Wonder Lost

Background

Isabella sat down at the dining table, Leo following her example.

“So what happened before this?” Isabella wondered. “I mean, I don’t remember how Maximus was… involved in my life. I also don’t remember you, or Will, or Simon. Can you recap?” Leo sighed.

“That’s a long story.”

“We have the whole day ahead of us,” Isabella reminded him. He sighed.

“Well, first, the Cosmos had transported most of the people from Fenraltz to another planet and made you go on a quest to find 13 of their letters. Your house exploded and that’s where you met me,” Leo said, almost dreamily. He had a faraway look in his eyes.

“After your house exploded, one of Maximus’ servants tried to kill you by pushing you off a cliff, but you survived. We explored Fenraltz together and tried to outrun Maximus. I think it was the tenth letter where Maximus kidnapped me, and it was a blank from then, but I heard that the Cosmos sent your brother, Will, to help you. You guys searched for the last 3 letters and that brought you to Maximus’ castle, where I was being held.

“Oh, I forgot to mention that really early in our journey Maximus hypnotized me into attacking you and it made Will hesitant to rescue me. But you persuaded him to rescue me and when you came, you had to fight me. I came out of the trance before I hurt you, thankfully, and Will battled Maximus while I tried to heal you. Will finally managed to defeat him, but you were bitten by a poisonous spider, thanks to Maximus, and we had to find a cure.

“I’m naturally good at healing and making medicine, so I made a cure for you, but after you drank it you lost your memory of Will and some of your family. As much as I felt bad for Will, I kind of felt more relieved. I didn’t want you to forget me. But look where we are now,” he said with a sad chuckle. Isabella felt a strong desire to put her arms around him to help him feel better.

“After we put the 13 letters into a transportation device, we got into a space shuttle where we got back to the citizens of Fenraltz. That’s where you found out that,” his voice lowered to a whisper, “your parents and brother, Tim, had been killed.” He looked at her to make sure she was okay, and then continued.

“We went to the Cosmos’ headquarters and they protected the rest of your family and my sister, Lizzy. We left to another planet where we hid in a high school. Liam managed to find us and break in, but we fled to the Garden, where I was kidnapped shortly after we got there. You teleported with Liam to the palace and I don’t know what happened after that, but you escaped and rescued me. We retreated to Liviette where we found Liam’s second palace and the Oasis.

“We eavesdropped on Liam somewhat and we found out that he made this flying car and an axe that could deplete a person’s powers. We decided to sneak up on him and follow him, because you could fly. This gave us an advantage, because Liam didn’t know you could fly.

“When you followed him, he distracted you and hit you with the axe, but you threw a basketball at his car and we saw it spiraling down towards the ground. When you landed on the ground, a crater to formed in the ground and you went into a coma for three months,” he concluded. Isabella rested her head in her arms, trying to process the information.

“Are you okay?” he asked. She nodded. There was a knocking on the door. Isabella sprung up and followed Leo to the door.

“Hello, I’m Gray Tren,” Gray said in a deep, gruff voice. “I’ll be your new leader.” Gray had graying-black hair, a heavyset body, and a wrinkly, serious face.

“Please,” Isabella beamed, “come in.” Gray stepped in with a small suitcase. “I’ll show you to your room.” He followed her into a bedroom that looked exactly like hers, except on the other side of the hallway.

“Did Tony discuss my rules with you?” he growled. Isabella sheepishly shook her head.

“He must have forgo—"

“The first is that curfew - lights out and sleeping - is 9:30. Second is that you have to clean up your plate after you eat. If I ask you to make the breakfast, I expect it to be made in no less than twenty minutes. You will wake up every morning at 6:00 sharp, no later, and get ready for training. Do you understand?” Isabella nodded.

“Please enjoy your stay,” she added before leaving. Leo took her hand and they went to the training room, training for two hours like normal. As they were leaving, Gray stopped them.

“You are expected to train at least five hours per day, to ensure that you are ready for any surprise attacks against Liam. Also, it’s 8:30. You two should start getting ready for bed, and tell your friends. Good night.” Before Isabella could answer, he left the room.

“Does he seem-?”

“A little strict?” Leo interrupted. “Yes. But looks can be deceiving.” Isabella walked upstairs and into her room, and Leo into his.

She went into the bathroom and turned the shower on, brushing her teeth as the water warmed. She showered quickly, changing into her blue plaid pajama pants and a tank top. Stepping out of the bathroom, she grabbed an extra blanket from her closet and tucked her feet under the bed again, putting the blanket in between her feet and the bed. Checking the time, she saw that it was 8:57. She did her sit-ups slowly, and ended at 9:05.

After putting the blanket back, she exited her room and quietly tapped on Leo’s door with her fingertip. She heard shuffling and hoped that she hadn’t woken him up. He opened the door groggily, but he looked more awake when he saw her.

“Um… Leo, I’m still… I don’t want to sleep,” she whispered sheepishly. He smiled.

“Don’t worry,” he comforted. “I’ll come.” She smiled, her eyes droopy from lack of sleep and hours of training. They went into her room, Isabella giving Leo the spare blanket. He sat on the chair again, but only because he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. Isabella offered for him to sleep on the bed, but it was a request out of kindness, like he thought.

“I’ll be right here,” he soothed. Isabella fell asleep quickly, her breath slow and steady. Leo followed her, drifting off into deep sleep.

Isabella got no nightmares, thankfully, but tonight, Leo got the bad dreams. He dreamt that Lizzy had died from being stabbed in the gut, like Beatrice, and shortly after, Isabella was alone in a forest and shot twice by Liam, the arrows going through her foot.

Isabella had woken up to the sound of Leo’s heavy, agonized breathing. She sat up and held his hands.

“Leo?” she whispered delicately. He was starting to pant. “Leo, wake up!” she stammered. His eyes fluttered open quickly, grabbing her hands in an iron grip. He sucked in a sharp breath and had to force more oxygen into his lungs.

“Isa?” he gasped.

“I’m right here, Leo,” she responded quietly. She noticed that his hands were shaking. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he quivered. “Go back to sleep. Sorry I woke you.” He seemed angry at himself for waking her, but Isabella felt bad.

“Leo, do you want to—?"

“Isa,” he begged. “Please.” Isabella watched his chin scarcely quiver as he rested it on his arm. She noticed that he hadn’t let go of her hand, but his grip was much looser. For his sake, she kept it there and lied back down. They fell asleep again, gratefully without any dreams.

The next morning, Leo woke up at the same time as Isabella, which was quarter to six. They both went into their bathrooms and got ready. When they finished getting ready, they headed down the hallway, telling Simon, Remi, Cora, and Shawn about Gray and his new rules.

“Where’s Lizzy’s room?” Isabella asked. Leo led her down the hallway further, where Lizzy was sitting in her bedroom, reading a book.

“Leo!” she exclaimed, jumping into his arms. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in forever!” The corners of his mouth stretched upwards, into a beautiful smile, his brown eyes crinkled and sparkled. Isabella hadn’t realized she had been smiling until Lizzy turned to her and hugged her, too. Her smile widened.

“Hi, Isabella,” Lizzy greeted. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”

“Thank you, Lizzy. And how have you been?” Isabella asked.

“Very well, thanks,” Lizzy replied sweetly. Gray called them for breakfast.

“Isabella, do you know how to cook?” he grumbled. Isabella nodded, heading into the kitchen to make pancakes. She swiftly prepared the pancakes in less than twenty minutes and headed into the dining room, with a large stack of fifteen pancakes on a plate. Everyone dug in, with thousands of compliments to the chef; her face turning a darker shade of red for each word of praise.

Isabella took her time washing the dishes, but Leo shortly entered the kitchen and helped her.

“The conversation started to die out, so I thought I’d come help you, if that’s okay?” Leo said, making a quick excuse to join her.

“Sure,” she responded. They finished washing the dishes.

“Isa?” Leo said, breaking the silence.

“Mmm?”

“What’s wrong?” he began, stopping his action of drying the dishes to look into her troubled, brown eyes. “You seem… different. You’ve been getting nightmares and spend so much time in here, alone with your thoughts, taking as long as possible for you to do tasks that I know you do much faster.” This question had come as a surprise to Isabella; she didn’t think that her distraction of washing the dishes was that noticeable.

“Well… the reason I’m in here all the time is to distract myself from my thoughts, not be alone with them. I try to do the dishes slowly, because when I’m training, or doing anything else for that matter, I can only remember Will’s death, or Simon being tortured, or Beatrice being killed. And I try to come in here because then I can focus on washing the dishes, or not burning pancakes,” she added playfully.

“What are you two still doing in here?” Gray demanded, stomping into the kitchen.

“Washing dishes, sir,” Leo answered, drying his hands with a towel and passing it to Isabella.

“The dishes are washed. Go train,” Gray snapped. Leo and Isabella made their way down the hallway, entering the training room. Isabella sat on the floor to stretch and Leo did the same.

“So…” Leo began, “you said that training doesn’t distract you. Why?”

“Well,” she answered, “first of all, I have to focus on a memory, and the only things I remember are sad. Second, I’m only flying, which sometimes leaves me alone with my thoughts.” She sighed, standing up.

“I can help,” he offered. “Maybe. Try focusing on a… post-coma memory. Do you have any new, decent ones?” Isabella thought of this morning, when Leo saw Lizzy after so long. Just thinking about made her smile. She hadn’t realized that she was flying until Leo said, “There you go!”

“Do you know what this is?” Leo asked, throwing a ring in the air. Isabella caught it and looked at it. She blushed fiercely.

“We were engaged?” she exclaimed. This time it was Leo’s turn to blush.

“No! No,” he said. “Sorry. But do you know what it is?” Isabella observed the emeralds and sky blue topaz against its silver band. Slowly, a faint memory surfaced. Hesitantly, she put it on and a large bow appeared in her hand, a quiver across her shoulder. Leo looked at her hopefully. A moment passed before Isabella realized he was expecting something.

“What?” Isabella asked, confused.

“You don’t remember anything else?” Leo questioned. She shook her head.

“Why?”

“Because the first time you lost your memory, you put the ring on and recovered most of what you lost.”

“Oh.” Isabella noticed targets at the end of the room and nocked an arrow. She let go and her face reddened when she saw where it landed. Leo followed her gaze.

“Well, at least it’s on the target,” he observed playfully. Isabella glared at him and then at the arrow in the two-point section of the target.

“I’m usually better at this, aren’t I?” she groaned, floating to the ground.

“Hey, don’t worry. If you want, I can help you,” Leo offered. She sighed and agreed. “First, nock an arrow… okay, now pull it back and anchor your thumb under your jaw… the string should touch your cheek and tip of your nose… elbow down… aim… now, let the string brush against your fingertips and release.” Isabella did what he instructed and when she let go, the arrow got to the seven-point marker.

“Awesome!” Leo encouraged. “This time, stand with your feet apart and for the release, you should be tracing your jawline with your hand and ending at your ear.” She shot another arrow, landing on the line between eight and nine. They continued training until Isabella got nines and tens every time.

“Do you want to try to take it to the clouds?” Leo wondered. Isabella hesitated.

“Er, sure,” she said, thinking of the memory and almost instantly flying. She nocked an arrow and shot, following his directions exactly and hitting a bullseye. She stared in shock. Leo stared in amazement. They were both speechless.

“Well,” Isabella said, breaking the silence. “That was… unexpected.”

“That was awesome!” Leo exclaimed. They continued to train until Gray called them for dinner.

“Leo, make the potatoes; Isabella cook the steak,” Gray demanded. They headed into the kitchen and started to prepare the ingredients. Isabella seasoned the steak, something she was used to doing at home while Leo peeled the potatoes, planning the mash them.

Isabella set a timer when the steaks were seasoned and put them on an indoor grill. She walked over to Leo, who was still peeling the potatoes with a vegetable peeler.

“Leo, try it like this,” she said, grabbing a knife and cutting off the skin quickly and efficiently.

“Thanks,” he said. “Isa, the next time we train, if you want, I can help you with being focused on training.” He seemed different, but Isabella couldn’t place it. “I can try to distract you in a way that you would have to focus.”

“Okay,” she responded, still trying to figure out what was wrong. Leo finished the potatoes and started to boil them. The timer beeped and Isabella distractedly turned the steaks over, watching Leo from the corner of her eye. He turned the heat up and started to create the cream for the potatoes. His eyes didn’t have the usual… happy sparkle in them.

Dinner was ready quickly, and Isabella and Leo brought out the plates. It seemed to go by swiftly because Isabella was lost in thought. Not the dreaded thoughts about Will and Beatrice, but confused and curious thoughts about Leo. She didn’t want to ask him about it, because the sparkle in his eyes had partially come back while he was talking to Lizzy and she didn’t want to make it disappear.

“Simon, wash the dishes.” Gray grunted. Simon stood up and collected their plates as the dining room cleared out. Isabella stood up and checked the clock. 8:33 PM was displayed in large red characters. She went back into her bedroom, grabbed her clothes and started the shower, brushing her teeth while she waited.

The cuts on her feet stung lightly as strawberry scented shampoo ran over them. Isabella showered and dressed quickly, putting on gray socks to hide her cuts. She dried her hair and kept it down, taking her phone and sitting on the bed. As she explored the different apps, she couldn’t help being curious as to why the sparkle had gone out in Leo’s eyes.

Suddenly, there was knocking on her door. Isabella got up to open the door and saw Leo with a broad grin on his face, his eyes sparkling with the partial shine she saw earlier this evening.

“Hi, Leo,” Isabella said, letting him come in.

“Look at what I found,” Leo exclaimed, holding up a thin rectangular box. “It’s called a computer and Tony left it in my closet as a gift. I think we might be able to find some information about Liam this way.” Isabella watched, intrigued, as Leo opened the screen and the computer flickered on. Leo opened an app from a toolbar at the bottom. “This is called Safari and you can search things here.” Leo proceeded to explain the fundamentals of a computer to Isabella, who quickly memorized most of what he said.

“Leo, it’s nine,” Isabella said, glancing at the clock.

“But I was just about to type in Liam’s name,” he smirked. Isabella walked to the light switch and flicked it off. The only light source was now in Leo’s lap. He typed Liam Aroh in the search engine and lots of different links popped up.

“Look at this one,” Isabella whispered, pointing to a link called liamarohofficial.com. “He has his own website?”

“He’s so full of himself,” Leo muttered. He opened the link and saw lots of different things at once. The screen was a board of various boxes of information: ranging from his favorite color to his motives.

“Do you have a notebook?” Leo whispered. Isabella went to the desk and opened a few drawers before finding a notebook. She took a pen from its holder and layed in bed, outside of the blankets and stomach-down, like Leo. She began writing down what Leo read. As they read, Isabella’s list of information got longer.

“Leo, I—"

“I think I found something,” he exclaimed, a little too loudly. He quickly closed the screen and went under the blankets normally, Isabella following.

“He’s coming,” Isabella reported. She grabbed Leo’s hand from under the covers before the door opened.

“So,” Gray hissed, “I see that you’re breaking my rules.”

“Gray,” Leo protested, “we were just—"

“Save it, sweetheart,” Gray snapped. “Consequences shall be put into action tomorrow.” He stepped out of the room and shut the door. Isabella exhaled and sat up, holding her head in her hands. Leo grabbed the computer and turned it on, but Isabella grabbed his arm.

“Leo, we already got in trouble,” Isabella reminded.

“Yes, but this is for a good cause. We are finding information to defeat Liam.”

“We can do this tomorrow, when we’re allowed to. Please?” Isabella begged. Leo sighed.

“Okay, tomorrow.” He closed the computer and tried to get out, but Isabella pulled his arm back.

“That chair isn’t comfy. I don’t mind you being here,” she said, which wasn’t a complete lie. Leo lied back down, but kept a distance from her, knowing it would make her uncomfortable. Isabella fell asleep after a while, drifting off into a Lobelt.

She dreamt of Will: all of the times he protected her and defended her. There was a memory that stuck out the most: the death of Maximus Aroh. She saw Leo kneeling next to her, wrapping her hand with a gauze. In the large castle, there was Maximus, fighting Will with some signs of difficulty. He was sweating and had a nervous look in his eyes, but he still tried to look confident.

Every time Will swung his sword, Maximus parried easily, except for the two or three times Will’s blade pierced his arms. After a couple of swings, Will got tired. Maximus took this chance to attack him, but Will knocked his sword out of his hand. Maximus stared at him, bewildered.

“Very good, young Will. You may have defeated me, but soon your fate will be like mine.” Isabella looked away as Will brought the blow that ended Maximus’ life.

“Isa!” Leo whispered. “Wake up!” His voice sounded faraway. He shook her shoulder gently. She realized that her eyes were filled with tears as they fluttered open. “Are you okay?”

“I thought I was,” she muttered. Why was she crying? “What time is it?”

“Five,” Leo responded as she dried her eyes and cheeks.

“Let’s go train,” she said, getting up. Leo held her arm back.

“You need sleep, Isa,” Leo said, observing the light bags under her eyes.

“No, I don’t, Leo. I’m not tired.” As she said that, she knew it was a small lie. She felt her eyes droop down but hoped that Leo wouldn’t notice.

“Why don’t you want to sleep?” he questioned.

“You know why,” she said.

“I’ll be right here,” he reassured. Isabella groaned.

“Please, Leo. It’s not even that early. I once woke up at four thirty and wasn’t tired.” Leo paused.

“How about just thirty minutes? Please.” Isabella groaned softly.

“Fine.” They went back to sleep.

When they woke up, it was six o’clock. As she sat up, Leo woke up.

“You’re late,” she said. He smiled tiredly.

“Sorry. Let’s go get ready.” Isabella smiled back and flew out of the bed, landing in the bathroom. Leo left the room, smiling to himself. She was grateful that the sparkle had come back, at least 75%. She got ready quickly, brushing her curly hair and making her teeth shine. She put on black leggings and a burgundy-colored sweater, pulling on her striped gray socks and black boots, which had somehow appeared in her closet in the Oasis.

When she got downstairs, Gray beckoned to her, leading her into the kitchen. He smiled mischievously.

“What?” Isabella asked, looking at Leo, whose brown hair was wild, in a neat way.

“He’s sending us to military camp.”

Isabella stared at Gray. “What? Why?” Gray only walked to the stove and turned it on, cracking a few eggs on a pan.

“First of all, you broke my rules,” Gray said, scrambling the eggs. “Second, you should get some training in case Liam decides to attack again. Third, I have to make breakfast because you didn’t.”

“How are you making jokes right now?” Isabella demanded. “This is the worse time to leave! Liam is going to attack us sooner than later and if I’m with you then we have the element of surprise. He’ll be so surprised to see me alive that we could have a few minutes’ advantage.”

“If we get attacked, you’ll need to be prepared. After your archery lesson, I don’t know if you are ready.” Isabella blushed angrily. Gray finished his eggs in a much shorter amount of time than should have been required and poured them onto a plate. “Bring these out, please,” he said, handing her the plate. He turned the stove from low heat to none.

“How’d you make these so quickly?” she questioned.

“Don’t think that you’re the only ones from Elm Valley,” Gray said.

“Wow, a lot of people used to live in Elm Valley, don’t you think, Isa?” Leo realized.

“What do you mean, a lot?” Gray asked. “This was a town-sized kingdom we’re talking about, ruled by Queen Krynina, and one person from each family, usually random, always got the power. For me, I got a fire power, but it’s not very strong, because I am old.”

“What do you mean by ‘usually random’?” Leo asked.

“Normally, it’s just any member of the family. They get their powers between the ages of fifteen and twenty. But in some cases, like Isabella and Liam’s” -she shuddered at the thought of having anything in common with him- “the power was given to the most… promising member.” Isabella didn’t know what to say. Gray decided to break the silence after a few minutes of reminiscing.

“Go pack up after you eat. You’re leaving in two hours.” They headed into the dining room and sat down, filling their plates with bread and eggs. Isabella ate slowly but didn’t focus on the taste of the food. She was worried about the Oasis and its inhabitants. What would happen if she wasn’t there to protect everyone?

Isabella and Leo proceeded to their rooms. Isabella took the large backpack from the closet shelf and packed some training clothes, sneakers, a spare jacket, and her ring. She trained until they were called to go, where a school bus full of teenagers was waiting for them.

“You can put your bags in the last three seats,” the driver snarled. They took a three-seater together after dropping off their backpacks.

“Won’t this be fun,” Leo muttered as they left the Oasis.

“How could Gray do this to us?” Isabella wondered. “I mean, this was just out of the blue!”

“Don’t worry, Isa, I’m sure it’ll fly by.”