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Chapter 20

"For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them." (Matthew 18:20)

"So... what now?" Ashim asked the group.  They were huddled around Eloise's kitchen, sitting in silence.

Ley stood up, his eyes dark.  

"What were you thinking!?" he exclaimed, suddenly, surprising the rest of the group out of their trances.  "What in the world were you thinking?"

"Ley, chill," Jem said.  But Ley wouldn't stop.

"Why did you decide to set up a bomb?  It trapped a demon but that's just one demon.  You could've been out here, using your invisibility powers to help save Kayta or Eloise, or even Xale!  What were you thinking?"

"Whoa," Milly commented.

"Dude!  Chill out!  The bomb was supposed to be a distraction to give us time!" Ashim shot back.

"Well, it didn't work, did it?"

"Ley, we get that you miss Kay-" Star was cut off.

"Why are you complaining?" Ashim yelled.  "I saved you!  Milly wouldn't be here and Eloise wouldn't be here if it weren't for me and Xale!"

"But they only had one captured before, and now they have two!" Ley protested.  "They're taking us apart one by one!"

"Then we'll go back and save them again!" Ashim replied.  

"Um, guys?" Star tried again.

"No!  We'll be weaker than we were last time.  There is no way we won't just get captured again."

"But now we know the demon's base!  And plus, Xale and I saved all of you guys by ourselves."

"Guys!" Star was getting fed up with all this arguing.

"But Xale's not here now, is he?  And whose fault is that?"

"SHUT UP!" Star yelled.  

Everyone turned to stare at her.  It wasn't like her to burst out like this.

Star got up and stood in between the two boys.

"How long is it going to take for you two to realize that arguing isn't going to do anything!?  We have a crisis going on right now, and you two are wasting the day away," Star said, glaring at both of them.

"He started it," Ashim pointed at Ley.  Star slapped his arm down.

"It doesn't matter!  It doesn't matter who started it.  It doesn't matter whose fault it is!  It.  Does. Not.  Matter!" 

Star looked at Ashim dead in the eye, then whirled around to give Ley the death glare.

She continued, "We need to stick together if we want a chance to beat the demons and save Kayta and Xale.  But if you two keep arguing over pointless things and misunderstandings, we will never save them.  Do you understand?"

Silence filled the room.

"That sounds like something Kayta would say," Milly whispered.

Ley nodded slowly, as if he was finally starting to understand.  Star turned to Ashim, and he nodded his head as well.

"I'm sorry," Ley said, looking down at the ground.

"I'm sorry too," Ashim replied.

"Truce?"

"Truce."

The boys shook hands.

"No more arguing from now on," Ley stated.  Ashim nodded his head in agreement.

"Good," Star declared.  "Now, let's come up with a plan to defeat these demons and save our friends."

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"Kayta?" Xale whispered.  He could hear her crying in the cell next to him.

"I'd rather have him kill me than use me against my friends, I could never live with that!" her voice shook.

"Hey," Xale leaned against the wall, trying to give her some comforting presence.  "It'll be okay, they'll come rescue us."  He heard her sniff.

"I hope they don't, they'll be risking their lives again."

Xale closed his eyes and tried not to think about his younger siblings he'd be leaving behind, or Eloise.  He never got to tell her how he felt about her.

"If we get out of this," Kayta's voice startled him back to reality.  "You should ask Eloise out on a date."

Xale was startled that she knew, so he didn't say anything.

"It's kind of obvious."

He breathed a sigh of relief.  "Do you think she'd say yes?"

"Definitely."  He heard movement on the other side.  "You're a nice guy Xale."

"Thanks."  He sat up straighter.  "You know, Ley might have some things he'd like to say to you."

"What do you mean?"

"Oops," Xale scratched his head.  "I think I said that out of confidence."

"What?" Kayta exclaimed.

"I mean, we're probably gonna die anyway so I'm sure it wouldn't matter."

"Xale!" Kayta scolded good-naturedly.

"Sorry," he grinned.  "I mean, it's kind of obvious."

He could hear her chuckle on the other side of the wall, but the clanging of the dungeon door stopped Kayta's laughter.

"Kayta?"

"Yeah?"

"It's going to be okay."

Kayta took a shaky breath in.  

"I hope you're right."