10 The rocks

I paused and stared at Jaden for a while. He saw my sister. He actually saw my sister! She's alive! I had so many questions, but I didn't want to frighten him. I tried to stay as calm as I could. "Lia is my sister. I'm searching for her too. Where did you find her? Is she safe?"

He didn't respond. He just closed his eyes as if he ignored me.

"Please, I have to know where she is? She could be in danger."

He ignored me again, and I began to lose my patience.

"Why did you tell me that if you weren't going to say anything afterward! Say something!"

He flinched at the sound of my voice. Once I noticed, I sat back calmly.

I didn't mean to yell at him, but I had to know where she was.

"Sorry." I whispered.

More silence followed after that. I sat impatiently with my fists balled in my lap. I knew he was scared, but I had to know more. I tried again. "Please answer me."

At that moment Mina entered the room. "Is everything okay? I heard yelling."

"Yes, everything is fine," I said in an annoyed tone.

Mina checked his pulse and noticed that he was agitated.

"I've got to give him something to calm him down. You have to leave now."

I looked over at him. He sat and fiddled with the rock in his hand. As he moved it around I saw it more clearly. It was one of the rocks I used when I killed the monster.

"Just give me a few more minutes."

She sighed. "Okay, but he needs to rest."

She gave him a special herb to eat, that was supposed to put him to sleep. Then she left the room.

I continued to talk to Jaden. "Those rocks, I've seen them before. I used them to kill one of the demons we fought against. Do you know why they hurt demons?"

Again there was no response.

Irritated, I got up from my chair and headed for the door.

"Wait!" I heard him call.

I stopped at the doorway and turned around quickly. "Yes?"

He took a deep breath before speaking. "Yes, she's alive. She's there."

He stopped speaking as he drifted in and out of consciousness from the medicine.

"There? Where is there?" I asked.

At that moment he had fallen under.

Mina opened the door again and motioned for me to leave.

I left the room and Kai was standing there.

"Kai! My sister is alive! Jaden tried to tell me where, but for some reason he couldn't. Mina also gave him some calming medicine and before he could say anything more he fell into a deep sleep."

His face stayed serious. "I know. I was listening from behind the door."

"Well? Isn't this good news? Now I know for sure that she is alive, and we know he came from that cave. Maybe that's where he saw her. Now we can go and get her!"

He looked over at Jayden through the doorway, and then looked back at me. "Yes, it is good news. Still, something doesn't seem right. We need to be prepared for whatever we might face. I know you haven't known Jaden for that long, but if going up there broke him, then trust me, it's serious."

I looked down to the ground and nodded.

He continued. "I'm going to go get some rest. You should too. Goodnight."

He quickly started walking, but I stopped him. "Kai. Thanks for helping me."

"No problem," He said softly.

He continued to walk past me, and my hand slowly brushed against his. He paused and gave me a small smile, then he walked away.

I couldn't help but smile a little as I stared at the ground.

Suddenly I heard footsteps coming from behind me. I turned around to see Faye standing there. "I hope you're not crushing on him. Just to let you know he doesn't like anyone like that. Talking to him sometimes is like talking to a brick wall, and he'll never open up to you."

I frowned at her. "Maybe he just doesn't like you. Also, It's not like that. I hardly know him. I'm just trying to find my sister."

She looked at me with a plain expression. "Sure." She said sarcastically.

I started to walk away and she continued to block my path.

"What do you want now?" I asked.

"I want to know how you killed that monster. You couldn't have done it by yourself. Did Kai help you, and let you take all of the credit?"

"Is someone jealous? Has no one ever told you that there will always be someone better than you?" I mocked her.

She frowned. "You sure have a smart mouth! From what I recall, when you first got here, you could hardly fight a demon. I was the one who found you in the forest, remember? You were wounded and scared. Now you act as if you are braver than all of us and better than Kai. But I know you're nothing but a liar!"

I was furious. Did she just call me a liar?

"Excuse me? I didn't Lie! I killed it myself! How are you going to accuse me of lying when you didn't even go? And yes! I am brave! Braver than you at least! If it wasn't for me none of you would ever know about the rocks!"

"Rocks? What rocks?"

"The rocks I used to kill the mons....."

I paused. I forgot that Kai didn't want me to tell anyone about the rocks until he found out more about them.

I backed away from her. "Uh… It's nothing. Nevermind."

"You can't just change the subject! You said you used rocks to kill it?"

I sighed. I already gave out the information. So I explained the rest to her.

"I found rocks on the ground in the forest of demons and used them to kill the monster. I threw them at it and when those rocks made contact with the demons' bare skin, it started to melt. I don't know why. This world is so strange."

"What? Any rock?"

"No, there are specific kinds."

"Did you bring some with you? Where are they now?"

"Kai gave them to one of his comrades for testing. He said not to tell anyone else about it yet. So could you please keep quiet about it?"

She smiled. "Of course, I know that we don't get along, but this is for our survival. I won't say a word."

Then she turned and left. I didn't know if I could trust Faye, no matter how hard I tried. I could only go on the fact that she was a part of Kai's team, and I trusted Kai, but I let my guard down around her. She made me so angry.

. . .

Morning came and I woke up. I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted to. We spent most of yesterday searching for Lia and the rest with bringing Jadan back. When I got out of bed and looked out of the window, I saw a bright blue sky with stars spread across the sky and celestial lights glowing. The shiny snow fell softly upon my window, adding beauty to the scenery as in a painting. This world was truly majestic and weird. I smiled and hurried down to the dining room, where Yara, Leo, and Jake were making meals. Yara smiled at me as she handed me my plate.

"Here you go."

"Thanks, Yara."

I felt completely better than I did before. I knew my sister was alive, and that I was going to save her.

I ate peacefully at the table. Kai came in minutes later and sat at the table next to me.

"Did your friends find out anything about those rocks?"

Kai kept his eyes on the table as he spoke. "They assume the rocks came from a meteor or something. Probably from one of the planets in the sky. The minerals in the rock are poisonous to demons, but it's perfectly fine for us to touch. Some of them stayed up all night trying to see how we could use them as weapons."

"That's perfect. We'll have a much better chance fighting the demons now when we leave to go and get my sister."

He didn't respond. His face stayed plain and emotionless.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Something doesn't seem right."

I looked around the room and everything looked fine. The children were playing around. People were laughing and talking at the table. I didn't understand what he meant. I turned back to him.

"Where's Faye?"

"She should be in her room, why?"

Before I could respond, I heard a scream coming from outside. The whole room went quiet as they all listened. One scream turned into more screams. Suddenly the door burst open and three demons came running in. We all jumped out of our seats. Some of the kids hid behind the older ones. One even ran up to me and hid behind me. Kai quickly grabbed a sword from behind him.

I turned to Yara, Leo, and Jake. "Guys you need to get the little ones outside quickly!"

Leo ran over and opened one of the doors. "Come on guy's run!"

Yara, Leo, and the others ran outside while carrying the kids in their arms.

I stayed behind with Kai.

Kai quickly grabbed another sword and gave it to me.

"We need to get the others out as well. They're still upstairs. Also, we need to get to those rocks!"

Kai ran and sliced one of the demons as he headed for the next room. I tried to follow behind him, but the other two blocked my path. I've never fought two of them before. My fear began to hit me again, but I tried to stay calm. One came over from my right side, and the other came from my left. I quickly grabbed a glass plate and threw it at the one on the right. It was blinded and It spun around the room knocking things around. The next one charged at me and I quickly sliced its neck. I've been watching Kai's moves as he fought and tried to take the same stances. Even without training, I was still able to kill them.

Kai grabbed my hand and we both ran up the stairs, to find more people. Dean and Faye stood at their doorways.

"What's going on?" Dean asked.

"There are demons attacking inside the castle!" I said.

Dean frowned. "How? We have people on the lookout on each level. Someone would have spotted one if there was a demon close to us."

"We don't have time to discuss that right now. Warn the others, and get them out of here!" Kai yelled.

Jaden suddenly ran out of his room and dropped to the floor. "They came back for me! I knew they would! They're going to kill me!"

I ran to his side and helped him up. "Come on! We need to get out of here!"

At that moment another demon appeared out of nowhere and more began to run up the stairs after us. We each had our swords and fought off the demons. I stayed near Jaden to protect him.

"Where are they coming from?" Dean yelled.

Kai grabbed a rope that was hanging on the wall and threw it out of the window. "Everybody climb down!"

Dean grabbed the rope and climbed down quickly. The other's followed after him. Then it was my turn. I quickly stood at the window and prepared to go down. Kai followed after me.

Once we hit the ground, we began running away from the castle as the demons chased after us.

"We've got to close the portal!" Jaden yelled.

"Portal?" I heard Kai ask.

"I've got to go back to my room and get my rock!" Jaden continued.

"Over here!" someone yelled. I turned my head to see that It was Faye. She was holding the rocks that we brought back.

"What are you doing with those?" Kai yelled.

She ignored Kai, and kept her attention on Jaden. "You need them don't you?" She tossed them to him.

Jaden caught the rocks and smashed them forcefully together. A huge shockwave was released as well as a loud noise.

Immediately all of the demons vanished.

I couldn't hear anything but a loud ring in my ear.