Trystan

 

            It’s been one day so far. I think that’s the case. You can’t see the sunset or sunrise underground, so it’s hard to tell if any time has passed at all. Deeandra only came in once during this time, giving me some wormy-looking bread. I didn’t eat it.

            It was evening, I think, when Deeandra came down to the cell. She was holding a large cheeseburger and I heard my stomach growl at the sight of it. Unfortunately, Deeandra heard it and half-smiled, “Sounds like your hungry.” I didn’t say anything back.

            “This sandwich looks really good, but the problem is, I’m a vegetarian. Hmm, perhaps you would want it?” And she walked closer to the bars, waving the steaming burger right by my face. I was just about to grab it when she quickly pulled it back. I glowered at her. “Ah, ah, ah. To eat this, you must earn it.”

            “And how should I do that?” I spat.

            “You just have to answer one measly question for me: What can kill dragons, besides their own kind and starvation?”

            “That’s not fair,” I growled, “Do you really expect me to know that?” It was surprising, but Deeandra was taken aback, “You mean, you aren’t a dragonologist?”

            “No. And I honestly am now regretting I ever took that picture. And if I didn’t go to that stupid place then I’d still be safe in my mom’s cramp but comfortable Manhattan apartment. But no, instead I’m stuck in a cramp uncomfortable cell starving!”

            “Damn! I chose the wrong person. I would’ve expected the dragonologist behind this all was a man.” This statement didn’t surprise me. I recalled Aggie saying how she was one on the few women in her squad and the only one that goes out looking for possible dragon stuff. This was probably all way over what she had expected in her life. I saw Deeandra walking back up the stairs, along with the burger. “Wait, aren’t you going to give me the burger?” Deeandra turned back towards me, smiling wickedly, “Of course not. You didn’t answer my question.” And the door was slammed shut again. Ugh, I could still smell the burger in the air. That was even more torture than the starvation.

            When Deeandra said that it flooded when it rained was an understatement. I believe the rain has been up to my knees now for a half an hour and its still trickling through holes at a decent speed. And if someone was going to come and save me, they’d better hurry or I won’t be here to save.

 

 

 

Agatha

 

            I was on Ketina’s back with the rain and wind whipping against my face. See anything? I asked now for the tenth time.

            I believe that if I were to see something then I would have told you. Besides, I can barely see anyway with all this rain and wind. So stop asking so I can pay attention

            Fine, I grumbled as I pulled the hood of my oversized rain jacket closer to my face. I had a funny feeling that I was going to be waiting for awhile, but surprisingly right when I closed my eyes to get some sleep, Ketina yelled in my mind, look down there. I did, only to see storm clouds. Very funny Ketina. Now tell me what it is that you see because all I see is gray.

            In that one clearing there is something peculiar down there.

            Well, fly down and find out what it is. It probably has something to do with Trystan. It seemed as if everything that was unusual had something to do with us. Ketina began her slow descent through the muck that was brewing.

            By the time we reached the ground I was completely soaked and I groaned audibly in annoyance. But I knew I had to keep going, I just did. I walked over to where Ketina was mentioning before to discover something not meant to be in the forest: a door. A trapdoor to be more exact. Curiously I reached down and pulled the ring up, which revealed a set of stairs for me. I looked up at Ketina, This looks to be where I need to be. You’ll keep guard?

            Could I do anything else? I may be small but there’s no way I’m fitting down there. So while Ketina took her post I began stepping down under the ground.

            Now after the first flight of stairs I saw what appeared to be a calm, relaxed looking room with lots of curtains along the windows. I mean, if there were windows underground everything would have been blowing in the breeze. As I stood I realized with brilliant shock that this must be where Deeandra sleeps. My eyes got big as I knew I had to run away from this spot for now. So I continued down the stairs in hope that Trystan was down there and not up anywhere near Deeandra.

            Near the bottom of the lower set of stairs I came across something I don’t enjoy coming across: water. It was beginning to fill up down here from all the rain. I tried not to think about it as I sloshed on into the room.

 

 

 

Noelle

 

            While Aggie was going after Trystan, Hal and I were going back to Striedhart mansion And so far the plan was working quite smoothly too. Hal and I took the Hummer and began driving back with Izo flying high up from us. What made us so scared was how we had no idea what we were going to discover once reaching the mansion. But we tried to not think of that.

            It was then around the afternoon of the third day when we had finally reached our destination. Or we were at least down the street. “Zo what are we going to do?” I finally asked.

            “Well, I’m not sure if we should try taken on all of Fredrick’s force and his Wyvern pets alone.”

            “We aren’t alone. We ‘ave Izo. Isn’t he enough?” Hal huffed a sigh and said, “Sure it is. Noelle, I’m sorry to sound pessimistic, but I don’t think all of us together could take on Fredrick Streidhart. Let alone us. We just have to hope that Aggie, Trystan, and Ketina at least got out with their lives. That would give us a better chance.”

            I couldn’t help it, but after what Hal just said I couldn’t help but gulp in fright.

 

 

 

 

Agatha

 

I sloshed into a dark room. I searched frantically for some sort of switch along the walls, but all I found were dirt, tree branches, and water easily and quite powerfully trickling out of the walls. Then I heard someone speak, “What are you going to do know to me? Huh? I’m already starving and wet.” My heart leaped at the sound of that voice. “Trystan?”

            “Aggie? Is that really you?”

            “Where the hell is the light switch?”

            “Far wall, right side.” After he gave me some directions as to where the lights were I was greeted by what was in this room. There was a table covered with fascinating looking artillery. And in the one corner was a cell with Trystan in it, staring at me in wonder. That was when I noticed the water and felt dizzy. It was surprisingly knee-deep; I just couldn’t tell the depth because I was already soaked. “Trystan,” I waded over to the cell smiling at the sight of him again, even though he kind of looked terrible. His hair was all matted and lost of its shine and he appeared to not have eaten in days. There was also the appearance of cuts trying to turn to scars. I practically shoved my face between two of the metal bars while asking, “Trystan, where’s the key?”

            He just shrugged while responding, “She barely ever let’s me out of here and if she ever does she opens it when the lights are turned off so I can’t really help you out there. And to make you feel better the water has been going up even faster in the past….half an hour I’m guessing.” I stared at him for a moment, knowing that I never told him my fear of water. Trystan just shrugged again, “you look like you’re going to pass out. I just guessed. I doubted it was because of my appearance.” I knew I shouldn’t have, but I began laughing at that. While I was laughing I answered, “Well, you do kind of look like s***.”

            “Ah well.” Then Trystan sort of laughed in response. I mean, it wasn’t all that funny, but at times like these you need all the laughing you can possibly get. So we laughed.

            We laughed until we realized another laugh had joined us. A cackled filled with ice and malice inside of it instead of happiness, “I hope I’m not interrupting your happy reunion am I?” I turned slowly to come face to face with Deeandra, her almost black eyes staring back. “It is truly amazing that you were able to even get passed me from the top of the stairs. You’re just lucky you came during naptime, which happens to be five minutes long. But anyway,” Deeandra turned towards the table of death and stared at it while continuing, “So I’m guessing I got to take care of both of you know don’t I? Ah, might as well give this lady a chance.” And before I could really blink I heard something whiz by and heard a thud sound in the wall. I turned to see a stick with a long, curved at the end. I grabbed it and pulled it out of the moist ground. As soon as I did that a waterfall of water fell in for a few seconds, which made the level go up more, to around the middle of my thighs. I groaned a little too loudly. “Hehe, am I going against someone who is afraid of water? Is this the case? Wow, how boring.” Deeandra laughed at me. The laugh didn’t last long before she quickly tried slicing my arm off. Luckily I had blocked it and kept both of my arms. And then it was on.

            We circled each other while Trystan helplessly watched. Every now and then one of us would lash out at the other with the swordy type things. But Deeandra also used words, “The water is now at your waist Aggie. You can always give up now and forget about this Trystan guy and move on.” But I ignored it. I ignored it until she asked, as we circled for what seemed the billionth time, “Hmm, Mozley is your last name right?..Oh now I know why it’s sounded so familiar. Yeah about…what was it…eighteen years ago my brother calls me asking for some help. Apparently some couple with the last name Mozley who were dragonologists were messing with him. See, this was when he first started his career. But anyway, so what I did for him was sneak out while they were in the search for a dragon. Mr. Mozley was studying over by this creek right? So I simply went over and gagged him, followed by dragging him and lifting him up and over the cliff, so he was floating in midair,” She cackled momentarily, “I always laugh when I remember his face right before I let go of him. It was priceless. And I didn’t need to do anything with the wife. Compared to her husband she was completely lost.”

            I snapped.

            I lunged at Deeandra with such force that I knocked her over, me toppling with. We both landed in the frigid water but I didn’t care. There was one thing going on in my mind: Kill Deeandra. I pulled her out again and shook her while saying through clenched teeth, “You. Made. Me. Grow. Up. Without. A. F******. Dad!” And the entire time she was cackling. That’s right, she was laughing about this whole thing. I couldn’t take it anymore. There was water around me, all I had to do was hold her under long enough. So I shoved her face back into the water and held it with one hand. Meanwhile the other was searching for the key. If I didn’t find the key before she drowned then that was her problem.

            Then my hand went over something small and elegant: the key. I thought quickly and held it in my teeth while reaching for the one knife. Now Deeandra was almost done, her struggles doing nothing. I took the knife and made a big slash in her arm before lifting her out of the water and dragging her to the stairs. I knew she’d eventually wake up and but would take long enough that Trystan and I could get out.

            After Deeandra was taken care of I walked over to Trystan’s cell and unlocked it, the entire time him saying, “Oh my God that was amazing! You are crazy wicked when mad. I swear I’ll make sure not to upset you.” After he repeated himself for a couple more times, going up the stairs he came to notice I wasn't taking in all the glory like him. “So…is that what happened to your parents?” I couldn’t help it, but I felt the tears coming, I knew I did. So I just answered him, “I was five when Mom came home to tell me that Daddy wasn’t coming home anymore because there was an accident at work. And I went to the funeral, I watched his body go down in the ground, but I asked my mother for another year every now and then, ‘When’s Daddy getting home?’ It always made her cry. It made her quit her job and decide to never even think about dragons again. And you know what else, she soon ended up being the one asking, ‘When’s your father getting home?’ She drove herself mad. So by the time I was fifteen I had no one.” And throughout the forest the no one part seemed to echo. The rain had slowed down to a mist. I was practically crying hysterically when Trystan went and pulled me into his arms in an embrace.

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