The Reborn

C H A P T E R F I V E

I enter The Prince's Stay and walk up to the front desk, "Do you have room for one?" I ask politely.

The man looks up from his desk and laughs, "We are booked."

"The front of the door said you still had rooms available," I respond unsure of why he's being so rude.

"If a pretty girl were to walk in then yes, however for the safety of the rest of the people staying here, we will not be serving you. Try Smelly Joe's by the water, they serve your kind there."

I feel taken aback. I walk out of the inn and I feel tears prick my eyes. I didn't believe I looked that different from these people here but it's clear now that I am.

How can I be considered so ugly here? I shouldn't feel as bad as I do for people simply insulting my appearance but it still hurts.

I walk down the hill defeated. Smelly Joe's is about a 20 minute walk and I really hope they don't live up to their name.

There are men laughing and drinking outside and from what I can speculate, they look like pirates. I've never seen pirates in person however I read books about them and they seem to have similar characteristics.

I walk into Smelly Joe's and no one pays me any mind. I approach the bar and sit down, I'm not ready to get a room yet.

"I've never seen you before and I know this village like the back of my hand," the bartender approaches me with a warm smile. "What's your name beautiful and what brings you to Calaistos?"

"Athanasia," I tell him and I can't help but smile. He's a lot older but something about him is just comforting. "Do you know where the Fairy's Tavern is?"

He probably doesn't but he did say he knew this village well so it's worth a shot.

His facial expression grows serious and then he smirks, "Why yes I do. I must say I'm nothing short of surprised a girl like you would like to know."

He doesn't seem to mean that in a condescending way. He just seems legitimately surprised, "Go behind the building and take the stairs down. You'll find the Fairy's Tavern there."

I thank him before rushing out of the building. I feel so grateful I will finally be able to help Sea and rescue Xander in the process.

I follow behind the building and there is nothing there. Literally nothing. I search everywhere and am about to walk away when I see two guys walking over referencing the Fairy's Tavern. They are the most stunning men I have ever seen in my life. They walk into the forest behind Smelly Joe's and I'm close on their rears.

I see them disappear and as I get closer I see they went down a staircase. How odd. A staircase not even under a building. No wonder why no one knew where the Fairy's Tavern was.

I walk down the stairs and push open a pair of doors to reveal lots of people partying and drinking. It's not as crowded as Smelly Joe's but is still packed nonetheless.

After all this I realize I don't even know who I'm meeting. Sea said I was meeting some "allies" but I don't have any allies. Perhaps they're people he knows?

I sit down at a small table and order a beer. That's actually the only thing I could order at this time of night. I listen carefully to each conversation. I have always been gifted with extraordinary hearing. My aunt said it's just an add on to all my other gifts.

It seems as though everyone is talking about matters unrelated to me. One guy complains about his wife, another talks about how he's been at sea for months, and the list continues.

I'm starting to ignore conversations when I notice the two guys I had followed in here talking. They are sat down with two other men and one girl all around my age.

"We were told to meet here! How can there only be five of us!" One of the guys shout clearly angry.

"Well clearly they didn't want to show up because they don't have enough respect for us," the girl with a bow and arrow strapped to her back makes a snarky remark before taking a sip of beer.

Three of them argue while a beautiful blonde headed guy shakes his head and the quiet guy with black curly hair analyzes the situation clearly thinking to himself

The quiet guy starts, "Well we can't do anything without them. You can bitch and curse all you want but without the core three we can't do anything."

"Well then clearly they're selfish or they don't want to be found because we have came here for a whole week and no one has shown up except us," the brown haired guy with dark brown-almost black eyes who got angry in the beginning comments. "This is suppose to unite us, look where the fuck we are!"

He points to a tattoo on his wrist and the other four look down at their wrists and so do I. My eyes widen when my tattoo appears and I hurriedly cover is up.

They all have similar tattoos to me on their wrist as well but that still doesn't mean anything. The tattoo goes away and I notice when mine does so does their's.

I want to try something. I look at my wrist and make my tattoo appear again and I notice that there's does as well, "Which one of you is doing that?" The guy who originally made his appear says to everyone.

All of them deny it and the blonde-haired man of beauty starts, "That means it's one of the other six. We shouldn't skip to conclusions about them. They might not be able to get here quite as quickly as us."

They all think to themselves and nod their head. The others seem to listen to the blonde kid instead of trying to argue with him like everyone else. I get up my courage and walk over.

"What exactly do those tattoo mean?" I ask them all referring to their tattoos. I refuse to show them mine.

They look between each other scared, "What tattoo are you talking about?" The brown haired, brown eyed guy tells me.

I grab his wrist with my unmarked hand, "This one."

"Don't get yourself into a mess that you can't finish girl," one of the other guys tells me as if trying to challenge me. He must be related to the brown headed kid because they have the same eyes and face.

They all look at me very accusing except the blonde guy. He seems to analyze me and his stare makes me uncomfortable. There is no way these are the people that Sea was talking about. His kind heart wouldn't want me to trust people like this.

"Or what?" I laugh. I shouldn't be egging him on but in the end I will walk out just fine. I'm ten times stronger than any gifted by far.

He stands up and stares me dead in the eyes. I don't back down and just laugh before walking away, "Don't hurt yourself."

It feels good to get the last laugh. Very satisfying. I start to walk out of the tavern and I hear the one guy get up.

"Aris don't," one of the guys growl but the guy with the temper doesn't seem to care. I walk up this stairs and I hear the door open below me.

"Do you know who you're talking to!" The guy who I now know is Aris shouts.

"Does it look like I care?" I say yelling back down at him not caring to turn around.

I walk away towards the sea, I'll just sleep in the water tonight. I feel something held against my neck.

He spins me around to face him with the knife still held to my neck. I'm about to kick him with my traditional fighting techniques but he already seems to have practically predicted what I was going to do. I pull out my knife and he does this move I've never seen before knocking it out of my hand.

Unfortunately I can't use my water magic to save me or I'd have to kill him and I really don't want to have to do that. I feel the knife back on my neck but this time closer, "What the fuck are you doing?!" The blonde kid shouts at him. "You're going to kill her!"

Aris is pushed up against a tree by blondie. I fall on the ground coughing for breath before I get up and start running again. The blonde kid chases after me and I can't believe he's so fast, "Wait up!" He shouts at me before I dive in the ocean and don't look back.