Captured Hearts Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Murtagh

I walked swiftly towards Chapmen, a plan forming in my mind. I would take Aubree, and then Eragon would surely follow. I was far from blind to the signs of affection between them; therefore I thought my plan flawless.

“Hello, how can I help you?” it was one of those Dorm workers with brown hair and a pleasant face.

“Can I see Aubree?” I inquired.

“She is not here, but Abby or Arya could tell you where she is.”

I cursed myself mentally, of all the things that could happen! Then, it clicked; I would take Abby simply because she was the next best thing and would probably look better to Galbatorix. My mind made up, I asked, “Could Abby meet me by the tree then outside? She should know where it is.”

“I will ask her.” She left and I walked over to the tree. Just to reassure myself I thought if I could not get Aubree, Abby would do just as well. She came out of the cottage and walked towards me with her cane in her hand.

“Over here Abby, I need to talk to you.”

“What do you need?” Her voice sounded so casual as if nothing were going to happen.

“I need to ask you a question. What do you think of me?” I had a second plan in the works now, woo her, kiss her and incapacitate her.

“Well, I think you are nice, and mysterious.” She had a smile on her face and she stepped closer.

“I think you are nice to, I like you a lot.” I think I was going about it the right way. I had been looking at different relationships throughout the weeks and thought I was headed in the right direction.

“Wow that is surprising, considering how much you haven’t talked to me.” She said this with sarcasm, and I thought fast.

“Well, that is because I am a shy person. I really admire you and I thought maybe if you felt the same that we could, you know, um well, hook up.” I cringed at the last phrase. Thinking I had overdone it and she would see right through my offer.

“I don’t know, I barely know you and….” Her sentence cut off as I rushed over to her and brought my lips to hers. As I kissed her, I took a dart filled with a sleep drug and winding my arms around her, I stuck it in her neck. She gasped and gave a little moan. Arching her back she collapsed and fell into my arms.

I slung her over my shoulder and ran with the speed of an elf out of the grounds of the school. Eragon was going to be stricken when he discovered what I had done. I chuckled a little so I could cover the choked sob that almost escaped my mouth. I was a monster, no doubt about it.

AUBREE

I ran down the hall and called Arya’s name. From a darkened doorway I saw her. Stepping inside, I relayed to her all Eragon had told me and all we had discovered.

“I knew you were different and familiar at the same time but I would never have foreseen this. There is a written spell that will keep all who see it unaware to your leaving, unfortunately we will have to show everyone here and then hope it goes well with us after that, but first we have something much worse on our hands. Abby was taken by Murtagh, I could not stop him I was unaware of it until now. Soon the others will find out and chaos will rain. We must prepare.” As she said this a call came down the hall. I gasped in shock at what came next.

“No one go out of the cottage, we need to take a head check. The boys and girls from all the other cottages will be coming over here for a little party.” It was Valdine, the other house parent. What she actually said was that someone was missing and that they were getting all the cottages up here until they figured out what was going on. Abby was taken by that slimy, evil, boy. If I had my way, he would live to regret it. I was brought back to reality by Arya’s voice.

“I will show or read the letter to the cottage parents and/ or all who are there. It will put them in a trance for a half hour, and then all will return to normal. We must be gone by that time... I will instruct them to bring this missive to yours and Abby’s parents which hopefully will work. This spell will have no effect once your parents see you, so we must leave immediately.” Arya shoved me out and grabbed a piece of paper and started to write. I ran down to my room thinking of what to bring.

Most of my clothes were jeans and shirts, except for some of my more eccentric stuff. See, I was into medieval things and so I had gathered odds and ends in the last few years.

I went to my closet and opened it. All I really had was a cloak made of soft fleece with a hood, and a circlet or two. Most of my stuff was at home. I brought this because we had put on a play earlier that year. I tied the cloak and started for Arya’s bedroom.

“Is that all you are going to take?” Arya gave me a critical look.

“Should I bring anything else? I didn’t think that I would need my cell phone or walkman with me.” She smiled and showed me the letter. It was words in some language and some in ours. My eyes were glued to it, when she said.

“Everyone who reads or hears this will see or hear it in your language. The words are powerful. They will wipe any memory of you away and if they knew you well enough, make some excuse why you are not there. Though once you appear again, all that will fall and the spell will not work. Now, we must go and see if it works.”

“What! Have you not done this before?” I was starting to break under the pressure of it all.

“No, this is a little different than the usual magic of our race. Elves usually weave spells through song, so this will be a first for me. I made this up on the spot.”

“Oh, great! Just wonderful! Well, I am glad you have so much confidence in yourself!” I muttered this, but unfortunately, she heard.

“I want to help and this is not the normal way of things, so I am doing my best to acclimate. Please bear with me.” I smiled but felt my stomach tighten into a knot.

We walked down the hall. Everyone was there and Eragon met us at the entrance to the packed living room. He looked worried and shocked.

“He would have taken you Aubree if not for you coming to see me. It is all my fault, I am so sorry! I should have never come here!” he rambled.

“No, don’t say that! If you hadn’t, I would have never found out about my past and who I am. We’ll get Abby back.” I said this with as much assurance as I could muster. Our conversation was interrupted by Arya making her way to the front.

“Hello everyone. Could I have your attention please?” All eyes turned to her and she started to talk in a familiar yet foreign, language. All who were there were captured by the spell. I stuffed my fingers in my ears and waited until she finished unplugging them.

We hastily left the paper on the counter and without a backwards glance, went to the door. What we didn’t know was, at that point Mitchell came out of the staff bathroom just as the door closed behind us.

“Well, that was pulled off nicely. Good job Arya!”I said this with sarcasm. We were moving to the end of the driveway, when a crunch came from behind us.

“Darn!” it was Mitchell and he looked like he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“What in the world are you doing here?” Eragon hissed venomously, before I could utter a sound.

“I want to know the same thing.” He retorted. Mitchell could be so annoying that sometimes, all I wanted to do was ring his neck.

“Listen Mitchell,” I said, finally finding my voice, “I really don’t want to hurt you. Go back to Chapmen and play dumb, it shouldn’t be too hard for you. Forget we were ever here, or we will toss you in the trash.” I invented this last part, glancing at the blue square bin with interest.

“Nice try Aubree! I’m not falling for…” he stopped speaking, once Eragons fist connected with the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

“This will all just be a fuzzy memory.” Eragon said, trying to disguise the glee in his voice. With that, he heaved Mitchell into the bin.

Without a backward glance, we left to go save Abby and figure out who I was.