Chapter 5

I spun around, facing the dragon. Steam was coming out of its nostrils, and it looked- scared? I saw thin scars on its back and legs. I assumed Gloria, the present leader of The Four, had fought this dragon too, and won, by the looks of it. I felt sorry for the poor thing. I walked slowly towards it. "It's okay." I said soothingly, reaching my hand out towards it. "I don't want to hurt you."

It growled at me, backing away. I stopped, and sat on the ground, trying to look as unthreatening as possible. The dragon looked at me with its ox-like eyes, and put a clawed talon forward. "That's it!" I whispered. "I won't hurt you."

It whimpered, and lay down. I noticed that it was so thin, I could see its bones. "Aww, you poor thing. They aren't feeding you, are they?"

I reached a hand out, and Trish's voice came from above. "Lia, what are you doing? Aren't you going to fight it?" The dragon jumped up, startled.

I scowled, looking up. "This poor thing isn't going to hurt me! And why haven't you been feeding it? It's half-starved, and just needs a friend!"

I reached my hand out again, and the dragon leaned down to sniff it. A rumbling noise came from its mouth, and it rubbed its head against my arm. A low purring sound came from it and I smiled. "See Trish?"

Trish's voice came from above. "Good job Lia! You have conquered the dragon! There were two ways to do it. Either befriend her, or fight her. Of course I didn't want to harm you or my pet, so befriending would have been best. Gloria fought her, which I got mad at, but that's the risk of using my pet as a challenge."

I gaped. "You have a pet dragon?"

Trish's voice laughed. "Yep! Her name is Sunset, because of her orangey-pink scales! You can buy one too, if you have enough money. Some people raise baby dragons to be friendly, but they cost a lot. Now onto our next part of this stage, where the monster isn't going to be so friendly. Can't wait to see how you handle it!"

I gulped, as the dragon licked me then slowly disappeared, along with the cave. Replacing the cave was a prison cell! A heard a snorting noise behind, and I turned around slowly. I stumbled back when I saw what was behind me. An ogre snarled at me, raising a clawed hand. It was the size of a full-grown adult, with mottled green skin. It had monstrous teeth that made me think it didn't go to the dentist very often. I then noticed that I had a knife in my hand. My heart was thumping twenty times per second. "I don't know how to fight!" I called out.

No one answered so I took a step forward. I held out my knife. "I warn you, ogre! I'm armed?" My shaky voice made it sound more like a question.

It smiled and I gulped again. It jumped forward with lightning speed. Luckily I had always been born with good reflexes. I jumped out of the way before it reached me and quickly stabbed to the side. It groaned as my knife hit its side. It turned back towards me, unfazed. It looked more annoyed than hurt. It bared its teeth and jumped towards me again. This time I wasn't so lucky and stumbled to the ground. As it jumped on me, I held up my hand. The ogre's eyes widened, as it realized it had made a mistake, but by then it was too late. It jumped right into my knife. Green blood spurted onto my face

I closed my eyes, disgusted. I stood up, pushed off the ogre with some difficulty, and threw my knife to the side. My stomach lurched and I retched. "Good job-" I heard Trish's voice again. She sounded sick too. "I'm so sorry we have to do this, Lia. These training processes are hard, as they should be."

"It's fine," I managed. "I know you have to, but maybe no more monsters?" I wiped a shaky hand across my mouth.

There was a muffled screeching from the speaker, and then I heard Alex's voice. "Lia?! Are you okay?" He sounded very worried.

I smiled nervously. "Uh- I think so?" That had definitely been the hardest challenge so far, the deep pit coming up as a close second.

The prison vanished around me with the ogre's body. I wondered where it all went. I saw Alex emerge in front of me and he ran forward and hugged me. I blushed and hugged him back. He stepped back and looked over at me. "You look fine. That's amazing! Gloria had at least a few scratches."

I smiled, proud of myself. I was slowly becoming more calm. Trish walked toward me. "I think that's enough challenges for today." She said, "But I need to give you the rest of your objects."

I walked forward, excited. As I looked around me I realized I was back in the headquarters. Before Trish could get the objects I asked her "Where do the things I trained go once I'm done?"

She smiled. "Half of them were magic, like the cliff and rock wall. Those just disappear, I'm not quite sure how they work. But the ones that are real, like Sunset, are teleported away. And before you ask, yes the ogre was real. Good job! There's one less ogre in the world now."

Trish walked into a room I hadn't visited yet. She came out holding three objects. " These are your jetpack, high tech armor suit, and invisibility bracelet. The magic wand you will get once you have completed the magic learning class."

I took them, excited. I put on the invisibility bracelet and looked down. My feet were gone! "Cooool." I breathed. I slid it off my arm and I was visible again! "That can come in very handy."

I took the armour suit and slid on the breastplate and arm and leg pads. It wasn't hard to put on, and wasn't heavy. In fact, it was very light, and I almost couldn't feel it. "The suit is meant to be easy to wear, and it will protect you from almost anything. The jetpacks also attach to it." She pointed to something on my back.

I twisted around so I could see. There were two small indents and a small hole. I tried sliding the jetpacks over my back, and I heard something click. Trish smiled, nodding. "You press this-" she pointed to a wire with a button attached to it hanging down from the jetpacks on my right side, "to go up. And this-" she pointed to a lever on my left side, "to go down. If you want to go to the side, you turn your head the way you want to go."

I did as she said, pressing the button. I shot into the air, whooping! "You're a natural!" I heard Alex call. I smiled, leaning my head right. Just as Trish had said, I flew right. I was getting the hang of this! I pressed the lever down and it instantly took me down to the ground.

"That's some high-tech jetpacks." I commented.

"We have the best tech in Byice." Alex boasted. "Well actually, I'm not quite sure. But I think we do!"

Trish walked toward me. "Get some rest, Lia. We won't be doing the last of the challenges for a few days." I nodded and walked to my room.

It had been a day since my encounter with the monster and with near death, and I was lying on my bed. Alex walked in and I smiled. "Hi! Are you here to tell me about another challenge I don't know about where I will face certain death?"

He smiled back. "Well of course!" He said sarcastically. "What else?"

We both laughed and I asked, "What's up?"

He sat down on the bed with me. "Nothing much. Just wanted to see how you were doing. I feel so terrible about yesterday, and how we almost killed you. I know that the challenges are meant to be hard, but still."

I sat up and took his hand. "It's fine! I met you guys only a few days ago, but this feels like home! And you guys are like family! Well, except you. You're more than that."

He laughed again. Oh how I loved his laughs! I continued."Ben and Jasper have been so nice to me! Well, Ben not so much, but he hasn't warmed up yet. I do miss my parents, but they didn't really care about me. I don't even know why I wrote them a letter."

Alex squeezed my hand, then stood up. "I'll be in the kitchen then. I'm glad you aren't angry. You're so different. In a good way of course. That's why-" he stopped, blushing. "That's why I like you."

I stood up too, pushing him good naturedly. "Oh come now, no need to feel embarrassed. It's kind of obvious."

He smiled, and looked me right in the eye. I loved his sparkling blue eyes too. "Lia, why don't you want to be the leader of The Four?"

I jumped. That was not what I was expecting at all! "W-what do you mean?" I asked nervously.

He pointed to my eyes. "Your eyes aren't blue."

I-I don't understand-" I stuttered, "My eyes are always brown. T-Thats my eye color."

Alex shook his head. "If you commit yourself to The Four, your eyes turn blue. It's one of our traits. Didn't you notice how Ben and Jaspers eyes are blue?"

"Well why didn't anybody tell me that important fact?" I grumbled.

"Lia." Alex said calmly. "What's wrong? I can tell even without the eye color."

I sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm just not sure. It seems like such a big responsibility, and back home, I'm not that responsible. And Ben doesn seem to like me that much. And I- I do care about my parents. And I do miss them." All my problems came rushing out.

"Lia." Alex said, calmly still. "You're the bravest, most responsible person I know. And I know a bunch of people! Ben, like you said, just needs more time. As for your parents? Let me tell you a little secret."

I nodded, leaning forward.

"I'm not supposed to tell you this until you commit yourself, but time passes differently in Byice. A few months here would only be a few seconds on Earth. You can go back to Earth whenever you want and your parents wouldn't be worried. If you decide to stay here forever, a letter will be sent to your parents saying that you've found your real parents. It's enchanted so that they will believe it."

I gaped at him. "Time passes differently? Alex, this is amazing! And of course I want to stay here! I never knew all this! I- I commit myself..."

As soon as I said this, I felt a tingle start from my feet and work its way up my body. It lingered at the eyes for a moment, then vanished. Alex gave me a small mirror that he got from who knows where, and I found myself staring at a sea of blue.

"Wow." I breathed.

Alex smiled gently at me. "Welcome to Byice, Lia. A letter of yours was sent and explained to the parents that you're in a car, on a way to your new parents. You apologized for running away but you wanted to leave without any sappy goodbyes. It sounds unbelievable, but I think your parents are going to believe anything."

I grinned and threw my arms around Alex. "Oh-" he said, startled.

"Wait, but what about that letter I sent to my foster parents? Oh no!"

He chuckled. "Don't worry, I don't think The Fairy Godmother sent it."

I laughed and walked out of the room, ready to show everyone my new style. "Wait!" Alex called after me.