I Turn To You By AnnYlla Korenoir Part 5: The Light In The Darkness That darkness. That strange, warm darkness that envelopes you just before you wake up. She held on to it and did not want to let go. In the darkness, distances seemed longer to her; objects, beings and the world itself seemed more peaceful, and she felt more powerful. All the pain and unwelcome feelings were far away. She could be wherever she wanted to be, whoever she wanted to be, and however she wanted to be. She remembered herself back on Puckworld. A little girl with secrets to hide. She remembered how so many people were mean to her, simply because they did not understand her. But that was before. Before her parents died... her heart ached now... and before she walked into that alley and into the mysterious and dangerous world of Brotherhood of the Blade. Before that mysterious package from someone and somewhere. The package that contained a small purple gem... she could feel it around her neck... with all the skills she picked up in the Brotherhood of the Blade, she could not figure out what kind of a gem it was. At first she wanted to ask Duke, but then part of her considered it unwise. She thought, she'd ask later, but then she got busted. That time in prison... those many runs... the death roll... so many things no one knew of... but her. She remembered how she lied to Wildwing that she was just released from prison if she worked for the government. Maybe she should have told... no! they would never understand! None of them will ever understand anything! Except, maybe, for... no! he wouldn't either. She heard a voice. And another one. They were far away, almost unnoticeable. She didn't want to hear it, as it threw off her concentration on her memories. She felt the cold breeze, very strong now, like it was right next to her. Even through her closed eyelids she saw blue light; the breeze turned into a strong wind, like she only felt in the coldest regions of Puckworld, but it didn't seem to move her hair. The breeze disappeared with the light. She wanted to get up but felt so empty and drained that was forced to fall back into the dreamless sleep called oblivion. Back in the world of reality, the four remaining ducks were staring at where Wildwing was standing a few minutes ago. Duke, being the first to come to his senses, walked to the cell door and opened it. He walked in and shook Mallory. The others came back from the world of clouds and looked at Duke and what he was doing. "Duke, um, what are you, uh, doing?" asked Tanya. "Something everybody in the Brotherhood of the Blade learned on their first day, but usually never got to prove to this extent," he answered still trying to wake Mal up. "Come on, Humming Bird, wake up." "And what kind of totally weird thing would that be, Dukester?" asked Nosedive. "Trusting a sixth sense. Wake up!" he was a bit frustrated now that he could not wake her up. "According to science, you know, there is no, um, such thing," started Tanya. She was going to say something else, but Duke, figuring that she would say something, she would then take an hour to explain, interrupted her. "'According to science', there are no aliens either. And the only place dimensions and teleportation exist on a normal basis is in Star Trek," he wanted to say something, but he didn't realize that sounded a bit mean. "Sorry," he apologized and looked at Mallory's neck. Something caught his attention. There was a gold necklace there, he had never seen before. He pulled it out and saw a purple stone. He was surprised to the fact that he didn't know what that stone was; he was the best in the Brotherhood of the Blade and the fact that he knew all the precious stones in existence was common knowledge. He turned the stone over and saw a silhouette of a humming bird carved into it. That was also odd, since Mallory didn't let anyone, who didn't know already, know about her nickname... Mallory grabbed his wrist. At first he thought that he finally woke her up, but then he remembered about he little reflex. Whenever anybody, even the best pickpocket, tried to take any of her jewelry, even if she was sleeping, she would grab him or her at best for them, or knock them out at their worst. All in her sleep. However, on the second time... He picked up her necklace again, with the same result. "Why are you trying to take my purple stone, Duke?" he heard her voice. "I thought it would be an effective way to wake you up." "You were right then. But why wake me up. I had such a nice little nap," she smiled at him. 'Why am I staring at him? Why?' 'Because you want to.' 'But I don't like him.' 'Are you sure?' 'I like Wildwing!' 'After what he did?' 'But I know Duke for a very long time already! He is like an uncle to me!' 'Is he...' her thoughts were interrupted by Duke's voice. "Because Wildwing just disappeared," he said. "Huh? I... sorry, I wasn't listening... what did you say?" she looked at him. "You asked why I woke you up, and the answer is, because Wildwing just disappeared," he explained. "What do you mean?" "He just disappeared. There was a blue aura around him and the next second he was gone," said Nosedive. "Wow, wow, wow, did you just say a BLUE aura?" Mallory said turning to him. "Yes, I did." 'Was the blue aura the blue light that I saw?' 'Do you think it was?' 'Yeah, but as it?' 'If you think it is so, it IS so.' 'Okay, what do I do?' 'I am not here to tell you your every move, I am here to help you advance and better yourself in your ability of reaching and using the sixth sense.' "Why am I in a cell? And where are Jessie and Lucretia?" Mallory asked looking around. "Jessie and Lucretia were freed by a red-haired duck and you are in the cell, because Wildwing suspected you to be that duck. What I want to know is why did the Mask reject you? Why did it cause you to faint?" said Duke. All the time he was talking, Mallory was looking at him. She had a good excuse, she was supposed to look at the person she was talking to. However, underneath she had a different reason. 'Okay, that's it! I have to stop staring at him!' 'You have your own reasons for doing so and nobody is blaming you.' "Oh yeah, I remember now! Last night..." she stopped as she felt that same cold wind again. This time, it was coming from Duke. Mal reached to him and hugged him. Duke didn't realize at first what was going on, but then hugged her too. If she feels that way, he thought. Mal's reason was not what he thought though. She did it to see whether she was right. When her hands felt the cold wind blowing straight and through Duke at her, she learned that she was. She let go and closed her eyes. She saw a lighter spot in behind Duke, whose image was clear in her mind. She got up and walked next to the spot, which she still saw through her closed eyes. Suddenly, she turned and punched it. She felt her fist touch something, she felt her own strength like she never felt it before, and even though her hand barely touched the entity (she was clear it was a living thing, now, or at least something that resembled it) saw the spot fly to the wall, hit it, drop down and disappear. She opened her eyes and saw everyone staring at her. She realized that to them it looked like she just punched the air, so she smiled at them. it came out not like she wanted it, but like a sheepish smile. "So," Duke decided to change the topic. "What happened last night?" "Huh?" Mallory didn't understand what he was talking about. "Well, you said that you recall something, but then you stopped." "Oh yeah! I remember now. Last night, Wildwing walked into my room holding Jessie's arm and asking what she was doing free. When I said I don't know, he said that she said that I freed her. I said I didn't, because I really didn't. I was in my room the whole night sleeping and Wildwing knows it." "Are you sure you don't sleepwalk?" asked Nosedive. "No, she doesn't... uh, I mean, that 'Mallory', on the screen, was wide awake," answered Duke. "Okay, so they are free and Wildwing is gone. The questiono numero uno is where are they?" said Nosedive. "Well, Wildwing and Lucretia are probably in the same place, because she probably kidnapped him. I don't know about Jessie," said Mallory. "Well, since you guys decided to make her the enemy too..." started Nosedive. "What do you mean "decided to make"? She IS one of them," said Duke. "Well, you guys were not there, when Lucretia was tying me up, so you don't know what she said." "And what DID she say?" Mallory was getting curious too. "She said that Jessie is a traitor, because she, a, took the ticket, b, did basically what they told her to do, and c, didn't tell us." "So, she is a traitor," stated Duke. "Okay, but now comes the explanation. She told me this in the Raptor. She took the ticket because she wanted to see us and there was no other way. She didn't do what they told her, but she stopped me and was talking to me, which ended (unintentionally) with the same result, me being alone enough for them to take me. She cannot fight, so there was no way she could have helped even though she thought about it. She didn't tell us, because she didn't think she was following their instructions. It came to her only when we were already, um, alone and she was considering telling me, when she saw Lucretia. I turned around and got punched," Nosedive was trying to collect his breath after such a long speech. "So, basically you mean that they used and manipulated her..." said Mallory more to herself. "You got it, goody-girl." "Okay, since you know more about her than we do, maybe you also know where she is?" asked Duke. "I hope, that she is still here and hasn't run away. Because if she is still here, she will fill in a lot of gaps. In our idea of what is going on, I mean," said Nosedive, sighing. 'Is it just me, or is he being just a tincy bit serous today?' 'Yeah, he is being serious, I wonder why?' 'Does it have anything to do with Jessie?' 'Maybe. Remember I am not her, so I don't know.' 'I thought you knew everything.' 'I know everything that is common knowledge, plus everything all the people, I've taught, knew. I have never been inside of him, so on that topic I know just about as much as you.' 'Okay, we'll just find her. If we actually use at least a third of Drake1's potential, we'll find her. Provided she is still in the building, of course.' "Tanya, can you check whether she is in the building?" Mallory asked. "Well, I doubt that, since, you know, she doesn't have a, um, com, to track her down," answered Tanya. 'Shows how much of that potential she knows about. Strange since she built this thing in the first place,' thought Mallory, but out loud she said, "What if you look for say, body heat? Nobody is here, so if we find somebody, it might be her. Wouldn't that work?" "Yeah, actually, um, you are right. That would work," answered Tanya, walking up to a little terminal in the wall and pressing some buttons. After about two minutes of scanning the entire Pond, she turned around. "There are two life-forms here big enough to be her. One is on the ice, the other one is, um in the lockers. We should go there, but we need a leader, to replace Wildwing for some time." "Normally," started Nosedive. "I would vote for myself, but today I vote for Mallory..." he looked at the others who were staring at him. "You, know, she seems to know the most about this, so I thought..." "I vote for her too," said Duke. He looked at Tanya. After some hesitation, she answered. "Um, I go with the majority." "Grin?" Duke said, as he looked at the huge duck in front of him. "Whichever leader is the best, would be the one to lead," Grin answered. "Okay," said Duke, looking at Mallory. "Unless, you have a reason not to be a temporary leader, why not you be one? Huh, Humming Bird?" "Okay, I guess..." she looked at the faces of other ducks. Before, they were her teammates, eager to help, talk to, ask a question, live by her side; now, they were her team, until they find Wildwing, and they were looking at her, searching for an answer in her deep blue eyes, waiting for her to decide their lives, entrusting her with their deepest secrets, their lives, even. That one though, though to the ducks seemed only a slight hesitation, to her lasted a million years, while she tried to find something inside of her. That something, was courage. Courage to lead her friends into battle, courage to take all the weight the others placed on her and not give up. Finally, she raised her head. "Okay, let's go team! Upstairs..." said Mallory now, totally sure. "Why?" asked Duke and Dive. That was not what she expected and it caught her unawares. After a slight thought, she looked at them. "Because it's a way out. Whoever we need right now, they would be going in that direction," she said, trying to sound as sure of herself as possible. That explanation seemed to be enough. The Ducks raced to the elevator that led to the locker up above. Mallory, or any of the ducks in that case, never understood how all of them fit into that tiny elevator with Grin at their side. However, somehow, they fit in there, and they were thankful to the genius Tanya for designing the elevator so that it doesn't take much space (and therefore, goes faster) and fits them all in. They fit there this time too, and now no one thought of it as so unusual, but they still wondered. Getting in was the easy part. Getting the elevator to go up was way much harder. The elevator doors closed and the lights went out. The ducks remained in total darkness and in a tight space. Mallory and Duke (without knowing so) both, simultaneously prayed that not one of them was claustrophobic. Fortunately, none of them were. Darkness, silence, that al added up to a strange feeling deep inside. "Um, according to an experiment," Tanya broke the silence. "If a person does not get any stimuli for a certain period of time, claustrophobia develops even in a person who normally doesn't get it." "Um, Tanya, do us all a favor," said Duke. "PLEASE, please, talk in English." "Um, okay, um, I said, some guys did a test..." she started translating her little speech, trying to remember what she said. "And they said that if a person doesn't see anything, nor hear, nor feel, um, if all of a person's senses remain... keep not giving the brain any information, that person will panic." "Um, well, that's helpful," said Duke and looked around. Needless to say, he found nothing and saw nothing as there was that absolute darkness in the tight space of the elevator. Mallory closed her eyes, since as practice showed, she could see better in the dark with her eyes closed. She looked around. She was right next to Duke and Tanya. Dive was behind them and Grin kind of fit all around them. She looked at where the door was supposed to be and found just what she was looking for, a switch board, covered with a metal panel. She looked at Tanya who seemed to be staring into black space. "Um, Tanya?" she said. "Yes?" "If I open the switch board panel, could you tell me what to do to get this thing working again?" "Um, sure, only how are you gonna, you know, see what you're doing?" "Leave that to me, kay?" "Okay, open it then." Mallory tried to get to the panel, occasionally saying something like "Um, Duke, could you move?". She finally got to the wall the panel was on and, with her eyes still closed, tried to open the panel. That wasn't an easy task, even if there were lights on, even though to Mallory, it was light as day. Tanya designed those panels especially so that they would be hard to open. It took Mallory some time and many flashbacks to remember how to open it. When she finally did, a disarray of wires faced her. Still, she tried to make her voice sound as sure as she wanted it to. "Okay, it's opened. What now, Tanya?" she asked. "Um, let me rememb... you push the blue button," she said as Mallory, to her own surprise, continued to find all of the named. "... cross the green and the yellow wires, and disconnect the red one. Kay, the backup system is now operational, but it does not spread over the lights, so we'll have to stay in the dark. Now, just press the top floor button... wait!" she said as she remembered something else. "Close the panel first." Mallory looked at her. "I already did that, Tanya," she said as she pressed the button. The force of gravity pulled them down a bit and they started moving up. The doors opened and the dark locker appeared in front of them. "I guess, the power is out in the entire building..." said Tanya. "Um, Tanya, didn't you design the power system?" asked Duke. "Well, yes, but..." "Than how come it's not working?" "There must be a, you know, a failure of some kind somewhere.. I don't know!" She admits that she doesn't know something, thought Duke, something is wrong here. Meanwhile, Nosedive exploring the wall with his hands, walked to the light switch and pushed it. The light spread from the light bulbs up on the ceiling and illuminated the entire locker. The first thing that caught everybody's attention was a jet black head and a body sitting on the bench, back turned to them. The first question that appeared in Mallory's mind was why didn't she see that person before? Why, when her eyes were closed in the dark, she saw the room, the lockers, the bench, and the helmets on the wall, but did not see that person? Something was wrong. Mallory pulled out her gun and the others followed by taking out their weapons and pointing them at the person sitting. "Turn around!" ordered Mallory. The person slowly turned around, getting up at the same time. Everybody saw a familiar face, covered with tears. "Hello," said Jessie through her tears... To Be Continued... Did you like that? What do you think will happen next? Do you have a suggestion? Comment? Flame? Email me at osk@acd-pc.com