At the Pent's House:
"No, officer its been almost a week. I still have no sign of them." Mrs. Pent said franticly into the phone. "Jade, Hailey, and Dylan are gone for good!" Jade's mother began to sob on the phone while the policer officer on the other side unsuccessfully calm her down.
"Ma'am I assure you that we are doing everything we can to find your daughter and her friends. Do you remember anything else that could possible help us?" The officer asked.
"No, I can't remember anything else!" Mrs. Pent said still crying.
"We are sending out a search team now with a head detective. I'll keep you posted." The officer said before he clicked his phone off.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
In Dragoria's throne room:
"Jade, do you remember anything about a silver letter you were sent?" Darmoore voice boomed.
"No." She replied.
"Better think twice about lying." Darmoore said threateningly.
".........no." Jade replied as she remembered that she had stuck the paper in her pocket.
"I just want to put it out there that I am very powerful. I overthrew your extremely powerful and smart parents and I can do whatever I want with you. I'll give you one more chance, I suggest you tell the truth." Darmoore said. "Where is the letter?"
"I don't have it!" Jade said. She quickly made up a story about losing the letter.
"Then who helped you get here if you didn't have the letter, hmmm?" Darmoore questioned.
"Lorek." Jade replied.
"Ah, Lorek, where is that boy?" Darmoore asked.
"Uh, sir, I think he might have.........." Brax said as he walked through a door way into the throne room.
"SILENCE, YOU FOOL!" Darmoore yelled and threw a ball of lightning at Brax. It hit his feet and he collapsed. Jade gasped. Just then Lorek stepped into the room. He looked at Brax and shook his head. He walked up the stairs to the throne and bowed.
"This is the boy who helped you?" Darmoore asked Jade.
"Yes." She replied.
"So then I am assuming that you don't know much about him since you trusted him." Darmoore asked.
"I don't know much, but I do know that he IS trustworthy." Jade replied, Lorek stared at the floor.
"That's where your wrong. Lorek was the one who brought you to me. Allow me to tell you a little story." Darmoore said.
"Once upon a time, there lived your REAL parents. They were the rulers of Dragoria. I wanted to be the heir of the Dragorian throne but I was denied so I went to another kingdom called Drakehr and ended up being king there. Dragoria was a beautiful kingdom and all the other rulers from the 7 neighboring kingdoms wanted it for themselves. The 7 other kingdoms were wastelands. My kingdom became a land of molten rock because we raised fire dragons. We couldn't farm or raise animals to eat and the smoke was killing us fast. We had no choice but to use the little money we had and buy food from Dragoria. All other 6 kingdoms had to do the same. Your parents would not help any of the kingdoms because they said that we had brought ruin upon ourselves by bringing the element dragons to the area. Each kingdom picked a type of dragon to help us in our lands, without knowing it would fail later. Your parents knew a lot about dragons and which were the best for certain things. Dragoria picked the sun and moon dragons and ran off with them before the other kingdoms had any say in it. The sun and moon dragons were the only ones that didn't destroy anything. The other dragons turned our once beautiful kingdoms into wastelands. Dragoria flourished while our kingdoms died off. We decided that Dragoria must be conquered in order for everyone to survive. So our 7 kingdoms began secret meetings. We finally set up a plan to destroy your parents, but then the ruler of one of the kingdoms died. Then another and another until I was the only one left. I decided to carry out the plan on my own and get revenge on your parents for stealing my throne. I forced your parents into hiding knowing that they would eventually die! Finally, here I am King of Dragoria."
"Wait, if the dragons ruined everything, then why are you still using dragons now?" Jade asked.
"We use the wastelands as training areas for each type. I now have a whole army of sun and moon dragons and I will invade the Earth Realm and the other kingdoms in the Magic Realm and rule the entirety of both realms!" Darmoore exclaimed. "Apparently, some one sent you a silver letter hoping you would save them and telling you that you are the true ruler. Which is true but not going to happen. I hunted this person down and killed them. Since your here I will have some fun torturing you.
"But the letter said that I needed to find a carriage spot and a portal to get here and rule." Jade said.
"So you do have the letter!!! Darmoore roared.
"Well, crap". Jade thought.
"I warned you!" Darmoore yelled." I could have you and your friends killed right now!!"
Darmoore regained his composure. He needed more information from these kids he had to control his anger. "Yes, the writer told you how to get here to stop me but Lorek stopped you early so I could get to you instead."
"Lorek is a traitor?" Jade whispered to herself in shock. Lorek was still looking at the floor with a sad expression. Behind her Jade heard Hailey gasp and Dylan's muffled 'i knew it.'
"But, why?" Jade asked looking at Lorek. There was a long pause and then Lorek raised his head and his expression hardened. "I'm not who you think I am. I'm not on your side." He said sternly.
"Lorek." Jade said sadly. She wanted to rip away from the guards struggling to hold her and run. She held back the tears. If this was just some random guy she wouldn't feel sad, but furious. However, this was Lorek. He seemed trustworthy at first and she liked how safe she felt when he was helping her. She actually was kind of starting to have a crush on him. She thought he felt the same after the night in the maze. Now everything changed.
"Guards take them back to the dungeon. I have all the information I need......for now." Darmoore added.
The guards led Jade down the hall first and this time into a small cell that was equally as dark and damp as the one before. The guard left and came back with more prisoners, likely her friends, and locked them up to. Jade didn't even bother calling for them. She felt along the wall until she could imagine the small cell's dimensions. Finally, she slid down against the wall and let the tears flow freely. She had been tricked by the nicest guy she knew. She thought he loved her. It sure seemed like it when he kissed her. What was she missing? Had the betrayal been there all along? Maybe, she should have looked closer. Jade laid on her side and fell asleep to the drip-drop of water in the corner of the cell.
