Chapter 4, 5 and 6

Chapter 4:

Alexander Cross looked over his shoulder through the spiraling snow flakes. Still no one was following him. Good. His
boots crunched on the crystals on the ground. The branches creaked
over head with their new bounty of ice, every now and then one would
break and crash to the ground. That was the only sound that broke the
silence of the night that night.


Eventually a light came into view up ahead. Finally... he ran the last quarter mile to his home. The hood to his cloak flew off, and his auburn tinted brown
hair smacked him in the face as he ran, getting in his blue eyes. He
shook it off though as the little shack like house came into full
view.


A small 10 year old girl clad in a deep green cloak, with a golden broach inset with an emerald tying it under the name of her neck was standing by the
entrance of the door. Her black hair caught snow and deep, deep blue
eyes stared at him under the torch. Daniel tried not to show she was
smiling inside, but the Cross boy saw the telltale signs of the smile
under her eyes.


She pushed open the door of the shack to reveal the 7 people inside. They all halted, and looked up. Alexander stepped inside of the shack and placed the book
carefully on the makeshift table. A boy in a black cloak and a
twinkle in his eyes stood and patted Alexander on the back. The boy
was rather muscular... especially considering he was hardly 15
winters old. Another boy in a deep blue cloak grinned.


Alexander looked at his family with a triumphant smile. Daniel silently sat by the table, with a little smile playing at her lips. She was the youngest, but
you would hardly guess it by how in control she always was. Then
there was James, too... only 11, and always wore a blue cloak. He was
happy to sit and grin. Henry was 15, always wearing a black cloak and
very strong. He was only a year younger than Alexander himself. Smith
was 14, and wore a shimmering dark gray cloak. Samule was 13, and
wore a deep purple cloak. Jack was wearing a white cloak, and aged
12. Each of them was a year apart, so evenly spaced.... Alexander
shook his head some to clear it.


“What's so special about this book?” his mother demanded. “That my baby would have to go risk his life for it? I can say everything in it you need to know!”


“We need to know what is happening,” his father sighed. He was very tired of explaining this to the irate woman, but she wouldn't be ignored.


“WHY?” she demanded. “Why can we not just ignore this?”


“Because if our kids are these people, then they need to know,” he snapped. His wife pouted, but he simply turned to look at Alexander.


“What does it say, boy?” he asked rather excitedly.


“I do not know I never opened it. I was too busy running,” Alexander sighed, looking at his father with irritation.


“Well, open it!” he said excitedly. Alexander obliged, and a plume of dust rose from the cover as he opened the ancient book to the first page. His eyes
greedily took in the neat handwriting. His shoulders fell, and his
face slid into a deep frown. His brows knitted together. “What?”
his father demanded.


“It's true,” he whispered hoarsely. “We are what they claimed. It is true.”

Chapter 5:

Alex woke to sun streaming through his window. When had he fallen asleep? He couldn't remember. He remembered reading the book, and then nothing else. He shook his head. A bird lighted on his window sill, and stared at him with keen eyes.


She flew in and landed on the bed, and Alexander reached out an arm for his falcon. Her name was Eld, and she had beautiful wings- black primaries, blackened silver down.


She was Alexander's, and he had caught her when she was just a little fledgling. She only answered his call, and was extremely loyal.


Alex slid out of bed, and Eld flew to the door. There was a chill -- they had no window panes, and it was snowing -- so he grabbed his dark red cloak and strode to the kitchen, bird flying to his shoulder.


He came into the kitchen to see everyone already seated at the rough table.


"What have I told you about letting that falcon inside?" his mother chided. "She should be out hunting."


"She seems to have already hunted," Alex said. "She flew in my window when I woke up."


"Alright. Don't feed her any food, though," she said. Alex nodded and took his seat.


His brothers and sister were in their cloaks as well. Samuel looked up and smiled at him some, then returned to his food. Red hair swept into his eyes.


"We need help, guys," Danielle said around a mouthful of food. "We don't know what's going on. All we know is Mother told us we were chosen by the gods, and then some guy came to us saying we needed a copy of the Holy Book of Arapania. And we were in it. So now we need to figure out just what to do."


"Yes, we do," Alexander said mildly. "but how can we truly reach it? Most of the world doesn't know we are alive. Mother kept us hidden when we were born, because her gift could have put us in danger. So no one knows we are alive, we have no connections, we merely have an old book and a psychic mother. What could we possibly do?" his voice was dripping with sarcasm. "And don't forget, some of our powers have already come out. We can all already control the weather. And we heal, and are fast. Anyone over 13 has already gotten their powers. Samuel's should be coming soon."


"Alex, I'm serious," Danielle said crossly. "We need some kind of contact."


"I know we do," he said simply. "But that's not what we need to do first. FIRST, we need to read further into the book. Then we need to train some. THEN we go search. It would be foolish to run into a fight you aren't prepared for."


"Alright. Then read the book," she said.


"I will," he said calmly. "after I finish eating." He finished his bread and apple, and then picked up the book. He started from the beginning.








The Holy Book Of the Arapanians.




Long ago, there was a race of magyk peoples. These were the Arapanians amongst an island that is now called the United Kingdom. They used
the name Arapania for their island however. They were in great
connection to the Gods and Goddesses. One girl in particular had a
gift for their connection. And this is the book of what she has
deemed.

“My name is Annaley Rosalie. I have heard the voice of the Gods and Goddesses. And they wish thee to know their names.”

Aro is the Sky God, Lord of Sky and Down from thyself.

Wiero is the Diamond Lord, God of West and Water.

Xino is the Blood King, Caller of Fire and the South.

Sylana is the Golden Goddess, Queen of Spirit and thy Self.

Earna is the Emerald Lady, Goddess of Earth and East.

Nyxam is the Onyx Princess, Lady of Shadow and North.

And Diana is the Opal Queen, Princess of Dream and Up.


The girl Came into us to be here almost 20 years ago to the date. She came bearing powers of Prophecy. She was within the 15th
generation, 450 years into the tribe of the Arapanians.


Alex was shocked to see his mother's name in the book. Sure, she was powerful. But she was that powerful? It was old -- 20 years -- but it had looked older. How could it be that young? His mother was 40 summers old.


He closed the book softly.


What he didn't see, was a man sneaking up behind him with a log. The man struck him over the head, and Alexander's world tumbled into darkness. 

Chapter 6:

Alexander woke in a darkened room, side by side with all his siblings. The room was unfamiliar, and the walls were made of stone; there was a dingy iron gate as one of the walls and beyond it he could see a dim corridor lit with sparse torches. A silhouette was outlined by the torches. The man tilted his head and light fell across his face.

He was no older than twenty, and well muscled. Around his bare upper arms were golden arm bands with animals carved into them, and around his neck was a golden torque carved in the shape of a hawk.

"Fur'es'tos?" a voice came from down the hall. "Have they awoken?" Another man appeared, probably the same age as the first man. His eyes cast around the cell, and saw Alexander was awake.

"Only the one," the first man-- Fur'es'tos-- responded. "The eldest. Perhaps you didn't do as good a job at knocking the others lightly over the head as I?" The second man scoffed.

"May I inquire as to who you are, and why you have taken us?" Alexander said, his voice carrying easily to the two men. They blinked, seeming to realize for the first time he was indeed conscious and could hear every word they said.

"Oh, yeah," Fur'es'tos said. He looked stupidly at the other man. "He'd probably want to know that."

"I suppose," said the other man. Both of them looked as though they had assumed Alexander would just KNOW. Obviously, he didn't. "My name is Karrow. This is Fur'es'tos." When he didn't elaborate, Alexander prompted him again.

"And why am I here? And just where is 'here'?"

"You're here because..." Karrow just stared at him for a long moment. "You honestly don't know?"

"I have a sneaking suspicion," he said dryly, remembering the book he had been reading before. "Something to do with my mother?"

"Well, sort of," Fur'es'tos said uncomfortably. He seemed to register that Alexander was in a cage. "Oh, would you liked to come out of there to speak? Out of the cellar, perhaps? There's a room upstairs, and I am sure we have tea somewhere."

"Cellar?" Alexander asked stupidly.

"Yes, this is.... an underground corridor. It's called a cellar. Would you like to come above ground?" he explained. Alexander looked worriedly at his siblings.

"They shall be fine," Karrow said. "No worries. We just wanted to make sure you would listen."

"Very well then," Alexander said. He most certainly did not entirely believe that, but he felt relatively confident he could overcome one of them and run for help before the second one caught up.

"Please don't run until you let us explain everything," Fur'es'tos said, as though reading his mind. The door was unlocked and slid to the side with a creak. Karrow offered his hand to help the younger boy up, but Alexander ignored it and stood, brushing himself off and walking out of the cell with as much dignity as he could muster.

They walked down the corridor and up stone carved stairs into the upstairs. For the first time in Alexander's life, he was finally going to get some straight answers.