Free: Into The Woods

Chapter Eight

I gasped, my eyes widening as I stumbled back towards the door. Ms. Jen whipped around at the sound of my voice, "What are you two doing here?!" She exclaimed, glancing nervously around at the weapons. She obviously didn't want us to be here, or to know whatever it is she's doing.

"We had no clue where you were, what were we supposed to do?" I said, crossing my arms defiantly.

"Uh, stay in your rooms and wait for me to collect you," Ms. Jen said as if it was completely obvious, "How did you find me anyway?"

Indigo replaced the look of shock on her face with a smug smile, "Figured out your little trick and found our way to some guy who told us where to find you. And by the way, there was no way we were just going to wait for you to 'collect' us. We need answers."

Ms. Jen sighed, "Number 1, it isn't my trick. It's a mechanism to confuse intruders. Number 2, Indigo this has nothing to do with y-"

"Yes. It. Does." Indigo said, holding Ms. Jen's stare, her eyes strong with a fierce determination, "Nyla is my best friend. If it had to do with her, it has to do with me."

"Fine," she said, "But either way, I can't tell you everything you want to know. What happened to Nyla will not happen again, because of my telling of information."

"No," I said, "You have to. I need to know, please, I have to."

Ms. Jen ran a hand down her face, then settled them on her hips and sighed, "You get three questions. Three and only three."

My brain knew I couldn't argue but my heart insisted to keep trying, "It's so important to me, I need to know everything about what happened to my parents. About who killed them and the agencies you were talking about. I just- I finally know that they didn't die the way I think they did, people murdered them, and I learned about something that they were part of. I can't give up."

Ms. Jen's eyes softened, "I know Nyla, and I am sorry. I just can't tell you everything for your own good. But I can answer three questions."

I sighed, and I knew there was no room for arguing this time. "Okay, well I guess my first question is 'Why are there are these weapons?' I want to know about this place." I glanced nervously around the room.

Ms. Jen nodded absently, "This," she said putting her arms up and gesturing around the room, "is what we call, our mini base. This is one of the many places where we forge weapons for battle, where we train people to join our group, where we study and prepare."

I squinted my eyes at the piles around me, I could see swords, spears, javelins, short knives, long knives, guns, you name it, pretty much any weapon a little boy could dream of. "But what battle? There aren't any wars going on in our world right now, are there?"

Ms. Jen and the man standing in the corner, who I'd completely forgotten was there, exchanged a look, "Is that your question then?"

I bit my lip and looked to Indigo for help, she nodded her agreement. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, "What battle are you preparing for?" I tried to hide the quiver in my voice, this is real life, and the weapons in this room are enough proof of the danger involved but I needed to be brave, strong.

"Alright," Ms. Jen said, "This battle that we are preparing for isn't in motion yet. We don't even know when it will happen. But we know it will happen sooner than expected."

"How do you know that?" I interrupted.

"Because of you. Nyla, one side of the battle will be the Twilight Dancers, and whether you like it or not, you will be on the other side." My heart jumped, my head pounded. Me? But I'm just me, there's nothing special about me or- or anything. But, how? "Be patient, you will soon learn. You must know Nyla, the Twilight Dancers are after you, they want you."