In the Nightmares: Part Three

      "What do you mean?" she asked her companion in response to the statement she had just made. "What's starting?"

      "Don't you see it?" Chara asked. "It's the dream. You found that thing, and now, whatever the rest of the dream is, it's going to come true. We have to find the others. We have to find out what that thing is before it's too late."

      "You may be right," Siena said, starting to worry a little herself. "But what about my dream? None of that's coming true. Why is that?"

      "I don't know," Chara said, "Our dreams are different, but I think they mean the same thing. Let's go, right now."

      Chara quickly stood up and left the tent. Siena followed close behind. Outside the rain was pouring down even harder, now, and the originally sandy ground beneath her feet had turned into thick, brown mud. As she looked up at the sky, Siena bitterly laughed at herself for having wondered where they would get water from in a place so dry.

      "Let's go," she said. Chara nodded her head and started to run.

      "Wait," Siena called out, stopping the yellow Zafara ahead of her, "We need to think about where they might be. We can't just run off randomly or we'll never find them. How about you'll go in one direction and I'll go in the other. Just yell as loud as you can and hope they can hear you. If you find anyone, come back."

      "But," Chara said, "maybe we should just stay together. This desert is so empty and everything..." She glanced around, worried.

      "Alright," Siena said. "We'll go together. Do you happen to remember which way they went?" Chara shook her head.

      "We'll try this way, then," Siena said, pointing to the left. The two of them ran off in that direction.

      The rain continued to pour down on them, but Siena ignored how wet she was, as well as all of the mud that now covered her feet and most of her fur. She knew that the most important thing was to find the others.

      "Kiri?" she called as loudly as she could. "Edric? Where are you? Is anyone there?" No one answered.

      "Run faster," she instructed Chara, and the two of them hurried along. Siena screamed out as loudly as she could, hoping that someone might be able to hear them.

      "Siena," she heard a voice calling. She recognized the voice as Neela's.

      "Neela," Siena yelled. "Is that you? Where are you?"

      "Who's that?" Chara asked quietly, sounding frightened.

      "Oh, don't worry," Siena assured her. "She's a friend. She's in our group." Chara nodded, but still didn't look any less worried. Siena looked around, as she saw the blue Kacheek running towards them. Siena ran to meet her, and Chara followed close behind.

      "Siena! I'm so glad you're here. Is this Chara?" Neela asked. Siena nodded her head.

      "I got lost," Neela said. "Albin sent me to find someplace where we can find wood for the fire around here, and I don't know where everyone is."

      "Who's Albin?" Chara asked, looking as though she might be afraid of him.

      "He's the leader of the strong pets in our group," Neela said.

      "Neela, we think something's wrong," Siena told her friend.

      "Why, what?" Neela asked.

      "We were trying to figure out what our dreams meant. We think that whatever it is, it's happening now."

      Neela only frowned. "Is that bad?"

      "Yes," Chara said, as though that should be obvious. "We have to find the others. Can you help us?"

      "I don't think so," Neela said, worried. "I don't know where anybody else is. I'll help you look, though."

      "Alright," Siena said. "Which way did you just come from?"

      Neela looked around, apparently thinking. She pointed to the left, then shook her head and took her hand back, this time pointing to the right. She looked confused and unsure.

      "This way," she said. Siena looked at her skeptically. It didn't seem like Neela really knew which way the rest of the group was at all, but she decided to trust her anyway. She didn't have any better ideas. Siena nodded her head and started to follow Neela. Chara walked next to her.

      "Siena," Chara said, "we should probably try to figure out these dreams while we look for the rest of the group, so that when we find them we'll have something to tell them."

      "Alright," Siena said. "Well, let's go over what we already know. We know the thing my group found in the woods means something, and this darkness is the only thing both of the dreams have in common. We already decided the storm means whatever it is has started."

      "Yes," Chara said. "So let's focus on the thing in the woods. Tell me what you know about it."

      Sierra thought for a minute about the thing she had seen, picturing it in her mind. She continued walking as she began.

      "Well," she said, "I don't know much about it, and I wasn't there when they found it. But I do know that it looked like some sort of new technology, and it had a Virtupets logo on it."

      "Virtupets?" Chara asked quietly. She seemed to be thinking very hard. "That's the space station, right?"

      "Yeah," Sierra said.

      "I've been there," Chara said, "It was strange. Nothing made any sense there. There was so much technology, and I couldn't understand how any of it worked. Anyway, I went there because Edric sent a few of us to see what it was like. He said he thought, for some reason, that the evil ones were living up there. We were supposed to look for anything strange, but we couldn't tell what was strange because we weren't used to the technology up there at all. But we went up there in a space ship. The thing in my dream reminded me of the space ship a little, and I think maybe that's what it is - a small space ship."

      Siena thought to herself for a moment. She had never been to the space station, and never seen a space ship before. Chara might be right. But if that thing was a space ship, why didn't it have anyone in it? Since it was small, maybe it wasn't supposed to have anyone on it. Maybe it was meant to crash into their camp, but missed. But it seemed to be in perfect condition, and didn't look like it had crashed at all. Maybe it was supposed to land where it did. But why?

      If it was meant to land so close to their camp, it had to have something to do with this war. Maybe the league was supposed to find it and carry it with them. Having that thing around had certainly slowed the group down a bit. But that didn't make any sense. If that were the reason, why would there be a Virtupets logo on the ship? That would give away where it was from, and tell where the evil ones were.

      "Siena," Chara calmly said to get her friend's attention. "Well, what do you think?"

      "I'm not sure," Siena said. "I've been thinking about it just now. It really is very confusing."

      "I know," Chara said. The two pets walked in silence for a little while longer. The rain hadn't slowed down at all, but Siena had begun to get used to it after all this time. Suddenly the Cybunny stumbled, barely stopping herself from falling to the ground. She gasped loudly.

      "Be quiet back there," Neela said from in front of Siena and Chara. She laughed, but still seemed serious. "Let's listen. I think I can hear someone up ahead."

      Siena quickly quieted down. She quickly ran ahead to stand by Neela, turning her head and listening. Sure enough, she heard voices in the distance. They were very faint, but getting closer.

      "Do you think it's them?" Chara asked hopefully, catching up to the other two pets.

      "Maybe," Siena said. She squinted, trying to see into the darkness. It was useless- nothing was visible in front of her.

      "Kiri?" Siena called out, "Edric? Albin?"

      There was no answer. The sounds in the distance were still there. She paused for a moment, listening in. Whoever it was there was many more than one of them, and they were having a conversation. Siena was unable to understand anything they were saying.

      "Is anyone out there?" Neela yelled, "It's just us. Can you hear us?"

      The three pets stood in silence for a moment, not hearing anything in the rain. Maybe there really wasn't anyone there. Then, someone called back to them.

      "Neela?" came a voice from somewhere off in the distance. "Are you there? What took you so long to get back?"

      "I think that's Albin," Neela said to Siena and Chara. The sound of footsteps came closer as someone ran towards them. In only a few moments, a fire Eyrie came into view.

      "Albin," Neela said to him, "I'm sorry, I got lost. I found Chara and Siena. Where's the rest of our group?"

      "Just over there," Albin said, nearly out of breath. He pointed behind him. "Neela, you'd better hurry up and get back there. Kiri isn't all that happy about you getting lost."

      "Alright," Neela said. "Let's go."

      Albin turned back around and started to run. Neela followed close behind, signaling Siena and Chara to come. Siena started to follow them, but noticed that Chara was staying behind.

      "Chara?" Siena asked, walking back over to her. "Aren't you coming?" There was no answer. Chara was staring blanking ahead of them, looking up. She gasped.

      "Didn't you hear that?" she whispered, frightened, "That voice?"

      "What voice?" Siena asked. Chara didn't answer, and she didn't shift her gaze. Somehow, Siena suddenly knew that this had to do with her dream, though she didn't know how.

      "Chara," she whispered quickly, remembering the voice in her dream, "Whatever you do, don't turn around."

To be continued...