As soon as I step onto the streets, I can sense that this place is special. Special to other people. Weird. None of the other villages have had such a connection to their town. Or, it is a place of magic, and that could also explain it. I think that could be the answer. Like when Leon and I turned Redwater into a magical land where Unigryffins, Foxicorns, Unicorns, Dragons, Phoenixes, Pegai, and other mythical animals. Of course, we got into a bit of trouble when everyone found out and that was why we had kept a stuffed Phoenix in the attic and etcetera. It was fun while it lasted, even if it meant dressing up in costumes.
But this village doesn’t look anything like that game. This looks more realistic, as if this really could be a place of magic, where mythical creatures can exist in harmony with humans.
I need to stop reading books like that, I think. That is probably where I’m getting the ideas from. That or it really is a place of magic, as I’ve been telling myself.
“Alton, Tina, look! This is amazing!”
“She’s lost it.”
“Can’t say I agree with you. This is how a normal Naidia acts.”
“Shut it.”
“You know I’m not joking.”
“Sadly, Naid, I agree with Alton.”
“Neither of you are fun.”
I think that conversation we just had is why I don’t talk with people. That or I really have irrational fears. It is probably both. Or like when Ben tried to get me to go to a therapist, and I refused to speak to anyone after that. That could be it.
As we keep walking, I contemplate this. I talked a lot when Lorela was alive. I don’t talk when… Well, this is hard. I don’t speak to people; that’s all I can put for this mental list of mine. (See, this is a habit of mine. Whenever I’m bored, contemplating things, or just don’t have a piece of paper to make a list, I make a mental list. Simple. Lorela helped me think of it.) Of course, that’s why it’s been so hard to think of when I talk! Because I don’t talk.
I don’t think that’s good.
After a while, when it reaches nightfall, we stop to camp.
“Naidia, you do know that we can stop at a inn.”
“Fine.”
Stubbornness. And the fact of that I don’t like agreeing with him at all.
“Good, you agree with me. I’ll go find a in for us to stay at, and you two..just don’t try to take over the world. Ok?”
“Ok.”
“Ok.”
He leaves after a minute.
“Uh, Tina,” I say,” Why do you think he asked us to not take over the world?”
“Because he doesn’t trust us at all.”
“I can see that. Although, I really do think that he’s beginning to tolerate us a lot more than normal.”
“How normal is his tolerance level?”
“Um..like as long as you don’t speak, don’t breathe, and face the other way because you’re putting him off, then you’re good.”
“Wow.”
“So, basically, Alton is Sherlock. And I think that makes me Watson.”
“Who am I?”
“Hmm…possibly Greg Lestrade. I would say Irene Adler, but… I don’t think that would be exactly what suits you.”
“Never heard of any of them.”
“Neither have I before I read something.”
We stop talking for a bit. As we stop, I hear screaming. It seems to be coming from far away. Without asking Tina anything, I run. As I run, the screaming stops, but I keep running. This is never stopping. The nightmares, the cell, everything.
Once I reach the source of the screaming, I stop. Someone is coming out of a tent, and other men sit around a fire. Curses. They’ll want to know who exactly I am. Eh. I’m Amethyst Chessney, that’s who I am. Perfect.
I walk out from where I had been hiding, and walk right into their camp.
“Who’re you, girl?” One of the men asks.
“Amethyst Chessney.”
“Never heard of you.”
“You don’t have to have heard of me.”
“What’d you want with us?”
“Tell me whose in the tent.”
“No.”
I take a few steps closer to where he’s sitting, and say in a menacing voice, “Tell me who the person in the tent is. Now.”
“I’m not going to tell you.”
How can I persuade them? I could always fight, but that would be more trouble than it’s worth. Flirting. I will hate it…but it might work.
“Well, if you could possibly tell me whose in the tent, then I might just be able to, you know, take care of something. Prehaps something that might involve killing a certain person in a tent, and making sure no one ever finds out. ”
The man stutters. Odd. Never done something like this before. Well, acting comes in handy then.
“S-sure. The girl in there is by the name of Elena.”
My heart races. Elena. She was the person screaming. She is here. We could find her. All of us together could find Regina.
“Can I see her?”
As I start walking toward the tent, he grabs the front of my shirt. “No. No one is permitted to see her except us.”
“Fine,” I say. “I’ll just have to get to her the hard way.” As he tries to grab me, I duck under his grasp and run. Straight to the tent. As I’m running, one of the other men jumps me. I spin him around, and manage to throw him off. This is where fighting skills would come in handy. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tina.
“Tina,” I yell. “Elena’s in the tent. Get her out.” As I say that, another man comes running towards us. With the other man still trying to stay on my back, I kick the other man. Tina runs. The man finally tackles me, and pushes me to the ground. I keep kicking and punching, and he eventually gives up. I run, straight into the tent. Elena and Tina are both in there, with Elena tied up.
“Tina, come on. We just need to get out of here. I’ll get Elena.”
I pick Elena up. She’s light.
“Hey, ‘Lena. It’s me, Naidia. We’re gonna get you to Alton, and the 4 of us together are going to find Regina, ok?”
She nods. Ok. This is good.
“Tina, when I say go, go. Ok?”
“Ok.”
“Go!”
We run. All I can hope right now is that they don’t catch us, and that Alton still isn’t back.
As we run, all that just happened sinks in. We rescued Elena, completely and totally disobeyed Alton, and won a fight. Wow. Oh, and figured out who is who in Sherlock. Well, I’m impressed by this.
Once we get back, Alton is there. Oh no.
“Where were you two?” He hisses.
“Well, we heard someone scream, and we went to go find them. Oh, and if you didn’t notice, we found Elena. So yes, we did have a very good reason to leave,” I say, slightly cross.
“Well, I did notice that you were holding someone, but it’s really Elena, isn’t it?”
“Yes, yes, it is. We need to get her to a safe place. Did you find a inn?”
“Yep. Follow me.”
As we follow him through the streets, I look everywhere. Nice little village. Small, quaint, and I still think that it could be a place of magic.
After a few minutes, we arrive. The place is small, but it’s nice.
“Come on. Our room’s up here.”
“Ok.”
All 4 of us enter the room. There’s 3 beds. Windows here and there. A small closet. A recliner. Nice.
Alton goes to do something (I have no idea.), Sistine stays with me, and I try to untie Elena. It’s no easy task. They tied some hard knots. And Elena isn’t happy about it either. She keeps muttering about someone named Max and how she’s going to kill him. Knowing her, if she really is saying that she is going to kill someone, they probably did something that hurt someone.
Although, I do remember, that a few years ago, when I was 13, Lorela came home saying something about how Elena was devastated about her friend(And eventual suitor) Octaviouss’ death, by the hand of someone named Max. If this is the same Max, then I can say that he would probably end up dead because of someone. And that was assuming he wasn’t the person who had tied her up. If he was, then he would be finding 2 people who wanted to murder him. And if he wasn’t, then Elena would end up killing him. And Alton, Tina, and I would end up watching from the sidelines. Yet, I still think I would enjoy that. As much as I would like to see the... ok. I’m just going to stop, because if I continue thinking, then probably a whole lot of people will end up dead, at least in my head.
“Naidia, are you in there?” Tina asks me.
“Yeah, just thinking.”
“About what?”
“Things.”
“What things?”
“Things that happened a while ago.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to do something, and talking would be a waste of breath.”
“Ok then.”
We stop talking. After a bit, Alton comes back in, holding a pair of scissors.
“I’m going to assume that to cut the ropes that you will need scissors.”
“Thank you. And yes, we do. “
I take the scissors from him, and use them to cut the ropes. Finally, Elena is released. I hug her.
“Who is she?”
“Who is she?”
“Well, Sistine, this is Elena Knight. Elena, this is Sistine..”
“Machiavelli.”
“Ok. Elena, this is Sistine Machiavelli.”
“Nice to meet you Elena.”
“Nice to meet you Sistine.”
As they talk, I walk over to Alton. He looks tired.
“Hey.”
“Hello.”
“So, they seem to get along.”
“They do, don’t they?”
He turns and faces me. “They do. And yet, they remind me of you and Leon.”
“How in the world do Elena Knight and Sistine Machiavelli remind you of Naidia Mickleson and Leon Rosevale?”
“You want the whole list, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. Ok, one, the both get along excellently and I don’t think anyone would’ve expected that. Two, one of them is a good fighter. Three.. well, I can’t think of a reason 3.”
“Ok. I still don’t understand your thinking, but it was worth a shot. Good job.”
“Thanks.”
We stay quiet for a while. Then, Elena says,” Wait! Tarquin will be looking for me! I have to go find him!”
“Who is Tarquin?”
“The person who saved me! I need to find him.”
“Do you know where he could be?”
“He was taken by some other men.”
“So he could basically be anywhere.”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Great. So the first conversation we’ve all had with each other, and it leads us to have to go on a chase to find someone.
“I can safely say that I like today a lot more than other days. And yes, it might just be because that we have to go on a chase to find someone. That and because we found Elena.” I’m happy, but I’m worried. Excited, but scared.
And, for some reason, when I now think of Tarquin.....
I think of Leon.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
