Citrine Goldstone: Sword of Ice (#1)

Chapter Four (#4); Training

TRAINING WAS REALLY JUST GEMSTONE SOPHIA GIVING A TOUR WITHOUT SIGHT. She told them all about the Diamondbacks and how they were a secret agency that fought the bad guys, titled The Insanely Criminal. Gemstone Sophia reminded them that they weren’t superheroes, but they did have super cool gadgets. Citrus and her friends were given watches with the ability to contact in the Diamondbacks group and do pretty much anything the owner wanted it to. They were given a batch of Kurt’s Invisibility Slime and a necklace that would give them any disguise they wanted. And they were even given swords with different disguises. Pearl got a dagger that could pull itself back into a crooked looking hair clip. Topaz was given a gladius that could make the sharp part flat. Its disguise was a slap bracelet. Citrus was given a sword that felt unbalanced. Her sword disguise was an anklet. Gem Selena had the same dagger as Pearl. Only difference was that Selena’s was blood red and Pearl’s was pale pink. And then came the actual training. They were told to fight dummies, which Citrus found surprisingly easy. Then came shooting a moving dummy with a bow and arrow. Citrus used her smarts to think about where the dummy would be next, and… WHAM! She had gotten her dummy, straight in the heart. Or, where the heart would be if the dummy wasn’t… A dummy.

“Your final test,” came Gemstone Sophia’s voice from the sidelines, “Is to fight each other. The pairs are Topaz and Selena and Pearl and Citrus. The winner of each will fight each other.” Citrus also found fighting Pearl easy. Their swords clanked against each other, but in a matter of minutes, Pearl was face up on the ground, Citrus’ sword mere inches above her face. Citrus turned around in time to find Gem Selena defeat Topaz.

“That’s not fair! This is my first time!” Topaz complained, throwing Selena’s dagger out of face.

“And so it is. You’ll have more training, don’t worry. Selena VS Citrus. You two, up here!” Gemstone Sophia called Topaz and Pearl onto the sidelines with her while Citrus and Selena started. Citrus found Selena hard. Citrus tried predicting her moves, but every few seconds, Selena switched technique. Citrus narrowed her eyes in frustration. Selena tried kicking her down, but Citrus did a back flip -which she had no idea she could do- and landed right behind Selena. But when Selena turned around, her eyes were glowing selenite white.

Her full potential, rang a far away thought in Citrus’ head. Though Citrus had no idea what full potential meant, she could tell that it was really important. Citrus narrowed her eyes again and this time, her eyesight was tinted citrine orange. The edges , however, were red and black. They were solid colors and Citrus couldn’t see through them. Citrus’ instincts took over and she raged, attacking Gem Selena with all she had. In seconds, Selena was pinned to the ground and Citrus’ vision was back to normal.

“How…?” Selena asked, her eyes filled with wonder. They were also back to their regular dark blue.

“It must be the unbalanced sword!” Citrus protested, folding her sword back into anklet form.

“Unbalanced, you say?” Asked Gemstone Sophia. “I’ve never heard that one.”

Never heard that one? Citrus thought. Is it not possible for someone to feel uncomfortable holding this sword? There was a silence an all was still. Citrus could swear that she could hear bird’s chirping, though Gemstone Sophia had promised that they were in a building in which sound was blocked. On both sides.

“I demand a replay!” Gem Selena demanded, her voice angry. So Selena and Citrus fought… Again, and again, and again. And Citrus kept winning. No matter how tired she was, when she saw Selena’s eyes turn white, her eyes turned light orange.

“And that’s with an unbalanced sword…” Gemstone Sophie muttered. She shook her head and checked her watch. Citrus did the same. 5:37. And then something popped into Citrus’ mind.

“Why would I be in extreme danger? The note said if I didn’t arrive, I’d be put in extreme danger.” Citrus pushed herself off of Gem Selena and turned her sword again into an anklet. Even from the sidelines distance from the arena, Citrus’ sharp eye caught Gemstone Sophia biting her lip.

“You would be at The Insanely Criminal’s mercy. And trust me when I say, you don’t want to end up at Obsidian’s mercy.” Gemstone Sophia responded in such a way that Citrus figured she must be holding something back. “I understand that you two have to be home?” Gemstone Sophia gestured to Pearl and Topaz who had taken to gentle wrestling.

“Yeah. My dinner is strictly at 5:50,” Pearl replied, rolling out of the way before Topaz could land a punch. Pearl skipped off with Topaz sulking behind her.

“What about me?” Citrus asked, her eyes darting around the arena.

“Your parents are busy. Plus, you need to meet our greatest code breakers and work with them to solve a code. One of them is Gem Selena.” Gemstone Sophia gestured to Selena, who was getting up and dusting herself off.

A few minutes later and Citrus was in a room with 8 people, including herself and Selena. Gemstone Sophia hadn’t come in, saying that adults tended to distract the children. The 6 other people turned their heads creepily towards Citrus, peeling their eyes away from a glowing green screen.

“I’m Amethyst. Call me Amy,” Piped the girl who was closest to Citrus.

“Jasper,” Called the next one in the squarish formation.

“Amber.”

“Carnelian.”

“Emerald. Titled Emmy.”

“Peridot. You can call me Perry.” Citrus could see that Amy was a girl, Jasper was a boy, Amber was a girl, along with Carnelian and Emmy, and Perry was a boy.

After realizing that they were waiting for a response, Citrus added, “And I’m Citrine. You can call me Citrus.” Gem Selena slipped into the seat on the very end and Citrus slipped into the seat next to her. She was in between Perry and Selena. Everyone returned their eyes back to the screen. Citrus did the same.

Jr’er oybjvat hc gur onax.

-Gur Vafnrylm Pevzvay

“What?” Citrus asked. “This is the unsolvable code?” Selena turned to her, her face neutral.

“Can’t solve it either?” Gem Selena asked in response.

“Isn’t it that double line alphabet code?”

“Double alphabet?” Perry asked. Citrus clicked the I Know The Answer button.

“Yeah. If you write the alphabet like… so,” Citrus responded, writing the alphabet on two lines. “The code is… ‘We’re blowing up the bank. -The Insanely Criminal’” Citrus typed in the answer on the computer and it sent a notification to the rest. Whispers spread across the room.

“Blowing up the bank?”

“They’re going after Gem Diamond!”

“They can’t!”

“They’ll s*******r her!”

“How did the newbie figure it out?”

“We’ve been working on it for days!” The Gems then turned to Citrus and she fidgeting in her seat. The door swung open revealing Diamond Kurt.

“I understand that you solved the code?” Everyone straightened in their seats at the sight of Diamond Kurt. “Who solved it?” All eyes moved to Citrus again and everyone pointed at her. Diamond Kurt next said the most scariest three words ever.

“Come. With. Me.”