Found (Book 1 of the Haven's Army Trilogy) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 13

"Whoah."

The indoor arena was huge. It had a huge grassy field with beat-up dummies for sword practice. The ceiling was so far above I almost couldn't see it. In the middle stood a lone man, swinging a sword as I had never seen. His form was perfect, him movements smooth and relaxed.

"Nicholas!" Leonardo called.

The man turned to us and smiled. "Hello Leonardo, Charlotte, Kathryn, and...you three..."

Peter and Andrew groaned in unison. Laura only looked around.

I couldn't help but feel amazed. This man...I didn't even know how to describe how excited I was.

Maybe I shouldn't have judged when my friends were excited about Leonardo.

Leo sauntered up to Nicholas. "Nick, how are you?" They began talking as old friends. I smiled a little.

"Come, sit with us," Nicholas said, beckoning for us to come over.

We all sat hesitantly. We sat in awkward silence for a while.

"So," Leonardo said. "Is there anything you want to know?"

"How did you all come here?" I asked when no one said anything. "The founders I mean."

"Ah, let's see now..." Leonardo off.

"It was during the witch trials," Nicholas said. "They were trying people for having otherworldly powers, like us." The rest of us looked at each other as if asking each other what kind of world they from. "Must be weird to you," Nicholas said, "coming from a world where powers are a part of everyday life." We nodded.

"Anywho," Leonardo said, "they were rounding up so-called "witches" from around the world to get rid of them. We had all come to a place by the name of The United States of America. I had moved from a land called Spain. Nick's family was from the States as Native Americans, people originally from there. Then you had Louis from France, David from South Africa, can't remember where exactly...maybe Egypt?"

Nicholas leaned over. "Egypt is in North Africa."

"Ah..."

"Anyway," Nicholas continued, "They threw a batch of eleven people through a portal in a place called California. Mind you, that world is a whole lot larger than Haven." My friends and I looked at each other in amazement. Haven was such a large place already. I couldn't imagine anything larger. "We found a way to survive." He clenched his fist. "But we found out the hard way about Louis' powers. By then it was too late. He persuaded us to hand over control of our islands and forced us underground." He looked up at us. "Remember, that's their power: persuasion."

"Um," Kathryn started after a brief silence. "I don't mean to be rude but why is Ronnie all..." She made the crazy sign by circling her temple with a finger. "You two are fairly normal."

The two men looked at each other, a glimmer in their eyes.

Leonardo turned to us, his eyes crinkled in a smile. "We haven't seen Ronnie in so long. No one has." The smile was replaced by a look of sadness. "The Shadow is just too far away. He tried connecting his to ours but no matter how deep he went..." He shook his head. "Is he really?"

"O-only a little," I assured him quickly. He nodded.

We sat in another long silence.

Suddenly, Laura said, "We should probably go. Naomi's going to kill us."

We nodded.

"It was nice meeting you," Leonardo said. We all nodded solemnly.

A few minutes later, we were sneaking back across the scrap metal to the boat. When we got back, Naomi was back to her old self. She lectured us for a few minutes but I could tell I wasn't the only one not listening.

We hoisted anchor and set out for The Shore.