In the Nightmares: Part Two

      "I just wanted to talk to you about what we're doing," she said, "See, as you know, we're moving the campsite today. Well, you also know that the league is made up of many groups of pets like us throughout Neopia. Well, when we move the camp, we'll be joining up with another group that's part of the league. It'll only be for a little while, but I think it might help."

      Siena was confused. She didn't know why they were doing this, or why Kiri was telling her about it. She also had no idea how joining up with another group of pets might help them, or why they needed help.

      "Why?" Siena asked, not sure what else to say.

      "Well," Kiri said, "the real reason for this, the one I wanted to talk to you about, is that I think the thing that's most important for us to do now is to figure out what your dreams mean. I know the leader of the group we'll be joining, and I've been writing to him recently. His team has a pet whose dreams tell the future, too. I think your dream must be predicting something big. Maybe if you work together with this other Neopet, you can figure out what each other's dreams mean. But I wanted to make sure it was okay with you first."

      "It's fine with me," Siena said. She definitely wanted to find out what the dreams meant, and she had no reason to not want to work with this other pet.

      "Good," Kiri said, "Let's go back to the camp, now. We have to pack up and get ready to leave."

      The two of them then headed back to the camp, where the other pets were nearly done packing up the tents and cleaning the area. Siena's tent was easily recognizable because it was the smallest tent there. Of course, this was only because she didn't share a tent with anyone. But that meant that she had to take it down by herself. She hurried to remove her tent from the ground so that she could help the others to finish their jobs. Then she turned around when she heard someone yelling.

      "What were you thinking!?" Siena looked up to realize that Kiri was not yelling at her. Instead, the Wocky's anger was directed at a fire Eyrie, the leader of the pets that were in the league because of their strength.

      "I'm sorry!" Albin said, backing away while still attempting to stand up for himself, "It's not my fault they organized the tents wrong."

      "You should have been paying attention," Kiri said. She was no longer yelling, though she still sounded angry. "Your group didn't just organize the tents wrong; they put the tents in with the weapons. There are swords in here. You could have ripped all of the tents with them. Let's hope everything's fine. And be careful or next time you'll be replaced."

      "Yes, sorry," Albin said, rolling his eyes. Kiri gave him an angry look, and he backed away apologetically.

      "It's okay," Kiri said, sounding a little calmer, "These things happen, and if the tents are broken we'll just get new ones when we go into town. I'm just a little annoyed about us moving around so much, I guess. But let's hurry up and get going. Is everyone ready?"

      Murmurs of agreement rose up from the group as everyone picked up their things and stood up. Siena had just taken down her tent, and was ready to go as well.

      "Alright," Kiri said, "Someone needs to bring the thing we found today."

      Four pets scurried over to the object and picked it up together, each holding one section of it. One of them nodded at Kiri to let her know that they were ready to go.

      Kiri then started to walk out of the area, and the others began to follow. Siena was near the end of the group, carrying the parts of her tent and a small bag containing her other things.

      The area around the place where they had been staying was familiar- they had been moving around this same area for weeks now. The land was grassy with a few trees here and there. The place was good for setting up an area for tents because it was easy to find a large, empty space.

      "This time," Kiri said as they were walking, loudly enough for the whole group to hear her, "We'll be moving to somewhere a bit farther away. For those of you who don't know already, we'll be joining up with another group of pets in the league."

      Many of the pets began to express disagreement. Some mentioned that they didn't want to have to share space in the new campsite with other pets. Others wondered why this might be necessary.

      "You don't need to know why," Kiri said, "I'm in charge, here, don't question me. I know what's best for us."

      The pets grew silent. They knew that any further arguing would only make Kiri angry. They kept walking relatively quietly, with only small conversations between a few pets.

      "Hi, Siena," Neela said, slowing down so that the Cybunny could catch up with her. "Do you know where we're going exactly?"

      "Why do you think I know more than anybody else does?" Siena asked, laughing a little as she spoke.

      "Well, I don't know," Neela said, starting to laugh herself, "Kiri trusts you more than she trusts us."

      "Kiri doesn't trust me any more than she trusts you," Siena said.

      "I think you know she does," Neela said, "And you know you're pretty important around here. Everyone else looks up to you."

      "Looks up to me?" Siena asked, "I don't think there's anything to look up to about me."

      "Sure there is," Neela said, "You've helped us so much. But really, do you know where we're going?"

      "Well," Siena said, "not really, but Kiri said that the other group we're joining up with also has a member whose dreams tell the future, and we're supposed to work together to try and figure out our dreams."

      "Really?" Neela asked. "Well, that makes sense, then. I knew there had to be a reason that Kiri wasn't telling us."

      "I'm sure she didn't mean to keep it a secret from you," Siena said. "She has no reason to."

      "Then why won't she tell us?" Neela asked. Siena had to think for a moment before answering.

      "I don't know," She said. The two of them didn't speak for a few minutes after that. They just kept walking in the same direction. Then Neela glanced at the silver bracelet on Siena's arm.

      "Do you still wear that bracelet all the time?" Neela asked. Siena nodded.

      "Why?" Neela asked, "You found it in a battle, so you don't know whose it was or where it's been."

      "I don't know," Siena said. "I just really like it, I guess. It just seems like there's something really special about it."

      "Alright," Neela said. "Whatever you say."

      Soon Siena realized that they were leaving the familiar grassy landscape and entering a desert like area. The grass thinned out as they walked until there was none at all, just sand. Other than that, the land here was empty.

      "We're in the Lost Desert, now," Kiri informed everyone as they walked on. "This is where we'll be meeting the others."

      Siena almost wished they would be staying somewhere else- the Lost Desert was so dry. She couldn't help but wonder where they would be getting their water from. But she didn't complain. No one else in the group did either.

      "We're almost there, actually," Kiri said. "We should be meeting them somewhere around here."

      The group continued walking for only a few minutes before faint figures came into view in the distance. As they got closer, Siena could tell that it was a very large group of Neopets heading towards them. This must be the group they were meeting.

      As they got closer, she saw that a white Lupe was leading them. As the two groups approached each other, Siena watched his expression as he studied their group as a whole.

      "Hello, Kiri," he said, stopping a few feet away from them. Everyone standing ahead of Siena stopped walking too, and she stopped with them.

      "Hello, Edric," Kiri replied. She sounded suspicious, like she was preparing to be attacked.

      "Well," Edric said, "I wasn't even sure you'd come, but I guess you're braver than you used to be."

      "If you thought I wouldn't come," Kiri said. "You know even less about me than I thought you did. Maybe you should apologize for being wrong about me."

      "You're the one who's going to be sorry," Edric said, smiling.

      "What do you mean by that?" Kiri asked accusingly.

      "Oh, nothing," he said. "But maybe we should set up camp now, after all you must be tired after walking such a long distance."

      "We aren't tired," Kiri said. Then she turned to the pets behind her. "Let's set up our side of the campsite, now. Get to work."

      Everyone separated and found areas for their tents, unpacking their things and starting to set up. Siena noticed a gap of a few feet between where her group was and where the other pets were setting up.

      "Hurry up," Kiri hissed loudly at the pets. "We don't want them to finish before we do."

      Not wanting to anger Kiri, the group hurried to put up their tents and unpack their things. The pets that had been carrying the thing they had found at the old campsite put it down near the back of the camp where it was out of plain sight. They were done setting up quickly. Kiri looked around at the group where all of the pets were standing still obediently.

      "See," Kiri called out to Edric. "We're done."

      "We just finished too," Edric said, "What a coincidence. Now that we have the campsite ready, there's a pet of yours that I'd like to see. You said her name was Siena, right?"

      "Yes," Kiri said, "Siena, could you come here?"

      Siena quickly walked up to where Kiri was standing.

      "Here she is," Kiri said. "Now what was the name of the Zafara you told me about?"

      "Chara," he said. A yellow Zafara stepped out of one of the tents, walking up to Edric.

      "Why don't you send Siena over so the two of them can talk," he said. Kiri thought for a minute before nodding her head and ushering Siena over to the other side of the campsite.

      "Hello, Siena," Edric said as soon as the Cybunny had entered into his side of the campsite. Siena turned around to see that everyone in her section of the campsite was still staring at her. She confidently turned to look at Edric.

      "Hi," she said.

      "So, Siena," he said, talking more quietly now so that only she could hear him. "I've heard your dreams tell the future. I don't know how much Kiri's told you about this, but Chara has similar dreams. We thought maybe the two of you could talk together. It might help the league if you could."

      Siena nodded her head. "I know," she said. "Kiri told me. I'll talk to her."

      "That's good," he said. "We were planning on having everyone explore the rest of the region this evening, but maybe you and Chara could stay behind. That'd give you time to talk together."

     ~*~

      "So," Siena said after the rest of both groups of pets had left the campsite, "I guess we should talk about this, now. You can start. Tell me about your dreams."

      Chara, who was sitting on the other side of the fire in the center of the camp, looked up at Siena for a moment, taking a deep breath.

      "Okay," she said. "So lately I've been having this one dream. I'm walking through the woods, and I find this strange thing lying under a tree. It looks like nothing I've ever seen before, and it's very big. I want to find out what it is, but it's too big for me to carry it. So I try to call out for someone to help me, but I can't make a sound. Then everything gets dark, and I hear something behind me. As soon as I turn around, I wake up."

      "That's a lot like my dream," Siena said. "I dream that I'm all alone standing by the ocean, and a voice from behind me tells me to not turn around no matter what. Then everything gets dark and I can't see anything. I hear a growl from behind me, and I don't want to turn around but I do. I can never remember what's there. That's when the dream ends and I wake up."

      Chara nodded her head, deep in thought. Her face was illuminated only partially by the fire, and from Siena's angle her expression looked eerie.

      "That's interesting," Chara said. "The darkness at the end of the dreams must mean something. We have to figure out what it is."

      "Yes," Siena agreed. "Any ideas?" Chara didn't say anything, but Siena could tell the she was still thinking.

      Suddenly a harsh wind brushed past, and the fire went out in a puff of smoke. Siena grew a little uncomfortable as she realized how dark the sky had gotten already. She looked towards her group's side of the campsite, to see that their fire was still burning.

      "Do you want to go over there?" Siena asked. "Where there's still a fire?"

      Chara's eyes were wide with fear. She nodded her head. Siena got up and headed across the camp, Chara following close behind.

      As they walked, they passed the object that they had found at the other campsite. Siena stopped for a second to look at it, puzzled. She really thought she had remembered them putting it in the back of the campsite where it wouldn't be seen. Someone must have moved it, but who?

      "What's that?" Chara asked, sounding shocked and terrified. Siena gave her a sideways glance, wondering why she was so afraid.

      "Oh, it's just something we found near our old campsite," Siena said. Chara took a step back.

      "It's nothing to be afraid of," Siena assured her, but Chara's expression did not change.

      "It's just," Chara began, "well, in my dream, see, that thing, that's what I found in the woods."

      As soon as the yellow Zafara had spoken, rain started to pour down on the campsite without warning. Siena and Chara ran to seek shelter in one of the tents. They were safe from the rain under it, but then the sky flashed with lightning, followed immediately with thunder. Chara was shaking by now, but Siena couldn't tell if it was from fear or cold. Chara looked around cautiously as she opened her mouth to speak.

      "It's starting."

To be continued...