Chapter 8
In The Nick Of Time
I was falling down and down. I could barely see Quint; she was so far above me! I hit something and was expecting pain. I felt nothing. Instead, I started to feel drowsy. I curled up into a ball on whatever it was and slept.
"Wha?!" I started to ask. I was hit across the face. I lifted my head to see two unicorns staring down at me. They were on either side of the table I was strapped down on. Leather straps held my wings, legs, and body to the table. I was able to lift my head up enough to see a door. Just as I caught sight of the door, a centaur came running through it. "I've told everyone else. Now I'm telling you. Let her go!" The unicorns looked down at me angrily, then back at the unicorn. It looked like Quint, but I wasn't sure. "We have our orders to keep ‘him' here," said the unicorn on my right. The unicorn shook her head and messed up her mane. "I'll get new orders for you then! How hard can it be? How hard does it have to be to get your friend out of an interrogation room?! You tell me!" She turned to the door and opened it. I saw her throw her hands up in disgust as she slammed the door behind her. The unicorns bent over me. I was feeling sick. How could I be interrogated when I was one of the good guys?! I struggled against the straps and was yelled at. The room around me spun and my wing started to hurt. "I, I, I...." I began. A unicorn slapped me across the face. The last words I heard before I slipped into unconsciousness were,"We do the asking! You answer!"
I rubbed my head, then opened my eyes. I looked at my hands. Then I looked at the bed. I didn't say anything, thinking someone would slap my face if I did. I looked toward the ceiling to see Quint in her unicorn form. "You got quite a slap in the face." I felt my face and winced at the stinging pain. "What happened?" I asked, as I looked around the room. I was in an amazingly bright white room. Everything was white except for the metal legs of the bed and Quint's brown eyes. "You landed on one of the unicorns surveying the land. One of the guard unicorns that looks for creatures in trouble flew under you by chance. You landed on him and he reacted correctly by flying to the ground. The impact knocked you out. I flew to the Sparkle and the guard followed me. He suspected you were a spy or something. You were in the interrogation room. That's where you were being slapped and were strapped down. You'll be fine says Clanty. She's a nice unicorn, but she hates her name. It is ‘too close to Clant the dragon's name' she says. Anyway, your medicine wore off while you were flying. The pain was too much for you and you crumpled under it. It may hurt now, but it won't in a minute. If you change to human, we can put some salve on your arms and let them heal. Then we'll work on letting your Clyuire wing heal." I yawned and nodded. Sitting up, I rolled off the comfy bed. I quickly changed to human to get away from the pain in my wing. Now my arms hurt. "Yuck! My arms look awful!" I exclaimed. Quint grinned and walked out of the room. She walked back in and changed to her oriental human. Snapping her fingers, a dish came out of nowhere. "I forgot. I'm so used to the way things are on earth, that I forget about these useful tricks. I'll teach you how to do it later." I looked at her with my eyes opened all the way and my mouth drooping way low. "Wow!" I said. She laughed and tossed the dish into the air. It went up to the ceiling and stopped at Quint's hand, hovering just above it. "What?! How did you do that?!" I asked. She laughed and spun the dish. Quint pulled her hand away from the dish and it floated in mid air. "Like I said, I'll teach you later." I laughed and reached for the dish. Quint grabbed the dish first and plunged a hand into it. She lifted her hand, dripping with goo that was peach colored, and rubbed some goo on my arm. I jumped when I felt the goo. It was slimy and freezing cold. Quint rubbed it on both my arms and it instantly dried into the cuts in my arms, making my arms look like there were no cuts. "This won't last forever. Two days at the most, maybe less. Now, an explanation." I nodded excitedly and stood up. "Alright. Start like this. First, wait, we need an object." Quint snapped her fingers and a bowl of ice cream appeared. Vanilla ice cream, one of my favorites. "Now, you must do this trick correctly or this bowl of ice cream will go to waste." She waved her hand in the air and motioned the bowl toward her. The bowl slowly drifted to her hand; Quint grabbed it out of the air. "Listen to my explanation. This is no ‘trick' per se, and it isn't magic. No, not magic at all. Instead, it is a lack of gravity. As you can plainly see, there are no other objects but you, me, and the bed. The bowl of ice cream and the dish of salve came in later. You aren't floating, because we have left enough gravity for it to be almost normal. Anything under ten pounds floats in the air. The wind currents that my hand makes beckons the bowl and dish to me. Watch." I watched as she pushed the dish away from her. It came back when she beckoned it with her hand. "See?" I nodded my head, clearly understanding what this was all about now. "We have this in all of our rooms. This is only one surprise you will find at the Sparkle. That is where we are now." My eyebrows rose in surprise. "We're at the Sparkle?!" I asked excitedly. Quint nodded her head enthusiastically and said,"Yeah! Isn't it wonderful?! To make an object appear in the room, just think of the object, you must be precise, then snap your fingers. Like this." She snapped her fingers and a banana appeared across the room. I crossed my arms and asked,"How do you choose where it will appear?" Quint tilted her head to the left and answered,"Just imagine the place you want your thing to be at. It will go there." I nodded and decided to try it myself. I thought of Brayan and was about to snap my fingers. I stopped myself and looked at Quint. "Is there a way to send things back to where they came from?" I asked her. She looked a little surprised at all of my detailed questions, but she answered,"Yeah. Just imagine the object not in the room anymore. It will go back to where it came from." I nodded and closed my eyes. I imagined Brayan and snapped my fingers, while imagining him sitting on the floor in the corner to the left of the door of my room. I opened my eyes to see a bewildered Brayan in the corner of the room. I laughed and clapped my hands. He was in Clyuire form. "What?! What's going on?!" I laughed and covered my mouth with my hands to keep quiet. Quint quickly explained. "Oh, you see, Saria was just testing her snaps and placements. Of course, we call them Snaps. That's the word we use to make objects appear in the rooms. Anyway, she was just doing that. I guess she chose you for her first object." Quint shrugged and smiled. Brayan frowned. "I don't want to be her object for a Snap experiment. I forgot how to do Snap anyway. Saria, will you please send me back?!" I took my hands away from my mouth. I had just regained my composure. "Sure," I said. "See ya later!" "Bye," Brayan said. I imagined Brayan not in the room, and when I opened my eyes, he was gone. "Good job!" Said Quint. I stood up straighter and smiled proudly. Quint walked to the door and twisted the doorknob. "Ready to see more of the Sparkle?" Asked Quint. "Yes! Lets go!" I said. She laughed and opened the door. I closed my eyes to the brightness of it. "Oh!" Exclaimed Quint. She began to laugh. I squinted, but it was much to bright. "Oh dear. I'm so sorry. I should have warned you. The first time anyone looks out of these little white rooms and into the outside world of the sparkle, it is seen as a blinding light. Here, do this." She covered her eyes. I forced my eyes open so I could see what she was doing. I put my hands over my eyes. "Now, think of a color. A mellow color, maybe. Even a dark color will do. Then slowly open your eyes and let them adjust." I thought hard and decided on robin-egg-blue. "Wow!" I said as I jumped after opening my eyes. The whole place was a wonderful robin-egg-blue and it was even better than I had expected. Tall trees were everywhere. They looked to be about twenty feet tall each. The trees were strange. Where the leaves should have been were feathers. At least, they looked like feathers. And the feathers moved and rustled, yet there was no wind. I walked toward a tree that was fifty feet from me. The tree looked normal except for the feathers. All of the feathers were the beautiful blue. I reached out and touched the trunk of the tree. Millions of feathers rustled and blew around. Feathers fell all over me so that I couldn't see anything. I felt something stab into me. Then again. It came at me again. I screamed and grabbed the feathers around me. I pulled them off and tried to drop them on the ground. They slowly fluttered to the ground. But I was no longer worried about the feathers. All around me were bird creatures! They dove at me from all sides. Some weren't able to reach me. Others pecked at my clothes and dove for my face. I jumped back and ran to Quint. Quint was leaning against the open door to the little white room. I ran through the door and plastered myself to the wall. The birds were still bobbing and diving. I watched as they settled down and quickly regrew their feathers. The tree looked as it had before I'd touched it. Quint walked into the little white room and shut the door. "You're just like me. I did that my first time here too. We're just all to curious." She laughed and quickly covered her mouth at my pained expression. "What were those?" I asked her. She smiled and said,"That was a Ferar Tree. Yeah, I know, weird name for a tree. But, then again, that was a very weird tree. All of the trees are like that. They'll become your friends when you get to know them and they get to know you." I shook my head in surprise. There was no way I was going to make friends with that tree. Quint turned around and opened the door. She walked up to the tree and gently stroked it. The feathers parted but did not fall. I peeked out of the room from behind the door to see what she was doing. "There, there now. Don't be angry. That is my friend. You should be nicer to newcomers." I watched as the bird creatures tucked their wings on their backs and swooped down to her shoulders and arms. Some began to screech and squawk because they could not reach her. I tried to see what the creatures were made of, but I was too far away to tell. Quint waved her arms and the birds flew up to the tree. They covered their bodies and heads and made the tree look as if it were only covered with feathers. Quint jogged back to me and grabbed my arm. "Come on. The trees aren't the only weird things around here." I looked around fearfully, half expecting some monster to pop out of nowhere. Quint laughed at me. I glared at her and looked back at the tree. It was strange indeed. I wanted to go home. Quint grabbed my arm and turned me to face her. "You can't go back now. We need you," she whispered. I nodded. Quint loosened her grip and looked around. "Come on. There's lots to see and do before we work on planning for the war." I sighed and walked behind Quint. She walked straight ahead. I was happy that she didn't go closer to the tree than fifty feet. I took in my surroundings as I walked. The grass looked pretty much the same as on earth. Except the fact that the grass was blue. The trees were weird, grass was the same, sky was the same, and so were the fences around the houses. Nice wooden fences. Regular fences. Normal fences. The houses were way different from the ones back on earth. Each house was a box with a rectangular door. The doors had three different door knobs. We walked past one house and I studied the door knobs carefully. One was for humans. The human doorknob was regular. The second was for dragons. The dragons needed to stick their five claws into the provided holes to open the door. The third was for unicorns. One cone hole so that the unicorns could put their horns into it and open the door. "Strange things you have here, Quint," I told her. She looked back at me and smiled. I forced a smile on my face. I was still expecting something bad to come of all this. I was expecting correctly. I heard a faint rustle behind me. I turned to see what it was and was tackled to the ground. I cried out as whatever it was slashed my cheek. It jumped off and bounded away before I could get a good look at it. "Sarah! What happened?!" She ran back to me and touched my wound. I winced and whimpered. "You are the one!" She exclaimed and dragged me to my feet. I heard the sound behind me and screamed. Quint leaned me against her shoulder, but then she fell. I felt teeth in my arm and a claw scraped across my forehead. I don't remember anything else.
I got to my hands and knees. My forehead hurt and my arm was very weak. I struggled to stand but found myself coughing up blood first. I took a deep breath and looked around. A pure white room. The only object in the room was a white blanket in the corner. It was folded perfectly and looked comforting. I tried to crawl to it, but I didn't even have the strength for that. "Elp," I said. Forming the letter ‘H' would be hard with as dry a mouth as mine. I rolled onto my back and looked at the white ceiling. It was spotless. The room reminded me of the little white room I'd been kept in when Quint appeared. There was only one difference. This was a tiny white room. I had just enough room to lay flat out on the floor. I rolled onto my stomach and reached for the blanket. I touched a wall. The blanket disappeared. I shook my head and looked again. The blanket was gone. "No!" I screeched. My voice wasn't working. I needed water. I needed food. I needed medical attention. I needed Quint! There was no door. There was no food. There was no water. No med and no Quint. I sighed and found that even sighing hurt. I closed my eyes and imagined myself eating chicken. How good it would taste! Hot, juicy, salted chicken. Maybe I'd eat it fried. That would taste wonderful! I opened my eyes and half expected a chicken to appear. I was the only thing in the room. Wait! I was on my knees. Why was I on my knees? I had been laying on my stomach. I hadn't moved an inch. What was this? The room was even smaller than before! The ceiling was only three feet above my head and I was kneeling! The walls were one foot away and I was kneeling! I don't know why but I was kneeling! What was going on? "What in the world?" I managed in a squeaky, cracked voice. I closed my eyes and tried to swallow. There was nothing in my mouth to swallow. I opened my eyes and the walls were touching me from all sides. Even the ceiling was lower! I felt awful. It was so hard to breathe. So very hard to breathe. I couldn't swallow. I couldn't do anything. I began to cry. The more I cried, the bigger my room seemed. The more I cried, the more I had to swallow. The more I cried, the more I felt wind! What was this? I opened my eyes and looked around me. I scrambled to the back of...a cage? I was in a cage? I looked and sure enough, I was sitting in a cage. Just big enough for me to be on my hands and knees and not touch the walls or top. I closed my eyes and pressed my hands against my head. What was going on? I opened my eyes and dozens and dozens of creatures stood around me. They all had their mouths agape. At least, some of them did. Others were laughing. Some were crying. Still others were pointing. Pointing at what? At me? Yes! They were pointing, crying, and laughing at me. I wiped the tears from my eyes and sat up straight. The cage lifted up a little. It wouldn't go any farther when I pushed on it, so I sat in my cage, with my knees up to my chin, watching the creatures. They looked mostly like dogs. No, wait. They looked more like wolves. Yes, that's a much more accurate description. There were a few differences though. The wolves' canine teeth showed even when their mouths were closed. Their teeth came down to their chin. Their fur was very short and just long enough to be scraggly. A few had lopsided ears and still others had crossed eyes. They looked bad enough without having their mouths open. One opened its mouth to laugh at me and I saw two rows of sharp, white teeth. They laughed a gravelly laugh and stood on all fours. I was sitting in a cage, in the middle of a field of grass, with these awful creatures jeering at me. I changed to Clyuire, thinking that would help a little. The cage was much bigger, that was for sure. The creatures all backed away as I changed. They pressed closer when they saw what I had become. I heard a voice behind me and screeched, turning around, and glaring at another wolf. It laughed and stood on its' hind legs. "My friends!" I howled. The wolves all howled and barked and growled in reply. "This is the one that will help us. It will surely help us out. It has the ability to change forms, fight, and what does it have most of that we like?" The wolves all smiled and looked at me as they clearly said,"Spunk!" I jerked back from the crowd and hissed. Every one of them smiled. I hissed and screamed,"Let me out!!! Let me out now!" The wolves howled with laughter as I grew even more enraged. I changed back to human. They all watched in silence. The wolves were thrilled with my changing ability. I changed to dragon and quickly outgrew my cage. I broke it into pieces as I grew. The wolves were staring at me with a new respect. I growled, but it came out weaker than I had expected. My jaw was still broken. I turned around to see the talking wolf running away. He looked over his shoulder and howled. The wolves all scrambled and ran away from me. I stood where I was. A young wolf was left in a cage beside mine. I walked to it and it leaned against the wall farthest from me in fear. I turned to human and opened the cage. My arms were getting much better. Even to the point where I could use them without them hurting me much. "It's ok. I won't hurt you." I reached in the cage and grabbed the wolf by the scruff of his neck. He shivered violently as I held him. I stood and ran toward the nearest box house. I opened the door and ran inside. The wolves inside ran away and tried to hide. One of the wolves leaned against a wall and just stood there. "How do I get home?" The wolf against the wall told me how. I finally pieced together what he had said. He had said,"Go to the cage and pull on the lever. It will take you home." I shrugged and held the little wolf closer to me. I ran to the cage and pulled the lever. Sure enough, I appeared where I had last stood. I called for Quint. She didn't come. I tucked the wolf under my arm and started walking toward the Ferar Tree. I would have to make friends with it sometime.
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