Chapter Five

Three weeks passed before the surprise was revealed. Dani grew cold, angry, and we almost never saw her. She didn't go to class anymore. X couldn't do anything about it, so I suppose my statement is amended – you can skip here. We tried to get her to talk to us, to get her back out of her room, but she wouldn't. Every time one of us got close we were blasted by her magic. She even knocked me out for a few minutes once, she was so angry.

"This Vessel thing hasn't even helped," I'd grumbled to Clara once she'd woke me up from my blasting. "We haven't needed Lêshä once."

"She feels it does," Jonah replied. "She wants the extra powers you got."

At least my other friends weren't acting the way she was. If they all left, I had a feeling my wish to live would vanish. They were my anchor. Lose them, and I lost myself.

So, the four of us were in school, but this time X said, "Dani needs to be here."

"We can't get her here," Clara argued. "Don't you think we've tried?"

It hurt to hear the strain in her voice, but it hurt even more because I felt the same way.

"Fine," X snapped. "Make me do all of the work." He hummed a little bit (I mean with electricity) and suddenly, a small window of shimmering light appeared beside him. A small picture appeared in the 'window'…it was Dani in her room, a book open in front of her.

She stood up, noticing us. "Get out."

Clara raised her hands defensively. "Hey, X summoned the window."

Dani grumbled. "What?" She folded her arms and stood sort of stoically.

"You all are going out on your fist raid," X announced. "My programming says like it or not, you're to go out on this date."

"What's a raid?" I asked, trying to ignore Clara (who was bouncing in her seat) or Dani (who had a shocked expression on her face, ruining the stoniness).

"A raid is like a team exercise," Jonah explained to me. "We all go out into a town together and have to retrieve certain items without getting killed once, or caught."

"You mean the Raze are going to be hunting us out there?" I exclaimed. Even though that freaked me out, it probably was a good lesson.

"Yes. They'll sense all five of you together, and even though they know why you're out there, they'll come after you," X said. "Be careful."

That was probably the nicest thing he ever said to any of us.

We all stood up. We had our weapons, and Dani was compelled to meet us at Joel's house. She looked different with a bow across her back – a lot more fierce. She didn't talk to us, though. If this was supposed to be a team exercise, I hated to think about how it was going to work without communication.

Clara bravely walked into her old mentor's house, although I could tell it was bittersweet. She approached a device at the back of the room, and asked X (who was at the door), "The coordinates? The list?"

X handed her a piece of paper which she quickly pocketed, careful not to rip it. I figured that had our instructions on it. X told her the coordinates, and she punched them into the device. "I could've taken us," Dani grumbled quietly, but I heard her.

I looked at her. "I know."

Then we were gone.

I felt weightless, then I felt like I had everybody's weight on me, and then I was standing again. I stumbled a bit, recovering from the effects. "That was weird," I whispered.

We were in an old western type town. Sand and dirt flew through the air as a wind flew, raising all our hair. Old wooden buildings lined the only street, which we currently stood in the middle of. It was clearly abandoned, but an ajar sign just behind us said, Welcome to Bloomtown. Beneath that, someone had spray-painted, Now get out!

Clara took out her list first. "We need to find and retrieve a spool of thread, a cup, a kite, a notebook, and a picture of three brown horses." We decided to split up to make it easier.

"Dani, can you do your invisible trick if things get tough?" Fane asked.

Apparently, Dani could hide herself and other people "in time," effectively rendering them invisible. She nodded tightly and then marched off, going into one of the buildings. "I'll look for the cup," I said, going into a building that looked like a restaurant.

I carefully opened the door. I had been right on my hunch – it had been a restaurant of sorts. But now, the tables were all knocked over and the chairs as well. Every step I took I ended up walking on something, mainly small bits of glass, but it resulted in me crunching the whole ways. Finally, lying sideways on the counter, was a cup.

I picked it up and went back outside. Clara was waiting outside another building with a picture frame in her hands. I tossed her the cup and she pocketed both items in her extremely large sweater that had about a million pockets in it.

Then I heard a growl. I swiveled around, and Clara did as well. There it was. Only one was standing there, but more would follow.

It's eyes were black and it's whole body was black as well. It stood out so much against the backdrop of the wooden buildings it was impossible to miss. Venom dripped from its mouth.

"RAZE!" Clara yelled, and at once Fane, Jonah, and Dani all sprang from their buildings. Dani was holding a kite, which she gave to Clara. Fane also handed over a notebook, but Jonah shook his head. We still needed the thread.

"I'll get it," I said. The Raze wasn't attacking us. It was just standing there. I ran across the town as fast as I could, and felt an arrow whistle by my ear. I looked back at Dani who shrugged.

"You should watch out," she told me and notched another arrow. I sighed. What else could I do? Her arrow had struck the Raze in the face, and it crumpled to the ground. It was only a matter of time before…

I opened the door to the building where the thread had to be. I ran right into about thirty Raze.

I stumbled away immediately, drawing my daggers. "Guys!" I yelled.

"Dani! Invisible!" Clara yelled. Immediately I went invisible. I would've reflected on how cool that was, but I was still standing in front of a crowd of Raze, so I couldn't. Using their confusion to my advantage, I stabbed one of them in the head, killing it instantly.

Others I decapitated. My friends were in here somewhere, accounting for the falling Raze I had nothing to do with, but I couldn't see them either. I drew my arm back to stab another Raze, but suddenly I could see my arm again.

I wasn't invisible.

The Raze grabbed my arm with its claws and I tried to bring up my other arm but it grabbed that too. I was helpless. "Dani!" I yelled.

"Sorry!" she yelled from somewhere. Everyone else was still invisible. "Guess you're on your own."

"Dani, what the hell?" That was Clara.

I heard a Raze behind me. It's breath was against my neck. It felt hot. I tried to kick backwards but I didn't hit anything. The Raze in front of me snorted, and I quickly found myself surrounded.

One of the Raze around me was chopped down, and I could feel someone's invisible hand trying to get me out of there. I resisted as well. "Come on!" It was Jonah.

The Raze behind me realized where he was and growled. I didn't see him do anything to Jonah. But I felt him drop to the floor. The invisibility wore off, and I saw he was drenched in some kind of liquid. Cyanide. Recalling what Clara had said, cyanide knocked us out for hours.

The Raze closed in on me, completely ignoring Jonah. I thrashed, I kicked, and I even tried to bite, but it was no good. My daggers had fallen to the floor by now.

"Settle down," one of them hissed in a raspy voice. He brought his face down to my arm, and when I gave a cry, he bit me.

Searing pain shot up my arm. I wasn't worried, because wounds healed fast with me. But this one wasn't. It should go numb and then heal itself, but it didn't.

Arsenic.

They had arsenic in their venom, rendering my wounds to heal at a normal speed. I cried out in the pain. "You shouldn't have done that!" another Raze cried. "She needs to be alive."

The Raze pointed to Jonah, still unconscious on the floor. "Take that one. He's uninjured."

Another Raze lifted up Jonah and slung him across his back. "Bläsa!" one cried. "Take us! We have two!"

A male's voice, no doubt Bläsa's, swept across the town. I was in too much pain, but I managed to get out, "There's one more."

"I want to come with you!" Dani was running back up to us. "Let me come with you!"

"Kill her," a Raze rasped. I was on the verge of blacking out. Is this how everyone else felt?

"No! Let me speak to Bläsa. I want to join you."

Those words would haunt me to my grave. Even through my agony, I knew what she was trying to do. Dani was joining the dark side. She was going evil.

"Fine," another Raze sighed. Clara and Fane were still fighting, but I was pretty sure they couldn't get here in time. "We don't have time for this. Bläsa, take us."

And then we were gone.

I tried to stay awake, but before I could see where they were taking us, I blacked out.