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Yay! Here are the next few chapters, hope you like them, I just finished a few minutes ago!

Chapter 15 Kera
Sherwin came back into the room, his face completely changed from how it had looked when he had left. “What’s wrong?” Adelle asked immediately, standing and moving over to him in worry.
“Devlin wasn’t messing around, we have to get packed and leave.” He frowned, upset.
“Why do we have to leave? We just got here, we’re supposed to rest.” Adelle said quietly, the news seemed to be distressing her as well.
“Why are you all leaving?” Kera interrupted worried, where was she going to go?
Sherwin and Adelle looked over at her, “You’re coming with us too.” They answered together, after they finished they both looked at each other smiling. Kera began to have the feeling that she was invading their privacy, so she edged her way carefully out of the kitchen and out to the hallway just as Sherwin and Adelle began holding hands. Kera made a gagging face to herself and walked further down the hallway, looking for Petula.
Kera soon discovered that Sherwin and Adelle had a very long hallway in their house and she wondered what the point of having such a long hallway was. She couldn’t see a reason for it, and she was trying to come up with a reason for it when she heard Petula yelling at someone. “Devlin why do you have to be such a moron! I don’t even know how to talk rationally to you anymore! It’s just impossible!”
Kera ran through the short bit of the hallway that was left, coming into a front room where Petula stood angrily pounding on the door. Petula’s face was buried in the door, and I could tell that she was crying. “Petula…? What’s wrong?” Kera asked her voice barely audible, and when Petula didn’t respond she stepped closer to her.
Petula was muttering to herself again, “Devlin, you say you’re nothing like him but this is exactly what William does! He cuts off everything that ties him to others so that he won’t be hurt! He can’t stand the pain of losing someone that he cares for, and you can’t either! You all just think that we can beat them when we’re divided, but we can’t!” She continued ranting; her voice racked with sobs every few words. Her speech was beginning to slur together, and her hits against the wall became weaker as she gave in to her hysteria.
Kera approached Petula carefully, slipping an arm easily around her small, thin shoulders. “Petula…are you okay?”
Petula wordlessly shook her head, her tears streaming down her face in glistening waterfalls. “This isn’t the first time he’s done this, and he promised me that it wouldn’t happen again…”
Kera wasn’t sure what to say, she had never dealt with this emotion before, not that she herself was even sure what it was. She barely knew Petula, and yet she felt her heart going out to her, and Kera felt Petula’s grief strongly inside of herself. “Is there anything I can do to cheer you up?”
Petula stood thinking, backing away from the door and allowing herself to be lead over to a nearby couch in the room. When Kera had Petula seated next to her Petula spoke, “Devlin needs someone from outside to convince him that this war will bring nothing but pain to him when he’s like this.”
“What is the war?” Kera asked warily, everyone kept mentioning it, and she had no clue what was going on.
“The war…is coming. We’re going to battle soon, with the attackers of darkness. They’re going to bring a shroud of darkness to cover everything that we hold dear, and they plan to take over for good.” Petula explained.
“Take over? That won’t happen, you’ve read all the legends and fairy tales, it never happens, someone always stops them, so why are you so worried?” Kera questioned.
Petula laughed drily, her laughter bitter and dreary, “Why are we so worried? Kera,” Petula turned to stare straight into her eyes her stare tedious and watery, her expression serious and pained, “we are the people that are going to stop them, and if we don’t then ever fairy tale you ever read will be rewritten.”
“They won’t win! The forces of dark never have enough strength, they don’t have good reasons!” Kera argued.
Petula smiled wretchedly, her eyes dead, “That’s not the way it happens in real life Kera, the world isn’t a book. If we don’t prevail the light will go out forever in children’s eyes.”
Kera dropped her arm from around Petula’s shoulders; her cold, lifeless eyes scared Kera more than anything she had ever seen. Petula’s eyes had been sparkling and full of life the last time Kera had seen them, and one single fight had changed them into a haunting memory that would stay etched in Kera’s memory for the rest of her life. Petula’s words were almost as bad as her eyes, her voice had lost its sweet charm and energy, and it now sounded as if it would never cheer another soul.
Petula’s smile broadened, her teeth looked like fangs in the slanting sunlight, creating shadows of dread across her face, “Are you scared now Kera? Realizing that this isn’t a story is hard isn’t it? Makes your life before seem easy, no food, no proper clothes, you practically starved every day, but that’s ten times better than what your life will be like when we lose.”
Kera stood from the couch, a fear imbedding itself deep in her soul, Petula was frenzied, and the panic was bringing out the worst in her. Kera found herself becoming infected with her ill mood, she felt herself dropping into a deep depression just looking at her, and she began to wonder if she would ever feel happy again.
“Petula, what…?” Devlin’s voice came from behind Kera and she felt the next few moments flash by her in slow motion, she felt like she was reading it from a book, everything seemed so exact to her eyes. Devlin took one look at Petula and his face that had been tanned up until then immediately paled. His feet weren’t fast enough to bring him to Petula and he ended up falling and stumbling several times in the short distance to the couch where she sat. When he reached her it didn’t even look like he was thinking, his face was wrought with pain, and he seemed to know that it was his fault that she was like this. He pulled Petula quickly into his arms and he began glowing slowly, the glow increasing steadily while he closed his eyes and began muttering a simple rhyme, “Don’t cry, no tears, sunshine dry, have no fears.” He repeated the words over and over and eventually the words seemed to change the atmosphere around him. The light shining from his radiated joy and brought back happy memories from Kera’s childhood.
As Kera stood there remembering the happy times she had spent with her parents she wondered if this was Devlin’s power or if it was simply a spell he was casting. She hadn’t heard Adelle and Sherwin come up behind her, but she knew that they were there before Adelle placed her hand on Kera’s shoulder. Kera had felt them enter the room, and an odd aura was beginning to form separately from the bliss she felt.
She felt power growing steadily inside her and the feeling of being able to accomplish any task no matter how great. At that point everything that Petula had said, and everything that had frightened her so much before faded away, dropping from her mind like grains of said released from a clenched fist. Her mind was clear, and thoughts passed through rapidly, she realized that she was seeing things that were going on in the minds of everyone else in the room. She saw Petula’s and Devlin’s shared pain, Adelle’s and Sherwin’s shared love, she saw devastating images of what had already occurred in the war, understood why it was important to stop the darkness from spreading. Two new names dropped into her mind, and faces swam in front of her eyes, Sarila, a girl about her age, and her companion Cavan. As soon as the faces appeared before her she knew that these were the people she had to stop, and she felt something in her flare up, they had to be stopped.
The light faded and with it so did the faces of Sarila and Cavan. She reached for her stone around her neck and found it to be warm. She looked up and saw Devlin staring at her, “You see now who we have to find? Do you understand why we have to stop them now?”
Kera nodded, “I saw, but what did you do?”
“That’s my power, I can see other people’s memories and feel their emotions, more recently I have found that I can share these memories and emotions with others. I can’t control it very well yet, so that’s why you didn’t just see Sarila and Cavan.” He stood and lifted Petula in his arms, her eyes were closed and her breathing calm, she was asleep.
“Will she be okay?” Kera asked, her voice wavering.
“She should be, I really hope that she will be…” he stared down at her sorrowfully, “I wasn’t trying to hurt her, but I’ve felt her pain every time I come back hurt. I can’t tell what I’m supposed to do."
“I don’t think anyone knows, but suddenly doing something like this isn’t the answer. Just stick through it and assure her that you’ll always be there.” Adelle said softly.
“But I can’t just do that now, after telling her that I don’t want to have anything to do with her.” Devlin said his face pinched with pain.
“You’ll have to, apologize and explain yourself, that’s the only thing you can hope for. Pray that she’ll forgive you, and if she does, don’t be stupid again.” Sherwin told him sternly.
“Will that even be enough?” Devlin asked, looking up at Adelle and Sherwin.
“I don’t know she has to decide whether she can trust you. But, while we wait for her to wake up, how about we get moving? We’re all packed and Adelle took the liberty to pack for Petula as well.” Sherwin turned briefly to Kera, “Do you…have anything to pack?”
Kera shook her head, biting her lip gently. “I…only have everything that’s in my bag…”
“Do you want to borrow anything from me?” Adelle offered.
Kera smiled, “That’s okay, I should be fine, and as long as you’re willing to share your food I won’t mind so much. I can wash my clothes along the way, that’s what I’ve done before.”
“But you need at least two changes of clothes, come on, I insist that you take something,” Adelle said, pulling Kera by the arm back down the hallway.
“Are you sure? I really don’t want to take your clothes and ruin them….” Kera protested.
Adelle smiled, “You won’t be borrowing too many of my clothes, I’ll give you some clothes I’ve bought for Petula in the hopes that she’ll grow, they should fit you perfectly.”
“Oh…” Kera wasn’t sure how to react, she didn’t really want to use the clothes that were meant for Petula, but she knew that Adelle would be hard to convince. “Thank you.”
“No problem, you’re helping us to save everything after all, it’s the least I can do to reward your braveness.” Adelle laughed quietly, “You’ve known us for…barely a day, and you’re not even all that freaked out anymore, I’d say that says something about you. You’re ready to take on the world girl.”
Kera smiled, “Um, if you don’t mind though…do you have a better bag that I could use, this one is really falling apart.” She showed the raggedy bag to Adelle cautiously.
“Of course, I can give you a bag, and you can keep it. What all do you have in there anyway?” She asked curiously.
Kera shrugged, “Not much, just a spell book now, I ate all my food several days ago.”
Adelle stared at her wide eyed, “That would explain why you were so hungry when you got here. I’m glad that we could feed you adequately.” She smiled pleased, pulling Kera through the kitchen and deeper into the house.
Kera laughed nervously, “It worried me because I knew I couldn’t regenerate any more power without food, and I really didn’t want to starve to death….”
Adelle stared at her again, “Don’t say such depressing things that would never have happened!”
Kera shrugged, “I know…but it’s something I’ve…learned to think about…”
Adelle watched Kera with worried eyes as she led her into the room. “Well, you won’t have to think about that anymore, ‘because I promise it’s not going to happen again!”

Chapter 16 Sarila
Sarila woke early the next morning to the gentle music of bird song. The sun was almost above the horizon and the new light created brilliant color in the early morning sky. Sarila stared at it, remembering all the mornings that she had woken up in the forest to the delicate sunlight streaming through the branches. It was such a calm memory and Sarila shuddered at the thought of never being able to go there again. The forest was her real home, and that was where she belonged, all she had to do was shake off her mother first…
“You awake yet Sarila?” Cavan called from the fire.
Sarila yawned in answer, “I guess so,” she smelled the air deeply, “is that breakfast I smell?”
She heard his quiet chuckle, “It depends are you willing to get up and eat it?”
“But it’s still chilly out, I might get cold…” she complained smiling.
“Suck it up; if you want food you have to come get it from over here, I’m not bringing it to you.” She could tell he was smiling too.
Sarila wanted to pout, but she knew that it was the same thing she would’ve said to him. So, she pushed the sleeping bag off of her body and stretched her arms over her head. Before going over to get her food she folded up the sleeping bag and tossed it on top of Cavan’s. Then, frowning she moved over to sit next to Cavan at the fire. “Morning…” She mumbled.
“Not exactly a morning person are you?” He asked grinning.
She stuck her tongue out at him and smirked, “No, I just fell like shunning you.”
“That’s not nice of you; I might decide to feel like not sharing breakfast with you.”
“But you see that’s not just mean, it’s cruel, I need food.”
“Well I can’t tell the difference, so I guess it’s your loss.” He beamed, knowing that he was winning.
“Fine, I’ll be nice to you then, but only while we’re eating.”
“Aw, you know that you would be sad if I wasn’t around.” He argued handing her a plate stacked with eggs and sausage.
“No I wouldn’t, I just might have to do some more stuff for myself.” She shrugged, indifferently.
“Oh, well then maybe I should just leave right now…?” he threatened, raising an eyebrow.
“You know you wouldn’t do that, you like being here.”
“We’ll see about that then…” he stood up and began walking towards the sleeping bags. He pulled his out from underneath and stuffed it into his saddle bag, swiftly enchanting it so it would fit easily. He then continued by saddling his horse and giving it some water.
Sarila watched him startled, “You aren’t really leaving are you…?” she flinched as she noticed the fearful undertone in her voice, was she really that pathetic? She had never needed anyone before, so why was Cavan so important to her now? No, it wasn’t so much that she would miss Cavan; it was just that she would miss the company. She knew that she needed someone to help her on this journey; she couldn’t do it on her own.
“Of course I’m leaving, you don’t need me.” He looked over at her apathetically.
His look shot through her, and she saw quickly that he was serious about leaving. “No!”
“No what?” He asked unconcerned.
“No…you…can’t leave…” she protested lamely.
“Why can’t I leave?” He pressed, turning to face her.
She sighed, he wasn’t going to leave, but he was going to have fun while he could. She didn’t want to lose, but she knew that she wasn’t going to win anyway, so she might as well end his fun as soon as she could instead of drawing it out. “You can’t leave because…I need your help.”
“Need my help with what?” He asked easily, his lips twitching.
“I need your help if I’m ever going to escape my mother,” she felt herself smiling as she realized something, “but then again, you need me too, you can’t escape my mother without me.”
His lips stopped twitching and his expression became serious as he realized that he was losing. “That may be true…but I still…” he exhaled angrily, “fine, but I still know that you need me, and that counts for something.”
Sarila laughed, “But you don’t win, which was your plan the whole time.” Sarila could tell he had the urge to do something, but he chose to be mature and ignore her.
“Hurry up and eat, we need to get moving,” he grumbled.
Memories from the night before flashed back, “But I thought we needed to talk about what we wanted to do about those people coming after us.”
His face flickered with remembrance, “Oh, that’s right, I’d completely forgotten,” he walked back over to the fire and took his seat next to her again. “What do you want to do?”
Sarila thought while she ate, chewing quickly. “I’m not sure, but I guess I feel like I want to see if we can’t learn anything more about them before we make a decision.”
“Should we look in the book then?” He asked, standing to get it.
Sarila nodded, “That’s probably a good idea.”
“Okay, then we’ll look.” Cavan grabbed the book out of her bag and sat next to her, opening the book on his lap. The pages were blank for a few moments and Sarila wondered if it had detected her ill thoughts that morning, but then words began appearing on the page. The words were very light at first, but as the seconds passed they steadily darkened until they could finally be read,

Petula was still asleep and so the problem of travel arose, how were they to carry her? Devlin offered Sherwin that he would just carry her, but Sherwin knew better. While Petula might have been very light, especially for Devlin, it was going to be a long journey and they would need all their strength. “No, we’ll have to enchant something…” he frowned; he had no idea what that something was, or what it could be.
Devlin knew this from his face and he nodded, “You see? It’s not that simple, it would be much easier if I just carry her.”
“For the first little bit, but you don’t know how long she’ll be out, she was quite drained power wise when she got here, she’s been trying to track and keep track of Kera for days without rest.”
“Why did it take so long to find her? Petula’s never had trouble before.” Devlin said his face worried.
“Kera appears to be different, half the time Petula couldn’t even detect her let alone see her, she was relentless and she barely ate for the three days she spent here. Not to mention that she was awake the entire night last night trying to find the ‘dark room’ that Kera was in.” Sherwin frowned, “Turns out sadly enough that Kera was here the whole night and we didn’t even know it, she was in my mirror room.”
“How did she get there?” He asked, and before Devlin could answer his face lit with amazement, “Teleportation, really? That’s incredible, how do you think she did it?”
“As far as Adelle and I know it must have been an accident, she doesn’t appear to have known where she was, lucky for us it was here.” Sherwin frowned, “And I wish you wouldn’t do that, it really bothers me.”
“Do what?” Devlin asked confused.
“Read through my memories, I’d rather you just let me tell you.”
“It’s not my fault,” he argued carefully, “It just happens sometimes.”
“If you say so…” Sherwin turned as Adelle led Kera back through the hallway towards them.
“Are you ready to leave? We need to get going; we never know what Sarila and Cavan are going to do.” Devlin asked.
Adelle nodded, her face flushed, “I think so…”

Cavan looked up at Sarila, “Are we really learning anything from this?”
Sarila shook her head, “I don’t think so, other than the fact that one of them is wiped out…”
“Not that we really care too much, its not like we’re planning on fighting them. But, we did learn something,” he pointed to the end of the page, “they don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Sarila brightened realizing he was right, “That’s true, but then again neither do we…”
He shrugged, “But we can decide that now, I say that we keep going and just make sure to check in here every time that we take a break.”
Sarila wondered if that would really work, they had to have at least some way of finding them, otherwise they wouldn’t have known their names. “How do they even know about us in the first place?”
Cavan pointed to the book again, “That girl Petula, they mentioned something about her tracking Kera, so what if she did the same sort of thing with us? It must be a spell she knows.”
“Wouldn’t the rest of them know it too?” She asked unconvinced.
“I don’t think so, I’ve never heard of a spell like that. Plus from the way they said it, she was the only one tracking Kera, so she must be the only one.”
That convinced her; as long as Petula remained out of the picture she and Cavan were safe, Sarila hoped that it would be long enough for them to find out how to hide themselves. If that girl Kera could, that meant it was possible, they just had to figure out how. “Can we hide ourselves like Kera did?” she asked.
“We probably could, I just don’t know how, I didn’t see any mention of what she did,” he told her shaking his head.
“Okay, but for now let’s just get going, who knows how long Petula will stay out,” she urged, stuffing the rest of the food on her plate into her mouth and chewing while she repacked her saddle bag. After she finished chewing and packing she saddled her horse and put the spell book into a deep pocket in her jacket. “Make sure to put out the fire,” she said while giving her horse water.
“Already did, I think we’re ready to leave. Need a leg up?” He offered.
She nodded so he bent down slightly and held out his cupped hands for her to step on and push herself onto the horse. After she was in the saddle he quickly hopped into his own saddle surveying the campsite once more. As soon as they were sure nothing was left behind they set off at a canter.
Ten minutes later Sarila noticed that she had forgotten to change into fresh clothes, she had planned to change after breakfast, but they had been in such a rush that she had not remembered. She wondered if this was going to start happening more often, so far she had never forgotten to do the things that she had normally done at home. Every morning before Cavan woke up she normally washed in the nearby river and changed. It was odd, and her mind rebelled against the thoughts that flashed through it, maybe not changing wasn’t such a big deal, and that she would just wait till tomorrow morning to wash. Was that really so bad?
“What’re you doing?” Cavan’s voice startled her.
She looked up to find herself falling way behind, she urged her horse faster, realizing that it had lazily slipped back to a walk when she hadn’t been paying attention. “Sorry, I got lost in thought,” she apologized.
“What were you thinking about?” He asked curiously.
Her face flushed red, “Nothing.”
He grinned, “Really, I have a hard time believing that…”
“Why is that?” She stared at him carefully, avoiding his probing eyes.
“You’re only leading me to believe that it’s something worse than it probably is…”
“Then I’ll let you believe that, it’s not hurting me that way, I don’t care what you think.”
“Ouch, I thought we were friends.” He sounded hurt but she could tell he was teasing.
“If you’re really my friend then you wouldn’t believe it to be something bad right off the bat.”
“True, I can’t argue with that, but I want to know, is curiosity that bad?” He continued shrugging.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” she told him sagely.
“That may be true, but I’m not a cat,” he argued.
“I could change that…”
“You think so? I’d like to see you try that,” he called her bluff.
“Fine, next time we stop I’m looking up a spell.”
He grinned, “It’d better be a really good spell…”

Lots of dialogue in Chapter 16 huh...