Thread:MagicDaydreamer/@comment-38480398-20191028113831

promise you the first two chapters, didn't I? :) Just as warning, they're still unedited :)

Prologue

Bad experience had made Tara absolutely hate rain. Tonight, it was as rainy as it got and it was making her feel on edge. Normally she would have stayed inside, but she didn’t really have much choice. Unless she wanted three years of work to go to waste, she would have to put up with it. She should be fine. She just needed to be careful. Huddling deeper into her raincoat, she crossed over a street. When she finally made it into the park, no one was there. Her heart skipped a beat as she checked her watch. They were late. Her grip tightened on her dagger.

“Ten minutes,” she whispered. Ten minutes she would wait. Otherwise… well she didn’t really know. She just knew she wasn’t going to stand around as an easy target for longer than that. She moved under a tree whose leaves offered some shelter from the downpour and stood there, waiting. Nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds later, she was about to leave when the sound of a very soft, but slightly misplaced step made her stiffen. By now it was raining so hard she could barely see. She raised her dagger again, ready to throw- or strike, if whoever was out there got too close for her to throw before she could see enough make sure she would hit them. She relaxed again as the rain parted suddenly, like a beaded curtain being pushed aside. Completely dry despite the torrent, Freya silently joined Tara under the tree, letting the rain fall normally the moment she stood under cover.

“And?” she asked.

“You’re the first,” Tara replied.

“That’s bad. How long have you been waiting?”

“Ten minutes.”

“How much longer were you going to wait?”

“I was leaving when you came. But now that you’re here, should we maybe wait another ten?”

“I think so. This weather makes it hard.”

Tara nodded. “I don’t like it. Not at all.”

“Me neither. It’s getting worse too.”

“The fear or the rain?”

“Both,” Freya said softly. Tara found she had to agree with that. The rain was gradually becoming a waterfall, worsening the visibility and drowning out other sounds, increasing her nerves. It would be far too easy to sneak up on someone in this weather. You simply wouldn’t notice anyone until they were right next to you.

“Sorry I’m late.”

Tara started, nearly throwing her dagger at Kaitlyn as she suddenly joined them under the tree. Case in point, she thought grimly.

“Charlie isn’t here?” Kaitlyn asked. “I thought I would be last.”

“Nearly.” Charlene appeared out of the rain. For a moment, they all just stood there, then Tara took a deep breath. “Ready?” One by one, her sisters nodded hesitantly.

“We should hurry. I don’t think it’s safe to stay here too long,” Freya warned. She reached inside her raincoat, rummaging around before taking out a dark blue stone dangling on a pale chain. Even with the light barely detectable, Tara could see it gleaming faintly. Charlene moved next, drawing out a clear stone set in gold. They placed their stones on the damp ground. Kaitlyn bent down, laying a deep red jewel alongside the other two. Now only Tara was left. She took out the emerald first. Once it was on the ground next to the other stones, she got out the moonstone. The white jewel seemed to almost glow. She held it aloft. Just for a second. Then she placed in the center of the circle that had been made by the first four jewels. After a moment’s delay, in which a strange shimmer went through them, they flashed blindingly, white light sweeping outward.

The first thing Tara noticed as she cautiously blinked her eyes open again was that the familiar, comforting weight of her necklace was gone. She would never wear it again. It filled her with a strange sort of loss. The necklace was something she had become used to. It was always there and uncomfortable as it had been at first, she’d grown it attached to it. Next, she saw that the stones they had laid on the ground were gone too. Success. At least for now. It was a temporary solution. But hopefully, the delay would suffice. Hopefully. With whispered good-nights, the sisters departed.

Please let this work, Tara thought. ''Please. It has to.''

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter One

 

Catalina Rogers briefly weighed a spear in her hand. Heavy. She’d need to throw this one a considerable bit higher than the mark. She’d also need a lot of force if she wanted to hit her target, since it was quite far away. It meant she’d have to be careful, because if she went too high, the spear would never make it there.

“… three,” Tara counted. Catalina only ever had to the count of three to pick up the spear and find her trajectory. Tara wanted her to be able to throw perfectly instinctively, without stopping to think or taking the time to align. She flung the spear almost the instant she heard Tara’s voice; this type of target training had improved her reaction as well. She watched it sail through the air.

“Perfect hit!” Tara shouted from where she was standing next to the target. Catalina exhaled, relieved she hadn’t overcompensated after all.

“Go again! Two seconds this time.”

Cataline sighed, slumping in on herself. She was exhausted, couldn’t be bothered anymore and the effort of throwing so many rather heavy spears from standing was making her shoulder feel like it was going to dislocate soon. She perked up a bit again when she heard Tara say, “Just one more, then we can do archery. Ready?” She paused a moment. “One, two.” Catalina snatched up the next spear and threw it. Right on target.

“Ok, I’ll meet you at the archery range!” Tara called, slipping past the spear-throwing target to go around the back way. Catalina walked over to the wall on her left, picking up her bow from where she’d left it. So brown it was almost black, with a wood-like look and a relatively sleek, it had a simple, elegant effect. Catalina liked that. Slinging her matching black-brown quiver across her back, she went to the archery range, where Tara was already waiting. The archery range stretched longer than the spear-throwing one, with multiple standing and hanging targets at different height and distances.

“Start with this one!” Tara hollered, indicating a hanging target at the very top left of the range’s back wall and stepping out of the way, ducking behind a large standing target. Nocking an arrow, Catalina drew her bowstring taught and raised the bow. Thwack!

 

“It might interest you,” Tara observed at the end of training, “that there’s going be a new, big, global-tour archery competition starting next week. I’ve heard it’s going to be almost like the youth world championships, just longer and with more destinations.”

“Interest?!” Catalina echoed in disbelief. “I’d love to enter it!”

“I thought you’d say that. I’ve already filled in most of the enrolment forms, so you would just need to fill out the rest- with your parents’ permission of course.”

“Wait, you said global-tour; how long is it?”

“Depends on how far you make it. Three or four months.”

Catalina deflated. “Forget it. My parents will never be able find the time to take me.”

“You’ll need a coach travelling with you anyway, and it’s not that much longer than some of the other competitions I’ve taken you to, so I think your parents would probably let me take you again,” Tara said.

“Well, it’s not like they’ll be going.”

By the time Catalina came home that night, it was past eleven: Tara had decided to make her do an extra round of cardio. Flinging down her bag, she went into the kitchen, grabbing a pre-made salad out of the fridge. She sat down at the table and took out the enrolment forms, so she could fill out the blanks Tara had left while she ate. Soon, the salad was gone and only one line on the forms had no writing. ''Signature of guardian. ''Dumping her fork and bowl in the dishwasher on the way, she walked up the stairs to her mother’s study.

“Mum?” She asked as she opened the door.

“You’re still up?”

“Training went overtime,” Catalina replied. “I was wondering: there’s a big archery competition starting next week, but the thing is, it’s pretty long and you need to travel a lot…”

“I’m sorry, Cat, but you know we’re always fully-booked this time of year.”

“Ye-es. What I actually wanted to ask you was if it would okay if I went with Tara. It says here,” she waved around the sheaf of paper she’d taken with her, “that a coach should be present and Tara volunteered to take me because she knows you and Dad don’t have time to go.”

“Let me have a look.”

“Here.” Catalina handed her mum the entry forms. She took them and spread them out on her desk to inspect them. A moment later she looked up.

“We’ll think about it. I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

Catalina took the hint. “Thanks Mum. Good night.”

“Good night.”

The next morning, Catalina awoke to find the house empty. Going down for breakfast, she found a note on her chair.

''The new room curtains came. This was the only time we could pick them up. Breakfast is in the waffle-maker. ''

Love, Mum and Dad

Catalina crumpled up the note, throwing it across the kitchen into the waste-paper basket. ''Of course. ''When she was younger, she had found it exciting that her parents owned a hotel. Now? All it did was annoy her, occasionally to the point of resentment. Nonetheless she turned on the waffle-maker; she had no intention to miss out on waffles just because she was frustrated with her parents. When she had eaten and was packing the waffle-maker away again, she found a second note on the kitchen counter where it had stood.

''The enrolment forms are on my desk. We decided you could go. You love archery- it wouldn’t be fair to let you miss out on an opportunity like this. ''

''Good morning. ''

A smiley face signed the note. Catalina could feel her own face mirroring it. Resisting the urge to dash upstairs to grab the forms, she got out her phone, figuring it would be better to let Tara know first.

“Catalina?”

“My parents are letting me go!” Catalina said excitedly.

She could hear the smile in Tara’s reply. “In that case, I say practice starts an hour early. What do you think?”

“Sure! See you.” Catalina hung up and checked her watch. Eyes widening, she sprinted up to her room, quickly changing into training clothes and using a headband to pull back her platinum blonde hair. Shoulder-length and straight, she’d never seen the point in putting it in a ponytail. Plus, she liked how leaving it open increased the way it contrasted with her slight, permanent tan- courtesy of Dubai’s glaring sun- and emerald-green cat’s eyes. She picked up her bag, already packed, and left.

She went out through the hotel, where she came past a stand with newspapers and magazines.

The Curse of Egypt

Catalina’s first instinct was to roll her eyes at the ridiculous title, but something about it caught her attention. Taking the newspaper of its rack, she skimmed the article. Five Nile cruise ships had simultaneously burst into flames, while another five had had large numbers of guests fall suddenly sick. Feeling shaken, Catalina put the paper back. She didn’t believe in curses, however, the thought that people had been responsible for the disasters only made it worse. Even so, she didn’t expect such a strong reaction when she mentioned them to Tara during training.

“What did you say?” Tara exclaimed.

“They’ve had five Nile cruise ships burn,” Catalina repeated, “and on five they suspect some form of poisoning. I didn’t look that closely because I was late.”

Tara shook her head. “Not important.” It clearly was, though. She spent the rest of training so distracted and lost in thought, Catalina suspected she could have dissolved into thin air without her noticing. The moment they were finished, she practically threw Catalina out.

Well… that was weird, Catalina thought, standing outside and looking blankly at the door. She shook her head and turned to head home, hoping things would go back to normal tomorrow, and that Tara’s overreaction was partially her imagination. It wasn’t. The whole rest of the week went like that, with Tara being distracted throughout training and disappearing as soon as it was over, leaving Catalina to take care of the leftover arrangements for the competition.

The day before they flew, Catalina had had enough.

“Tara?” When her coach didn’t reply, she repeated, “Tara!”

“Yes?” Tara finally replied.

“Is something wrong? You’re acting so strange lately.” “I’m not,” Tara insisted.

Catalina laughed. “Sure.”

“I’m not.”

“If you say so.” Catalina sighed. She knew she wasn’t going to get an answer, much as it annoyed her. So, she was very surprised when, instead of chasing her out as had become usual, Tara indicated to for her to sit. Catalina settled down onto the floor next to her.

“Do you remember the first time I took you to a competition?” she asked.

“Uhh… yes?” Catalina replied, confused and frustrated. Still no explanations, it seemed.

“Think about it. Don’t you remember something weird?”

“Why are we doing this?” Catalina grumbled.

“Just do it,” Tara urged.

Catalina huffed and dropped her head on her hands, but obediently thought back to her first competition with just Tara. She had been eleven then. ''‘Something weird’. ''Tara’s words echoed in her head. Now that she thought about it…

She had been sitting at the table in Tara’s hotel room, playing a game of backgammon with Tara. It was always like that: training and swimming- Catalina loved swimming- wrapped around the competition, some form of card or board game in the evening, a bit of sightseeing if they could manage. Nothing unusual there. They’d just finished and Tara had sent Catalina to get the trivial pursuit board back in her room. While she was in it, she heard the doorbell of Tara’s room. Something made her curious, so she snuck back to her door, very carefully opening it a crack. Tara’s room was next to hers, which meant that Catalina couldn’t see who had rung the bell, but Tara hopefully couldn’t see that her door was open either.

“I thought we said we wouldn’t see each other until it was time,” Tara hissed.

“This is important,” whispered a woman’s voice. She said something else, even quieter. Catalina couldn’t catch Tara’s reply either. Finding the gameboard, she left her room. The woman Tara had been talking to was gone again. Tara had seemed normal and nothing had changed. Over the course of the next few days, Catalina was usually always too exhausted or busy to wonder about it and eventually, she’d just stopped thinking about it. She’d assumed her eleven-year-old self had just read way more into the situation than there had really been. But with Tara asking her like that…

“The woman who visited you,” she said suddenly, taking her head out of her hands. Her mind whirled. So there had been something. It hadn’t been a figment of her imagination. Her weariness from training was gone; instead she felt hyper-alert.

“Yes.”

“What did she want?” Catalina asked.

“She wanted…” Tara paused. “She wanted to tell me the Amethyst had escaped.”

“What?!” Catalina felt as if she hadn’t heard correctly, although she knew she had.

“The Amethyst was supposed to be in the Connection with all the other jewels,” Tara explained, as if that was a perfectly normal thing to say. Catalina continued to stare at her uncomprehendingly. Her brain refused to wrap around any of this. In fact, it seemed to have stopped entirely.

“You asked me why I was so strange lately,” Tara continued. Catalina was relieved to find that she apparently was not expected to contribute to the conversation. “It started with those Nile cruise ships, remember? I was worried because I thought I recognized the type of attack. I’d had a bad feeling lately anyway.” She shook her head. “Once you were gone, I did some research. I was right. The jewels really do seem to be out of the Connection.”

“Jewels,” Catalina repeated blankly. “Connection.”

“Yes. I know I’m going to sound crazy now, but the jewels are the nine magic jewels. They were brought across here at some point by travelers from Valtresalia. Thing is, that was never a problem until someone realized that the jewels were all connected and that the Moonstone, the one that was apparently powerless, can actually harness all the other jewels’ magic together. That wouldn’t have been a problem either, but power is dangerous. We need to keep them away from the wrong hands. That’s why we blew them into the Connection in the first place. They should have been there for another two years. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out. We’d need to go to Egypt to make sure, though.”

“Egypt…”

Tara nodded. “We’re going to Egypt.”

 

 

Chapter Two

Catalina didn’t think Tara was crazy. She also couldn’t see why her coach would make this up. At the same time, this all sounded so impossible and made absolutely no sense.

“Can you say that again?” She finally asked. “Starting from the beginning?”

“Of course. I’m sorry that I had to throw this at you all at once like that. I meant to get you used to the idea slowly; like I said, we thought we had another two years.”

“We?” Catalina interrupted. Her brain was slowly un-numbing again, leaving her head whirling with questions.

“Freya, Charlene, Kaitlyn and myself. I’ll get to them later. You asked to start from the beginning, right?”

“Please.”

“Now first, you need to know that Valtresalia and our world have practically nothing to do with each other, however, there are still ways across. Portals. About a thousand years ago, some people from over there found nine magic jewels. They came over here, and they brought their jewels with them. Now, for quite a long time, everyone thought the only things these jewels did was give their wearer special powers. Then, as I already said, someone discovered that, actually, no, we can do more with these. The jewels are always connected, but the Moonstone strengthens the connections, which multiplies the jewels’ power. So far, so good?”

“I mean… yeah.”

“About twenty-two years ago, a group calling themselves the Gemmologists came across to our world. What they want to do is gather all the jewels and combine their power,” Tara continued.

“And? Why is that our problem?” Catalina asked.

“It’s our problem because the Gemmologists don’t think that combining the jewels gives them enough power. They want to destroy our world to get some form of ultimate power in theirs. Freya, Charlene, Kaitlyn and myself managed to get our hands on all the jewels in time, but we couldn’t make the scepter. Instead, we flung them into the Connection- the in-between of our worlds- so we would have time. And,” she gestured at Catalina, “we could train our successors.”

“Successors?!?” Catalina cried in dismayed disbelief. “Why can’t you do it again?”

“We can’t use the jewels’ magic anymore, which was critical to our success the first time. But even if we could, we were Obsidian, Amethyst, Rose Quartz and Lazuli. For the scepter to work, we’d need an Emerald, a Diamond, a Sapphire and a Ruby. The four precious stones. They have a different energy.”

“So you need me… and whoever else…”

“That the others trained, yes,” Tara interjected.

“… to be those jewels and stop the… Gemmologists… from destroying the world.” Catalina brought her sentence to a jerky close.

“Exactly,” Tara said.

“That…,” Catalina started. “And why does it have to be me?”

“Firstly, because I decided to train you because of qualities that will probably be useful. And second, you have this training.”

“And we’re going to Egypt.”

“Correct.”

“But… the competition… my parents,” Catalina stammered.

“I’m sorry about the competition,” Tara said. “As for your parents, don’t tell them anything. As far as they know, you’re going to this competition with me. I’ll make sure it stays that way, so don’t worry about that right now. Actually, you should probably go home now, relax and give yourself a bit of time to process everything- I’ll excuse you from your next class.”

“Process. Guess that means I don’t really have a choice, do I?” Catalina said.

“Theoretically you do; I can’t force you. Practically, no, not really. I can’t procure someone else on such short notice, so if you don’t do it, we can all just sit around and wait for Earth to disappear under our feet.”

That afternoon, Catalina floated in the hotel pool, watching the darkening sky. Tomorrow, at this time, she would be in Egypt. That didn’t seem like it should be possible. She twisted and dove beneath the surface, frustrated. None of this should be possible! Magic jewels and other worlds and everything else Tara had told her. She couldn’t believe it, didn’t want to believe it. But there was no reason for Tara to be making this up and it did explain lots of little things. Discrepancies she’d ignored or dismissed because they seemed unimportant- they fit into place now. Of course, other things could have explained them as well, but… She knew and trusted her coach and she believed her, if not her story. By this time, Catalina had, with several stops to resurface, reached the deep end of the pool. She stroked downwards, staying at the bottom for a moment before kicking up for air.

“Cat?”

The telltale Spanish accent, slight but still detectable: her mother’s voice. Catalina felt a childish urge to dive again. Of course, she couldn’t hold her breath long enough to hide, so there was no point. Still, she wanted to.

“Here!” she called back.

Her mother approached. “Would you be so kind? I left a shopping list on your bag. We’re running out of groceries.”

“Sure,” Catalina replied, her tone substantially less enthusiastic than her words.

“Thanks. We’ll try to be home at eight so we can have a nice send-off dinner.”

The send-off dinner. The one that wouldn’t be for a competition, but for a secret trip to Egypt.

Great.

She dried herself off, then checked the list. Milk, cumin, beef, pepper. Nothing difficult; she could easily go to the store down the road, be back in around forty-five minutes, double-check her suitcase.

Catalina’s estimate proved correct and she spent the time waiting for dinner filing her arrows. Not only did it help clear her head, it let her sort out her collection to make her archery case easier to pack tomorrow morning. Soon, the delicious smell of empanadas told her dinner was ready. She spent most of it staring distractedly at the wall, but, thankfully, her parents needed to get back to work and didn’t ask about her strange behavior, seeming to assume it was nerves or excitement.

“Where are you going first?” her father finally asked, as they were eating dessert.

“Mexico,” Catalina answered. Not. She jerked back from the table, startling her parents. “Sorry! I’ll be right back!” ''How could I forget? ''She dashed upstairs, into her room, grabbing her laptop. “Booking overview… booking overview…” she mumbled, “there!” She’d come home and gone straight to pool, without cancelling their flights or hotel for Mexico. While she was still sitting there, she texted Tara.

Have you booked Egypt?

'''Yes. Bring your archery case. We might need it.'''

‘We might need it’?! Catalina read the last sentence again. This just kept getting worse. She’d been planning to take it anyway, so her parents wouldn’t suspect and because she’d planned to practice, but ‘we might need it’ sounded ominous. Like Tara expected danger. Groaning, she dropped her head on her desk, then stood up. No point dwelling; it was done now. She went back into the kitchen, where her parents looked at her with matching concerned expressions.

“Just a food thing for Tara for the flight that I forgot about.” She waved a hand dismissively. Catching her father looking at the clock on the wall- redwood framed, to match the cabinets- she added: “It’s fine, go back if you need to.”

They’d clearly been waiting for her to say this, since they both jumped up immediately.

“Thanks, honey,” her mum said on the way out. “Could you put the dishes in?” Catalina nodded. If she had really been going to a competition she would have been annoyed, now, she was happy to have peace and quiet. She went through into the living room. White wooden shelves, side tables and coffee table, a white couch heaped with blankets and pillows, a fluffy gray carpet on the white-wood floor, a vase of lavender, a few books in a shelf next to window, the TV against the wall. It all seemed ridiculously normal compared to her situation’s absurdness. She climbed the stairs to her room and lugged her suitcase out into the hall to make space in her room. She was very delicately built, with a narrow frame, just on the graceful side of lanky (something reflected in her features), but she was strong; all her training had left her muscled, if in a subtle, lean way that was not noticeable at first glance. Task accomplished, she settled herself onto her window seat, looking out at the city. Her thoughts whirled and she kept repeating everything Tara had said in her mind. ‘''Because you have that training’. ''Catalina had started doing private classes with Tara when she was seven. Tara had often watched Catalina during practice, talked with her regular instructor after class and one day, she’d called Catalina and her parents for a conference.

Catalina was nervous: had she done something wrong? Much to her amazement, instead of whatever she expected, Tara, once all the necessary pleasantries were over, opened the meeting by saying, “Your daughter has a remarkable aim, you know.”

“Thank you,” her father replied, hesitantly, as if he suspected some trap.

“In fact, she’s so good, I’d like to train her myself.”

Confused, or, in Catalina’s case, stunned, silence.

“I know this is very direct and I’m not saying she should stop her regular classes, but I’ve learned things my instructors haven’t; I think she would benefit from it.”

“That’s a kind offer.” Her mother sounded nearly as wary as her father.

“That was actually all I wanted to say. I’ll give you some time to consider it. If you’re interested, we can figure out a schedule next week.”

Catalina had been interested. The chance for more archery practice, to learn from someone like Tara- it was too good an opportunity to miss. She started with just once a week, two regular archery classes and one regular general combat class. Slowly, she started to do more and more, until, by the time she was ten, she was doing six days a week with Tara- whose training had also gotten more intense- and three regular combat classes. Now, the combat classes were down to two again, but therefore, her classes with Tara were seven days a week, not to mention longer than they’d been when she was younger.

She’d always assumed it was Tara taking a personal interest in her best student- it seemed natural enough, after all. Now she felt like everything was just to prepare her for this and she hated it. The archery, the other target training, the fitness, even the swimming and sightseeing and board games.

Catalina spent the rest of the evening staring out of her window. Eventually, she dragged herself into bed, mind still rushing around in pointless circles, that, for once, she couldn’t explain into slowing down.

The next morning, when her alarm rang, she felt as if she’d barely been asleep for minutes.

''Competition day! No… wait… Egypt, ''she thought, her mood sinking with each word. ''Egypt! ''She grabbed her phone off her nightstand.

When is the flight actually?

The one to Mexico had been early, so she’d need to be out of the house in time for it in any case, but she wanted to know if she had to go straight to the airport or if she had time to go the scenic route. Her phone buzzed.

Nine am.

What?!

Sorry, the next one was at five.

Nine am. That was half-an-hour earlier than Mexico!

Guess I’m eating on the flight, Catalina grumbled, as she hurried to get ready. At least her parents were already out and couldn’t ask any questions. They’d left a good-bye note pinned to the fridge. She quickly wrote a reply, then took her suitcase and her archery case and left.

Tara was already waiting for her.

“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this,” Catalina said, skipping any sort of good morning or hello. Tara, who looked as tired as Catalina felt, made no effort to reply, much to Catalina’s relief- the last thing she wanted now was a conversation.

Check-in, immigration and baggage control all went much faster than expected, leaving them with some time to have breakfast before they had to board. They found a Starbucks and had just settled down with coffee and muffins when someone at a neighbouring table grabbed Tara’s bag- the one that held their boarding passes- and sprinted off with it. Catalina sprang up, milliseconds before Tara was also on her feet and stared. She opened her mouth to call for security, only to close it again when Tara said quietly, “Don’t.”

“B-b-b-but…” Catalina stuttered, utterly confused.

“Not only would we be sure to miss our flight, I’m fairly certain that this thief is from Valtresalia,” Tara explained, cutting her off. At this point, Catalina closed her eyes, looking like she had a headache.

“And?”

“No one else will be able to see them or the bag. Act like you’re crazy late and run after them.”

Catalina could just about pick out the fleeing figure of the thief. She hurried off in pursuit. They were both hampered by the people they had dodge, but Catalina had the added disadvantage that she couldn’t flat-out sprint. Even after a buggy had driven across the bag-snatcher’s path, letting Catalina gain ground, she would never be able to catch up with the half-jog pace she had to stick to.

Come on, Cat, think! Her own bag she still had with her and it suddenly gave her an idea. Slowing to a quick walk, she dug around in her bag until she pulled out a peach that was already rather soft. She bit into it once, then pretended to trip. As her arms flailed out for ‘balance’, she flicked her wrist. The peach flew through the air, splattering right in front of the feet of the person who was chasing. Still running, he or she didn’t manage to avoid stepping on it… and fell really quite spectacularly, as their feet slid out from under them. As Catalina had hoped, Tara’s bag went flying. While people clustered around the person, whom shock seemed to have made visible, Catalina picked up Tara’s bag, unnoticed in the chaos. This accomplished, she joined the miniature crowd who’d gathered, to assess the apparent Valtresalian. A young woman in jeans and a white hoodie pulled up to hide her face, with a few strands of red-brown hair falling out of the hood.

“I’m so sorry!” Catalina exclaimed. “I tripped! Are you hurt?” After all, there would have been people who’d seen her ‘drop’ the peach, and they’d find it extremely strange if she didn’t apologize. The woman glared at her with eyes so unnaturally blue they must have been contacts, but answered, “It’s fine, I just got a fright. Be more careful next time.”

“I will,” Catalina nodded and hastily withdrew. She quickly found Tara, coming her way.

“And?”

Catalina tiredly held up the bag to show her coach. “Why?”

“Either to delay us, or they were looking for something.” Tara sounded concerned. “I wish I knew more.” She fell into a deep reverie.

Catalina sighed. This was all too much. And now it was real. Before she had still somehow not really believed Tara’s stories. Now? This was happening, whether she liked it or not.

Thoughts? 