"Kaida Welsh, I presume?" The commander Justin warned her of was a diminutive woman, but in no way soft. Her small frame was dominated by piercing brown eyes, and her bobbed black hair swung just below a very prominent chin. She was not a woman to be messed with.
"Umm yes, maam." Kia stood straight and looked forward, feeling as though she was expected to stand attention.
"Very well. Major, you may leave us. I wish to talk to Miss Welsh in private." Major looked a little put out, but he nodded sharply and turned on his heels, exiting the room.
"Empty your pocket."
"Excuse me?"
"You have a bulge in your front pocket, empty it out."
"Uh.. Yes ma'am." Kia reached into her pocket, felt around Ash and closed her fingers over the bread roll he hadn't finished. She pulled it out and handed it to the woman. She knew the woman already knew about Ash, but she wasn't supposed to know that she knew. So, she would act like she didn't.
The commander looked down at the roll, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly. Just as soon as the smile was there, it was gone, replaced by an expectant look and an arched brow.
"There is still a bulge in your pocket."
Kia shuffled a foot, and avoided her eyes. "May I please ask why you wanted to see me?" Damn, she never knew she was this good an actress.
"You may call me Commander Rilson. And I am here because you received a visitor last night." Her eyes went pointedly to Kia's pocket. "Who you appear to want to hide from me."
"You know about Ash?" She tried to put genuine sounding shock in her voice, and she must have succeeded, because Commander Rilson smiled indulgently.
"Ash? Suitable name, I suppose. He was always one of the troublesome ones. Constantly flying off from the pen without being called. Seemed to like exploring quite a bit. Youll have your hands full while hes still a youngling." Rilson then reached for a whistle which hung around her throat, and blew it shrilly.
There was a thump as a large silvery object hurtled through an open window and landed on the oak table to their right. It was another knewl, only much larger than Ash. It was just the right size to cuddle up in her arms. It didn't look very cuddly at the moment though. It was eying her with distrust and baring its fangs. She hadn't seen Ash's fangs.
She heard a growl come from her pocket, and then Ash stuck his head out and glared at Rilsons knewl. His eyes changed from their soft golden color to dark amber.
The commanders knewl actually backed down, which surprised both Kia and the commander. Rilson shook her head slightly and then looked back at Kia. "Well, I suppose you have some questions."
"Ummmm. Yes." Kia spent the next hour questioning Commander Rilson and being informed of a whole underground society, which she was destined to be a part of.
Apparently, there was a God (who Commander Rilson said was not a God but an essence, but Kia thought it was simpler to call it God.) who created the earth on a whim. He/she, for convenience sake well call it a he, came up with the whole idea of space and time and wanted to create it. Then he created the orb out of bits of essenceness. The commander had this whole convoluted explanation of what it was made of, but since it seemed to include part of this God, Kia would call it essenceness.
And the orb seemed to grow attatched to earth, because of the way it was developing out of all the bazillions of other planets. And the creatures on earth charmed it. So it gave out some of its essenceness to these creatures, giving them souls so to speak.
Then God created a companion essence, and to cut a long story short, the companion got greedy and tried to steel the orb and gain power over all little essences on earth. God created an elite group of the most powerful little essences, humans, and made them guardians of the orb. They found the evil companion essence and locked him away in a statue in a temple thing. Bound to stone, he can do nothing but move. As a reward, God granted them all their own creature companions, knewls, and continued their line, so that they would always be there in case the evil essence escaped his statue and chased after the orb.
"The orb has gone missing." Kia looked up from petting Ash at that last part. "It has been stolen out of its chamber at our headquarters by one of our own. And it saddens me to think that he may be returning the orb to the temple to free the evil one in hopes of gaining some powerful position in the new world it would create. In reality it would use the orb to warp all our souls, including Justin's."
Gulp. "Justin's?" Kia hope she covered that quaver in her voice.
"Justin Lemark stole the orb. He has disappeared and we have heard nothing from him. The orb is our source of power, and so we are currently ducks out of water. We have no fuel to draw from, so we are just like any other human, except for our companions. Which leads me back to you.
"Ordinarily juniors would go through an intense training session before being given any work to do. Unfortunately, our numbers have dwindled over the years, and there are only five of us in existence, not including Justin. Three are staking out the temple, making sure Justin cannot enter with the orb. I'm here directing operations and seeing that our whole existence continues as it has. You are to go after Justin. In this day and age, he has to have left some sort of trail. Plus, your knewl there, was best friends with his before they left.
"I know this is rather sudden. But it is for the best, I would not do it if I didn't know from background research that you've already done some amateur sleuthing."
"I hardly think that taking a P.I. class and searching for my missing brother qualifies me."
"Ahhh, but you found your brother didnt you? You are the best man, or in this case girl, for the job. I have relieved you of all duties here at camp. Your parents believe you are here, and the directors of the camp have orders to conceal your absence. Here, I believe you will need these." She handed Kia a cardboard box.
What she found inside was actually pretty cool. A fake I.D. (Which was okay in this case, since it was issued by authority, someone in the government no less. It is NOT cool under normal circumstances *shifty eyes*) and passport. Both identifying her as eighteen, which would be true in a few months anyway. A gun. Kia shuddered at that. A permit to carry concealed. Keys, and a file.
She opened the file and gasped. "That's Justins file," Rilson said noticing her expression. There was a picture of Justin right at the front.
Wow. That voice in my head sure is hot.
Why, thank you. I am quite attractive.
Dont kid yourself, I happen to find this picture repulsive.
Sure, thats why youre about to swoon.
I. Do. Not. SWOON.
I wonder if my touch would make you swoon. We should find out.
Oh, God. You are insufferable.
"The keys are to your new car. Funds are not great so its a Range Rover, not exactly Porsche class, but it's not a piece of junk either. Well go back to headquarters and you can start your search for Justin there."
You hear that? I'm going to be hunting you.
If you find me, it's because I let you. The shoes were a good choice, by the way. Theyre holding up quite nicely, and all the babes love them.
