*The Chronicles of F.R.E.E. Atania's Knight - Raquel Festow* Part 1

Chapter 12 - Stuck

When I reached the shop again, Darren, Natalia and Lizzie were standing outside the shop front, looking around.
Natalia was the first to see me.
"Ruth! Where's Rebecca gone?"
"She wanted to be on her own, so she can fucking be on her own! She's being a right selfish bitch right now, and she deserves whatever fucking happens to her!" I snapped, aggressively at her.
Natalia flinched and I realised what I had said.
"I'm sorry, Natalia. She just wouldn't listen to me and kept telling me to fuck off."
"She has her phone on her, so she should be contactable. Let's give her a little breathing space to get her head round things, right?" Darren suggested, trying to lighten the mood.
Lizzie was eyeing him up.
"Liz, what are you doing?" I sighed, feeling thoroughly exhausted now.
"Who's the hottie?" She asked, jerking her thumb at Darren.
"Touch him and you're dead!" I snarled before I could stop myself.
"Wow! You're the obsessive, clingy girlfriend type. Never thought you'd end up like that. I thought you would die a virgin when we were younger." She sniggered.
I couldn't help but smile, thinking back to my time in Astrovia. "You know, for a long time, so did I." I admitted.
"Isn't he a bit young for you though? He only looks a teenager..." She loudly whispered behind her hand, making sure Darren could hear her.
"Believe it or not, I'm actually older. My name's Darren, Ruth's fiance." He held out a hand to Lizzie who eyed him over again before shaking it, batting her eyelashes.
"Phwoar. I'm getting jealous here, girl!" Lizzie jeered. "Now, what about this lunch?"
She linked her arm with mine then seemed to remember Natalia.
"I am so sorry, Natalia, was it?" She said, letting me go to stand in front of Natalia.
Natalia smiled warmly. "It is. Hi, Lizzie."
"So, we have the crazy twin sister who looks like she has been through some wars," Natalia, Darren and I grimaced at that. "We have the hot fiance with the killer bod. Where do you fit in?" She raised an eyebrow at Natalia.
Natalia giggled. "I am the crazy twin sisters wife." She said proudly.
"Her wife?!" Lizzie blurted out. "That psycho bitch is married?! How do you put up with her?"
"Actually, she puts up with me more, believe it or not."
"How did you two meet and fall in love? I doubt it's very romantic." Lizzie scoffed, folding her arms and looking up the high street to see if she could see Rebecca.
Natalia answered her before I could stop her though. "Well it depends. First she saw me naked in a front garden then we realised we loved each other when I kicked her round the face."
Both Lizzie and I gaped at her. Lizzie because she hadn't been expecting that answer and me because I had tried to get her not to give that answer.
Lizzie looked at me skeptically. "Do I want to know how you met your fiance?"
I looked at Darren before looking back at her. "He saved my life." I said simply.
Lizzie looked at him with an over the top 'awwww' expression before linking her arm with me again.
"Well, let's go have lunch!" Lizzie said, cheerfully.
We just started to walk away when my phone pinged.
I gave her an apologetic look and let go of her arm to get my phone out. Before I could even get to it, it pinged again, and again, and again.
I looked at Natalia, silently telling her to get Rebecca, something was wrong.
I looked at my phone and there were emails from everyone minus Hunter and Sawyer. Dean had sent me two.
"Rebecca. Something is wrong." Natalia said before putting her phone away and looking at us. "She's coming back."
I nodded and opened the first email from Dean.

Watson,
You need to get here quick. Something is wrong with Raquel, Clara and Xavier. They seem to be frightened of Gerri for some reason and have gone upstairs wanting to talk to each other in private. They were speaking in Atanian (at least I think it was) before I told them to go above the cafe.
D x

I opened the second one and it was all in capitals.

WATSON
GET HERE NOW!
D

I focused on my watch to put in the location linked to where the email was sent from before sending the same coordinates to Rebecca, Natalia and Darren.
"I'm sorry, Liz. Email me, ok?" I said quickly before running into a nearby alley, with Darren and Natalia on my heels.
I pressed the sides of my watch but nothing happened. I tried again. Nothing.
"The fuck?!" I hissed, looking up at Darren and Natalia. They had the same horrified expression on their faces when our watches weren't working.
We jumped when Natalia's phone rang.
"Rebecca? Our watches aren't working!" Natalia cried into her phone in a panic.
She listened to Rebecca while Darren and I quickly tried again, changing the location slightly, but still nothing.
"Rebecca is back where we were. Hers isn't working either!" Natalia spun round and started running back to the shop. Darren and I followed close behind.
Rebecca was standing by the door of the shop looking extremely worried. She ran towards us when she saw us coming.
"Something's up with the watches! How are we going to get there?" She
"Cab?" Darren suggested.
"Good idea!" I said, grabbing Rebecca's arm and pulling her to a cab office I knew would be close by.
As we were approaching, there were four men standing outside the cab office, smoking and having a chat.
"Darren, tell Rebecca and Natalia what we're about to be doing. I'll get a cab arranged."
Darren immediately turned to the women, explaining what a cab is and what it does while I approached four men.
"Good morning, fellas." I gave a friendly greeting. "Would any of you be available to take us to..." I looked at the location on Dean's email signature. "Dean's Tavern, 63 London Road, Barking?"
"Barking?" One of the men chortled. He was a large man, wearing a flat cap over his bald head, and large sunglasses. His cigarette was hanging out of his mouth as he smirked at me. "You got the money, kid?"
I scowled at that. Of course, I'm seen as a teenager here still. Shaking off the annoyance at being called kid, I nodded. The men were looking me up and down looking amused that I was in armour.
"I do. You got a licence?" I retorted, smirking slightly.
He laughed. "I like you, kid. Sure. I can take ya. How many are there?"
"Four."
"Right, when you need it?"
"Now?" I begged with my eyes a little.
He nodded, taking a last drag of his cigarette before dropping it on the floor and stamping it out. He gestured for me to follow and I called Darren, Rebecca and Natalia over.
Rebecca looked anxious. If our watches weren't working, we wouldn't be able to get home easily. We had to think up a way of getting back and soon, but first we had to get to Dean's.
The driver stopped beside a black cab and opened up the back door for us to hop in.
I had never been inside a black cab before and was amazed when I saw the room in the back. There was enough room for at least five people to sit in the back comfortably, with two seats folded up against the front passenger and drivers seats. I climbed in and helped Natalia inside then Rebecca. Natalia sat on the left while Rebecca sat next to her, both by the windows. I put their seat belts on, telling them it was for safety before folding out the seat behind the driver and strapping myself in. Darren climbed in last and shut the door before sitting next to me in the other folded seat.
"You got the postcode, love?" the driver called through the little window. I told him what it was and he started the car. Rebecca and Natalia froze when the car came to life and started moving. They didn't know what to make of it.
"Think of it like a horse and cart without the horse." I told them and they nodded, stiffly with their eyes wide.
"You sound like you're in a bit of a rush then, love?" The driver called through the seperator window. "Everything ok?"
"Just an urgent call that we need to get to ASAP." I told him.
The driver nodded. "You guys late for a party? Thought that was the case. Or is it your job?"
"Kids birthday party." Darren chimed in, his grin wide and eyes sparkling, taking advantage of the situation to have some fun.
The driver glanced over his shoulder. "Mind if I ask? Why aren't you Kings and Queens?"
Darren snorted. "Well, we did think about going as Henry the Eighth and his first three wives, but the twins both wanted to be Anne Boleyn."
I stamped on his foot and scowled at him.
The driver laughed. "Dunno why you'd want to be her." He looked through his windscreen mirror at Rebecca, who stared back at his eyes reflection, looking scared. "She lost her head, didn't she?"
"Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived." Darren quipped, smirking, ticking them off on his fingers as he recited the poem.
I rolled my eyes and took out my phone. I better call Dean and tell her we were on our way. I pressed the call button, praying that it would work now we were on Earth.
It did and the phone started ringing.
"Hello?"
"Dean! It's Watson!"
"WATSON! OH MY GOD! GUYS, ITS WATSON!" Dean screamed so loudly, I had to take my phone away from my ear for a second.
"Is everything alright? We are having to get a cab, our watches don't want to be working at the moment." I said, ignoring the driver turning his head slightly to listen to my one sided conversation.
"It's ok now, but Raquel, Clara and Xavier are really shaken up. Gerri went crazy at them. Hunter went after her, but we haven't seen him since." Dean sounded exhausted as she calmed down after her excitement of hearing my voice.
I furrowed my brow. Rebecca was listening to my call too, her eyes narrowed and lips thin with concentration, but Natalia was excitedly watching the world go by with her face practically flat against the glass like a dog.
"What happened exactly?" I asked her.
"We were having a chat with Raquel after they had a private chat. Turns out Raquel has found her soulmate and it's Hunter!" I gasped, looking at Natalia wanting to ask her about it, but she was too mesmerized. "When we were told that, we shouted his name a little too loudly and he thought we had called him into the room to talk. We didn't want to tell him about him being the soulmate of a sixteen year old at twenty five, so Clara distracted him saying Raquel was telling us about Aura's. Raquel told Hunter that he had someone watching over him that was evident through his Aura. Of course, we knew it was Goodwin." Her voice cracked a little. "He started to tear up and Gerri came in. The kids were scared of her anyway, so when she got annoyed at them for bringing Goodwin up because it upsets him, they backed away from her, terrified. Hunter tried to calm her down and it... kind of worked. Until Raquel called her a lier after she told him she loved him."
"Wow. That sounds dramatic." I said, unable to hide my sarcasm. I remember how melodramatic I used to be, but I never called anyone a soulmate before. I didn't even call Darren my soulmate, although I thought he was pretty damn close!
"How did Gerri react to Raquel calling her a lier?" I asked.
"Badly. She had to be held back by Hunter while I took the kids upstairs away from her. Gerri broke free of him though, and got up the stairs and started fighting Raquel."
"Shit. Bitch went crazy." I murmured, my eyes wide. Rebecca raised her eyebrows at me but I shook my head, signalling I would explain later. "I hope Raquel held her own."
"No she didn't. She got beaten up quite badly. Gerri really knew how to fight. Jenn and I had a hard time pulling her off, before Sawyer intervened and picked her up."
I let out a low whistle. "Where did she learn to fight? Was Raquel ok?"
"No. She was furious, her nose was bleeding badly, she had a cut on her eye from Gerri's rings and her lip was busted. Then something really bizarre happened. She pointed at Gerri, screaming something in another language and Gerri stopped struggling and just left. All calm like nothing had happened."
"Weird..." I looked at Natalia again, who was still flattening her face against the window watching the view, and snapped my fingers at her. Natalia twisted her head towards me. "Nats, listen to what Dean just said. Can you explain it please?"
She nodded and I put the phone on speakerphone.
"Dean, repeat what you just told me so Natalia can hear it please."
"Oh er, ok. Gerri was struggling with Sawyer to get back to Raquel and finish beating her up, when Raquel pointed at her, screamed something in another language, then Gerri walked out, completely normal like nothing had happened. Freaked the fuck out of us."
Natalia nodded. "She's an Aura Reader. She gave Gerri a green Aura."
"A what?" Darren, Rebecca, Dean, the driver and I all said together.
"A green Aura. Basically like an Amica Ignis makes the persons Aura purple, Aura Readers can change them green. But instead of making them fight the others, they tend to make them do chores and other jobs around the village as a punishment."
"The fuck is an america ignites?" The driver asked.
Darren shut the window on him, rolling his eyes. "Nosey tosser." He muttered under his breath.
"So what has Raquel asked her to do?" I asked Natalia.
She shook her head. "You'll have to ask Raquel."
"Dean is Raquel with you?" I said into the phone.
"She is here, yes." Dean replied, sounding concerned.
"Can I speak with her please?" Rebecca asked, holding out her hand for my phone.
"Er, sure." Dean said before another voice came on the phone.
"Relxa?"
"Relxa, Raquel. Doqaaxit Rebecca Donton."
"REBECCA DONTON?!" Raquel's voice squealed, making Rebecca take the phone further away and grimacing.
"Iez. Zixeti fa Gerri?" Rebecca said, looking very serious.
"Ezerez pixteci, Rebecca." Raquel blurted out. "Ezerez pixteci, ezerez ef liqaa Hunter! Erez qae saltazeeb!"
"Ric iai, Raquel. Pzaxlen." Rebecca replied calmly but sat up straight with what she had said, looking at Natalia who looked extremely worried.
Darren and I exchanged confused looks with each other. What were they saying to each other?
"Raquel, pass me back to Dean pleize?" Rebecca told Raquel in English this time, and Dean's voice came back.
"Heya Watson. I didn't know you spoke that language. Lot's changed since we last saw you." Dean gave a small chuckle.
"It's Rebecca." Rebecca said to her, flatly.
"Oh, hi, Rebecca." Dean's voice went quiet.
"I suggest none of you piss Raquel off before we get there. You've seen what happens to people who do. Gerri had a purple Aura, meaning she's dangerous, but that won't stop her turning people who are red or gold." Rebecca warned her.
"Yeah, we kind of got that by ourselves." Dean joked weakly.
"This is serious, Sharon! You piss her off, she will turn you all green too. Keep Tommy close to her, that's your best option." Rebecca told her, pinching the bridge of her nose, looking stressed.
"Er, well. Hunter went after Gerri. We haven't seen him for about half hour now."
"Get him back." Rebecca lowered the phone and looked at me. "How long will we be?" She sounded desperate now.
Darren twisted round and slid open the window. "How long, mate?"
"Er. About an hour? That's if traffics good." The driver replied.
"The quicker you get there, the bigger the tip." I told him and he looked at me in shock through the windscreen mirror.
"Yes, ma'am!" He said.
Darren slid the window shut again and held his hand out for the phone. Rebecca handed it over.
"Dean, It's Hodgson."
"Oh my god! You're all coming?"
"Yeah, one big family reunion." Darren chuckled. "I'll call Hunter and get him to come back. Can you tell me who else is with you?"
"Well, the cafe's shut cause it's Sunday. There's Perkins, Green, their kids, Sawyer, Ashdown, Edwards and Ryder." Dean replied happily.
"Excellent!" Darren grinned at me, and I made an excited face back. "We can't wait to see you all! We're about hour away, but we have told the driver to step on it."
"Congratulations on the engagement, Dean and Hewitt!" I called into the phone before I forgot.
Dean laughed. "Thank you! I still can't believe she said yes. Anyway, we will see you all soon. This is way over due, you two! You have a lot of making up to do!"
We laughed and put the phone down. Rebecca had taken off her watch and studying it, a very annoyed look on her face, while Natalia watched her, her hand on Rebecca's knee.
"Why wouldn't they work?" Darren asked.
"I don't fucking know do I? Calling from them doesn't work either. I don't want to risk opening it up here, incase I lose parts. I'll have to take a look when we get to Sharon and Jennifer's Tavern." Rebecca snapped.
I looked down and took out the little tin of metal chreek reed plates that we all had to carry with us incase something like this happened. Our watches were pretty much the same as any other watch, apart from the addition of the chreek reed plate. This was a metal plate that laid underneath the battery and it was essential to use our watches to jump Realms. The chreek reed was mainly known for warning the villages of Atania of danger, but it had transportation properties too. That's why they were used in Portal Bracelets. Thing is, chreek reeds as a raw substance, could only be used once, so old fashioned portal bracelets were usually made of numerous reeds intertwined with each other. Asuna and her team had created the metal plates to prolong it's use to more than one trip. This also allowed the watches to be normal sized instead of absolutely huge with hundred of reeds
I opened my tin and cried out. All the metal plates were fried! All black, tarnished and useless.Well there goes one way of getting back. Why were they like that?
Rebecca looked horrified at the burnt out chreek plates and quickly took hers out to find them the same. In fact, all of ours looked the same, and we were now starting to panic.
Rebecca took out her phone and called Asuna, talking to her in Uistean language which none of us could understand. Natalia went back to looking out of the window, but had lost all of her enthusiasm, and Darren tried to get hold of Hunter to tell him to return to the cafe.
I called Rhianna. I needed to tell them what was happening so they could hold the fort down while we were gone.
"Heya, Ruth." Rhianna answered. It still felt strange hearing her answer quite... friendly rather than the blunt greeting I was used to.
"Rhianna, there's a problem. Our watches aren't working and it seems our back up chreeks have been completely burnt out. We don't know how, but we can't get back. We're stuck here until we can figure out a way to get home. You and Ruby are going to have to run things until we get back."
"Oh fuck sake!" Rhianna snapped, returning to her old self in a heartbeat. "So you guys are fucking off on holiday and the rest of us have to work even harder?!"
"Trust me, Rebecca is already on the phone to Asuna to try and sort something out. We are heading to Raquel now. Apparently she's already shown she's a badass." I said, trying to make the conversation lighter.
Natalia was now on the phone talking to someone in Atanian, no doubt Clemency, but she wasn't her usual squealy self at all. Darren was talking with Hunter in a low, quiet voice and Rebecca was still on the phone to Asuna, looking angrier by the minute.
"Whatever, Watson." Rhianna snapped and put the phone down on me.
I let out a long sigh when the driver tapped on the window. I slid it open.
"We're almost there, love. About fifteen minutes or so." He said to me.
"Cheers, mate. You excelled yourself." I smiled at his reflection in thanks.
"Anything for a beaut like you." He winked at me.
Darren slid the window shut straight away.
"No fucking tip for him!" He growled, looking pissed off. "Oh no, H. I didn't mean you. The fucking cabbie is hitting on Watson."
I giggled. "I still got it." I muttered at him and kissed him on the cheek when he gave me an unimpressed look.
Sadly, we hit traffic when we were approaching the high street where Dean's cafe was located. So that stretched the time to half hour. Darren helped Rebecca and Natalia out of their seat belts and helped them out of the car while I paid the driver.
"Here, love?" He said, just as I was about to climb out of the car.
"Hmmm?" I turned back to him. He handed me a card with his details on it.
"You ever get stuck again, gimme a call, yeah? Don't want you young ladies getting in tight situations like that again, plus..." He looked out of the window at Darren. "... He seems a bit of a dick."
I laughed and nodded. "I'll bear that in mind. Thanks."
"Later, love." He raised his hand in goodbye.
I climbed out and put my bag on my back, looking up the high street as the cab drove off.
"What did that tosser say to you?" Darren snapped.
I turned and showed him his card. "I got his number!" I teased in a girly, flirty way, before running off down an alley to get to the back entrance of the cafe.