Neverseen's Puppet

Chapter 9: Home

Camilla's POV

Camilla frantically leaped from place to place, disappearing as soon as she could tell the place she arrived at didn't have a previously installed crystal to an outpost. Once, she leaped to Eternalia, and she could've sworn a goblin started sniffing suspiciously as soon as she arrived. Even though there was a crystal there, she decided that it wasn't worth risking. There were plenty of other places that didn't have so many people and goblins.

At last, she showed up at the Wondering Woods. Completely deserted, the branches of hundreds of trees swayed in a silent dance. Camilla subconsciously held her breath as she tiptoed through the forest. If she were able to choose, this would not be the place she thought of. It was strangely eery, but then again, it was a graveyard.

She was looking for a very specific tree. She had never actually been to the Wondering Woods before, but Fintan always made sure she knew how to escape if she was captured. Camilla ran through what she knew in her brain. First: this Wonderling was ancient, so it would be near the middle of the Woods. She also vaguely knew what it looked like. And... that was it.

Great. Just wonderful.

Camilla picked up her pace, holding the skirt of her yellow gown off of the ground so it didn't snag on any twigs. She scanned the markers that were at the base of every Wonderling, looking for the name that would give her a way to escape. Enya Caradoc. Enya had been one of the five pyrokinetics that had lost their lives when Fintan called down Everblaze, thousands of years ago. Camilla wasn't sure why Enya was so significant to Fintan, and she had never dared to ask. She had theories of course. Every one of them was more unlikely than the last.

If not for the fact that Fintan had been on the Council, therefore not allowed to have any romantic relationships, she would have thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Of course, Fintan had not shown himself to be the epitome of obedience, so that didn't disprove anything. She sighed. There were so many questions that she wanted answers to.

Camilla was about to accept that she would never find Enya's grave when she noticed a Wonderling that was taller than any others in the distance. Her heart jumped in her chest. That was it. She sped up into a run.

Delicate white berries peppered the fragrant branches of heather blue pine needles. Now that she was right next to it, Camilla realized that it had to be at least twenty-five feet tall. She could have stood all day admiring the tree that gave off such a statuesque vibe. It was too bad she was trying to escape certain doom. She knelt down by the weathered nameplate and started digging. Dirt got in her fingernails, making her cringe but she continued. She wasn't sure how far she was going to have to dig, and she hoped it wouldn't be much farther. Was it just her imagination or could she hear footsteps in the distance?

At last, she uncovered a dirt-covered yellow crystal. It was about the length of her index finger, and no thicker than three and a half inches around. She would've missed it if she started digging just 5 inches to the left. She exhaled and lifted the crystal into the soft light.

She was going back home.

^v^v^v^v^v^

The sunny meadow that she arrived in was achingly familiar. This is where she had grown up. She had been to dozens of hideouts, but if she had to choose a favorite, there would be no competition. Maybe it was because this was one of the only places that actually had good food.

She swept aside the vines concealing the crystal door and tapped her feet in the rhythm that would let the dwarves below know she wasn't an intruder.

Right-right, left, right, left-right. She paused, waiting for the crystal door to slide open. It did, and she walked inside with confidence. She decided not to announce her arrival until after she had changed and got her story straight. It was objectively a bad idea to tell Fintan, Alvar, and Vespera about Captain Snarky Butt. She would have to hide the stuffed animal if she wanted to keep her. Camilla also couldn't tell them about Councillor Terik descrying her. Hopefully, he hadn't seen any of their plans. That would be one way to guarantee she got in serious trouble.

Not that she knew anything about what they were doing. The general policy that the Neverseen followed was to only tell everybody one piece of the plan. And now she knew even less about what was going on now that Brant was dead. Someone had to take the blame when he had failed so spectacularly.

She wasn't sure how she felt about her biological father's death. Maybe she should feel sad, but Brant had never really been a father figure. She wasn't happy though by any means. That would be barbaric, and besides, the Elvin conscious couldn't handle that much... immorality. It was more of a disproving acceptance. And disappointment that Brant had never been more than a broken lunatic.

She shook away the unhelpful thoughts as she walked down the hallway. It wasn't worth her time contemplating pointless feelings. She had to change her clothes and go explain herself to the others. Camilla reached her small room. It only held her vanity, mattress, and chest of clothes. The overhead light flickered. She grabbed a pair of black leggings and a white off-shoulder blouse. Most of her clothes were these colors, and after seeing all of the magnificent dresses at the Vacker's house she was a little disappointed at how ordinary it was. At least she got to keep the yellow gown.

She decided to keep the clip from Biana in her hair; there was no point in taking it out. She also put on black ankle-length boots. Taking one final look in the mirror, she nodded in satisfaction and walked back out the door.

In her mind, she rehearsed what she was going to say carefully. She realized that there were a lot of things she couldn't mention. One wrong word and-

"Fintan?" she asked loudly. The words echoed in the empty space. She moved into the common room. "Alvar?"

"Alvar's not here right now." She jumped. Fintan stood behind her, arms crossed. "And you shouldn't be either." The icy words bit into her skin, reminding her that she had abandoned her post at Foster's house.

"Look- I can explain," she said, fighting to hold onto control. "It's kinda a long story though," she added, "You might want to sit down."

Fintan narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. "The trackers in your clothes tell a very intriguing tale." They had been tracking her? She was in more trouble than she had originally realized. Fintan's fingers twitched, and she thought she might've seen a spark.

"I'll tell you everything," she promised, getting the slightest bit desperate. Fintan wasn't exactly known for his good impulse control. Crystal wouldn't burn, really, but her body was perfectly flammable.

"That won't be necessary," Fintan gestured to the other hallway. Camilla turned on her feet, not sure who was there. Gethan stepped out of the shadows. She froze. Why had she not considered that he would be here? She had assumed he would be staying at a different hideout. Foolish. She deserved to be found out for being so stupid. There was no hiding her thoughts from Gethan's telepathic mind. She might've been able to hide her identity from Sophie for a few essential seconds, but Gethan had taught her that trick. He wasn't going to fall for it. "Gethan will find out the whole story for us."

Both of them smiled at her cruelly. She stepped backward, breathing heavily. She would find a way out of this. She had to.

"If you resist, it will be worse," Gethan promised. Fintan nodded and snapped his fingers. A ball of blue fire called balefire appeared in his hands. Heat radiated from it in huge pulses. Camilla scampered backwards and fell to her knees. She flinched as Gethan put his cold fingers to her temples.

This isn't going to end well.

So I'm probably going to go back and edit some of the previous chapters to improve the flow of the story. I'll still be updating but it will be a little bit slower. Thank you so much for reading! Currently we're at 200 views which I guess is tiny if your a Wattpad famous author. However this is my first story, so its really exciting for me. Comment any suggestions or thoughts that you have!