The Story of Udonia

Chapter Thirty Five: Avenge Them

"Help who? Save who?" I asked as calmly as I could, which wasn't really at all.
The woman coughed. "My daughter. She was kidnapped by..." She paused at looked at me for a minute. "You are a witch too, so you have to help her. She was kidnapped by another witch. By the queen, Hannah."
My jaw dropped. "Hannah kidnapped your daughter?! Why?!"
"She wants an army of witches on her side. She's already built up a force...that's who attacked you in New York." She swallowed.
"You know who I am?" I asked.
"Yes, of course. Claire, if I may call you that." She smiled despite the hell she must be going through.
I nodded and she continued. "I am Piper DeMarsh. My daughter is Katrina. She's only seven. Hannah kidnapped her and put guards around my house and a magical barrier too. I couldn't get out without getting shot. They would provide me food, so I could stay alive. But I tried to escape anyway. It didn't end well and they just left me here to die. This only happened about twenty minutes ago."
That must be why those soldiers were here and now are hopefully getting killed. I thought.
I observed some men's clothing around the room. "Where is your husband?" I asked.
"Keith? He..." She coughed. "Keith died in a car accident a week ago."
"I'm so sorry."
She shook her head. "It's fine. Katrina is the most important thing right now. She is alone and scared."
"Was Keith a witch too?" I asked.
She shook her head. "Yes. And Katrina knows. She came into her powers very early. That's why we think Hannah came after her. She is strong and needs proper training. You have to save her..." She coughed once more. "For me, please."
"Yes, of course."
She relaxed her once tense body. "Thank you." She coughed once more and her body seized up again.
She began to slightly shake.
I grasped onto her tighter. "I will save her and avenge you. I promise."
She smiled and pointed to the dresser across from the bed. "I gathered up some of her paper work. Birth certificate and such. Take it and save her."
Her speech came out very slowly. She would take a breath after each word. Tears fell from my eyes. Her eyes closed and then opened quickly.
"Her favorite...stuffed animal. In her room. Unicorn...silver and blue." She said. "Get it for her too."
"Yes." I nodded.
"Good."
"Don't worry...I'll save her."
I watched as her eyes slowly closed and she took her last breath.
__________________________

I walked out of that house in a somber mood carrying the stuffed animal and a file folder on Katrina Piper Marie DeMarsh. I sat on the steps outside the house.
What do I do now?
I couldn't carry these around with me. I needed to put them somewhere safe. The safest place was home. I conjured a pen and sticky note. I stuck it to the folder and wrote a note to Ashton.
It read: Ash, please do not read the contents of this folder and keep it safe. Love, Claire. P.S. You may play with the unicorn if you desire to.
I then teleported the stuffed animal and file home to land on my side of the bed. I heard a shuffle next to and looked up.
Jasmine was looking down at me. "What did you find?" She asked.
I stood up and frowned. "Not my soulmate or whatever. It was a woman. She had been shot by Hannah's guards after she kidnapped her daughter. Her husband died in a car accident a week ago. He was a witch. The woman was too and the daughter has come into her powers. She is strong so it's obvious why Hannah wanted her. The woman told me that Hannah is building an army of witches and is kidnapping pinger ones to train and teach them and to mold them into little versions of her. We need to stop her and save Katrina or any other child Hannah might have locked up." I explained.
"That doesn't surprise me." Jasmine rubbed her eyes and head.
We starting walking down the street and went back around to where we were before. Suddenly, me feet hurting didn't seem like much of a problem anymore. The street was filled with blood and bodies. All of Hannah's men were killed by my team.
"I see we won." I said to Jacklyn. "Jacklyn, you okay?" I asked.
She was staring at the ground. She quickly snapped her head up and smiled.
"Yeah. I'm good. And please, call me Jack."
I raised an eyebrow. "Jack? Really? Why not Jackie?" I asked.
She grimaced. "That sounds too girly for me." She walked towards her father.
Lacey came up behind me. "Are you good now?" She asked.
I turned to face her and smiled. "Yeah."
"Do I even want to know what that was about?" She sighed.
I giggled. "Nope. I'll tell you later."
We walked for the rest of the day and set up camp at night in a road side motel. We payed with cash to avoid our names being put into the system. We only had enough money for five rooms if we wanted to be able to get breakfast from the store in the morning. So Lacey and I had a room, Jacklyn and Jasmine shared a room, and then the guys all had their own room.
We left early in the morning buying some Pop Tarts and things from the nearest grocery store, which was a gas station store. And we walked.
It was chillier as we traveled north. It really was the perfect temperature for walking for miles. We were reaching some high ground too. Mountains were all around in the distant.
It took us the whole day to reach Haruhi city. I felt so nervous being so close to Hannah and yet so far. She didn't know we were there and we needed to keep that way through the night. We passed through the lit city and traveled just outside of it. Hannah's castle was 20 minutes up the road.
We set up camp. Like tents and sleeping bags. The Colonel even made a bonfire. We roasted wieners and had fun.
"Look at this thing." James said as he held up a limp hot dog on his stick.
Lacey laughed at it.
"Why won't it cook?!" He complained.
Lacey continued to chuckle. "Maybe it is taking after your's." She gestured to his lower region.
We all laughed. James's face crinkled up. He relaxed and let out a little laugh.
"Seriously though. I just want to eat it."
The Colonel shouted from his sleeping bag. "Yeah, and I just want to sleep."
"I think I'm going to hit the hay too." Max Puttoff stood up and moved over to his things.
"Let me help you." Lacey grabbed the stick with the hot dog from James.
She sat next to him and placed it over the fire. Jack sat next to him too. I watched as he said his stupid jokes. Some of them were worth a pity laugh and others weren't good at all, and yet both Jack and Lacey laughed...hard.
Wow. They could try to make it less obvious. I rolled my eyes.
"What?" Jasmine whispered to me after she observed the action.
I turned to her. "Nothing." I smirked.
"No. Tell me." She begged.
"Okay." I smiled. "Well, Lacey has liked James ever since she hired him, but I can also see that Jacklyn likes him too."
Jasmine giggled. "How can you tell these things?" She asked with wide eyes.
I shrugged. "I don't know. I have a love for romance." I turned and watched the group. "Like look how Lacey is playing with her braid and Jack keeps playfully touching his shoulder when she laughs at his terrible jokes. They are flirting and he's not getting it."
Jasmine nodded. "Or they're bad at flirting."
I laughed. "Or that."
"What are you two laughing at?" Lacey asked as she pulled James's hot dog out of the fire.
"Nothing." Jasmine and I said in unison.
There was a moment of silence. I could hear the chirping crickets and the wind peacefully blowing through the nearby trees.
"Well." Jasmine stood up. "I'm going to sleep." She looked down at me and pointed her finger. "Don't stay up too late." She warned and looked at the others. "Big day tomorrow." She headed into the shadows.
"Good night." Lacey waved at Jasmine.
Lacey handed James his hot dog.
"Thank you." He smiled and observed it.
He placed it back in the fire and looked at Lacey's offended expression. "I just want it to be a little blacker." He explained.
It was time for me to have some fun.
"Hey, James?"
He looked over at me. "Yeah?" He asked.
"I was just curious if you have told Jack that funny joke you told Lacey and I the other day?" I asked.
He beamed. "No, I haven't. You think it was good?" I nodded and he looked at Jack. "Okay, well. It was a simple joke really. What are polar bears called when they are caught in the rain?"
Jack smiled at him. "I don't know. What?"
"Drizzly bears." James replied and grinned at her.
Jack laughed. It sounded very forced and even Lacey giggled a little. I couldn't help but smile.
I paused and took a sniff. They all observed my facial expression changed and lowered their brows.
"Something's burning." I stated.
James looked down at he fire in panic. "Shit." He quickly pulled his hot dog stick out of the fire to reveal a very black wiener.
Lacey, Jack, and I laughed at it. He pouted and throw it into the fire.
In between snorts, Lacey mustered out, "At least you were able to make it blacker."
"Just probably not how he wanted." Jack added and chuckled.
James gave them both a fake laugh and an arm touch. "I'm off to bed then." He smiled and headed into the shadows.
We all had quite a restless sleep that night in the wilderness with the fear of the impending doom lurking in Hannah castle clouding our thoughts.