Wonder Lost

The City

Isabella felt the somewhat warm water drenching her clothes. She opened her eyes, and was surprised to find that the water did not sting her eyes as much as she was dreading. It only felt uncomfortable, unlike her prediction of it feeling like her eyes had taken a sip of hot sauce. Isabella swam deeper, exploring the ocean.

The sea was pretty much empty. It was strange; there was no bottom, no sides, and no fish. Isabella finally found a large school of yellow and blue fish heading towards a pile of rocks. She followed them.

The rocks looked like there were floating, because there was a mountain of white rocks leading down, but the fog of the ocean disabled her from seeing where it led to. A small opening in the rocks took advantage of Isabella’s curiosity. Isabella swam to the opening and saw a message carved into the boulder.

OUR VENGEANCE SHALL NOT BE FORGOTTEN

Isabella looked down and saw the body of Maximus Aroh floating with a grin and evil, lifeless eyes. She held back a gasp. Isabella stumbled out of the opening, but her foot got caught on one of the rocks. She leaned down to untangle her foot, but realized that these weren’t rocks. They were bones.

Isabella gasped, sucking in saltwater. She untangled her foot and kicked off of the bone mountain. She had a coughing fit, her air supply getting shorter and shorter. Isabella saw the silhouette of a boat, and swam faster. She reached the surface and sucked in the fresh air.

“Isa! Thank God! I have no idea how you held your breath for so long,” Leo said, helping her into the boat. Isabella clutched her ankle, where the bones had imprisoned it. She coughed the water out of her windpipe and looked at her ankle.

Isabella’s ankle had a deep cut going halfway around her foot, still bleeding. It stung as the water evaporated, leaving the salt behind. Leo opened his backpack, taking out tools. One of them was a thick roll of white cloth and another looked like a jar of ointment. Leo opened it, filling the boat with the scent of mint. It had a strange blue color to it and Leo scooped some on his fingers.

“This might sting, Isa,” Leo said. He applied the ointment to her ankle and Isabella inhaled sharply. Leo wrapped her foot up in the cloth, which quickly turned pink from her blood. He gave her a soft towel and she sat, shivering and wet. Isabella managed to go to sleep.

Isabella saw a rectangle illuminated by something. She ran towards it. The rectangle was a door, glowing because of some christmas lights. Isabella opened the door and found her family sitting on the floor of the living room, opening colorful boxes with bows and ribbons on top of them.

“Isabella, you’re home! We were just about to call you,” her mother said, walking towards her.

“M-Mom?” Isabella whispered, her lip trembling. She embraced her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Isabella saw Rose, George, Luis, Tim, her father- and Simon and Will! She ran to Simon and Will and embraced them.

“You’re here! I-I can’t believe it!” Isabella said. She gasped, remembering Leo. “I’ll be right back!” She bolted out the door, mounting Choco. He galloped down the mountain, following the trail to Leo’s house. She found it in a surprisingly fast amount of time and dismounted Choco. She walked into the house and found Lizzy in the corner, hugging her knees with tears flowing down her face.

“Lizzy? What’s wrong?” Isabella asked. Lizzy looked up at her with adorable hazel eyes. Isabella saw her light brown hair and her skinny figure. She looked like a starving, female version of Leo. Isabella crouched down to her eye level.

“Leo,” she began, with a sweet, scared voice, “he’s gone. Mama and Daddy are sleeping downstairs, but they aren’t able to wake up. That’s what Leo told me. He wouldn’t let me see them.”

“So where is Leo?” Isabella asked.

“I don’t know. He was just here, about to go buy some food, but then he just poofed! He poofed away slowly, but he looked hurt. Who are you?” Lizzy asked.

“I’m Isabella. Leo knows me. I’ll find him for you, okay Lizzy? I promise.” Isabella gave Lizzy a cookie she found in her pocket. “Merry Christmas.” Lizzy thanked her and Isabella held out her hand. Lizzy took it and they left to search for Leo. After the day had gone by, they still had no luck. Isabella saw a cloud in the sky, illuminated by the moon. Was it just her imagination, or did the cloud look exactly like the evil grin of Liam Aroh?

The dream evaporated into another. Isabella and Leo were in a forest. They walked along the dirt path, looking for a certain tree, one with a dark brown trunk and red leaves. Suddenly, Leo disappeared into thin air. Isabella spun her head around, looking for him. She woke up suddenly, breathing in the scent of fish and saltwater.

“Leo,” she mumbled. “Where are you?” Something stirred inside the boat and she felt a hand on hers.

“I’m right here, Isa,” he said softly. She sat up, staring at the rising horizon when suddenly, the boat rocked violently. Isabella looked ahead and saw land, a green plain with skyscrapers. On the shore was a black cannon with five men standing behind it. One of them lit the rope of the cannon, pointed right at Leo and Isabella.

“Duck!” Isabella shouted. She pulled Leo down as a cannonball whistled past them. She peeked her head out of the side of the boat and saw a cannonball flying straight at her. She grabbed her backpack and held it in front of her chest to protect herself. The cannonball hit the wall of the boat and hit Isabella’s backpack, slamming it into her chest. She flew backwards, barely conscious.

“Isa!” Leo cried. He glimpsed behind him and grabbed Isabella’s hands as they flew out of the boat.

Leo found himself in the ocean and swam to the surface. He inhaled water and looked for Isabella. He took a deep breath and dove into the water again, searching for Isabella. He swam deeper and finally found her unconscious body sinking into the depths of the sea. He carefully pulled her out of the water and into a small island in the middle of a swamp. She coughed, taking huge gulps of air in between. Leo patted her back as she coughed.

“Are you okay, Isa?” Leo asked. Isabella nodded.

“What do we do now? We don’t have a boat,” Isabella asked.

“Maybe we can swim?” Leo suggested.

“Can we go that far, though?” Isabella asked. Before Leo could answer, something caught her eye. It was an opening in a tree, with a blue, rectangular object sticking out of it. She stood up and walked towards it.

“Isa?” he called. Isabella walked up to the tree and found a thick, blue book lined in gold. A backpack and a letter were next to it.

This backpack is waterproof. You cannot read the book until you get to Laurel’s palace.

-Breeze

Isabella put the book in the backpack and walked back to Leo.

“Let’s go. I have to see what’s inside this book, but I can’t read it until we get to the house.” Leo nodded, wading into the water. Isabella followed, swimming behind him. Suddenly, Isabella started sinking.

“Leo!” Isabella cried. She took a deep breath and submerged under the surface. Leo dove in after her, pulling her back to the island.

“What happened, Isa?” Leo asked.

“I-I don’t know! It was like I couldn’t swim, or something was pulling me down.” Isabella pulled out the blue book. “This is it. I can feel it.”

“Then how do we get to the shore?” Leo asked. Isabella sat up suddenly and walked towards the coast, as if in a trance.

“A boat shall take you to the mainland. There, you will find four people who might help you. Good luck, Leonardo Accard,” Isabella said, with a deep feminine voice instead of hers. She fell to her floor, clutching her head. She groaned.

“Isa? Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Leo asked. Isabella’s head was throbbing and she found it hard to focus. Leo’s voice sounded distant, as if underwater. Her headache got worse, unlike anything she had ever felt before. She felt like she slammed head first into a metal wall, and collapsed onto a concrete floor.

Isabella saw images of Will’s death and being flown across the giant room. Will appeared in a white room, staring at her. He looked no different than when he died, except for his white clothes. He wore long, white pants and a short-sleeved white shirt.

“Isabella, you have to find out who Liam is working with, okay? I need to go, but I’ll talk to you later. Love you!” Will disappeared, and her headache immediately vanished. She opened her eyes and sat up slowly.

“Isa, what happened?” Leo asked.

“I talked to Will. He said we have to find who Liam is working with and that he would talk to me later.”

“Here comes the boat,” Leo said. Isabella followed his gaze to the same boat they were on, except new and fixed. Isabella climbed in after him and the boat sailed itself towards the mainland. After about half an hour, they arrived at the coastline, where a thick layer of sand awaited them. Isabella took off her shoes and carried them across the beach. It was a cool, sunny day, but barely anyone was at the beach. Isabella only saw three families and another couple, but even the streets were empty. Something on a small cliff caught her attention.

It was only 10 feet from the hard packed sand, but the cliff itself was rocky. There was a strange figure on top of it and Isabella felt suspicious. Leo followed her as they climbed the hill, Leo holding his sword and Isabella nocking an arrow. When they got to the top, the figure turned around, a familiar grin showing.

“Isabella, how nice of you to join me,” Liam said. “I do feel sorry about your dear brother Will. You know, if you had agreed to marry me, I’m sure he wouldn’t have died!” Isabella let her arrow fly, but Liam ducked, sending the arrow flying into the horizon.

“Don’t you dare talk about Will!” Isabella said, firing another arrow. Before she could nock a third, Leo grabbed her elbow.

“It’s okay, Isa,” he said in a soothing tone. Isabella felt tears in her eyes and angrily wiped them away. Liam chuckled.

“Silly girl… I am amazed by your bravery, but not surprised by your lack of skill. Would you like to see mine?” Before Isabella could answer, Liam struck. He pulled out a sword and swung at Leo, sending him rolling down the side of the cliff. Isabella, unarmed, was pushed closer to the opposite end of the cliff. She opened her bag and pulled out a knife, but it did no good against Liam’s 3-foot sword. He pushed her to the very edge of the cliff, and her foot almost slipped.

Her heart was racing so fast she was afraid it might burst. Isabella was reminded of the canyon attack, where Marcellus Pick had almost sent her flying off the edge of a much higher cliff than this one. Liam’s face was inches away from hers and when he spoke, his breath smelled metallic, almost like… blood.

“Well, wouldn’t Will be proud? You managed to survive about 3 minutes with me! Maybe that was because I’m not attacking you now, but Will is probably watching you from wherever he is now, enjoying his new life.” Isabella punched him in the stomach causing him to double over, knock Isabella down the cliff, and disappear. Isabella was sent spiraling down the cliff, with no edges to hold onto, and she fell flat on her back, seething in pain.

Isabella decided not to speak, for fear of more unbearable agony. She tried to breathe deeper, but her lungs felt like they were being crushed by a wagon. There was a sharp pain in her lower spine, making Isabella’s face and eyes flush red with worry. Isabella opened her eyes and squinted because of the bright sun in the sky. A moment later, Leo came running to her, a large cut bleeding on his forehead.

“Isa? Are you okay?” Leo asked, not daring to lift her. She slightly nodded. “Can you get up, or do you need a few minutes?” Isabella lifted her hand and pointed to him. She then lifted it higher and let him grab it. He placed his other hand on her shoulder and gently lifted her off the ground. Isabella felt like a hammer was pounding her back.

“Thanks,” Isabella whispered. Unfortunately, even saying one word brought her headache back. She clutched her head as Leo helped her walk to the street. A few moments later, Isabella’s headache had stopped and the pain in her back had reduced significantly.

“Do you know what these things are?” Leo asked, pointing to a car.

“I’ve never seen them before. Can we ask someone?” Isabella suggested. They asked a tall woman who passed them. When they asked her, she started to laugh.

“Why, this is a Fazda, of course! It’s a car brand, and a very expensive one, mind you,” the lady said.

“And where are we, exactly? We have never heard of a car before,” Leo said.

“Oh, you two must be from Fenraltz! This is Liviette, and a car is the mode of transportation we use. Now, I must be off. Good day!”

“Thank you!” Isabella called. “And what is a car?” Leo noticed some people waving at the street, and a yellow car pulled up. He went down to the curb and waved. Nothing. He carefully walked passed the line of parked cars and stuck his hand out again. A speeding black BMW passed by, almost hitting Leo if it weren’t for Isabella. She pulled him back at the last second, holding his arm.

“People are crazy,” Leo muttered. Leo tried to wave one more time, and this time a yellow Lakru pulled up and the driver opened the window.

“Where to, folks?” he asked. Isabella took out the book, looking for a clue. Suddenly, an address in gold letters appeared on the cover.

“14 Maryn Street, please,” Isabella replied. They sat down in the soft, gray seats. The passenger seat and the driver’s seats were cut off from the back, kind of like a limousine. The driver couldn’t hear them talking, unless they opened the small compartment in the center. He hit the gas, and Isabella flew backwards. She held onto the door handle.

“It’s okay, Isa. I think that’s why they have these things,” Leo said, pointing to a seat belt. They buckled into their seat belts and watched as the city zoomed by through the window. There were lots of holes and bumps and stops throughout the ride, and Isabella quickly got carsick. She hugged her knees and watched the evening sun kiss the skyscrapers, tinting them with an orange hue.

A few moments later, the taxi driver let them out.

“That’ll be 17 liotts,” he grumbled. Isabella politely gave him 18, and he snatched them away. He drove off, speeding into the street.

“What happened to manners?” Isabella whispered. She took out the book and saw an arrow pointing forward. They walked in that direction, until it turned right. Isabella followed the arrow until they were in alley, at a dead end. The arrow on the cover turned into a word: Oasis.

“Oasis,” Isabella called. She waited for something to happen, but nothing did. They were about to turn back when the bricks rumbled. A black outline of a door appeared and Isabella pulled it open and walked inside.