The Riddles of the Phoenixes Series

The Lost World

Chapter twenty: Unknown

Daphne sat in her office, examining the piece of orangish red fur. Adam hadn’t known what to do with it so he’d given it to her to look at. She put it in the DNA scanner and looked at her computer where the information would show up. She was startled when the words started screaming out of the computer loudly.

“SPECIES: UNKNOWN. GENDER: UNKNOWN. RELATIONS: UNKNOWN. UNKNOWN UNKNOWN UNKNOWN. COMPUTER SHUT DOWN INITIATED!!!” The computer went dark. Daphne pushed the buttons. It didn’t turn back on. Two words popped up in the screen in dark red letters. ERROR RESTART.

Daphne shook her head in amazement and walked over to the DNA scanner hoping that the piece of fur wasn’t completely destroyed. Thankfully it wasn’t. She held the fur up close to her face and squinted at it.

The light bounced off the fur. And for a second…for one tiny little second the fur looked…white? And then a burning sensation shot through her finger. “Ow!” Daphne cried, dropping it. It disintegrated as soon as it touched the floor and Daphne’s evidence was nothing more than a small pile of ashes.

~

Cedric looked back at Rowan. She was walking in the very back of the group, even behind Kannon. Her eyes darted back and forth nervously and she was nervously trying to keep her hair neat. It had started to fall from its perfect braiding. Suddenly she whirled backwards and glared at a space right behind, like there was someone there. “Shut up! Stop telling me what to do!” She hissed.

“I think she’s being weird.” Elayne whispered in Cedric’s ear, scooting closer to him for any possible protection. Cedric rolled his eyes. “Rowan? You okay?” He asked. Rowan turned back around, eyes twitching with annoyance. “Yeah I’m fine I was just telling—” She stopped and shot another annoyed look at the empty space beside her. “I’m fine.”

Cedric shook his head. “Okay if you say so.” He said. “Yo! Hurry up guys! I though you wanted to get to the dome!” Oliver called. Rowan glared at him. “Stop telling me what to do!” She growled and to prove her point she stomped past all of them, muttering under her breath.

Kannon snorted then stopped. His eyes widened and suddenly reached out and yanked Oliver backwards. A sharp rock flew past where Oliver had just been standing and hit a tree.

Elayne whimpered and hid behind Cedric. Rowan grabbed a large clump of bark, rolling to the ground and held it above her as a shield. Cedric pushed the rest of them to the ground.

“Who’s there?!” He bellowed. “It’s five against one!” Oliver poked his head up. “Hypothetically speaking, there could be more of them.” Cedric pushed Oliver down. “Shut up, you’re ruining my speech!”

A rustling came out of the bushes in front of them and a small girl, almost eight, popped out. She had dark chestnut brown hair that fell to her shoulders,and her bangs covered her eyes slightly, a heavily freckled face, a slightly crooked nose and Forest colored eyes. She was holding a crudely fashioned slingshot in her hands.

“Cedric? Is that you?” She asked, her voice was very squeaky like a mouse. “Pip squeak!!” Cedric exclaimed excitedly. The girl smiled widely, several teeth were missing. The girl burst through the bushes and wrapped her small arms around his waist. “Oliver, my cousin Elayne, that girl Rowan and Oliver’s friend Kannon are here too.” Cedric said.

Slowly Kannon, Elayne, Oliver, and Rowan stood to their feet. The girl’s eyes filled with tears of happiness when she saw Oliver. She rushed over to him and he hugged her protectively. “Liv! It’s so good to see you!! Are you okay?” Oliver asked. The girl, Liv, nodded vigorously, to happy to say anything.

“And WHO is this?” Rowan asked grumpily. “Yeah I had to crouch in the dirt because of her!” Elayne exclaimed, whiningly.

Oliver grinned proudly. “This is my little sister..Liv. Now, Liv what were you doing? You could have gotten hurt if you hadn’t revealed who you were!” Liv beamed, seemingly oblivious to the danger she had put herself in. “I was standing guard!” She squeaked. “For what?” Cedric asked. “For who?” Oliver asked.

Liv grabbed Oliver’s hand and began leading him forward. The others followed. “Come! I’ll show you!”

~

The girl, Liv, led them to a dark cave. “Why are there so many caves here?” Cedric wondered aloud. Rowan was walking in the back again, ready for a trap or something. Sunny sat perched on Cedric’s shoulders who walked in front of Rowan.

“Ooh it’s so dark in here!” Sunny exclaimed happily. Rowan rolled her eyes. “So? What do you care? You’re not even real? Wait…if you’re not real then why am I talking to you?! Okay I’m done talking with you!” Rowan decided angrily.

Sunny turned her head to look at Rowan, grinning slyly. “Oh Rowan…I am real. How could you not believe that? That’s just hurtful.”

“Yeah right.” Rowan said, rolling her eyes. Sunny hopped down from Cedric’s shoulders and padded along beside Rowan, much to her disgust.

“Here we are.” Liv finally said. It was a dark room of the cave. The walls were cold and slick, moss growing on them. A small drip of water fell from the ceiling, slowly landing in a tightly woven basket. “Who’s there?” A hoarse voice called from within the caves. “It’s me.” Liv said. A deep sigh echoed toward them. “Ahh Liv. You know…I don’t really like you wandering off to “stand guard” or “hunt”. Your mother will kill me if you die on my watch.” The person said.

Then began coughing violently. Liv frowned. “But I didn’t ask you to watch me. I found you!” She said. Another round of coughing followed. Finally he stopped. “True. And plus I’ll probably die anyways. Then I won’t have to deal with Elizabeth.”

“You’re not going to die. Don’t say that. Please.” Liv begged, running forward to where the voice was coming from.

The other followed her. On a pile of soft moss a man lay. His chest rose up and down, his breathing strange. Blood stained his shirt, though his jacket concealed most of it. “William!” Cedric gasped. William turned his head slightly. “Cedric? What the crap are you doing here boy?!” He coughed. They all gathered around William, although Rowan very reluctantly. “Ooh he’s close to dying.” Sunny said, a strange glimmer, a strange darkness, of some emotion or something twinkling in her eyes.

Rowan looked at his neck. No medallion. “Oh that’s right… he married into the family.” She thought to herself. Sunny chuckled softly.

“Here. Oliver can help. He has medical expertise. He can help you William.” Cedric said hurriedly, sounding worried for once in his life. “Isn’t he your grandfather?” Rowan asked. Cedric nodded. “Then why do you call him “William”?” Cedric shrugged.

“Because he doesn’t respect his elders…or anyone for that matter. OUCH what was that for?!?? I’d rather die than have you as my doctor.” William growled at Oliver who had just pressed down on William’s chest. (Which proves how deeply he had been cut since normally if someone pressed down on his chest that wouldn’t have hurt.) Oliver waved the rest of them away except Liv. “I need some space.” He said. They backed off. Rowan went over to Kannon who she figured wouldn’t bother her.

He was sitting in the corner, staring vaguely at the wall. She snapped her fingers. No movement. “Figures..” Rowan muttered. Sunny sat down in front of Rowan and lifted a paw primly, scratching behind her ear. Rowan glared at Sunny. “Leave me alone, will you?” Rowan growled.

Sunny grinned. “Like I would.” She said, not moving. Rowan swatted at the fox and caught ahold on one of Sunny’s tails. It was cold. It felt like she’d just touched something dead, cold as snow. Sunny yanked away. “Hey watch the tail!” She hissed.

Rowan rubbed her hands together for warmth. “Sorry. Why in the world are you so freakin cold?! Why’s your name Sunny if you’re cool?!” Sunny shrugged. “I don’t know whatcha mean. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to go now since you decided to do rudely grab my tail, hmph!” And with that Sunny marched off and cuddled up in the corner across from Rowan.

Rowan rolled her eyes. “Sorry..” She muttered under her breath. “At least I only grabbed ONE one of your tails..”

A lone lantern hung in the middle of the cave, lighting the place dimly. She leaned against the cave wall and closed her eyes, trying to figure out how to get out of this place.

In the back of her mind she registered that Sunny was humming. A eerie familiar sounding tune…

-SunnyFox57