Finding Me (Chapter 7)

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Chapter 72

“Okay Canace,” Jay started, “we now know that you were going somewhere to talk to someone, and would rendezvous at some point with this guy who likes you somewhere else.” Jay looked a bit disgusted at the last part.  They were sitting on their beds in their room at the inn.  There was a fire going in the fireplace that gave the room a warm feeling.  Danny was comfortably sitting backwards on a chair in between the two beds.  Melissa had already excused herself to bed, and was sleeping in the next room.  Melody had just been fed and was dozing next to the fire.3

Canace nodded, “That’s right.  I noticed that I was also standing in a forest that I felt I knew by heart.”4

“Do you remember the name of the forest?”  Danny asked. 5

“No, I felt like I didn’t need to name it because I knew it so well.”  Canace was puzzled by her remark. 6

Jay grabbed Canace’s pack off the ground and started going through it. 7

“What are you doing?”  Danny asked as he watched Jay scramble through its contents.8

“Well, Canace said that she had a lot of extra food, and I was hoping I could find it and get rid of it for her.  You see, I’m very big on not wasting things.”  Jay explained as he pulled out some bread that he sat next to him. 9

Jay looked back in and smiled, “Hey, check this out.”  Jay pulled out Danny’s diary.  “Wonder what’s in this book of yours Canace.”  He opened it up and flipped through the pages.10

“It’s probably some girly book Jay, spare us please.”  Danny closed his eyes as he leaned on the back of the chair. 11

Jay smirked, “I think it’s a lot more interesting then you think Danny.  Let’s start on the first page.”12

“Jay, you were telling me not to read other people’s things.  Don’t you go do it now too,” Canace warned, “The results could be bad.” 13

“I’ll deal with them,” said Jay as he scanned the pages. “This is a good one,” Jay commented, “Let’s read it, shall we?” 14

“In case you didn’t notice Jay, we are a bit old for stories,” Danny yawned, not realizing that they were about to read his diary. 15

“You’ll like this one.  Okay, here we go!”  Jay smiled, Canace rolled her eyes, and Danny just relaxed. 16

“Dear Diary today has been a slow day.  Nothing new has happened, except for that girl from Haleton arrived at our school.”  One of Danny’s eyes opened in curiosity.  “I took the liberty of showing the lovely lady around the school.  Her name is Gwendolyn and she is the most beautiful girl ever.  Maybe she’ll go with me to the dance coming up…”  Danny sat up and said, “This sounds familiar.  I have heard it somewhere.  Read another part of it, would you Jay?” 17

Canace had to put her hand over her mouth to stop from laughing.  Jay smiled sweetly and replied, “Sure Danny.  How about the last section.  Hey, this looks interesting.18

“Dear Diary, I am to depart from this miserable place and go to Lienata and from there to Abaratis where I will meet up with Jay.  Melissa is getting a bit edgy and is to herself a lot.  She-”19

Danny suddenly jumped up and tried to grab the book from Jay, “Hey!  Give that to me!  It’s my journal!” 20

“Thank you Captain Obvious for that obvious statement.  No duh it’s your diary, what else would I be reading?”  Jay remarked as he jumped off his bed to avoid Danny. 21

“Where’d you get that Jay?  I though I lost it at Lienata!”  Danny demanded to know as he threw himself off the bed and lunged at Jay. 22

Narrowly dodging Danny, Jay replied pointed to Canace and said, “It was her!”  Danny looked towards Canace, then back at Jay, “Don’t blame your crime on a girl Jay!  How rude is that?”23

“Hey!  I did find it at the inn!  It was there the first night I stayed in my room.  I found it on the dresser next to my bed.”  Canace backed Jay up.24

Danny finally grabbed the diary from Jay, and then sat down on his chair and shook his head in disbelief, “I left this in Hollow Hills?  Thanks for finding it Canace.” 25

Jay looked a bit stunned, “What about me?  She wouldn’t have known it was yours if I hadn’t told her!” 26

Danny looked at him, and then said calmly, “Well, you’re right Jay.  Let me give you special thanks.”  Then Danny stood up, walked over to Jay. Jay was expecting a gift so he held out his hand.  Danny shook it, then twisted it and pushed Jay to the ground while he sat on him.  27

“What are you doing?”  Jay shouted, trying not to be pulverized. 28

“Just thanking you in my personal way for reading my diary aloud so that all of Calder could hear!”  Danny was about to punch Jay when Canace called out, “Knock it off you two.  Fighting isn’t the solution to this.”29

“You’re taking his side?”  Danny whined. 30

“No, I’m not.”  Canace replied, “Jay, I told you that you need to deal with the consequences.”31

Jay turned his head that was on the ground to face her, “You taking his side?”  He looked a bit troubled. 32

“No, I’m not saying that either.”  Canace confirmed.33

“Then what are you saying?” the two said in unison. 34

“That you need to solve you differences in some other way.”  Canace nodded, “Apologize.  Now.” 35

“I am not apologizing to him,” Jay made clear. 36

“And I not him!”  Danny agreed. 37

Canace nodded, “Jay, you just read something personal about Danny out loud.  That is not nice.  And Danny, you are hurting your friend, which you shouldn’t do even if he does deserve it.” 38

“Sorry Canace I still am not going to do it.”  Danny replied.39

“Got to agree with him Canace,” Jay said, twitching from Danny’s weight on his back. 40

“Well then boys, could you take this outside so I could get some sleep?”  Canace asked as she stifled a yawn and lay down on her bed. 41

“You care so much,” Jay sarcastically accused.   42

The next morning Danny awoke with a black eye and Jay awoke with cuts all over.  It was quiet during breakfast, due to the fact that Danny and Jay just glared at each other while Canace and Melissa watched them poke at their food. 43

“Canace, did they get in a fight?”  Melissa quietly whispered from across the table where she was rubbing Melody.  Danny and Jay, whom were sitting across from each other, both turned and glared at Melissa, then went back to staring at each other.44

Canace leaned across the table and whispered into Melissa’s ear, “Yeah, they were in an argument last night.  I tried to stop it, but they eventually had to take it outside.”  Melissa nodded and they continued to watch Danny and Jay.  But the two were still staring at each other nonstop. 45

“This could take awhile,” Melissa sighed, “Guys, we got to get going on to Ide’s Song.”46

“I’m not giving up,” Jay swore.47

“I’m not either,” Danny growled.  Melissa and Canace were confused.48

“Give up what?”  Canace asked.49

“The staring contest!  We always do this every time we see each other.”  Danny explained, still staring intensively. 50

“Danny usually wins, but not this time,” Jay added, “I’ve been practicing.”51

“Well, we’re leaving whether you dopes are done or not.”  Melissa stood up, put Melody on the ground, threw away her trash, picked up her bag, and then said, “Are you coming Canace?”  Getting up, she did the same things as Melissa had done. 52

“I think this is ridiculous,” Canace agreed, “You boys stop this nonsense.”53

“Never!”  Danny shouted.54

“Fine!”  Canace stood behind Danny and poured ice-cold water down his back.  “YIKES!”  Danny jumped as the water poured down his back.  He squeezed his eyes shut tight and squealed.  55

“A new champion is named!”  Jay laughed as he stood up in excitement. 56

Danny opened his eyes, “Not fair!” 57

“You are just jealous because I have a dry back and you don’t!”  Jay sneered.  58

“I like my wet back thank you very much!”  Danny insisted as he got up. 59

“Sure Danny.  C’mon, let’s get out of here.”  Jay said as he and Danny walked out with Melissa, Canace, and Melody trailing behind. 60

It turned out to be long walk to Ide’s Song.  Long and boring.  There was not much to see but an endless stretch of hills and a few trees.  Someone suggested running to get there faster, but after seeing Danny zoom ahead of all of them, Jay, Melissa, and Canace decided walking would be best. 61

“This is boring,” Melissa complained, “And it doesn’t seem like we’re getting anywhere.  There are just hills and grass and well, dead grass, and then more hills…”62

“Did you mention the hills?”  Jay asked sarcastically.63

“Twice,” Melissa sighed. 64

“What about the grass?”  Canace asked.65

“Dead grass, Canace, dead grass.”  Danny pointed out. 66

Melissa shook her head, “Yeah, that too.”  67

Despite their down spirits, on they walked until they became so tired they had to take a break.  There they rested until they felt energized.  Then they continued on to Ide’s Song. 68

After walking all day and half the night, the group finally reached Ide’s Song.  Tired and sore, they walked through the town until they found themselves on a street overstocked with flowers.69

“There’s and inn down this street somewhere,” Canace said tiredly.  Without questions about how she knew that, they slowly trudged along the deserted street and did indeed find an inn.  Once they got their rooms, they all collapsed into the beds and slept through the night. 70

Two figures met in the shadows of the night.  71

“Did you find her?”72

They one who had just recently arrived answered, “It took awhile, but I did.” 73

“Good work.  Are you okay?”74

“It’s been really boring recently and I am getting frustrated.”75

“You’ll get over it, I’m sure.” 76

“You know, I wouldn’t be so exhausted and tired if you dopes had got it right the first time!” 77

“We can’t do anything more about that situation.  The person responsible has been taken care of and the site cleared.  There is no evidence any of it took place.  We should be thankful the mishap went unnoticed.” 78

“I know, I know,” the person sighed, “I just hope to finish this soon.”79

“If the attack goes as planned, we will be on our way shortly.” 80

“Hmm, the attack could blow our cover if it goes wrong…maybe we should skip it.” 81

“What!  But its orders from the top command, we can’t just dismiss it!” 82

“Did you not pay attention?  The order was to finish the job with any means necessary.  We don’t have to attack as long as we have another plan.”83

“Do you have a plan?” 84

“Don’t I always?” 85