Knowledge: The Fifth Division Saga: Book 1 (7 page)

Ash grinned in triumph, “I’m Ash Brentwood and this fine young lad is Erion Wilmot.”

Erion glared at him, “Don’t patronize me.” Although Erion displayed apparent annoyance, it was more of a caring sort of irritation. Like one might feel towards a brother.

“And you?” Ash asked me, ignoring his friend. “Or shall we just refer to you as Apple Slinger? Ooh, or how about Fruit Chucker? It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

“Mirabelle Daily,” I replied hesitantly and then added, “I’m going to ignore that last part.”

“That is very wise of you,” Erion said appreciatively. He shot Ash another venomous glare that went unnoticed.

“Marvelous!” Ash checked the room once over, scanning the scene with his eyes. “Now that we have been properly introduced,” he reached forward with unreal speed and grabbed my wrist tightly but without hurting me, “it’s time to go. We can walk and talk if you don’t mind.”

I shook my head, not liking the fact that once again I was being pulled around without my consent, but also realizing that these two were my best chance at getting out of my prison. This would be a lot quicker than my Shawshank idea. Without resisting,  I allowed Ash to lead me out of the room with Erion following close behind.

*

“The Legion?” Caspian repeated.

Bram nodded solemnly, “Yes, they are an army of sorts, one of the most efficient and powerful groups in the world in all honesty. I called them while you were sending everyone home.” His eyes moved to Rain Daily, whose head now rested in her hands, “I figured they are our best chance at finding her. They will know what to do better than we would.”

“So they are going to bring her back home?” A surge of relief rushed through Caspian’s tired body. Since seeing Wiley run off with his sister, watching her flaming hair vanishing into the black air, an overwhelming weight of grief hung over his head like a storm cloud. The idea that someone possessed the skill and potential to bring her back allowed a few rays of sun to shine through his thundercloud.

“No, not exactly.”

Caspian’s head shot up, the metaphorically sunshine depleting. “What do you mean? I thought they know what they’re doing? That they are ‘highly specialized’?”

“They are.”

“Then what are you talking about?
Where are they taking my sister
?” Caspian spat, his anger a hot flood of fury boiling over. His mother pulled her head out of her hands and looked at him with sad ocean eyes.

She looked at Bram, “We have to tell him.”

“Are you sure, Rain? It’s not quite time yet.”

“I’m sure. He deserves to know.” She returned her gaze to her son, her face soft and sympathetic. Caspian had always appreciated his mother’s unfailing kindness and her servant spirit. The face that looked upon him now embodied all the fantastic qualities he had ever loved about his mother. His anger subsided and he sat back calmly, showing that he was ready to hear whatever she had to say.

“Where are they taking Mira?”

She breathed deeply before responding; her voice so quiet that he thought he might have misheard her, “They are bringing her home.”

“I thought you said…?”

She shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes, “No, her true home. They are taking her to Nostos.”

“To...where?”

“It’s a place I have failed to tell you about until now,” she grasped his hand and squeezed reassuringly, but it did nothing to calm the nervous pit in his stomach, “and we will be meeting her there.”

*

“You know I can walk on my own, right?”

“You’re quite sassy, has anyone ever told you that?”

I ripped my hand out of Ash’s grip as we stepped out of the room, “You just did.”

He offered me a crooked smile before shrugging and turning back around. The hall outside the prison cell that had contained me looked just like one you might find in any typical house. A bathroom a little ways up and to the left and the hall ended in what looked like the master bedroom. Ash held a finger to his lips, urging me to keep silent as we tip-toed towards the stairs. I glanced to my right and had to stifle a gasp. Two guards slumped against the wall, unconscious with scarlet wounds peeking through large tears on the legs of their pants. My eyes flickered to Ash and then back to Erion, knowing that they were the ones responsible. I glanced down at the wooden knives they held and swore I could make out a black stain of dried blood

They are helping you escape. They are the good guys.

But seeing the guards sent a shiver down my spine. Checking the hallway, I noticed that the doors had been shut, refusing to reveal their secrets. The boys stomped ahead, peeking into every room we passed to make sure no guards were hiding out. We passed a room where the door had been left slightly ajar. The boys glanced inside quickly before moving on, but my curiosity had been peaked. Why was this one left open while the rest closed? As I walked past it, I made an extra effort to peer inside. The room’s walls sported a calm, creamy yellow. Toys had been neatly stacked onto a shelf against the far wall and two baby cribs seated themselves on either side of the room, one pink and the other light blue. Two large letters had been placed as decoration upon the wall above each crib; M above the pink and C above the blue. I blinked rapidly, thinking the image would wipe from existence. But every time my eyes reopened, the room remained.

I picked up the pace to match Ash’s brisk stride, choosing to desperately try and ignore the coincidence. There were plenty of explanations, and there was always an answer that made sense. Always. When we reached the stairs, Ash carefully placed the toe of his shoes down slowly and without a sound. I did my best to imitate his actions but failed miserably, causing the stairs to creak and moan with every shift of my weight. A stream of unprintable profanities streamed through my mind in irritation.

Somehow we made it to the bottom without any trouble. The first floor seeped in nightfall, the only illumination being the silvery light of the moon. From what I could make out of the house, it was decorated with old style furnishing. Lace and frills wherever room could be found and a number of ceramic statues. The carpet plush and the air smelled of musty flowers and mildew. Ash remained in the lead, the moonlight casting on him in a way that looked like someone had extracted all the color from his features. His graceful movements reminded me of a cat slinking to catch its prey. Our small posse turned a sharp corner and the front door revealed itself to us, a beautiful sight indeed. We edged towards it, never letting up our guard. Every minuscule noise, every tiny flutter made me want to jump up and run out as fast as I could. Only my pride and the fact that two seemingly crazy teenage boys with corny costumes surrounded me kept my behavior in check. Ash crept to the door, gently turned the knob, and let it swing open. He made no sound. He stuck his head out for a brief moment, scanning the perimeter before ushering us out. I scurried out the door and into the driveway with Ash and Erion close behind.

I released my breath, having held it for the majority of our escape. I spun to examine the house that held me captive moments before. Before me, a quaint farmhouse painted white with chipped blue trim. The sort of house you would see in a pretty painting of a rural farm. A dense forest encompassed it, providing plenty of privacy and shelter. Something tugged at the corners of my memory, but being unable to identify the nostalgia, I abruptly turned away from the farmhouse and back to my rescuers.

If you could truly call them that.

“That was too easy.” Erion murmured, analyzing the house as if to dissect it’s every riddle.

But Ash waved off the notion, “Don’t fight it. When life gives you lemons, right?”

“Do you even know the meaning of that phrase?”

Ash mean waved the comment away and started towards the woods.

The two boys walked ahead of me, their concern for my safety now, apparently, subsided. Ash, who wore a pair of slim fit black jeans, pulled a chocolate granola bar out of his back pocket and started to peel open the wrapper. That is, until Erion tried to snatch the snack out of his grasp with an angry remark, “Hey! That’s mine. You already ate yours.”

Ash nimbly evaded Erion’s reach and chomped down on the bar, ripping off a huge bite and only leaving a small portion. His mouth full and still chewing, he snidely offered Erion the last little bit, a giant grin plastered on his face. Erion pushed his hand away with a look of disgust and rolled his eyes. “Grow up.”

When Ash finally swallowed, he smiled tauntingly at his friend, “Maybe you should start packing your own snacks.”

“Maybe you should stop being a pig.”

“Oink.”

I couldn’t help but snicker at the two of them, which earned me a raise of the eyebrows from Ash. I shrugged and looked ahead, “So, where are you two
heroes
taking me?”

Erion, having forgotten about his granola bar failure, widened his eyes and looked to Ash with an expression of faux wonder, “Heroes? Did you hear that? She called us heroes!”

Ash thrust his fist up in the air, “Hoorah! The fair maiden has deemed us worthy of her affections. ‘Tis the pinnacle of our career.”

I blinked, “Uh, what?”

“Sorry, we tend to get a bit carried away,” Ash lowered his arm and chuckled softly, “and to answer your question, we are taking you to the Courts.”

“And where is that?”

Erion sighed in annoyance, “You sure have a lot of questions, don’t you?”

But Ash tilted his head curiously. His eyebrows scrunched and he peered at me, his eyes straining to look into my mind. After a moment he spoke, “Nostos, of course.”

“Nostos?” The word itself felt heavy in my mouth, a short and almost guttural term that somehow sounded beautiful and unearthly. When I spoke the word, a warm feeling rushed through me, like the sun had come out and decided to shine its lovely warmth only on me. But as soon as the sensation washed over me, it ran away.

He nodded slowly, gaze quickly going to Erion and then back to me. His dark eyes seemed to pierce my very soul, “You don’t know what Nostos is, do you?”

“Of course she does.” Erion sputtered, but Ash’s expression remained questioning.

Ash’s sharp eyes bore into me with such intensity that it took my breath away. Somehow, I found the ability to speak, “Should I know?”

They both nodded.

“They wouldn’t send us to retrieve a human, would they?” Erion asked Ash in a hushed tone as if I couldn’t hear him. Ash shook his head impatiently, as if Erion’s comment was absurd and a nuisance.

“Human?” I laughed, “What else would I be?” They did not laugh. My stomach dropped. They were crazy, they had to be. But one quick glance at the wings that hovered above their shoulders informed me that perhaps I was the one going nuts; because the longer I stared at them, the more real they became.

Ash’s eyes never left me, “You think that you are human?”

I nodded my head, “Duh.” My tone dripped in sarcasm, but my confidence slowly drained from me.

He inclined his head, clearly surprised, “I see,” he looked to his companion briefly who simply shrugged and jut his head forward as if to say,
Go ahead
. Ash sighed and our group came to a stop in the middle of a small clearing. I had hardly realized how deep we had ventured into the forest. The farmhouse could no longer be seen, only the tall spires of trees and the wildlife that flourished among them. In the distance, I could hear the love song of two birds chirping their affections to one another. A soft drizzle of rain pattered on the canopy of the forest, with only a couple stray drops finding their way to the floor. I felt the cold sting of freezing rain as it landed on the bare skin of my arm. I watched absently as the water soaked into my pores, barely leaving a trace.

Ash motioned for me to sit. I chose a decent sized boulder and wiggled a bit in an attempt to find comfort. Realizing this was a lost cause, I gave up and gazed up at Ash. He remained standing as he began to speak, “So, to be clear, you have no clue as to what Nostos is nor do you know about anyone who lives there.” It was a statement not a question.

I shook my head slowly, stress clutching at my heart, “No.”

“I’m going to scout the area. I’ll make sure we weren’t followed.” Erion proclaimed suddenly and without another word he disappeared into the trees.

“I have never heard of this before.” Ash murmured, his eyes glazed and lost in thought.

I squirmed, “Heard of what?”

He gave a small smile but his eyes remained unseeing, “This is so odd. I have never met an Elemental who is ignorant to their heritage, who grew up thinking they were human.”

A flicker of confusion surged through me unexpectedly, revealing itself as anger, “Why do you keep saying that?” I snapped. “I am human. And what are you talking about? Elemental?”

He remained serious but I caught that strange fire flicker in his dark gaze, “No, you’re not.”  As if sensing my bafflement, he hurried on, probably so I could not interrupt him, “You are an Elemental. Are you sixteen?”

I nodded numbly, not processing or understanding the new information he had just given me, “Today is my birthday.”

“No kidding.” He whispered, something like realization dawning on his face. “Do you know what time you were born?”