This story is evolving day-by-day and I'm enjoying myself immensely. Today's episode has taken a turn that I hadn't planned for, so it was just as much of a surprise for me as it will be for you. I hope you enjoy it.
The boy allowed a flicker of a smile and as though that was a signal, boys began to flood into the cavern. Squib watched the boy for a moment and then became anxious at the growing crowd. She took her eyes off the boy for a moment, barely a second and when she looked to where he had been, the seat was empty. She spun around to see if she could find where he went and she heard Declan laugh.
“You’ll not find him,” he said. “You’re good at what you do, but he’s better.”
“Good at what I do?” she said, drawing close to Declan. “What do I do?”
Declan’s brow furrowed in a frown. “The camouflage thing, you know, making it so no one can see you if you don’t want them to.”
Her mouth turned down at the corners and she frowned too. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Sure you do… don’t you?” Declan said, but he no longer sounded certain.
“No, I don’t think she does know,” the boy said. He had sneaked up behind them without either of them realising he was near.
Squib was startled and she gave an involuntary squeak of surprise. The boy smiled at the sound.
“Come with me,” he said and moved toward the large smooth rock he’d been sitting on.
Declan followed but waved Squib forward so she was protected from the crowds of boys clamouring to get close to their Chief. Declan watched Squib as she moved. One hand in front, the elbow jutted out to the side and the other elbow out at the other side and a little behind herself. She made her own space and Declan watched her move through the crowd without anyone touching her. Some came close and he thought they’d surely bump her, but none did.
Then he looked at the boy in front, the one he called ‘Chief’. No one bumped into him, either. The small boy cut through the crowd and the other boys seemed to move out of his way by instinct. On the other hand, however, the boys collided against Declan, jostling him and shoving each other as they tried to catch a glimpse of their leader.
Declan’s frown deepened as he realised he’d never noticed that before.
The little group arrived at the smooth rock and the boy led them around the back. A staircase hewn into the rock led down deeper. Red light reflected on the smooth stone and as they descended, the light changed by degrees to orange, yellow, green and by the time they arrived at the bottom, the light shone a bright, dazzling blue.
No one followed them around the rock.
Declan didn’t stare in awe at the surroundings, but Squib saw that he took a lot of notice.
“You’ve not been down here very often, have you?” she whispered.
He shook his head once to the left and once to the right, and then he put one finger to his lips, making sure she understood that she was correct, but to keep quiet.
“When did you go to the Voidlands?” the Chief said.
Squib looked from him to Declan.
“He’s talking to you,” Declan said, prompting her to respond to the question.
“The what?” she said. “I don’t know what that is.”
A flurry of expressions crossed the Chief’s face. Surprise, curiosity, disbelief all made an appearance but he said not a word.
He moved his head to give her a sideways glance and Declan realised something. The two smaller children before him shared more than the ability of camouflage, they also shared the same mannerisms.
“Chief?” he said.
The boy looked at Declan and nodded. Declan moved past Squib and leaned close to the Chief’s ear, keeping his body between the girl and the boy so one could hear without the other reading his lips.
He murmured a little before he started speaking. Then he said in a voice barely above a whisper, “Chief, I think there’s something familiar about her. She looks a bit like you.” He continued to make sounds after he’d finished speaking so that the information he passed was less decipherable.
Squib nodded because she realised what Declan was doing.
“That’s all well and good, Declan, and it’s a great strategy, but I could hear you loud and clear. Maybe if you murmur between each word as well as at the beginning and the end of the conversation, it might help. I doubt it, but you never know,” she said.
The Chief looked at her. Declan spun around to also look at her. He scowled.
The Chief laughed. “Oh, I think she more than resembles me, Declan,” he said. “I believe you’ve found my sister.”
“Brand?” Squib said and grinned. She ran toward him and threw her arms around his neck. He swung her off her feet, forcing Declan to jump out of their way.
“Brand, it is you!” she said. She buried her face in his neck and started sobbing.
“Yes, it’s me, Charlotte, but why are you here? What happened? Where’s Father?” he said, setting her down on the ground, wiping the tears from her face.
Declan blinked and shook his head. The Chief, who had always seemed younger and smaller than himself, suddenly appeared to have grown in size and age.
“Father is gone, Brand. He left a while ago and he hasn’t come back yet. He always said that if he didn’t come back after twenty-eight full days, I was to find your guild and let you know.”
Brand nodded. “I see,” he said. “And what of Mother?”
“She’s gone back to her family. She looked for Father for a week, maybe two and then she told me to do as he’d always told me, to find you and then to come and rescue her.”
“You told me your parents were dead,” Declan said.
“I know I lied to you, Declan, and I’m sorry, but I had no choice. You couldn’t know what I was up to, that I needed to be introduced to your Chief, because you’d never have brought me,” she said.
More tomorrow