The Twins • Book One • Wattys2017

Chapter 16- The Start

Author's Note: I hope you like my story! Feel free to voice your opinion, ask any questions and point out any mistakes I make.

Ivy's POV

"Ugh." I groan as my head pounds painfully.

"Ivy, you're awake!" I hear Wolf exclaim. "You've been asleep for a whole day!"

"What?!" I yell. "How could you let me sleep for that long?! We need to go get Nia! Have the teams been sorted out?" Wolf looks at me slightly somberly before replying

"We tried to wake you, but nothing would work, and yes the teams have been sorted out."

"What team am I in?" I eagerly ask. I better be in the attacking team, or I'll be very angry.

"You're in the rescue team. You'll go with me and Saber through the castle, and our main objective is to find and rescue Nia." Before I can ask, Wolf explains the roles of the other teams, and who is apart of them. "There is also the backup team, with Sophia, Star and Lightning. They are going to be stationed at the bottom of her mountain waiting for Amy to send a Day Messenger to them if the attack team need help. The attack team is Molly, Amy and Jake, and they will be storming the castle with us. We will help them fight as many Dark Warriors as we can until we can get through and to Nia."

"One more thing, what's a Day Messenger?" I wonder, unable to stop my curiosity.

"It's a sort of pixie, but made of the element of Day and can be used as an aid in battle, a messenger, a cleaner, practically anything. There is also a Night Messenger, but we probably won't see those, since we are attacking at day and Amy will be stronger, while Star will be weaker."

"Ah, okay." I nod my head, then stand and walk to my door. "Let's get breakfast and get on the road then, I have a sister to save!" Wolf chuckles lightly at my extreme enthusiasm, but quickly follows behind me.

"Is everyone ready to go?" Molly asks. We all nod, and start to follow Saber as he leads us down the road to the forest, then to the portal. Wolf walks next to me and we talk and laugh occasionally, even though uglier emotions threaten to blow my cover as the desire to change into a cheetah and start running pushes on me. I fight it back, controlling my sadness and anger.

Wolf smiles somberly at me and leaves me alone to my thoughts, walking up to the front of the line to walk beside Saber. From where I'm standing, I can see that Saber is like a coiled spring about to pop. He's filled with tension, anger and despair. He tries to hide it, but the pain is visible in his eyes.

Suddenly, I see movement to the left of me in the forest, and I gasp in shock as I look at the boundary of the woods, desperately searching for what I saw. I gasp again as I just catch the movement again through my peripheral vision, and I see...

Nia's POV

All I have known for the days that I have been kept prisoner by my aunt is pain.

Pain is the only thing she shows, the only thing she loves.

Everything is pain.

My body is pain.

Not one inch of my body doesn't feel pain.

I'm covered in evidence of my pain.

My blood drips out of me, making the pain in my head worse with the increase in blood loss.

I hear the creak of the door to the room. That means pain is coming.

Footsteps walk towards me. That means pain is here.

I look at the person in front of me. It's not my aunt, the because of my pain.

"You..." I murmur, barely able to speak because of the pain in my throat and the dehydration I've been going through.

The person steps closer as my eyes blink closed and I am able to slip into painless bliss.

Saber's POV

Through the journey to the forest, Wolf was actually good company. We started talking and eventually Jake and Lightning walked up and joined us as well. We were able to laugh and talk about normal things, mostly girls though. I fought for the fact that Nia is obviously the best, but Jake strongly argued for Amy, and Lightning for Star, until surprisingly, Wolf joked about trying to woo Amy or Star. That shut them up.

We tried to crack Wolf to see if he likes Ivy or not, but he wouldn't budge. He's very stubborn. Sadly, when we hit the forest, we had to go our separate ways, since I won't be able to communicate with them.

At the edge of the forest, Star and Amy work to change the non-shapeshifters into leopards so they can keep up with me through the forest, and not have to struggle on human legs. Sophia opted to turn into a lycanthrope, and loped through the forest as a wolf, much like Wolf himself. Ivy, Star and Amy shifted into leopards as well, and we set off towards the portal.

I asked Star and Amy how they were able to shapeshift, and they said they could bend their elements of Day and Night to do with whatever they pleased, with barely any limitations. That sounds like a very useful skill to have.

Running through the forest with me leading the way, we finally reach the portal around midday. Immediately diving through, we continue on the other side.

We briefly rest at the portal before continuing to run forward. When it is nearing nighttime, we search for a place to sleep the night away.

Suddenly, a branch snaps in the distance in front of us. We immediately all tense up, and Star and Amy change everyone that they shifted back into their human forms so they can fight easier. I decide to change into my sabertooth tiger form, which has more power, just in case a bad fight is headed our way. Who knows, maybe the Queen wants both sisters, and sent a pack or two of Dark Hounds after us. I inwardly shiver at the thought, that'd be truly terrifying. A weird yet slightly familiar scent reaches my nostrils, and I look behind me to see Sophia standing tall as a mighty dragon.

I am definitely glad she is on my side, because if she was not, and we had to fight, I'd most definitely lose.

A branch has cracks yet again, but closer. A group of footsteps move closer and closer, and I ready myself to leap as the person runs out of the forest.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Author's Note:

*maniacally and evilly laughs* YES! THREE CLIFFHANGERS! You can blame my friend for giving me the idea 😂 and you can also blame me for actually being evil enough to try it! I'm glad I was able to accomplish it though, and I hope you do like the chapter. It's all mysterious and stuff, ooh spooky. I found this chapter fun to write, and don't worry the answers to the cliffhangers will most definitely be revealed in the next chapter. But when it comes to writing, my ideas shift quite a bit, so who knows?

Question:
What do you think Ivy saw, who do you think is in the room with Nia and who/what do you think ran at everyone in the forest on the way to rescue Nia?
Obviously I can't answer this one, because I know the answers! I'm curious to see if anyone guesses correctly...

~Cat Queen