"Aaaaawkwaaaaard." Blackpearl whispered. She was standing at the top of the staircase, looking at the face off between the adults with wide eyes. Blackpearl looked unharmed from the fight, luckily.
Amber pushed past her and ran over. She had cuts and gashes all over. Cherry poked her, and she winced. Amber slapped her hand away. "I'm fine. Anyway. How are we freeing Starflower?"
"Good question." Rose said. "Maybe if Amber breathed fire on the bars, they would melt?"
"NO." Starflower ordered. "You'll burn me!" She stood up and looked down her nose at Rose.
Rose held Starflower's gaze for a second. Then she gave her own look of cold disappointment. "One, That's the point. You deserve to be burned. Two, YOU don't order ME around. We have power over you. If we wanted, you could stay here until Oak's followers decide otherwise. So. Apologize for kidnapping my daughter, being a jerk, and ENDANGERING THEIR LIVES!"
Rose ended up screaming, and the remaining guards who had recuperated from Amber's attack looked up. "Um..." Blackpearl looked nervous, and Amber didn't look like she could handle another fight.
"MOM! Help me hold them off!" Cherry drew Rose's attention to the guards who were now flocking to the platform. They were spilling over the railing, and Cherry was starting to hyperventilate. "Mom!" She pleaded.
Rose lurched forward, shielding them all. Her face remained perfectly calm as she motioned towards Blackpearl and Amber. Blackpearl, surprisingly, didn't look worried anymore, either.
Blackpearl and Amber started unlocking Starflower's cage, and she was frantically murmuring, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Rose held her head high, and plastered a disgusted, regal look upon her head. "SILENCE!" She hollered at the guards.
They all froze. "Get back girls. These fools OBVIOUSLY don't know who they are dealing with." To the guards' confused looks, she clarified, "I am Oak's MOTHER."
The guards could tell she wasn't lying, and the chief guard dismissed everyone hurriedly with a wave of her hand. The female Leafwing marched forward, then swept into a deep bow at Rose's feet.
"Apologies, ma'am. We had some ruffians sneak in earlier, and we are trying to locate them." Rose unraveled her wings a little more, hiding Starflower from sight.
"Oh, yes, we simply got lost but I dearly hope you find those-those-those RUFFIANS." Rose inclined her head at the guards, then called, "Darling! Bring your servants over, and introduce yourselves to this nice lady."
The guards coughed. "Um, ma'am...it's me."
Rose looked blankly at the guard. "I'm sorry, I forget faces so easily. Remind me...?"
The guard bowed again. "It's Kapok."
"OH, yes. I remember. You brew tea, right?" Rose gave Cherry a look, like I actually know this person! Not just pretend. Cherry wondered if maybe Oak had had some normal friends before he went evil.
Kapok flushed. "You remembered!"
Cherry and the girls came into sight, and the guard smiled. "Hey, Hyacinth! How are things going with Ooooooaaak?"
Cherry flushed. She forgot she was pretending to be Oak's girlfriend. She gave a meek wave, and couldn't help but notice that Rose was grinding her teeth. Rose was still mad Oak hadn't told her about his girlfriend. Even though, y'know, he was evil and had run away from home and all that...
Cherry could have sworn she heard Rose mutter, "Oakacinth" under her breath. Their eyes connected, and Rose wiggled her eyebrows up and down. Cherry fought back a laugh. Even in the midst of danger, Rose was still happy.
Rose directed her attention back to Kapok. "Darling, it was GREAT to see you again, after all these years, but me and the girls really gotta go. We were looking for Oak, but he's not here."
Kapok looked worried. "I was worrying about that...he's been gone for so long..."
Cherry coughed. Oak was a tree, and they STILL didn't know...? Cherry nudged her mother, and nodded onwards the cage that held Starflower.
"I'll distract her, you free Starflower. I'll catch up later." Cherry whispered to Rose. Then she sauntered over to Kapok, disgusted with what she was about to do. "Hey, Kapok, did you know...? Me and Oak are engaged!"
Kapok started squealing. "I'm so happy for you, Hyacinth!"
Cherry faltered for a moment, then remembered she was Hyacinth. "Yup! C'mon, let's have some tea to celebrate!"
As Kapok happily led Cherry down the stairs, Cherry glanced back, hoping everyone would cope without her. I'm sure they'll be fine. Cherry said, then placed her attention back on Kapok.
Kapok led Cherry into a tiny office, hidden by boxes. It had a round table in the middle, and there was barely enough space to move around in. Kapok apologized, then left to fill the teapot with water from the well. She was only gone for a few minutes when screams erupted from outside.
THEY'RE TOTALLY NOT FINE. Cherry leaped up from the table and dashed out the door in a hurry. It was chaos. Dragons everywhere. Shouts. Dragons collapsed.
Amber's cuts were bleeding ferociously.
Blackpearl was standing over her protectively but it wasn't doing much good. The guards towered over her and her small frame.
Starflower had appeared next to Rose and they were fighting an onslaught of guards.
Cherry knew she couldn't fight. They would never win. But she had a better idea. She took off flying towards the catwalks. She landed with a clank on the metal, and the whole web of catwalks shuddered like it would collapse. Cherry steeled her nerves and took in a breath.
"LISTEN UP EVERYONE!" She bellowed. Every single dragon in the room jumped. Even Amber, who was lying on the floor. They paused and looked at her. "Oak Junior is dead!"
The reaction was immediate. Some dragons froze mid-fight. Their snouts hung wide open in a state of utter shock and disbelief. Most dragons looked so angry they could scream. Kapok, who had just entered the room, was standing next to her office door. She was sobbing hysterically. Cherry nodded discreetly at Blackpearl.
"He learned the pain of the ones he had hurt! The dragons that have died for him are now avenged!" Cherry continued on, "I killed him!"
"Hyacinth? How could you?" Kapok stuttered. Cherry could tell she was close to the breaking point.
"I AM NOT HYACINTH! I am Oak's sister, Cherryblossom!" She cried. It was absolute mayhem. The guards and Kapok were screaming and running around trying to take off to get to the catwalk. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Rose, Starflower, Blackpearl and Amber sneaking away. The plan was working. Now just for her escape.
She knew that it was the only way, but after the Amber vase incident it seemed a lot scarier. But the window was the only way out.
She braced herself and shot up to the window ledge. The glass wasn't as sharp as the glass from the vase. It was more bendy somehow, like a piece of sharp plastic. Luckily, it broke on impact.
Cherry tucked her wings in and nose dived down towards the ground, almost as if she was racing the raindrops. The fortress fence was approaching fast. She twisted in midair and almost ran into a blurry black figure. She hit the ground hard. Ow.... she thought, her face smooshed into the soggy grass. The landscape started to dim at the corners.
Suddenly a sweet smell shocked her senses awake. She shot straight up into the arms of Blackpearl.
"Nice escape," Blackpearl teased with a grin, "but we seriously have to go now. They're coming." Sure as she said, the guards were standing just around the corner, looking for them.
Cherry stood up, supported by Blackpearl, and looked around. Starflower and Rose were gathered around Amber, trying to pick her up. She ran over. "Let me help," Cherry insisted.
"Cherry, I hate to break it to you but you need just as much help as her. How are you not reeling in pain right now?" Her mother commented.
Cherry stared down at her scales. She was bleeding heavily and the bendy glass was sticking out of every other inch of her body. She shrugged nonchalantly, but her mind was reeling at the sight of the blood. Her scales felt numb, but she shook it off.
"Mom, I'm fine. Just let me help get Amber out of here," she said.
"On three lift her up," Starflower said, agreeing with Cherry. "Three, two, one." Everyone lifted Amber up and placed her onto Rose's back. Please be okay.
Rose took off, followed quickly by the rest of the group. Cherry found herself near the back of the pack. Now that her wings and scales were in action, she started to feel the sharp pain of the glass.
The dark thicket of trees seemed more inviting this time. The first moon was just beginning to rise over the distant mountains, and the sound of crickets crowded the air. Rose dove down into the trees, and everyone followed. Cherry allowed herself to freefall a little, just to let her mind and wings rest. We did it. We actually did it. She let that sink in for a moment. She smiled so brightly. Not in just relief, but in hope.
Everything was perfect. She knew that they still had to stop the secret mystery war. But she also knew that all her friends and family were safe. And she knew that she could protect them.
"Hey, Cherry? Can I ask you something?" Blackpearl asked. She was flying next to her.
"Yeah, course," she responded.
"Sorry to bring the mood down but what are we going to do next?"
"Oh," Blackpearl had in fact darkened her mood, "you can't see anything about it?"
Blackpearl shook her head. "No, I can't." Cherry was immediately worried. Does that mean that we don't have a future? Cherry silently asked herself.
The question seemed to show on her face because Blackpearl frowned. "This has never happened to me before. What am I supposed to do?" She squeezed her eyes shut.
Amber came up behind them. Cherry gave her a you-were-just-eavesdropping-weren't-you-look. Amber rolled her eyes. "Blackpearl, it's gonna be completely fine. As fine as the world was when the continents combined. Well actually bad analogy, the world wasn't actually very fine. I guess umm as fine as the world was 100 years after that. Wait-there was a war then, wasn't there. Oh screw it! You get the point!" Amber rambled.
"Plus, we have each other! What is going to go wrong that we cannot fix?" Cherry pointed out.
"What if we-"
"No what ifs! We've got this!" Cherry screamed. A couple parrots flew out of the surrounding trees.
"YOU HEARD ME! wE'vE gOt ThIs!"
Cherry as Hyacinth though.
She should become an actor lol.
Question of the Week: Are you excited for the next book?
I'm actually not. Or at least not for writing it.
I basically have to write it on my own, no one else writes during the summer. It's very scary trying to tackle a novel by yourself. Especially when you know that the others in the group could be at your throat if you screw up.
Hahaha, so fun. *chokes in sarcasm*
Also, there won't be updates on any of the books next week because I'm going on vacation. I am updating extra this week to make up for it.