Zyra woke up the next morning with a splitting headache.
"Finally, she's awake." Nyla said with glee.
"Great, maybe she can tell me why I'm wearing this ugly frock."
Just her luck to wake up to see two familiar faces peering down at her and scrutinizing her like they were studying a bug. She said, "Come on guys give me some room please."
The last thing she wanted to see when she woke up was the two of them hovering over like she was on her deathbed.
Zyra meant it but for the sake of friendship she would never say that thought out loud.
Her face wasn't washed, her teeth not brushed and it felt like she had matter in her eye and possibly drool and white squall at the corners of her mouth.
She put her hand to her mouth and checked, yep her breath wasn't pleasant either. It Looked like the effects of the mist were wearing off fast.
"Geez, Verity that should be the least of your worries but I'm glad the gang's back together, group hug?" Zyra responded.
"Group hug." They both chorused.
All three huddled together closely exchanging hugs and it felt like old times.
She filled them in on everything from the Aguatian ship using music to put them in a trance.
They made her go over the part where the Aguatians used what she called the siren's song on them.
Some sort of mind control to have them willingly do their bidding.
To Cyril's ship exploding and having to act like they were being mind controlled too.
"I'm not saying it isn't true but it's bloody unbelievable." Verity sighed and pushed a lock of her blond hair that had fallen from her eye. She continued, "how do we know they won't use it on us again and what makes you different Zyra, why is it you weren't affected?"
"I honestly don't know," she shook her head. "You should have seen Cyril, it was wild. He wasn't all fiery and passionate going up against Lord Aquinas he was the complete opposite. He was so detached and unlike himself I'm truly worried for him."
"What good does worrying about him do when he couldn't even get us out of a mess, he put us in, in the first place" spat Verity.
She had a point. None of them really knew Cyril's plans or why he selected them to go with him on this emissary mission in the first place.
The fact that Rolf had his suspicions but didn't put a stop to it.
To her it meant that the two of them were playing some diabolical chess game and the rest of them were just unwitting pawns.
To be pushed around and discarded at their whim.
Nyla looked puzzled, "I think that's the least of our worries, the bigger question is what exactly do these Aguatians have in store for us."
"Oh no, I don't even want to think about it," said Verity. She paced for a bit then paused, "It gave me chill down my spine when they said they won't treat us like wolfbeasts."
"So you're saying they view humans as nothing but slaves?" Asked Nyla.
"No freaking way, I did not pass that Terranite test to be dehumanized again." Verity was livid and raised her voice.
Zyra put her index finger to her lips. "Shhh… Lower your voice Verity and calm down before you wake the others."
"Come on Verity, Zyra's right, this isn't the time to be losing it, we need to keep our wits to get out of this."
A monotone voice spoke loudly through invisible speakers.
Jolting those who weren't awake yet out of their deep sleep.
"Everyone please get up and form a line. Follow the guards and proceed in an orderly fashion to breakfast. After breakfast you will be briefed about our expectations for your new life in Aguatian Territory."
Everyone was alarmed and started talking all at once. Zyra and her friends joined in on the confusion.
They agreed shortly amongst themselves to not do or say anything that would draw unnecessary attention to themselves or set them apart from others.
Still struggling from being woken beforehand, a sluggish female voice asked, "How did we even get on this ship?"
To no one in particular. The last thing the woman remembered was being saved by Leon from Kanakika before he rushed off to help Nyla. This made her even more enamored of him and jealous of his arrogant Terranite friends.
Zyra recognized the woman from the ship who was always flirting with Leon.
She was also cognizant of the fact that she hardly paid the other females on the ship any mind, preferring to stick to her friends.
In fact she didn't mind so much that Leon was a hit with the ladies as she understood loneliness and missing friends and families.
She and her girls weren't giving him the type of companionship he would prefer so it made perfect sense for him to seek it elsewhere.
Zyra didn't blame him for seeking companionship elsewhere and couldn't hold his needs against him.
She remembered how relieved she had felt when he left her alone.
Leon was grown and didn't need a keeper so she didn't miss his annoying presence at all.
Now her ignorance may come back to bite her in the rear.
For she felt an invisible tension in the room and she wasn't sure what was at the root of it all.
The Cabin boy was the youngest person in the room. He was the last to turn seventeen.
He said, "I do recall hearing a loud sound I have never heard before while fighting Kanakika but after that my minds goes completely blank."
"Same for me," cries of acknowledgement echoed around the room along with nodding of heads for solidarity.
"Let's do as they say and eat our breakfast, we need it to keep our wits and strength about us,"said Leon who had been silent until then.
"How can you guys just blindly follow their lead and eat their food? They had manipulated our minds before," seeing that she had the attention of everyone in the room. She felt even more emboldened to speak out, "Now they can do it through our food. For all I know they see us as lab rats to run their tests and experiments on," said another female who was best friends with Leon's crush.
At that point Zyra couldn't keep silent anymore and spoke up, "it's no use worrying about things out of our control, if they wanted to kill us we would all be dead already. I think they just see us as a supplemental labor force and if we are going to do the work we need food for energy. I agree with Leon's logic since the only way we can escape together from this land is to be smart about it."
"That's right," said Verity. "For all we know, right now they could be monitoring our conversations and…." She points at the woman while saying, "your defiance is not doing anyone any favors."
The woman jumped off the bed like she was ready to throwdown with Verity for calling her out and making her feel stupid in front of the others.
Before she could even try to lay hands on Verity, Nyla jumped between them to intercede and said to the other woman, "Go back to your bed."
"This has nothing to do with you Nyla, this is between me and the ice princess, stay out of it."
"I'm afraid I can't do that Crystal. Verity didn't say anything wrong. Any attack on my friend is an attack on me so don't tell me to my face that this ain't personal."
Before things could escalate any further the automatic door opened. It was time for all of them to leave for breakfast.
It was a blessing in disguise because no one knew what the repercussions were for physically fighting amongst themselves.
At least breakfast would give them all a chance to cool down.
"You and your clique better watch your backs because this ain't over," spat Crystal before rejoining her comrades to leave the room.