Neverseen's Puppet

Chapter 7: It All Falls Down

Hey! Have you guys heard there's going to be a KOTLC movie? I saw in Shannon Messenger's twitter page and I'm super excited!

Camilla's POV

Oh god, oh god, oh god, Camilla panicked. Her muscles tensed and for several long moments, she couldn't move. This was basically her worst nightmare. They were going to lock her up in a dark dungeon with no food and no light and they were going to torture her and let rats eat her down to the bone and probably let Councillor Bronte inflict on her and- She took a deep rattling breath and tried to get her wits about her. Stall. Buy time. Vanish and escape. Simple.

"I don't know what you mean," she lied. Oh god, oh god, oh god. "Who are the Neverseen?"

"Don't play games with us, little girl," Emery sneered, shooting Terik a told you so glance. Camilla tried to adapt her face to a much less obvious expression. "Don't lie." Camilla glanced behind her, hoping to see an escape path. No such luck. But her chances were dwindling down every second that she hesitated. The trio of Councillors was closing in on her, and Alden and Biana blocked the exits.

"I don't play games," she said and vanished. She darted back and forth, narrowly evading reaching arms. She heard Alden curse as she edged her way towards the door.

"Close off the exits!" Ramira shouted. "We can't let her escape!" Camilla ran, no longer caring that she bumped into Biana, giving away her location. Her heart pounded as she sprinted through hall after hall. She was very glad she had opted to wear boots instead of heels.

"She went that way!" Biana said. She heard them running behind her but didn't dare slow down enough to look back. Why is their house so big? she wondered frantically, making so many turns she lost count. If she was somehow able to find a Leapmaster it would be a miracle. Of course, the Neverseen charm on her bracelet had a temporary crystal installed in it, but she had taken it off and threw it away after her talk with Grizel. If she had known she was going to be discovered anyway, she would have kept it.

After a minute Camilla decided that she had run far enough and probably lost them. She ducked into a room at random and hoped she could find something useful. Her wish was probably futile, and she was probably going to be found within a few minutes, but probably was better than definitely.

Still invisible, Camilla looked around the crystal room. A messy desk sat in the corner, covered with unbound scrolls and stacks of books and articles.

"Leaping crystal, leaping crystal, leaping crystal," she muttered as she frantically shifted through drawers. If she didn't find anything within twenty seconds she was going to have to move to the next room. Alden and Emery were probably trying to search for her mind at this point, so she couldn't stay in one place for too long. "Come on, please," she tried not to lose control of her emotions. Ten. Nine. Eight.

She shuffled through the bajillion scrolls, hoping without hope. Five. Four. Three.

Just as she was about to give up, she caught a glimpse of a black wand-like stick poking out under a mountain of paper. Her heart jumped in her chest.

"Oh sweet spades," she breathed in relief. Spinning the clear crystal ball to a random facet, she regretfully accepted that she would never see Captain Snarky Butt ever again. A small price to pay for her life, she supposed, but still regretful nonetheless.

She held up the pathfinder and let the glittering light carry her away.

^v^v^v^v^v^

She didn't know where she was going to end up, but Foxfire definitely wasn't what she expected. She supposed it was a good thing if she really wanted that stuffed animal but there were also a lot of people, making it extremely risky.

She stared in awe at the crystal pyramid and the six surrounding towers. Just for a moment, she fantasized about what it would be like to be a normal girl, going to school with her friends. She'd be in either level three or four, and she would only have one ability. Then she reminded herself training with the Neverseen and sharpening her skills was fine, and she was being unreasonable.

Going on a slight detour to get back her Captain Snarky Butt stuffed animal was totally not unreasonable though, and that's what Camilla decided to do. She made sure that her vanish was still intact as she moved towards the pyramid, sidestepping laughing prodigies. She was ninety-three percent sure she knew where she was going. As for that other seven percent... she didn't want to think about that.

The doors to the pyramid were propped open with students shoulder to shoulder making their way in, probably for their Physical Education session. She wasn't sure how she was going to get through the jostling crowd without bumping into someone. After staring off to the side for a moment, Camilla got an idea. The space between the top of the door and prodigies' heads was about two feet. If she could levitate over them...

Honestly, Camilla, are you trying to get yourself killed? This is such a bad idea, one part of her brain asked. BUT CAPTAIN SNARKY BUTT! the other side countered. Well, she couldn't argue with that.

She never really thought she would be grateful for the grueling skill sessions she lived through every day, but she doubted she would be able to keep herself invisible, levitate, not hit a prodigy on the head, and not hit her head on the hard crystal doorframe without it.

Camilla floated up, hovering over the numerous prodigies like the world's weirdest pancake. She moved slowly, terrified of alerting someone to her presence. Inch by inch, she crept through the air until she was at the door. Holding her dress so it didn't drape down onto the mob of kids, she slid over the crowd. Her foot bumped into the doorframe once, after which she froze and scanned the sea of students for someone who may have heard the faint thunk. After a few scary seconds it was evident that no one had, but she still cursed herself for the mistake.

Finally, she found an unoccupied area of floor to land on.

Never doing that again, she thought. If she always followed her crazy plans, the world would likely be in permanent darkness. She didn't have much time to contemplate her horrible life decisions, however, she had a stuffed animal rescue mission to carry out.

Camilla split away from the prodigies heading to the gymnasium, going down the hallway she believed led to the Healing Center. It crossed her mind that Elwin might be there, but she shook the thought away. Nothing was going to get between her and Captain Snarky Butt. She pushed open the clear crystal door and stepped into the room. All of the cots were where she remembered them being (why would they move?), and Captain Snarky Butt was sitting on the white sheet, just where she left her. Camilla breathed a sigh of relief. She darted over and grabbed her new favorite stuffed animal.

She was just about to raise her stolen pathfinder up to the beam of sunlight coming through the window, when out of the corner of her eye she saw Elwin standing at the edge of the room. He couldn't see her, of course, she was invisible. But what he could see was a floating tomple stuffed animal and a pathfinder, with nothing supporting them. Oh crap, she thought. Elwin dropped the glass bottle of some elixir he was holding. Camilla jumped, her vanish flickering for a split second.

"Camilla?" Elwin asked. Oh god. Oh god. "What are you doing here?"

OMG thank you guys for over 100 views!!! Like I said in the first chapter, this is my first ever story on Wattpad so it means so much. Anyway, I'll continue to update as fast as I can and comment any suggestions you have.