Jade was starting to panic. Her parents had been gone all day and Violet’s family were summoned to the noble just before Lunch. She couldn’t stop pacing or talking to anyone who would listen to her. After a while she started talking at people who she knew were ignoring her. Her thoughts kept racing around thinking about what might happen to her parents or what might happen to Violet. If she was talking then she didn’t have to think so much.

Sky had abandoned her the second Violet was summoned to the noble. He said some pretty mean and hurtful things to her. Those things may have been true but she didn’t want to hear them. It was all her fault this had happened but she wanted to help her parents. She had heard them talking one night about how they were going to be punished if progress wasn’t made soon.

She thought them learning the language from Violet would be enough to show progress. It wasn’t her fault Violet let loose a bigger secret! Maybe she should have warned Violet but it’s not like she could have done that very easily. She was in quarantine with that horrible rash that Amy had gotten not too long ago.

Her parents didn’t return until dinner time but Violet and her parents weren’t with them. After running up and giving each of them a hug she asked “Where is Violet?”

Both of her parents looked guilty and it took a little bit before her mother replied “She was summoned to see the noble sweetie. I’m sure everything will be ok and you will see her tomorrow.”

Dinner was a quiet affair that night. Sky and his parents sat at a different table and all three of them were giving her parents dirty looks. After a while of them sitting in silence, she finally got the courage up to ask. “Was it worth it?”

“Those who inform are always rewarded. It may seem like a betrayal but they should have come forth with this information on their own. We were just doing our duty. Hopefully, we will be back in a city soon and you can make new friends.”

Sky

He woke up to the sound of his mom and dad whispering to each other. They liked to talk about things he shouldn't hear while he was sleeping so he got in the habit of not moving when he woke in the morning to not alert them. This morning it was no surprise that they were whispering about Violet and her family. It was nothing he didn’t already know, Ardon and Judy had tattled on Violet.

‘Why wouldn't she listen to me? I told her not to trust Jade with anything and it would get her in trouble. Jade can’t keep secrets, her mouth runs before her brain can catch up. At least the secret about her magic isn’t out.’

Nothing unusual happened at breakfast that day. It was a little odd for him to be sitting at another table but he didn’t want to sit with those who would inform the noble on you. His parents shared the same opinion he did on the matter because he didn’t even have to urge them to sit elsewhere last night or this morning.

It was nearing lunchtime when a large delegation of fancied up nobles came to inspect the work areas. He heard the adults whispering that these nobles were extremely important. When the delegation made their way around to his work area, his mother made sure to be by his side the whole time.

The odd thing was, it seemed like they were just going through the motions of inspecting. They were all talking about some guard who was found murdered in the woods. From what he overheard, when they arrived in the late morning today they sent one of the trackers that came with them off after the assailant.

It was a mystery because no weapons or guards were unaccounted for. There was talk about doing a full personnel check later today to see if anyone was missing. Sky couldn’t imagine them stopping work just to count heads but nobles were nobles and they would do as they pleased.

He was right about them not stopping work to count heads it turned out. They had no problem stopping dinner to count heads though. Everyone was to stand in front of their living area while servants marked a tally sheet of each area. He was sad when they walked by Violet’s door and her family’s name was missing. It just made him even more upset with Jade. If she would have kept quiet none of this would have happened.

It wasn’t until the next morning that someone came to his parents asking about the whereabouts of Violet and her family. That confused him quite a bit because everyone knew that the noble took them. People disappeared after seeing the noble all the time.

Just as he was about to ask about Violet, an alarm started going off. It was an excruciatingly loud alarm. All he could do was hold his ears and hope the noise would stop. After a few seconds, his dad picked him up and they all ran toward the exit leading outside.

As his father ran with him, he was able to look behind them and see that every door was open with a magical barrier stopping anyone who tried to enter. It looked like the barrier was herding everyone outside of the building. He saw a few people trying to remain in the rooms they were in but the barrier was slowly pushing them out of the room. He was thankful that no barriers popped up to block their path out of the building.

The only thing he could describe the scene as when they made it outside was chaos. Quite a few people were still making their way out of the main building some were carrying children while others were carrying food or whatever they were working on when the alarm sounded. It was impossible to hear anything that was being said unless it was spoken in your ear and even then it was hard to make out.

It was amusing seeing the fancied up nobles in a state of disarray. He could even see that their Noble Tennyson had his perfect hair standing at odd angles. He wished Violet was here to laugh about that with him. They all started to walk toward the caravan that the nobles had come in on.

A few amberclaws were missing from the caravan. It looked like they had broken the bindings holding them to the wagons and ran for it when the alarm started going off. He could see one of the doctors attending to one of the drivers who was laying on the ground. It looked like he got swiped with a claw by the amount of blood on the ground.

In one of the wagons that were already mostly loaded with people, he spotted Jade with her parents. It was odd because her parents had chains on their arms. As soon as their wagon was loaded up, the amberclaw was released and it took off running down the road toward the edge of the barrier.

His father led them to another wagon that had just started to fill up. Everyone was pushing and shoving to get on the wagon. The amberclaw attached to the wagon they were on had a hole dug in front of it trying to gain enough traction to run away. The stakes that were keeping them in place kept wobbling every time it tried to charge. On the next pull, the stakes broke free from the ground and they were on their way regardless of if they were ready or not. Several people fell off the back of the wagon when the stakes broke and they quickly started moving.

Looking back at the ruins getting smaller the further he got away from them, he hoped that Violet was ok. Knowing her, she probably caused the alarm to go off in the first place he chuckled to himself.