Knowhere, p.10
Knowhere, page 10
"Good! I never want to see your face again!" Annabelle yelled.
"Like I care what you want!" Edmund yelled back and slammed the door.
Present day. . .
"Okay, Hat, tell me what you know," Edmund ordered.
"Well, don't lick an eel, don't hug a phoenix, and don't ever—"
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Annabelle yelled and snatched Al's sword from his pocket, clicked it on, and held it to Hat's neck. "Tell us about the moving city, Summer, and my daughter!" she yelled.
"Oh, well, why didn't you say so? They went towards Limba,” he said.
"Okay," she huffed.
"But it's long gone. I doubt you'll ever see it again. It moves too fast," Hat added. Annabelle screamed through her teeth in frustration and stepped back. Edmund was enjoying seeing her angry.
"Then how do we stop it from moving?" Al asked as Edmund snatched Al's sword from Annabelle with some difficulty.
"You would have to use the magic of the most powerful mythics," Hat said as he stood up.
"Do you know any?" Annabelle asked.
"One, his name is—"
"We don't need this!" Edmund quickly said, interrupting Hat. "We can find the town another way."
"What? Why?!" Annabelle complained as she glared at Edmund.
"We will find another way," Edmund said, not answering her question.
"We don't need another way!" Annabelle yelled, "You're just going to let Summer die because you're scared of some mythic!"
"You can't talk to me that way, Annabelle!" he growled and snapped a fireball in his hand.
"Oh, I'm sorry, king, you've had a rich life handed to you on a silver platter. Guess you don't need Summer. She's just another subject. Would you prefer me to bow or curtsy?"
"HOW DARE—"
"Stop it!" Nel yelled and flew between them.
Edmund looked at Nel, huffed, and put out the fireball in his hand. "Let's go, Al." Edmund folded Al's sword and shoved it back in his jacket pocket. Al and Nel followed.
"You have to find Spire! The most powerful sorcerer of Manti," Hat called out. Edmund closed his eyes and bit his lip. Nel turned her head.
"Who's Spire?" Al asked. "He's no one," Edmund insisted.
"No one? He deserves to know!" Nel said.
"Who?" Annabelle asked, coming up to them. Edmund sighed.
Hat ran at super-speed in front of them. "What are we talking about?" he asked.
"Go away, Hat!" Edmund yelled and ran ahead.
"What's this about?" Kip asked.
"Nel, what's going on?" Al asked.
Nel hesitated. "Spire . . . is your grandfather," Nel said and flew faster to catch up with Edmund.
"Spire is your grandfather?" Hat repeated in shock.
"Wow, that's cool," Kip said in awe.
Lea looked at her now lifeless shadow the entire way down the hall. She also swore she saw her father's shadow move incorrectly.
"Is something wrong?" Her father, Will, asked. She ignored him, but Will forced her to follow him. She didn't know where he was taking her or why, but she didn't have a choice. "It was the shadows, wasn't it?" Will asked.
Lea looked at him. "H-how did you know?"
"If you're a human in Knowhere and actually have feelings, you've at least heard them," Will replied. Lea looked at her shadow, a bit relieved, but she couldn't let her father know that, so she forced herself to look angry.
"And with that attitude you've probably seen them. I know I have," Will said.
"What are we doing anyway?" Lea scoffed.
"Wow, did Annabelle give you a temper?" Will said, "Have you ever tried asking nicely?"
"That was ‘my nicely’," she replied defensively. Will chuckled in his throat. That was one of the few things she had remembered about her father, his deep, heavy chuckle. It almost made her smile hearing it again ... almost.
"I want to show you something," Will said as they stood in front of a dark blue door with a glowing golden lock. Will used his metal hand to pull a key from his pocket and then unlocked it. The door opened on its own.
"Whoa," Lea gasped. The room looked like a hollow sphere with shimmering stars stuck to the dark blue walls.
In the center of the sphere was a glass path coming out from under the door for them to walk on. "Come," Will said as he stepped onto it. Lea followed. The door closed behind them. Thousands of shadows seemed to appear out of nowhere, dancing along the walls, all different shapes and sizes. "These are all human shadows from The Great War," Will said.
"What's The Great War?" Lea asked as her shadow broke off and joined the others.
"Annabelle didn't tell you?" Will asked. Lea didn't reply.
"Did she just think that you should live life not knowing anything about the place you're stuck inside of? "That is so—" Lea gave Will a look, stopping him in mid-sentence.
"Uh, different than what I would have done." Will tried. For the first time since Will had seen her again, she smiled at him. Will cleared his throat and began. . .
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The Great War
Long ago, our worlds lived together. Knowhere and Sumwhere were called earth when referred to collectively. Millions of teleporting rocks were given to everyone so that anyone who wanted to see the other world could. It was a time of magic, dragons, and fantasy.
Until one day, the humans began to be jealous of the magic and joy that the mythics possessed. So, to keep the peace, the mythics started making magical objects for the humans, but soon that wasn't enough. They wanted to be able to do real magic, but no mythic could give them that. Outraged, the humans teamed up with the merfolk to drive the mythics away. The merfolk expanded the oceans, and the humans used the mythic's own magic to push them out. After many battles, humans forced mythics into Knowhere. The humans smashed all teleporting stones they could find. Making certain no one could ever go back to Knowhere, but somehow, in some way, they managed to miss a few. Some humans have accidentally found those few. Annabelle was one of those unlucky humans. . .
It took a lot of convincing for her to get Edmund to come with them. I mean, she hated the guy, but he and Nel were the only ones who knew anything about Spire. However, he only came under the condition that they tried to find Spire's spell book, leave, and find a way to use the speaking spell as their own. Annabelle was confident that wouldn't work. Even though she agreed to it, Annabelle had different plans. . .
"It's getting dark," Annabelle interrupted as she looked at the sky.
"It's getting dark; we better stop to make camp," Edmund said, completely ignoring Annabelle.
15 years ago. . .
Edmund sat at the end of the table, glaring at his food.
"Are you okay, Edmund?" Eric asked, not touching his own food.
"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Edmund growled.
Suddenly the dining room doors opened. Annabelle stepped in. She had her hair in a bun, a white dress on, and matching pearls around her neck. She grabbed some food and sat down as if nothing had changed, ignoring all the mythics staring at her. "Welcome back, Annabelle," Eric welcomed. Annabelle smiled. She seemed very cheerful, which was unusual.
Young Summer began to eat Eric's food.
"It's good to see you again, Eric," Annabelle said.
"Likewise," Eric agreed.
"Done," Summer said proudly and jumped off of Eric's lap. "Where are you— Summer!" Eric yelled and chased after her running out the dining room doors.
"Bye, Eric!" Annabelle yelled as the doors slammed.
Annabelle looked at Edmund. "So where's Nel?" She asked.
Edmund looked around to make sure she was talking to him. "She had some things." Edmund shrugged and ate the last on his plate. He stood up and turned to walk away.
"Edmund," Annabelle spoke. He turned his head and looked at her.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you,” she said.
Annabelle never apologized. Something’s definitely wrong, Edmund thought. Edmund slowly sat back in his seat. "I'm . . . I'm sorry . . . too," Edmund mumbled.
"That felt forced," Annabelle chuckled.
Edmund shrugged.
"What's wrong?" Annabelle asked as she rested her chin on her fist.
"Are you okay?" Edmund asked with great concern.
"Do I seem more perked up than last week?" Annabelle smiled.
Edmund nodded, convinced she had gone insane.
"I'm not going crazy if that's what you're wondering," she clarified, reading his mind, "It's just a spell."
"What spell?" Edmund asked.
"A spell I figured out myself, it makes you not care about anything or anyone."
"Like a curse."
"A spell," she repeated and pulled her wand out of her dress pocket.
"That isn't right, Annabelle. You have to care about others."
"Oh, come on. You've never in your life thought you would feel better if you didn't have to worry about others?" She jumped onto the table and stood up.
"Annabelle! What are you—"
"I'm going to show you," Annabelle said, interrupting Edmund.
"No, Annabelle!" Edmund yelled, clearly scared.
"Don't you trust me?" She began to swirl her wand. The world started changing colors, and everything began to blur.
"NO!" Edmund yelled as he jumped up and smacked the rod out of her hand. The wand flew straight into a wall and shattered into thousands of pieces. The magic instantly stopped. Annabelle gasped and cupped her hands over her mouth as her emotions came flooding back to her.
She jumped off the table and ran to the shattered glass. "No," she whispered, a tear streaking down her face. "I hate this," she mumbled.
"What?" Edmund asked. "Knowhere! I hate it! I never asked to be stuck here!" she yelled, standing up and facing Edmund. "I also hate Guard! I hate this castle!" She yanked her pearl necklace off. "But most of all. . ." She looked at Edmund with deep anger.
"I HATE YOU!"
She threw the pearls at him. He ducked, and it smacked hard against the far wall. Edmund looked at her, highly furious and deeply hurt.
"Then why don't you just leave!" Edmund yelled.
"I am!" Annabelle yelled back.
"Good! I would have banished you if you didn't."
"I hate you, Edmund! I never want to see you again!" Annabelle yelled.
Edmund slammed his fist on the table. "I WISH I NEVER SAVED YOU!" Edmund yelled.
Annabelle gasped clearly hurt.
"Well . . . GOOD! I'd rather be dead than to be with you!" she screamed, running out of the room and slamming the door behind her. She went down the hall and to the stables, tears still streaming down her face.
The kingdom had horses, dragons, and a few pegasi. However, those weren't what Annabelle was after. She swept some orange hay away from a large trap door and opened it. A blue glow shown from beneath; inside was a magnificent sizeable blue lantern pegasus. The knights of Guard had taken the lantern from The Cliffs of Manti because it was highly aggressive to the other Pegasi on the cliff. She climbed inside the trap door. The lantern neighed and kicked. "Easy," Annabelle comforted, "I'm here to help." The horse calmed. Annabelle cautiously climbed on its back. "Go!" she yelled. It flapped its mighty wings and flew out of the stables.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
It’s Going to Rain
Present day. . .
Every nerve in Summer’s screamed at her for staying in the cold, and even Mike's cider couldn't help. Her head ached and her stomach growled. Never in her life had she felt as miserable and helpless as she did now.
"Get up, David," a voice ordered from down the hall. Summer looked up from where she was sitting against the bars. It was, of course, the knight guarding their cell.
"Summer, you've got to get out of here," David said softly as the knight came closer.
"What?" Summer asked in a weak whisper.
"No matter what I tell you from this time forth, I need you to do everything in your power to get out of here," David ordered. Summer looked at him. "Promise me, Summer," David commanded as the knight approached. Summer nodded as David's cell opened.
"Get up," he ordered again. David stood up and gave Summer a small smile. Summer gave him a worried look back.
The knight put the sword to his back and pushed him out. "Hurry up," the knight ordered as he was forced up the stairs and opened the door. The room had returned to the cozy living room set up, and The Man was back on his sofa. The only difference was that two large wonder wings were hanging above the fireplace.
The knight closed the door.
"Can't you see she's dying?!" David yelled.
"I am aware," The Man said calmly. David glanced at his wings.
"Sit down," The Man ordered. David obeyed. "Do you want to save her?" The Man asked.
David hesitantly nodded.
"You know, there's a reason I put you mages in the cells next to each other," The Man said as he stood up, then continued, "I hoped you'd get attached to her, but you exceeded my expectations."
David stood up, showing off his huge height advantage. "Why do you hate us?" he asked.
"If you join me and tell me what I need to know. I will put her somewhere more comfortable. However, if she tries to escape at any time, then she will die," The Man explained, ignoring David's question.
"And what if I don't?" David asked.
"Then she will die now," The Man replied and pulled a small remote out of his pocket. It was white with one large silver button. "You have ten seconds to decide, or she gets crushed by the roof." He pressed it.
Summer heard a sudden loud bang from her cell, causing her to jump afoot. She looked up. The roof was lowering.
She tried to scream but was unable.
“Nine.”
It began to pick up the pace; the sound of some sort of engine began to roar. "What's wrong?" Mike asked.
“Eight . . . seven.”
"The roof!" Summer said louder than she thought she could.
“Six . . . five.”
She lay flat on the ground.
“Four! Three!”
The roof was right above her.
“Two!” “FINE!” David yelled.
The roof of Summer’s cell suddenly stopped right as it touched her nose, then it quickly rose back up. "Summer! Summer, are you okay?!" Mike yelled.
"I'm here," she replied weakly.
Mike sighed in relief.
Summer slowly sat up and leaned against the wall. "Has that ever happened before?" Summer asked, still looking at the roof.
"Not that I can remember," Mike replied. "I had no idea the roof could do that," he added.
"Do you think that had something to do with David?" she asked.
"Most likely," Mike agreed. Summer took a deep breath in and closed her eyes.
Edmund had used magic to fuse giant leaves together to make three small tents for Al, Annabelle, himself, and one even smaller tent for Nel. Annabelle sat in hers. She listened carefully for any signs that the others were near.
Then she carefully removed her glove and rolled up her sleeve. The tar-like substance had grown up her arm. Annabelle scratched it aggressively. "Who are you?" she mumbled to the tar and pulled down her sleeve. Annabelle couldn't tell anyone. For one, no one she was with would care, and for another, they might try to leave her behind. She sighed, lay down, and tried to sleep.
"Kip," Al said from inside his tent.
Kip turned to him, his mouth stuffed with leaf.
"Are you eating the tent?" Al asked.
"Want some?" Kip offered as he held a slightly nibbled piece to him.
Al hesitated.
"Well . . . maybe a little." Al took it and bit down. It was surprisingly tasty. They both began to peel pieces off the tent and eat them, not noticing the green clouds rolling over the sky. A drop fell on Al's shoulder. They looked up.
"Uh oh," Kip said and put a piece of leaf over his head as another few drops fell.
It began to rain hard. In a normal world, nothing worse than getting drenched in water would occur. However, Knowhere seemed to go out of its way to do the opposite of the usual. A tent has to be sealed to the ground with magic, or else, when it rains, the giant puddles of swallowup will knock it into the ocean and whoever else with it. Unfortunately, Al and Kip had eaten away enough to ruin the magic that kept it sealed to the ground. A giant puddle of swallowup crashed into the side of the tent, causing it to collapse on top of them. The pool continued to climb over the tent with great effort, wrapping Al and Kip in it like a burrito. Kip squeezed out.
"I'll get help!" Kip yelled over the storm.
"Hurry!" Al said as another puddle hit the side of him, pushing him towards the drop off to the ocean. Kip ran off into Edmund's tent.
"Edmund!" Kip yelled.
"Go away, rodent," Edmund mumbled.
"Listen to me!" Kip yelled and bit his ear.
"Ouch!" Edmund exclaimed and yanked him off, then held him tightly in his fist. Kip managed to push his head out.
"Edmund, it's Al!" Kip yelled.
Al rolled down the incline; dirt stuffed his face with every turn.
"Alexander!" Edmund yelled through the storm.
"Help!" Al managed before his face got pushed back into the ground. Edmund spotted him just as the swallowup moved Al off the cliff and into the ocean. Edmund jumped in after him. Al desperately tried to kick his legs out of the wrap but was unsuccessful.
Edmund swam down towards him. He quickly grabbed Al's hood and swam to the surface, then threw him onto the shore and promptly tore the wrap off him. "Hurry," Edmund said and began to run.
They ran into Edmund's tent and closed it. The swallowup on them ran off and tried desperately to get out.
"Are you okay?" Kip asked.
Al nodded.
"Thank you, Kip," Edmund said. Kip's smile widened.
Edmund put his hand on Al's shoulder. "What happened?" he asked.
"Well . . . uh," Al said sheepishly, "Don’t be mad, but. . . "
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Shadows
Will knelt on the floor of the starry sphere.
It had been a few hours since his daughter, Lea, had come in here and accidentally left a piece of her shadow, which was the last one he needed. The shadows hissed and spat at him. One stood hunched in front of him, staring at Will as if he was a pathetic piece of dirt.
