Children of Ender (Temporary Hiatus!)

Chapter 6 - False sense of Security

Jesse groaned, her head pounding. She woke up confused, her memory slightly foggy. The argument with Petra; she definitely remembered that. And finding that purple rose..but everything after was just- blank.

She sat up, her arms shaking lightly and black spots appeared and disappeared in her vision until she closed her eyes and shook them away. As she opened them again and looked around, she quickly realized:
She was in a cell.
Admittedly it was a fairly fancy and comfortable looking cell, but still clearly a cell, as the metal bars keeping her in gave away.

She was in a fairly large bed, with what felt like silky, red sheets, and pillows that were colored in different shades of gold, lined with a slightly darker red color. There were two bedside tables, along with a larger, circular oak table in the center of the room with a tea-set on it. It looked antique, Jesse observed.

She looked around again and spotted a window, with curtains matching the bed sheets strung up to allow some sun in. While the windows were barred, Jesse found the view outside was beautiful.

'Maybe this isn't so bad..' Jesse decided to herself, until she heard footsteps approaching from behind her. She spun around, feeling around her belt for her sword, but ended up grasping at air.

'Of course they would take it, stupid!'

Jesse decided that since she didn't have her sword, her fangs would have to do. Then she realized she actually had fangs. However, surprisingly, she didn't start to freak out as much as she should have. For some reason they felt..natural. Like they should be there. So Jesse decided she would freak out later, and focused her attention to her captor.

The hooded figure from before seemed to literally float into sight, stopping just a mere few inches away from the bars to peer in, and yet all Jesse could make out of their face were two glowing, purple eyes.

"Hello Jesse. I am pleased to see you are awake, and feisty as ever."

Jesse snarled, but the voice of her captor seemed to instantly bring out a sense of calm from deep within her, making her stumble lightly in surprise,"A-Ah...yes. W-What the hell-?!"

"Calm, my child. I mean you no harm." The hooded figure spoke again.
"I am simply here to ensure you settle in to your new home, as well as your new...'appendages'. My name is Tara, and I shall be your new master!"

Jesse did not like the excited tone Tara took on when talking about being her 'master'. What was that supposed to mean anyway? And what new appendages? She spun to look at herself, and suddenly became aware of the fact that along with her fangs, her nails had been swapped out for claws, and she had somehow grown wings! She stared at them in awe, her wings looking practically identical to that of the Ender Dragon's.

"You like them, yes?" Tara chirruped happily,"It took so much effort to get you out there in the snow- much less activate the Ender Jewels within you!"

"Wait a second, Ender Jewels? What are Ender Jewels?"Jesse turned to once again face Tara, her anger toward her having faded completely and replaced with curiosity.

"Excellent question- Ender Jewels are...imprints, in a way, that have been made on one's heart. They sit dormant until activated by a special sort of Ender Magic. As for how they get there, none of us know yet. But we know that the energy that was coming off of yours was especially powerful, so we just had to recruit you!"

Jesse still had no clue what was going on, but that gave some insight into why she was here. She had to tell her friends about this! She couldn't wait to tell Olive and Alex and...and...

Who else?

She knew there were more, but...she couldn't remember! Why couldn't she remember her friends?

Jesse pressed and probed at her memories. She was thinking of...of P..Pet... a pet? She was thinking of someone earlier- she had an argument with someone. How could she have forgotten who so easily? Blazing red hair. She remembered that. And beautiful chocolate brown eyes. Jesse clung onto those things. She felt as long as she remembered that, she would be alright.

"Recruit me...?"Jesse focused her attention back onto Tara,"Recruit me for what?"

"You shall see all of that- in due time! But for now, settle in and get used to your new home!"And with that, Tara strode away, her cape flapping behind her.

The last thing Jesse wanted to do was settle in this place. It didn't matter how much nicer it was from her real home, it wasn't her home. Though at this point, it didn't seem like she had much of a choice...

So- Jesse cleared her head, and started examining the cell for ways to get out.

MEANWHILE....

Petra was running blindly through the snow. The blizzard had long since passed, but there was no sign whatsoever of Jesse. It was like she vanished without a trace. This sent Petra into an insane state of panic. The conversation- or, I should say confession, from before left her disoriented and confused but right now all that mattered was getting Jesse home safe.

After hours upon hours of searching and shouting, Petra was exhausted. She didn't want to give up, but the sun was setting and she didn't bring her sword with her. So- she set course for the cabin and got there with some time to spare. However, the rest of the group was there, and seeing Petra without Jesse instantly dulled them all down.

"Guess you had no luck too, huh?"Axel frowned.

"Kind of..but not really?"Petra mumbled nervously.

"What do you mean 'kind of'?"Olivia sounded especially hostile now.

Petra took a deep breath, and relayed everything that had happened to them. Olivia and Axel already knew of course, but Lukas looked both concerned and jealous at the same time.

"I can't believe you didn't figure it out sooner-"Olivia shook her head,"And now she's disappeared-"

"Hey- don't blame this on Petra! From what she says anyway, Jesse didn't seem to be in her right mind."Lukas stated and protectively wrapped an arm around the redhead.

However, Petra couldn't help feeling they were right. So many things made sense in her head now that she was aware of Jesse's feelings; she
felt so confused, and the arm around her shoulder felt more possessive than protective...
And Petra didn't like that at all.

"We have to keep looking."Petra said firmly,"We can't leave her out there."

"What? Petra- you said she ran into a blizzard! She could be anywhere!"Lukas pulled away to stare incredulously at her.

"That's exactly why we need to keep looking."Petra wasn't going yo be swayed on this, and spun on her heels, walking off toward the forest once more with Axel and Olivia in tow.