The River of Shadows by Elektra (great books for teens .TXT) 📕

death straight into the eye, I might try and save you, but then I would end up getting distracted and Kakath would take another victim.”
“Yeah, that makes me feel real better!” I said sarcastically, but still calming down, “Well then don’t worry, I don’t want to see your stupid face ever again, I hope one of the Crazed takes it clear off!” I then whipped around jumped atop of Sermeter and rode over to a small building. A building that held residence to Darias, the commander of the Gekian National Armed Forces.
I knocked on the door, and whose face do I see when someone answers it? Simon.
“Oh, Dad! Maeve is here.” He said and turned around walking back into the tower.
Great, he didn’t seem pleased to see me, looks like I don’t have any friends here anymore…
“Oh, so you’re Maeve.” A tall, strong man with the same face as Simon said, motioning me in. What kind of puzzled me was how come Simon was such a geek and his dad looked like a football player.
I stepped inside, for once, something in this world looked simmilar to something in my world, it looked like your baisic laboratory, linoleum floors, metal tables, test tubes, and the constant scratching of rats…
“Rats!” I screamed, I began running stupidly about the room until I found a chair and hopped atop of it.
“Really, you think we look ugly? Well, we don’t think you look too pretty yourself.” One of them said.
“Did you just talk?” I asked, looking puzzled at the furry creature. To think nothing in this world ever surpised me anymore, but no, something else has to be weird “Yeah, and I said you look pretty horrid yourself!” It said, shaking its ratty head and scrambling away.
“I wouldn’t talk to them, or scream at them. Their insults are worse than a truck driver’s in traffic.” Darias said, pulling me along.
He dragged me into the next room, it was pitch black, besides a soft green glow. I then realized that it wasn’t just one glow, it was four different green glows. Each a different shade of green, but none less brighter than the other. Don’t ask me how that worked, I just don’t know.
“Step to the center Maeve,” Darias said, lightly pushing me in the right direction. When I stepped to the center, all but one of the balls of light dissapeared, then that one did and it appeared right in front of me, glowing brighter than ever. I was temporarily blinded, when I could see again, everything was back to the way it was at first, only one thing was different, there was a staff with a peakock feather hanging from it right in front of me.
For some reason, I have no idea why, but I had the sudden urge to grab it, so I did.
“A healer, a teller, a shower of our ancestors. You are destined to be a Portrayor.” He said, striding up to me.
“Great, I finally get finished with training, and now I have more training.” I said, shaking my head.
“Oh, this is not a thing you learn from others. You learn this by going to The Great Caves of Samirisus.”
I was immediately awed, I had no idea what they were and what would happen there, but I already was interested. I took a look at the staff again, clutching it as if it would save my life.
“It’s actually odd really, you being a Portrayer, and also being bearer of the peakock staff. Simon was right, you are certainly important.”
“Yeah, I guess Simon was right,” I said in agreement, I instantly wished I hadn’t of been spending all my time with Reemo, especially based on the fact of how it all ended. Simon was a true friend and I had just left him in the dust.


Chapter 6

I stopped in front of the gaping cave-front. I was about to go inside when I noticed a girl slouched against the stones.
Her eyes were maroon, her hair was brown with blonde tips, she had black shorts, a simple grey tank top, and fishnets. Her nose was peirced, she looked pretty scary, but at the same time, not exactly crazed-evil. Probably just sneaky.
“Oh look, a newbie going into the caves!” She said in a silky smooth brittish accent.
“Who are you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“The names Emma, I suppose you could say I’m neutral grounds in this war.” She said with a devilish grin, “Lets just say my mommy and daddy don’t really get along.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m not exactly allowed in the Crazed camps, nor am I allowed in town, so I guess I’m in no-mans-land.” She said simply, looking into the distance, “Now, are you going or what?”
“Uh… yeah.” I said, stepping up to the cave.
“And before you get too close, take this!” She said, tossing me a torch and a pack of matches, “Believe me, you’ll need it.”
“Uh… thanks.” I said, wondering what she meant by getting to close, I stepped a bit closer and I knew what she meant. I was sucked into the cave and I fell down on the cold floor. I staggered to my feet and then began walking forward, obviusly I couldn’t go back the way I had come.
“Hello?” I called into the cave, and I could’ve sworn I heard someone in the cave whisper Hello Maeve, in the distance
I searched throughout the cave, I heard a moaning in the distance, I began walking toward it. Man, talk about suicidal tendacies, walking through an unknown cave, TOWARD the screams. Was I like those iddiots in scary movies or what? I then waved my torch near the sound, I saw a baby Iriskush sprawled across the floor.
You can’t save them all, but you can try. A whisper that seemed to come from the cave itself said.
I knelt down, layed my hand across the little creature and closed my eyes. I began seeing a warm yellow glow from behind my eyelids. Somehow, I knew to breath out from my mouth. A sigh came from the cave.
The Iriskush stirred and instantly ran away. I watched it run off, a puzzled look on my face. A lot of my memory was hazed, all I remember was walking about the cave. Whispers coming from it, and occasional challenges, setting free a small, flying creature, the size of a cat from a giant, and I do mean GIANT spiderweb, finding secret doors, reading passages written across the walls. Then I came to a small area with a pool of water, only, the water wasn’t completely on the ground, some of it was in the air, twisting into the form of a lilly.
You are now at the pond of Portrayers. The voice said, There is no end of the cave here, you must find your way through the waters of life.
I then touched one of the lilly made of water’s petals, closing my eyes and clearing all thoughts.
I heard a rushing noise, I felt my body whirring about like a cow in a tornado, but it didn’t seem as if my mind was really there, and when my eyelids peeled open, I was in front of the cave again.
“Hail the concoring hero.” Emma said sarcastically, examining her long, black-painted fingernails. I looked at her, puzzled at what I should do next, “Ugh!” She groaned, “You now must go, and never return. The typical Gekian shouldn’t be here, they should be in town.” She then gave me a hard shove and grinned, waving me off.
I ended up setting up camp in the forest, I was no where near the exit to earth, nor was I near Darius and Simon’s lab/house/who knows what else. I fell asleep to the crackling of a blazing fire. And woke up to the sound of shouts in the distance. Being as stupid as I had when I first entered the cave, going closer to the loud, frightening sounds.
“I said I’m not interested!” I heard Emma say.
“But Emelia, we both don’t want your mother hurt, if you join us, she will have no choice but to step out of the war! And face it, she’s a key role.” Another voice said.
“She is not my real mother! And your not my real father! So why do I have to have anything to do with this!” She spat, “I’m so sick of this crap!”
I heard a crack, a hiss, and the rustle of leaves as if someone was leaving. I decided that since I couldn’t sleep after what I had heard, I would make my way back into the village.
When I finally got there I just sat against a homey cottage, smoke puffing from the chimney, and a glow coming from the windows.
I looked up to the mountains where the caves lie. I could swear I heard a melodic guitar in the distance and a sillouette of someone up there. I knew that my eyes weren’t decieving me.
“An odd place to be sitting don’t you think? In the middle of a night such as this.” I didn’t need to look up to know who it was.
“Reemo?” I said looking up. At first I was excited to see him, but then I remembered what happened yesterday.
“Why don’t you get inside a house before you get pnemonia?” He grumbled.
“I thought you didn’t care,” I replied smugly, “but I’ll go inside, I wouldn’t want you to be distracted by my iddiocy.”
“You’re such a child.” He muttered.
“And you aren’t?” I hissed, changing my voice to sound like a dumb boy, “Oooh! Look at me, I’m Reemo! I care of no one but myself! I have no feelings whatsoever, I’m a war hero, so I’m allowed to act as if I’m so cool.”
“Are you done yet?” He asked.
“You know! You remind me of a human named Sam!” I continued, “You’ve confused yourself with what people expect of you and sooner or later, you’re gonna regret it!” I hissed, I then smacked him right across the face.
“Nice shot.” He spat, shaking shaking his head a bit and pressing on a gauze bandage that sat across his arm.
All my anger immediately washed away, “What happened? Did someone put a sword to you?”
“No, they bit me.”
“That’s savage!”
“Sorta like you a few seconds ago,” He replied. “I never had to ask a girl this before, but are you bi-polar or something?”
I had to laugh. I saw a bit of the childhood that Reemo was deprived of in his eyes.
“So, can I get you inside, or are you going to smack me again?” He asked, a glimmer in his gold eyes that I had never seen before.

Chapter 7

I sat down near a roaring fire, a blanket wrapped around my shoulders, holding a cup of hot cocoa. I had never liked the taste of coffee, and I never will. I still felt like a child, what with Simon, Reemo, and Darius drinking some pretty dark coffee. For a while Simon and Reemo were trying to see who could drink the darkest coffee, but for once, they were acting more like friends than arch-iddiots.
“I surrender!” They said at the same time, trying to swallow something that looked like a night with no moon or stars. They spat the coffee out at the exact same time, their tounges hanging out for a while.
“That’s why I like cocoa.” I said, smirking.
“Yeah, but you could add too much mix and its too tart, add too little and it is baisically milk!” Simon said.
“You are too stubborn!” I laughed, clutching onto my staff again.
“Man, I wonder if I was that clingy