The Sanctum Chapter 5

"Where are you going now? You just got back. You'll tire yourself out running around like this." Buggy told me, pout on her face.
"We need to eat Buggy," I said, "I'll be right back."
Buggy sighed, "All right. Just stay where you can run back if you stumble into trouble."
"I will," I lied, knowing I'd go to the other side of town, where the streets were crowded and shop owners more occupied.
I turned on my heel and began to run away.
"Be careful, Arrow!"
"I will!" I called back to Buggy.
My feet pounded on the rough cobblestone road, but made no sound.
The streets were quiet right now, the inklings of dawn appearing just above the horizon. But I knew that in less than an hour, what seemed like a quiet city would burst into crowded masses with hot breath, struggling to get the best deals in the open air market.
I took short cuts through alleyways, stopping only when I see other kids, like me and Buggy, sleeping in the open, so I can wake them up and tell them to hide.
It's dangerous for kids like us. With no parents. The second a Corpie cop sees them, bam. They're gone. That's why I couldn't let Buggy out. She's a runaway from an orphanage. There's lots of those here. Once you leave the orphanage, your subject to the law. Which means if anyone sees you they must report you to be dispatched. And they get a large reward.
I could hear the voices of the people even before I stepped onto the street.
Like always, there was a crowd.
I pulled the collar of my brown leather jacket up to my jaw and walked, head down, dark blonde hair falling in front of my eyes.
"Get your hot potatoes here, folks! Best potatoes in the New Order!" a pudgy man called from a stand, a potato raised in one hand, above his gray stained apron. I watched as the man stumbled for a second, dropping the potato. I stood poised as it began to roll to me.
Just then a small mutt ran across the road from an alley, scooping up the potato in his mouth.
"Damned dog!" the man yelled, grabbing a rifle and firing at the mutt.
The dog's small legs quivered and it fell to the ground, only to be stepped on by a couple walking by and kicked to the gutter by an elderly woman.
I shook my head slowly and kept walking.
I walked over toa bread stand, where the baker woman had her back turned to the right side of the cart.
Feigning curiosity, I went over to the very side of the market tent and craned my neck as if trying to see what she was doing.
When I was sure no one was looking, I pushed a bun of bread up my sleeve with one finger,not even looking down at my hand.
I gave a agitated sigh as if I couldn't see and attempted to walk around the crowd to get a better look.
It was no use, the crowd here was too big to slip through.
I kept walking until I hit the peach stand, my favorite stand. I didn't care too much for peaches, the fuzz freaked me out, but Buggy loved them.
I walked up to where the elderly woman was selling.
She was talking to someone I assumed was a friend.
"Those darned Corpies! My taxes are so high now, I can barely afford food without taxes, I don't know what I'll do now."
I've heard people say before that Corporates own the world, and I guess in a way they do.
A young woman with a baby in arms stepped up, hearing the conversation.
"Why must they take so much?Corporates have everything they need." she said while tickling her child's foot absentmindedly.
Not everything, I thought,watching the baby giggle and grab it's mother's dress collar with its tiny fist.
I was about to make my move, eyeing asmall peach, things were tough all around but that didn't make me want to really rob this old woman.
"Look at that smoke!" I heard a man call and whipped around.
My heart nearly fell tomy stomach.
There was smoke. Alot of it. Coming from the other side of town. My side of town.
"No...Buggy.." I breathed, strangled.
"What was that dear?" the elderly woman asked, suspicion in her eyes as she realized I was very close to her cart.
I didn't answer her, I just ran.
Ran towards my alleyway.
Ran towards Buggy.

The Sanctum Chapter 4

"I still don't understand how you expect to catch anything with swords." Buggy said, bow in one hand arrows slung around her arm.
I watched as her long black cloak swished as she walked, making the only noise as we walked.
"It's the same as arrows I just don't let go of them." I explained.
Buggy rolled her eyes but I could tell she wasn't annoyed. If anything she was amused by my puncturing plan.
Before we left, Rhodes and I set up the fire while Buggy fixed Nadi's hair.
It was quite entertaining watching Buggy circle Nadia, dagger in hand, chopping of small bits here and there until Nadi's hair framed her face and went to a foofy puff in the back.
"Alright. I'll go this way you go that way and we'll meet up with the signal." I said, nodding to Buggy.
She bowed her head in agreement and started in her direction. She glanced back for a moment.
"Be careful, Arrow."
I turned and walked, her words echoing in my head.
Be careful, Arrow.
I breathed out in a small puff, hopping over a log.
My head was spinning.
Be careful...
I hopped off a ledge, landing in a crouch. I stood up and felt a wave of nausea.I closed my eyes and counting my steps.
One.
Be careful, Arrow
Two.
Be careful-
Three.
Be-
Four.
Arrow!
And soon Iwas falling, slipping deeper and deeper, into the folds of a memory.
"Are you alright?"

The Sanctum Chapter Three

The second I heard Lia screaming, nothing else mattered except getting to her. I felt myself dart towards the sound, pulled to it. My strong legs pumping, the blood roaring in my ears.

 

"Lia!"I yelled, reaching back and pulling my twin swords out of their X- formation on my back.

 

"Arrow!" I heard her little voice call.

 

I burst through a bush, the branches slicing cuts into my face, and rolled onto the ground, jumping up to my feet.

 

I saw it. The large black and brown hairless beast towering over my little Lia, its glowing amber eyes looking so intense like they'd melt out of its eye sockets if it increased any more.

 

I got ready to pounce when a familiar, soft woosh of an arrow sounded in my right ear.

 

I turned and there was Buggy, poised tall and looking confident that her instrument would play its music.

 

It did, as always, the arrow went right to its target, piercing the beast in the back.

 

I watched as it shuddered, it's muscles wobbling.

 

"Lia! Move!" I yelled, diving under the body of the monster and grabbing my Lia, skidding away on the brush as the beast collapsed only an inch away frommy foot.

 

"Is everyone alright?" I heard Nadi ask, breathing heavily as she pounded out of the woods, Rhodes and June coming up behind.

 

"I'm okay!" Lia called, a little rattled, "Arrow saved me!"

 

I felt her bony, little arms come around my neck.

 

"And Buggy too," I reminded her, lifting her up.

 

"Thank-you, Buggy!" Lia said reaching out for her.

 

I gave her to Buggy, who craddledLia in her arms.

 

"No injuries?" Nadi asked, not taking her eyes off of mine.

 

"None." I answered and coughed a litte. Nadi and the others looked freaked, and like always, they looked to me thinking I'd have a snappity plan to fix it, make it all better, and every time it makes me uncomfortable having all that responsibility on my shoulders.

 

But this was my family, and I'd undergo any amount of uncomfortability to make it all better.

 

I smirked, coming up with an idea.

 

I gestured to the dead beast, "Looks like Lia found us dinner."

 

"Ewwwwww!!!!!!" came the immediate protest from Rhodes, "I don't want to eatMalbon for dinner!"

 

Yup. Those nasty things are called Malbons. They reminded me of hairless wolves on steriods, but instead of a long muzzle their faces were pinched up in an ugly grimase on a stumpy snout.

 

"Hey, it's food. It might be a little tough but it's fuel, guys." I said.

 

"Wait- You're serious?" Nadia asked, looking half grossed ut and half excited.

 

"Yup," I answered at exactly the same time Buggy looked over and gasped, "Oh Nadia, what happened to your hair?!"

 

Nadia groaned and looked up to the sky, "I'm guessing it's bad," she said.

 

I gave a little ashamed shrug as Buggy shot me a look of disapproval.

 

"I'll fix it later, hon." she said, reshifting Lia's position in her arms.

 

I turned to the Malbon, then looked up to ask Nadia for help.

 

Buggy was glaring at me.

 

"Eagle Arrow we are not eating Malbon for dinner, we'll go hunting later."

 

"Thank you lord for givin' us Buggy." I heard Rhodes exclaim throwing up her arms.

 

I rolled my eyes, but I wasn't complaining too much. If there's one thing I love- it's hunting.

 

 

The Sanctum Chaper Two~

Okay, I don't mean like the superpowers you'd find in books written in the old days, the ones where men can fly at the speed of light and all that.
They're more of little talents, or enhanced senses.
Buggy, she can sense when something's wrong in a person, what they're feeling. She just looks them in the eye and can suddenly feel what they're feeling.
Rhodes is springy, she can jump two feet above our heads, so I guess in all around seven feet high.
Nadia's features changes slightly to fir her surroundings, like if she were standing in front of a tree you'd see her skin and hair slowly start to change brown, which is noticeable, since she's pale with black hair.
Dianella zaps people. Literally. She can send a zolt of electricity up your arm and make your hair stick up.
I think you know June's. Her sight is razor-sharp. She can see past the littlest cracks in scenery. And me? I don't know. I don't have one.
As we near where June was pointing, I can see what she was talking about.
A river snuck its way in between the forest and a clearing. The clearing was small but it was perfect. There was even a few logs from trees long past on their side like seats. A little bit of fixing up and it would be home sweet home.
"Alrighty guys, say hello to our new home." I said leaning running over and leaning against a tree.
There was a chorus of relieved sighs, and even a dragged out finally from Rhodes.
"Okay, you know the drill. Buggy and Lia, go collect firewood and stones, June, Rhodes, go get some water from that stream, Nadi, give me one of your daggers and let's chop that pony." I distributed.
My girls got started on their work. Nadi came over and handed me a dagger and turned around.
I pushed off the tree and took her long, inky-black hair in my hand, and putting the dagger just above the rubber band, I cut it off.
"Lemme see," I said, turning her around by her shoulders.
Nadia shook her hair out and ran her fingers through it. I winced. Not my best work. Then again, when it comes to the hair cutting thing, nothing I do is really good work.
Nadi seen me wince, "How bad is it?"
It looked like a raven just sat itself on her head and ruffled its feathers out around her face. "Buggy can fix it later," I said, taking the hair in my hand out of the rubber band and walking over to the outline of the site, tossing the strands out.
Nadia shook her head and walked over.
"Buggy should just cut everyone's hair from now on." she said, taking a clump of hair out of my hand and starting on the other side of the clearing.
I smirked and looked at her, "Noted."
I was in a fairly good mood, we'd just found a new site, next to a water source too so we wouldn't have to walk to the end of the world and back just to get a drink or take a bath.
Yep, life seemed to be as great as it could be despite the obvious problem of being dumped into the woods with a blindness in our frontal lobes.
And then I heard Lia scream

The Sanctum Chapter One

Hey :) Here's Chapter One

http://quizilla.teennick.com/stories/24201044/the-sanctum-chapter-one

"Arrooowww! When are you going to pick a spot, my feet are killing me!" I heard Rhodes call out behind me.
"Wanna know what's killing me? You're whining." Nadi snapped in a reply.
"Guys, guys. I'm sure Arrow will find a spot soon, right Arrow?" Buggy asked, to the right of me, looking at me with pleading pale blue eyes.
I smirked, "Look, what do you guys want from me? To pick a spot right now so we'll have to move again in another week or two?"
"Then Nadia would have growed out her hair for nothing." A small voice said next to me, an equally small hand sliding into mine.
Buggy looked down at the little curly blonde head, who was also holding her hand.
"That's right Lia." she said, smiling.
There's six of us here, with me, Rhododendron, andNadia at 15, Buggy at 16,Juniper at 14, andDianella at 7.
Every time we move to a different spot one of us has to cut our hair real short, or 'tip of the pony' as Rhodes calls it, and we spread the locks around our site to keep animals away.
That's right.
Animals.
We live in a forest.
Don't ask me how we got here, nobody knows.
All of us woke up two year ago in the same clearing, with no memory of our former lives. But over the year that we've been herelittle snippets of our past are resurfacing.
Mine more than the rest of the girls.
Not that I'd want to share those of course.
Take Buggy for example. She remembers large rooms with multiple dingy beds and lots of voices. And in a later memory, dark, damp spaces.
I was able to put two and two together from what I remember.
Buggy grew up in an orphanage. I don't really know exactly where I just know she did. At some point, for whatever reason, she ran away and found me.
I was already living on the streets at this point.
I said that I didn't remember why.
I do.
Most of the other girls remember things like Buggy, little flashes of memories. Anything could bring them on.
Dreams, fears, places.
Anything.
Guilt.
Tentative fingertips clutched my shoulder.
I turned and saw June, tall, brunette with a tan like an acorn.
"Umm, I think I see I a clearing, and I think it's by a stream." she said in a hushed voice, pointing with her eyes where she was looking.
I looked over and knew that in a few minutes, I'd see it too.
Another thing about us forest-gals, we've got powers.