Force of Magic

Smoke & Mirrors

Chapter 8

A/N: Hey y'all! Welcome to the next chapter. Once again, this story idea's owned by Gabeherdon308 and so are the OCs. I'm just the writer. I don't own TDP or Star Wars.

"Trezac..."

"...Trezac..."

"...Trezac!"

Startled from sleep, the padawan shot up, looking around him in confusion. Callum, Bait, Agir, and Ezran were still asleep, and Rayla was on watch last he checked. Looking towards the skies, brows furrowed as he saw the first rays of sunlight starting to peek from over the trees.

Ok, so, it wasn't time to go yet. Glancing towards the elf, he gave a quiet groan. She must've dozed off at somepoint.

So...who did he hear?

A twig snapped in the distance and the Jedi hopped to his feet just as Rayla did the same, apparently only to be feigning sleep. "You heard that right?" he whispered.

"Yeah," she nodded, grabbing one of her swords. "Wake the others, I'll go check it out."

As she ran off into the woods, Trezac hopped onto the gnarled tree roots the boys crawled under and reached down shaking Ezran's head gently by his bushy hair. From below, there was a slight groan and darker green eyes met his own, blinking up at him blearily. "Trezac?" he yawned. "What time is it?"

"Doesn't matter, wake up Callum."

Even though the boy was only half-awake, he heard the urgency in the padawan's voice. Blinking a few more times, he looked around, eyes going wide as he failed to find Rayla. The younger prince turned around, shaking his brother. "Callum. I think we're alone."

"Finally," Callum replied hugging on of the baguettes, "oh, I've been waiting for this moment."

The two conscious boys looked at each other then back at the slumbering teen, "Callum?"

"Mmm. Your breath still smells like peanut butter," Callum groaned and Trezac facepalmed.

"CALLUM!"

"Wha—What?"

"Wake up, Rayla's missing," Ezran informed.

Callum immediately shot up, nearly hitting his head on a low root. "Did she take it?"

"No she didn't," Trezac stated hopping down and helping the pair out. "She's checking out something right now."

"Ok, good. But that doesn't mean we can trust her."

"I'd pick her any day over a Sith like Viren," Trezac hissed grabbing their supplies.

"I'm with Trezac, I like her."

"I know, but it just she's..."

"An elf?!" Ezran exploded. "It seems maybe everything we've ever heard about elves is wrong!"

"No, no, no!" Callum exclaimed waving his hands and shaking his head. "That's not what I meant. It's just...she's not telling us everything. I can feel it."

Something heavy settled in Trezac's gut in that moment. He knew the princes were both Force sensitive in their own right—how much he wasn't sure. But if Callum could tell something was off; as much as he didn't want to admit it, Callum may've had a point. For the past few days he'd sensed something...off about Rayla. He didn't know what, but whatever it was, it was slowly getting worse. Like...like if something had been eating her from the inside out.

He glanced in the assassin went warily. Was it...was it possible she led them into a trap?

At that moment, Rayla leapt out from the trees, sprinting towards them. "Go! Go! Go!" she called racing over and picking up her supplies.