Chapter Two: The History of the Sanctuary and Colby

Chapter 2

                

               When I safely reach the house, I quietly tip toe past my parents’ bedroom and head upstairs into mine.  When I reach my room, I grab the black backpack and look inside.  I have two sets of outfits to change into if I need to, pants and a coat in case it gets cold, and one pair of shoes and two socks.  I grab my solar powered flashlight and then my pocket knife.  I remember my father’s stories of the hedges: that the Queen had to block off a large section because of dangerous monsters, and that many of her soldiers had never come back.  So there’s bound to be a bow and arrow or some other weapon left there, right?  I’m sure I can handle a few dead bodies.

                So after I grab my tools, I look around my bedroom.  Not too much here.  I decide to grab my calendar as well, since it covers two years.  I pick up my pen and stuff it in as well, along with a few extras.  There’s nothing else I really need, so I sneak back down into the kitchen.  I raid the fridge and cabinets, picking out items that won’t be noticed or missed, such as a few apples and dried fruit, plus some crackers.  I plan to hunt for my own food, but this will help me get past the first two days while I find some food and weapons. 

                Field guides!  That’s all I need.  I sneak back upstairs into my room and look at the shelf of all things Emedee.  There are bird field guides, mushroom ones, mammal ones, any kind of field guides you could possibly think of.  I decide on the mushroom one first, since in the Briarwood Forest is a perfect place for mushrooms to grow in.  I pick out a few plant guides too, and then a few newer animal ones, plus one older one.  I also grab the asps book.  Hey, I’ve heard stories of them in the Hedges!  At last, I reach for the big guide of all field guides.  This thing must way at least a hundred pounds, or at least as much as Colby.  But as I drag the bag downstairs, I think of how much it will help, and I head into the living room closet and pull out my sleeping bag.  It has all the constellations in the night sky.  I got it for my eleventh birthday from Awesome, but now I’m sixteen.  How time flies.

                I put my sleeping bag down and tip toe to the door to my parents’ bedroom.  I can hear them snoring, but in other words sleeping peacefully. 

                “Goodbye,” I whisper softly.  I creep back into the living room and sling my bag over my shoulder.  The book makes it weigh a ton!  I take one last look around.  There were so many memories here… so many…

               

                “You did it!  You really did it, Abert!” My mother cries.  I sneak down the stairs and peer into my father’s laboratory.  My mother is in there as well, hugging him while he grasps a small test tube.

                “Careful, Su-an!  I don’t want to drop it!” Father cries.

                “Oh, right,” Mother says, releasing her grip on her husband.  Father gently sets the test tube down.  He lets out a sigh of relief to see it safely on the lab table, safe from harm’s way.  He picks up a stack of notebook paper, and squats under the table.  He presses his finger against a brick in the wall, and then releases it, and the brick pops out.  He slides the paper into the hole in the wall, then slides the brick back in.  No matter how hard I squint my eyes, I can’t see anything that reveals the brick’s secret. 

                One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine!  Nine bricks away from the table leg on the left.  I count the bricks from the left table leg over.  Father never moves things around in the lab.  I mean, what idiot would do that?  Especially a person with a brick that opens into a secret storage area!

                “I still can’t believe it,” Father says.  Suddenly a look of worry floods over Mother’s face.

                “Oh my gosh,” she says suddenly.  Father looks at her.

                “What?” he asks.  When Mother says nothing, her hand pressed to her mouth, Father walks up and gently shakes her.  Mother shakes her head and removes her hand from her face.  Her mouth is still wide open.

                “What about Emedee?” She asks.

                “What about her?” Father asks, confused.  I jump at the recognition of my name.  What about me?  “What about our family?  Our den?”

                “What do you mean?  Nothing’s going to change!” Father insists.  Mother just shakes her head.

                “No, not nothing!  She-she’s watching…”

                “She can’t hear us!  There are no cameras in the lab!”  At first, I thought Mother is talking about me.  But the part about the camera… I realize they’re talking about Queen Agapanthus.  Bit of a background:  In the year 3500, Earth had evolved like mad.  The animals records had shown were all developed.  For one, they were much larger.  If the wolves were tame, we could ride them.  Ponies were the size of full-grown horses.  Don’t get me started on the spiders.  But of course, humans had grown much too.  Just not as much as the other inhabitants of our planet.

                So humans were slowly dying because of not being able to adapt to these new changes.  But one day, they formed four different civilizations: the Sanctuary, Sunstone Vale, Rainbow Valley, and the Crystal Clouds.  The Sanctuary was led by a lady named Queen Agapanthus.  She was welcoming in sweet to new people joining, and loved by all the citizens.  But she was mostly loved for her invention of the Barrier.

                As I said before, the new animals were a danger to the humans.  But the Barrier could solve it all.  No one knows what it’s made of, but it is an invisible wall that prevents anyone from going further than it, under it, or over it.  Nothing can get in the claimed land, and nothing can get out.

                So as I was saying, with the barrier surrounding their land, the humans were protected.  But tensions arose between the four civilizations.  Sunstone Vale joined the Sanctuary, Rainbow Valley with the Crystal Clouds.  They used the Queen’s barrier invention to separate themselves from each other.  And one day, the Crystal Clouds vanished.  They just vanished.  Without the Crystal Clouds, Rainbow Valley couldn’t survive.  They moved far away, into a different land.  But that was just the majority of them.  A few stayed behind, determined to survive.

                As time passed, 3500 turned into 5000, where I am now.  The Queen passed down the thrown many times, and we’re with Queen Agapanthus the 100^th or something like that.  Somewhere passed 50 the Agapanthuses became cruel to their people, craving power.  The Queen, as we say for short when talking about her in a good tone, established strict laws.  She, as we call her when we’re talking with a bad vibe, even put cameras up everywhere, monitoring our every move.  The barriers became larger and thicker to prevent people from ever venturing away.

                But not all people. 

                You see, my father is a scientist.  And one day he gave me a list to use to shop for some things I can’t even pronounce he needed.  It was quite a few years ago, and I guess I was about 12.  There was a new shop called Trinkets and Tools, and Father wanted me to see if it was any good.  I argued, for how would I know what was good in a tool shop when I’m more interested in watching my foot step in thorns?  But he convinced me to go anyway.  So I walked down to the shop, and entered.  A boy my age greeted me.

                “Hi, welcome to my father’s shop, Trinkets and Tools.  What do you need?” the little blond boy asked.

                “How should I possibly know?!  My dad gave me this stupid list filled with a bunch of names I can’t even pronounce!  He’s a scientist, but he’s not smart enough to figure out that I’d rather watch thorns grow!”  I replied, half joking half serious.  The boy burst out laughing.

                “Hey, that’s cool,” the boy said.  “My father’s a scientist, and I’m his apprentice.  I can make quite a few neat things.”  The boy held up a hammer and tossed it in the air, attempting to catch it.  Instead it hit his face.  He blinked twice and I laughed.

                “So you can make a few things but you can’t catch a hammer,” I said, laughing. 

                “So, we have a few things in common.  We’re both related to scientists, and we’re comedians.  Name’s Colby,” he said.

                “Emedee,” I replied.

                “Cool name,” he said.  I smiled.  “Thanks,” I began to walk out the door.

                “Wait!  What about the list?” Colby yelled as I walked out.

                “Oh, right,” I said.

A Note...

Hey!  This is my newest story! ^-^  The thing is, I'm still brainstorming names for it, so this may or may not be permanent.  I won't change the address though.  Just so you know...
Lusa

Chapter 1: Four Gifts

Chapter 1

I gently open the door to the Trinkets and Tools shop in the back entrance fifteen minutes after seven, the shop's closing time.  The slightest tinkleing bell sounds as I enter.  The room is dark, pitch black infact.  But a blonde boy's face appears in front of me suddenly, and it causes me to jump back, startled.

                "Sorry," Colby whispers.  He motions me inside with his fingers.  I follow and he locks the door.  I grasp his hand as he leads me down the hall, guided by his knoledge of the shop.  Colby knows it by heart.

                At last, we meet the small room where Colby lights a small candle with a lighter he picked up somewhat a week ago at a fast market.  The candle provides limited light, but enough to guide Colby to a small drawer which he opens carefully, then pulls up the scissors in a divided section.  He stands back as the drawer suddenly closes, and the wall with the door rotates around slowly, revealing a large room: Colby's labratory.  A frightened girl about my age is huddled against a wall, shivering.  Colby guides me into the room, then presses his foot against where the wall would normally be.  I fall to the ground from the impact of the rapid rotating.  It's been while since I've dared to come over here.

                When the rotating has stopped, Colby makes his way over to where the girl is huddled against a corner.  She takes his hand and stands up.  Her black hair goes halfway to her waste, and her plain brown eyes shine in the darkness.  She releases Colby's hand and the boy walks over to a side of the room and flicks a switch.  The room immidiantly lights up, revealing three mysterious objects covered in sheets.  With the light on in the labratory, oly the three of us can see.  It is completely invisible from the shop or the outside world.  The girl is wearing blue jean shorts and a red shirt with green and gold vines lining the short sleves and the sides of her shirt.  Her shoes are white, and her black hair flows free.  I recognise the girl as my best friend, Awesome.                     

                "Emedee, happy birthday!" Colby shouts.  Awesome breaks into some of her akaward dancing, and reveals three pink baloons from behind her back.  I can't help but laugh.

                "Thanks guys.  It means a lot," I reply.  Still dancing, Awesome pops a baloon and a small wrapped red box pops out into Awesome's hand.  She tosses it over to me, and I catch it.

                "For you, Emedee.  From me, Awesome," Awesome says.  I smile.  I carefully remove the top, and a small necklace is inside.

                "Oh Awesome, it's beautiful," I say.  On the silver chain is a little mountain, tall with a smooth base on top, a purple surface peeking out from the top and part of one side.  The mountain must be the wall to Rainbow Valley.

                "I made it myself.  You can wear it for luck on your journey.  You know, a reminder of me," Awesome says with a shrug.  She's stopped dancing.  I carefully put the necklace on, rotating it as I secure one end with the other.   I rotate it back around and place it against my neck.  I release it and look up with a smile at Awesome.

                "You're a great friend." I walk up to Awesome and hug her.  She hugs me back.

                "Now go see what lame junk Colby made for you," Awesome says.  Colby rolls his eyes.

                "My gift, or should I say gifts, are much better than some lame Rainbow Valley necklace," Colby says.  I roll my eyes back at him.

                "Prove it," Awesome glares at him.

                "Alright," Colby replies.  He walks over to one of the objects covered in a sheet.  "First," Colby carefully removes the sheet, revealing a rolled up piece of paper.  Awesome raises her eyebrow.  "A map of all of the Sanctuary!"

                "Oh?" Awesome says.  She shakes her head, saying, "Tisk, tisk, tisk."

                "Ah, but not just any map.  This map includes the Rainbow Valley and Crystal Clouds outline, but since not even I know what's inside those lands, it's just the outline.  I filled Rainbow Valley with purple clouds and rainbows, Crystal Clouds with just white clouds.  This also includes your favorite place, Emedee, the Coastline.  The whole border of the Sanctuary."  Awesome yawns.

                "But the best part... the best part is that you can add onto it with the settings feature in the corner.  You can draw your added features on with the touchscreen feature and- well you'll figure it out.  Also, a purple arrow points to where you are.  It moves as you move.  A compass is in the corner as well, so you can tell what direction you're going.  Plus, I added on a gray arrow that points to the location of the Queen, and smaller ones that point to her army."  I swear my jaw is dropping.  I look over at Awesome's.  It's pretty low.

                "Wow."  I say.  "Just wow."  Colby smiles.

                "That's not the best present.  There are three, and they get better," Colby says.  He walks over to the section object and removes the sheet.  There are two small bracelets.

                "These bracelets allow two people to teleport to each other when wearing them.  And also, only you, Emedee, can control who, or what, wears them.  One is for you, and you can program in who gets the second when you decide who you want to recieve it.  But remember, once you program in the ricipiant you can’t change it.  Understood?”

                “Understood,” I reply.

                “Alright,” Colby says.  “Last, but certainly not least…”  Colby pulls off the last sheet, revealing four… pogo sticks?

                “Um…” Awesome begins. 

                “Just what I need for this trip: pogos,” I say akwardly. 

                “They’re not just any pogo sticks,” Colby explains.  “They’re my best invention yet!”  Awesome stares at him blankly.  “These pogo sticks can jump two times higher than any animal on our planet.  Also, in case someone becomes suspicious, there is simply one button that transforms it into a regular pogo stick.  But the feature is really fast so no one can see it.   And I mean no one.  Oh, by the way, once you want to hide a present for safe keeping, you can transform them into charms for your charm bracelet.  Also a new invention of mine.” 

I look next to me and see Awesome looking… impressed.  That’s new.

“And I made one pogo for each of us.  Black for Awesome, Brown for me, White for Emedee, since you’re going to Crystal Clouds, and the tan one is an extra for you to carry.”  Awesome smiles.

                “Emedee, if I get presents on your birthday, we should celebrate it more often,” Awesome says.  I laugh. 

                “Thanks, Colby.  But where’s the charm bracelet?” I ask.  Colby reaches into his pocket and fishes out a small silver bracelet with five rings on it.  I extend my hand and he uses the clasp to secure it on.

                “You do understand you can never take this off, right?” Colby asks.  I nod.

                “I understand,” I reply. 

                “Alright, then.”  Colby reaches for the map and whispers something to transform it into a letter M.  He makes the two bracelets a T, and the white pogo a P.  The tan pogo he makes a E.

                “Why E?” Awesome asks.

                “For extra.  Duh,” Colby replies.

                “Thank you guys, so much,” I say.  I feel tears coming into my eyes.

                “Aww, don’t cry, Emedee!” Awesome says.  She walks over and hugs me.  Colby joins in.

                “I better go,” I say.  “Five o’clock tomorrow?” I ask.  Colby nods.

                “Meet me in the parking lot in the back.  I’ll let you in and explain where you’re going.  Bring all your stuff, everything you’ll need.  Just remember: pack light.  Nothing you can do without.”  I nod and Colby presses his foot back on the crack where the wall would be.  This time, Awesome and I grab onto each other’s shoulders before we can fall to regain our balance, and we survive the rotating.  Colby leads me out the back door, and I wave goodbye.  Without looking back, I scurry back to my house.  I can’t be caught outside at this time of night.