The Others

Chapter 4: Interception

Elizabeth headed to her "room" after their band session and plopped in her bed. It was only 4:30, but Elizabeth was exhausted. Lunchbox still in hand, she fell asleep. She woke up at 6:58 not as tired as before. After the routine bed-check, she took out the ornate lunchbox and went through its contents. Inside was a thermos, still steaming, a couple of tin boxes, and an odd fruit. Opening the thermos she found a dark brown liquid swirling inside. With a sip, she found that it was hot chocolate, made with dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Delicious. Opening a tin box, she found some sort of fish covered in a light sauce. The bones were taken out before packing, so she had no troubles with that. It tasted savory; whatever the sauce was, it was delicious. The fish itself tasted unlike any fish she had tasted before, and it was cooked perfectly. There was some sort of fruit inside the lunchbox also. It looked like a citrus; golden on the outside, and deep purple on the inside. It tasted like a grapefruit, yet sour and sweet at the same time. The dessert element was a vanilla almond ice milk. Each taste was so delicious, she didn't want to stop. She finished the meal quickly, then regretted not savoring each bite. Pondering over her dark hot chocolate, Elizabeth couldn't help but wonder what Abraham meant by, "if you succeed". Why would we need to succeed any more than any other warrior. Will we need to kill anyone important? Will we need to kill anyone at all? Are we getting into more than we can handle? Did we even think this through? By this time Elizabeth was getting really worried. She was getting so stressed she was shaking. She calmed down a bit when she realized that they were too far in to go back, and that this was better than living in this prison of a school. Anyway, if they succeeded, nobody would have to die. At least that's what she hoped. She finished off her hot chocolate and tucked her lunchbox underneath some clothes in her dresser. She slid into bed and closed her eyes. Soon, sleep overwhelmed her. Elizabeth's dreams were somewhat ordinary. There was an odd man with fish gills and hawk eyes, but that was about the weirdest that it got. Awakening, she looked at the clock on her dresser. 6:40 a.m. She really wished she could sleep in once in a while. The rest of the dorm was abuzz. Then she remembered. The Betrothal was tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, she would be woken up by an alarm echoing throughout the girls and boys dorms, escorted to a room/cubicle in one of the multipurpose buildings, and sculpted by stylists to find the "perfect look" for the Betrothal. Dresses, makeup; most of the girls of Windhill dreamed of this. Not Elizabeth. Not even a little. All she had in terms of beauty products was a hairbrush, deodorant, and cheap mascara and eyeshadow. Shampoo and conditioner was provided in the shower rooms. The only thing Elizabeth was looking forward to tomorrow was the shower. She heard from older students that it was amazing. A cool, rejuvenating shower, followed by a warm, rose-scented bubble bath. Sounds pretty good. Elizabeth looked at the array of items she kept on her dresser. A digital clock, which she got at the Trading Post for two five gig flash drives, a silver bell that she got for Christmas from Nicole(Elizabeth got her a classic iPod) because Elizabeth was a little more into vintage things, a green Duncan yo-yo, a Macintosh laptop(a gift from her tech teacher), and a stash of miscellaneous computer parts. It wasn't much, but at least it was something. Elizabeth suddenly remembered that she needed to meet her friends to go to Anderes. Reluctantly, she rolled out of bed.

Michelle, Sam, Nicole, and Andy waited for Elizabeth at the secret entrance in the library. The librarian just sat there as usual. They had found out that they needed to use their password to open the bookcase. Elizabeth arrived at a quarter past seven, only five minutes after the rest of them. She was wearing a light jacket and comfy jeans. She looked like she had gotten dressed in a hurry. Her shirt was folded around the waist and her hair was slightly unkempt, but otherwise she didn't look too bad. She was holding her lunchbox in one hand. Elizabeth recited their password, and they all looked to Sam, hoping he had brought the key. He held it up and inserted it into the keyhole, and again, Anderes awaited. The guards were different then last time, but they let them pass. "What was in your lunchboxes?" Nicole asked. They all said what was in theirs. Fish for Elizabeth, escargot for Michelle, most ironic, goat for Sam, and some sort of bird for Andy. Nicole's was beef stew. According to them, it was all delicious, even the escargot. It was a little chewy, though. Michelle wondered why they all got different foods. The cooks couldn't decide? Did they all have cooks assigned to them? Anyhow, all of their food was the best they'd ever tasted. Once they arrived at the castle, Queen Lilith greeted them with open arms and many smiles. Too many smiles for Michelle's taste. They all handed their lunchboxes to her servants and told her to thank the cooks for the marvelous food. They met in the tree/dining room to eat a quick breakfast of eggs and fruit. Desiree met them at the top of the staircase. "Your mission is simple," she said. "You will take your weapons from a box outside the armory, and ride horseback three miles west of here. There, you will come to a circular wall; you can't miss it. Once you have arrived, one horse will transform into a human and relay instructions to you. This may alarm the person riding that horse. There are five shells of wall to this area. In the center of the fifth wall you will find the sphere we call the Cylendrium. This is where you will receive your powers. We will be notified immediately after you open the third wall, and Her Majesty, the Seer of Gifts, and myself should be there by the time you open the fifth. That is your mission. Simply to open the five walls of the Cylendrium. Since I like you, I shall give you a tip. The walls are very talkative. That should be all. Now be on your way, and good luck." Desiree left to check on some younger Elementals playing with fire and water. One of them was catching things on fire while the other one put them out. They had gotten so rambunctious, there was a bonfire-sized fire, and a wall of water coming at it. Oh, kids. Michelle was a bit confused by what Desiree meant by the walls talking. Knowing Anderes, she probably meant that the walls actually talked. Michelle and the others retrieved their weapons and headed downstairs. Just outside the castle, five gorgeous horses, fully saddled and well groomed, waited patiently for them. None of them were with any horse groom, so Michelle assumed they were being talked to by the mysterious Metamorph. She was excited to get back where she belonged; on a horse. "Let's get to it," she said.