Welcome to Gaia! ::

Juniper walked slowly through the park in her small town. Everything was green and the sun was shining merrily through the trees. She took one of the back paths to her favorite tree in the park. It was the weeping willow. She walked over to the tree and climbed up into its branches. She looked out at the park. The pond she was next to glistened in the sunlight, the ducks swam happily around. She leaned her head against the main trunk. “What are you thinking about?” A voice asked. Juniper looked around. No one was anywhere near her. The old lady was feeding her pigeons, two nurses where helping an old man about, and children played in little circles, but none were close enough to sound so nearby.

“Don’t be a fool. You must know who I am.” Juniper thought hard. What was this voice she was hearing? Was she insane? Was she sick with fever? “I’m sorry,” Juniper said. “I don’t know who you are.”She climbed down from her tree and quickly headed for the elders home where Mama Sahe resided. She’d know what to do. Mama Sahe was Junipers grandmother. She walked up to the door of her grandmother’s apartment and opened the door.

The whole place smelled of incense. “Mama?” Juniper called into the smoky gloom. She heard a faint, “Juniper? Come in darling.” before she made her way to the kitchen. Her grandmother was at the main point of the smoke sitting at the kitchen table. To any normal person it would look as if her grandmother was playing a game of cards with herself. She was actually reading tarot cards. “Mama, I need your help.” Juniper said cautiously. She didn’t know how her grandma was going to react to the voice in her head. Her grandmother shuffled the cards. “As I flip the cards think of a question…..” Juniper shoved the cards away. “I don’t want my fortune read grandma!” Juniper said in a bit too mad of a tone. Sahe flinched. Usually Juniper called her Mama. Something really must be bothering her. She sighed. “What is wrong dear?” Juniper looked at the table. “Mama, I’m hearing a voice and no one else seems to hear it.” Mama Sahe smiled and let out a chuckle.

Juniper frowned. “What’s so funny?” She asked. “Why my dear, you are hearing the voice of Sari, the goddess of all that is good. I heard her, as did my mother and your mother.” It is passed down through women. If there is a voice sounding through men’s empty skulls I am not aware.” Juniper smiled. Good now the voice had a name. “So I am hearing….a goddess?” She asked. Mama Sahe’s brow furrowed. Don’t you remember the story of Sari? I had to have told it to you countless times!” Oh yes. Now Juniper remembered. She drifted off into thought, remembering Sari’s tale……

Sari was walking through her special meadow. It was spring. She was making flowers come from the soil. As she walked a man of her age, dressed in black walked through. He paid no attention to her, but left a fragrance so wonderful behind him that Sari followed him. She left her work uncompleted leaving one part of her meadow covered in snow. The man she followed was Hepath, god of all that is dark. They were complete opposites. As she walked farther away from her meadow, the place she had called home, a bit of good left her. When they arrived at his castle there was only a shred of good left in her. She was very weak from the leaving of her spirit so he had to nurse her back to normal. It was love at first sight. Hepath thought that since he had gotten the goddess into the center of all darkness that she was completely stripped of her good spirit. They had 3 children all having the good spirit of their mother.

Hepath was angry with Sari. Hadn’t he made sure that she was completely dark before he gave her a child? That night he left his wife sleeping in bed to destroy the 3 things she held dear to her heart. Maybe that would get rid of the shred of good in her. The three daughters; Aslie, Dower, and Rea all slept in the same room in their bed chamber. Sari awoke and turned to her husband. He expected to see his smiling face at hers but instead she saw emptiness. She heard the faint footfalls of his feet on the stairs. She knew something was wrong. She felt for the secret door behind the tapestry that not even Hepath seemed to know about. She scrambled inside and felt her way down the dark passageway. She got to the end and tried to open the door. It was blocked. She heard the rustle of bed sheets and the scream of Aslie and Rea. A motherly adrenaline rush gave her enough force to shove the door open and see the sight before her.

Dower lay limp on the floor at the foot of the bed. She had probably gotten up to greet her father when he came in. Aslie and Rea were in opposite corners of the room. Hepath had his eyes on Aslie, Sari’s eldest daughter. He grabbed a poker from the hearth and continued to approach the bawling Aslie. Rea tried to stop her father but not soon enough. The poker went into Aslie’s stomach and the color drained from Aslie’s face. She crumpled to the floor as Sari screamed. Rea noticed Sari’s attendance in the room and ran to her.

Rea jumped into her mother’s arms. Sari ran her fingers through the 4 year olds silver hair that reminded Sari so much of her own. Hepath was coming. His eyes glistened in the darkness. Sari, for the first time, saw her husband for the monster he really was. He was about to wrench Rea from Sari’s protective arms when she took a paper weight and hit Hepath over the head. His eyes rolled back in his head and he fell unconscious. Rea ran to Aslie who was bleeding through her single, fatal wound. Sari picked up Dower and looked for any signs of life in her daughter. There was none.

Tear’s streamed down Sari’s cheeks as she laid Dower in the bed and tucked her in as if she was asleep. She hurried to Aslie’s aid. She removed the poker from her daughter. Aslie groaned in pain. Sari noticed how deep the wound was and how much it had bled. Sari breathed deeply into her hands. A white fog was there. It was her last shred of good, and the only way to save her daughter’s life. She pressed the fog to the wound and watched as the fog did its work on healing the puncture. Aslie’s breathing started to become even again.

Rea clamored to Aslie’s side. Aslie stood up and almost fell back down again. Sari righted her groggy daughter and hurried them out of the room before Aslie could see Dower. Aslie noticed her sister’s absence. “Where is Dower?” Aslie shrieked, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Hush Aslie.” Sari whispered. She wrapped her daughters in shawls and gave them a basket of food. “You two must go without me. Head to my meadow. Aslie, you know where it is. I have told you stories enough about it right?” Aslie nodded wiping tears from her eyes. They hugged their mother and made their way into the darkness.

They made it to the meadow by daybreak. Dower was dead, and Aslie was filled in by Rea on what had happened. Soon after her daughters had left Sari turned to spirit and separated into two pieces to live within her daughters minds. When she entered her meadow her good spirit came to her. Her girls were overjoyed to have their mother talking to them again. They married and had multiple children. Only one of Aslie’s children was alive long enough to become a mother.
Mama Sahe snapped Juniper from her thoughts. “You are the youngest living descendant of Aslie, Juni. You have a power that only you can unearth. Be careful. There will be those who will want to do you harm. Those people, legend has it follow Hepath’s voice. He had more children after Sari so his numbers are greater. Focus on your plan of finding your true power.” Mama Sahe went back to her cards, signifying to Juniper that she was to leave.

Juniper went outside and tried to talk to Sari. “Sari, do you know what my power is?” A sensation rippled through her. “Your power has something to do with the sun. I do not know what it may be, but if it is anything like my power, it will be great.” Juniper held that in her mind and pondered over it until she reached the park. What does the sun do? She asked herself. She went back to her tree. She loved the shadows made by the rays of the sun shining down upon the leaves in the trees. An imaginary light bulb went off in her head. It fills the dark with light. She went to a patch of sunlight and tried to take a grab at a ray.

Her hand flew through the air and Juniper had thought she had failed. She brought her hand back up and to her amazement it was covered in a golden substance. She looked at her hand in awe. She couldn’t do that before. “Very good! It usually takes people longer to figure out part of their power.” The voice said. The excitement from the spirit sent a buzz through her body. She hurried to a shadow and ran her hand across it as if she were painting. The space lit up. It will look a bit odd to a regular person since there is no light source hitting the area she thought. She stood over the spot. “How is this going to help me defeat the Hepath boys?” She asked. Sari filled Junipers body. Against her own will she bent over the light. She breathed on it and the substance floated into the air. All that was left was glowing dust.

The pressure of the spirit released and Juniper was free to move again. Juniper took a bag from a belt loop and poured out the contents. Inside was; a bundle of herbs, pieces of gum, other tokens, smooth stones and another bag that turned into a neck pouch. She picked up the smaller bag and put the sun dust inside of it. “This will help you greatly.” The voice whispered. Juniper was concerned. “Sari, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

The voice sighed. “I am tired. Me taking control of your body exerted too much of my spirit energy. I must sleep. Do not try to wake me. I will not stir.” A small and slow breathing came from the back of Juniper’s mind. Sari was asleep. The feeling of the sleeping spirit made Juniper feel a bit drowsy. She climbed up into the willow tree and took a nap.

When she woke up it was dark. How long had she been out? “Sari? ” She called softly. No answer. She climbed down from her tree. She didn’t like the darkness. It was too dark. She took the bag she was wearing from her neck and sprinkled it around her. She shimmered as if she had a million golden diamonds laced into her skin. She smiled. She felt so blissfully warm. She started to walk towards home when a hand dressed in a dark glove grabbed her, and pulled her into the dark.

He was leading her into a farther place in the park. She tried to struggle but the person who held her was too strong. She tried to kick him. “Stop it. I don’t want to have to hurt you.” The voice seemed familiar. No. It couldn’t be him. She looked up and let her glow shine upon his face. It was him. His name was Todd. He was a year older than her and was very handsome. She stopped struggling and he freed her from his grasp. “Wow she’s pretty.” He thought. Juniper blushed. “Thank you.” She replied.

Todd looked puzzled. “I didn’t say anything.” Juniper was confused. Hadn’t she just heard him say something? “I’m Todd.” He said. “I’m Juniper.” She replied. “I know,” he said a bit too quickly. “I’ve seen you at school. You are an Aslie Goddess.” Junipers eyes widened. “You are one of the boys...” She was lost for words. He nodded. “I was always told to try not to fall for an Aslie Goddess. But, it was too hard.” He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. He looked at her. “I like you Juniper. I’m sorry that I am a Hepath God. How about Tuesday though? I could take you to Hepath’s castle right now and have them destroy you, but I would have to kill myself.” He kissed her forehead. It was Sunday. “I’ll be at the willow tree at 9:30 PM. Meet me here please?” He folded himself into the darkness and left Juniper, in her glowing state, walk herself home.

When Juniper awoke the next day the sun was just coming up. She looked out her window. She thought her eyes were deceiving her but she could have sworn she saw a person, wearing all black disappear into the tree line.

“Sari?” Juniper whispered. “I’m here Juniper.” The voice replied. “I was up when you were talking to that boy.” The blood drained from Junipers face. “Did you hear everything? Why can I hear his thoughts? I can’t seem to hear anyone else’s.” Sari sighed in the back of her head. “You can hear his thoughts because you have strong emotions for him. And yes, I heard everything. I woke up in time to hear the whole conversation.” At that moment her mom called her to breakfast. “Hi mom!” Juniper said happily. “Tell Winnie I say hi too.” Sari told her. “Sari says hi too!” Juniper added quickly. Winnie smiled at her daughter. “Good morning to both of….. Wait Juniper, who says hi?” Juniper had forgotten to tell her mother of meeting Sari for the first time yesterday. She told the story excluding her meeting with Todd. Winnie hugged her daughter. “Sari, I miss talking to you every day.” She whispered. Juniper finished her breakfast of corn flakes and headed into the backyard to follow the person she had seen that morning.

A person had definitely been there. A path was made by trampled ferns so Juniper followed the ferns. Again she sprinkled herself with dust since it was still dark under the cover of the trees. When a sun dust speck landed on a dead leaf the leaf turned green. Juniper proceeded into the woods drowning out Sari’s yelps of protest. She continued deeper still into the woods. A rustle of ferns made her stop. “H-Hello?” She whispered into the darkness. A rustle from a branch from above her. She turned to run but the boy was there. She rammed to his chest and fell. She righted herself.

“Who are you?” she asked. “What’s it to ya, goddess?” He said threateningly. He grabbed her arm and dug his fingernails into the fleshy skin. He flipped open a pocket knife and started to cut down her arm. A small stream of blood flowed from the wound. She felt faint. She cried out. A voice came from the trees. “Let her go.” Junipers head shot up. Todd walked silently from behind the tree. The boy had already made an incision from her shoulder to her elbow. “Why should I? She is a goddess. Pure Evil.” He spat. Todd’s eyes narrowed. “If you are smart you will let go of her.” The other boy’s brows perked. “Aww. Does Todd like this pitiful goddess whose curiosity was too great for even her to control?” HE cooed at Todd all the while tracing an outline of her arm with his finger. “Too bad you came soon enough to see her die.”

A sharp pain rippled through her body as the boy shoved the knife into her back. A dark orb flew past her head, fit the boy and sent him flying backwards to the ground. He didn’t move. With no one supporting her she started to fall. Todd caught her before she hit the ground. He looked at his hands. They glistened with her blood. “I have to help you somehow.” He said distressed. Before Juniper completely blacked out she was able to place his hand on the small bag around her neck. It was worth a shot.

She regained consciousness later that day. She was dressed in a light shirt and a cami. The cami was rolled up to her bra where a bandage was wrapped around her middle. She felt her neck for her pouch. It wasn’t there. She sat up and a wave of nausea hit her. From her bed of leaves she saw Todd sitting against a nearby tree watching her. “Hello,” she said with a little wave. She forced a meager smile to come to her face. Seeing she was okay, he crawled to her side. “Are you ok?” He asked. He was so serious she suppressed a giggle. He wasn’t trying to be funny. “I’m still breathing aren’t I?” She couldn’t help it. A giggle escaped. He frowned. “I thought I was going to lose you but then you put my hand on your bag. The stuff inside burnt my fingers but at least it stopped your bleeding.” Juniper looked down at herself. She pulled her cami down so he didn’t get to see anymore of her. He chuckled. “I can read your thoughts as well as you can mine. I didn’t strip you completely bare but I felt that I had to change your clothes so you weren’t wearing the bloody ones. Oh yea, I had to go in your room.” He had gone in her room?! She opened her mouth to protest but he kissed her before she could say anything. “Stop it!” Sari shrieked. She had almost forgotten Sari was there. Juniper disentangled herself from Todd, fighting the wave of nausea that enveloped her. “I have to go home. My mom will be worried.” Todd frowned again and wrapped his arms around her. “Won’t you stay with me? We can leave ya know.” Juniper pointed to her head and mouthed the name of her spirit. “Oh.” He said. He helped her to her feet and gave her the bag back. “Let me walk you to your house. I don’t trust the others. They are crawling all over these woods. Please stick to the park and don’t come here unless I’m with you. I don’t want to risk losing you again.” They started walking hand in hand. “Are we still on for tomorrow night?” He kissed her forehead. They had reached the clearing her house was in. “Of course we are. I can’t wait.” He smiled, hugged her and ran back into the woods. “Love you.” She whispered even though he was already gone. Three seconds later she heard his reply in her head. She giggled and headed inside.

Juniper slept soundly that night. When she woke up late the next morning she got an earful of a lecture form Sari. “What were you thinking yesterday? You could have been killed! You are not a very smart goddess….” It went on for a while after that. Juniper went to school, but she couldn’t concentrate. All over her notebook was “Todd.” or “T+J=♥.” Mr. Getes, her math teacher caught her writing this. “Juniper is this something you want to share with the class?” He said picking up the notebook. All eyes turned to her. She blushed and shook her head. He dropped the notebook back to the desk and went back to teaching.

When classes were over Juniper skipped home. Just a few more hours and she’d be able to see Todd. As she did her homework Sari was talking to her. “You know, you are not done with your quest to find your power. You shouldn’t see that boy tonight. It’s wrong and not meant to be.” Juniper continued writing her essay she was working on. “Sari. When I am done with my homework, I’ll go out. And I don’t care what you think about Todd. I’m seeing him no matter what.” It probably wasn’t the smartest idea to back sass her spirit, but Sari was making her mad. She slammed her book closed when she was done and stormed down the stairs. She grabbed a small snack, filled a jar with water and went to the park.

Juniper took a drink of water from her bottle. She was gathering dust to fill her bag when an idea came to her. She poured the remaining water into the grass and blew onto the sunlight. As the mist started to fly up she caught it in the jar. Since the jar was made of clear glass she could see the gray fog floating over itself. “What can I do with this?” She wondered. She opened the jar and poured it over her. The fog enveloped her like she was in a warm shower. The fog disappeared and she looked around her. Everything looked the same. She frowned. Juniper filled her bottle with more fog and went to her tree.

She sat on her favorite branch that overlooked the pond. She loved to watch her reflection on the water. 3 ducklings had just entered the pond, leaving ripples to scatter her reflection. When the water calmed she looked at the water. Her brow furrowed. Something was wrong. She swung her legs but the water didn’t follow her movement. She wasn’t even there! She started to panic thinking something was terribly wrong. She slid off her branch into the water below and came back up sputtering. She stood up and looked at the face of the water. She was there. “Was I just invisible?” She asked Sari. Sari laughed. “Yes it took you long enough to figure it out.” She walked home soaked to change her clothes since it was already 7:30 PM.

She ate a scrumptious dinner and when she went to her room she told her mom that she was going to bed early. It was around quarter after nine when she heard her mom go into her room. Juniper went to her window and climbed out. She had plenty of dust so she illuminated herself. She walked the three blocks to the park quickly and got to her tree at exactly 9:30 PM. She climbed into her tree but there was no need to wait. He was already there in her favorite spot.

The moon reflected off of his pale skin. She crawled out onto the branch and sat next to him and attempted to hold his hand. When she touched him though it burned him and he moved away quickly. He grabbed a glass bottle from his pocket. It was full of the same type of dust except it was black. He poured it all over himself and then took her hand. It sizzled as the two types of dust came in contact. She could have sat there all night looking out at the pond with him. She pulled his hand and they climbed down. He put his arm around her shoulders. She slid her arm around his lower back. They took the back path of which they first talked. They spoke about their lives and they planned their escape. Juniper looked into his large brown eyes. How could she destroy his people, his friends? She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the other people surrounding them.

2 boys dropped down in front of them. One was young, probably only just now learning about his powers. They all took turned attacking it seemed. The young boy sprang at Juniper. There were a few yelps of his name before he collided with the gold dust that still surrounded Juniper. His face got the worst of the burn. He yelped in pain, and ran into the woods, a trail of smoke left behind him. Todd had gotten rid of a couple of the boys but there were still 4 left. 2 were just standing afraid that Juniper would hurt them. She turned to Todd. The other 2 boys were taking him on. Todd seemed to be losing at that point. Juniper grabbed the bag around her neck and blew dust all over the 2 attacking boys. The screamed in agonizing pain and they lay on the ground burned to the bone. Juniper couldn’t bring herself to kill anyone so Todd put them out of their misery. The remaining two stood there wide eyed at what they just saw. They made short eye contact with Todd before he looked at the ground. They ran away. Juniper smiled in triumph.

She turned to Todd. He was on the ground next to one of the boy he had finished. A hand was covering his mouth. Juniper had never seen a boy her age cry so she had no clue how to comfort him. She sat next to him and hugged him. “I killed my best friend.” He said. Her heart went out to him. Sari was saying something but Juniper ignored it. “If I hadn’t have thrown all that dust on them they wouldn’t be dead.” She said trying to take the blame off of his shoulders. He took her hand. “You were protecting me. That’s the duty of an Aslie Goddess. Protect the ones you love.” Sari made another smart comment. “Juniper he tried to kill you.” She said. “How did they know we were going to be at the park?” Juniper asked. Had he really tried to kill her? He looked at his friend. “I told him.” He said. She got up to storm away. “You tried to kill me!?!” She screamed back at him. She poured the fog at him and became invisible. She sat at the trunk of a tree and started to cry.

Todd ran down the path to where he saw Juniper disappear. Her words echoed in his mind. He had practically tried to kill her. It wasn’t on purpose of course. He had told his friend because he had trusted him. He never thought Brian would have betrayed him like this. His eyes narrowed in hatred for his dead friend. He caught a glimpse of the light purple dress Juniper was wearing and went to the spot. He reached out and touched her and got slapped across the face. “Ouch.” He said rubbing his cheek. “Let me explain. Please Juniper listen to me.” He felt her move and go to the edge of the pond. She splashed herself down making her visible again. Todd started his story before she could sit down.

It took Juniper 5 minutes to get to the meadow. She went to the clearing of trees that she saw in her vision and saw her best friend lying in a pool of her own blood. She knelt down next to her friend and took her hand. “Hailey?” Juniper asked her unconscious friend. She took out the last of her sun dust and sprinkled it over the wound that must have been caused by their dark orbs. Hailey sputtered back to life for a second and feel into a troubled sleep. Juniper laid next to her friend not caring for the blood that was staining her light pink shirt. Hailey tossed and turned screaming for Juniper. Juniper held her best friend close and soon Hailey’s eyes fluttered open.

“Hi Hailey.” Juniper said with a weak smile. She stood up and her eyes widened at her shirt. It looked as if she had taken place in a mass murder! Hailey sat up and swayed a bit. Juniper knelt next to her friend and helped her stand up. “Do you have any extra clothes in the cottage?” Juniper asked. Hailey nodded woozily and they slowly made their way to the cottage.

Inside, they changed their outfits. They were forced to wear black because this month Hailey’s style was wearing black. She seemed t be getting better by the second, but they crashed on the couch. “I know what happened. What I don’t know is where they took Todd. What way did they go?” The sun poking through the window shined on Hailey’s light hair. She closed her eyes as if trying to remember. “They went north.” She said. “He was hurt really bad. It seemed to torture him…” Hailey’s hand flew to her pocket where she kept her ‘moon dust’ that worked much like the sun dust. It was nowhere to be found. Hailey looked at Juniper. “If they use enough of that on him it could kill him.” Hailey told Juniper. The moon dust didn’t work like sun dust. Sun dust burned the skin. Moon dust burrowed into the skin and burned into the flesh and tore at nerves and muscle.

Juniper started to cry. They took him to Hepath’s castle. We can’t go there. It would be almost impossible. Hailey wrapped an arm around Juniper’s shoulders. “We’ll save him…somehow.” Juniper opened her mind and heard Sari speaking to her. “You really like him don’t you Juniper? If you want, I could teach you about some weapons that are made by both the sun and the moon.” Juniper’s eyes widened. “Y-You’d do that for me?” She asked through her tears. “I would.” Sari said. “I was in love once too. Todd isn’t Hepath, he isn’t all bad. But since he has been here, the bad spirit that was in him has gotten stronger. He may not recognize you at first glance, but I know something that could speed up the time that it takes to get his memory back to normal.”

Juniper jumped up and grabbed some bottles from the shelves. She started to make the sun dust and collected the fog. Hailey watched as Juniper, instructed by Sari made concoctions out of different herbs and the sap from trees. 1 of the liquids was blood red and was rather intimidating. “What is that?” Hailey asked timidly. “It a liquid that we can slip into something that they drink and it will camoflauge to the color and texture of the drink. If they drink it, it will put them asleep for 3 days.” Hailey took up the bottle and looked at it curiously. “What’s the other stuff that you are making?” Juniper described that the balls of herbs that she was making were like little bombs. If they were broken open, it spread a fume that would smell terrible to the Hepath gods but wonderful to them.

“So what will help Todd?” She asked Sari. The voice rustled inside of her and took control of her. Juniper walked to the stream and filled a beaker full of the clear water. The pressure was released and Sari sighed. “I have to sleep again. Give this to him. If he is hurt you have to get your hands on some of their shadow dust. It is the only thing that will heal him.” Sari stopped talking and started to snore. Juniper gathered the 6 herb balls, 4 sun dust and fog beakers, and the 1 beaker that would help Todd remember everything that they forced out of his memory.

In the cottage, with the doors bolted, just in case, they waited for night to fall. When the moon came out, Hailey went outside and gathered her power. They put all of the things they needed into a messenger bag and check their wrists for their bracelets. After Hailey and Juniper found their powers they got a charm bracelet from Junipers grandmother. Hailey’s had a moon and Juniper’s had a sun. They walked outside and made their way to the end of the meadow. Juniper sprinkled some sun dust over them and Hailey took her turn sprinkling moon dust on them. They glowed radiantly against the darkness. “Well, so much for blending into the dark.” They laughed, took hands and started their walk to save Todd.

Dawn was just breaking as they caught their first glance at Hepath’s Castle. Juniper stopped and pulled out a beaker of fog. “This will work for us as long as we won’t get any kind of liquid on us.” Juniper emptied the bottle over them and they made their way to the gates. They stopped and looked at the tall gates blocking their way in. “Hmm. Maybe we should wait until someone needs to come in.” They sat down against the gate and took turns taking naps. A loud terrifying noise woke Hailey with a start. Juniper stirred next to her and got up quickly. The gates were open. “Run!” Juniper whispered loudly. They jogged through the gates just as they started to close again.

“We should talk in our heads for now since we are on enemy turf.” Juniper thought. Hailey nodded. “How are we going to get into the castle? There are guards on either side of the door.” Juniper looked at the main door. She looked for windows. There was 1, but it was too close to the door for them to get in without the guards noticing. Hailey reached into the messenger bag and pulled out a herb ball. “Hehe. This might be fun.” She threw the ball at the two guards and it split open just in between them. Just a few whiffs of the gas made them fall into unconsciousness. Juniper and Hailey walked over to the window and silently crawled in.

When Juniper got in the castle she felt a terrible wave of nausea. “I don’t feel good.” She said. Hailey flopped in through the window and clutched her stomach. “Ughh. Neither do I.” Juniper and Hailey crawled on hands and knees to what looked to be a storage closet. It was a small room with a little bed, a bucket, and a mop. In the back wall was a little hole. Light streamed into the room from it and Juniper put her eye to the hole. What she saw astonished her. It was a kind of torture chamber. 2 chains hung from the ceiling in each cell and 2 shorter chains were connected to the floor. In the cell directly across from the peep hole was a young girl, no older than 13. Her head tilted down she hung probably very uncomfortably. “Psst. Girl. Are you….a goddess?” The girl, hearing Juniper’s voice looked up quickly. “W-who’s there?” Juniper tried to sound calm. “It’s okay. We are your allies. What’s your name and how can I get you out of there?” The girls face lightened as if relieved that no one was going to hurt her. There’s a door in the hallway that leads in here. There are patrols that come every hour to make sure everyone is suffering just enough. If they catch that you found a comfortable position they mess with the chains and it hurts. Please help me!” Juniper looked away from the peep hole. The girl was in real pain. “Watch my back.” She instructed Hailey. She nodded and they crawled into the hall.

Juniper stood shakily and held her stomach. She had never felt this way before. Had Todd felt the same way when he entered the meadow? No, he couldn’t have because he almost died. His pain must have been much worse. Juniper made it to the next door and opened it. She ran quietly to the girls holding cell and whispered in her ear. “How do I get you down?” The girl motioned to her head and Juniper saw a small pin in the girl’s hair. Juniper pulled it out with difficulty and managed to get the cuffs unlocked. When the girl was free she poured fog over her and grabbed her hand. They ran as fast as they were able to the closet.

The conversation went on in whispers. “What is your name?” Asked Juniper “I’m Kassie and I’m a Rea goddess. Maybe we can talk in our minds together.” They tried with success. “Have you seen any boys get put into a holding cell?” Asked Juniper worriedly. The girls faces darkened. “Yes only one. He had dark hair and all I remember was that he was tortured pretty good before he got taken away. It wasn’t pretty. I started to cry after hearing about 15 minutes of his crying and moaning. You never told me your names.” Juniper and Hailey looked at each other. “I’m Hailey and my friend that has been asking all the questions is Juniper. We are here to rescue her…. Friend.” The girl looked at them. “That’s it! The name he was saying over and over again. Juniper, Juniper. He stopped saying it after the beating and torturing was over.”

Juniper’s eyes welled up with tears. “Todd!” She got up to leave their shelter but Hailey blocked the door. “You won’t do any of us any good by going to get him.” Juniper tried to get Hailey out of the way. “They have him, and he is hurt because of me!” Her tears left little streaks of color on her invisible face. “Juniper it’s okay. I’ll help you. I know where they take any power that they find on the other goddesses. They are hidden in a compartment in the wall of the torture chamber. I can get them if you want.” Hailey nodded and 3 minutes later Kassie came back with a small armful of things. 3 more herb balls, and even some shadow dust that had been probably been taken off of Todd. Juniper ran her fingers on the shadow dust. She picked one up and held it to her body. It was freezing cold but she knew that if he was hurt, she could heal him. “Lookie here.” Kassie said as she pulled a large folded paper from under her shirt. “A guard was passing through and I stole this from him. He didn’t even notice. It seems to be his rounds. One of the rooms highlighted here is labeled ‘Traitor Cell’. Could this be where he is?”

Juniper picked up all of her things and ran from the room. She didn’t notice the person outside the door so she ran right into him. “What the..” The guy said shocked by the sudden impact. Juniper tried to run but slipped on a puddle of water.