The lost gem

Chapter 12

Sorry that I have not updated in ages, I have just been so busy with end of year exams! But, thank you to everyone who is reading my story! But where are all my readers? I had 100 views on one chapter now I only have around 40... Any way we reached 1000 views!!!!! Thank you so much! This chapter is dedicated to TaraKulczykowska because she is a great friend!

Charlotte, Lúthien and Alex had left the clearing in a rush, due to Charlotte's warning. "So what happened?" Lúthien queried curiously. Thinking about what the cloud princess had said about how she should not tell Lúthien of her appearance, Charlotte replied hesitantly, "well...I...saw...a wounded....animal in the forest...and... I went to go help it..." Alex raised his eyebrows, he had known Charlotte for a long time and he knew that she was terrible at lying, "really? That's the best you can come up with? Just tell us the truth!" Charlotte knew their was no point in trying to lie but should she tell them?

Suddenly she felt a presence in her mind whispering, "tell them the truth. It's alright. I'm sure Lúthien will understand." Instantly, Charlotte knew that it was the cloud princess, telling her, to tell them the truth. "The real truth is..." So Charlotte explained the whole story: meeting the cloud princess, discovering her new powers and she did not miss out a single detail. As she was telling her recent short adventure, the boys constantly stood, gaping at her in disbelief. She had gone through so much in such a short amount of time. When Charlotte had finished telling her midnight adventure, Lúthien shifted uncomfortably, "so...the cloud princess is my mother...and she never contacted me...I thought she was...dead and now I find out that she is..." Lúthien's voice trailed off. Embarrassed, Charlotte nodded, empathising with how he felt. Lúthien stared at the floor in response, taking in what had just been said.

Out of nowhere, a faint light appeared and before the three, stood a ghost. "Mother!" Lúthien gasped. "How is this possible?" Charlotte wondered aloud. Smiling, the cloud princess clarified, "As Charlotte has the telepathy ability I am able to contact her even as a ghost but strangely Charlotte's powers have enabled me to show myself. I had never heard of such an ability. However, you can only ever see me as a ghost." Astonished, Alex turned to Charlotte and shook his head, "wow. Just wow. Charlotte how come your grandma never told you that you had magic?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe she didn't know?" Charlotte guessed. "No, your grandma did know...I suppose I'm allowed to tell you now...your grandma and I were forced to swear that we would keep your powers hidden because if anyone found out, you would be in a lot of danger." the cloud princess corrected. "Forced by whom?" Alex puzzled worriedly. "You are not ready for such information yet but all I need to tell you is that you must be careful who you speak to." sighed the cloud princess. Lúthien, who had not spoken in a while, whispered, "Alex, Charlotte, would it be alright if I spoke to my...mother...in private?" The two nodded and departed into the woods, deciding that they would get some resources in the meantime.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lúthien blurted when he was sure that Alex and Charlotte could not hear, "All this time, I thought you were dead! How could you do this to me? Father blamed it all on me! He said it was my fault that you were missing! How could it possibly have been my fault! And...how were you even alive I saw you dead! I saw...your skeleton!" Lúthien searched his mother's face for an answer but her face revealed nothing. "I understand this must be a shock to you and..." the cloud princess began, when Lúthien interrupted, "no, that's exactly it! You don't understand! Do you even know what it was like growing up without a mother and only a father who hates you!" Anger was flowing through Lúthien's veins and a side to him that no one, not even in Black Forest, had seen appeared. He glared at his mother and all life in the forest suddenly became silent. "Listen, I did not want to do this to you, believe me. But I had no other choice and as for the skeleton, that...was not me...and the necklace was simply a replica of the real one. You may be wondering where the gem is since it was in my necklace, after I realised my life was in danger I hid the gem but unfortunately the members of Chillian found it. So that is how this whole mess started," Lúthien's mother replied feeling guilty and then added, "I need to go now. Goodbye my son." Lúthien nodded miserably and mumbled, "goodbye mother." With that the cloud princess disappeared and left Lúthien with a strange sense of loneliness.

"Poor Lúthien. He thought his mother was dead." Charlotte muttered sympathetically.
"I know." Alex agreed. With some pieces of wood in her hand, Charlotte went over to her horse which had been attached to a tree and opened her bag. She looked in her bag and dropped her wood on the ground. Taking something out, Charlotte froze. Her eyes were glued to whatever she had found in her bag. Alex rushed over to her and in a concerned voice asked, "what's wrong? Charlotte are you ok?" Opening her Charlotte's hand, Alex saw a scrunched piece of paper. Slowly, he unraveled the paper and stared at it in shock. It was a wanted poster with Charlotte's face on it. "I was going to tell you. Really I was, but I forgot about it." Charlotte admitted annoyed at herself for being so forgetful. "This is a wanted poster! With a huge amount of money for ransom. You do realise what this means: people will be after you."

Sorry that I updated so late. I was just so busy! I hope I made up for it by having a longer chapter! Thank you for reading! Hopefully I will update more often now! Don't forget to vote and comment!