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Post Five
By: Kasumi


Alissa sighed as she sat down at her desk, took her journal out of her bag, took out a pen, and set them on her desk. She opened up the journal and looked at the recent entries written by her two best friends. She looked through them with a slightly spaced out look.

Dear Lis & Betz,
Today has been nothing but pure bliss! I went with my mom to the store and ran into the cute new guy. Talked with him for a while, then asked if he wanted to get something to eat sometime. He said “Maybe”. *SQUEAL* And my mom totally agrees that he’s the new cute guy in town. Luis is just cute now. Too bad he’s such a good friend though. Otherwise, I might have asked him out a long time ago. I guess we’ve known him too long. Oh well. Anyway, that’s all for today. Talk to you two later!

Cloie

Alissa rolled her eyes. “Figures. Always going for the cute ones before we can get to them. Dammit Cloie, it’s not fair!! Leave some for us!” She took a deep breath, then started reading Betz’s entry.

Dear Lis and Clo,
Today was just as great! I also met that cutey! My mom and I went to the tailor’s to get fitted for a new dress and there he was. Just standing right outside. He is soooooo cute! I went up and talked with him for a little and also asked if he wanted to hang out sometime. He also said ‘maybe’. He is so cool!! You should meet him, Lissy. He is like ten times cuter than Luis is! Anyway, I’ll be going. I’ll see you two later. (hugs)

Princess Betzania of the Chansing Royal Family

Alissa rolled her eyes again. “You so wish.” She looked down the page and noticed another entry. The handwriting looked familiar, so she decided to read it.

Dear Gossip Queens,
I TOTALLY RESENT THAT!!!! HE IS NO WHERE NEAR AS CUTE AS I AM!!! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!?!?! *sniffle* You’re soooo mean to me! Why do I even hang out with you? And what do you mean you would have asked me out a long time ago if you didn’t know me so well?! What if I didn’t want to go out with you, huh?! Did you ever think of that?! *sniffle* I’ll get you two queens later!

Luis

Alissa sighed. She took out her pen and started writing.

Dear Betz and Cloie and our little snooper, Luis,
I am going to make this a short entry. First off, Luis, I am going to hurt you. You know the rules! No looking through the all sacred journal! Second, today was a total disastor. Apparenty, my father proposed to that witch today. I don’t care if you think she’s the sweetest woman alive. We don’t like her! She’s hiding her true self with her sweetness. And when we find out what she’s really like, I will be the first one to laugh in your face and say, “I told you so!” ~sigh~ Until that day comes, I’ll be mourning this dreaded day. I’ll talk to you all later.

Alissa

She sighed as she closed the book and looked at the clock. “Time for bed. Good.”
“Not so fast,” said Nicana as she walked in. She was sixteen years old and had dark brown hair that went down to her shoulder blades, dark brown eyes, and tanned skin. She was about five feet and one inch tall and had a thin yet athletic build. She was a summoner, and trained in magics that were under three of the four main elements: wind, earth, and water. She loved animals and wanted to be able to help them.
“Papa wants us downstairs.”
“So?”
“So, if we don’t go, he says he’ll ground us.”
“Is that a problem for you?”
“No.”
There was a knock a the door. “Hey!” said their older brother, Jonathan (Jack for short). He was twenty years old and had short, brown-black hair, dark brown eyes, and tanned skin. He had a medium build and was about five feet and eight inches tall. He was the only boy in the family and unable to use magic. He prefered using weapons. He liked knowing he had control over something. Over the years, he learned that you can never have total and complete control over magic. Therefore, he decided to stay as far away from it as he could. Considering that all his younger sisters knew how to use it, that wasn’t very far.
“Family meeting,” he said.
“What’s the occasion?” asked Alissa.
“Dad wants to talk to us about our behavior with Laila. What else?”
The two girls sighed as they followed their older brother downstairs to the kitchen. There, they sat down with their father. Alissa and Jonathan sat down on one side of the table while Nicana sat down on the other side with their youngest sister, Phoebe.
Phoebe was eight years old, almost nine, and had really short dark brown hair, dark eyes, and darker tanned skin than both her sisters combined. She was four feet and an inch tall and had a bit of an athletic build, but she was also a little well fed. However, she still had a ways to grow. Unlike her older siblings, she couldn’t use any weapons. She was more focused on magic. Because she was still very young, she only knew level one spells which couldn’t do any harm.
They all sighed as they turned to their father who sat at the head of the table. “Yes Papa?” they all said at the same time.
He cleared his throat. “Ahem... yes. About Laila.”
“You’re wasting your breath,” said Alissa.
“We told you already that we hate her and we don’t want her in this house,” said Nicana. “If you cared at all about us, you would have respected that.”
“You’re all just angry because your mother left. That’s no excuse to act like this.”
“Dad,” said Jonathan, “We told you that we were fine about Mom leaving. We’ve accepted that she had to. But you promised you would never bring another woman into our household and that you’d never try to replace our mother.”
“And I’m not.”
“As if!” said Alissa. “That’s exactly what you’re doing! You don’t even know what this woman has been trying to get us to do. And even when we tell you, you try to sweeten it up! We hate that!” She turned to their youngest sister. “PW, tell Daddy what she did the other day!”
Phoebe took a deep breath. “She called me a spoiled, selfish brat and said that you weren’t my daddy anymore.”
He let out a small chuckle. “When did she do that?”
“Last night...”
“Well she wouldn’t-”
“There you go again!” said Nicana. “Sugar coating it to make it look like we’re the mean ones and not her! You ALWAYS do that!” She got up and slammed her chair into the table as she stormed off.
Alissa looked at Phoebe. “PW, go.”
Phoebe got up quickly and ran upstairs with her sister. Then Jonathan got up and moved to the other side of the table. Their father sighed. “You two are the oldest. I am asking you as best as I can. I want you all to be at the wedding. I want you to support me. I want you to be happy for me.”
Alissa and Jonathan looked at each other, then at their father. “No.”
He sighed again. “Why not?”
“We already told you why,” said Alissa.
“It’s your turn to try and understand us.” They both got up and left.
He sighed as he put his head in his hands. “When did my children become so much like their mother?”

~~~
In the tavern, two girls sat in the far corner of the room, Betz and Cloie. The two were the town gossips. They were both thin, they both loved dancing, and both were boycrazy. Cloie was about five feet and six inches tall with a slim build. She had long light brown hair that went down to her waist and was worn in a high ponytail, deep blue eyes, and light skin. Betz was about five feet and five and a half inches tall with more of an athletic build. She had orange-red hair that was the same length as Nicana’s and was worn in a high ponytail, emerald green eyes, and light skin. Cloie liked reading, writing, dancing, and playing the violin. Betz loved dancing, but was more into fighting. She liked improving her skills when she could.
They waited patiently for Alissa to arrive, which at last she did. And right behind her was their friend Luis, a young man with blond hair, blue eyes, light skin, and a nice build. He was about five feet and eight inches tall and wore black pants, dark brown boots, and a white shirt. He was nice and a true gentleman.... usually. However, he was a guy. And like many of the other guys in town, he had a tendency to act like a child.
Alissa was pulling him by his hair as she approached the table. She forced him into the corner with her friends. Then she slammed down the journal on the table. “What did we tell you about this, Luis?! There could have been life threatening secrets in there about you! What were you thinking?!”
He pouted. “I’m sorry!! I forgot!!”
Betz and Cloie rolled their eyes and shook their heads. “Luis....”
He wailed, “I DIDN’T MEAN TO!!!!”
“Whatever!” said Alissa. “Do it again, and we’ll skin you alive!” She sighed as she sat down.
“Bad night?” said Cloie.
“The worst. The wedding is tomorrow. Of course, me and my dear siblings are going to ditch so we won’t have to see it. We plan to stay around for the objections though. Hopefully the priest will accept her cooking as an excuse.”
“Not likely,” said Luis. “Otherwise, the chances of my mom being able to marry my dad would have been terminated. She’s as bad a cook as Laila is.”
“Well we’re not too thrilled with it. That’s not the worst part of her though. Phoebe’s still crying because Dad wouldn’t listen. He still tries to cover up for Laila, and we just plainly hate her! This just makes us hate him too.”
"It’ll get better,” said Luis.
“Easy for you to say! You have your mother. So do you two.” She gestured at Betz and Cloie. “No, my mom is in another realm representing the human one while we’re stuck here with our dad. And since he never listens to us anyway, we’re pretty much raising ourselves and Phoebe.” She sighed. “It’s not fair.”
“We’re sorry Lissy.” Cloie patted her on the shoulder.
Betz looked at the clock. “Oh dear! We have to go! That cute guy is going to the blacksmith and we have to go check him out. Later!” She grabbed Cloie’s wrist and led the way out.
Alissa sighed as she looked down sadly. “Promise not to tell the queens something?”
“‘Course!” said Luis. “What is it?”
“Well....” She took a deep breath. “Seriously, I think Laila’s smarter than she’s been leading us to believe. One night, I woke up and I heard some voices downstairs. I crept down as quietly as I could. And what I found was her talking to some image in one of the mirrors. Some guy in a dark robe. Anyway, I heard them talking and she was pleading with him. Then right before he disappeared, she kissed the mirror.”
“So what are you saying? That she’s cheating on your dad?”
She shook her head. “I think she’s been leading my dad on. She’s trying to find something, and the best way to find it is through him. I don’t know what it is though. But I also think it has something to do with us, as in me and my brother and sisters.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Haven’t you noticed that she’s been trying to get us to like her all this time? And every time we tell her we hate her, she goes crying to our dad, and he tries to get us to like her.”
“Well, you, Cana, and Jack DID make a pretty good profit off that.”
“I know. His fault for putting the money in front of us before we agreed to anything.” She looked around, then pulled him closer so she could whisper. “I’m going to show you something I wrote down after I heard it. You are not to tell anyone I showed you this.” She opened the journal to the back of the book. There, she had written what she heard. It was as much of the conversation as she was able to make out. There was some kind of plot going on that Laila was a part of. And one of the keys to success was Laila entering Colin Decwyn’s household. The second part was to get close with his children.
When she was done showing Luis, she closed the book. “I told Jack and Cana and I tried to tell my dad. As usual, he wouldn’t listen and he tried to sugar coat it.”
“He does that a lot.”
“I know.” She sighed. “She’s been trying to take over for I don’t know how long. We want her out. We don’t know how to get her out though.”
“Knowing you, you’ll come up with some way.”
“Thanks.”
“I gotta go. Be careful when going home. Jarvas and his gang have been hanging around the woods again. I heard they’ve been looking for you.” He gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek, then left.

~~~
As Alissa walked through the forest, she saw through the trees a gang of goblins beating up on a young man. The leader of the goblins was who Luis had warned her about earlier. Jarvas. She had known him most of her life and learned to live with his bullying. However, after a while, she decided not to take it anymore. After much training, she stood up to him and fought him. And won. It was a very proud moment for her which caused his humiliation.
As she came closer, she could hear what they were saying. “Come on, human!” said Jarvas. “We haven’t got all day! Just give us all your valuables and we’ll be on our way!”
“I don’t have anything else!” said the young man. “Let go!”
He laughed. “Boys, find what you can, then kill him.”
Alissa frowned. She approached, then started speaking to them in goblin. “Let him go, Jarvas!”
Jarvas turned his attention to Alissa and told all the goblins to stop. He smirked as he replied in the same language. “Ah! Decwyn! Long time no see!”
“Let him go!”
“No way! He was trespassing through my forest!”
“This is not your forest, you moron! This is my forest! It was given to my parents long ago! Now leave him alone and get off my property! Or do I need to report that little incident that occurred last week to Prince Darren?” She smirked. “He likes me. He’ll believe what I say.”
He glared, then turned to his gang. “He’s not worth it.” He turned to Alissa. “But you are, Decwyn! Someday! Just wait and see!” He gestured to the rest of the gang and they left.
Alissa rolled her eyes. “Whatever!” She approached the young man and helped him up. Now that the goblins were gone, she got a better look at him. He was about five feet and nine inches tall with medium yet athletic build. He had short grayish-blue hair, deep blue eyes, and light skin. He wore blue pants, black boots, a white shirt, and a black, long, light coat. He was unarmed which explained why he had some trouble with Jarvas and his crew earlier. However, he looked almost exactly like the new boy that her friends had been describing in the journal.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He winced. “Yeah... I think so. Who was that?”
“Him? That was Jarvas. You have to be careful of him. He’s a jerk, but he’s dangerous.”
He stared at her curiously. “You’re...... Alissa, right?”
She gave an odd look. “Yeah. How did you know?”
“These two girls I met in town. They told me about a few things and people to know in town. You were one of those people. They said you knew most of the dangerous people in town, so you’d be a good person to know. I guess they were right.”
She started to giggle. “You’d be the new guy that they want to marry, right?”
“Guilty.” He sighed with a small grin. “Oh. I’m Kale. Nice to meet you.” They shook hands. “So you live around here?”
“You mean the woods? Yeah. My home’s down that way. I live with my dad, older brother, younger sisters, and one of their over grown pets.”
“Ah. I know how that is. I’m the oldest, I have two younger sisters, my dad, and my step-mom. She’s cool though.”
“That’s good.” She sighed. “I’m getting a step-mother in a few days. I don’t like her, I don’t trust her.”
“Then just tolerate her.” He winced as he tried shifting his weight.
Alissa looked at him. “They beat you up that badly, eh?” She sighed. “I’ll get them later for that. Right now, you need ice.” She started to walk off. After about a few steps, she noticed he was still standing where he was. She stopped, turned around, and said, “Well?!”
He smirked. “Inviting me over when you haven’t a clue who I am? That’s kind of risky.”
“You look like a rogue. If that will scare the hell out of Laila, then I’d be glad to have you over. Now come on before that leg gets any worse!”

~~~
Unfortunately, Alissa received the worst news possible when she got home. While she was in the kitchen with Nicana trying to help heal Kale’s wounds, Jonathan came home with some news on what Laila planned to do that day. He reported that she had met some of the new neighbors and that they were all going to have dinner with them the next day. First on the list, Kale’s family. Which meant she was going to try to set them up. She sighed.
“Why can’t she just leave us alone?!” she whined.
“So your step-mom-to-be would be the sweet looking woman that came by earlier today.” He sighed. “I got out of there barely in the nick of time. They got out the introductions, but that was about it. No offense, but I don’t buy her sweet attitude. It’s too creepy.”
Alissa and Nicana and Jonathan all looked at each other, then at Kale. “Thank you. You are the first person who has agreed.”
He smirked. “You’re welcome, I guess.”
They finished bandaging his wounds. “There!” said Nicana. “All done!”
“Thanks! Feels a lot better.”
“No problem!” She turned around. “Tiger, lead him out of the woods and back to town. If Jarvas comes by again, you know what to do.”
Tiger nodded.
Kale turned to Alissa as he stood up. “Well, it was very nice meeting you at last. I’ll tell your friends I finally met you, and that they were right. You are as nice and pretty as they said.”
She rolled her eyes. “Compared to them?”
"That’s a hard competition. You’d still be in the top three.”
"Gee. Thanks.” She smirked. “I’ll see you around!”
He left. Jonathan turned to Alissa and smirked. “New boyfriend?”
“As if. I can’t go out with him. Laila’s trying to set us up. I can’t give her the benefit or pleasure of it. Besides, Cloie and Betz are after him.”
He shuddered. “He doesn’t stand a chance against them. By the way, how are my chances with Cloie?”
“She prefers guys who don’t sleep with a stuffed animal.”
“Damn.” He sniffled.

~~~
That night, long after everyone had gone off to bed, Alissa was awakened by a crashing sound. She sat up in her bed and looked around. That was when she started to smell something burning. She got up and got dressed into her blue pants, black tank top, blue jacket, and black boots as fast as she could before she opened the door and ran downstairs. There, she saw several goblins wandering around the house with torches. Her father and brother were fighting them off as best as they could, but it wasn’t doing much good. The goblins were too strong.
“Papa! What’s going on?!”
“It’s an attack!” he said. “Get the girls! Get them out of here!”
She ran back upstairs to get her sisters. In Nicana’s room, she found both Nicana and Phoebe held captive by none other than Jarvas. She glared at him. “Let them go!”
“My orders were to capture. And you know I don’t like to fail on a mission. Makes me look bad.”
“Not as bad as when you got your butt kicked by a girl! A human girl at that!”
“Say what you want. I follow orders.”
“Too bad to hear that.” She took a deep breath as she cast a spell at him. It was a wind spell. It didn’t do much damage, but it was enough to knock him back and free her sisters. Then she grabbed Nicana’s staff and hit him right between his shoulder and neck which knocked him out. She looked at her sisters. “Get dressed. Hurry!”
She grabbed Tiger, who was lying on the floor, by his collar and led him back downstairs. She kneeled down right next to him and whispered. “See those goblins? Remember what we told you about not killing anything that walks or moves? Well for right now, you can forget that. Anything that so much as smells like a goblin, go after it. Go!”
He growled as he jumped from the staircase and chased after the goblins. Alissa then took another deep breath and started chanting. “Wind that blows ‘round and ‘round, from the sky and all around, when I give the right command, blow these goblins from where they stand. Take ‘em down. NOW!” She cast a powerful wind spell that knocked all the goblins back and kept them back so they couldn’t move.
At that same moment, Nicana and Phoebe came running down the staircase, all dressed, weapons in hand, and a few things packed in bags. Nicana gave Alissa her sword which she kept in her sheath and tied around her waist. They ran to their father.
He sighed in relief. “Thank goodness.... You’re all safe. We have to leave. Now.”
Nicana called for Tiger who came almost immediately. She grabbed him by the collar and led him as she and her siblings all followed their father out of the house. By the time they got out, the wind spell was starting to wear off. They ran as fast as they could through the woods. However, they were soon stopped by two people.
Alissa, Nicana, and Phoebe all waved their hands and each cast a light spell. They could now see who it was that blocked their path. The smaller one was a woman with ice blue eyes. She looked to be around five feet and three inches tall and was very thin and pale. Her long auburn hair went almost all the way down to the ground. She wore a long white dress that looked tight from the waist up with a long flowing skirt. From the low neckline to the waist was a long triangle woven of what looked like gold fabric. The sleeves fit her arms to perfection from the shoulders to the wrists. At the ends were small loops that went around her fingers like rings, and the cloth in between covered her hands. Her shoes were white slippers made of satin. On her head, she wore a gold circlet, and around her neck, a gold necklace with a heart shaped locket.
The other person was a tall man who looked to be about six feet tall and very muscular. He had short brownish-blond hair, blue eyes, and light skin. He wore black boots, black pants, a black shirt, and a black cloak with the hood pushed back. Around his neck, he wore three gold chains. Around his head was also a gold circlet. And on his left hand around his middle finger was a gold band.
Colin nearly gasped. “Laila.....”
“Forgive me, Colin,” she said. “I know you must be thinking that I betrayed you. But in reality, I didn’t. I never had any loyalty for you to begin with.”
“Daddy,” said Alissa, “I know this is a really bad time to say this, but we mean this with love.”
“We told you so!!” she, Jonathan, Nicana, and Phoebe said at the same time.
He sighed. “Yeah yeah yeah..... I know.”
“It really wasn’t you we were after,” Laila continued. “It was as your children suspected. We were after them. It really is amazing how you would do almost anything for me. You’d stand up for me against your own children. That is so sad....” She held on to the other man. “And here, I thought for sure you would have blown my cover, Alissa.”
“After all,” said the man, “you’ve seen us together before. It’s obvious that this wasn’t a surprise to you. You knew, and that’s why you remained still.”
Colin frowned. “You knew?”
“We all knew!” she replied. “You insisted that she wasn’t doing anything, remember?”
“Again, very sad.” She snickered. “I’m afraid we’ll have to take your dear children from you now, dear Colin. I hold no loyalty for you. Only for my true lord. Lord Kastor.”
Colin frowned again. “I’ve heard of you. You’re-”
“Yes, my lord.” He grinned. “I’m so glad you’ve heard of me and have some knowledge of who I am. However, that won’t save your children’s lives.”
“Want us to take him on, Papa?” said Nicana. “We’re ready.”
“Not for this battle.” He turned to onathan. “Get them out of here. Now!”
“Right!” He picked up Phoebe and nudged Alissa and Nicana.
The three girls each gave their father a hug. “We love you, Papa.”
“I love you too, girls. Now go! Hurry!”
They ran off as fast as they could.
Kastor smiled. “Honestly. Do you think they’ll get very far from here with the goblins after them? They won’t make it past the forest.”
“We’ll see about that.” He drew his sword. “You know you can’t get to them without going through me. I won’t allow it, and neither will your rules of battle. Right now, you can only capture them. It won’t do you much good though. They know how to run. They know how to hide. And they know how to make one’s life miserable if they should ever get caught.”
“Your daughters can’t do anything once their magic runs out.”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”

~~~
As they neared the edge of the woods, Jonathan stopped them. They all tried to catch their breath for a few moments. Then Jonathan had an idea. “Alissa..... Take Phoebe and go that way. I’ll take Nicana and Tiger and go the other.”
She took a few deep breaths. “Cana’s not a baby. And we can go together.”
“That’s not my plan. You know all the really good hiding places.” He winked. “Get my drift? And Nicana can travel on her own. If we’re spread out, they can’t get all of us.”
Alissa looked to Nicana. “Don’t look at me!” she said. “I don’t really care which way I go. Just as long as it’s away from here.”
She looked at Phoebe. “What do you say, PW?”
“I want Mommy....” she said softly.
“It’s okay, PW. We all do right now.” She sighed. “I’ll take her. Tiger, watch after Nicana and make sure she stays out of trouble. Same goes for you, Jack. Take care of yourselves.” Alissa helped Phoebe down, then she grabbed her hand and started running with her one way while Nicana and Jonathan started running the other.
Nearly five minutes later, Jarvas came with his troops. He growled. “Where did they go?”
“It’s too dark, commander!” said one of the goblins. “We’ll have to search for them tomorrow.”
He growled. “Fine! But whoever finds the oldest brat girl bring her to me to take the glory! I’m not letting her go again!” He stormed off.