Caged In

Chapter 3

"Drink this," Elwin instructed him.

Cullen took the bottle from him, gulping down the cool contents of the bottle of Youth.

"I assume Zora's parents will be here as soon as they can. That being said, you need to leave right now."

"Yeah, I don't need to be around for the Solen-galor," Cullen remarked.

Elwin gave him a look that made Cullen shrink in his seat.

"I hailed your father, who should be there waiting for you to discuss how the tribunal will go."

"Oh." Great. Now, he had to deal with a whole conversation with Keefe about where the line between funny and harmful was. Cullen really didn't need to deal with that right then.

"Wait---what about school? I have classwork I need to get done. And Ability Detecting, despite how much I hate that, I need to go to."

Elwin sighed. "You're going home and that's final."

"Ugh, can't I just discuss this after school?"

"Hmm, let me think; no."

Cullen groaned.

"Listen, this is important, do we need you to do this, okay?"

Cullen realized it was a lost cause. "Fine."

Cullen slid out of the bed and walked to the door. "Good luck. Solens are difficult to deal with."

He walked out the room, heading to the Leapmaster. Cullen glanced back, seeing Elwin run his hand through his hair. He didn't look so sure of himself. Well, that made two of them.

Cullen dragged his feet as he walked as slow as possible to the Leapmaster.

Sure, the had his home crystal. He could just hold it up to the light there. Cullen did not understand the point of walking all the way over there when be could put the crystal up to the light right there. Elves were so weird. They do the same thing eight different ways. Well, it was better than walking everywhere or getting in those things of death---cars was it---that humans used.

Unfortunately, there was not a slower path than the one he took, so he reached the Leapmaster.

"Glownore," he mumbled. No crystal spun like it was supposed to. "Glownore!"

It whirled to life, lowering a crystal that cast its beam right in front of him.

Cullen sighed, feeling the light pull him away as he stepped into the beam.

When he reappeared, he was at what looked at the bottom of a mountain.

Cullen licked a DNA strip hidden in between down rocks and a door appeared. He walked through the door.

Inside was a house surrounded by beautiful gardens. The ceiling was glowing with an artificial moon at the top. It gave the whole place a feel of night. It would catch up with the outside in a few minutes, changing the color of the light and the brightness.

He walked the path line with stones up to the front door.

The house consisted of two floors. The first floor had a roof that slanted into the bottom of the second, which had a smaller width. The first floor had seven large windows, one for each room. The one in the middle was cut do that it allowed a glass door in the middle of it.

The second floor had purple tinted windows that went around the whole floor. One side of it was Cullen's room, the other Orphelin's. In the middle was the staircase and the Leapmaster 500.