Chapter Five

Sarah squirmed in her sleep, tossing and turning as she slapped her neck-an annoying mosquito trying to suck her blood like the vampire it was- which awoke her.

            “Ow…” Sarah mumbled miserably as she got up. She found herself on the floor, on a futon with a large comforter over her. She turned over, hearing soft music playing in the room. The room was dark, Sarah’s vision adjusting to the darkness. She was in a traditional Japanese room, wood paneled floor, a small dresser in the corner with a small vase with a branch of flowers in it. The futon was soft and sunk when she move around a bit. She sat up, the comforter rolling off her and Sarah rubbed her eye to get the sleepiness out.

            “Where am I?” Sarah wondered till she felt her phone suddenly vibrate from her back pocket. She pulled it out, seeing Rachel’s message blink three times.

SOS Coran’s hunting you down, need an escape plan!

Sarah tried to stay calm, getting up and tucking her phone back in her pocket. She looked around the room, only one window and it was too high up to climb. Sarah turned around, finding a sliding door showing some light. Sarah tip toed towards the door, passing by a mirror to get a look at herself. What stared back at her shocked her. Even though she didn’t carry the diamond her other friends had, she had changed. Her brown hair became long, reaching her backside and turning a bright blond color. Sarah covered her mouth so she wouldn’t scream and proceeded to the door. She slowly pulled the sliding door back a bit and peeked into the hallway. The hallway was empty so Sarah pulled it all the way back and tip toed through the hallway.

            “Sarah’s sleeping at the moment.” A voice echoed, catching Sarah by surprise. Panicking, Sarah ran into an open room and closed the door and squatted down to the side. She saw two blackened figures appear in the light and Sarah scooted towards the corner.

            “She’ll wake up soon; she doesn’t appear to carry the Hex diamonds like the others have.” A voice, sounding like Amitti’s, said.

            “Maybe it didn’t affect her?” the other voice said, he or she sounded rather nervous.

            “No that’s impossible.” Amitti said. “The others were affected by it because they were in contact with the one Brandt infected! Somehow she’s immune to the infection, maybe she’s the one…”

            “That’s impossible!” the voice said.

            “Anything’s possible, the Hex diamonds were simply a test to see which one of them can wield the Time Gear, and Sarah doesn’t have it so she’s bound to be the one!”

            “Time Gear?” Sarah whispered to herself.

            “Now Sakura, I want you to tend to Sarah’s needs tomorrow. She’ll have all her energy back and she’ll be ready for training.” Amitti said.

            “Alright, where will you go master?” Sakura, the other figure, asked.

            “I need to attend to some errands.” Amitti said and left the room. “Make sure Sarah doesn’t leave the house!”

            “Understood.” Sakura said and left as well. Sarah released the breath she had been holding, letting her shoulders relax. She looked around the dark room, seeing that she was in a room identical to her own room. She got up, looking around.

            “I should probably find some type of information for Rachel.” Sarah whispered and began snooping around the drawers, flipping the comforter over and even checking the pillow cases. She was soon looking through the desks, feeling her way through the empty drawers till she felt a slip of paper. She quickly pulled it out and looked at it through the moon light. She found an aged picture of a gear with strange writing on it. She squinted at the image, seeing small hand writing on the picture. There was faded handwriting all over the paper but she couldn’t make out the words. She folded up the paper and stuffed it in her pocket. She continued searching for more pages but she then heard the sound of someone coming towards the room. Thinking quickly Sarah ducked under the desk, the door opening once Sarah stopped moving and blended with the darkness. Amitti came in, looking tired as he made his way to the bed.

            “What a day…” Amitti said and kicked off his sandals. Sarah kept eyeing at the door, hoping he would pass out and she could make a quick get away. Sarah turned back to Amitti seeing that he had begun to set out his sleeping clothes.

Oh gosh….No, no, I can’t utter a noise or he’ll kill me! I’ll stay absolutely quiet! Sarah thought urgently. Sarah then caught Amitti beginning to remove his shirt making her completely lose it.

            “OH MY GOSH!” Sarah screamed, jumping up and hitting her head catching a shirtless Amitti’s attention. He quickly grabbed his shirt and covering his exposed torso screaming “OH MY GOD WHAT’RE YOU DOING HERE?!”

            “WHAT’RE YOU DOING HERE?!” Sarah screamed back shielding her eyes and pointing at a random wall.

            “THIS IS MY ROOM!” Amitti said back, quickly pulling the shirt back on and removing Sarah’s hand from her eyes. “What’re you doing out of bed?”

            “Answer my question first!” Sarah commanded. Amitti only glared and replied “It’s too late for this, go to your room!”

            “You’re not my guardian!” Sarah said angrily.

            “SAKURA!” Amitti called, scurrying footsteps quickly coming towards the room. A young woman came rushing into the room, wearing a frilly maids uniform with a matching hat having short light brown hair with her side bangs long and the rest short, a cute cow lick sticking up on top of her head and large brown eyes.

            “Yes?” Sakura asked.

            “Take Sarah to her room!” Amitti ordered.

            “I want answers first!” Sarah countered. Sakura calmly approached the two bickering teenagers and placed her hands on their forearms. The two turned to her, a wave of relaxation washing over them. Sarah’s hands went to her side, following Sakura out of the room and back to her bedroom.

            “You must forgive my master; he can be quite a handful.” Sakura said, changing Sarah into her pajamas and doing her hair in a long braid once finished. Sakura then tucked Sarah in her bed, brushing Sarah’s bangs from her face.

            “Now good night young miss.” Sakura said with a kind smile and closed the door. Sarah felt her eyes grow heavy. Before blacking out, Sarah thought How did that maid do that?

~ * ~

            Jaya awoke to being surrounded by cushions, soon kicking off the white comforter. She quickly ran to her window, pulling the curtains open to be welcomed to Sydney, seeing the Sydney Opera House some distance away. A wide smile spread on Jaya’s face, quickly striding across her room, soon passing a mirror. She saw her hair was straightened, having large child like eyes wearing a night gown.

            “What happened to me?” Jaya questioned.

            “The Hex diamond has finally settled.” A voice said from the side. Jaya turned finding a boy who appeared two years older then her straightening out the bed for her. He had short golden hair, his bangs hanging in front of his face wearing an itchy looking long sleeved shirt and brown and red platted pants with a large belt around his waist, bright blue eyes and he wore brown boots on his feet.

            “Who’re you?” Jaya questioned.

            “I’m Finny!” Finny said happily, blowing his bangs from his face. Jaya glared over at him, looking at her dresser and finding red clips. She grabbed a handful and walked towards Finny. She grabbed onto his shoulder, pushed him down until he was sitting on the floor. Jaya placed some of the clips between her lips and began clipping his bangs out of his face. Once done, she held a mirror in front of his face.

            “Your bangs were bothering me, now you look so much cuter!” Jaya clarified, she was suddenly ambushed in a hug.

            “Oh thank you mistress Jaya, thank you!” Finny said happily. Jaya shoved him off and dusted herself off. She strolled towards her bed and sat in it, sinking a bit.

            “What did you say about a Hex diamond?” Jaya asked one leg over the other and her arms crossed.

            “I can not say!” Finny said happily. Jaya glared, soon getting up and walking towards the door. Finny frowned and ran to the door, blocking her only exit.

            “Move!” Jaya commanded.

            “But the master says to keep you in this room till preparations are complete!” Finny said.

            “I said MOVE!” Jaya said angrily. She then saw that Finny was beginning to tear up. Finny fell to his knees, grabbing hold of her legs and crying out “Please don’t make me disobey orders Jaya-sama, the master will be upset with me!”

Finny commenced sobbing into Jaya’s night gown, Jaya only getting more and more irate.

            “Okay, OKAY, I’ll stay here!” Jaya said Finny suddenly stopped crying; he hugged Jaya and soon started sobbing tears of joy. Once finally getting out of his death grip, Jaya was left alone to rest. She stared up at the ceiling, her hand subconsciously going to her shoulder. She felt her shoulder and her fingers skimmed across the diamond that was implanted in her skin. Jaya uncovered her shoulder getting a good look at the diamond. It was as it was before except that there was a strange marking surrounding the golden gem. A knock suddenly came to Jaya’s door causing her to quickly cover her shoulder and lay back down on her bed. She turned her head, Finny and Eska coming in.

            “Here she is master.” Finny said with a wide smile.

            “It’s nice to see you’re awake.” Eska said.

            “You said you’d help me find my friends!” Jaya accused.

            “Well you’ll find them soon.” Eska said and turned to Finny. “Finny leave us please.”

Finny bowed, relieving himself from the room and disappearing behind the door leaving Jaya and Eska alone.

            “So why’re you stealing my friends and me?” Jaya asked, one leg going over the other and crossing her arms again.

            “I can’t tell you that, you’ll have to figure that out for yourself.” Eska replied.

            “You’re supposed to tell me!” Jaya said angrily.

Eska only smirked, his snake like eyes gleaming as he said “Well that would ruin the fun now wouldn’t it?”

Jaya scowled at him, hopping off the bed and walking towards him. Once they were only inches from each other, Jaya poked him in the shoulder and said “Do not underestimate me! I will make you cry and have you bowing at my feet when I’m done with you!”

            “We’ll see.” Eska said taking hold of Jaya’s hand and gripping it tightly. “Now get yourself dolled up for the public and get well rested. You’ll need all your energy for tomorrow.”

Eska then turned and left Jaya alone. Once the door closed, Jaya angrily stomped her foot grabbed hold of her pillow and threw it at the wall. After fuming for a total of three minutes, Jaya found herself on the floor looking out the window. She found her pants sticking out of the pantry, quickly crawling towards it and getting her pants out. She unleashed her phone seeing Rachel’s message.

            “Damn it.” Jaya mumbled, quickly finding Bethany’s number and texting her back aggressively.

Stupid Eska won’t tell me anything, gonna do some investigating. Text back if there’s anything new.

Jaya sent the message, hiding her phone in her dresser and going back on the bed. The door opened and Finny returned with clothes.

            “I’ve come with clothes miss Jaya!” Finny said. “Master Eska says that he thinks they’ll suit you.”

            “I’ll be the judge of that!” Jaya said angrily, snatching the clothes from Finny’s hands and looking them over. The clothes were a school uniform, black and white looking like a sailor uniform with an adorable scary face on the front.
Jaya glared at the clothes, mumbling “That a*****e…”

~ * ~

            Bethany was awoken to the sound of soft whistling. She turned in her sleep, her eyes slowly opening as she tried making out her surroundings. She found herself in a dark room, soon lifting herself up and finding dark purple sheets rolling off her. She turned to her left finding a little girl with sandy blond hair tied in a tight bun on top of her head and wearing a maid’s uniform. The little girl was currently dusting the shelves, the two making brief eye contact and standing still.

            “…Huga…” the little girl said, continuing with her dusting.

            “Wait, where am I?” Bethany asked.

            “Huga.” The little maid said.

            “Where’s Valentine?” Bethany asked strictly.

            “Huga.” The girl said.

            “God damn it is that all you can say?” Bethany asked getting frustrated.

            “…Huga.” The little girl said making Bethany’s blood boil. Bethany threw the covers off, storming out of the coffin like bed and going towards the door. She pulled it open, the little girl not doing anything to stop her, and looked around. The whole house was like a garden from Alice in Wonderland. The place was a forest, doors in the trunk of trees, a water falls smelling like Coke-a-Cola streaming past her feet, plants bending over, sipping the soda and sounding like they were gargling as they swallowed. The place was dark, a bit humid and a flock of what looked like paper airplanes zooming past her head. Bethany came to a chocolate coated door, reading the name Yasmine across it.

            “Is she in here?” Bethany questioned, grabbing the handle and pulling it open. As she opened the door and leaned forward, expecting an imprisoned Yasmine chained the floor, Bethany lost her balance as she plummeted through brightly colored skies. The clouds raced by as Bethany flailed in the air, soon landing in cushions in different colors.

            “All besides pink…” Bethany said, only she was able to get herself out of the sinking cushions. She took large steps as she made her way to a large black chest with purple lacing. It shook when Bethany was three feet from it. Curious, Bethany reached towards it, her fingers brushing against the lock till she heard “I wouldn’t unlock that if I were you!”

Bethany quickly turned, finding Valentine sitting on a bean bag chair shaped like a small water creature.

            “Where am I?” Bethany asked, she suddenly spotted a flying type pokemon zoom through the sky, playing tag with a small beagle with wings.

            “Yasmine’s inner thoughts silly.” Valentine said playfully, leaping off the bean bag which evaporated into a cloud and floated into the sky. Valentine whipped out a purple cane, a hat in his other hand and placing it on his head. He smiled sweetly at Bethany who only gave him a monstrous glare.

            “You’re upset.” Valentine said.

            “Of course I am!” Bethany said angrily, the room suddenly shook causing Bethany to fall over. The little creatures in the room froze, soon bursting out in particles and the world turned black. Bethany was grabbed by Valentine who pulled her up and bolted towards the door.

            “It’s best if we leave while Yasmine’s having her shots.” Valentine said playfully.

            “Shots?!” Bethany asked, the black chest suddenly bursting open and sucking everything in. The two eventually made it to the door, which was melting. Valentine grabbed the handle and shoved the door open with his shoulder, the two tumbling to the floor and Valentine kicking the door shut just before it melted completely. Bethany was breathing heavily, Valentine giggling playfully.

            “What was so funny about that?!” Bethany asked angrily, grabbing Valentine by the shirt and shaking him.

            “You just look so terrified.” Valentine said playfully, Bethany getting more and more irate with his childish personality.

            “What happened to Yasmine? Are there more doors of my friends?” Bethany asked.

            “Well of course, I need to make sure your friends aren’t planning anything stupid.” Valentine said. He rose from the floor and dusted himself off, Bethany getting up and following him down the forest.

            “These rooms show us what’s going on inside your friends minds.” Valentine explained.

            “I hope you know that’s called stalking or creeping?” Bethany said bluntly.

            “Don’t worry, this is only temporary.” Valentine said.

            “That doesn’t assure me to not be wary of you guys.” Bethany said. They came to a new door, Rachel’s name written across it and the door looking like famous painters had decorated it. Valentine took the knob and turned it, a gust of wind escaping the room as the two were suddenly engulfed by light. Bethany was shielding herself, thinking that they’d burn up. She opened her eyes finding herself in a library.

            “Hmm, seems like a place Rachel would like.” Bethany said.

            “Yes, each and everyone of these books contain a memory.” Valentine said, taking out a green book. He opened it revealing a hologram picture of Rachel as a small girl, being chased around by her older sister. Rachel grabbed a large ball and chased her sister through the sprinklers. It was cute until Rachel tripped and plummeted to the floor, covering her once pretty dress in mud.

            “Defiantly Rachel.” Bethany said bluntly. Valentine closed the book and placed it back where it once was, leading Bethany out of Rachel’s room.

            “You see Bethany, you and your friends are all infected with an amazing ability.” Valentine explained. “We need you, but right now Bethany, you need to rest.”

They exited the room, the door closing behind them and the little maid that was once in Bethany’s room standing before them.

            “Huga.” The little maid said.

            “Yes Flaundre, please take our guest back to her room.” Valentine said and turned to Bethany. “You’ll need every ounce of your strength little one.”

He tapped Bethany’s nose three times, soon leaving Bethany with Flandre. Flandre led Bethany back to her room and opened the door for her, letting Bethany inside and closed the door behind her. Bethany quickly scouted the room for her clothes, soon finding them in the bathroom. When she looked in the mirror, a girl with long black hair stared at her back, the hair a sleek black with three white stripes on the side of her head, her eyes a honey golden color with a look of bewilderment on her face.

            “Damn all these hot guys and everything about them!” Bethany said bitterly, digging through her pants pocket to reveal her cell phone. She found two messages from Rachel and Jaya. She skimmed Rachel’s message then read Jaya’s.          

Stupid Eska won’t tell me anything, gonna do some investigating. Text back if there’s anything new.

            Bethany couldn’t help but giggle, quickly texting back Valentine told me something about the diamonds, we have powers maybe! Will find out more tomorrow.

Bethany quickly strides back to her bed, hopping in and going under the covers as she texted back Rachel.

Don’t worry, find your locations and the boys schedule. We can use it against him to get free. Did you text the others?

After sending it, Bethany tucked her phone on the side of the mattress hoping that Flandre wouldn’t find it. She threw the blanket over her head and whispered “Tomorrow, I play the good girl card.”

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Boy in the pictue is Charlie