Skyline Gang: Trial of Darkness

Chapter 21

Quite a lot of this chapter has been inspired by the song "Crossing the Line" from the Tangled series. I recommend listening to it while reading the chapter.

Snap!

Candi's eyes flew open at the sound. Her curse of being a light sleeper came back into play. She sat up, looking around in a curious panic. Was that an animal nearby? She hadn't seen any for a long time. In fact since they started their trek, no signs of life approached them. Everyone collectively thought that it was because of the Sceptre scaring them off. So why would an animal show up out of nowhere? There was some rustling as Pip sat up too. She looked around, looking just as concerned as Candi. Rainbow must have heard it too as he woke up. He started sniffling the air.

"You heard it too, Pip?" Candi whispered. The others hadn't woken up. It was best to not wake them up unless it was something important. It could just be a harmless animal after all.

"Yeah." Pip confirmed, not bringing any comfort to Candi. Both girls looked around. They kept their ears open as wide as they could. They scanned the trees, trying to spot anything that wasn't green and was moving around suspiciously. Rainbow continued to sniff the air. Pollen, trees, earth, animals that have long left the area. Nothing worth noting. All three scanned the camp. Maybe one of the others got up and moved around a little bit. That's when Candi suddenly noticed something awful.

"Where's...the Sceptre?" She whimpered. Pip's head whipped around. She scanned every inch she could, but she came to the same answer as Candi. The case was gone! Along with the Sceptre of Shadows!

"Wake up..." Pip spoke, her voice abnormally quiet. She just didn't know how to react right now. When she saw that no one else was awake, she started to panic more. Her voice got louder as she climbed to her feet. "Everyone! Wake up!" That did the trick. Everyone else almost reacted like wind up toys. They sat up with massive jolts, wide eyed and confused.

"What's going on?" Dude asked as he regained some of his composure.

"The Sceptre is gone!" Candi shrieked, lifting up her pink blanket. She knows that it shouldn't be under there, but she just automatically checked. Everyone else did the same. They searched under their bags, in the bushes and along the ground. In the end, the result was the same for them: the Sceptre of Shadows was gone! Vanished! This shouldn't have happened! Who was the last one to keep watch?!

"Where's Misty?!" Mimi suddenly shouted. There was another wave of panic. Not only was the Sceptre gone, but Misty had vanished too! She didn't spring out from the bushes, scaring everyone else on purpose. She wasn't helping with searching for the Sceptre. She wasn't even climbing the trees it seemed.

"Rainbow! Try to get her scent! Find her!" Bud ordered, hoping that this would work. Rainbow let out a loud bark. He sniffed the area where Misty had been sleeping. Everyone kept their eyes open as he did so. Try not to panic too much. Misty might just come back in a second with some excuse. Where was she?!

Rainbow let out another loud bark and took off into the trees. Grabbing their things in rapid time, everyone sprinted after him. He's got her scent, they can find her! Just why...why did she just disappear?! The Sceptre was gone too. Did she take it with her? Or did the monster from the day before finally catch up and took the Sceptre with Misty as a hostage? No, if something grabbed her, she most likely would've screamed and fought back. Unless she went willingly. Try not to overthink! Just catch up to her, now!

Dude suddenly stopped. That feeling came back! That dark feeling spiked right through him. He can feel it. It was stronger than ever.

"Dude?" Sprout asked as Dude suddenly stopped running.