The Chronicles of Time - Book 1: The Prince of Time [Complete]

Chapter XV: Confrontation

Chapter XV: Confrontation

As the last drop of the drink entered my mouth, I definitely felt higher than the sky - and not in altitude.

"Hold on," Erin said, clutching my arm. Anna followed his example and slowly, they laid me down on the dirt.

"What's happening?" I mumbled.

"Just relax. Aqua Mail tends to do this," Erin explained.

My vision blurred . . . and then I fell asleep.

Erin and Anna vanished, replaced by the faces of Mom and Kyle.

"Hello, Honey!" Mom waved.

"We're okay over here, so don't be worried," Kyle grinned at me.

I tried to say something, but my mouth just produced random gibberish.

"Oh, and, uh, this is an Aqua Mail and it's not a live webcam chat, so . . . we can't hear you if you make any sound while you're, uh, reading this," Kyle explained, right on time.

The next few minutes were full of stories about giant lobster-crab-hybrids, about Mom being a magician - which I mentally connected to wielding - since she could breathe underwater, about Kyle being able to breathe underwater as well, and, of course, about the mermaid-people that created water vortexes.

"So, yeah, that's about it. Mom says our dad is a . . . king, or something," Kyle laughed, wrapping up. Apparently, he hadn't known what I knew until recently - I'd thought he did, but, evidently, he was new to this as well.

"So, bye-bye! Love you!" Mom said as she closed something shaped like a...spiral that looked suspiciously like a shell over the "camera.

There was a flare of black that covered my vision momentarily, and then I quickly bolted straight up, hitting Skye on the head.

I clutched my head, pained. "Where am I now?"

"Ow!" Skye said, "Geez, you're on a bench, not in a hospital! Don't freak out, Anthony."

Skye's mood seemed to have improved since I last saw her, and she was acting almost-normal again.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

I didn't notice Erin and Anna sitting on stools just next to Skye's wheelchair and looked over at them when he answered, "An hour-and-a-half. It's almost sunrise."

"What happened to the Wars?" I asked - after all, the break was only supposed to be half-an-hour long.

"Oh, Kyon and Keith won the match flawlessly." Skye replied. "We won and got a trophy from the Terranians."

"Here." Anna said, handing me my quiver, knife, the Unios bow and then my old bow one by one and in that order.

I accepted everything except for my old bow, staring at it for so long that I lost track of time. "What's wrong?" Skye asked me.

I shook my head, almost glaring at the weapon, finally placing my hand on it and taking it from Anna. "Thanks," I muttered.

"Where are they?" I asked, gesturing around me. So far, I only saw an empty cafeteria with three pairs of eyes looking back at me, or rather, three pairs of human eyes; the three Edheroses - Anna's cat, Skye's eagle, and Felix - didn't count. I had yet to see Erin's Edheros, but I wasn't really thinking about that.

Instead, my mind was busy remembering the anger and hatred I'd felt, all directed at Tempest. I was, at the moment, only focusing on not letting the dark thoughts show on my face or through my voice.