Chapter 2

"What do you mean, run?!" I shouted back.

"I mean, that thing is a creature of darkness! If it catches up to us, we're both dead, and the cloak will be gone! So, run!!"

I followed her advice, running to the yellow brick road again. I looked behind us, and the creature was already close enough for me to see it clearly. It was a wolf made entirely out of shadows. Where the paws should have been there were tentacles, and instead of a tail, there was a giant scorpion stinger, with what looked like venom dripping from it.

I looked ahead of me again, and for a moment I thought I had seen a giant bubble, but the moment passed. "There! Byice!" Trish cried.

I looked ahead of me. All I saw was more fields of multi-colored grass and more unicorns. There was absolutely nothing there! "Where, Trish? I can't see anything."

She pointed. "The whole of Byice is surrounded by a forcefield, which keeps the creatures of darkness out and blocks anyone from seeing the city. If you want to get into Jandell, you have to have these."

She showed me what looked like two airplane tickets, except they had the picture of a shining wand in the right corner. I looked behind me again. "Trisha!!! It's right behind us!"

I could now see the slobber dripping from the mouth of the wolf creature. It licked its chops. "Yum, yum, little girls soon in my tum." It croaked.

"Trish! It can talk!!" I yelled

Trisha cursed, and I whimpered. She held the tickets in her hand, held them above her head, and yelled, "Alex! I swear, if you don't let us in right now!"

I frowned. Who was Alex? That was all I could think of before my stomach did a backflip, and gravity took a coffee break. "Ughh" I groaned, then looked around.

There are no words to describe Byice. Ever been to New York? Byice is like that, except ten times bigger, the buildings are higher, there are unicorns and centaurs and dragons and all those crazy things walking around, and the shops! Oh, the shops! It's like my foster parents taking me to the mall.

So many things! There was a stall selling bottles with the craziest things in them, like eyesight for the blind, and ears for the deaf. There was a stall selling jewelry that told you how good you looked. There was even a stall selling food that multiplied every time you took a bite.

"What's the currency here?" I asked Trish," Dollars?"

"No" She replied," It's called Bisons. They are little tablets with a picture of a bison on them. If you click the bison, it tells you the amount on the tablet."

I nodded. "Alex! Where are you now?! Up to no good I presume!" Trisha yelled.

Again I wondered who Alex was. Probably the person who let us into Byice, because Trish had called out his (or hers) name before we entered. Suddenly, a boy, about 15, walked out of an alleyway. He was cute. And when I say cute, I mean extremely cute. He had light brown wavy hair and blue eyes. He looked like he went to the gym quite a bit. His skin had a light tan, and he had freckles on his nose. He smiled at me, and my inside went fuzzy. Suddenly I had no idea how to talk.

"Oh, um, h-hi. I'm L-Lia." I stammered.

"Oh hi, L-Lia." He winked at me," I'm Alex, the guard keeper of the forcefield. I let everyone in and out."

I smiled. "Well, not L-Lia. Just Lia, thanks."

He laughed. "Welcome to Byice, Lia! I'm here to show you around! First I'll show you some of my favorite places, then we'll go eat lunch, and finally to The Four's headquarters!"

"Are you part of The Four too?" I asked.

He frowned, a contrast after the large grins."I wish." He sighed."My parents didn't want me to. Too dangerous. They were the ones who chose my job. If it weren't for them, I would be." He smiled again."It's not their fault though. They were worried about me. I like guarding the force field anyway. Let's get on with the tour!"

It was amazing. He brought us to a bowling alley, where the pins insulted you if you failed to knock them down, a pool where you could choose the temperature and was never crowded, and my favorite, an amusement park with magical roller coasters, unhealthy treats, and a place where you could ride unicorns!

Finally, we went to eat lunch at a place called Magical Meals. There was a little booth where you spoke into a microphone that you wanted to eat and your table number. As soon as you got back to your table, it was there! I even tried ordering fish ice cream, and they brought it! (It was disgusting)

"Alright now we can go to the headquarters of The Four!" Alex said.

We followed him through the bustling streets of Byice. I looked around in awe as I walked. It's amazing how big this place is. I'm sure using magic helps. "Here we are!" Said Alex, stopping at a brick wall.

I looked around in confusion. "Where's the door?" I asked Alex.

We winked at me and I understood. More magic. Probably a secret entrance. I was right. Alex knocked twice on the wall and said, " Four Heroes Of Long Ago!" It seemed just like Harry Potter!

Sure enough, a door appeared in the brick wall and Alex waved us through. I stepped in and gasped. Inside was a palace. I was met with a large entrance room filled with sparkling quartz pillars and a large crystal chandelier. The ceiling seemed to go on forever.

A large archway led into another room. A woman walked to where I stood. As I looked at her, I realized that I had seen her before. It was The Fairy Godmother! She walked over to us smiling." Welcome, Lia! I'm so glad you came!"

She led us through the archway and inside I saw a table with what looked to be a moving map on top. There were five chairs around the table, four were made out of crystal, and the city, the one at the head of the table, was gold.

The Fairy Godmother sat on the gold on, and Trish sat on a crystal one. The motioned for us to sit as well.

"The crystal chairs are for The Four." Godmother explained." And the gold one is for me." I nodded

"Where's the rest of The Four?" I asked," And where do they live?"

"The dormitories are located behind the blue door, and right now Jasper and Ben are preparing a snack in the kitchen." She pointed to a green door.

I nodded. "You can go say hi, dearie, while I talk to Trisha and Alex."

I smiled. "That would be great, thanks!"

I walked through the green door that she had pointed to and into the kitchen. There were two boys. One was dark-skinned with a shaved head. He had a large smile and waved to me as I entered. The other had pale skin with sandy hair. What caught my attention was their eyes. Both of them had bright blue eyes, sparkling in the light.

I smiled. "Hi, there! I'm Lia. I-i think I'm supposed to lead you now. I hope you don't mind. I don't have much experience.

The one with dark hair put his hand forward."It's fine. I'm Jasper! And this is Ben." Ben frowned then turned away. Jasper leaned in," Ben is a bit cold, but he'll warm up to you. I'm 14, he's 16. Ben's the oldest out of the four."

"Fairy Godmother said that you were making snacks." I commented," and I'm starving."

Jasper winked at me. "Bet you've never eaten magical snacks."

I shook my head, excited. Jasper handed me a chocolate chip cookie. I turned it in my hands, trying to figure out what was magical about it. I took a bite and was surprised to hear a little voice! "Save the day, but at a price, take a chance, throw the dice!"

I jumped back, dropping the cookie. Jasper laughed. "It's a fortune cookie! It tells your fortune!"

I picked it back up, flustered. "But what did that mean? Save the day, but at a price, take a chance, roll the dice."

Jasper shrugged. Ben turned around. " I think it means that you will save the day but something bad will happen."

Ben's voice had a slight French accent. I nodded. "Sounds about right."

I walked back into the map room. Alex, Trisha, and the Godmother were still talking, so I studied the map.

Yes, it was moving. The sea's waves were rising and falling, and the miniature cars were actually moving. So this map records what everyone is doing to the precise second. I thought.

I looked at the place where the headquarters were. There was a bright yellow dot, right where I was supposed to be standing. I think that's me. I thought. So how come there are no other yellow dots? I felt someone come stand by my side.

"The map is alive, and it feels the people who are watching it. It communicates with your mind, then shows your mind an image of where you are. The dot isn't actually there for the rest of us." Godmother said, reading my mind." If you concentrate and get lots of practice, you can make your mind focus on someone else, and it will put a dot where they are. It's only a map of Byice, nothing else."

I nodded, not quite understanding. Wow, this is one cool map. "I heard about your close encounter with the creature of darkness." She said. I nodded quickly, still remembering the hungry look on its face."I'm a bit worried. Those creatures have never come close to Byice before. It's unusual. It must have to do with The Cloak Keeper returning. Oh and speaking of that, where is the cloak?"

I turned, looking for the bag I had put the cloak into. "Trish?" I asked. "Where is the cloak?" She shrugged. "I gave it to you Lia, remember? You came up next to me while we were running and asked for it."

I frowned. "But I was behind you the whole time, and I never asked for it." I argued as Godmother's face became more and more worried.

"If what you say is true," Godmother started," then we are in grave danger. There was a rumor going, before The Cloak Keeper left, that the creatures of darkness could turn into any shape and body."

My hands went cold. Oh no. OH NO. "I think The Cloak Keeper has the cloak." she finished.

Trish gasped and fell to the ground, burying her face in her hands. Godmother walked toward the map. "I think," She said, "The Four will have to go on a quest."