Crystallized Dreams: A Race Against Time

Chapter 14: Found

Katie let go of the blue flame she was holding and let it float on its own. It bobbed in the air once before taking off toward the Frutti Music Bar at a high speed. At this point, neither Katie nor Michael cared if anyone saw them. The safety of Josh was much more important to them.

"Follow it," Katie said before taking off as well Michael close behind.

Together they zipped through the morning sky, chasing after the blue light. It was going fast, but not fast enough to outrun them. At first they thought the flame would be headed to the Frutti Music Bar, but instead it ended up going right past it and . . . out above the ocean. Both Katie and Michael were a bit confused at first, but decided not to question it and keep following.

After flying over the ocean for at least five miles, they came across a large white disk that was on top of the water. It resembled a helicopter landing pad. And this helicopter pad just so happened to be where the flame stopped at.

"We're here . . . ?" Michael said. "This is-oh."

"What is it?"

Michael gulped. "Look into the water."

Sure enough, Katie saw a huge shadow in the depths of the water. Very, very huge. "They have an underwater base? How??"

"'How do we get in' is what you should be asking. Should we just . . . bust in?"

"I think that's our only option," Katie said. This is so going to backfire.

She summoned a big, sharp crystal and, using levitation, brought it down upon the disk with incredible force. It dented the disk. After a couple more tries she had successfully created a hole for she and Michael to enter through. But unfortunately at that moment a whole bunch of sirens started blaring from inside.

"We haven't even gotten in yet!" Katie said in disbelief. Before she could say anything else, though, the flame went right inside.

"Are you serious?" Michael said. He took a mighty leap off of his board and right into the hole.

"This is gonna go wrong is so so many ways," Katie said with panic in her voice as she followed the boy.

Michael had already known that the hole wasn't too deep, so he would be ok when landing. As soon as his feet hit the ground he unsheathed his sword. No matter how many times he did it, he still found it very cool that it would just appear when he needed it. Soon enough Katie was right by his side, ready for combat.

"No one's here. Well, at least not right now," Katie said. Looking around, she found that she and Mike were in a dark tunnel that only went in one direction. There were red lights and sirens blaring all around them and they found themselves to be standing on a large, unmoving conveyor belt.

"There's only one way to go," Michael said. As he said this the blue flame started its way down the tunnel. "So let's get moving."

And so they followed the flame down the tunnel, Michael running on the conveyor belt and Katie flying alongside him. After some time they came across a large room that housed a helicopter, which stood right in the center. Past that was a stairwell that led down. And from that stairwell, Katie and Michael heard many, many hurried footsteps. Much to their dismay, the blue flame went down that stairwell.

"Take my hand," Katie landed and held her hand out to Michael. He took it. "Bubble Barrier!"

A blue, transparent orb appeared around them both. "Are you ready?" She turned to him and asked.

"I guess so," Michael replied with uncertainty. This whole thing is gonna blow up in our faces . . .

Then Katie took off running, right down the stairwell. Michael almost lost his balance from that, but luckily was able to keep up. It was a good thing Katie had summoned a barrier for them because now they were coming across many armed men. But the two simply plowed right through them with the aid of their barrier. Finally they reached the end of the stairwell and their eyes adjusted to the light. They were now in what looked a bit like a hospital, and a bit like a laboratory. The bobbing flame went down the hallway until it reached yet another set of stairs and went down them.

"Mike, I don't know how much longer I can keep this bubble up," Katie said. The men that were in the stairwell they had just came from were now coming back at them, and they were armed with guns-some of them loaded with tranquilizer darts.

Michael bit his lip and turned his head. Now there were men coming from the other stairwell, too. How do we get through this . . . ?

~~~

". . . Alright. Now where is this 'Alfea' school that you speak-" Alistair was in the middle of interrogating Josh again when someone burst through the door. It was Alexander.

"Big brother," Alex said nervously, then cleared his throat and tried to regain his composure. "I mean, Alistair, the facility is under atta-"

Something hit him on the head, knocking him unconscious and causing him to fall face-first to the ground. Now with him in the ground. Katie was visible and she was wielding a baseball bat made of crystal. With Alex unconscious she dematerialized the bat and reached down to drag something into the room.

Well, someone.

It was Michael, and he had multiple tranquilizer darts on him that had struck him in many various locations. He was unconscious. And from looking at Katie, she had darts stuck in her as well but she had somehow managed to stay awake.

Josh turned his head and saw his sister and the unconscious Michael. "Katie!! You really did come for me!"

Katie gave a weak smile and a small nod.

"Now LET ME GO, DUDE!" Josh yelled at Alistair. "A SIMPLE HUG FROM MY SISTER IS LITERALLY ALL I'M ASKING RIGHT NOW!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Alistair said in reply. He didn't look phased in the least to see Katie.

"You should do what he says," Katie warned and let go of Michael. She raised her arms, preparing to open fire. "I went through a lot to get here and I'm not planning on going home without him."

"I'm not planning for you to go home either, little girl," Alistair said. He walked to a corner of the room, which was completely blackened because even in the center of the room the light was very dim. As he stepped back into the light, both Katie and Josh could see that he was now holding a large rifle in his hands.

Katie started to sweat out of nervousness. Shaking, she folded her hands together in the shape of a gun and pointed them at Alistair.

"Put it down or I shoot," she threatened. With gritted teeth and sweaty palms.

Instead of raising his gun at the fairy, he turned to Josh and pointed it at him.

"Now that I think about it," Alistair said, "I guess a fairy would be more fun to research."

Josh would've been scared for his own life, but what he saw from out of the corner of his eye scared him ten times more. He was so afraid at that moment that he almost forgot to breathe. He opened his mouth and screamed, "No! DON'T DO IT!"

Sorry for the cliffhanger guys! It was necessary to add to the epicness of the next chapter heh.

pls don't kill meh