The New Place

The cold breeze engulfed Charlotte as she hurried out of the door, still putting her jacket on. She pulled out a small device which opened up and a holographic-like image showed the surrounding area with a large blob of gold on their house and a trail leading away from it.

“Shit, shit, shit!” She shoved the device back into her pocket and rushed to where the trail led. “How did I not notice it?!”

Charlotte ran down the streets, turning corners when she felt a small pull from inside her. She bumped into people on the way, apologizing as fast as she could before disappearing completely around a block.

The trail led her all through the city, stopping at a local park where plenty of teenagers occupied. Their loud music screeched through the surrounding area and they threw litter everywhere.

She tried to see if the mysterious pull brought her to any of the teenagers, but to no avail. The pull instead brought her to an open area before dispersing.

Charlotte went over to the spot and squatted down, examining the area to try and rediscover even just a small pull.

“Hey, lady.” One of the teenagers yelled. “What’re you doing here?!”

She dismissed them in her mind, still trying to find a trace of the pull.

“Found one!” Her smiled to herself and put her hands under where the pull was coming from. “It’s breaking thorough the barriers faster than I had hoped.”

The teenager strutted up with his friends behind him to where she was thinking to herself.

“Did you hear me, lady?” He motioned to someone by the big speaker to turn up the music, trying to get her to leave. “Shouldn’t you be… in bed… or something?”

His friends behind him looked at each other with confused looks, simply shrugging and shaking it off.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed, kid? It’s almost midnight and you have school tomorrow.” She got up and stood over him and pushed forward.

The teenagers tripped over themselves and fell to the ground.

Charlotte came back to her senses once she realized what she was doing to the boys.

“I’m sorry.” She extended her hand to help them back up. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m just looking for something important.”

The main teen’s shaky hand came up and locked with hers. She pulled him up and took a step back, giving them space to breathe.

“No- No that’s okay. We’re sorry for… um… trying to kick you out.”

The two behind him nodded rapidly in agreement.

“It’s no problem at all.” She looked behind them to the other dozen teens all still doing whatever they wanted. “Make sure you guys all clean up when you’re done. I happen to like this park quite a bit, so it would be a shame if it was fully trashed by the morning.”

“Man, I don’t give a shit if—”

Charlotte took another large step toward them, allowing a small crack in the ground to spread from where she planted her foot on the ground.

The three of them jumped back and ran to their friends.

“Make sure you all pick up your trash!” Their voices faded into the cold air as they ran further away from her.

Just as she was watching them start to pick up their trash with their other friends, a sharp pain struck her head. It had been a while since she felt it, but she knew the pain all the same.

Charlotte stumbled backwards, catching herself before her body moved by itself. She ran all the way back to the house while she constantly detected the substance that connected to the pull in her body.

“It’s not there. It’s not there! The security measure just detected something else!”

She reached the house where she could feel the substance the strongest she’d felt in a while. Charlotte looked up where it led, a hooded figure ran along the rooftops.

“Get back here!” She pulled her hand back, a light blue circle with different rings and designs appeared in front of her. She aimed the circle at the figure then punched the center. A flurry of icicles appeared around the circle and launched themselves at the person on the roof.

Charlotte began to jump up, going to follow the mysterious figure as another sharp pain rang through her head. She paused for a moment before changing course and running into the house.

“Hazel!” The door slammed open, nearly breaking off its hinges. “Gray! Oliver! Jasper! Anyone!”

She turned on the lights. Her eyes wildly wandered the room, laying themselves on the two siblings laying on the ground.

“No! No, no, no!” She shook Oliver’s body rigorously, but he didn’t flinch or wake up. Both Gray and Oliver’s skin looked pale and somewhat transparent as they laid on the ground unconsciously.

“Why didn’t it work!” Charlotte slammed her fist into the floor as she held onto Oliver’s body. “I swear I’ll kill you!”

…

Gray flew through the air of an unknown place. It was as if he had wings on his back and could move himself wherever. The wind splashed across his face as he did loops and other tricks in the sky. This world he was in seemed so peaceful, the steady quietness made him feel refreshed.

His vision changed in the blink of an eye as the once peaceful world was now in flames. Bodies scattered the grassy ground, painting it in blood.

The invisible wings on his back failed and he fell to the ground unharmed. He rolled onto the ground as he fell, getting his clothes dirtied with blood. Gray landed on his back and sat up, seeing someone far away in a tattered dark cloak.

Black wings resembling an insect’s emerged from its back and it stepped forward, noticing Gray staring at it.

He tried to speak out but his voice faltered, like his ability to speak had been ripped away from him suddenly.

The person lifted its hand, making Gray’s vision go black. A second later he reopened his eyes to see the figure looming over him. Again, his voice faltered, refusing to come out and produce sound.

It picked bloody grass off the ground as it formed into a red blade in its hand.

“Come on body, move! Get out of the way!”

Before he could try to react again, it used the red blade to cut off his head. He felt no pain but his vision blurred and went blank once more.

He still held onto his consciousness. A static sound rang though his head and he heard the screams of a battlefield slowly growing louder before halting abruptly.

“Ite pechirn arben.”

Gray jolted awake. He noticed he was laying on grass, but he couldn’t feel the itchy sensation that he usually felt when on grass. His hair blew in the breeze but he couldn’t feel it.

“A dream inside of a dream.” Gray sat up slowly, looking around at a place similar to his first dream. “This looks amazing!”

He jumped up, trying to use his wings and fly once more but nothing happened. After a few more tries, he stopped trying and used his feet to walk instead.

He noticed someone lying on the ground a few meters away from his spot. As he approached, he recognized Everett lying on the grass asleep.

“What are you doing in my dream?” He put his hands in his pockets and tried to kick Everett lightly but his foot ended up going through nothing, like his body was a ghost. “What the heck?!”

“Hello?”

Gray looked over his shoulder and saw Isla standing in taller grass further away.

“This is a weird dream,” he said to himself.

Isla walked through the grass, meeting up with Gray halfway as they both walked toward one another.

“What are you doing in Isla’s dream?” she asked him. Her unusual demeanor caught him off guard.

“This is a weird dream.” He bit his lip and started pacing around in the grass, leaving Isla with no reply. “It’s the other one too. Why would she be here?”

“I asked you a question.” Her words stopped Gray from pacing anymore. “I thought Isla didn’t like you. Why are you in her dream?”

“Wait.” Gray looked into her eyes. “If you’re controlling her body right now, wouldn’t it be your dream?”

He waved his arms in front of himself and shook his head.

“Never mind that. What do you mean ‘Isla’s dream’?”

Isla turned her head in confusion.

“This is her… my dream, right?”

“I thought it was my dream,” Gray explained. “I was in a big field like this, except there was a war going on and then there was this guy with a sword that—”

“Looks like I get to beat the shit out of you with no consequence.”

Gray suddenly had a fist though his transparent chest as someone tried to punch him.

“Good morning, Everett!” Isla greeted him with a smile and waved.

“Nice try with the punch,” Gray said. “If it makes you feel any worse, I already tried to kick you when you were asleep.

Everett’s eyes widened and his muscles flexed for a moment before returning to normal, seeming genuinely confused losing his aggressive personality for a few seconds.

“This isn’t a dream?”

“I was just about to ask the same thing.” Oliver’s voice appeared behind Gray. “Unfortunately, I don’t think it is. Fortunately, you can’t hit anyone or lash our now, so it can give you a chance to cool down for once since we’re all in the same position now.”

His fist tightened as he charged up to Oliver who didn’t flinch.

“I will never be down at your level! Even in… wherever we are, I’ll still be at the top! I will be superior and you will all be below me!”

Oliver and Gray let out a sigh at the same time.

“When will you learn that sometimes it’s okay to be at the—”

“Shut up!” Everett tried to punch Oliver with his punch just going through his stomach as it did with Gray. “I’ll show you all that I’m the best and always will be!”

Oliver put up his arms to block the punch out of his instinct, forgetting that they couldn’t touch each other in this place.

“Woah there.” Jasper’s condescending voice came from the tall grass. “You’re getting so angry over something so small and insignificant. Personally, I wouldn’t let a nuisance’s opinion get the better of me, though it’s my fault for forgetting not everyone is as good as I am.”

Isla came between them and waved her arms frantically, trying to stop Jasper from getting closer to Everett.

“Please don’t come any closer, no one needs to fight! The last thing we need is chaos in an unfamiliar place!”

He looked down on her as his body passed right through Isla’s.

“You’re so stupid. Trying to stop something you know you’ll never be strong enough to stop. I’d like to see you try something against me.”

Gray tried to pat her on the back, his hand still just going through her body.

“You can ignore him. If it makes you feel any better, Oliver and I don’t think you’re stupid.”

She stood in place, not wavering from Jasper’s harsh insults.

“I just ignore him when he says mean things anyways,” she told him. “You also need to come up with some more reassuring things to say. Every time I’m watching through Isla, it’s always the same sentences.”

“Huh, I never thought of that.”

Everett readied his muscles as Jasper approached. He knew he couldn’t harm him, though his body automatically went into a fighting stance, pushing one foot forward with both hands guarding his face.

“You think I’m not as good as you?” He lowered his head more into the spot that his arms guarded.

“Yeah, so what? You gonna hit me for it?” Jasper stayed relaxed with his hands in his pockets and a smug look plastered across his face.

Everett took a deep breath and lowered his fists, coming to the conclusion that he would just be wasting energy attacking someone he couldn’t make contact with.

“No, I am above this.” He turned his back on the four of them and started walking back into the tall grass.

“Wait!” Oliver called out, grasping for his arm. “You don’t know what’s out there! You can’t just leave us!”

Everett flipped him off without looking back.

“Nothing can touch me!” He shouted condescendingly at him. “I am the strongest I’ve ever been now and I won’t let anyone stop me!”

Oliver reached out again, this time without words while trying to grab ahold of anything he could.

“What the hell was that for?” Gray ran up to Jasper and tried to slap him before realizing it was futile and stopped right before the hit would have touched his skin.

“You little prick!” Jasper tried to punch Gray in the face. “You think that just because we can’t touch each other that you’re allowed to get in my face?!”

Isla’s face became redder as the conflict rose between them. Oliver tried to step between them but he still couldn’t do anything.

“You’re the one who’s being a prick!” Isla yelled out before immediately covering her mouth, surprising everyone.

“For as lenient as I’ve been to all of you for the past years, letting you run around with no consequences. Next time I see any of you, I will not hesitate to beat you to the ground if you piss me off,” he spat.

The three of them stood there in disbelief as they took in what Jasper said.

“We’re not trying to be mean,” Isla explained. “We’ve been trying to help you be nicer.”

“If that really were the case, you’d take her body forever to help!” He pointed menacingly at her. “But instead, you just sit back and let her do what she wants until it’s convenient for you!”

“That’s not what—” Oliver started.

“And I’ve had enough of you for a few lifetimes!” Jasper growled. “Your self-righteousness is the most annoying thing I’ve ever seen! You don’t want to keep everyone together; you just want to use us to protect you and your freak friend because you’re both weak!”

Gray looked down at the ground and clenched the bottom of his shirt. His knuckles turned white as he felt his nails dig into his palms, catching him off guard. He quickly opened his hands and shook the pain off discreetly.

“I hate to give him credit for a good idea, but Everett was onto something. I don’t need to sit here with you idiots; I can take care of myself and thrive without any of you!”

“No! You can’t just leave!” Isla ran up to him as he began to walk away.

“You just want me for my strength.” Shaking her off, he ran the opposite direction of Everett into the forest.

They stood there in silence, looking at each other to try and figure out what to do.

“If no one else is going to say anything, I will,” Gray pipped up. “What the actual shit just happened?!”

“Well, well.” Rustling came from the nearby grass as Hazel emerged from the brush. “Looks like the group finally broke apart after all these years.”

“Have you been awake this whole time?!” Oliver jumped at her sudden entrance.

“Of course I have. I couldn’t allow myself to miss those fun exchanges you were having.” She moved her hair out of her face.

“Yeah, whatever you say. You could’ve at least shown a little heart and helped for once.”

Oliver put his hand out to signal Gray to stop talking.

“It’s fine, what’s done is done.” He sighed, knowing that Gray was right. “You always have a plan in mind. Can you help us now?”

“Now why, oh why, would I do something like that?” She turned away slightly, giving them a sly smile. “You’re all capable of thinking for yourselves.”

“Just so you’re aware,” Gray intervened. “It’s three against one and Isla won’t fall for your tricks.”

“That’s right!” Isla tried to throw a few punches in the air but failed to intimidate anyone. “I swear I’ll help you get better no matter how long it takes me!”

“I look forward to your efforts.” Hazel giggled and took a step back.

“We’re not going to push you away or anything.” Oliver extended his hand and smiled. “Will you be joining us or going off by yourself?”

“Naturally,” she confirmed. “A frail maiden such as I would never make it in an unfamiliar environment such as this.”

Gray crossed his arms and scoffed at her.

“Yeah right, ‘frail maiden’ my ass. You weasel your way out of everything.”

“Oh dear, do I?” She pretended to look shocked, putting her hand up to her mouth in surprise.

“Okay, okay, let’s not start to argue with each other. We’re already two men down and can’t afford to lose anyone else.” Oliver got between them and extended his arms.

“My sincerest apologies.” Hazel bowed a little. “I will certainly try my hardest not to start anything. However—”

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” Gray put his hand up in front of Hazel’s mouth.

“Putting that aside, where are we even supposed to go?” Oliver put her hands on his hips and looked around at the area.

“Shouldn’t we go and follow Everett and Jasper?” Isla suggested. “Just to make sure they stay safe. They did run out on us, but I don’t like the idea of them being attacked by something dangerous.”

“That could work,” Gray said. “But we need to think about a bunch of different possibilities that could happen.”

“Such as?” Oliver looked at him curiously.

“Well to start, we don’t know where we are or what’s out there like Isla said,” he explained. “It would probably be best to stay together.”

“I see what you’re saying now, but because Everett and Jasper split up and went different ways, we are either forced to go after one or split our forces and go after both of them at the same time,” Oliver finished Gray’s sentence.

Isla ruffled her hair and let out a frustrated sigh.

“Gah! Those two idiots!” She fixed up her hair quickly before apologizing. “Sorry, they’re not actually idiots, I just got worked up.”

“Secondly,” Gray started again. “We’re in a sort of ghost state now, but we don’t know exactly how it works.”

“And we’re not sure how long we’ll have this form for,” Oliver finished. “We need to think of something quickly.”

“About that, I’m still not sure the exact perimeters, but I could feel my hands just a little bit when Jasper was doing his whole speech,” Gray informed them. “I was really mad and I had my hands in fists so there’s two possibilities I came up with. Either we lose the ghost state when we get emotional or when we feel pain.”

Oliver put his hand up to his chin as Isla spoke up.

“How do you feel pain if nothing can touch you?”

“It could be self-inflicted,” Oliver added.

“Hazel,” Gray looked behind them where she was standing looking polite and well put together. “This is no time for your antics. Do you have a plan?”

“It is my misfortune to inform you that I do not have a plan to fit this particular circumstance,” she told them.

He took a deep breath before turning back to the group of three.

“I think that splitting into groups to follow them would be our best bet,” Isla suggested. “Though, I would have to either go with you or Gray. If my other self comes back into control, I don’t think I could trust Hazel with her alone in the forest.”

She looked up from the group to give Hazel a nasty glare.

“Okay, here’s what we’ll do. Gray and Hazel will go to find Everett, then you and I will go get Jasper,” Oliver explained.

Gray glanced nervously at Hazel and pulled Oliver away to confer with him.

“Alone with her?! Are you crazy?”

“Relax,” he calmly stated. “I highly doubt she’ll try to do anything to you or try to manipulate you. She’s smart enough to know when not to play around. Plus, she can do a good job of provoking Everett to come back if it comes to that.”

Oliver gave Gray a thumbs up before turning back to the two girls.

“Please make good care to cooperate with him and be well behaved,” Isla sternly told Hazel. “If I found out that you did something bad, I’ll have to give you a good talking to.”

“You as well,” she responded coaxingly. “Make sure to take very good care of Isla for me. I wouldn’t want her to come back with any external injuries.”

Isla sighed at her failed attempt of taming Hazel’s personality even just by a little.

“Alright everyone,” Oliver said. “We know our plans and where to go. Since I assume none of us have our phone, let’s think of a call or something to alert the other team that we’ve found our target.”

“That seems to pose a lot of risks,” Isla interjected. “We’re not sure what kind of wildlife is here, what if they answer our call instead and they’re dangerous?”

Gray put his hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes.

“Sometimes we have to take risks,” he tried his best to put on a manly voice. “With no way of knowing the rules of this world, we can’t do anything without any risks.”

Oliver cleared his throat and tapped his foot down on the grass rapidly.

“So, what’s the call we should make to alert the other group?”

Gray leaned against a stray tree by them and flipped his hair to the side as he crossed his arms.

“That of a bird fluttering in the sky, I propose.”

The three of them stared at him blankly, unamused by his act of manliness.

“Yeah, sure that works.” Oliver sighed. “Let’s meet up here in four hours if no one finds anything. Let’s go!”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Gray pushed himself off the tree as the other three turned back to him. “I know this is somewhat cliché, but shouldn’t we have some sort of speech for motivation before we set off?”

“Oh my.” Hazel put her hand up to her mouth and turned her head away slightly. “Is there anyone here qualified enough to give a rousing speech such as that?”

“Of course. I am.” He cleared his throat. “We all have missions; we know our tasks. Don’t let your fear take you, fight. If you run into a problem, think before you act and be brave. Good luck everyone.”

He put his hand out into the middle of the circle they formed. Everyone else but Hazel put their hand on top of Gray’s.

“3, 2, 1, go team!”

They nodded to each other and went their separate ways into the forest.