Ebony curled herself into a little ball, huddling in the
farthest corner of her cage. Spike had not been back for hours and she was
famished now. Of course she would refuse to eat whatever he brought for her,
but that was not the point. Ebony was beginning to worry he may have just left
her there to die.
Ebony almost wished he had. It would serve her right for
all the pain and agony she had brought to the people around her – especially
the one person she claimed she loved more than anyone – Bray. She had allowed
the love of his life to leave, allowed Bray to think she was dead. It wasn’t
fair to him.
Thinking of Bray brought other haunting memories to the
surface, memories she had attempting to burry in her past long ago. Memories of
Zoot, memories of his cruelty, his heartlessness. Zoot had wanted to mold and
make her into his ideal woman, a woman who would not beg, a woman who was
strong and didn’t need anyone.
Well, Zoot had succeeded, but at the cost of Ebony’s soul.
After she had been locked in that tiny compartment with no light for hours,
days even, her heart slowly began to freeze within her. It had been behind that
locked door that Ebony had determined to never care for another person again.
She had become the ice queen Zoot had wanted her to be.
But that all changed that day on Eagle Mountain when she
had stood above Amber’s battered body. She knew she couldn’t kill Amber.
Setting down that rock and helping Amber up had been the wisest decision Ebony
had ever made. It was then that Ebony’s heart had begun to melt and warm up to
people around her.
It had been because of Amber’s faith in her that she had
been willing to give living with the Mall Rats a shot. Yes, she had been hurt
by Amber leaving her with the ungrateful tribe, but she had gotten over that.
She had to learn to forgive if she ever hoped to be forgiven by the tribe she
had come to love.
‘Love?’ The word echoed in Ebony’s mind. She knew it was
true. It had been a slow process, but Ebony could honestly say she loved the
Mall Rats. It didn’t mean she wasn’t frustrated by their stupidity or gullibility
at times, but each one was special to her – even Danni.
“So, has the witch decided to beg yet?” Spike entered the
room, a sneer on his lips as he loomed above her, taunting her.
“Never.” Ebony stood to her feet. “I will never beg to
you.” She declared, her fighting spirit once again rekindled inside her.
“Then you will die.” Spike stated.
He snapped his fingers and suddenly four of his
white-masked guards had opened her cage and grabbed onto her arms. They roughly
drug her even deeper inside the warehouse, hissing evil words in her ears and
laughing at her.
Ebony closed her eyes, mentally trying to conjure up an
image of a more pleasant time, but she could only see Zoot’s milky blue-white eyes,
boring into her soul. “No.” She whimpered softly. But it was already too late.
Spike’s thugs had already shut and locked the door to her dark prison, leaving
her there to die alone, miserable, and tormented by nightmares of Zoot.
~*~*~
“Amber, what’s this all about?” Ocelot demanded the moment
she and Amber had cleared the Gaian village. Amber had come storming into her
room, her eyes wide with horror. She told Ocelot she needed her help then drug
her out of the camp without another word.
“I’m sorry Ocelot. I didn’t know who else to turn to.”
Amber murmured, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have dragged you
into this.”
“Slow down, Amber. You’re talking gibberish.” Ocelot turned
Amber to face her, carefully watching Amber’s eyes for some sign of why she was
so upset this time.
“Ebony. She’s gone. And I just know something horrible has
happened to her.” Amber replied, folding her arms against her small frame.
“Robin and Cougar just got back, they told me KC said she was gone.”
“That could mean anything, Amber.” Ocelot pointed out.
“I know, but somehow I just [I]know[/I] she’s in trouble.”
Amber went on, the tears still filling her large brown eyes. “We’ve got to help
her.”
“But Amber, this doesn’t make sense.” Ocelot attempted to
reason with the distraught young woman. “All you know is this KC guy says that
she’s not at the mall, right? How trustworthy is KC?”
“Not very, Ocelot.” Amber answered, but her expression had
not calmed. “But I know. Ebony is in danger and I’m the only one who can help
her.”
Ocelot hesitated. She knew that when Amber put her mind to
something it was always accomplished, and obviously Amber had put her mind to
rescuing Ebony, even though she didn’t know anything about where she may be or
even if she was in trouble at all. If Ocelot didn’t agree to go with her, she
knew Amber would go by herself, and Amber was in no condition to do that.
“Alright.” Ocelot shrugged her shoulders. “Let’s go rescue
Ebony. But it’s dark now, Amber. Let’s wait until morning.”
“No.” Amber shook her head. “We have to go now. We may not
have until morning.”
~*~*~
Tai-San awoke with a start. That dream. It was here again,
but this time so different. It was no longer Amber in danger – it was Ebony.
“What’s going on?” She murmured, rubbing her temple with her fingers. “Why do I
keep having dreams like this?”
Tai-San rolled over, closing her eyes, willing herself to
fall back asleep. After several minutes ticked by and her mind was still as alert
as it had been before, she slowly sat up. She knew she wouldn’t get any sleep
for the rest of the night.
She made her way over to the middle of her room and sat
cross-legged on the soft throw rug she had lain out for special purposes such
as this. She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to carry her to Ebony’s.
“I’m here for you Ebony.” She murmured into the darkness.
“Just reach out and touch me.”
Tai-San felt nothing for several minutes. Just as she was
about ready to give up and head back to bed she felt a faint voice inside her
crying for help. The voice was scared – no, more then scared. She was
terrified.
“Ebony?” Tai-San whispered. “Is that you?”
~*~*~
“This is just great, Amber.” Ocelot grumbled as she picked
her way along after her still hysterical leader. Amber had been leading them
through the forest at a breakneck speed. Amber was obviously not concerned with
remaining quiet. Rather, she was traveling like it was her life’s mission to
disturb ever creature of the forests night’s rest.
“What’s wrong, Ocelot?” Amber turned back to face her, her
eyes shinning brightly.
“This is ridiculous, you realize that, right?” Ocelot
stated, tugging her knit beanie further over her ears. She had almost forgotten
to bring it. She would have hated to see what state her head would have been in
if she hadn’t. “You don’t have any idea where you’re going, do you?”
Amber stopped in her tracks, her face taking on a sad
expression. “No.” She whispered. “But I know she’s in trouble, Ocelot. I can
feel it. I can’t give up, even though I don’t know where she’s at. I just
can’t.”
Ocelot nodded. She had figured Amber would say something
like that. “Alright. Let’s get going. Maybe we can go to the mall and I can
investigate and find some clues.” She suggested.
“You two aren’t going anywhere.”
Both Amber and Ocelot whirled around. Ocelot’s eyes widened
with surprise as she found herself facing the sharp end of a rather wicked
looking blade. The person holding the blade eyed her with contempt. He was
dressed in a medium blue robe that fell all the way to the ground. His hair was
dyed to match.
“The Chosen!” Amber whispered, the fear evident in her
voice.
“Oh, so you’ve heard of us.” A young man dressed in a white
robe addressed them as he surveyed them coolly. Ocelot glanced over at Amber
who was now being held by two of these strange people with blades.
“Who are you?” Ocelot demanded, her eyes flashing. She
wanted to lunge at this guy, obviously the leader of this group, but the guard
holding the blade against her neck looked just a little to eager to try out his
carving abilities on her face.
He turned his attention to Ocelot, a small smile turning up
the corners of his lips. “My name is Luke. Lieutenant Luke, and as your friend
said earlier, we are the Chosen. You may now consider yourselves prisoners of
the Chosen.”
“I’m no one’s prisoner.” Ocelot spat. “And neither is she.”
“That, my dear girl, is where you are wrong.” He turned on
his heel and began to walk away. “Take them back to the camp. We will present
them to the Guardian in the morning.”
Amber exchanged glances with Ocelot, her eyes offering the
apology that was not needed to be voice. “Don’t worry, Amber. We’ll get out of
this.” Ocelot assured her in a loud whisper that quickly earned her a kick
behind the knee, dropping her to the ground.
“No talking.” Her captor ordered.
Ocelot nodded her eyes on Amber the entire time. She could
already see the tale tell signs of Amber’s shoulders shaking and her head
drooped. ‘Don’t give up hope, Amber. Not yet.’