Wonder Lost

First Death

“What?” Leo asked, clearly confused.

“The Cosmos,” Isabella repeated. “They’re Liam’s partner.” Leo paced the floor.

“Of course!” he said. “They let Rose and Lizzy get kidnapped, and that’s where Rose is. They barely helped us at all, and we helped them get their powers back. How could I be so stupid?”

“Hey!” Isabella exclaimed softly. “You’re not stupid. I only realized it when I was in the coma.”

“You knew?” Leo cried. “And you never said anything?”

“I mean, I suspected it!”

“Then why didn’t you say something! We could have had a lead!”

“Because the Cosmos helped us get out of our planet and I thought everyone would think I’m a mean person for accusing them,” Isabella said, her lips slightly trembling. Leo stood there, not knowing what to do or say.

“I’m sorry, Isa,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry, too,” she replied. “But we have to get out of here. And pretend that we know nothing. They could be watching us.” Leo nodded. They opened the door, but as they did, the ground shook and a stone bridge formed beneath their feet, leading them across the pool.

“Well, that would have been helpful a few minutes ago,” Isabella commented. They ran across the bridge, out of the door, and back into the gathering. Just as they arrived, Liam began tapping a glass with his fork, not noticing them. The crowd quieted down.

“I would like to make a speech,” he announced, “on behalf of the young girl, Isabella Jacobs.” At this, Isabella tensed and a clouded expression darkened her face. She slowly moved closer to where Liam was standing. Leo followed. “Isabella, as we know, died very recently. In fact, that is why we invited Beatrice Niel and Tony Strack, two dear friends of Isabella.” Every time Liam said her name, his face slightly cringed with disgust. Isabella assumed that only she noticed it, but Beatrice shot her an annoyed glance.

“Now, as much as I would like to mourn,” he chuckled, “I would like to celebrate our successes much, much more. Now… who is glad that she is gone? Good riddance, I say!” The crowd yelled and screamed with approval as Liam’s servants brought plates full of delicious smelling sweets and various delicacies. “Please, help yourselves. After all, Isabella Jacobs’ death meant everything to me. She killed my own brother!” Liam shouted, trying to get the attentions of his guests, but they were focused on the platters of food in from of them.

Isabella struggled to control her anger. Leo put his arm around her waist. She felt slightly uncomfortable, but having his arm around her helped her calm down. After the plates were emptied, Liam stood up once more.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it seems that the room’s capacity is one person too full. We’ll have to fix that.” Suddenly, Beatrice inhaled sharply and sank to her knees as a sword went through her gut.

“NO!” Tony cried, slamming his fist into the bodyguard that killed his girlfriend. He went flying across the room and commotion broke out into the crowd. Isabella took a shocked step back, but Leo dropped his hand from her waist to her hand and ran to Tony, where he was kneeling beside Beatrice’s body.

“Tony, we have to go,” Leo stated.

“I can’t… leave her,” he muttered, his voice breaking.

“Tony,” Isabella started, speaking reassuringly, “what would Beatrice have wanted?” She eyed Liam approaching them. “She would have wanted you to leave her and get to someplace safe, like where we were before.”

“The Oasis,” Leo added.

Tony slowly inhaled. “Did you find what you needed?” Isabella shot Leo a nervous glance while nodding. “Then let’s go.”

The group ran out of Liam’s palace. They got into the car and Tony started to drive away from the gala. They threw their masks to the floor. Tony’s knuckles were white against the wheel as they sped past the city.

“When we get back, tell everyone that Beatrice is investigating and won’t be back for a while,” Tony growled. Isabella nodded from the passenger seat, leaning as far away from him as possible. Her shoulder touched the frigid window, but she kept it there, not wanting to further upset Tony. When they arrived at the Oasis, they explained what had happened, as Tony had asked, and went to their rooms. Isabella had changed and gotten ready for the night, brushing her teeth and putting her hair up.

When she fell asleep, she entered a state of Lobelting in which she saw flashbacks of Will and Beatrice’s deaths. She watched from the sky as Will was blown up, Leo protecting her as they flew across the room. She saw the sword go through Beatrice’s stomach, spectating as she fell to the floor and died in Tony’s bloody arms. She woke up screaming at 4:14 AM, but immediately stopping. She didn’t want to wake anyone up.

Isabella decided to get ready for the day, not daring to go back to sleep. She tried to take as much time as possible to brush her teeth and do her hair, but when she got out of the bathroom, it was only half past four. She decided to train, so she went into the training room and practiced flying and creating objects out of thin air. Once she got tired, Isabella sank to the floor and rested, breathing heavily.

Isabella went back to her room and sat on the floor, putting her toes under the bed. She bent her knees and lied on her back, and started to do sit-ups. She lost count after a couple of minutes, but stopped when her abs hurt. She had done close to 70. Glancing at the time, Isabella was relieved when it said 5:47 in big red numbers. Standing up and sitting on her bed, she realized that her feet hurt.

Looking at them, she saw that they had scratches from the bed and rubbed her feet gently. Suddenly, she heard a knock on her door. She stood up to open it.

“Hey, Isabella,” Tony said. His blond hair was ruffled and his eyes had small bags under them. “This is called a phone,” he explained, handing her a small rectangular device. “You can call people, text people, use the Internet, and play music on it. It should be helpful if you need someone quickly.” He briefly taught her how to use it after she had thanked him.

“I already have our contacts plugged in, too,” Tony said. He excused himself and left. Isabella sat on her bed, staring at the foreign device. Not knowing what else to do, she went downstairs, where Leo, Simon, and Remi were eating breakfast. She realized two things as she sat down. One of them was that she was starving, smelling the various aromas that steamed off the plates. The second was that she was the only person who didn’t look ready.: everyone else had changed but they looked tired.

“Isa, you look like you got a good night’s sleep,” Leo remarked. She laughed.

“Not really. I woke up at fou- I mean, 5:30,” she lied.

“You call that early, Bella?” Simon smiled. “I woke up at five sharp. How about you, Leo?”

“Five fifty. I wanted to sleep in,” he said. Isabella ate breakfast and washed the dishes, taking her time. The day went by pretty quickly: there was no news of Liam, but Tony hadn’t come out of his room. However, for Isabella it seemed to last an eternity. Finally, after two extra hours of training, the sun faded into the horizon and she walked back into her room. She did 30 more sit-ups and rubbed her feet until they stopped throbbing. It only hurt for a couple of minutes, and the marks seemed to fade away. She rested in bed and fell asleep

The nightmares of Beatrice’s death came sharper to her, but faker. She dreamt that she had been killed by Liam, not his bodyguard, while they were alone, with no masquerade. She had died in a pool of blood, which only made the vision worse. She screamed in her sleep, but wouldn’t wake up. Only when Leo rushed into her room and shook her gently did she wake up.

“Isa?” Leo whispered. “Are you okay?” She felt her face redden because he was here and she was grateful that they were in the darkness.

“Bad dream…” she muttered groggily. “What time is it?” Isabella started to get out of bed, but Leo held her back.

“Too early for you to wake up,” he replied.

“Please?” Isabella begged. “Can’t we train or something?” Leo shook his head.

“Why don’t you want to sleep?” he questioned. Isabella’s face turned a darker shade of red.

“I’m… not tired,” she replied. She saw Leo’s eyes scanning her face and had to look away.

“Isa…” he began.

“Okay,” Isabella admitted. “I don’t want to sleep because if I fall asleep then I’ll dream about Will and Beatrice’s deaths. And then I’ll start screaming.” Leo paused and sighed.

“Okay, here’s what we can do,” Leo proposed. “I will sit on a chair and sleep there and if you start screaming then I’ll just wake you up. Is that okay?” Isabella nodded slowly. “Then go to sleep.”

Isabella lied back down as Leo rested his head on his arms. He waited until Isabella’s breath was light and steady, meaning that she was asleep, to close his eyes. Isabella dreamt of Simon being imprisoned in Liam’s palace. He was starving and his face was bruised. Liam came back and they had a discussion, but Isabella couldn’t hear them. Simon said something that angered Liam and he wrapped his arms around Simon’s neck, choking him. As he passed out, Liam let his body crumble to the floor.

Meanwhile, Leo was sleeping peacefully without any dreams. He woke up when Isabella’s breath started to quicken. He sat up, waiting for her to either shuffle or scream. Her heartbeat accelerated and her breathing rapidly increased. He put his hand over hers. Her breathing slowed down, and her heart’s pounding gradually decreased. He went back to sleep, smiling.

The next morning, Isabella woke up soundlessly and looked at her hand. Trying to avoid waking Leo, she hovered out of bed and landed on the opposite side. She tucked her feet under the bed and did her sit-ups, beating her record by at least ten. She got up and noticed that her foot had deeper scratches. Isabella decided to take a break from sit-ups.

“Isa?” Leo called. She stood up. “What are you doing? It’s 5:00.”

“I was looking for something. Sorry,” she said. When she stepped on her foot, her knee buckled and she had to hover over the ground. Leo, thankfully, didn’t see her. She lowered herself slightly so that it looked like she was walking.

“Tony wanted to talk to us,” Leo said. He led her downstairs and into the dining room, where Tony was waiting patiently. The bags that were under his eyes yesterday had gotten bigger.

“I wanted to talk to you guys because I’m leaving and there will be a new instru- I mean, leader of the Oasis,” Tony said.

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Isabella questioned. Tony nodded.

“I have to go see Beatrice’s mother and tell her what happened. I probably won’t be back in a while, so don’t expect me.” He hesitated. “I have to get on a plane, so I have to go. Good luck. Find out who Liam’s partner is.” Isabella shot Leo a glance and he shook his head in the subtlest, most discreet way possible.

“We will,” he said. “We’ve never been closer.” Tony nodded and smiled.

“Okay, good luck. I’ll try to come back as soon as I can, but I can’t make any promises as to when.” Tony grabbed a gray suitcase that Isabella hadn’t noticed before. He smiled once more, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He opened the door and departed from the Oasis.