Protector of Lost Children

| CHAPTER XIII |

Hello, Readers! Sorry that this is pretty late today. I rushed through this chapter. It didn't really go how I wanted it to, but in the direction that the story is taking, I think it's pretty good. Maybe when I rewrite it again it will change, but that won't be for a long while.

~CSP2708~

| Chapter 13 || The Offer |

Waking up, Lupa felt a pain that she rarely felt before. The incessant throbbing in her skull. It was a headache for sure – something that she'd never gotten before in all her years as a spirit. The only reason she knew that it was a headache was because she'd gone through so many years of hearing children, teens, and even adults complain about them.

She sat up, eyes still closed, feeling her surroundings with her hands. Her fingers ran over the rough texture of the stone under her feet, the cold iron bars of the cell keeping her caged, and the warm body of the person lying next to her.

Her eyes snapped open, revealing only darkness. Lighter darkness and darker darkness, but all just darkness. Not even her night vision revealed much more than that to her. Refocusing her thoughts, she realized that a whole stream of questions was waiting for her. Where was she? Why was it so dark? Who was next to her? What had happened to them? Were there others, too?

A sudden rush of memories flooded back into her head. At that moment, Lupa felt like she was standing on a beach, back to the ocean, completely unaware as a wave roared behind her and crashed down upon her head, pulling her under. She nearly cried out in shock. Emily! Her sister! She'd met her sister and then... Pitch had captured them! That's why it was dark. They were in Pitch's lair and Emily was next to her! Emily was the one lying, unconscious, next to her!

"Emily," she whispered, leaning over the other girl slightly as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Pretty soon, she could see the faint outline of Emily's figure, but not much else in the dim lighting. "Emily, are you okay?" she asked.

This time, she received a pained groan, and relief coursed through her. Emily shifted slightly but groaned again, her body immediately returning to its former state.

"Emily?" Lupa prompted again.

"What?" The voice was confused and whiny, filled with a sleepy irritation – a wave of anger that only came from being awoken too soon. Because of that, Lupa concluded that she, too, had a killer headache and that she, too, had never had one before. She could definitely sympathize with her sister on that, but they didn't have time to throw a pity party. They had to escape!

"Emily, we've been taken by Pitch. We have to find a way out of here before he comes back," she whispered. She was hoping to receive more of a reaction from her sister, dropping Pitch's name in the hopes of shocking the other spirit into adrenalin-fuelled awareness.

When Emily didn't respond a second time, Lupa jumped up to a crouching position and shuffled her feet forward so that her toes were touching Emily's side. Reaching forwards, she slipped her fingers under the other girl's torso and lifted, though the only thing she could do was roll Emily over.

Another groan escaped the spirit of nature. "Don't move me!" Emily hissed, "I just want to lay here until my pain goes away." A series of whimpers fell past her lips and Lupa could only make out the darkened mass that was the other girl's arm as it flew up and across Emily's forehead.

Lupa grumbled, the sound easily showing her irritation. She couldn't blame the other girl though. Headaches were the worst, even though she already felt hers subsiding. Her mouth still felt dry and nasty, as if a squirrel or something had crawled into it and died there; her tongue was parched.