especially from the numerous scars scratched across her biceps, and the fact that she had twin pistols and multiple daggers on her belt, and a spear strapped across her back. "Back off, newbie. This table is for fire elementalists only, so don't get any bright ideas." she snapped, and glared at him. "Chill. He's not going to steal your cereal, War Girl." someone said. War Girl became silent, and her face went red with rage. "You too, Tourmaline. I've had enough of your pranks." Luke turned around. Fircone was standing behind him, smirking. "Luke, Carissa. Carissa, Luke." he was still smirking. "If you grin too hard, your face might fall off." the girl warned. "Look, you need to talk to Becka. You broke my arm last time." Carissa's face was turning a dangerous shade of red. "I'm warning you, Tourmaline. Next time, you're dead." she snarled, and she turned around to go back to her table. "Don't let the door hit your butt on the way out!" Fircone called after her. "Who is she?" Luke asked. "Oh, Carissa? She's the local bully. Naturally, she's a fire elementalist. Always aggressive." he shrugged. They had just started eating when a few boys ran in, one carrying a kindergartener's chair, the other two carrying an unconsious seven-year-old girl. "We got a prophecy!" one of the guys yelled. Fircone winced. "What's the big deal?" Luke muttered to him as the mess hall burst into terrified whispers. "Every time we get a prophecy, somebody will eventually die." Fircone hissed back. Suddenly, the little girl began to speak, but in a weird, high-pitched, and echoey voice:

"Child of water, fear the Sky,

Avoid all places far and high,

The valiant one,

The last of their kind,

Will break the jail, though carefully lined,

The one with the spear that was forged from clay,

Will fail to see the light of day,

The Books well hidden

Will soon be found,

On this globe, but far around.

And all will often seem good and well,

But secrets will the stone foretell."

Chaotic whispering filled the room, and they both muttered at the same time "Oh, snap." "The last of their kind...the last of their kind! Oh, my gosh. Fircone, I think that prophecy is about me." He said. Fircone sighed. "Since you're the last of the Jedi, it's being awful specific."