The Children: The Beginning of Our Story

Chapter 7 Themis - Fear

Themis took a deep breath in attempt to calm the churning cogs in her head, spinning at a million miles an hour. The Ablinos surrounded her, closing off her escape, they waited impatiently for a response.

"My name is Damira." Themis said in the soft voice she had assigned for her fake identity. "I am twenty-one decaquads old and I come from the No-Clanner village..." Themis spoke in her new soft, airy voice. She wasn't used to using such a small voice, when she usually spoke it was loud and confident, but the new body seemed to come with a new voice as well. The elderly Albino, clearly the leader, nodded to show his satisfaction with her answer. However, the older teenage girl seemed unconvinced, she shook her had angrily. She was about to speak when the elder silenced her. "We are happy to have another Albino apart of our family." The elder spoke in a low, gravely voice. "What brought you to our home?" The elder inquired.

Themis cleared her throat but apparently Damira's voice was not capable of even resembling confidence. "I used to live in the No-Clanner village, when I found out I was an Albino I was determined to find others like me."

The elder nodded, looking at her kindly. "I am elder Alvis. This is Quateen." He said gesturing to the oldest teenager beside him. "This one is Adron." He placed his withered hand on the young teenager's head, only for him to grumble something about being able to introduce himself. Elder Alvis then motioned for the youngest of the group. "And this is dearest Agatha." The little girl then ran over and gave Alvis a hug, nearly making him topple over.

The conversation slowly melded from answering the Albinos suspicions to playful banter. After studying the Albinos interactions, she learnt that Alvis was clearly the parental figure, the leader. Underneath him was Quanteen. From what Themis had deduced she was very protective of Adron and Agatha, which caused her to be very cold towards Themis. The thing most intriguing to Themis was Quanteen's hair. It seemed to change colour based on her mood, yellow was happiness, purple was fear, and red was anger. The day slowly drifted into the late night, Themis had made some extreme progress, but the group still didn't trust her. Elder Alvis called the Albinos to the pile of cloth in the corner, motioning for them to sleep. All three obediently did as they were told, and Themis slept on the floor a few meters away.

That night Themis' dreams were unclear, they jumped from image to image. They were to blurry to make out anything other than a mess of white and red. The images spun faster and faster. A high-pitched noise began to ring in her ears. Themis woke up drenched in a cold sweat, she gripped the side of her pants to stop her hands from shaking. The Albinos sat on the floor, eating their strange fruits. They all seemed blissfully unaware, all except Quanteen, who sent her an odd glance as Elder Alvis offered one of the fruits.

"They are wonderful for the immune system." He said as he took a bite of the fruit, juice running down the creases in his chin. Themis took a bite into the strange fruit, juice dribbled down her face, leaving a purple coloured stain. The flesh of the fruit had a bitter, chalky texture and at the center was a small crystal core.

Crystals are a normal part of The Children diet; it is their main source of nutrition and is found in everything they eat.

Themis cracked the crystal between her jaws and let the sharp fragments slide down her throat. She reached for another fruit and crunched down on her second.

Adron tapped on her shoulder lightly. Themis looked down at the young boy she had learnt to be fifteen. "What's the village like?" He asked curiously. She was about to answer when Alvis turned sharply towards them. "No speaking at mealtime." He said gruffly. Adron's head snapped back down as he stuffed a fruit into his mouth. Quanteen looked across to them scornfully as she shook her head, she then turned back to her meal. After the meal had ended each Albino went to their daily routine; Quanteen made her way to the cloth pile and dug around in the fabric until she found a book and settled in the corner. Alvis made his way out onto the deck where he sat at the edge and closed his eyes, deep in concentration. Agatha joyfully skipped towards Themis and tugged on her sleeve. "Damira! Do you wanna play hide and seek?" Themis blinked for a moment. It had been years since she had played a game like that. She used to play them all the time with her younger cousins before she joined the military. She nodded slowly, recalling the rules of the game as she walked. Adron sulked behind them, clearly wanting to play the game but not willing to say so.

"Come play too Adron!" Agatha called, beckoning him forward.

Adron huffed as he blew some strands of hair out of his face. "If I must."

Agatha lead them to a clearing in the woodland. "Okay Damira," She said giddily, "You can be it. We gotta run and you gotta find us."

Without further notice the two young albinos sprinted off in separate directions. Agatha's laughter ringing through the trees. Themis counted in her head. 10, 9. She though of her cousin's playing in the back yard, running through the garden, hiding in the bushes. 8, 7. She had found a hiding spot under her Aunt's shed with one of her cousins, Athena. 6, 5. They were winning the game until Athena spotted a bug and they had both blown their cover screaming. 4, 3. As soon as they had come out of hiding, they had been found. 2, 1. Although they were found, they were still able to find all of her other cousins. 0.

Themis pounced forward letting the hunt commence. She twisted through miles and miles of trees, her eyes soaring through the forest searching for her targets. She heard the cracking of a twig and twisted on her heals to find Adron leaning against a tree. He kicked at the snow in frustration. "You're too good at this." He mumbled

"What was that?" Themis teased.

Adron bent down and flung snow at Themis. It hit her square in the face. Themis responded with her own ball of snow, throwing it so hard Adron fell over. At that moment Agatha came bursting from behind a tree. "You're having a snowball fight without me!" Agatha ran forward and tackle-hugged Themis, making her smash into Adron and fall like dominoes. From the distance, Quanteen's silhouette approached the laughing bundle on the frosty ground. She was about to speak when Agatha hurled another snowball at her head. Quanteen ran forward and plucked Agatha from the ground. Once the little girl was in her grasp, she began to furiously tickle her. She looked up, her hair a bright lemon yellow. She noticed Themis in the corner of her eye and stopped, she sat in the snow, her knee length hair curling around her. She looked down at Agatha and back to Themis.

"Elder Alvis wants us back at home." She said coldly.

The group trekked back to the shack in silence. Their feet crunching in the freshly fallen snow. The shack seemed colder than usual when the entered, the warm, homey atmosphere suddenly lacking. Elder Alvis sat leaning against one of the walls, drumming his shrunken fingers on his knee. He looked up slowly and locked eyes with Quanteen. "We have run out of water. I need you and Damira to go collect some more in the morning."

Quanteen's hair flared a bright purple. "Al, I don't think tha-"

Elder Alvis raised his hand, silencing the girl. "It is decided."

Quanteen nodded, her body ridged and stiff.

That night was a silent one, each person more hushed and wary than the next. The shack was filled with a sense of dread, and Themis had no idea what caused it.

Themis lent over to Adron and tapped him on the shoulder. His eyes flicked up to her, filled with anxiety.

"What's going on?" She whispered in Damira's soft voice.

"We need more water." The boy whispered back, "And to do that we need to go to the Florenza caves." He said, a resonating chill in his voice.

"Why is that bad." Themis asked, looking up to see if the other Albinos noticed their conversation.

"The caves... They have Frignitives in them." His voice was shallow and wispy. Like a child who had cursed in front of their parents.

Themis mind spun at a million miles an hour as she recollected memories and images from her training lessons.

"Frignitives." Her professor's cold voice echoed off the walls, "Or crystal bats as some call them, are extremely rare. It is unclear how they were created." Her professor's face was cold and stern, "But we do know that contact with a Frignitive WILL result in death."

Themis swallowed bile as she starred forward. Fear clenched in her stomach like an iron clamp. It was the purest thing she had ever felt.