Safehaven

Chapter 43

Surprisingly, the rest of the day went by pretty fast. My friends, soul mates, and I stayed in the little room the whole day. There, we planned on what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. Lunch was brought to us, so we snacked on hotdogs and fries as we discussed our strategy. Nathen had come back in and had explained our mission in detail. In order to reach Lendeor, we first had to cross into the Below. How Nathen explained it was that there are hundreds of worlds out there. But you can't just go from one to another. They all open into one place, sort of like a hotel lobby. The Below is like the lobby. You can enter hundreds of different worlds by passing through there. That was how we first came into Safehaven. We passed through the magical barrier. Lendeor, however, was a little different. We couldn't just walk through the door into Morian's world. No. When you cross into a darker dimension, something is normally required of you to make sure that you are strong enough to enter. Sometimes, it's painful memories, or an object that you hold dear. Lendeor is a part of your soul. It's as bad as you think. My friends and I voiced our concerns about this to Nathen, but he either didn't care or didn't hear, because he just ignored the question completely. And so, it was decided that the next morning, we would all set out on the adventure to stop Morian for good. Bags were packed and food was stored. We all agreed to bring extra clothes and mortal money, because Safehaven didn't use money. They used knowledge and the like. For instance, a new scarf would cost you your real name, or maybe the capital of Kentucky and stuff like that. Anyway, we all stocked up on cash and the like. Soon, we were all set and ready to go. The night before, we had discussed plans over maps late into the night. It was decided that we needed to draw as least attention to ourselves as possible, seeing that we had certain "gifts". That was a whole different discussion. How were we going to pass as human now? Quinton and Holly were easy. Holly's just needed to wear a long sleeved shirt or jacket, and Quinton could just wear gloves. The rest of us, however, had to be a little more creative. Sage and I both agreed on backpacks with holes cut in the back for our wings. Sure it would be uncomfortable, but necessary. Jada just wanted to let her ears show, but everyone else objected. So, she was forced into wearing a hood. Last of all, Antigone's gift was the hardest to hide. How could we disguise a tail? A cloak would draw loads of attention, so that idea was shot down pretty quickly. A backpack wouldn't hide it. And so it was brought up that possibly an overcoat or something of the like might work. Though, it would have to be a pretty long coat. Finally, we all agreed on the coat for Antigone. That left most matters solved. We had bags packed, gifts sorted, and routs viewed. All that was left were the soul mates. There was no way we would leave them here, and no way they wouldn't go unnoticed in the Below. This puzzled us for hours. What could we do? After so long a time thinking about all this stuff, my brain began overload. I was forced to separate from the group of friends gathered on the center pillow/couch things and move to a separate corner to think. There, Gwindol joined me. He too shared my distress at the though of leaving the soul mates behind. What happened if we needed them and they weren't there? I pushed my back against a wall and tucked me knees to my chest. You could always just hide us away. He offered helpfully. "Yeah. And where could we hide you? In case you haven't noticed, more than half of you guys are about the size of a horse. Sure, it'll be easy to hide that many large magical animals in the city." I huffed. All patience had been worn out long ago. I was beginning to loose it. I dropped my head and put my chin to my chest. "I'm sorry. I'm just stressed." I apologized. "What are we going to do?" My voice cracked, and I felt close to tears. The past few weeks had been hard. It was adventure after adventure, no beaks. Now, we were about to go and try to find some stupid book, risking our lives in the progress. I was lost. I whimpered quietly. Gwindol hung his head, silent. Slowly, he shuffled in closer and lay down by my side. He had grown so large, his head could rest on my shoulder. With a gentle puff of smoke, he laid his head on my shoulder. Upon impact, I felt like a hot iron had been pressed onto my skin. I hollered and leapt to my feet. "Gwindol! What the heck..." I stopped short. Gwindol was nowhere to be seen. He had just vanished. My friends all stared at me with wide eyes. Apparently, I had yelled louder than I had realized. "The dragon he just..." I stopped. Holly had gotten off of her cushion and was coming over to my corner. I let her approach. When she was feet away, she reached out her arms and gingerly brought her hand to my necklace. There, situated in the center of the stone, was the dark image of a reared dragon. I'd had that for weeks, but now it looked different. Where it had been a dark black before, it was now a silvery shade. "You Awoke him." Holly said, staring into my eyes. "You called him into you. You and he are now one." I wanted to tell my friend that she was crazy, but it did sort of make sense. Hello, Shiloh. A deep voice resonated though my head. I stiffened, very startled. "He's in my head." I whimpered, then stopped. This was the answer. This was how we were going to take our animals into the Below. I started to grin. Recognition dawned on Holly's face. "Shiloh, you are brilliant." She practically shouted. Without a word, she turned to Rinal and lifted her necklace from underneath her shirt collar. Calmly, Rinal the kitsune stepped towards her master and touched her nose to the her own necklace. Instantly, Holly took a sharp breath, and Rinal was gone. Now, the mark inside the necklace stone was pale purple. She was one with Rinal. Almost simultaneously, chatter broke out. Everyone was excited to try. Sage uncovered her jewelry, and Dash immediately made contact. The wings inside glowed green. Quinton's claw marks became Blue after Felix interacted with it. By now, Jada was giggling to herself. She yanked down her collar, exposing her necklace with a lunging wolf. Finn yapped, and nuzzled it. The wolf mark turned red. Last but not least, Antigone and Kai were trying. The girl had uncovered the image of a cloud with a lightning bolt, and the griffin was rolling his shoulders, as if he were preparing for a long fight. With reluctance, Kai prodded the cloud, and it turned golden. Now, no soul mates were to be seen. "How do get them out now?" Sage questioned, inspecting the newly made green mark within hers necklace stone. "We'll just know." Holly yawned. Outside, the moon had risen, casting watery shadows on all the windows. It was late, and we had a big day tomorrow. After baying each other a good night, we each dragged a pillow to a corner and laid down. Within minutes, the soft sounds of deep breaths filled the room. I, on the other hand, couldn't fall asleep. I shifted this way and that, trying to get comfortable. But no matter where I moved, the wings were always in the way. To my right, Sage was sleeping soundly. How did she do it? After hours, I managed to catch a wink, but was almost immediately awoken by a knock at the door. I opened my eyes. The sun had not even risen yet, and through the windows, I could see morning mist on all the grounds of the different scenes. Up. Get ready to go." Nathen's voice called through the wooden door. Stiffly, my friends and I rose from our pillows and stretched. I checked the rearing dragon on my jewelry. It still glowed silver. "Good morning." I whispered to it. Good morning. I smiled. Around me, my friends were grabbing the bags we had packed last night. Also on the table, there was toast and jam, which we ate quickly, ready to start the day. Clothes were exchanged as we went to change into our decided clothes. (Quinton was forced to leave as us girls changed.) Soon, we were clothed, packed, full, and ready to go. Noiselessly, we crept out of our room and down the hallway towards the main entrance, where Nathen stood waiting. In the little light there was, he looked grim. Behind me, Holly tucked her hair behind her ears. I just rolled my eyes. Not speaking a word, Nathen led us out the doors and onto the dewy grass of the grounds. It was cold, so I pulled my jacket closer to my skin, carefull not to disturb the new backpack that was now on my back. Sage, also, sported a bookback. Jada had her hood, Quinton his gloves, and Antigone her overcoat. For now, we could pass as normal teenagers. The walk from the school to the glowing stone arch didn't take long. As we approached the arch, I realized this was where our adventure really started. Everyone stopped inches from the gate. It still glowed with all the light of the stars above. "This is it." Nathen offered. "If I am correct, once you step through the gate, you will be in the Below. Where in the Below, I have no idea. Good luck." I really wished that Nathen knew how to give motivational speeches. For a few moments, no one moved. Finally, Sage straightened and took a step forward. "I'll go first. See ya on the other side!" She giggled, even in the seriousness of the situation. She strode through the gate, and vanished in a flash of light. The forest continued on the other side of the gate, but Sage wasn't there. Odd... Next, Quinton stepped up. He turned to face us, saluted, and walked through the gate backwards. He, too, disappeared. Antigone was next, closely followed by Jada and Holly. Finally, I was the last one left. I felt like I was going to throw up. Did I really want to do this? Well, my friends were waiting for me. I stepped towards the gate, then turned to Nathen. "See you later." I managed. "Yes you will." He replied. I spun back to the gate and started to step through. On impulse, I turned my head to face Nathen as I stepped through. The last thing I saw before the lights blurred everything out was the golden eyes and evil grin on Nathen's face. The lights grew stronger, and he faded out. The next thing I knew, I was standing on curb in the middle of a quiet city. It was still dark here, and sirens wailed in the distance. Dogs barked and what few cars there were raced by. I was surrounded by my friends, each one wearing a look of disbelief. "We made it to the Below." Antigone whispered. "Welcome home."