Part One: Zelda’s Story Continued

Results

            “Zelda, you passed!” yelled Avary as she burst through my door.

            “Did you?” I asked.

            “Yes,” she replied. Avary handed me a sheet of paper. It was my exam sheet on the physical abilities (running, jumping, etc.), which you know better as a test.

            I saw that I had done well. I was proud and angry with myself at the same time. I was proud about passing the test and angry with myself for getting hurt. My strained muscle doesn’t hurt anymore, but I know it’s still there. My sprained ankle hasn’t healed yet.

            “Can I see your test scores?” I asked.

            Avary gave me a sheet of paper. She had done pretty well too, but I saw that I had done better than her. We both received passing checks for the high jump, the seven foot bar jump, walking the wall, running the wall, balancing on the a bar, and the stilts. This was how our scores differed in the timed run.

               Run                           Avary                      Zelda(me)

100  meter              5.5 seconds                   4 seconds 

            200  meter              11 seconds                    8 seconds 

            400  meter              22 seconds                    16 seconds

            800  meter              44 seconds        32 seconds           

            1600  meter       1.28 minutes           1.04 minutes

            Later, a knock sounded on my door. Avary opened it. A bunch of people crowded into my room. Fortunately, the room was clean.

            “What is the meaning of this?” I demanded.

            “Remember the idea? I decided to do it in your room since you can’t run right now,” explained Avary.

            I looked at everyone. Then, I rummaged in my desk drawer for two calculators. When I found them, I handed one to Avary.

            “You take the boys. I’ll take the girls,” I said.

            “Okay, everyone! Boys line up over here. Girls line up on that side of the room!” Avary shouted. “Psst, Zelda, don’t forget to count your scores and mine.”

            I nodded.

            We started to count when everyone had lined up. The whole process took us four whole hours. At the end, we found out that the girls’ average was higher than the boys’ average.

            Avary had been right.

            “Hey!” Jake, a boy cadet, yelled.

            “I can’t believe this,” my friend, Charles, cut in.

            “I can,” said Harrison.

            “Well, duh, you can,” replied Justin.

            “You are just soooo serious,” stressed Charles.

            After another minute of words, Jake, Charles, Justin, and Harrison started exchanging blows. I groaned.

            “The four of you, get out of here!” I pointed to the door hoping that this would have the right effect. They stared at me.

            “Zelda, but,” Charles tried.

            “No buts!” I interrupted.

            “We’re sorry,” Harrison apologized.

            “Yeah,” chimed Jake and Justin.

            I decided to let them stay.

            “You can stay under one condition. Watch your mouth.”

            I looked each of them in the eye. As I looked at Charles, I noticed something. He had two different colored eyes!

            “Charles, may I have a word with you?” I asked.

            “Sure, any time!” he answered friskily.

            “This is serious.”

            Sometimes, I just don’t get it. This guy is older than I am. I thought that he would be mature. Is he always? No.

            I led Charles to the kitchen and closed the door.

            “Okay, what did you see?” I demanded.

            “What.....do you mean?” Charles asked.

***

The Second Seer

            I paced about the room impatiently. “You know very well what I mean.”

            Charles sighed. “What?”

            “I know what you are.”

            “Okay, okay! So, I can’t hide it from you. I’m your sister’s brother.”

            “You’re my brother?” I asked amazed.

            “No. You were adopted. I’m your cousin,” Charles corrected.

            I never knew that I had been adopted. It could be that I was from another station where my parents were.

            “The seer, Charles.” I tried to sound serious. Instead, I had to muffle a giggle.

            “What about it?”

            “Did you see a vision?” I asked intently.

            “I don’t want to talk about it.”

            “Why?”

            “You’re... I can’t,” Charles stammered.

            “The vision with Avary, me, Justin, and Liddy?” I filled in.

            “Yes, but later I had a vision with you and me in it as missionaries,” Charles replied.

            “Oh, no!” Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked.

            “I don’t know what you’re thinking. No, they’re not dead,” my friend answered.

            Strange. He didn’t know what I was thinking? Well, he just got it.

            “I think that your and Avary should work together. I don’t mean marry,” I suggested.

            “Uh-huh, uh-huh, I get it!” he replied.

            “No offense,” I added quickly.

            “No, that’s not it. I don’t want anyone to know that we’re brother and sister,” Charles explained.

***

My Birthday

            Three years have passed so quickly and eventless. The fourth is about to because my birthday is tomorrow. I’m going to be thirteen years old. I’m happy about that, but still worried about the visions.

            My birthday was today. Karen, Marie, Jessica, Jake, Charles, Justin, Andy, Harrison, Ben, and Avary came. All of them are my friends.

            Marie gave me a huge bag of candy. When I mean big, I mean big. My leg also healed. No more sprained ankles or strained muscles. I gave candy from Marie’s gift to everyone.

            “Big bag of candy!” Charles muttered. Then, he suddenly popped up and yelled, “Humongous!”

            That means big in our language.

            Charles was trying to hide his despair. I could tell. He couldn’t hide it from me. He cracked a lot of jokes.

            I tried to go along with the flow. Everybody laughed. Avary, like me, was coping with the situation. I could feel that she sensed something wrong. Some of my friends grimaced.

            Justin tried to tell a joke. He was interrupted by Jake. Jake was interrupted by Harrison. These three started fighting right on even though they had become very close friends since the last fight.

            “Oh, bother,” Charles murmured.

            Jessica, Marie, and Ben couldn’t help it. They burst out laughing.

            I giggled, and Avary smirked.

            Jake, Harrison, and Justin finally noticed all the laughing. They stopped fighting to find that everyone was giggling.

            “I had hoped that you guys learned your lesson from the last fight. I guess not,” I said.

            Their faces turned red instantly. Charles chuckled out loud.

            “Hey, watch it, Charco,” warned Jake. “Harry, old buddy, can beat you up.”

            “If you want to do that, you’ll have to go through all of us,” Ben threatened.

            I stared in surprise at him. He was the quiet silent type.

            A chorus of “yeahs!” went up.

            “Gosh, this is getting worse than a food fight,” I commented.

            “Good idea! Food fight!” Charles shouted.

            “Oh, man,” I groaned. I saw that he had picked up a cookie. He chucked it at Ben.

            “Hey!” Ben protested.

            “Great!” I mumbled. This was going to be annoying.

            Suddenly, a purple hue surrounded me. I looked at Charles. He floated up into the air. I was shocked.

            “Hey, what the heck?” Charles cried out. He stopped abruptly. I had an angry look on my face. I also had no idea what was going on.

            “Zelda, why the purple?” Ben asked.

            “Don’t ask me. I have no idea,” I answered. I really had no clue, but I was somehow beginning to understand. This was sorcery.

            The purple glow faded, and Charles dropped to the floor.

            “Ouch!” he wailed.

            “Okay, no food fights. We can go outside to play,” said my sister.

            For the rest of the day, we played outside. It was fun. We played sports and various games.

***

The Mission

            I was drawing plans silently at my desk when the speaker crackled to life.

            “Liddy, Avary, Justin, and Zelda, please report to the arena,” it blared.

            I wondered why I would be called to the arena. Then, it occurred to me. The four missionaries.

            I am still thirteen years old and a free lancer. No job. Just a person that likes to play around with doodles, write likes a dream journalist, and loves sports. But then, I’m too young to really have a serious job. So, why would they want to make me a missionary? I would never succeed on the mission anyway.

            At the arena, Avary was the last one to arrive. Charles, I spotted, was peeking and spying at us along with Ben. The station leader, Sen, stood in front of Avary, Justin, Liddy, and me.

            “You have been assigned or rather, chosen for this mission,” Sen explained. “You will...”

            I glanced up at Charles. He winked.

            “Oh, great!” I mumbled.

            “Pardon?” Justin asked.

            “Nothing,” I answered.

            “Excuse me, is there a problem?” Sen asked.

            Justin and I looked up. Sen’s stern face snapped us back to attention.

            “No, nothing’s wrong,” I answered quickly.

            Sen seemed satisfied with this answer and continued talking. Let me tell you basically what this mission is about. We have to sneak into the Dark Gates and try to spy on the people there. Yes, that’s it.

            Sen talked for about two hours. No, I’m not exaggerating. We were to meet at the arena two days later at four o’ clock in the morning.

            At the end of the meeting, I saw Charles trip and fall out of his hiding place. Sen spotted him and scolded him.

            I waited for Charles. When he walked over to me, I laughed. He grumbled something that I couldn’t understand. Ben joined us at a door of the arena.

            “You walloped,” said Ben.

            “Wrong word,” I hissed.

            “Shut up!” Charles growled. “You’re one of us too.”

            “I’m what?” asked Ben.

            “Never mind,” I replied for Charles. He probably meant something about friends.

            “Okay, whatever,” said Ben.

            We walked to the little but roomy clubhouse. We found some of the group there. Marie, Avary, Justin, Jake, Jessica, and Harrison. Justin was boasting about the mission. We stood by the entrance waiting.

            “Do you know that that could mean your death?” Avary asked.

            “What?” Justine looked shocked.

            “Yes,” I agreed.

            “It’s true,” Charles added.

            Justin’s face turned pale. Everyone laughed.

            “Yeah, and you said,” Marie accused.

            We all helped make preparations for the mission. Justin, as I noticed, kept silent.

***

Start

            The day had arrived for us to go on the mission. Sen, Charles, and the rest of our friends saw us off. We did have a guide. He showed us to the entrance of the Dark Gates. Then he left.

            “Okay, so I guess we’re on our own now,” said Liddy.

            “Yeah, oh, that’s just great. What in the world are they trying to do? Kill us?” Justin asked.

            I ignored him. “How are we going to get up there?”

            All four of us looked up.

            “We can climb this,” Avary suggested.

            The entrance, you see, was on top of the mountain concealed by trees and bushes.

            “Jump.” I suddenly heard in my head.

            “Did anyone near anything?” I inquired.

            Liddy and Avary shook their heads.

            “Nope,” Justin answered. “Why?”

            Strange. I thought. I heard the voice again.

            “Zelda, it’s me, Charles. I’m using thought-speak, also known as telepathic communication, to keep in contact. Now, do jump already.”

            I finally understood. Charles had a rare skill. “Okay, umm, how about trying jumping?”

            “Good idea!” commented Avary.

            I had to give credit to Charles silently.

            Justin, Avary, Liddy, and I each jumped. I got farther than everyone. We started climbing. This saved us some time.

            “There will be a broken bridge. Be careful. There are a lot of cracked pieces,” I heard Charles warn in my mind.

            I tried to thought-speak back to him. “How do you know about this?”

            “Later,” he answered. “I didn’t know that you learn so quickly.”

            I had succeeded in my attempt at communicating telepathically.

            At last, the four missionaries reached the top of the mountain.

            “From now on, we must be very quiet,” Liddy whispered.

            I told my three companions about the bridge. Then, we jumped into the entrance hole. Liddy tested the planks on the bridge. Sure enough some of them were cracked and brittle.

            We tiptoed quickly and quietly to the other side of the bridge, an underground cave. We sneaked in the cavern and ran to a solid metal door in the wall. Justin pried open the door. I saw a slug like creature on the platform with a man. There were a number of people gathered around the raised platform. This was just like my vision!

            Justin slipped through the door and walked calmly toward one side of the room. Avary did the same. Liddy met a girl, who gave her a yellow handkerchief. No, she didn’t collide with her. Liddy kindly returned the item to the girl. Then, she went to her post.

            I was just about to jump through the door when Liddy shouted, “Watch out!”

            I spun around, looked behind me, and slammed the door closed. Luckily and fortunately, no one inside heard the loud noise. The reason Liddy had shouted at me was right behind me. It was trouble. There were two men charging toward me.

***

Trouble

            I almost screamed. Then, as I regained control of myself, I remembered a book that I had recently read. It was a comedy on how to deal with bugs (as in troublemakers). It had advised to run and strike. I decided to follow my own routine and try to play it safe.

            I dove out of the way just in time. The thugs rammed their heads into the wall. I expected them to be unconscious after that. They weren’t. So, I concluded that people in level 4349 of the Dark Gates didn’t get knocked out easily.

            I jumped onto one of the mattresses of the beds by the wall. The thugs smirked. I didn’t know why. Then, I realized with a start that the bed was tipping. I scrambled up the mattresses. As I climbed up, some of the mattresses fell. They were making a pile high enough for the thugs to reach me.

            I leapt to another bed. One of the hooligans climbed up the bed post after me. I looked around in panic and bounded off the bed. I grabbed a pillow and ran. It was a dead end. The two ruffians had cornered me. They leered at me with a horrible glint in their eyes. One was holding a knife. The other one was holding a machine gun. Talk about advanced technology.

            I moved toward the thug with the knife, then stopped. Another thug had appeared. He had an electric saw. Bullets started to spew from the gun. Miraculously, the pillow blocked them. The machine gun ran out of bullets a few minutes later. The thug with the electric saw closed in on me next. I stuffed the pillow into the saw’s jaws and soared over the thugs.

            I dashed and sprinted like the wind across the broken bridge, out the entrance, and down the mountain. I slowed my pace while I was walking back to the station. I made an oath to myself that I was going to return to that horrible place and rescue my half sister, Avary, and the others.