It was 11 at night. Wren had spent the past few hours lying awake in her bed, staring at her grey-painted ceiling as thoughts ran over her again and again.
She wanted to know more. About her parents. Were they dead, or just held captive? Was the palace really expecting her?
The library book was beside her on the bed. She reached for it and randomly opened the middle of the book, sighing. She looked up, looking around her room. Her bag was open, its contents sprawled all over the floor. Her schoolbooks lay open, pencils drooped over her table.
She huddled in her blanket, flipping through the pages of the library book, bored. She tossed it from hand to hand, staring at the clock on her wall. It ticked by slowly.
She heard her uncle snoring from downstairs. He was a loud snorer, and she could only block him out if she closed her door. She tossed her book in the air, then a piece of paper came falling out.
Wren picked it up from her bed. It folded; crumpled. She unfolded it, full of curiosity. It seemed to be parchment, and it was brown-yellow at the ends. It looked as if it was from a thousand years ago.
It was a map. Cursive writing was written underneath the illustrations of locations on the map. It was rather quite hard to figure out what they meant. Wren frowned, peering at the words intently.
Argonian.
She wasn't sure that it was what she thought it was. Besides, the 'n's looked like 'u's. She traced her finger along the map. On the right side of what seemed to be Argonian was a forest full of pine trees. She felt as if she had seen them before ...
Of course. Those were the pine trees that surrounded the town she and her uncle lived in. At least, they looked like them. Didn't all pine trees look the same? She wasn't so sure. She rubbed her eyes and blinked.
Maybe she was just paranoid.
She decided to force herself back to sleep. Her eyes were getting heavy and sore. Just then - a flashing thought struck her.
It was so fast it disappeared as quickly as it came.
I could run away, she thought.
Then again, the idea came back. She sat up straight in her bed. The idea was already there, in her head - stuck there. Her heart hammered in her chest. Plans started drifting together in her mind.
She didn't know how she was going to run away - wild thoughts just swam towards her. The feeling when nothing is organised at all in your head but you have something to start with ... that was what Wren was dealing with right now.
Bolting upright, Wren scrambled for the map and looked at it intently again. The pine trees. There was just something about the pine trees, she thought frustratedly. It was almost as if they called out to her. She knew it sounded ridiculous, but she couldn't help herself.
She didn't even give herself time to think. She was going. Running away. Making a choice. Even though she didn't know where to start. But she was going to try.
She got out of her bed, and the only thing hanging in the air was her breaths. She had her map in one hand, and the library book in the other. She grabbed her bag and stuffed them inside; she would need them. She grabbed her torchlight and jacket, in case she got cold for it was midnight. Besides, it was only for a night. It was just a test-run. Just to see if she could reach out to Argonian or not. If she couldn't, she would find out another way to know what she needed to.
She lunged for her phone, pocketed it, slung her bag over her shoulder, and crept downstairs. Her door was already open, so all she had to do was make it down the stairs without any of the floorboards creaking. The staircases creaked loudly.
Slowly, she went down the stairs. It creaked a little. She winced. Her uncle was still snoring in his room, fast asleep. She breathed out in relief. It was a good thing that her uncle was a heavy sleeper.
A few minutes later, she made it down the landing. The next thing she needed to do was get the keys, open the front door, and get out. Easy as that.
Now, where were the keys? She started hunting for them. Where would her uncle put the keys? Probably under Tabitha's bed. She went over to Tabitha who was sound asleep, breathing in and out.
Wren sighed. It was a place worth looking into. Gently, she carried Tabitha up, the cat's weight feeling weird in her hands. Her legs drooped over her palms and Wren put her down on the ground lightly. The cat stirred.
Wren froze.
Tabitha meowed and turned over on the ground. There was something off about her. She was trembling, for a reason. Shivering, maybe. Wren needed to find that key fast. She hunted below Tabitha's pillow, her blanket ('She has a blanket?' Wren whispered to herself in amazement) but there was no key.
Disgruntled, Wren put Tabitha back on her blanket. She pulled out the chairs from the kitchen table, desperate to find the key. She searched everywhere, every room except for her uncle's.
What if the key was there? Besides, he was a sound sleeper. Like cat, like master.
She tiptoed into his room as quietly as she could. She crept in as silently as a mouse and reached her uncle's table. It was so messy a cockroach couldn't make its home there. Documents, papers, pens, books, and binders were scattered on the table messily. To begin with, Wren stacked the papers up together and started pulling out his drawers. No key was in sight.
It was around ten minutes later Wren gave up and decided to search the living room again. She walked out of her uncle's room in despair. She glanced at the front door wearily. It was so tempting to open it and escape. She leaned against the door, resting her hand on the door handle. Suddenly, it bent down, causing her to yelp in agony. She clamped a hand over her mouth, forgetting to be quiet as the door lurched open. She gasped in disbelief. It wasn't locked at all! She peered at the door handle to see a key hanging there helplessly on the edge to fall off.
She kicked herself and laughed in amazement. Just like her uncle to leave the key on the door handle herself. She opened it to its full width, not before drawing out the key. She closed the door and slipped the key underneath the door. She hunched her bag over her shoulder and stepped out into the night.
The wind blew in her hair. The midnight blue sky stared down at her as if inviting her to explore the rest of the world. The town was still and silent, except for the wind blowing here and there.
She drew out the map and looked at the pine tree forest. She looked up. The pine trees that were in the town next to hers were on the right. She gazed to her right as a few pine trees far away met her sight.
The pine tree forest stood in Hayorch Town. She unpocketed her phone and looked at the time. It was 1 a.m. She sighed as she sat down on the garden bench.
The Night London buses would come around 1-ish. They were in operation until 6 a.m. Just as she predicted, a roar of the engine was heard and she stood up hastily. She waved a hand at the tall, red bus for it to stop.
The bus stopped and its doors opened, allowing Wren to enter. She boarded the bus to find the grey-haired bus conductor staring at her warily.
'One pound fifty.'
'Ah.' Wren rummaged in her bag and pulled out one pound and fifty shillings. She handed it to the conductor who grunted, 'Cram yourself at the back.'
'Right. Uh, just to confirm, the next stop is Hayorch Town, correct?'
'Yes. Cram yourself at the back.'
Wren moved to the back and found a seat at the back. She laid her bag down heavily as the bus started moving. She rested her head on the headrest and unfolded the map again. The map said that inside the pine trees, would be a river, and she would need to cross that to arrive in the Grand Palace of Argonian. A thrill rose within her.
The bus stopped at Hayorch Town. She stepped out into the silent night, the wind whistling. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she examined the map.
She was standing in front of the forest full of pine trees. She wasn't that far away - just a few feet from there. She took slight, timid steps towards the forest, the map thrust in front of her. Soon, she made it inside the forest. It was dark, full of pine trees and bushes. All she could hear was her breath in the air. She fished out her torchlight from her bag and clicked it on.
Suddenly, she heard a loud rustle from her left. She swung around, breathing heavily, the beam of light from her torchlight shining into the woods.
'Who's there?' she shouted. 'Come out!'
There was a sneeze. There was definitely someone else here.
'What's the matter with you?' bellowed Wren. 'BRING IT ON! Are you a coward?'
'Not likely!' a voice shouted. It was a girl's voice - followed by a groan and a boy's voice.
'Couldn't you be quiet for once, Laya? You're always giving us away when somebody says, "Are you a coward?". That could be directed to me.'
'Keep it down!' barked a manly growl. It sounded like an adult. 'Hey!' he shouted into the darkness, louder this time. 'Who's that?'
'Come out here and show yourself!' yelled Wren.
'That's a girl,' grumbled the man's voice, disgruntled. 'Try to stay out of the way. Oi!' he yelled. 'Who are you, girl?'
Wren was breathing heavily; her hands were trembling. But she was here now - and there was no turning back. Not yet. She swung her torchlight in their direction.
The rustle of bushes grew louder - it sounded as if someone was running around desperately. Her beam of light caught the figure of a girl - and boy - who looked around the same age as her.
The boy was gaping to his right. The girl was shaking her head, her arms folded. Wren was frowning at them, looking as if she was ready to kill them. The boy's voice perked up.
'Whoa there.'
He had messy hazel hair, pink cheeks, a sharp chin, and deep, blue eyes like an ocean. They looked tense, and maybe even a little ... worried. Once his eyes landed on Wren, his lips twitched in amusement.
'She looks just like her,' Wren heard him murmur to the girl next to him.
Wren snorted and flashed her torchlight around. 'D'you always do this, wandering around in the middle of the night?'
'We don't live here,' the boy said. He had a slight Australian accent in his voice, which could only be heard if you paid extra attention.
'What are you doing here?'
'Hmph. Could ask you the same thing,' the girl said.
'Well, I have a reason why I'm here, and you don't look like you've got a reason.'
There was a rumbling silence, and the boy whispered to the girl, 'Is it her?'
'Must be,' the girl hissed back. She had freckles across her nose and tanned skin that matched well with her dark brown wavy hair.
Jennifer raised an eyebrow. The boy cleared his throat.
'Um, okay. You're Wren Eloria Capaldi, aren't you?'
There was a silence. Wren found that she had dropped her torchlight and her hand was shaking slightly.
'What the -' she began, but -
'I'm Jake Gagneus and this is Ladislaya Rocquel, a.k.a, Laya,' the boy went on, not pausing to listen to what Wren was about to say. 'Tanner's right behind us, but you can't see him because -'
'Maybe you should start the story from the beginning, Jake,' the girl called Ladislaya said loudly.
'Okay, so if you think that you can tell the story better than I can, I would absolutely love to hear you try,' Jake pounced at once.
'Really?' Ladislaya said, sounding impressed.
'Really,' Jake said, nodding vigorously, his eyes wide and he was looking at Ladislaya at the corner of his eye. He was a few inches taller than her.
'Wow, thank you for giving me the chance,' Ladislaya said. She turned to Jennifer and said, 'So I'm Ladislaya, and -'
'She knows that,' Jake butted in.
'Are you telling the story, or am I?'
'Whatever.'
'Whatever's not telling the story.'
'What - OK.'
'Okay. So Jennifer, I'm Ladislaya Effiene Rocquel, and this is Jake Gagneus. Jake's from Australia, but his family moved to UK. All of us are magicians, from a place called Argonian. The entire world is called Elryzian. Argonian's just a kingdom in Elryzian, see. And we have abilities, for example, to produce fire, become invisible, and stuff like that. My ability is shapeshifting, and I know it seems useless, but trust me, it's very much useful. Jake's ability is to manipulate time, but only by a few seconds at a time and at a great physical cost to himself. Tanner's ability is invisibility -'
There was a sigh from behind them as ripples of air glitched and Jennifer could see a tall man behind them.
Wren's mouth hung open even wider. The man glanced down at Ladislaya.
'Didn't we make a deal that you two would shut up and I would do all the speaking?'
'Tanner, please,' Ladislaya begged. 'This is fun.'
'Fine.' Tanner said grumpily. Ladislaya squealed and turned to Wren. 'Just make sure you get the facts right.'
'I know it's a lot to process,' she told her, 'but you and I, we're the same kind. You're a magician. You have magic in your blood ... like us. Ever wondered how that happened? Do you even know who your father is?'
Wren contemplated whether to tell her she knew, or not. She decided not to.
'That's a sensitive subject,' she said through gritted teeth, 'and one I would suggest you didn't press me on.'
'Any idea where he is, now?' Ladislaya said swiftly.
'He's dead, squirt.'
'Oh yeah?'
'We're not sure of that, but he might be,' Jake interrupted, glaring at Ladislaya. Ladislaya glared back. Wren huffed. 'Fine. I know. I read all about him in this dumb book, alright? He's King Tristan of Argonian. My uncle told me.'
Ladislaya nodded in approval as if she was a referee in a match, approving whether the rules could be changed or not.
'Hm. Your uncle?' the man behind them, Tanner, snorted. 'Hunter, isn't it? Was a -'
'Holy hot Cheetos!' almost shouted Wren, stopping in her tracks. 'You know my uncle? You know my crazy, spaghetti-obsessed, cat-lover uncle?'
'Obviously, duh,' Ladislaya said, her eyebrows squished together. 'And FYI, he is not spaghetti-obsessed. He likes the sauce.'
'The tomato kind,' Jake said, nodding vigorously.
'It was time he told you you were a magician anyway,' Ladislaya said.
'No, he didn't. He said I was blood of a royal family in a different world where legends and magic exist -'
'Keyword: magic. Blood of a royal family where magic exists.'
Wren opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again.
'Anyway, we're a search party,' Ladislaya said, looking up at Tanner. 'We've been trying to find you for ages. Ever since you turned fourteen. We had to bring you here.'
'Why?' Wren couldn't help not asking.
'It was time you had to know about yourself. It was time you came here. You can't spend your whole life in the normal human world, you know.'
'But - my uncle said -' Wren faltered.
'Forget your uncle. We've been trying to talk to him through his mind, but it seems he's too absorbed in the human world. 'Tanner gestured Wren to follow them. 'We've got to get you before that happens to you.'
'What do you mean, absorbed?'
'It happens when someone's too used to living an ordinary life in the ordinary world,' Tanner said. 'Anyway, we tracked your magic here. And you're supposed to come.'
Wren's eyes bulged out of her head. 'Whoa, whoa, whoa,' she said disbelievingly. 'Hold up. You expect me to dutifully follow you like some good dog?'
Tanner sighed. 'Yes.'
Wren was shaking her head in amazement and disbelief. 'No.'
'Come on, kid. Isn't that why you're here in the first place? To find out about your parents? To know who you are?' Tanner said, bending down to look at her. 'Isn't that why you left home? The reason why you wanted to run away. You're here, Wren. Elryzian isn't that far away. And neither is Argonian.'
Wren didn't say anything.
'Besides, you've got to come, considering there are villains who are in this world, so you've got to learn to protect yourself, if they ever come to kill youuuuuu ... whoa!'
She had dragged the word 'you' as Jake trod on her foot smartly.
'Hold up,' Wren said. It was as if time had frozen around her once again. Like the world wasn't moving Like nothing was important right now. 'You said "if you ever come to kill you". Why do they want to kill me?'
'Ladislaya!' barked Tanner. 'That's exactly why I told the two of you to shut up and let me tell the story!'
'I meant you in general,' Ladislaya told Jennifer, ignoring Tanner. 'Not like you, you. Like, us. I mean, you as in for us. You know.'
'No,' Wren remained stubborn. 'You definitely did not mean it that way. You meant you as in for me. Who the hell is gonna kill me? How the hell do they know me? Why the hell would they want to kill me?'
Jake raised his eyebrows at Ladislaya.
'Slipped.'
'I meant you in general!' she said crossly.
'No, she didn't,' Jake told Wren.
Tanner groaned. 'Jake, we're trying to cover up a mistake here, and you're not helping.'
'Exposed,' Jake said, pointing to Tanner. Tanner sucked in a huge breath.
'Uh-huh, that's pretty obvious,' Wren said. 'Besides, I would rather you tell me every single detail right now than later.'
'Ha ha.'
'Well, we don't know if anyone's going to kill you,' Tanner said, straightening up. 'We just assumed. Villains are very greedy here, you know. They want power. They want positions. They want -'
'Hmph. Sounds a lot like politicians here, if you ask me.' Wren pocketed her torch.
'Well ...'
'Who in rotting carp would want to kill me though?' Wren asked thoughtfully.
'Do you swear all the time?' Jake asked.
'Only when I need to. Besides, that wasn't really swearing.'
'Okay, okay, we're getting sidetracked!' Tanner fumed. 'The point is, it's not safe for you to stay in the human world your whole life. These villains and dangerous creatures may also have the chance to track you and capture you in the human world. Your uncle isn't good enough to protect you.'
'He's great enough,' Wren snapped. 'And even though he's annoying and might treat me like a kid, sometimes - at least he doesn't suddenly bombard me with some random cock-and-bull story.'
Tanner let out a frustrated sigh. 'Look, this might be hard to understand, but -'
'By the way, can we call you Carrots?' Jake cut in.
'Why?' Wren said.
'Because of your red hair. And besides we don't want things to get too serious here, calling you Princess Wren and all.'
'I'm sorry, what?' Wren shrieked. 'I - People are expected to address -'
'You're a princess. I thought you knew that - your parents were the King and Queen.'
'But -'
'Okay, we are really getting very sidetracked here!' Tanner shouted furiously.
'Sorry, Tanner,' Jake said apologetically. Wren shot him a thumbs-up. He grinned.
'What I was saying,' Tanner went on, 'is that this might be hard to understand, but a villain met you before. That's why it's easier for him to track you down. Your -'
Wren choked. 'I'm sorry, forgive me for saying this again, but - what in rotting, bloody hell?'
'Okay, that was a huge moment,' Jake said, eyes widened.
'I told you, I only swear when I need to.'
Tanner sighed. 'Point is, your memory was erased. You weren't supposed to know until you turned fourteen - a teenager. And considering you're fourteen, you ought to know. That's the job of the Royal Advisor. Didn't he leave that nice letter for you? Besides, you should understand. A girl sacrificed her life to save four.'