It had been a day's worth of traveling until we reached our first stop. I only stopped the ship to get food and replenish my fuel. I wasn't exactly sure where I was going, but I would figure it out as I went. Right now, I needed to find out who or where Lily was being held captive. So, I turned to my note. I was suspicious about it since it had a weird little dash in the corner. Most would overlook this, but its presence kept bothering me.
I tried everything: putting it up to the light, scanning it with a UV flashlight, etc. But, to no avail. The paper refused to reveal its secrets. As I was fiddling with the note, I cut my finger and a bit of blood had gotten onto the paper. The blood dissolved and the paper, which had been a beige color, turned white. Immediately, I pressed my finger on the corner and watched as the whole paper slowly turned colors from a beige to a snow-white color. The previous words vanished and were replaced with a more messy and hurried note.
"Amara,
If you are reading this, then, you have figured out my clue. I have reason to believe that someone is targeting you. I will do everything in my power to protect you, so I will be going after them. Please do not come after me if something happens. Just know if I am missing, that this is the reason. Your life is more important than mine anyways. I know this is probably very unexpected. I just wanted to say goodbye to you just in case this is my last."
-Stay safe and best wishes, Lily
An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. How could someone that I have never met before put their lives on the line to protect me? I wasn't really anything special, well, alright, maybe I do have some unusual…powers and abilities, but besides that, I was insignificant compared to the rest of the universe. Right?
Lily has already warned me about something in my future, and I have already been told that my ability hasn't been seen in, like, a vast amount of time. I studied the note a little longer and noticed a little symbol on the bottom:
M=E1nd
I stared at it for a second, confused. Then, it hit me. This wasn't a symbol! It was a code! If I'm correct, it should be: message= the first letter at the end. Immediately I went through the note again.
"If you are reading this, then, you have figured out my clue. I have reason to believe that someone is targeting you. I will do everything in my power to protect you, so I will be going after them. Please do not come after me if something happens. Just know if I am missing, that this is the reason. Your life is more important than mine anyways. I know this is probably very unexpected. I just wanted to say goodbye to you just in case this is my last."
Slowly, I spelled out the strange word: Cythraul. This word was completely foreign to me. In fact, it almost seemed like someone just made up a word by throwing letters together. Then again, Lily wouldn't have implied that without a reason.
"Crystal, do you know anything by the name of Cythraul?"
'No, but… I might know about a person.' Crystal said softly. My heart thumped in my chest, waiting for Crystal. 'It was a long time ago, but I think I might know where he might be. But, first, just look it up and see if anything comes up.'
I turned and tapped on a screen on the dashboard of the ship. I typed in the name and pressed enter. Countless articles popped up on the screen. All the articles had the name, Cythraul, and they usually had a negative title. I pressed on the first link, and a picture appeared.
It was a city that had been completely destroyed and a crown had been drawn on a concrete wall in blood. Startled, I started to read the article. It talked about a mysterious group of men that had detonated bombs all over the city. Specifically, they talked about one man in particular, the cythraul. The cythraul, meaning devil or demon in welsh, was known for taking out entire cities at a time, and he took a couple of hostages, all of them female. The more I read, the more my stomach churned. I knew, immediately, that this was no human. I felt my heartbeat quicken and my hands trembled at the thought of confronting this man.
Could I really do this? I knew nothing about this strange new world that I had been thrown into. I clenched my fists and shook my head. No! I was going to save Lily, no matter the cost. The gears in my brain slowly started to churn as I thought about how to save her. I needed to find someone who knows more about him. Maybe a mercenary, if I could afford it.
I checked my wallet. The most I had of one currency was about 50 dollars in human currency. That was definitely not enough. I kept thinking. I didn't exactly have anything valuable, unless… I quickly looked around the small cockpit. It wasn't much. This ship had three seats and a small living space, including very compact bunk beds, a molecular assembler, which basically kept me alive, and a tiny bathroom. Maybe I could construct something? No, it would be too easy to tell that its fake. I tapped my fingers against the dashboard, trying to figure something out.
'Amara, we should just stop at a nearby space dock, that way we can refuel and look for someone to help us.'
'Alright, thanks Crystal.' I set course for the nearest one and laid back, enjoying the stars flash by.
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Meanwhile:
Astrid's POV
I woke up to the whole house in chaos. I ran out of my room and into the living room. I saw everyone gathered with anxious faces. Archean raked his hands through his hair and paced back and forth. Luka seemed especially troubled. He was also quite beat up, his hair a mess and a large bruise forming on his jaw. He winced as he tried to move.
"What happened?" I asked, confused and surprised. "Amara's missing, that's what," Archean growled. He was clearly annoyed and upset and… worried? I wasn't too sure.
"She…wait, what?!" I cried. The rest of the team, who had gathered, was distressed at this news. Amara was…missing? "Not exactly," Luka grumbled from the couch. I turned to him, hopeful that he might know something. He propped himself up on a pillow and cleared his throat before speaking.
"She is not missing. She has gone off on her own to look for Lily. I tried to stop her, but apparently, she was more determined than I was. Anyways, she can't have gone far. She knows next to nothing about this universe, and I don't think she knows where Lily is."
Gram rubbed his face. "Of course, she didn't wait," he groaned. "So, she took one of the ships?" I asked. Archean nodded, "I was notified by the technicians that she took the Peregrine."
"Great, just fantastic!" Luka mumbled. Wren glared at him, "Not helping Luka. There has to be a way to track the ship right?"
"I'm not sure," Theo said. "It's a fairly new vessel, and I don't remember if a tracker has been installed yet. That ship was scheduled to be set for flight in about a month. There were only minor things left to be finished, nothing that would threaten Amara's life though."
"Maybe we can search her room for anything," I offered. "There has to be something that Lily left for her… " I stopped realizing what I had just said. "The letter!" I exclaimed. "There must be something that was in there!"
Hope sprouted in some of their eyes. I dashed to Amara's room to find everything as it should be, like she had never left. The team wasn't far behind me. I saw a note on her night stand and read it out loud for everyone to hear.
"By the time you find this, I will be gone. You are probably wondering why I left without you guys, but please understand this is something I have to do. She is my cousin after all, and she saved me once before. It is my turn to do the same. I know all of you will be worried, and I will miss you all. I am sorry that I disobeyed you Archean. You can decide my punishment when I get back, if I ever get back. I don't really know where I am going, but I will figure it out. Don't look for me because I will tell you one thing, you will NOT find me.
-Love, Amara Solis
"We shouldn't have underestimated her," Kalina spoke softly. I silently agreed with her and wished I hadn't either. From the moment I had met her, I knew she was different somehow. Although skeptical at first, she quickly accepted this new life, and I was surprised by this. Most people it took awhile to adjust, but Amara threw herself in wholeheartedly. I thought back to Lily's letter. She had said that something big was coming, something that only Amara could conquer. Yet, Lily told Amara to keep her friends close. I think she knew that Amara was going to need someone to rely on, and if that was the case, I would do everything in my power to be there for her.