PLANNING TO SEARCH

Artin left the table and some of her housemates left with him. Quira and Aurinda immediately began taking the utensils that were left on the table to the kitchen. Quira was balancing them on a tree stump that moved as she did. She placed the plates on the top flat surface of the stump.

Aurinda balanced the glass cups on a tray with one hand picking up the glasses and placing them on the tray and the other balancing the tray on her palm.

Cardial and Sevin stripped down to their pants. They handed their discarded clothes and shoes to Raveer who folded them carefully into two piles and placed them on the table next to where Artin was seated previously.

"Where are they going?" Lexine asked curiously as she sat back down.

"Evening run." Aurinda was the one who answers her as she paused picking the glass cups halfway to glance at the male specimens who were now walking out the room. Quira did not even glance up.

"Isn't it too cold? They could get sick without their clothes."

Aurinda tucked her blue hair behind her ear using her free hand before continuing to pick up the remaining glasses.

"They are werewolves. They need to let their wolves roam free during the night for a few hours."

Lexine nodded understanding a little due to the memory of twilight. If there were werewolves, did that mean that there were vampires as well? Maybe she could find her own shining Edward Cullen. She chuckled at the thought.

"If there are werewolves, does that mean there are vampires as well?" Lexine asked curiously.

"What are vampires?" Aurinda asked curious about the new word she had never heard. Her gray eyes shone with curiosity. Lexine choked on her saliva.

Were there really no such things as vampires? She was making a fool out of herself. But her mouth continued to speak either way.

"Vampires are, well, you know, creatures of the night that suck blood to survive. That kind of thing. They are beautiful creatures who lure their prey using their beauty and use them as their blood bags?"

Aurinda paused what she was doing to look at Lexine. For the first time, Lexine saw her frown, "Where did you hear about that?" Had Lexine said something wrong?

"Stories from home."

Aurinda visibly relaxed. "No. This… vampire does not exist." She said strongly although Lexine did not believe her completely, "There are only five species, Sylphs, Drakkons, Werewolves, Anthropoids and Shadow beings. Each one is sub-divided further down, but I will not go into that for now because I am sure you are exhausted and your mind is in turmoil. I would be too if I was taken to a new world that was different from my own."

Indeed, Lexine did feel her head pound. She was going to have a terribly hard time sleeping because of the headache she was going to get.

Christana poked her head into the room. Her red hair swooshed to the side. "Are you done yet Rinda? We need to sleep early because of the colosseum duel tomorrow."

Aurinda placed the tray on the tree stump that had now moved to her side. "Just done Christa." The stump followed Quira to the bathroom. Lexine stretched her neck to see if the stump was moving on wheels. Sadly it wasn't. The roots of the stump were moving it forward. They slithered like an octopus in water enabling it to move forward. "Are you coming Quira?" The purple-haired girl nodded before going into the kitchen. "What about you Lexine?"

Lexine stood and nodded as well. She needed to check if her phone had some network now. Even one measly bar. She felt it was useless though.

She followed Aurinda out of the room. In the living room, where a few hours previously Christa and Cardial were about to murder each other, Taevlin sat on one of the chairs, his nose in a book. Was all he did read? Lexine rolled her eyes. Desire sat on a seat on the other side of the room. She seemed to be working on something. There was a table in front of her and tools lay in front of her.

Lexine and Aurinda went up the steps that led to their rooms. "A good night Lexine," Aurinda said and went to the doors to her room where Christana stood.

"Goodnight," Lexine replied.

Christana shouted as she turned to leave. "A good night!"

Lexine waved and went to her room. "Goodnight."

Behind the closed doors, she sunk into her bed and groaned. Her head felt heavy but her eyes would not shut to sleep. "Come on! Sleep." She berated herself. When she could not anymore, she sat up and let her eyes adjust to the darkness of the room.

She picked up her bag that lay on the floor next to the bed and rummaged through it and got her phone out. She powered it on since she had switched it off to preserve the battery. There weren't any bars. She had been kidnapped and taken to a new world where the characters in the movies she watched were real. That was enough to give her a migraine.

Maybe she should be pissed with her mother who had agreed to let her be kidnapped. However, maybe they would have forced her here with or without her mother's permission.

She racked her mind. Werewolves. They were creatures of the Moon. They were able to transform into wolves and worshipped the Moon Goddess. Drakkons. It sounded similar to dragons, so maybe the correct term for dragons was Drakkons. But dragons were large-scaled winged creatures. Maybe she was wrong? Anthropoids. Apart from the fact that they were humans who were locked on the wrong side of the Gate, she knew nothing else. Shadow beings. She knew absolutely nothing about them. Nothing about Sylphs either. She hated not knowing.

She looked at pictures on her phone since there was nothing else she could do on her phone. Playing a game would consume too much power. Pictures of her and Ceeret. Pictures of her mother and father. Pictures of the food truck she worked at during the holiday. Tears filled her eyes. She hated the fact that she was kidnapped and forced to accept a reality that she did not grow up with. She started counting the days. Thirty.

She was doing this for her mother. To get information about her father. She wiped the tears that had spilled down her cheeks. It was not the time to cry. If she really did get her 'strong energy signature' from her father, then the first thing she needed to find out was which of the creatures he was. To do that she needed to learn more about the creatures on this side of the gate.

She took out the book she carried with her from school and opened a fresh page. She wrote down, 'FIND OUT WHO DAD REALLY WAS.' And the first point was, 'learn more about different species.' This would help her eliminate which of the five species her father was not part of.

Her mind was felt heavier so she closed the book and lay her head on the headboard. She had drifted off to a dreamless sleep when someone knocked on her door.

"Who is it?" Lexine shouted too lazy to get out of bed.

"It is I, Desire." The voice spoke in her head.

Lexine groaned and resisted the urge to throw a tantrum on being dragged from the bed. The comfortable bed. She dragged her feet to the door and opened it. She poked her head out of the space she opened. "Yes?" she frowned at Desire. "Could you not do that thing you do with your mind. It is very irritating hearing a voice that is not mine in my head."

Desire cocked her head to the left as if she was trying to comprehend what Lexine had said. "Do you need anything?" Lexine broke the silence.

Desire's face made a face as if she had remembered something very important. "I brought this for you." She spoke out loud. Lexine internally sighed. Her head already hurt, if Desire used her voice in her mind, it would explode. Desire opened her palm to reveal an earring. There was a black cloth that connected a silver ball to the earring hook.

"What is this?"

"All Sylphs earn their rings at the age of ten when their energy signature becomes more potent. If you do not have one then the tale we fabricated will go to waste." Lexine accepted the earring and removed the studded one that was on her left ear and replaced it with the one she had been handed.

"Is it good?" Lexine asked and Desire nodded.

"A good night." Desire bowed and turned to leave.

"Goodnight."

Lexine looked at her as she left. These people were very weird.

She shut her door and sunk back into bed. Her eyes shut and she immediately fell into a dreamless sleep.