Part 2

I was just too excited about this next part to wait any longer. Tell me what you think!

Miss Heiden sighed, “I’m not sure the bored would want me to tell you,”

Collin let out a laugh with no real humor “so we’re supposed to go on a dangerous mission without even knowing what it is?”

Miss Heiden looked pained “you are all children, you can’t possibly know the evil you are up against.”

“Um, hello?” Said Drew with as much derision as she could muster.

Miss Heiden nodded to her, “of course, but we’re not too eager to put all our secrets into four recklessly loose bags.”

I was so outraged at this point that I stood up.

“We’re going on this mission to save the school right?”

“In essence, yes.”

“And yet we have no clue what we’re supposed to do, no idea what we’re up against?” “Ignorance can be a powerful shield.”

“Ignorance could get us killed! What is it we’re supposed to do?”

I was shouting now, not caring that I was the least experienced person on the team and I was making a spectacle of it.

“We won’t leave you with nothing, we trust that you are all capable enough to handle the dangers you face.”

“Then why choose me?”

Everyone was silent. Miss Heiden threw her hands up exasperated.

“Fine, you do deserve to know the truth, at least part of it.”

I sat back down as she continued.

“You all know of course, of our position in this world. Years ago the bored director appealed to the president of these United States. He wanted help and protection for the school and it’s students who were being attacked by Feren and his army. President Carter was most inhospitable but there were some in the government who pitied our situation.

You must understand that we told the president everything, how could we not when so many were being killed.

“Had the few senators not helped us we would have shut the school down for good, forcing our students and those of us with the talent into hiding. Quietly the senators went to work, discovering everything they could about Feren. They infiltrated his ranks of solders and stole something from them. A stone tablet, or half a stone tablet, that had only a few verses of script on them.

Four will go, of each division.

One will make a life decision.

One will find the courage to speak,

 One will prove not to be weak.

The last of these shall not hide,

And finally destroy the dark side

“They read it before they realized how important it was, but even they knew the stone was incomplete. But before they could escape, Feren himself caught them and killed thirteen of them, the last managed to escape.

“When the senators found out their men were dead they withdrew their support vowing never to tell another soul about the magic of the school. Instead they allowed us to remain in the land they had given us, but the funds and protection ceased immediately. And so from then on we have been training our students to fight to protect themselves.

“We deduced that we only had the second half on the stone the man had stolen from Feren, but we have no idea if he had the first half. The stone explained a great deal to us, first and foremost was that Feren feared what it foretold and was trying his hardest to destroy all element workers so that the school would truly fall. The writing on the tablet was obviously some kind of prophesy. Many believe as I do, that it was foreseen by Plithe himself. Possibly recorded by Constance Ash.”

“Whose Constance Ash and Plith?”

Drew answered my question “Plithe was a dragon living in the 15 ½ century. He had the power of divining the future. Constance Ash recorded all the events of the 15 ½ century. That’s the only way we know it existed.”

Miss Heiden continued. “Beside the point Plithe was notoriously long winded. Any prophesy as short as the one on the tablet must have been incomplete. Feren’s goal had been to extinguish all hope of the prophecy coming true. He had been targeting those of the water talent. Maybe because that was Thaea’s original talent, or maybe because fire hates water. Whatever his reasons he was determined to destroy all those with that gift and whoever stood in his way so the writing on the tablet could not come to pass.”

There was silence again.

“That’s why he attacked again isn’t it?” I asked breaking the silence.

“We believe so. And if Feren wanted Kevin and Trevor dead, it must mean he fears the time of the tablet. It’s time to send out the four.”

“So why not just tell us?” Asked Collin.

“Without proof that the tablet is legitimate we were not prepared to send any students on this mission, but now that things are more dire that is the least of our concerns. The bored didn’t want you to know just how hard Feren would try to stop you.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question,” put in Sam.

Miss Heiden looked relieved, “the keepers,” she nodded at Drew “have spent many years trying to decide where the four would ‘go’ and the bored has agreed.

“Feren has always been after nothing short of world domination, but he isn’t strong enough to reach that goal. When he started creating more Element Workers the Heaven’s gem must have over heated, like a computer with far to many jobs running at once. It exploded into eight pieces and killed the five people standing nearest to it. The whereabouts of the eight pieces has been unknown for centuries but if they were reassembled they would once again have the power to bestow magic. That is why you four must recover all eight pieces.”

“How the heck do we know where they ended up?” Collin was leaning back in his chair looking astonished.

It was a lot for me to take in as well.

“Feren returned to the forest to find the grove where the Heaven’s gem had been, burned down. There was no trace of the jewel anywhere. We believe it was a thing of such incomprehensible power that the shards flew several miles away. Records tell of magic crystals being discovered all over the world. I’m sure one greedy merchant found several pieces and decided to sell them. But magic always finds ways to make trouble. We’ve been able to track a few of them and believe discovery of some will lead to the others.

“So now you know everything, are you willing to take on this mission? Are you prepared to try and race the most powerful man on the earth for the fragments of the Heaven’s gem?” 

Chapter Six part 1

Sorry I've been gone so long! I've had the craziest few weeks, first I had three performances I didn't even know about, then I got terribly sick and now as I'm recovering I had another audition. So I'll try to keep up!
At last the moment you've all been waiting for! Well at least it's the moment I've been waiting to post. This chapter is really where it all began. It all stemmed from the idea of this chapter so I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter Six

Shards of the Heaven’s gem

            I woke up with my face stuck to the paper I had only written two words on.

It was pitch black outside the big windows that seemed to dominate most of the walls in all the school dorms. I could see the lights of the base were still on. They were probably having yet another meeting.

Crashed on my bed I vaguely made out the time on my digital clock. 1:54 am. I closed my eye’s and thought I’d be strait back to sleep, but sleeping with my clothes on bothered me so groggily I got up and stumbled around till I found my bag and extracted some pajamas.

After that I found myself going through my usual bedtime routine: brushing my teeth, replacing my retainer and writing in my journal. Now I was fully awake and lying on my bed waiting for sleep to come aroused memories of that day. My fiends had abandoned me, I was being sent on a dangerous mission.

******

“Poke her.”
“No,”

“Just because you like bothering everyone doesn’t mean we all do.”

I opened my eyes to see four faces grinning above me. Collin, Drew, Carly and Sam. I sat up and tried to make my hair look… not like a curly mess.

“What are you doing?” My voice cracked with morning.

“Uh… what aren’t you doing, it’s quarter too,” said Drew.

I looked frantically at my clock. 9:47 am. I jumped out of bed.

“Why didn’t anyone wake me up?”

“That’s what we’re doing,” said Sam.

“They decided to ex-nay classes today,” said Collin.

I had stood up too quickly and got a head rush and had to sit back down.

“Look,” started Collin.

“We feel really bad about how everyone treated you yesterday,” said Sam.

“How we all treated you,” said Collin.

“I mean, we were all just jealous of you, but you probably know that,” said Carly.

I couldn’t suppress a smile then. It meant a lot to me that they had all come down just to apologize.

“We’d better let you get ready, you’ve only got ten minuets left to get down to the base.” They all left Carly staying a little longer to give me a quick wink.

The four of us filed into the same meeting room at the base not saying anything. Now we had all had time to really think about what going on a mission meant. Miss Heiden sat at the head of the table and we were left to sit by professor Mason and the Ambassador at the end of the table. “We are very proud of each of you. You have all shown extreme skill and talent.” Miss Heiden’s speech sounded extremely rehearsed.

“You will be taken by Emty in our school van to Virginia where you will receive more instruction. Everything you need is in your backpacks. Now are there any questions?”

All four of us raised our hands.

She pointed to Sam, “Aren’t you forgetting something? Like, what the heck is this mission?” 

Part 4

I went back to the mess hall, as it was almost dinnertime to find the whole school already eating. I fell into a chair next to Carly at the fire table. Hailey was on the other side.

“This day just keeps getting more fantastic,” I said sarcastically.

“What are you doing here?” said Hailey.

I didn’t know what to say, her tone was unmistakably unfriendly.

“You should go sit at the water table.”

“I know but I’d be all alone, can’t I sit by my friends?”

“So go find some then.”

I was surprised by what she was saying. Hailey had seemed like a nice enough girl before. What had I done to rile her? I looked to Carly but she only shrugged.

“What’s going on?”

She wouldn’t look at me.

“Just because you’re the only water talent doesn’t mean you’re better then us Jessica.” Hailey’s words stung.

“I never said I was.”

Everyone at the fire table was now paying attention to us. I looked at the other familiar faces searching for a friend anywhere. Most avoided my gaze. Collin wasn’t there at all. I pushed my chair back quickly making it grind against the floor.

“Fine,” I said standing up. “Fine!”

I stomped away toward the wind table but quickly passed it when I saw the look on Pat’s face. Someone shouted my name and I turned to see Sam waving at me from the earth table. It might have just been superstition but people with earth talent seemed a lot nicer then the rest. I walked over to the table and stood by Sam, there were no empty chairs. “Hey Jessica!”

I was glad at least he was being friendly,

“See she’s the one that’s coming on the mission with me” he said to his friends.

“Are you excited?” I asked him.

“Yeah of course! It’s a huge deal if you get to go on a mission,” he said off handedly turning back to his heaping plate of food.

“Except you shouldn’t have been chosen, it should have been someone with more experience,” said one boy who was equally as small as Sam.

I decided not to start this battle so I walked away even more depressed then before. I turned around to see Collin right behind me. He wasn’t looking at me but at one of his many friends.

“By the way Sam,” he said directly to Sam now.

“You give us any trouble on this mission and I’ll use your tiny little brain for target practice.” I could tell he was joking but I had never seen Collin look so severe.

“Same song second verse,” said Sam rolling his eyes at Collin.

Collin glared at him then saw me. I raised my eyebrow at him.

“Sam and I have… A history. Let’s just say he knows how to make a mess, and I know how to clean it up.”

I once again found myself at a loss for words.

“They giving you the cold shoulder?” He jerked his thumb at the fire table who were still staring at me.

I nodded “Why?”

He sighed, “no one’s ever been chosen for a mission with so little experience. They think you cheated somehow.”

“Cheated? How could I have?”

Collin’s look made my blood boil.

“Wait, you don’t think I cheated do you?”

He shrugged, “what are we supposed to think Jess?”

“You’re not supposed to blame me for something I didn’t do! I can’t believe this, I’m going to go strait to the bored and tell them I’m not going on the mission.”

I started to walk away trying to make my point but Collin caught my arm.

“No, you can’t back out of this now, it would be worse for people to think you’re a coward then for you to have cheated on the testing.”

I tried to brake free “I don’t care what people think!”

“Oh no? But you are afraid I know you are. And everyone’s been telling you how dangerous this mission will be.”

People were quieting down, listening to us argue.

“I am not!”

“Hey it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I was terrified the first time I went on a mission.” “You’ve been on one before? Then why aren’t people blaming you for cheating, you already got a chance to prove yourself. And yet they’re accusing me because I took that chance away from them!”

Collin let go of my arm. Everyone was silent. I shook my head at him, at all of them, and ran back to my dorms. I stopped outside the building. The sunset was fiery gold but it did nothing to lighten my mood. I leaned against the wall and put my head in my hand. For someone who had never been the best at anything, had always been outshone by someone, it was a lot to be told I was chosen over dozens of better suited students. For years I had carefully taught myself not to expect to win anything, and now… One of only four.

I sat at my desk deciding to send a letter to my parents. My hand froze after I had written Dear Fam. What could I say? I've just been chosen to go on a dangerous mission, I’ve discovered my power, found a talent for archery and seen two kids die in the last twelve hours, everyone I thought were my friends all hate me for something I can't help. An overwhelming feeling of loneliness came over me, my head fell into my arms and I cried.