“Mr. Charmaine. The captain has arrived.”

I looked up from the last of my paperwork to see my father’s assistant, sorry, my assistant, Mr. Cradley, scowling at me from the doorway, not bothering to hide his immense loathing for me. I sighed, rising from behind the desk, and followed Mr. Cradley out the door and to the receiving room. A few moments later, the captain walked in with a furious look on his face and immediately began yelling at me about the loss of three of his ships that I had chartered, which had been ravaged by the Indians.

“My ships are gone! They were wrecked, torn limb from limb, every single plank of the hull ripped apart! My best ships! This is all your fault, Charmaine! Your father never would have allowed something like this to happen! You don’t deserve your position!”

This continued on for a good quarter hour. When he paused for breath, I cut in.

“Mr. Debbin. How many ships have been sent down south before the Miriam, Juline, and Kylee?”

He spluttered. “Why, a good many, there have been. Seven altogether.”

“And what has happened to them?”

“Th- th- they’ve all been destroyed!”

My patience thinned at the obvious lie. “I think not. While the Iridescent and the Queen have not returned, the Isabella, the Future, the Connie, the Flower, and the Ruby have returned back safe. Do not lie to me, Captain. It is not appreciated. Most of the ships sent down have returned, and the logical decision was that there was a greater chance of your ships returning. I am sorry that they haven’t, but you cannot blame me for what the Indians did. Now, by your leave.”

The captain stared at me in open-mouthed shock.

I met his gaze. “Well? Is there anything else you need to address?”

His mouth snapped shut and he shook his head in a few sharp, angry jerks before turning on his heel and stomping out.

I sighed and leaned back, resting my head on the stiff frame of the chair. Not one week and I’ve already managed to get everyone to hate me, I thought.

My parents died in an accident a year ago, when I was seventeen, and the only thing left to me in their will was this company, which I’ve been trained from my childhood to take over when I turned eighteen. My birthday was last week, and I walked into the familiar hallway of the business’ headquarters three days ago.

I shook my head to clear it, and rose from the chair, heading back to my office to finish the paperwork. I had promised my younger siblings, Liam and Lindsey, that I would visit them today, and I didn’t want to be late unless I wanted to hear it from my aunt. And she could go on for ages.

Once I was home, I called to the stable hand to saddle my Narragansett Pacer, Starlight. I picked up the presents I had bought for Lindsey and Liam, and turned around, intending to head back outside, when a letter fluttered to the ground. It read:

Greetings to the One Called James Charmaine,

We are the ones of the Below, and we require your help. One of us has become Dark and is polluting the others of our race with his Darkness. We have looked around all of the Above-Dwellers, and have concluded that you are the only one capable of rescuing us of the Light. If you manage to defeat the Devils, the ones with Darkness, our leader, Casie, shall grant you two boons.

Please, help us, though we will not condemn you if you don’t. We await your answer on the back of this paper.

With hope,

The Dwellers

I stared at disbelief at the fancy, expensive parchment. What sort of trickery was this? As a means to test the validity of the paper, I grabbed the quill on my bedside table and wrote:

How do I know that this is real?

To my utter astonishment, the words disappeared, and writing flowed across the sheet.

Will a reply be enough?

I dropped the letter as if it was on fire, and raced out of the house and mounted my stallion, trying to get as far away as possible from the crazy sheet of parchment. I was going to pretend it didn’t exist for as long as possible.

I slowed down as I neared my aunt and uncle’s house, and tied Starlight to a fence picket, allowing him enough lead to graze and reach the small stream flowing past, before walking inside the house to find my aunt and uncle frantically searching, calling my twin siblings’ names.

“Aunt Alice, Uncle Isaac, what’s going on?”

Aunt Alice paused in her frantic searching to turn around and look at me. “Oh, James, thank goodness you’re here! Liam and Lindsey have gone missing!”

   I looked at her in shock, and ran, skidding into their room. To my dismay, I saw a letter in similar paper as the message from the Dwellers. I snatched it up, and my eyes flew over the words:

Greetings to the One Called James Charmaine.

We hope to find you in good health. You may have noticed by now that your brother and sister are missing. That must be credited to us. You have no way to get them back. If you wish them to be unharmed, you will pretend none of this happened and allow one of our people to remove your excess energy for the good of our kind. This energy is unnecessary to your survival. However, it is to ours. So please consider our offer and reply within two hours on the back of this sheet. Do be sure to make the right choice.

With satisfaction,

The Ones of the Below

I shook my head. No, no, no, no, NO! This cannot be happening! First my parents, now my siblings! How could I lose all of my immediate family within a month of each other?

I walked to my aunt and uncle and wordlessly handed the sheet of thick paper to them. Aunt Alice started sobbing, covering her mouth with her hand.

I walked to her and hugged her, lending her comfort, even though I wished to cry as well.

“I will get them back, I promise you. I give you my word.”

My aunt nodded wordlessly and turned her face into Uncle Isaac’s shirt.

“You must get them back,” Uncle Isaac said, wrapping his arms around Aunt Alice.

I nodded, then picked up a quill that had been knocked to the floor in the commotion around finding Liam and Lindsey, and wrote in clear print across the back of the parchment:

I refuse. If you harm a hair on the heads of my siblings, all of you will die.

The paper suddenly burned up in my hands, and I quickly tossed it into the fireplace.

I hurried home and snatched up the weird parchment on the floor of my room. I picked up a quill, and dipping it into an inkwell, I wrote my reply:

I accept your offer.

I dropped the paper, expecting it to flare up like the other one, but it merely shimmered and disappeared. Then so did my room. Then, blackness overtook my senses.

I came to on a decently comfortable bed, surrounded by people that appeared to be glowing. I blinked twice. They really were glowing! I sat up but then flopped back down, groaning. My entire body was incredibly sore. One of the glowing people came forward and helped me sit up on the bed, stuffing a few pillows behind me. She had short brown hair cropped into a bob, warm golden eyes, and a welcoming face.

She spoke, “Hello James. My name is Casie. The ones you see around you, including myself, are the Council of Dwellers. As you may remember from the letter, I am the head Councillor. We are glad you have decided to help us. Is there anything you may want? The travel here must have been rough on your unaccustomed body.”

I told them that some water would be nice, and one of the glowing figures immediately detached himself from the wall and left the room. I was quite a bit unnerved at the fact that a woman was leading a group of people, but I decided not to question their choices and values. To get my mind off the subject, I marveled at their light out loud, and Casie laughed.

“You should take a good look at yourself. You glow more than we do.”

I glanced down at my arm and started, crying out in shock and scrambling around on the bed.

This time all the Councillors laughed.

“Nice to know my reactions amuse you,” I muttered under my breath. “I sure have a knack for doing these things.”

Casie smiled, but as my water arrived, a somber expression chased away the mellowness. “This is all well and good, but we must move on. Do you know why you are here?”

“Uh… Was it not to help you defeat the “Devils or the Darkness or something like that?”

Casie nodded. “Yes. Why don’t we start from the beginning? Many things will be clearer. Storian, if you would do the honors?”

I noted how weird the names of these people were.

Storian came forward, and replaced Casie on a stool next to the bed, and took a deep breath before beginning.

“It has only been two years, yet much misfortune has befallen us. Two years ago, we had a special student, studying the nuances of the magical world -”

Magical world?

“-From our instructors. Unfortunately, there was an incident, and his light gradually became darker. At first, the dimness was indecipherable, but over time, many noticed how dull he was compared to the rest of us. He was darker even than the darkest of us that live in the light.

“He was questioned, and to our horror, he had been possessed by the evilest of beings. It had possessed him to increase It's own power. We tried to lock the student away, but It had already grown to more power than all of us, and they escaped. By then, the student’s light had turned completely black. Not dim, but black. We called him the Dark One. Any of the Dwellers that approached him became polluted by his darkness and joined him. We know we can purify the darkness, but purifying the Dark One will purify the rest of the Devils as well.”

Casie took over from there, and the rest of the Council filed out. “We need you to harness your magic and help us defeat this Dark One. Now that you know what is going on, are you sure you want to help us?”

I thought of Lesley and Liam. “I have no choice.”

Casie looked at me in surprise. “What do you mean? There is always a choice.”

I shook my head. “They have my little brother and sister. I have to save them. There’s no one else who can. Who will.”

I felt tears starting to roll down my cheeks and I quickly hid my face, both to disguise the tears and to escape the look Casie was giving me.

“Now,” She said briskly, changing the subject. “We must determine the level of your powers.”

I was greatly confused by this statement, but I decided to play along and limped behind, following her.

We walked out of the room into an enormous cavern, lit like daylight by the brightest sconces I’ve ever seen lining the walls. There were a handful of people out and about, clashing with old-fashioned swords. And then there were people sitting around completing tasks that should be impossible - lifting pebbles into the air with no support, shooting projectiles from hands at a series of targets, and more. Two of the figures, who were engaged in a very theatrical, light-up duel, stopped fighting and headed over.

They appeared to be brother and sister, with identical dark hair and green eyes, faces that somehow managed to be both masculine and feminine for the respective sibling. Each had a lean, muscled body, and the man had an aura of predatory danger, which was negated by his sister’s kind smile.

“Hello,” the woman said, her voice a musical jingle. “You must be James. I am Lani, and this is my brother Henri. I trust your journey was quite uncomfortable?”

I stared at her for a minute, then let out an unexpected laugh at the twist of the common courtesy.

“You’re right about that. My entire body is so sore.”

“Hmm,” Henri spoke. He had a deep, almost raspy voice that resonated in my bones. “Why don’t you try making yourself not sore?”

“Getting right to the point I see,” Casie muttered.

In the meantime, I was staring at the brother. How was I supposed to do that? I can’t make my body heal faster any more than I can grow a second head. I presume these two could, witnessing the show they put on earlier, but I surely could not.

“Just try. You never know until you can.”

I shrugged. “How am I supposed to do it? I have no clue how or anything.”

Lani cocked her head. “Why don’t you… Try looking around in your mind.”

I raised an eyebrow but did as she told. I searched my mind, feeling foolish until I came to a great gushing river of something powerful. I whispered my exclamation at the majesticness of the jet, and took hold of it, and attempted to bend it to my will and heal my injuries. Unfortunately, it caused a small explosion, leaving me groaning around on the ground in pain.

Frustrated, I looked up, but Lani assured me that it was ok to not be able to use it first try. She then turned to Casie, and said, “He has immense power. He is definitely the one that has the ability to help us. You may leave. We will take over from here.”

The next several weeks were spent training, working with the physical body and the mind. It was a long and arduous process, where most days I would be asleep before I could even get in bed properly. The siblings would never let up. Henri’s actions you could tell from the start, but Lani’s looks deceive anyone that she is anything but kind. But I carried on. And I improved task they assigned me, each task I completed.

Soon enough, my final test was coming up, and my days were spent practicing. I was executing a complex attack maneuver with both magic and my sword, when a runner dashed across the field, stopped by me, and said the words I'd hoped I’d never hear.

“Mr. Charmaine! Mr. Charmaine! We have received word from our spies that the Devils are going to kill your brother and sister after a fortnight!”

My blade slipped and stabbed me in the gut, still magicked. I screamed out in pain, and collapsed to my knees, yanking the sword out and attempting to heal the wound. The minute I released the magic, though, a wave of intense pain racked my body and I convulsed, my throat growing hoarse from screaming, my tunic dyed red, my hands slick with blood. The last thing I remembered is Casie’s worried gold eyes flashing in the edges of my vision.

I woke in my bed, bandages wrapped around my midsection. I moved my head, attempting to sit up, but a jagged pain sliced through my skull and I flopped back down, crying out. The pain abated, and I slowly inched my way up until I was sitting. By that time, Casie, Lani, and Henri were all standing around me with worried looks on their faces.

Henri was worried about me? Wow.

“Are you alright?” Lani asked.

I blinked. “Hmm… Let me think. I just stabbed myself, I cannot use magic to heal the stab wound, I cannot move for fear of the pain actually splitting my head open, and my younger brother and sister, for whom I am responsible, are about to die. So, all in all, I am very much NOT ALRIGHT.”

Lani was a bit taken aback at my aggression. “Sorry, that was a stupid question.”

“Was it really? I hadn’t noticed.”

Casie frowned. “James, get ahold of yourself.”

I was being unnecessarily rude to Lani…

“Sorry,” I muttered. “My sarcasm increases tenfold when I’m annoyed at life.”

Casie shook her head. “Understandable, but you can’t take out your anger on someone who does not deserve it, James.”

My lips tightened. “You think I don’t know that? You think that I want to be angry?” I tilted my head back and stared at the ceiling. “I would like to have some space please.”

“James…”

“Some space, please.”

Eyes crinkled in worry, the three of them filed out. I finished off my water and rose once my headache abated. I carefully made my way over to the mirror and stared at my reflection.

The same deep blue, eyes. The same sandy, gold hair. The same chiseled face. Yet somehow, after everything that happened, the same face seemed alien. I sighed and closed my eyes. Shuffling back to the bed, I turned off the lights and attempted to create a spark between my fingertips.

Reaching to the back of my mind, I took ahold of the tiniest amount of power, making my fingertips glow. I blinked. It worked! I slowly fed the glow power, till the flames covered my fingertip, then my hand, then my arm. Halfway up my shoulder, my control slipped and the pain returned in full force. I bit my lip, trying to hold back my scream, but to no avail. Henri and Lani burst back in the room, but I barely registered their presence, too wrapped up in the pain. The attack subsided, and I groaned and uncurled myself from the fetal position I had taken, and blinked up at my instructors.

“That’s it,” Lani said. “Henri, we need to heal him. The cut isn’t allowing him to do anything properly.”

Henri nodded somberly, before gingerly lifting me up and placing me on the bed.

“I’m going to put you to sleep,” he said. “It will cause you less pain.”

He moved his hand, and I closed my eyes. His fingers rested over my eyes for a second, and then I was no longer aware of the world.

I woke up and instinctively reached for my blanket, only to realize that I didn’t have one. I sat up, disoriented for a minute before my head cleared and memories of the last two months rushed in. I lifted my shirt to find no remains of the stab wound other than a thin, shimmery line diagonal across my abdomen.

I shook my head in delight, my grin stretching from ear to ear, and set myself on fire. I promptly let go of the magic and curled up screaming, the pain almost worse than before.

Thankfully, the attack was only half as long as before, and I pulled myself to a remotely seated position as Casie rushed in.

She sighed. “I’m presuming that didn’t work?”

I remembered one of my earlier lessons and used magic to probe the site of the wound. To my horror, there was a quite a bit of magic massed up and stuck in the surrounding tissue.

I looked up at Casie. “Nope. From what I see, there is a ton of magic stuck in the flesh around my wound. I don’t know if I can get rid of it.”

My stomach growled, and I flushed with embarrassment.

“Err… Sorry. I haven’t had anything to eat in a while,” I mumbled the apology.

She brushed it off and looked at me hopefully. “Never mind that. You can still use magic?”

“Yes. Before Lani and Henri healed the wound, I could use enough magic to light my arm on fire, but no more than that. I don’t know how-.”

I was interrupted by her turning and striding out of the room.

My shoulders sagged, and I wallowed in self-pity for a long while, before remembering Lindsey and Liam, in the clutches of the Devils.

I stiffened, then rose and strode out the door, finding Casie walking down the hallway with a tray in her hands, steam rising from a bowl of soup.

“Where’s Lani and Henri?” I asked her. “I need them.”

She blinked coolly, and I knew she was still frustrated and mad about my inability to use magic. “I do believe they are in their rooms. Shall I go fetch them?”

I nodded, and she handed me the tray before heading back downstairs.

The smell of food reminded me of how hungry I was, and I scarfed down the soup in record time. The sound of boots stomping up the stairs alerted me to Lani’s and Henri’s presences, and I turned to acknowledge them as they came into view.

“You called, James?” Lani’s voice floated across the long hallway.

I dipped my head in response. “I trust Casie has alerted you to what’s wrong?”

The siblings nodded in response.

“I need your help getting the magic out of the wound.”

“James!” Lani exclaimed. “You can’t do that! You would cause yourself some serious pain!”

My voice took on a dangerous tone. “My brother and sister are still in the hands of those people. They have no one but me. I trust you can understand, being siblings?” Without waiting for a response, I continued on. “I need to get all this magic out of the wound. I can’t do it alone. You need to help me.”

Henri took a small step forward. “But James, the pain-”

“[Darn] the pain! I need to save them! Will you help me or not?”

Their shoulders sagged. “Alright,” Lani said.

We re-entered my room, and I lay down on the bed. They each placed an arm on my shoulder, and the three of us closed our eyes. I reached for my magic, and started to push out the power massed around my earlier cut, aware of the two other forces pushing with me, and screamed at the pain flashing through my body. I gritted my teeth, and fought through, continuing to push out the magic.

Hours passed, and finally, the agony started to lessen, and there was a soft glow around my wound. The pain lessened until it was no more, and there was a glowing ball of magic hovering above my midsection. I stroked it with a finger and felt it being absorbed back into the river gushing in the back of my mind.

I flopped down on the bed, and Lani and Henri flopped with me. We were all exhausted from the ordeal, and the pair left the room after I told them to get some rest. I fell asleep after finally managing to fully light myself on fire.

Two days later, I raced to the training grounds after completing my test and tackled Lani and Henri in a hug, yelling, “I did it! I did it! I did it!” Lani and Henri, Henri, laughed and hugged me back.

“We knew you could do it,” Henri laughed in his resonant baritone.

“So did I, but that doesn’t make me any less happy about it,” I smirked and pushed myself off of them.

“I see you have developed the quality of humbleness.” Lani’s tone was quite mischievous.

“Keep deluding yourself.” I turned and walked to Casie’s war room, and waited as the rest of the councilors walked in.

I listened contentedly to their discussion, interjecting points when I saw fit. The only thing I was really focusing on was that I had my powers back and that we were leaving to go save my siblings.

Within two days, the entire city was bustling with activity, the glowing Dwellers heading this way and that, lighting up the city, getting ready for war. By the end of the third day, we were ready to march. And off we went.

The trek took three days, after which we stopped. In the not-so-far distance, we could see a city identical to the ones the Dwellers live in, except for the fact that this was much smaller and full of darkness. The land around was pocked with craters, probably leading to tunnels and caverns below the ground.

Many of the warriors shuddered when they saw the city and turned away, not willing to look at it for longer than they had to. A runner left, shrouding her light with a special cloak and entered the city. Her job was to know the city inside-out and to draw maps and diagrams to help guide us. That is, if she returns safe and sound.

The next morning she came sprinting back, holding several scrolls, and slight terror plastered all over her face. She barreled into me in her rush, and I caught her arms, asking what was wrong.

“I was discovered!” She panted. “I faked that they killed me, but they’ll know once they realize the body is missing.”

I frowned and released her, then headed to where Casie was sitting.

“Hey Casie,” I  called. “Could I talk to you for a second?”

She rose, and the two of us walked to a small stream near where we had camped.

“What’s up?” She asked.

“I think that they know we’re here now,” I said. I watched as her face creased in a worried frown.

“Then I suppose we have no choice but to attack now.” She alerted the trumpeters, and they thundered out the short tune that meant attack. Everyone rose from their seated positions, and hastily re-equipped for war.

Everyone was on the move. I could see the alerters running around in the city, which was normal. What shocked me was the darkness radiating off of them. The “glow” both lit up and darkened everything around it. We invaded the city and our warriors attacked. It was bloody, but all of those injured were healed.

Slowly but surely, we made our way through the city. I was slashing left and right, the blade of my sword stained red with blood. It was glowing with a spell that I set to purify all that it touched, so along with the Devils, my blade was whirling, giving small cuts to the Dwellers that were becoming polluted.

All of a sudden there was a fresh wave of Darkness that radiated across all the fighters. Those untouched by the Darkness remained so, but any that had even a smidge of Dark in their glow was turned fully. I barreled through the warriors, heading to where the Darkness originated from. I heard running feet behind me, and I whipped my head around for a split second to glimpse Casie, Lani, and Henri following behind.

I finally cut through the Devils to see a Devil so dark, that his features were indistinguishable. I knew he was the Dark One. He immediately targeted me, shooting out Darkness every which way. I narrowly escaped getting hit and tried to advance. But I couldn’t - he was too powerful.

When Casie, Lani, and Henri arrived, Casie shouted, “Brother! Don’t do this! I know you aren’t like this!”

I stared at her. The Dark One was her brother? No wonder she was so passionate about purifying him. I flinched as a bolt of Darkness swished by me, ruffling my hair.

“[Darn] it!”

Casie rushed over. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I replied. “I don’t believe that dying was on my list of things to do today. I need to seriously pay attention to my surroundings.”

She cracked a smile, and our attention returned to her brother. With the four of us, we slowly advanced on the Dark One. In the process, I saw a blotch of darker darkness off to the side. I glanced at it, and then glanced at Casie.

“Go,” She said. “I’ll take care of my sibling. You take care of yours.”

I looked back one more time, then slowly started to inch towards the blotch of darkness, not changing anything about what I was doing but position, still watching the Dark One. Soon, I was right next to the cage-like blotch. Casie, Lani, and Henri pushed harder, keeping the Dark One distracted. I turned, trusting them to cover my back, and little by little, cleared away the Darkness.

As soon as the first shaft of light entered the cage, my brother and sister started shrieking in delight. I heard a bellow of rage come from behind me and I started slashing away the Darkness faster, my blade a blur. I was almost done when Casie cried out behind me, so I quickly got rid of the last of the Darkness around the cage, slashed the lock away, and whipped around to see the Dark One toss Casie into one of the surrounding craters.

“Argh!” I charged him, blade swinging wildly, and slashed through every one of his bolts of Darkness. Nothing he did could hold him back. Casie, someone I had grown to look up to as an older sister, was gone. I acquired my siblings only to lose an honorary one. I would not put up with losing any more family.

I reached him and stabbed right through the Darkness, and my blade exploded, blinding all of us with white light, slamming both of us some ten feet away. I scrambled to my feet once I could breathe again.

It took a minute, but when my vision cleared, I saw a normal Dweller on the ground attempting to raise himself. He turned his head towards me, and I stumbled back, seeing a young male Casie. It was quite the disorienting experience.

“Nngh,” He groaned, and managed to get himself to a crouching position.

I kneeled next to him. “Hey. You’re Casie’s brother, right? What do they call you?”

He blinked blankly at me. “John. They call me John. Who are you? How do you know my sister?”

“I’m someone who is here to help. Don’t worry about me for now. How do you feel?”

“I- I think I’m fine… What year is it?”

I looked to Lani for help.

“They use the same time system here.” She called out to me.

I returned my attention to John. “It is the year of 1763. Why?”

“Because-” He paused and did a bit of thinking, “I can’t remember anything from the last ten years but for a few flashes. Do you know what happened?”

“I do, but I don’t believe that I’m the one to tell you. If you’ll wait here, I’ll go grab Storian. He’s th-”

“I know who Storian is. And he’s right behind you.”

I threw a look over my shoulder and moved aside.

“Storian, if you will.”

I moved aside as Storian filled John in on the occurrences of the past 10 years. He faltered once he came to when Casie was thrown, but he moved on and finished the story up to the part where we woke up.

John sighed. “It appears that I caused a lot of trouble, didn’t I.”

Lani walked up and laid a hand on John’s shoulder. “John, it isn’t your fault. This is It’s fault. You can’t take responsibility for it.”

John sighed. “I know, but I can’t get it out of my head that I did that. That It did all that with my body. I can’t help but feel that if I hadn’t gone out during the eclipse, if I had resisted It’s hold a bit more, that none of this would have happened.”

I shook my head. “As wrong as it is, I can’t make you not feel any of that. It’s easier said than done. But one thing I can say is that there is at least one good thing that came out of all this - It will never bother anyone again. All of this,” I swept my arm around the city and the battlefield. “All of this will never happen again.”

John just dropped his head.

We returned back to the camp, and all the Councilors met with John, me, and the twins, who hadn’t bothered to let go of me since the battle. They were slowing me down on the walk back, so I ended up with Lindsey on my hip and Liam riding on my back. They were both eight, and a little heavy for me, but I understood their fear and allowed it.

In the council “room”, the Councilors immediately started arguing about many of the things that have just happened, and who should be the next Head Councilor. Eventually, I got fed up.

“All of you shut it!” I shouted.

They all shut up.

“Just a few things,” I began. “Number one - Casie is not dead! When will that get into your thick heads? If we send out a search party, we can find her. None of you will be able to lead the Dwellers as well as she did. Remember that. Number two - John is not a criminal. Yes, he went out past curfew on the eclipse, but that doesn’t mean he should be buried alive because of what It did. From what I know, those that disobeyed the curfew on an eclipse are just placed on house arrest for one month, and that is all that John deserves. No more. Number three - how the hell am I supposed to go home with my brother and sister?”

The Councilors were rendered speechless by my rant, but they quickly composed themselves.

One of the Councilors, Livvi, responded to my last question. “Individually, we are nothing compared to Casie, Lani, Henri, or yourself, but together we could send you and your siblings home if that is what you wish.” She took out a small slip of parchment and handed it to me. “Take this. If you ever need to come back, just write come. If you wish to bring people other than yourself, just name them, and the magic in the paper will decipher your intentions.”

I pocketed the paper, and the Councilors formed a circle around us, holding hands. I blinked, and all of a sudden, the twins and I were standing in my home in Rhode Island. I looked at the twins, and they suddenly started crying and held onto me as if their lives depended on it. I kneeled down and hugged them back, crying also.

We stayed like that for a long while, and Lindsey and Liam cried themselves to sleep. I settled them on my bed, before taking out the parchment and dropping it onto my desk.

We stayed in the house for a few days, just getting used to being normal again. On the third day, the twins had run around and exhausted themselves, and I had tucked them a few hours ago before I noticed the parchment again.

I stood there for a long while, just staring at the paper. My siblings eventually roused themselves and came to join me.

“You want to go back and find her, don’t you?” Liam asked.

I nodded. “She was like a big sister to me. I can’t just leave her there. I don’t know why. I have only known her for a few months, but she means so much to me.”

Lindsey tentatively spoke. “Well, maybe we could help.”

I looked down at her. “What are you talking about?”

“We could communicate to each other there,” Liam said. “Without saying a word out loud.”

I looked at them in shock. “Really?”

They both nodded earnestly.

I smiled, but then frowned. “But how could I ask you two to put yourselves in danger?”

“But we wouldn’t be in danger, would we? Either you or someone you trust to protect us would always be with us.” Liam looked at me with absolute faith in his eyes.

I sighed and moved towards the paper on my desk. “Well, when you put it like that..”

Back in the Below, I met with the Councilors, who hadn’t yet sent out a search party. We argued for a good while, but when my siblings mentioned their ability, the Councilors quickly gave in.

There was twenty altogether, and we split up into two groups. Lindsey came with me, and Liam went with Lani and Henri. I carefully lowered my group of Dwellers one by one into one of the craters, ending with Lindsey, then myself.

The search took several hours. Lindsey and Liam sent each other updates, requests, etc. from both teams. Eventually, I found part of Casie’s blouse snagged on a jutting rock, with a streak of semi-wet blood, and we followed the tunnel only to meet up with the other search party.

Both teams had covered all of the tunnels, with no sign of Casie. Nobody could understand why we couldn’t find her. I felt a tugging on my trousers, and I looked down to see Liam pointing at a mostly hidden alcove. We walked over, and I saw Casie’s shoe. I called out to the rest of the search team, and Liam and I crawled into the cramped space.

We continued for some time and eventually came across a shivering body. Liam rolled it over, and we found Casie. I immediately removed my cloak, and Liam and I struggled to wrap her in it. Liam let Lindsey know to be ready for us when we got out, and the two of us slowly dragged Casie out.

I tumbled out onto many arms, that let me off on the ground. Casie came next, Liam pulling her out before he jumped out himself. All of us quickly hurried back to the surface, and Casie was quickly taken to a healer.

She recovered in four days, and as soon as she was able, came out to meet me.

“James,” she called out from outside my room. “I do believe that I have a few promises to keep.”

I opened the door, Lindsey and Liam crowding behind me, and let her in. She sat in a chair and I asked her what promises she had to keep.

“On the parchment sent to you to bring you for help, I mentioned two boons. I have come to fulfill those.” Casie replied.

“Casie, you don’t have to do that. I really don’t care anymore,” I protested.

“James, a promise is a promise, whether you want it or not.”

I sighed. “Alright. I thought about this a lot when I got your letter, and I know what I want. I want to be able to take care of my father’s business well and bring in bigger profits than ever before so that no one hates me for no reason whatsoever.”

She glowed for a second, then said, “Done. What of the other boon?”

I smiled sadly. “I want to be able to protect my siblings well.”

She smiled with me. “I understand. Done.”

I looked at her, then asked, “Will I still be able to use the paper to get back here?”

She laughed. “Of course. You can come back whenever you want.”

We laughed together, and then she sent the three of us back.

Providence Gazette September 26, 1763

HEADLINES:

Most everyone knows of Charmaine Shipping, Inc. We all heard of the death of James Charmaine Sr. and his wife, Anna. Mr. Charmaine’s son, James, recently took over the company. Many had complaints of his leadership, and we almost thought he would be forced to quit. That was before Mr. Charmaine Jr. and his younger siblings went missing for a few months. Mr. Charmaine’s assistant took care of the company until he came back. Mr. Charmaine refuses to respond to questions about his disappearance. However, once he did return, confident and proud, he skillfully managed his inherited business, reeling in the profits! Mr. James Charmaine is the talk of the century, the millionaire at eighteen!