Chapter 31: The Battery

    While Faye had been brought into the Chaser headquarters, Abby and Thalia had been trying to navigate the sewer tunnels to find the power source of the city.

    They could hear voices echoing through the tunnels.

    "They said that they saw two others sneak into the sewers."

    "Who knows where they are know.  Why are we wasting time looking for them?"

    "Because they could find the room.  It would be very bad if they did."

    "Oh, right.  But how on earth are we going to find them?"

    "We split up.  They can only be in so many places."

    Abby and Thalia kept going, but neither of them knew where they were going.

    Abby turned to Thalia and asked, "Can your purple dragon help us at all?"

    Thalia thought, then she turned into her dragon.  Her long horns scraped the top of the ceiling so Thalia crouched low.

    "My senses are stronger once i am in this form," she said, closing her eyes. "I was taught to sniff out Chasers once i was a little girl so that I could always escape them.  But it wasn't the people's scent I knew, it was the electricity."

    "So you can smell electricity?" Abby asked, making a face.

    "More or less, yeah," Thalia responded.  She sniffed loudly and her eyes opened. "Follow me."

    Thalia began racing across the wet sewer floor and Abby, who was behind her, was splashed with the disgusting water.

    "Hey!" yelled Abby. "Stop!  This is super gross!"

    Thalia stopped immediately and turned on Abby, "Why did you just yell?  These sewers echo!"

    They heard voices getting closer and Thalia grabbed Abby and threw the girl onto her back.

    She zoomed through the tunnels and Abby held on as tight as she could.  Thalia stopped once she saw a light ahead of her.  She shifted back to human and Abby fell into the sewer water.

    "That was the second time!" Abby whispered angrily.

    "Shh!" Thalia said, inching toward a doorway where the light was coming from.

    Abby followed and they peeked into the room.

    A large battery stood in the middle, glowing bright with electricity.  Thalia saw three Chasers standing around it.  But the other thing she saw was what surprised her most of all.

    There were cages and cages of people, all of them hokes up to wire that led to the battery.

    Abby saw this too and asked quietly, " Are those Beasts?"

    "Yes," Thalia said. "They haven't been killing us.  They have been collecting us and using our power to power their technology."

    "You guys have power?"

    "Yes.  The Gemstone of nature is what gives us the ability to change from human to animal.  Somehow they found out about it, and now they are sucking the power from the humans.  But that will kill them."

    Thalia examined the room again and noticed a box close to the door.  

    There were bodies inside.

    Thalia gasped and her face grew red with anger.  "They did this to my people!" she yelled as the Chasers jumped.  Thalia changed form and barged into the room.

    The startled Chasers tried to run for their weapons but they were too late.  Thalia grabbed them all and threw them against the wall.  They fell to the ground, unconscious.

    Abby walked into the room and began examining every cage. "The government always told us that they killed every Beast that they found.  I never would have guessed that they did that by sucking the life out of them."

    Thalia looked at the wires which brought the glowing gold blood of the Beasts into the battery.  She sighed and said, "The only way to shut off this battery is to get these people out of here.  But they're all sleeping."

    "Can we wake them up?"

    "No, they must have used some sort of drug on them."

    "Then how are we supposed to complete our mission?"

    "Maybe we can unhook them."

    "No," said a weak voice from the ground.

    They saw that a Chaser had regained consciousness and she was sitting upright. "Those cages are what keep them alive.  If the subjects die to quickly then we cannot get enough powered blood from them.  So the scientists invented those cages to keep them alive in a sleep until we have extracted all of the blood.  If you unhook them now then they will all die."

    The Chaser began to laugh but Thalia shut her up by knocking her over the head with a claw.

    "What do we do now?" Abby asked.

    "I don't know."

    "If what that girl said was true then these Beasts are already dead.  I don't think we can save them anyway."

    Thalia turned away and sighed, "I can't take that for an answer.   I am 

the queen, I need to protect my subjects!"

    "Thalia!" Abby yelled. "They're gone!  I know you feel responsible, but there is nothing we can do!"

    "But, there may be more that they're planning to use," Thalia said to herself, ignoring Abby.  "Where could they be keeping them?"

    She ran around the room, checking all the walls.  She found a box covering a small doorway.  Pushing it away, Thalia changed into a human so she could walk through the door.

    Abby scurried to catch up to her.  They entered into a smaller room that was filled with a cacophony of animal and human voices. 

    The room fell silent as Thalia walked in.  All of the Beasts in the cages stared at her.  Then, one yelled, "It's the queen!  We're saved!"

    "Shh!" Thalia said. "I am here to rescue all of you.  Do you know where the keys are?"

    "Hah," Abby said. "Keys are so last century.  People use voice locks or finger scanners now."

    Thalia sighed disappointedly.  "Well, then how do we unlock them?"

    "These locks look like fingerprint ones," Abby said as she examined the lock on a cage. "Maybe the Chasers you knocked out can help us get in."

    "But they're unconscious."

    "So you can bring one in here and use their fingers to unlock the cages."

    "Okay." Thalia said, and she hurried out of the room.

    Thalia ran to the nearest Chaser, hanged into a dragon, grabbed him, and hauled him to the room.

    It wasn't until she had entered the room and the horrified screams of "Dragon!" filled her ears that she realized the huge mistake she had made.

    Thalia shifted back to herself and a person stood in their cage and yelled, "You're a dragon, our enemy!  Do you see everyone!  The Queen has been lying to us this whole time!"

    Thalia covered her face and Abby's eyes widened.  Abby quickly brought Thalia out of the room.

    "I am so stupid!" Thalia was saying. "I wasn't even thinking!  Now everyone knows!"

    "It's okay," Abby said. "They will probably forgive you if you save them.  Anyway, that isn't the biggest problem we have now."

    There was a loud noise and they both looked up to see the door to the 

room burst open.

    Chasers poured into the room and Thalia rose to her feet.  

    "Stop!" yelled a voice as a man marched to the front. "Or we will shot the teenager.  If you dare turn into a dragon then she's dead!"

    Thalia turned to look at Abby who looked terrified.  A Chaser pointed a gun at her and Thalia slowly put up her hands.  Chasers ran forward and placed a metal ring around her neck.  They bound Abby and Thalia and took them out of the room.

                                    Chapter 32: A Silent Call

    Denarius, Dede, Cameron, and Abraham trudged through the thick forest, slowly making their way to New Skielie.

    "It's starting to get hotter," Dede complained. "Maybe I should change into a possum and take shade in the trees."

    "I honestly don't care what you do," Denarius said. "We just need to reach Thalia and the others before they are killed or something worse happens."

    Dede nudged Cameron and whispered, "See?  He acres a lot about Queen Thalia."

    "They're really close friends," Cameron said back.

    "Whatever."  Dede sprung into a branch and changed into her small form.  

    "She's creepy," Abraham said, staring up at her. "Can you believe she's older than us?"

    "Nope," Cameron said, walking faster to get away from Abraham.

    He walked beside Denarius and asked, "What is your plan anyway?  The sun is coming up and we will have no cover whatsoever in New Skielie."

    "We will use the people.  We can blend in with them," Denarius said.

    "Not in those crazy clothes," Abraham commented from behind. "You look like a Sith from Star Wars!"

    "What is a sith?" Denarius asked, "And what is Star Wars?"

    "Nothing," Cameron said quickly, before Abraham could say anymore. "We can get you into better clothes.  Me and Abraham look fine, but you and Dede need to change."

    "How are we supposed to get clothes for them?" Abraham asked.

    "Well, Dede looks Faye's size.  And I think Denarius will fit into some of your clothes Abraham," Cameron said.

    "What?  He can't use my clothes!"

    "Why not?" Denarius asked, staring Abraham down.

    Abraham shook his hands frustratingly.  "F-Fine! whatever, I don't even care.  But how are supposed to get into my house?  My Dad might be there."

    "We will see if his car is there."

    They finally made it through the forest and climbed the fence easily.  Abraham led them toward the Spring house and they saw that Mr. Spring's car was gone.

    "Okay, I'm gonna go in," Abraham said.  Then he quickly turned to Dede who was still in possum form. "Turn human again or something.  If anyone sees you then we're all dead."

    Abraham took a deep breath and then entered the house.  He had expected all of his brothers to be at school, but there they were, sitting in the living room, talking.

    "Abraham?  Where did you come from?" the oldest brother, Taylor, asked.

    "I just came in to grab something," Abraham said, shuffling to the staircase.

    "Wait," said JJ," do you know anything about Papa or Faye?"

    "No, nothing.  Where is Papa anyway?"

    "He didn't say where he went.  He just got a phone call and left.  I think the phone call was from the Chasers."

    "Maybe they found a Beast!" Ian yelled, jumping to his feet and roaring at Jay.

    "Sit down!" Jay yelled. "You have the worst Beast impression ever!"

    Ian, obviously taking offense, jumped on Jay and they began to wrestle.  The older boys tried to stop the two and soon all of them were wrestling on the ground.

    Abraham took this distraction and ran up the stairs into Faye's room.  He grabbed a shirt and skirt from her dresser and  a pair of shoes.  Then he ran into his room and grabbed clothes for Denarius.

    He ran back downstairs, where his brothers were still wrestling, and out the door.  He met the others outside and threw the clothes to them.

    "Where are they gonna get dressed?" Cameron asked.

    "Ahh, come on inside, but be quiet," Abraham said, opening back up the door and letting them in.

    Cameron showed them to separate rooms as Abraham stayed downstairs.

    The boys finished wrestling and they all got back up.  Taylor was yelling at Ian and Jay as Abraham walked over to them.

    "Can you guys ever get along?" Abraham asked Jay and Ian, hoping to get them into another fight so everyone would be distracted.  "Then again, Ian has always felt like the runt of the brothers.  Which he is, at least, that's what Jay said."

    "You called me a runt!" Ian yelled at Jay.

    "Hey," Bennet said, standing up. "No more fighting!"

    "And Jay," Abraham turned to him. "Ian said he would be the best wolf ever."

    Jay clenched his fists and Taylor ran down to grab the two but they got to each other first and the second fight was started.

    Abraham saw Cameron coming down with Denarius and Dede and he turned to Bennet and JJ. "Also, I think I saw a rat in the basement.  It could

be a Beast and you guys could get paid for it!"

    Bennet immediately took off toward the basement and JJ followed, trying to push the fourteen-year-old off his feet.

    Taylor was stuck with Ian and Jay who were now clawing at each others faces. "I am going to tell your Father!" Taylor was yelling.

    Abraham ran to the stairs and motioned for the others to follow him to the back door.

    They escaped and paused a moment to come up with their new plan.

    "These clothes are mighty funny," Dede said, staring down at her outfit. "And why do I need to wear these things on my feet?  It is much more comfortable to walk barefoot."

    Denarius, who was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt that had "New

Skielie High School" written on it, said, "We can bear these funny clothes.  But now we need to worry about getting into the sewers."

    "There are entranced all over the city," Cameron said. "Maybe if we find one then we can enter it and find the others."

    "And then I can take off these pinchy shoes!" Dede yelled gleefully.

    "Shh!" Denarius said, then he suddenly lifted his head.  

    He stared around and his eyes seemed confused. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

    "What?" asked Cameron.

    "That call . . . it's-it's a dragon's call."

    "Sorry, a what?" Abraham said.

    "Thalia is calling to me," Denarius said.