In the Nightmares: Part Four

      "What did you hear?" Siena asked. Chara rubbed her eyes and paused for a moment before answering.

      "Well," she said, eyes wide, "There was this awful growling noise. I wanted to turn and see what it was, but I listened to what you said. I think it's over now."

      "Chara, that growl was part of my dream. In the dream I always turn around, then I wake up. Maybe it's good that you didn't turn around."

      Siena looked around at the empty land in front of her, then focused on the muddy ground at her feet. Neela and Albin were out of sight by now, and no one was visible as far as she could see in the distance.

      "Siena," Chara said, sounding nearly panicked. "We have to hurry. We have to catch up to the others. We can't get lost again."

      "Alright," Siena agreed. "Let's run." The two of them took off quickly in the direction Neela and Albin had been going in.

      As Siena ran, she felt the silver bracelet, the one she always wore, slip off of her arm. It splashed in the mud as it hit the ground.

      "Wait," Siena called out to Chara, who stopped and turned around. Siena picked up the bracelet, wiping it off with her paw. Chara studied the bracelet carefully, a confused look on her face.

      "Can I see that?" she asked. Siena nodded, and handed her the bracelet. Chara took a careful look at where the letters CH were engraved into it, along with many designs.

      "This is my bracelet," she said. "I used to etch these designs on here when I was bored, and I wrote my initials. I lost it in a battle once. Where did you find this?"

      "That's not possible," Siena said, shaking her head and laughing nervously. "I got this in a battle against the evil ones. I was fighting someone, and they ran away and dropped it. I picked it up and kept it."

      "The pet I was fighting when I lost this was a brown Cybunny," Chara said, glancing at Siena's brown fur. Siena gulped as she remembered that the pet she had been fighting was a yellow Zafara like Chara.

      "Are you positive this is yours?" Siena asked. Chara nodded her head, looking very sure of herself.

      "But how is this possible?" Siena asked. "That would mean that we were fighting your group."

      Chara handed the bracelet back to Siena, but didn't answer. She seemed to be just as confused as Siena was.

      "Well," Siena said, "we'd better go." She looked around at the empty land that seemed to stretch out infinitely in the distance, afraid to admit that she didn't remember which was they had been going in. She looked at Chara, hoping that the Zafara might remember.

      "Which way were we going again?" Chara asked. Siena frowned nervously.

      "Sorry," Chara said. "I just forgot. Don't you remember which way we were going?" Siena shook her head. She stood still for a moment, thinking, when she heard something in the distance.

      "Siena?" a voice called. "Chara? Are you there?"

      Siena recognized the voice as Neela's. She immediately started running in the direction the voice was coming from. The sound of running footsteps behind her told her that Chara was following close behind. It wasn't long before the blue Kacheek came into view, drenched from the rain that was still pouring down.

      "What took you guys so long?" Neela asked. "I thought you were following us."

      "We were," Siena said, "but Chara heard something, and we stopped. We were going to keep going, but we forgot which direction we were going in."

      "Well then it's a good thing I came back for you," Neela laughed lightly. "Come on, let's get back to the rest of the group."

      She started walking, and Siena and Chara quietly followed. In only a few moments, Siena could see a large group of pets in front of her. This must be their group.

      As soon as she could clearly see the familiar faces of the pets, Siena began to run towards them. Albin started to run towards Neela, Siena, and Chara.

      "Well you're finally here," he said, sounding relieved. "Kiri was getting really angry. I think she was about ready to kick me out if you didn't get back soon."

      "Where is Kiri?" Siena asked. Albin raised an eyebrow.

      "Well she's up at the front of the group," Albin said. "I wouldn't go up there now, if I were you. She isn't in that great of a mood."

      Siena paid no attention to his comment. Kiri had never been angry at her before, and it didn't seem likely that she would start now.

      "Is Edric's group here too?" Siena asked. Albin shook his head.

      "No," he said. "We decided to have the groups split up. I have no idea where they are now."

      Siena nodded her head quickly before running off to the front of the group. She had to push through the rest of the pets, but most of them were willing to let her through. Soon, she saw the tough looking green Wocky walking in front of the rest of the pets. Siena had to ask her about the battle. She walked up to her, standing next to her for a moment without saying anything.

      "Siena," Kiri said when she noticed the Cybunny who was now walking with her. "Albin told me you and Chara were coming. I told you to stay behind at the camp. Is something wrong?"

      "Well," Siena said, "we aren't sure. Some of the things from our dreams were starting to happen, and we wanted to find the rest of the group. But can I ask you about something?"

      "Alright," Kiri said. "What is it?"

      "Well," Siena began, "remember the time that we had that battle? It was the only battle I was ever in."

      Kiri nodded, glancing up ahead of them. She then turned her attention back to Siena, who took a breath and continued talking.

      "I wanted to know why we were in that battle. I know you told us we'd be fighting the evil ones that day, but how did you know where they'd be?"

      Kiri looked at her uneasily for a second, as though she was thinking about something.

      "I'm not really supposed to tell you that," she said.

      "It's only me," Siena assured her. "I won't tell the others. It might help me find out what's going on. Can't you just tell me?"

      "Alright," Kiri sighed. "Well, the Neopets who are in charge of the whole league live on the Virtupets space station. They tell us where we need to go, and what we need to do. They always tell me not to tell anyone where our commands come from, just in case the evil ones find out. I don't know very much about them, but ever since I got my job they've been the ones giving orders about battles and other important things."

      Siena gave a little smile, as if she understood exactly what was going on. She though for a minute, remembering how badly Kiri and Edric got along when the two groups first met up.

      "Before that battle, did you know Edric?" Siena asked.

      "No," Kiri said, "We met later at a meeting of leaders from different groups in the league. We never really liked each other, and we'd always compete over everything. It's funny that you mentioned him, though. Part of the reason why I never liked him was because he reminded me so much of the leader of the evil ones that we battled."

      Siena didn't say anything. Maybe her group really had been fighting Chara's group in that battle. But that didn't make any since. That would mean that the evil ones were part of the league. Could Edric and his group really be evil ones? That didn't seem possible. Though Siena didn't know many of them very well, Chara seemed nice enough. She didn't seem to know any more than Siena did about what was going on. And if their group was evil, why were they trying to help?

      Maybe their group wasn't evil. Maybe they were just as confused as Siena's group was. Siena though back, remembering the spaceship that her group had found in the woods. She was starting to wonder if it might be a good idea to somehow go to the space station, if there was a way to get there.

      "Kiri?" Siena asked to get the attention of the Wocky next to her. Kiri turned to look at her, and Siena continued talking.

      "I was just wondering how the pets at the space station sent messages to you. They're so far away, and I was wondering how they got information to you."

      "They send neomails," Kiri said, shrugging. "They have messengers deliver them to us. They know where we are all the time."

      Siena thought about this for a minute. She had wondered if the spaceship had been sent to deliver a message, but that seemed unlikely. There was something going on here that wasn't right. Siena had to figure out what it was. She opened her mouth to tell Kiri what she had been thinking about but a loud scream echoed around her before she could begin. Siena turned around to see what was going on. She could see Neela making her way to the front of the line, pushing through all the other pets. She got up to Siena and stood still for a moment, looking like she was about to say something. Siena wasn't sure if Neela was the one who had screamed, but she certainly looked afraid of something.

      "What's wrong?" Siena asked.

      "You have to come see this," Neela said. "Siena, something's terribly wrong..."

To be continued...