The Sweepers

chapter Three

   The howling of the winds drove many to shivers. Not even the the strongest of them all could withstand the chilly weather but they tried to stand still waiting for the start of the test. The starry night was overpowered by the candle lit walls which flickered in the direction of the wind; creating weird looking monsters. The shadows licked the walls making the students attention flush in and out of focus. Though they had prepared for that night they couldn't help it. It made them forget for a moment about the onset of winter.

   Just before the grand master was allowed to speak, Master Three took to the podium. He walked briskly towards it not realizing the trauma he was causing to the poor Vivie and Carl. Carl's stomach  begun to churn on the fact that he might have recognized their pathetic cleaning and was there to announce their doom.  Master Three's eyes surveyed the quiet as if looking for someone but could barely make out who it was due to the dimly lit arena. By then Carl had steadied his eyes on him too not to look suspicious by looking away but praying silently that he won't be noticed by him.

   He wished he could be able to see Vivie's reaction. It was her idea after all. Little did he know that she was also trying to evade the patrolling eyes as much as possible while wishing to have been able to perform  a disappearance magic spell. She bit her lower lip bitterly. She knew how her lack was never that good. Nevertheless, she still hoped for chances. It took forever before he finally opened his mouth to speak. He had a more important message for the day.  However strict he may have been considered to have been; he he had forgotten to inspect the hall once the two were done with it.

   He had been busy. Busier than he had ever even thought of himself. His eye search on the audience was to enable him to search for the culprits knowing how the face was the perfect mind revealer but that didn't go as he had thought since they were all calm. Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard nearby sending most of the students screaming in fear. After a moment of confusion with all the forty two students being shepherded out of the building, Carl could swear he had seen a more of a drained look from the Grand Master. This was however replaced by an angered one before he disappeared. 

   Carl was among the last to leave. He felt the masters knew something was mot right before hand and that was what Master Three was going to touch on. He gave thought to what he had eavesdropped earlier on and hurriedly pushed his way forward looking for Vivie. Though she was quite tall, it was a mission impossible to identify her among the throng. He suddenly felt a light tap and before he knew it; he was well hidden behind a heavy oak tree whose branches were well ticker than them both. Vivie hushed him before he struggled again and pointed up ahead.

   '' They'll know we are missing. What are you doing?'' He protested. Though he had intended on meeting her, this was not it. Anyway he had no better plan.

   ''You know what we are doing. Meet me here after thirty.'' With that she made her way out of the lawn leaving Carl in a more devastating position than ever. He was about to leave when he collided head on with Master two.

   ''What are you still doing here? Hurry and keep up with the rest." She barked a hard frown showing on her face.

   " Am sorry mum." He said quickly speeding his way to the men's dorm room before it was locked. He then looked at the wall clock and realized it was just half past seven. He always thought of himself as the most curious being on earth. However, that night's dare by Vivie proved him wrong. He was also very curios about what was going on but he knew the road they would pick up that day was.....Curiosity will definitely kill him one day. He rested on his bed listening to d**k who always had the latest gossip.

   "Could it be that our real parents have finally found the truth about us and have come to pick us up?" He questioned longing for an attempted reply, but sensing none was forth coming he went on. 

   "I heard people out there have these great machines that could destroy a place in seconds."

   "Why would they want to kill us with explosives then?" Challenged George who was one fraidy mouse.

   "I don't know," he also fell silent with the crew thinking for a while before suddenly adding, " I saw fear in Master Three's eyes today." They all fell silent again. Master Three? Fear? That seemed never to exist in his world. With that Carl sat up. There was no way he was to allow sleep to catch up with him when he had such an important task ahead.

   Only Master Thirteen was in with them while the remaining few others were somewhere out there trying to sort out the problem. However, from his station at the farthest end of the wide room one was able to notice his continuous uneasiness. His appearance had managed to shush the groups around him except for d**k's crew which had a whisper for everything. He walked to the window next to him and slightly peaked through the curtain. He felt he was missing on something great.

   One could read the atmosphere surrounding him. There were only fifteen masters in the whole Dimension; the grand master being their leader. This clearly made sense to Carl now. If Master Thirteen was here with them, then definitely Master Fourteen was with the girls. He was about stealthily leave for the wash room when the sudden black out startled him too. He froze for a second trying to adjust his vision. This clearly meant that something was out of hand. Only the sleepy heads might not have realized the impending danger but were really grateful to be out of the cold.

   **********************************************************************************************

   Chris was reading late into the silent night that she almost thought she heard a faint tap on the back door. The rain had gone well into the night giving her a cozy feeling. The sound came again making her more attentive. She thought it was due to the howling wind. She was still at her desktop in the living room since she knew better than use her bed room as her make shift office. She checked the time and gasped. It was well past her bed time even though tomorrow was a Saturday. She downed her last swallow of  the already cold coffee and closed the book. 

   Well, she had been reading and perusing the book for quite sometime hoping to get to get to the part Ryan had been talking about earlier. However, nothing seemed to make sense to her now that she was almost done with it.  She almost felt that Ryan was trying to pass to her a message that wasn't in the book since it was basically more of the ancient magical healing powers of the Asian people. She walked to the door to double check that it was well locked before heading for her room. She took off her gown and slid into her sheets with the thin dress she had on.  After a quick thinking of what she wanted to dream on, she switched off her table lamp and waited for take off.

   She does not recall for how long she was gone when she was woken up by a slight scream. She froze for a moment on her bed before squeezing herself on the furthest side of it. It was when the voice came again now a bit clearer that she realize of how much it resembled her sister's. That was weird. What was Tina doing at home at that time of the hour? Something had to be terribly wrong. She got off her her bed and picked her old bat. She opened the door as quite as possible. It squeaked. She was sure it was loud enough for any burglar in the house to notice how dumb she really was. She opened it further assuming the people there would not mind if she joined them. 

   The lights in the kitchen were on and all she could get was some kind of a heated argument. She saw he sister who sat face to face with her mother and couldn't help letting go of the bat. The clonking sound startled everyone including herself. She didn't expect to fall for it too. Tina looked terrible. She was drenched and bloody. Her face looked horrible as if it had been grazed on a rough edge.

   "Are you okay?'' She asked gaining her composure as she ran towards her. " Let me get you something to change into." She finally offered after a long pause.

   " Don't bother am okay." Tina murmured softly.' That was quite surprising,' Chris thought to herself as she looked from her sister to her mum. She could read between the lines that they definitely were trying to keep some secret from her. This was not the first time they behaved like this. They always had a lot of things they never shared with her. That would often piss her off but now that they were trying to behave as if all was well even with her sister so hurt she felt anger rise in her.

   " So you guys are just okay....I guess.?" She said lightly. Silence.

   " Okay. I guess nobody will speak up." She raise her hands to show giving up," I'll be in my room waiting.... if you don't mind speaking to me." She said bitterly picking up her bat.

   " You don't get it Chris..." Tina offered to say something.

  " What is there to get when my sister shows up at this time of the hour looking like this!"

  " We think...." Mother begun to say.

   " That am not old enough to understand you two." She said trembling as she fought hard to hold back her tears but they were way too fast for her. " You decided to tell me nothing. I also won't listen to you now. Am going to bed and nobody should scream when am asleep.''  She tossed the bat angrily on her shoulder only realize how hard she had done it. There was no way she was going to break her collar bone over a family issue. She threw the it away angrily instantly breaking it into two.

" What an old stupid thing,'' she uttered to herself not caring about the shocked faces behind her. But as soon as she locked herself in her bed room she realized how stupid her actions were. That was her brother's old bat and she never thought of ever destroying it for any thing in her entire life. She had planned on going back to bed immediately she got there but now that was in, nothing showed up. There was no way she was to find any sleep soon. Her mind would only settle once she knew what really happened to Tina. However, one thing that really bothered her was why the two didn't want to share anything with her as if she was never a part of the family. It was only then that she noticed she had gone out and come back in with her lights still off. She turned them on and immediately off the moment she heard footsteps headed her way. It was Tina. She tried to knock to no avail.

  " I know you are awake Chris. Let me in." No reply.

   " Okay,'' she heard her sigh before continuing," am coming in." Before Chris could think of a way to make her leave, she saw a ghostly figure appear in he room. She shot from her bed towards a corner. She didn't even have the slightest strength to switch on the lights to confirm the nightmare she was going through.

   " I didn't want it to be like this but...." Tina's always soft voice whispered in her head making her pass out before hearing her last part of the sentence.