( Part Seven of Andra’s Story. If you haven’t read other posts, go back please. Thank you! Now introducing, Part Seven: The Ghost…)
The Ghost
Andra froze as the man looked at her in surprise. She held her breath, her heart pounding her chest. She could feel the air grow thin as she waited for the fated moment when he would alert the others and be discovered, and be locked up in some human jail forever. But the moment never came. Instead the man kept right on staring at her, more like through her the more she thought about it, and he said with a lilting sort of accent,
“ Hey Pedro, look at this.”
Andra felt faint as the other man came walking up and looked down at her crunched up little form and said in the same accent,
“ Is that blood?”
Looking down, Andra was shocked to find not her crunched up legs, but the dirt ground beneath her speckled with Alvar’s blood. Her heart leaped into her throat when she couldn’t find her legs when she realized that she was invisible, and then her heart slowed down and she carefully let out a quiet sigh. She felt her right hand start to sweat in a bigger, stronger hand, reminding her of Alvar’s presence. She slowly turned her head towards him and saw only the wall of the cave and the light from outside. She had forgotten that he was a Vanisher until that very moment, and felt disgusted having to hold Alvar’s hand. But she knew the moment she let go would be the end of her.
The men stared through Andra as they observed the blood on the floor and the first one said speculatively to his partner,
“ Must be from some kind of animal.”
“ No I don’t think so,” the one called Pedro replied, “ See this bed and things. A child was sleeping here. Whatever happened, it wasn’t an animal.”
“ Maybe there was an accident or something.”
“ Well come on, we’ve got to do the cave survey for Mr. Benson.”
The two men continued their survey, flashing their lights onto the walls. Andra was glad her father emphasized his children to learn English, otherwise she would’ve been left in the dark in this whole situation. When the men examined the various cracks and fallen rocks at the back of the cave, the short, stout man said,
“ Hey Pedro, do you feel that?”
“ Feel what?”
“ In the cave. It feels as if there is some sort of… presence here. Like…. someone is watching us!”
Andra sucked in a breath, trying not to breath.
“ Pah! Seriously Andreas. You’ve got to stop your superstitious nonsense! There is no ‘presence’ here!”
“ Shhhh! I’m telling you, I feel it! Someone is watching us! Didn’t you hear somebody breathing?”
“ Yes, I do. You and me breathing. I can also hear you talking stupid nonsense again! Come on, we’ve got to do this survey before we get ourselves into trouble!”
“ Yeah, but don’t you feel it? Just listen!”
The two men fell silent, and the frightened elf held her breath. Feeling her slim hand start to slip from Alvar’s sweaty one, she held fast, trying to hold on just a little longer. The one called Pedro stayed silent for a few moments before he turned to his partner and said,
“ Well, now that you mention it, it does feel a little… odd.”
“ See, I told you,” Andreas whispered, extracting a little fuzzy ball from his pocket,“ There is something going on in here.”
Andreas anxiously petted the little ball when Pedro snapped out of his thoughts and aggravatingly grabbed Andreas’s pet, throwing it down on the floor. “ Hey! That was my protection!” Andreas cried, frantically retrieving his treasure from the floor.
“ You don’t need stupid protection like that!”
“ Shhhhh! There could be ghosts!”
“ Seriously, there are no ghosts!”
“ What is it? What did you find?” The man in the blue suit called as he stepped inside the cave.
“ Uh, nothing. Just some blood, a sleeping bag and a stuffed animal, sir,” Pedro replied, straightening up.
“ Any sign of any campers?” The man asked.
“ Uh, no sir. We haven’t seen anyone, sir,” Andreas replied, hiding his fuzzy ball.
“ Well, good, that’s one less thing to worry about. And if there was a murder in the area, I’m not responsible. I need you two to come outside with me while I talk to TJ about the summer house details.”
“ Yessir, Mr. Benson, right away! Come along, Andreas!” Pedro urged as the other worker, Andreas, followed him timidly outside.
“ You know my grandmother is a ghost.”
“ Just stop that, okay? Seriously! I’m spooked out enough as it is!” Pedro ordered from outside.
“ She haunts my great grandmother’s dressing room.”
“ Stop it!”
“ She haunts my great grandmother’s dresser drawers.”
“ Just stop! Alright!” Pedro yelled as their voices faded away into the distance.
Letting out the air she was holding back, Andra slumped against the wall, wondering what to do.
Summer house details? This cannot be good.
Andra itched her ears to hear what it was the group of men were saying outside, but all she could hear was distant chatter. Alvar’s labored breathing became irregular and his body blinked in and out of visibility. His strength was starting to give out. Before long, they both would be visible and then neither of them would stay hidden from the humans. Andra tried desperately to think of a plan, anything that they could do. But when she tried to come up with something, a million other possibilities and scenarios would get in the way. She shook her head and tried think, when she remembered that her ability allowed her to pass almost unseen within her shadowy form, completely hidden except within the light. Andra started to have an idea, but she didn’t know if she could go through with it. Her mind told her that it was too dangerous, that she could get them both into trouble, or she could lose control and give into the monster. As Alvar’s breathing started to shallow, the desperation of their situation overcame her fears, and she willed herself to allow the strange, floating sensation lift her consciousness into her shadowy form, leaving her invisible body and Alvar behind.
Her mind jolted as the freeing sensation gave all her senses a start. Frantic, she tried hard not to think about the shadows and the fact that her body was still sitting on the floor and collected herself. Taking one unsure step forward on her light, unsteady foot, she carefully making her way towards the entrance of the cave.
Freely moving within her shadowy form, she edged herself against the foot of the mountain, blending into the shadow of the mountain. She saw the humans standing in a circle, talking about something important.
“ I told you, I can’t possibly put this house onto the hill, Mr. Benson,” she heard a man in a grey hoodie say.
“ But why not?! This is the only mountain where there isn’t any estate or any city nearby! I chose this mountain specifically. Now why can’t I have it?!”
“ Mr. Benson,” the man carefully explained, “ We can’t build here because of the fault line. I have told you this before. The house is too close to the mountain. What if there’s an avalanche?”
“ What if there’s not?! It’s not like I rock out on my guitar everyday, or beating on drums like those amateur teenage delinquents. Out of all Colorado I chose this spot, and I have the money to do it! Now are you going to do it or not?!”
The man opposite Mr. Benson pondered hard on this, then after a few moments of consideration, he said to Mr. Benson,
“ Alright, I will take 10 grand.”
“ What! That’s ridiculous, this job doesn’t take ten grand to build a summer house like this?!”
“ It’s too dangerous for my men, and I want compensation for the job.”
Mr. Benson groaned and looked up to the sky, frustrated. Finally, after angrily muttering to himself, he adjusted his glasses and said,
“ Alright, fine! Ten grand! And that’s if you also clear all that kid stuff is out of the cave and that you make sure this summer house is the best you can, no matter what fault line or avalanche comes your way! Got it?!”
“ Yessir, that’s all I needed.”
“ Good! Glad you approve. Now, I had a couple of questions about the cave’s stability. What your ideas would be into making it into a storage house?”
While the humans kept on talking, Andra studied her objective before her, nervously fluctuating within her shadowy vessel. Her mind kept reminding her that Alvar couldn’t keep her body and himself invisible forever. Even if the humans did leave, they were going to come back and build that summer house. She knew they had to get rid of them for good. She had to go through with this.
Taking one last deep breath, Andra lightly sprinted across the field towards the group of men, staying hidden within their shadows. The stout form of Andreas stood before her, and she lightly pressed her shadowy palm against Andreas’s back. Andreas flinched and looked behind him, seeing nothing, and brushed off the strange feeling and kept right on listening to their boss ranting on. Andra then tapped a black finger onto Andrea’s shoulder, and he turned around and yelped. Pedro jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow and whispered,
“ Quiet! What is wrong with you?!”
“ I.. I thought I felt something. Something cold! It felt like a hand!”
“ Oh stop it! You want to be off the job?! No wonder you can’t keep a job anywhere. You get startled at every sound or….ah!”
“ What?! What is it?”
“ I… I thought I felt something touch my shoulder. It felt like ice.”
“ See, I knew it! There are ghosts here!”
“ Quiet! You want to….”
“ Are you two paying attention?” Mr. Benson asked, frustrated. The entire crew stared at them, annoyed.
“ Uh yes….of course, Mr. Benson, sir! Of course we are paying attention!” Pedro replied, keeping a steady voice.
“ Well then stop having secret conversations while I’m talking! As I was saying, we should definitely….”
Andreas wiped a sweaty brow when he looked down and gasped, frantically grabbing Pedro’s shoulder and turning him to where the shadowy prints of feet started walking across the grass by themselves. Pedro’s face turned white as the footprints started heading rapidly towards them and they both panicked, clutching each other screaming and falling down on the grass. Mr. Benson stopped his argument and yelled from across the field, saying,
“ What are you two doing now?!”
“ Ghost!! There’s a ghost here!” Andreas cried, clutching his fuzzy ball tight. Pedro, huddled in a ball of terror, cried,
“ It’s true! It’s true! This place is cursed!”
“ Ghosts?! Come on! Grow up for goodness sake! I’m not believing your little petty, babyish….ah!”
“ What, what is it?” TJ asked.
“ I don’t know! Something icy touched my back!” Mr. Benson cried.
“ Ah! Something touched me too! Was it you, Ferdinand?!”
“ No, it wasn’t me! I thought you touched me!”
“ Ow! Something brushed my leg!”
Suddenly everyone started to panic. Some muttered their desires to leave and started backing away from the group. Mr. Benson and TJ, unsure of the situation, looked around wondering what was happening when all of a sudden a darkness spread across their patch of grass, engulfing the entire group as the sun dimmed with a shadowed veil. Everyone gasped when they saw a black figure descending from above, hovering above the group. It floated there, turning it’s head towards each and every one, sending them staggering backwards, some fleeing in terror. Mr. Benson stared with his mouth wide open, his face written in horror and breathed,
“ It’s true!”
The figure turned it’s faceless head towards him and shrieked with a voice like a thousand whispers, saying,
“ Leave this place and never come back, or I will haunt you and your ancestors for all of eternity!”
Screaming, they jumped into their vehicles and fled, screeching their wheels down the valley back towards the woods, never to be seen again.
After they were gone, the figure floated gently back down to the grass as the shadows dispersed and the sun shone brightly again in the sky. The figure started chuckling until she dropped to her knees and rolled across the grass in fits of laughter. She broke concentration and returned back to her own body, slipping from Alvar’s grasp and fell on the floor of the cave visible, continuing to laugh. Soon her eyes started to water as she became hysterical and she relished the feeling she hadn’t felt in so long, releasing all the tension she felt in the past few days. When she was done, she wiped her eyes and stood up where Alvar, his sweaty face relieved from the stress, looked at her with an amused smiled and said,
“ That was one of the best tricks I’ve ever seen.”
Andra smiled and replied, “ I wish Brenik was here to see that!”
“ Who’s Brenik?”
“ My brother,” Andra explained casually as she leaned on the opposite wall, breathing in a sigh. Alvar considered her with cunning blue eyes and said,
“ You see, the Council can be proven wrong.”
“ What is that supposed to mean?”
“ About you being dangerous. They wouldn’t have a thing to say if they saw what I saw out there. I know you’ve got great skill and they’re taking you for granted.”
“ Look, don’t turn this into one of your Neverseen lectures to make me feel sorry for you, okay? And how do you know that I’m not capable of being dangerous?” Andra asked, wryly.
“ Everyone made it out in one piece, didn’t they? No one got hurt, except for the fact that they’ll have nightmares about this place for weeks,” Alvar pointed out, chuckling to himself about the prank.
Andra looked down at her hands as the realization swept over her. Something inside her changed into that familiar sensation she felt before blasting Maruca with her shadows. A feeling, a strong feeling that clicked into place when she harnessed those shadows.
“ No one got hurt,” she whispered to herself.
“ Yep, and I bet with a little training you could be a very skilled Shade. I could show you a few tips and tricks if you’d like.”
Suspicious, Andra looked at Alvar warily and asked,
“ Why would you want to help me?”
Alvar started coughing again, adjusting his position against the rock wall and said,
“ I see your potential, and when I see potential I know that it can be mastered; with the right teacher of course.”
“ You mean potential to become a dangerous weapon the Neverseen could use against the Lost Cities? Yeah, no thanks. You just want me to be the next Umber! And even if you could teach me, what could a Vanisher teach a Shade?”
“ You’d be surprised. Shading and Vanishing have a lot of similar techniques, if you’re willing to let me show you.”
“ I’m not even sure that I want to trust you,” Andra stated, crossing her arms.
“ I’m not sure that I can trust you either, so we’re even.”
Briefly getting deja vu from the last time she talked with her brother, Andra snapped out of it and asked,
“ If anything, I can use this ability against you, so why even bother?! What is it that you could possibly gain from training me?”
“ Ugh, if you think this is still about the Neverseen, I’m done with them! And the Black Swan. I’m done fighting. I’ll be gone in a few days and there’s nothing I can do to change that. What I can do is try to find a way to still change the world for the better. And I believe that you can do that, if you’ll only let me help you do it.”
Surprised, Andra softened and wondered if he could be telling the truth. The fact that he thought she could bring change to the world startled her and actually considered the possibility that maybe she could bring about change. But what could she do that could help save their world? Probably only mess it up even more. She then scoffed at the idea, figuring he just was trying to butter her up for some ambiguous reason, and rejected the idea of training. Yet the thought of going home lingered on her heart, and the aching made her start to think if it could be worth it. She could go home and not have to be afraid of herself anymore. She could finally be normal and not be the monster she had become. At this point, she’ll try anything. She was getting so tired of being afraid.
Before she gave in, Andra had to be sure and she looked into his shadowvapor and saw only dark grey shrouding some hidden truth, sending off warning signals in her heart. She decided to ignore them and figured that Alvar maybe hiding something else entirely and that he had a lot of secrets that were totally unrelated to that particular moment, and gave in. Sighing, Andra straightened her back and said firmly,
“ Fine, let’s get to it.”
——————————————————————————————————————————
Andra planted her feet firmly on the ground as she stood before the erected target. Her cape flapped rapidly around her legs in the growing wind as her hair blew in every direction. It was a long paintbrush a few yards away stuck in a hole of a tree stump, but still, her hands shook as she braced herself to blast a shadowy hand and sling it back into her hands. She held a breath, raised her hands, prepared to strike, trained her aim, and….doubled over and gasped.
“ I can’t do this.”
“ What do you mean you can’t do it?! You did it before,” Alvar yelled from the cave.
“ What I mean is that I can’t possibly reach it from all the way over here!” Andra irritatedly yelled back as she caught her breath.
“ That’s not true and you know it! Just focus on the target and call for the shadows to grab it and bring it back. It’s not that hard.”
Andra looked back towards the target and got into her position. She focused, tried to fix her aim at the canvas, prepared to cast her shadows and… let down her hands and sighed.
“ Ugh, why is this so hard compared to last time?!” Alvar shouted, frustrated.
“ Because the last time I did this was in a desperate situation!” Andra called back.
Alvar rolled his eyes and said, “ Well then, treat this like a desperate situation. Just don’t think!”
Andra turned back towards the target and took a deep breath. Her eyes trained on the brush and tried hard to focus. She tried to think about the fact that no one was there but her and Alvar; yet her mind kept turning back to that one dreadful moment when she stood before Maruca when her shields collapsed and she collapsed before her very eyes. She had used an energy that was a lot stronger than her regular shadows then, which she knew was shadowflux. Shadowflux was still a dangerous mystery that she hadn’t learned how to control, yet she kept using it without realizing it, getting herself into deeper trouble every time. If only she knew what caused all of that, she would understand her power much better. But she didn’t, and she remembered all of those horrible memories of the monster lurking in her bedroom, the shadow that haunted her in the Silver tower. What if that all happened again? What if she found she wasn’t strong enough to go home? Suddenly, the idea of going home terrified her even more than having to stay in the middle of nowhere with a possibly dangerous fugitive. The pull towards the darkness started tugging at the back of her mind, begging her to give in, and she decided she didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to go through all that again. He couldn’t make her.
Sensing her hesitation, Alvar groaned in frustration and said,
“ Just do it! What are you afraid of ?!”
Shaking, Andra said, “ Look, I’m just trying to focus here!”
“ You can’t focus until you tell me what’s wrong.”
“ There’s nothing wrong!”
“ Then go ahead and shoot!”
“ But…. I can’t!”
“ Why?! Tell me why you can’t!”
“ Because…..”
“ Because what?”
“ Because….”
“ Shade… what?!”
“ Because I’m a monster! That’s why! I can’t do this without hurting somebody else! I’ll never be good enough, and I’ll never get to see my family again! That’s what I’m afraid of. Are you happy now?!” Andra burst out as she clenched her fists in aggravation. Alvar stayed silent as Andra panted before him, hyperventilating as a great weight was lifted off of her shoulders, and before she knew it, she could breath again. Somehow admitting what she was afraid of made her feel less terrible, and she took comfort in that.
As she started to calm down, Alvar sat there, pondering what to do when he looked up at her and said,
“ You’re afraid of the shadows hurting someone else, and that’s why you hurt someone else. If I was afraid of not staying invisible, guess what? I won’t stay invisible. It’s all a matter of strength and will to trust your instincts. Allow the shadows to pass through you, as I allow light to pass through me. Don’t be afraid to use your inner energy. Don’t think about anything else but the shadows and you, and tell them what you want them to do. It’s as simple as that.”
Andra breathed and thought about what he said. The thought of the shadows passing through her scared her, but then he just said not to think, just focus on what the shadows will do, and they’ll do it. She could feel her inner energy pulsing inside of her, but she was afraid to use it. What if she hurt somebody else? Andra didn’t want to think it could be that simple, but what if it was? Maybe she was overthinking it and that’s what caused her mistake? Andra pondered this and she could feel the confidence grow inside of her as she thought about going home, and her desperation became louder than her fear.
Don’t be afraid of the shadows.
Straightening her back, she walked back to her spot and trained her eyes on the target. She took several deep breaths, letting the deep energy rise within her until that something clicked inside of her and with one mighty blast accurately clasped a black coil around the handle and flung the brush back towards herself with one flawless swoop. Andra caught it in her palm within a second and she stepped back and stared at it in awe. Seeing what she had done, her heart leapt with joy as hope rose within her. She looked back at Alvar, and Alvar smiled crookedly in approval. She wanted to do it again, and she timidly tried it and did it perfectly. Over and over again she practiced and with every burst, the fear of the shadows grew less and less. Soon, Andra threw shadows in all different directions and caught anything in their path. She created intricate patterns on the ground while controlling the essence of light and darkness within the woods. She bent the shadow of the mountain and laughed as she confidently darkened the sky, sending the halcyon flying frantically into the wind thinking it was going to storm.
Later that evening, Andra sat satisfied with Alvar after a long day of training, as the sky gently turned into night. Andra discussed the practice with Alvar, asking about any more tips he could offer, proudly recounting the many moments of the day. For the first time on a long time, she felt like she got a piece of herself back. Andra felt proud of what she did that day, and she wasn't afraid of talking about the tricks she'd learned, not even caring if Alvar was the one she was telling them to.
“ I never knew that shadows could be so beautiful,” Andra expressed as she huddled close to the fire, eating the last of the custardbursts. She absently created intricate patterns onto the moonlit lawns outside, making the lawns dance in a luminescent medley.
“ Yeah( cough) it’s pretty neat. I always thought Shades were pretty creepy, no offense,” Alvar said as he huddled in his corner wrapped in his cloak, shivering. All day he had been coughing and wheezing, sweating while saying that he was alright, He rejected his portion of the custardbursts which left Andra a little concerned, but she pushed away thought and continued eating.
“ Well, you’ve only been around Umber for who knows how long, and she’s not a model Shade if you ask me,” Andra commented casually as she took a bite.
“ Yeah, she was pretty freaky at times. But I think I’ve changed my mind now that I’ve met you.”
Andra didn’t know what to say about that and stopped the designs on the lawns and returned the shadows to their natural states. She scooted closer to the fire, wiping the crumbs off of her face and grabbed Gem, hugging her close. She looked into the fire and thought about shadowflux and how it was supposed to this dangerous element and very hard to control; yet she was able to control it as if she were rendering another watercolor painting. She looked down at her hands and wondered what made her naturally gifted at this element, and pondered what it meant. On one hand, it could mean that she was finally getting the hang of her ability; on the other hand, it could mean that she was finally giving into the monster, and that she is being consumed by darkness as the book said. She shivered and wrapped herself tightly into her cape the more she thought about it, and tried not to think of the worst. She knew she needed the training and she couldn’t go home without Alvar’s help, so she would just keep working at it until she was sure that she could control herself and then return to the Lost Cities.
Settled on that conclusion, Andra looked outside and thought how the shadows played in the gently swaying of the trees as the moon slowly curved over the sky. Alvar interrupted her thoughts, sharing,
“ You know, Umber once told me that shadows have memory of anything they touch,”
“ Really?
“ Oh yeah, I couldn’t understand all of it. I only worked with her briefly, and when I did, I was( cough) glad to get away from her. But while I was with her, I learned that( cough) that Shades can inflict pain and even memories of pain, which I believe she referred to as echoes.”
“ ‘ Echoes’. So that’s what Linh was afraid of,” Andra said to herself.
“ Who was afraid of what?”
“ Oh, nothing.”
Andra started braiding her hair into an intricate half-braid and as she thought about echoes and how they were another thing that she was capable of. She wondered if she did them without realizing, and if they would ever pop up one day in her training. Would they be as horrible as Alvar says? Andra pondered this and tried not to worry when she turned her thoughts towards the events of the day. She remembered how she had helped them escape from the humans, when she thought of something and asked,
“ Why did you save me earlier? You could’ve stayed hidden while I was exposed to the humans.”
“ Well,( cough) the Elvin world must be protected, so it was a matter of ( cough) priority that concerned me,” Alvar replied indifferently.
Andra scowled, regretting to think that Alvar would actually do anything to care about her. Remembering the anger she felt earlier for Alvar, she questioned him, saying,
“ If you care about the Elvin world so much, why did you join an organization that wanted to destroy it?”
“ Because the old world needed to die( cough). The Neverseen was affecting the most change, so I decided that would be the better side.”
“ You hurt so many people! How could that do any good?!” Andra exclaimed, appalled.
“ I didn’t know that people were getting hurt. I was doing my job. And when I knew, I figured that it was necessary to affect change.”
Andra gulped back a sob and said in a raw, angry voice, “ Was the death of my father necessary?”
Alvar looked at her in surprise and said nothing, then he sighed and hung his head in what looked like regret and said,
“ Look, I was not at Lumenaria when it fell. I’m sorry about what happened. I didn’t( cough) know what was happening until after it happened. It’s one of the security measures the Neverseen used for secrecy.”
Andra briskly got up from her seat and walked towards the entrance of the cave, trying hard not to cry again as the face of her father floated into her mind. The imagined scene of Lumenaria falling on top of him replayed in her mind, and her fists clenched as a stray tear made its way down her cheek.
“ I’m sorry your father got in the way.”
“ Sorry doesn’t help! Sorry doesn’t bring my father back!” Andra snapped as she turned on Alvar before walking out of the cave, grieving. Andra breathed heavily and stared out into the moonlit valley. The trees swayed within the dark shadows and the soft luminescence as the breeze tranquilly blew through the leaves. She thought about how beautiful night really was when the shadows are put in just the right spots, complimenting the light.
Light and darkness work together
When she thought about what she had just said before, she could hear Stina’s voice echo inside her head as she replayed the words she told her when she said sorry for Maruca getting hurt. She thought about Alvar’s face and wondered if he was truly sorry for what happened, and all that he had done. She could see the remorse and the guilt briefly flash across his face when he said it, which made her feel even more guilty inside. She just wanted to forget him, ditch him and never see him again. But she knew she couldn't bring herself to do that. She couldn’t go home yet. The thought of home wrenched into her heart, increasing her hurt and longing. Andra knew deep down that it wasn’t particularly his fault, and yet she still blamed him for it. She didn’t want to be that way. She didn’t want to be like Stina. Yet when she dared to looked back at Alvar, seeing his pathetic face, she decided it was too soon to tell him that she was sorry. She couldn’t forgive him. Not after what happened to her and her father.
She returned back to the cave, stiff and serious, while Alvar sat there slumped against the wall, looking pensively into the fire. She passed by him, sat herself down as far from him as possible, and got out her neglected painting from yesterday to distract herself. Seeing that it wasn’t as ruined as she thought it was before, Andra observed the painting with light colors of the trees and her little faint figure slightly smeared, and wondered what she could do with it next. Looking back to how the shadows that tried to plague the picture earlier, Andra wondered if the shadows were telling her something and timidly tried to tell the shadows to cover the canvas. She soaked them carefully along the faint outlines of the trees, slowly deepening the hues of the trunks. Finding a new depth within the woods, Andra smiled, growing more bold as she started shading the flowers as well, making them glow pink against a magenta shade. The light figure in the lavender dress was touched with a slight violet hue and the white in her hair was deepened with a hint of grey shadow, shining a touch brighter against a darkening blue sky. Andra stared in awe at this metamorphosis of art as the world she imagined blossomed before her. She thought about how proud her father would be if he saw this painting, and she immediately rejected the thought as the memories started to come back to her. The pain of her father’s death lingered in her heart, tearing inside a deep wound as her pictured started to grow more shaded as the vivid colors slowly turned to ash and the darkened trees started to stretch. Their branches lengthened and curled like angry claws as they slowly loomed over the purple figure, preying upon her like beasts. Andra immediately stopped looking at the painting and quickly put it int0 her bag before she ruined it anymore.
Breathing hard, Andra decided that it was time that she did something, and she started to rummaging through her bag, knowing what she had to do. Alvar watched as she emptied her pillowcase and started tying it around her waist as she piled her items on the floor. When he couldn’t take the suspense anymore, he asked,
“ What are you doing?”
Andra stated in an agitated voice,
“ We have no food. We have no water. I’m thinking about what we’re going to do if we’re going to survive here.”
“ And what brought this on?”
“ If we don’t get food or water, we might as well die. Of course that’s not stopping you. I certainly don’t want to die, so we’d better try to come up with a plan to get something before we both starve.”
“ Okay then, what’s your plan?” Alvar asked, annoyed.
“ Well I know I can’t go home just yet, and I know I can’t go back to… unless. I need to see your broken pathfinder,” Andra demanded, her hand extended towards him. Alvar hesitantly gave her the pathfinder and Andra searched for the right setting then pried off a crystal, holding it up to the fire light.
“ Where are you going?”
“ I’m going back to the Lost Cities,” Andra said.
“ What?! I can’t let you do that.”
“ Why not?”
Alvar looked at her with a strange expression, as if debating whether or not to stop her from her errand. Andra wondered what he could do to stop her, which until finally he said,
“ Fine, just don’t get caught.”
“ Don’t worry, I’ll be back,” Andra said stiffly as she made her way outside.
“ And where is it you’re going?”
“ Somewhere where they’ll least expect me.”
Andra stepped outside the cave and holding the crystal up to the moonlight, she let the light carry her back to the Lost Cities….
———————————————————————————————————
So remember when I said there would be no more parts added to the story? Well, surprise! I might be adding a Part Nine and Ten as well due to the pacing of character arcs as well as how many scenes are left. This will end, I promise, and it will end well.
Another fun KOTLC fact is that Shannon Messenger, KOTLC’s author, has a few things in common with her main character, Sophie Foster: One, she has the same nervous habit as Sophie. Two, she has blonde hair and brown eyes. And three, she has a blue elephant stuffed animal also named Ella! That’s all for now. Just a fun question: if you could base your story off of three personal things about yourself, what would they be?
Anyway, will start writing Part Eight really soon. Have a good week. Ciao!