A retelling of Ten Keepers: Book One's Chapters 13-14

Mysterious or Familiar

Irene's POV

When they docked their ship onto the docks of northern Amaya, Irene shivered... because it was cold that's why she shivered. The weather in northern Amaya was far different than the weather in southern Zhong. Which was a given, considering their geographical proximity to the equator... which I'm assuming Erdas had because it would be awkward if they didn't-

This is to say, she wasn't used to the cold weather.

"Dude it's freezing here," Ivan shivers.

"How the Haliwir do people live in this weather?" Jef whines.

"We just live, I guess," Hope answers for them, very wisely inputting her insight.

As the whipped person he was, Zoron nodded wholeheartedly in agreement and with his entire support in full display for the whole group to see.

Zoey seconds it. "I seconded."

John scoffs, "This is nothing to northern Eura."

"Oh I think it's pretty similar," George counters.

"What are you talking about? Gaundor's way colder than this."

"No it's not???"

"Yes it is," John looks at Eilene, "Back me up here."

She only shrugs. "I literally don't even live there."

"...okay but you LiVe iN eUrA!"

"Oh, well in that case the weather's pretty much the same," Eilene chirps.

"Yus," George celebrates as John leaves the chat.

Riley clears her throat, bringing the plot back into relevance. "Anyways, where are we supposed to find Dwayne?"

"Well..." Ella hesitates. "Olvan didn't give us an address so..."

"We just have to trust destiny to lead us the way," Eric finishes confidentially.

Irene shakes her head, "Hold up, let me get this straight. We're looking for Dwayne... but we don't know where he is. So rather than asking around... we're just going to hope we bump into him?"

"Trusting destiny," Eric corrects.

"Alright, so we're winging it," Riley mumbles, exchanging an exasperated glance with Irene.

They began walking to some random direction they picked, heading deeper into the city and hoping they found Dwayne.

It was also around the same time that Irene saw three black-cloaked figures converging in conversation by the alleyway before disappearing into said-alleyway. If Irene didn't know any better, she would've thought that they looked reaaaaaaally suspicious, giving off the vibe that they were doing some really sketchy stuff in there...

But NAH. Not every black-cloaked guy must be a bad guy, right? For all she knew, it might just be a very popular Amayan fashion trend!

"Am I the only one who thinks we might actually never find Dwayne?" Irene mutters to Riley.

Before she could reply, Eric beat her to it-

"DWAYNE! BUDDY OLD PAL!" Eric yelled before hugging a Greencloak that had spawned out of nowhere. "I KNEW WE'D FIND YOU!"

"Yes," Irene nods dryly. "Right here. In the middle of the street. Coincidentally."

"Well, as the great summoner of Essix once said," John speaks up solemnly. "Just wing it."

Eilene raised an eyebrow. "He said that?"

"He said something like that- can you not?"

"Woah, I didn't even say anything?"

"I can FEEL you want to say something-!"

"So, these are the Keepers?" Dwayne cuts in, giving them all a judging gaze. "They're kids."

"I mean, obviously," Ella deadpans. "Literally seventy-percent of our workforce are kids."

Dwayne shrugs. "Fair point. Well then, I suppose we'll just have to pray to destiny that they don't fall during the climb."

"Climb?" Irene pipes up. "What do you mean 'climb'?"

"The Copper Falcon's up a mountain," Dwayne grimly answers. "And the beast you're facing's a grumpy-ass eagle who decided to make its nest at a precipice."

"Well..." A pause. "...well shet-"

Hope's POV

Hope vaguely dreams of waking up in her bed and finding Eilene halfway out the window.

"Eilene?" Hope mumbles, blinking blearily.

Eilene looks at her. It was silent.

"What are you doing?"

And like every weird dream, dream-Eilene weirdly replies, "I'm going to the bathroom."

And because it was a weird dream, Hope accepts the logic and nods herself back to sleep.

That's just about when Hope woke up with a cold sweat, a crippling feeling of "something's about to go wrong" creeping up her spine. The room was dark, probably because it was night time so that was great, it just adds more to the eery vibe going on. She sat up her bed and conveniently looked out the window to find a figure parkouring on the side of the building. Hope didn't know how she knew, but the figure looked like a girl that looked verrrrrrrrryyyyyyyy familiar, even from the distance she was at.

"Hope, why the fuq are you staring out the window?" Irene mutters. "Seriously, it's creeping me out."

"S-Sorry I-" Hope looked back and the figure was gone. So strange. So scary. "I thought I saw something."

There was silence between the two girls.

"It was probably nothing, right?"

"Yeah, maybe we're just tired and we're seeing things."

"Maybe I'm actually still dreaming."

"It's probably nothing."

"Yep! It was nothing. Nothing at all."

They went back to sleep with a ton of copium.

A Spy

Zoron's POV

It was obvious to everyone who had a normal night's sleep, that the girls looked more distracted than everyone else, deep in their thoughts of... deep-thinking. Turns out, having an embarrassingly huge crush on someone makes you more especially in tune to their presence.

Just to confirm that it wasn't just his heart playing tricks on him, Zoron turns to George.

"Is it just me or do the girls look distracted?"

"Hmm... yeah they definitely look distracted," George turned to John. "What did you do?"

"Woah- hey! Why are y'all assuming I did something?" John exclaimed.

"'Cause you're usually doing something," Zoron deadpans.

John scowls. "Now that's just being stereotypical. I've been a good boy!"

George barfs. "Please don't ever say that in my vicinity ever again."

"Maybe we should talk to them?" Zoron suggests.

"Talk to who?" Ivan pipes in out of nowhere

"I love talking," Jef adds out of nowhere.

"The girls look distracted," George explains. "We're trying to be considerate gentlemen."

John snorts. "Gentlemen?"

"Shut up."

"I'm older than you-!"

"Zoey and Riley don't look distracted," Jef interrupts.

George looks at them. "Oh yeah. They don't."

"I meant Hope." Zoron hastily adds, "A-And Irene and Eilene too of course."

"Whipped," John says.

"Do you have anything important to add?" Zoron fires back.

"Here's one," John drawls. "Did you consider the possibility that they're probably just worried for the journey?"

"Nope!" Jef chirped.

"You know what? Why don't we just ask them?" Ivan very smartly suggests.

"Ask who?" Zoey asked, with Riley entering the conversation.

"Are you guys distracted?" Jef whispers conspiringly.

"...no?" Riley answers.

"Not them, genius," John snarks before smiling at Riley. "They're worried that the other three girls are distracted."

"Oh," Riley looks at the other three girls. "Maybe they're just worried about the journey."

John grins triumphantly. "See? What did I say?"

Jef arch's an eyebrow at her. "How would you know? HmMmM?"

"...I don't have the energy to deal with this right now," Riley deadpans.

Ivan gasps. "She's deflecting."

"You know what? Why don't we just talk to them," Zoron suggests.

"Great idea!" Jef exclaims before yelling at Irene, "Hey Irene! Are you distracted?"

"Huh?" Irene responds in confusion.

Jef nods. "Yep, she's definitely distracted."

"Oh my Tellun," Zoron mumbles, rolling his eyes. "I'm gonna talk to Hope."

"Whipped," John and Zoey simultaneously says.

"Great idea, Zoron!" George grins. "I'll talk to Irene and John can talk to Eilene!"

"What." John deadpans.

Zoey nods. "I like this idea."

"What."

Zoron ignores them as he goes to where Hope was. The others can deal with it however they want, he was gonna get his well-deserved screentime with Hope.

"Hey, you okay?"

Hope jolts. "Heh? What? Oh, yeah I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You just... seemed distracted, is all."

"That obvious?" Hope mumbles.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Zoron offers.

Hope very clearly hesitates. "I... I think I saw someone climbing on the side of the inn last night. It was a girl- or well, she was a girl I guess- and I thought they looked familiar but I'm honestly not sure 'cause it was dark and I also woke up from a really weird dream of Eilene going to the bathroom-"

"Uh- wait- let's rewind a bit." Zoron shakes his head. "You saw a girl climbing on the side of the inn last night."

"Probably?"

"I have a confession to make," Irene loudly proclaims. "I saw people in black cloaks. They gave me really sus vibes and I feel really bad because I know it's very stereotypical of me to assume that-"

"Hold on," Zoron interrupts before turning to Hope. "What was she wearing?"

"Well... it was dark," Hope hesitates. "I'd say it was a black cloak."

"We're definitely being spied on," Zoron concludes in a very big-brain manner.

John's POV

"Just in case you didn't get it the first time," Eric announces, "We're definitely being spied on!"

"I think we got that the first time," John mumbles.

For the past few minutes, he'd been awkwardly walking besides Eilene trying to start a conversation. It had been easier on the ship ride the other day. Then again, it wasn't like he was used to asking how she was ('cause that would mean he cared and he totally did not care).

"So... are you distracted?" John casually asks.

Eilene looks at him weirdly. "...What."

He gives up the tack. "Honestly, I don't know. Zoron says that the three of you look distracted."

"He said that?"

"Yeah," he nods. "Then I told him you were probably worried for the journey. Then they peer pressured me to talk to you."

"Damn. Sounds awful."

"I know."

"Well, I'm fine here so..."

John gives her an unconvinced look. "Are you sure about that?"

"Um... why wouldn't I be?" Eilene shots back.

"Why wouldn't you NOT be?"

"That doesn't make sense."

"You don't make sense."

She rolls her eyes. "An astounding argument."

"I mean, looking at you closely you sort of DO look distracted earlier," he says. "You sure nothing's bothering you?"

"I'm sure," she insists. "Besides, why do you care?"

"I don't."

"Why are you asking then?"

"'Cause I don't care."

"Gee, that completely checks out."

"That's settled then."

They part ways with a bit of tension because it wouldn't be the Ten Keepers dynamic without a bit of tension between them.

"We're here," Dwayne announces as they stop at the foot of a mountain. "Old sweet Mountain."

Drina's POV

Last Night

"Ugh," Drina huffs as the newcomer in hooded clothes approached. "Of course you have a daughter. Honestly, could this plot twist be any better?"

"Having a daughter isn't a plot twist," Derek says with a grin. "It's what having a daughter DOES that MAKES the plot twist."

Drina raises an eyebrow. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," the said-daughter in hooded clothes spoke, "now that you have a spy on the inside... um..."

"You can make plot twists," Derek finishes for her.

"Yes," the girl nods. "Exactly that."

"Well if this isn't the lamest marketing attempt," Drina mutters before fixing her a glare. "I'll make this very clear for you. You give us the information we want, and we won't kill you. The moment I sense even the SLIGHTEST bit of disloyalty and I'll make sure you suffer a slow, painful death."

"...right."

Silence.

Drina exchanges a confused look with Derek.

"Um, daughter dear," Derek clears his throat. "This is the part where you make some badass comment to close the chapter."

"Oh, uh..." the girl thinks of it for a bit. "I guess... there'll be lots of betraying. That will totally not be directed at you guys. Considering I'm a spy. On your side. Yes."

"...is that it?"

"Yep."

"Oh Gerathon, let's just get this over with."