Rangers Apprentice: Forgotten Ruins

Gilan Almost Dies From Hot Cheetos

*Jacklyn's POV*

I stood frozen as I looked at the sight before me. Gilan, the great Ranger who took down Foldar, was standing before us with a look that could have rivaled the Kalkara.

The look however was somewhat ruined by the fact that Dr.Pepper was dripping down his hair and face onto his jerkin and staining his cloak. Easing back to the truck, I rummaged around till I found a small towel(don't ask, my truck is like the bag belonging to Marry Poppins. Or Hermione Granger, take your pick) and held it out to him.

"You uh...um...you have some...yeah it's all over you. You might want to uh, try to clean up now. That stuff can leave a pretty tough stain...." I said quietly. I knew we where in for it this time. His intense gaze left me wondering if there would be smoking holes in my dress-not that I really cared for it-by the time he would be done.

"Back to the castle. Now," he said in what I took to be a very controlled voice. Unfortunately, Avis and I pushed out luck even further. Avis went back to the truck to retrieve her phone and charger while I opened the passenger door on the drivers side and did some quick packing.

Grabbing my back pack, which was empty except for some summer homework-stupid AP classes-and my band binder and flute, I shoved some food into it, my jacket, purse and as a last minute thing, my sketch book. Leaning back out with the back pack slung over one shoulder, I tossed another bag to Avis which contained two weeks worth of cloths, and a little extra in case of emergency.

I closed the door then closed the drivers door after taking the keys out of the ignition and locking the truck. Just as I was about to close the door I remembered that after the accident my glasses had fallen off and I had been to much in a daze to pick them up. Reaching down by the gas pedal, I patted the ground to find them and once I did, I picked them up and then closed the door. A quick inspection told me that they weren't broken and I put them in my face, happy that I could see at a distance once again.

Surprisingly, Gilan didn't object to us bring these things back with us, and another surprising thing was what time it was. The sun had long since sunk behind the hills and now the moon stood as the ruler of the sky. Gilan was riding Blaze as me and Avis walked close together to his right and slightly in front of him. If I had been shocked by the stars before I had swerved off the road, boy was I shocked now.

Hundreds upon thousands of stars shine in the perfectly clear sky. It must be nice to always see the stars like this. "What do you mean?" I jumped a bit as Gilan spoke. He was looking at me and so was Avis. I blushed a bit as I realized that I had spoken that out loud. Upon realizing that he was still waiting for an answer, i gestured up to the night sky. "The stars. It must be nice to always see them this clearly." He looked down at me with an almost curious expression, thankfully temporarily forgetting his anger at us. "Doesn't your home have a night sky just as clear?" I grew a little sad at the mention of home but shrugged in response. "No, I almost never see the stars at night back home."

He didn't reply to that since he remained silent. Guess he went back to being angry at us.

All to soon where we back at the castle and I gave a silent thanks that there weren't many people out. The sentries at the drawbridge have us the strangest look and the few people we did pass in the courtyard stared at us before whispering furiously to themselves. Gilan handed Blaze off to a stable hand and led the way into the castle. You know your in trouble when a Ranger doesn't take care of his horse personally.

The two of us followed behind him with little to no energy and on more then one occasion he had to tell us to pick up the pace. That's when things start to get a little out of hand. We round a corner and low and behold, guess what? We come face to face with none other than Denise. "Ranger Gilan! Oh thank heavens I ran into you. Two of our wards have gone missing! I've already talked to Ranger Will, he says that he'll talk to the Craftmasters to try and determine when they went missing and go from there, could you please help him in the search.