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Chapter Nine A little girl followed her father into her room. She sauntered to bed, and climbed in. Her father pulled the covers around her and kissed her forehead. "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!" He left the room. The girl rolled over to face the wall, and pulled the yellow blanket around her tighter. For some reason, she was scared, but she was never scared. She had the strangest feeling. Outside, lightning flashed, illuminating the wall, and she pulled the blanket closer. Thunder roared, and rain started pounding against the roof. The little girl screamed, sitting straight up in bed. In the other room, her parents slept, not hearing her cries. In another strike of lightning, a figure was illuminated outside the window, but the girl did not see the figure. She rolled over and once again faced the wall, tears gushing down her cheeks. Why weren't her parents coming to her rescue? She squeezed her eyes shut and gulped as the window was forced open. The little girl sat up in bed and saw a person dressed in all black climb into the room. Before she could scream, the person had her hand over her mouth. It wouldn't stay there for long . . . The girl bit the person's hand, and the black stranger cursed in agony. "You wretched girl, stay quiet!" Then she whipped out a needle and injected it in the girl's arm. The girl collapsed to the floor. Outside, the girl opened weary eyes. Rain poured down on her, and she stared down at the concrete six feet below her. Six feet below her? She glanced behind her and realized that someone was carrying her over his shoulder. The person had orange skin and red hair that seemed to glow when lightning streaked across the sky. "Put me down!" she screamed, and kicked her captor, who dropped her in surprise. Immediately, she ran into the forest to hide from him. She sat down inside a cave, dripping wet and it didn't help she was crying. She shivered pulled her knees close to her body. It was then that she heard a growling from the back of the cave. Before running out of the cave, she saw thousands of pairs of eyes staring at her. She ran through the woods, over the mountain outside the city. She ran up a cliff in the mountain. Soon she was jogging up the rocky terrain. She collapsed outside a hole in the mud-brown cliff. Before going unconscious, she looked up, and lightning crackled down above her. A woman loomed over her, grinning, missing some teeth. It was an ugly woman, the girl noticed, and when the lightning illuminated her features, casting eerie shadows, the girl fainted . . . . . . Kali bolted upright. She was in a clearing in the forest, alone. Shivering, she stood up and looked around. It was raining lightly, and far in the distance thunder rumbled. "Gary?" a movement caught her eye in the bushes. "Sophia? Brigitte? Who's there?" The bushes shook, and behind her, more bushes shook. "This isn't funny," she said, gulping. "You're right," a voice hissed. "Br-Brigitte?" Kali stammered through shivering teeth. "No, but close." Out of the bushes jumped a demon, dark blue with bright yellow eyes and midnight blue hair. Kali jumped back, and fell into the arms of another demon, this one dark orange with brown hair and yellow eyes. The two demons smiled to each other. "This was easier than I thought." Before he knew what him, Kali brought her leg around and kicked him in the knees, knocking him to the ground. The other demon glared at her, but didn't do anything. Then, out of the sky, came a white demon, with white hair and light blue eyes. Against the moon, she was almost invisible. She leaped down on Kali, who fell against the dirt. Jumping back, the white demon laughed. "Thought you could handle us, did you?" Kali blinked, but jumped back up. "I can." "Really? Show us?" "Yeah, right," said the orange demon, Ganralf. "Yes, right." The demon with midnight blue hair laughed. "Right." "What about your friends? They're in this forest, too." Kali narrowed her eyes. "They're not my friends. They aren't important any more!" "Then show us." "Yeah, set the forest on fire." Kali narrowed her eyes, but she wasn't about to back down to a challenge. She put her left hand onto the tree trunk, fingers spread out. She closed her eyes, and thought of the lightning, and felt it running through her body. She directed this energy to her left hand, and from it lightning flowed into the tree. She quickly brought her hand back, creating a small bolt of static. She back away from the tree, which burst into flames. The three demons laughed. "Thanks, that gets one job done. Now it will be much easier for our invading army to travel throughout all England," the blue demon grinned as the trees around the one burst into flames. "Now, for part two of the mission." "Right, Eclipse, you go up, the guys and I will surround." The white demon jumped up, disappearing in a second. Kali gulped, realizing what she had done wrong. "Damn!" she blurted out, as the demons surrounded her. No place to go, but up. But that's where the white demon waited. She could see her outlined against the branches of the tree. A battle cry filled the forest, and all the demons turned to look. Swinging from a vine, was a kid wearing a blue tunic, legs outstretched. He pummeled into the demons, who fell like bowling pins. He jumped off the vine and landed next to Kali. "You set the forest on fire?!" "Uh . . ." "No time for conversation, let's get out of here!" He grabbed Kali's hand and pulled her away from the demons, who were starting to get back up. Kali could hear something jump from tree to tree as she ran through the forest with the "flying stranger". "Um, mister, there's a demon - " "I know! Shh!" They stumbled through some bushes, and Kali found herself facing a shining pool of water. At the far end, water fell from a cliff into the pool, casting rainbows about the clearing. "Can you swim?" he asked her. She nodded. "Good." He dived into the water, after indicating for her to follow him. She dived in after him, just as Eclipse, the white demon, entered the clearing. She followed the boy through the water, following him through an underwater hole. They burst through the surface of a pool of water in a cavern. "Where are we?" Kali whispered. "Behind the waterfall." "Oh." Kali turned in the water to look around at the cavern. "Who are you?" He was quiet for a minute, and then he climbed up onto a rock that stuck out from the wall of the cavern. "You can call me Zale. Who are you?" "Kali." "Ah. That would make sense." "What would make sense?" "Why those demons were after you." "Oh. You heard about me, too?" "Anyone who lives in these mountains knows about you by now. You're one of the only people who survived Nwon-Knu's nasty ceremony." "Who else is there?" "Who survived?" "Yeah." "Well, there's that legend of the fire - " "Besides her." Zale raised an eyebrow, but leaned back against the wall. "I can only think of one other person." "Who?" "Me." ***** "Are you sure you checked everywhere?" Gary asked the two girls standing in front of him. "Positive." Sophia nodded. "She probably ditched us." "She wouldn't do that," Gary countered. "Right. Then where is she?" Sophia asked. "Uh, hey guys?" They turned to look at Brigitte. "Did anybody check this clearing? With a pond and a waterfall?" Sophia and Gary looked at each other, then rushed to the clearing. Brigitte looked around. "Well . . . " "She's not here," Sophia stated bluntly. "Then where is she?!" Brigitte dipped her hand in the water. "Hmm . . . perhaps . . . " "Perhaps what?!" Gary was getting frustrated. Sophia narrowed her eyes. Why does he care so much for Kali? "Well, I think it's possible that behind the waterfall, there could be a cavern. But I don't believe we can get in unless the owner of the cavern wants us to." "Do you think she's in there?" Sophia demanded. "Owner of the cavern?" Gary questioned. "I can sense Kali's prescience on the other side of the wall. But she's with another demon." "WHAT?!" Gary stared at Sophia. "What?" "Demon? You can sense her behind the wall? What heck are you people?!" Brigitte looked at Sophia thoughtfully. Then she looked at Gary. "You know, you two look an awful lot alike." "What?! I don't look like him?" Brigitte changed her flow of thought. "Ever heard of those legendary demons that are supposed to live in the mountains?" Sophia nodded her head slowly. "Well, Kali's kidnapper mother was trying to turn her into one, but it didn't work, so now she has lightning powers. And I am one of those demons." Brigitte's face started to change, the peach melted into the light purple. All around her body, she skin changed color. Her ears pointed at the end and her eyes moved slightly, so they were on more of an angle. She even grew vampire teeth. Sophia screamed, and started to run away, but Gary grabbed her arm. "You wanted to come with us, so you're staying with us. Brigitte looked at Sophia once more. "Are you . . .?" "Am I what?" Sophia gritted out, struggling to get free of Gary's grip. Brigitte shook her head. "Never mind." ***** "You're a . . . demon?" "Yes and no. I'm just like you. Except I wasn't as famous when it happened." "How did it happen?" "I don't want to talk about." "Then . . . how were you saved?" "Gabrielle." "Gabrielle?" "Yes. She . . . saved me. She brought me here. That was a few hundred years ago, though." "What?" "Gabrielle is a sorceress in training. And since I am part demon, I don't have the normal human life span. Aren't you getting a little cold in the water?" Kali shivered. Zale scooted over and made room for her on the rock, and she gratefully jumped up and out of the water. "Is Gabrielle with you now?" "No." "Oh." There was a long silence between them. The sound of water dripping from the ceiling to the water penetrated the cavern, echoing around them. Then, Zale looked up in surprise. He narrowed his eyes and concentrated. It looked like he was trying to hear something from far away. "We have visitors. Stay here." He dived into the water and swam down, towards the hole leading to the pond. ***** There was a loud splash, as Gary, Sophia, and Brigitte's head turned towards the pond. Out of the water came a boy, who looked no older than Gary. But his face showed wisdom beyond his years. He came to the edge of the water. "Who are you, and what do you want?" he stated. Brigitte noticed that he did not leave the water. "We came for Kali. You have her, we know you do. Behind the fall." Zale looked at Brigitte. "So?" "She's our companion, she . . . um . . . well, see, we lost her and . . . well, we found her, but you have her, and we need to get her as far away from - " Gary started. "Nwon-Knu Setsrim. She lost you, purposely. She does not consider herself your friend. You did not find her, I did. She was being attacked by demons, Nwon-Knu's, no less. The head of her army was there, you almost lost her totally. Had I not showed up when I did - " "I would have been dog meat." All heads turned to Kali, who emerged from the water in the same spot Zale had. "Kali! You're okay!" Kali crossed her arms. "I told you to stay in the cavern!" "I don't listen to strangers." "Kali - " Kali silenced Gary by her glare. "I'm on my own now. I can take care of myself, now that I know what to fear." "We're not letting you go alone!" Brigitte stated. Kali sighed, but didn't answer. ***** Kali sat at the edge of a cliff, just above the pool of water that she had met Zane on. The wind blew gently over the pond's surface, casting small ripples in the satiny water. She stared at her reflection for a second, then changed her gaze to the sparkling night sky. Many thoughts were rushing through her head at that moment; she was so confused. The starry sky was soothing to her soul, so she fell back and stared at it, hands behind her head. Space must have seen so many things. After all, it has been around forever. Space and nature, the two oldest things Kali knew of. They were ultimately the wisest things around, and it was soothing to just sit in their prescience and ask for advice. She closed her eyes and welcomed the comfort. "Relieving, isn't it?" Kali sat up to look at Zale, who was sitting on a stump. Kali nodded, and looked back at the pond. They were quiet for a minute, then Zale broke the silence. "I'm going to travel with you." Kali nodded, dazed. She looked at the water in the pond once again, and took in a deep breath. "Why me?" Zale didn't reply. "I mean, what did I do to ever hurt anyone?" "Asking those types of questions won't get you anywhere," Zale said quietly. Kali blinked, and her gaze shifted to the ground she sat on. "I know. But I just can't help but wonder." "Gabrielle once told me something. 'Don't dwell on the past, you can't change anything, so why worry about it? You should more so dwell on the future, because that is what matters.' I'm not saying that you should forget all that has happened to you, but perhaps it would be better to think of the future." Kali just nodded, not knowing how to respond. Her mind was in great turmoil at the moment. "You'll freeze up here alone. Come down to camp and warm-up by the fire with everyone else," he offered. Silent, Kali followed him off the bluff. |