Wonder Lost

A Break

“Dad, I did it!” Isabella exclaimed. “I got first place in archery!” It was a flashback of when she was twelve years old.

“Good job,” Stanley said, not paying attention. He was reading a newspaper.

“Do you even care?” Isabella asked. She did well in school but for the past couple of weeks, her father seemed to be uninterested in her successes.

“What? Of course I care,” he said. “I’m just busy, Bella.” He went back to his newspaper.

“Yeah, busy reading a newspaper,” she muttered.

“You’d better watch your mouth, Bella,” Stanley said, raising his voice. “If I didn’t care about you, you’d be living on the streets.” The dream faded out.

Leo had just woken. He looked at the window, where the window was blocked by snow. Leo quietly groaned, scowling at the snow.

“What, you don’t like snow?” Isabella asked.

“Well, of course I do, but this isn’t regular snow. Liam made—well, we’re not completely sure what he did, but he made this somehow. It doesn’t snow this early in Liviette. Liam’s trying to use ice against us, and luckily Gray is trying to find an ice skating rink in this place so we can practice walking and skating on ice. Via is making sneakers that can turn into skates, for our convenience. We’re attacking in a couple of days, and after tomorrow we’re practicing in the rink.”

“Fun,” Isabella commented. Leo nodded.

“Let’s go eat,” he said, getting up. Isabella stayed in bed, still too tired to get up. “Isa?”

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Six,” he answered.

“Can I just stay in bed for a while? I’m exhausted. You go eat,” she insisted.

“Okay,” he said after a moment of debating. “I’ll be quick.”

“Take your time,” she said as he left the room. Isabella fell asleep again, into a Lobelt.

Her father stood in front of her. He smiled.

“Simon will come around, my dear,” he said. Isabella found the urge to cry stronger, but again nothing came. “I need you to do a task for me. Tell Simon that he needs to drive you to the manor.”

“But…” Isabella began, “It was blown up. There’s nothing there.”

“There’s something that I didn’t tell you about the manor. We had a basement with a second office, and their walls were bullet proof. I don’t think they were blown up. You have to go downstairs and find my will. Go to the law office in Liviette and pick up what’s in there. It will help you in your quest.”

“Can’t Tony drive us?” Isabella asked.

“Only you and Leo can enter the house, but Simon must drive. Tell him that he has to stay in the car, and to park far away from the house. He can’t know that the manor was blown up, do you understand?” Isabella nodded.

“You have to be there before noon on September 24. If you see people there, specifically citizens wearing dark blue, don’t look for it. I’ll let you sleep, darling. Good luck,” he said, fading away before she could respond. She stood in the dark room, waiting.

Isabella tried to call upon Will. She focused on his silhouette and imagined him in the room with her. Finally, Will appeared, with an expression she had never seen directed at her before. It was a mix of surprise and anger.

“What?” he demanded, all traces of surprise disappearing.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to yell at you. I was just upset that you were eavesdropping.” His expression lightened into a full I-told-you-so smirk.

“I knew you’d miss me,” he said, raising his eyebrows.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to propose?” she demanded. Will’s eyes reddened.

“It was supposed to be a surprise. And then the Cosmos happened on the day of the proposal and I couldn’t take Meg out to dinner, and then I died…” he trailed off.

“Then who knew about the proposal?” Isabella asked.

“Just our fathers and me. And Simon, but he didn’t know that I told Father.” Isabella nodded. “Isabella, you should go to sleep now. And make sure Simon doesn’t find out about your surgery. Tell him that the scars are from battling with Liam.”

“Why am I keeping so many things from Simon?” Isabella demanded.

“First of all, he might forbid you from seeing Leo again, and second, he’ll try to protect you. A lot. As in, not let you do anything.”

“Oh.”

“See you later, Isabella,” Will said. His form began to shimmer.

“Bye, Will.” The vision faded into black, and Isabella drifted off into deep sleep.

Leo, meanwhile, was training hard. He practiced running and forming a wall of wood at the same time, to create a shield around his target. He also practiced parkour and sword fighting with Roy.

“Good!” Roy encouraged, who was a natural at sword fighting. “Now imagine I’m Liam and I’m about to kill Isabella.” Leo managed to disarm him. “So you just need some motivation…”

“Can we take a break?” Leo asked, panting. “I’ve been training for three hours.”

“Sure. Let’s get dinner.”

“I’ll be right there,” Leo said. He ran upstairs, checking on Isabella who was still sleeping. He went into his bathroom and washed his face.

Leo looked down at his hands. They were scratched up and red from parkour. He groaned.

“These’ll never heal,” he muttered to himself as he walked to the dining room. He took a seat in between Mike and Roy. Simon hadn’t come back. Leo focused on the conversations taking place.

“...if we had some kind of lead on who his partner is, we might be able to stop them.”

“At least we have some spies. Warren managed to become Liam’s secretary, and he doesn’t have a clue!” Leo finished his wrap, taking his plate to the kitchen. Suddenly, the power went out.

Leo blinked a few times and managed to make out the kitchen island in the dark. He ran past it, opening the door to the dining room and stepping out.

“What happened?” he asked, trying to make his voice be heard over the commotion.

“Power outage,” Via said. He figured it was from Liam. With a sudden jolt of realization, he ran out of the room, taking the stairs two at a time. He burst into Isabella’s room. He couldn’t tell if she was in bed or not.

“Isa?” he called frantically. “Isa, are you there?” He approached the bed, his eyes still unadjusted.

“Yeah,” she replied groggily. “Why?” Leo sighed in relief. “Can you turn on the lights?”

“We lost power. There’s no light, heat, or air conditioning.”

“Do you know what time it is?” she asked.

“I think it’s around 4:30.”

“Gray let me sleep in an extra ten hours?” she asked in awe. Leo chuckled softly.

“Of course. You basically didn’t sleep for four days and you can’t train yet anyway.”

“I can practice archery. Can I test how well I can shoot in the dark?” Isabella begged. Leo hesitated.

“Sure, but you should eat first.” Isabella hopped out of bed and took Leo’s hand as he led her into the dark kitchen. Isabella’s eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness and she grabbed some leftover salad.

“Isa, if you’re going to fight Liam, you need protein.” Isabella recalled her discussion with her father.

“Oh, that reminds me!” she said, putting a slice of steak on her plate. “Where’s Simon? He needs to drive us to my house. My dad said that we need to find his will before September 24.”

“Why?” Leo asked.

“He said it would help us with defeating Liam.” Isabella sat down at the dining table, Leo taking a seat next to her. She began eating her cold steak.

“Simon can’t find out about the house,” Isabella whispered. “He has to park away from it.” Leo nodded.

“Okay,” he said, taking her free hand and blindly tracing its lines. She finished her steak and the salad.

“Let’s go train,” she said, standing up. They walked to the training room. Isabella found Gray waiting at the entrance.

“Hi, Gray,” Isabella said.

“Isabella, instead of training, Tony and I thought of a way to help you.” She couldn’t see his face, but his expression seemed serious.

“Okay…”

“Just follow me, please.” Gray led them into a hospital room. “Sit down.” She did as he asked and he strapped her into the leather chair.

“What’s this for?” she asked.

“Endurance,” he muttered. He grabbed something that she couldn’t see. Taking her arm, he injected the object into her arm.

Isabella screamed, the blade piercing her skin. Gray made a long line across her left arm, a trail of blood dripping onto the floor. She wondered why Leo wasn’t stopping him. She saw someone, who could only be Tony, holding him back. Isabella realized she was still screaming and shut her mouth. She moaned against the pain, writhing in the chair.

“That’s enough!” Leo shouted. Gray took the knife, or whatever it was, out of her arm. Tony let go of Leo, who quickly ran to her side, unstrapping her from the chair. She sunk into his arms.

“Are you okay?” he whispered. Isabella nodded. “Don’t worry. You don’t have to do that again.”

He pulled away from her. “She’s still bleeding, Gray.” He said his name with a tone of anger.

“Leo, I’m fine,” she insisted. “Really.”

“Really? Both of your arms are scratched up, your foot has a scar, and you can’t stretch because of your stomach. That doesn’t seem fine to me.” Isabella leaned away from him. He seemed angry.

“Leo?” she whispered. He shook his head, not looking at her. He scowled, and then left the room. Tony stepped forward, holding a roll of some sort. He began wrapping her arm in the soft material.

“And you,” she said to Tony, “you’d better make up with Leo, okay? He’s been helping you and Beatrice since we met you.” Tony chuckled.

“Sure, Isabella.” She had been expecting an argument. He finished wrapping up her arm. She turned to go. “What, no thank you?” Isabella playfully punched his arm.

“No,” she said, walking out of the room.

“Bella,” Simon called. She turned around. “Leo said you need me to drive you somewhere?”

“Yeah, can you drive me to th—?” Isabella bit her tongue. “To Jerry’s, I mean? Leo needs some special kind of medicine thing. They only sell it at Jerry’s and he hurt his… foot when he was training. And everyone else is busy.”

“So why are you coming?” Simon asked.

“I’m not allowed to accompany my boyfriend anymore?” Isabella asked. Simon looked at the ground for a second, and then his smiling teeth appeared in the darkness. He ruffled her hair, messing it up. She did the same. It was an old inside joke she shared with him.

“You should go to bed now, Bella. Especially if you’re going to be kissing him the whole night.” He ran off before she could respond. She scowled as he snorted in the distance. Isabella walked back to her room, where nobody was waiting for her. She got into the shower and efficiently bathed herself in the dark, her ‘cast’ laying in the trash. Her cut stung.

She got ready for bed and stepped out of her room, walking up to Leo’s door. Isabella quietly knocked on the door. She waited at least two minutes until she heard his soft footsteps hitting the wooden floor. He opened the door and Isabella jumped into his arms, kissing his neck before releasing the hug.

“Hi,” she said.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yep,” Isabella said. He smiled. Isabella frowned. “I didn’t get to train today.”

“Good,” Leo commented. “I’m exhausted.” He guided her to his bed, where she was cradled in his arms. His bed smelled like cinnamon, and the quiet mattress turned her bones to jelly. She was still exhausted, even after her ten hour nap. Having Leo’s protecting arms only helped to move her consciousness to a Lobelt.

Isabella was flying above Liviette. She flew past the buildings, set on an unclear destination. She had never gone this way before, but she couldn’t turn back. It was like her body had a mind of its own, guiding her to the final destination.

The destination happened to be in the mountains: a giant fortress guarded by archers in its walls. It had three visible towers, one of them with its top blown off; and in the main building there was a throne made of gold. Isabella flew into the main building and shuddered as Liam Aroh took a seat at the throne.

“Ah, my daughter,” he said to a figure sitting at a smaller throne next to his. “Isn’t this much better than the other two homes we had? And no one even knows we’re here!” He cackled maniacally. Ruby scooted herself farther from him.

“Sure,” she said, with her high pitched voice. Isabella scowled at her, remembering her tricks of deceivery. Ruby rested her cheek in her hand, looking bored. “I love it,” she added, her voice filled with fake enthusiasm.

“I think we’ll be safe here, darling. Don’t you worry,” Liam said, putting an arm around the frightened girl and kissing the top of her head. “I’ll protect you, dear.”

“Yeah, like you protected mom?” Ruby asked. Liam tensed.

“Ruby, I—” Liam’s voice faltered. “I tried to save your mother. I was too slow, and I regret not being at her side every day. But your mother was an amazing, beautiful woman, and I see it in you every day. Which is why I will sacrifice my own life to save yours. I will promise that.” Tears filled Ruby’s eyes. “Don’t cry, darling. Go to your room and sleep. Good night, dear. I love you.”

“Love you more,” Ruby mumbled as she left the room, wiping her eyes and sniffling.

Isabella awoke with a start. She checked the time and quietly sighed. It was only two o’clock.

But Isabella was curious. Did she really just find the location of Liam’s final palace? And she had never seen him display such… emotion for someone before. Maybe he had more good in him than he led on. Was he really evil?

Was she good? She recalled her thoughts of burning his palaces down and torturing him. Were the residents of the Oasis good? They had tried to imprison a child. And yelled at Isabella when she freed her. Gray had even cut her arm for pain endurance. Though that wasn’t necessarily evil… But what about Amanda and Mike and Caleb? They used to work for Liam, but now they’re working for Tony and Gray. Would they think that she is evil, for trying to stop their previous boss, permanently?

No. Liam had bad intentions for her, under false pretenses. She had not killed Maximus. Liam didn’t believe her when she said that Will killed Maximus. And Liam had already killed him. Liam had killed almost half of her family. But still he didn’t stop attacking. He wanted to destroy her happiness. And everyone in her life, including Leo. Surely that made someone evil, right?

But Liam was only doing this because he thought that she had killed Maximus. He was a good person with bad intentions because of vengeance. There had to be some kind of good in him.

To prove her point, Isabella carefully got out of bed and got ready. She wrote a note on a piece of parchment:

I’ll be right back. Don’t worry, I’m perfectly fine. Go back to sleep, baby. I love you!

-Isa

She left the note on the nightstand and grabbed the jacket hanging on the door. Putting on the cinnamon-scented coat, Isabella opened the window and jumped out.