Esther

Chapter 29

I woke up with faces peering at me. "Where am I? What happened?" I asked. "You're in a cave. With your friends and family. Welcome to this world." Sophia said making gestures with her hands like I was some sort of alien just landing on Earth. "I'm not an alien, Sophia. So tell me, what happened?" I asked. "Well, we flew unto the guys and started scratching and pecking, and shifting into other animals, and biting." Ashley said. Wow. Amazing.

"And, we also got threatened." She added with her face falling. "What?" I exclaimed as I tried to sit up. Ow. Okay. I shouldn't sit up so fast. Andrew helped me sit up. "Thanks." I said. He nodded and put his arm around my shoulders. I leaned on him.

"You see, those guys knew who we were and they worked for Awry. I mean, who else would know us if they didn't work for Awry?" Sophia said. "Umm, we've got a royal family here? Sort of obvious who we are." I said slowly. Sophia nodded. "True. But anyway, the Drake dude said that he'd tell Awry where we are and where we're heading and that we'd all be separated and killed separately. Nothing new." She said shrugging.

"How does he know where we're heading?" I asked. "Well, there's no other kingdom near here than Heraina, so it's pretty obvious." Amia said sitting on the floor in front of me. "Where are we?" I asked. "In the forest. We ran away quickly and stopped by the campsite to get Jenia, Ashley and Brandon." Altri said sitting beside his wife and putting an arm over her shoulders.

"Are you better?" Andrew asked. "What do you mean? I'm fine." I said. "You have red marks on your neck and bruises on your back." He said. "Really? Wait. How do you know I have bruises on my back?" I asked. "Ashley said so. And it was confirmed when you were in pain trying to sit up." He said squeezing me. "Oh. Yeah. Wonder how I got bruises." I said. "The net. And the arrow. And the punching." Brandon said. Hmm. I guess those things could give bruises. Right?

"When are we leaving?" I asked. "When you're ready." Altri said. "I'm ready." I said. Meral, Ruby, King, and Sasha came bounding in the entrance of the cave. Meral hopped onto my lap. "Where have you been?" I asked. They traveled with us to Ibis' island, but I haven't seen them since we left the island.

We went on a little detour. Can't say why. Meral told me. Wow. Okay, then. I replied. Sorry. Top secret. She said. Okay then. "Let's go." I said.

Andrew helped me up and we walked out of the cave. We transformed into birds so we could cover a lot of distance. Jenia turned into a plant and coiled up around Isis' neck. Pretty cool.

We flew for hours before finally stopping for lunch. "My back hurts." I said. "Don't worry. It'll wear off soon." Isis said. I smiled to cover up the pain. Ever done that? It's pretty easy actually.

So we ate lunch, then got up to travel/fly again. We flew for hours. "Do you think those guys will come back?" I asked Andrew. "Probably. So next time, be careful." He said. I nodded. Everyone seemed a bit tense. I wonder what really happened.

"What really happened?" I asked Sophia and Ashley who were flying in front of me. "What do you mean? We already told you." Sophia replied. Ashley looked away. Knowing her for years already tells me that she is keeping something. "Ashley. Follow me." I said with a bit of sternness in my voice. She followed and when we were out of hearing zone, I asked her the question again.

"Sorry. Es. I can't." She said still not looking at me. "Well, they put a tracker on you and that's why your back hurts a lot. They had to cut a portion of your back to attach it on. You also have big bruises and scratches." She said quickly as if having a hard time. "Tracker? So you mean they know where we are?" I asked in complete astonishment. "Yup. That's why everyone's solemn. We don't know what to do. Except probably send some of us to Heraina while some stay back. Don't know." She said hanging her head. "Oh." I said. We flew back up to the others and remained quiet the whole time.

I flew a bit far from the others. Andrew, Sophia, Ashley and Brandon kept looking back at me but I looked away. The older adults were up front so they couldn't see me. I just wanted some time to think. I can't believe everyone is risking this. I think they should go on and I'll just stay hidden in some place. Maybe I should even stay alone so I wouldn't hurt anyone. I am a conveyor. I can protect myself. Thing is, Amia told me not to show my powers yet. Ugh. I'm gonna leave the group tonight when everyone's asleep. They'll understand. Hopefully.