Fate of Pandora - Book II

A Restful Night

"The portal disappeared. It was like it was never there," Jasmet told them.

"There was nothing else there, either. The place was empty," Luna added. The same way they had been teleported back to their camp, they thought maybe they would find Yuko's body in the cave or somewhere nearby, but there was no trace of her.

"Oh, no. What am I going to do? What happens now?" Arika buried her face in her knees. She had no idea what was going to happen to her now. Luna saw the girl panicking and crouched down near her. Luna gripped one of her friend's hands and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Don't worry about anything, Arika. I'm here for you. I know well how you should proceed with reporting her missing, and taking care of the legal side of things. I can make sure you have everything you need while you figure this out. Leave it to me; I'll teach you everything."

"Report Yuko as missing? Live on without her?" Arika had no more tears by this time, but she kept sobbing.

"There, there. Cry as much as you want." Luna embraced her. Everybody knew that she needed all the support they could give to face the changes she was about to go through.

A loud meow alerted them when Kairi appeared between the brushes. She was already transformed, wishing to speak with them all.

"I'm terribly sorry for your loss, Arika, but you all need to eat and rest for tonight. Tomorrow is Sunday, and you will have to travel back to Tokyo."

"Sunday, already?" Coalt was shocked. He didn't realize they had lost that much time. Kairi faced him and purred in amusement.

"Of course. You entered the cave late Friday night and were suddenly back Saturday morning," the nekomata explained to him. "I was taking care of the campsite when you all appeared on the ground, unconscious. I watched over you all day. In the afternoon, you began to wake up one by one."

"Kairi, did you find something in the surrounding area?" Ayame silently asked the nekomata. Out of sensitivity to Arika, Ayame thought it better if she didn't ask aloud.

"I searched around the camp as best I could, but I found nothing. Yuko is not nearby." Ayame sighed. While the girls had searched inside the cave, she had asked the cat to check the surrounding woods as well.

"Anyway, Kairi has a good point," Jasmet continued. "We must rest for tomorrow. Our wounds may be closed somehow, but we are still exhausted after that long battle."

"Erm, I'm a little scared of sleeping here again," Risa said, shaking weakly. She didn't feel safe being close to the cave, but it was already dark, and they were too worn out to make it back to the town.

"Then we'll split the group so that one or two of us will stand guard while the others sleep. At least we'll be sure we'll be protected," Jasmet suggested, and they agreed to her idea.

Everyone was tired, so they made a simple dinner of sandwiches to fill their stomachs and headed to their tents to rest. They agreed to split the night in three turns; the first pair was going to be with Luna and Risa, then Ayame and Jasmet, and for last, Lukas and Coalt.

The group went to sleep while Luna and Risa sat near the fire, keeping it alive and warm. Even though they were close to the fire, they each were wrapped in a heavy blanket; it was going to be a cold night. The two yawned, quickly growing bored with watching the dancing flames. Risa remembered something the older girl had said earlier.

"Luna, you told Arika you know well what to do in a situation like hers. Why?"

"Well, I lost my parents unexpectedly in a plane crash, remember? I was a bit younger than Arika back then," Luna reminded her young friend. "I was lucky to have my brother. He's very intelligent and was old enough to take care of me. He taught me everything; I needed to learn quickly so that I could live on my own and work on our family's company as soon as possible."