****Paradise Sagas:  Book 1: Warriors of Paradise****

 

Chapter 3

 

     "Lexa!  Daenna called over the edge of the hole.

     Lexa opened her eyes, seeing only the small hole she had fallen through and the group above her.  She groaned as she sat up and rubbed her head.  That was going to hurt for a while.  She winced, then looked up, "I'm okay.  I think."  She called, slowly standing.

     "C'mon," David reached a hand down the hole, "we'll pull you up."  Kevin also leaned down.

     As Lexa reached up to grab their hands, her eyes adjusted to the dimness.  She paused, just out of reach of their hands.

     "Lexa?  What's wrong?"

     Lexa studied the small cavern around her.  She stood on one of five rectangular mounds.  Four surrounded one in the very center.  On the mound in the center, a slender shaft of light reflected off something.

     She turned, lowering her hands, to look more directly at the pale, gleaming light.

     "Lexa! Give us your hands!"  Kevin insisted from above.  Lexa looked at them again, then back to the cavern.  Once more, she looked at them, before she stepped off the mound and disappeared from the other's limited view.

~*~*~*~

     "Shit." David muttered as he rocked back on his heels.  "What's she doing down there?"

     "Maybe she found something?" Kendra said, quietly.

     "Whatever she's doing, we should probably go down there.  Daenna go get the rope in the back of my truck."  Kevin looked up.

     "I think we should just leave her down there." Daenna muttered, obviously not moving.

     "Daenna Anlla!  Go get the rope and keep your opinion to yourself!"  Kendra yelled, totally out of character.  She blushed as she covered her mouth, then she said, more calmly, "Daenna, please?"

     Daenna stood up, glaring, then ran for the truck.

     "You two wait for her."  Kevin pointed at the two others.  Before he jumped down the hole.

     He landed gracefully, on one foot and a knee.  "Lexa?"  He called into the shadows, his eyes not yet adjusted.  He got no answer.

~*~*~*~

     Daenna almost decided to leave.  Almost.  But, she pulled the rope out of the back of Kevin's truck.

     She gave an angry grunt as she marched back to the hill.

~*~*~*~

Lexa heard Kevin call her name, but she did not respond.  The room was fascinating.  Especially that thing sitting in the center mound.  But she couldn't bring herself to go to it, just yet.

     She circled around to the mound directly across from the hole.

     A beautiful sun-design was carved into the mound's top.  She traced it with her finger.  She heard David grunt as he fell to the mound.  Followed by Kendra and Daenna.  Now, she felt, she could finally go look.  She turned around.

~*~*~*~

     "This is amazing!" Kendra breathed, approaching Lexa.  Lexa stared off into the darkness, as if she didn’t see them.

     Daenna stepped off a mound and swore.  Kendra turned to scold her, but her eyes caught on the mound to her left.  It had stars carved in it.  Hundreds of stars.  She stepped up to it and stared.

~*~*~*~

     David heard Daenna swear and turned to look at her.  But instead, his eyes focused on the mound behind her, the one they had all stood on.  He walked past her, and studied the etching of a tropical forest.  As he leaned closer, he could have sworn he saw tiny flecks of paint.

~*~*~*~

     Kevin watched nervously and Kendra and David studied the mounds in a trance-like state.  Lexa had the same blank look.

     *This is really getting--.* His train of thought cut off as he spotted the mound with the sun-design.

     It wasn't really a sun that caught him, but more, the circle in the middle.  All the designs had them, but in the center of his circle was a clear orange stone.  His eyes focused on it.

~*~*~*~

     Daenna rolled her eyes as everyone stared at a certain mound.  Her eyes landed on the empty one.  It was carved with what looked like flames, leaping up the sides.  She approached it and reached out to touch the red stone on the top.

~*~*~*~

     Kevin reached out for the orange stone.

~*~*~*~

     David reached out for the green stone

~*~*~*~

     Kendra reached for the sky-blue stone.

~*~*~*~

     Lexa reached up.  She grabbed the object on the center mound at the same instant the others grabbed the stones.

     The electricity that ran through her scared her into releasing the thing.  The blinding lights from were the others were, made her cover her eyes.

     When she opened them again, the light had faded to a dim glow.  She looked at what she had touched.  A thin bladed sword.  A LONG thin bladed sword.  With a beautiful handle with a crescent moon pointing skyward on the tip.

     She looked at Daenna, who was looking at her.

     But Daenna was different.  She wore a red skirt with slits up to her mid-thighs, which covered white lettings that stopped just above her ankles.  Her top was red and crossed over her to tie in the back.  VERY revealing.  There was a gold diadem around her forehead.  In the center, was a red crystal.

     Lexa swung around to face Kendra.  She was dressed similar, in blue.  Her top was like a tube top.

     Kevin stood, decked out in yellow/gold.  He wore golden pants, a white shirt with yellow patterns, a golden cape hung off his shoulders.  An orange crystal blazed in his forehead, not held up by anything.

     David wore the same, in green, with a vine pattern on the shirt.

     Lexa looked at herself.  She hadn't changed.  That was when she realized everyone was looking at her.

     "Maybe," Kevin whispered, "You aren't one of us."

     David and Kevin reached up and the stones fell into their hands.  Daenna and Kendra removed their headbands and they were all in their street clothes.

     Lexa was the first to go home.

~*~*~*~

     The next day, Lexa didn't go to school.