Part 2:

The entire group had gathered inside the castle’s throne-room. Milada stood against a cold wall with her arms crossed. Her friends—at least she saw them as friends now—were talking over each other, and she found it hard to follow the conversation. It was as if something was clouding her mind.

“We need to find her,” Aurora said while pacing back and forth. “She’s out for vengeance, I promise you—it won’t end well if we don’t catch her.”

Aaron walked over to take her hand, forcing her to stop. With a tender look, he said, “I know that, but we need a strategy.” He looked at Milada. “You have anything you want to add?”

Something changed inside her as he looked at her. It was as if something disappeared inside her. At first, it clenched deep in her stomach, and nauseating feelings spread through her body. Shaking it off, she pushed herself away from the wall and walked slowly towards the middle of the room. She had a mission. Always focus on the mission. “What I’d like to know, is how an unarmed prisoner could somehow escape a heavily guarded cell deep below ground. And without a trace at that.”

Nobody looked at her, and she quickly understood why: they didn’t know.

“What were you all doing?” she asked.

Valeria shrugged. “I wasn’t here. I was with Caleb.”

Milada had already guessed what Queen Sari was doing just from her attire. Normally she would have been embarrassed to see the Queen in little more than a morningrobe, but monarchs wasn’t required to rise early—she had no place to judge.

Glancing to the two love-birds, Aaron and Aurora, it wasn’t hard to guess what they’d been doing. Another time and place, she might have made a snide comment about Aurora’s tousled hair, but this was serious. Before she could give in to the tug of a smile, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. Wincing, she pretended as if nothing was wrong.

She needed to focus on the mission.

She sighed. “I should have been here,” she muttered, mostly to herself.

Aaron frowned. “Why weren’t you?”

“I couldn’t sleep; woke up early and took a walk in the park. I just arrived back here when you told me.” Milada rubbed her forehead. A slight ache had spread from her temples. What was she saying?

“You didn’t just arrive here, Milada.” Everyone stared at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“Nonsense.” She scoffed. “I think I’d remember when I was told vital information, Aaron. You told me a few minutes ago.” She turned to the rest of the group. “And no one saw anything? What about the guards? The bulky one—Stavros. Did he see anything?”

The group simply stared at her.

“What?” she asked.

“There’s no one here named Stavros,” Aaron explained.

“Wha—no. Don’t mess with me, Aaron.” Milada crossed her arms, giving him her best glare. “I saw him near the electronic cells, just yesterday. And I’m fairly sure he was outside when I came back.”

“I found you downtown less than half an hour ago, Milada,” Aaron said. “We’ve been back for a while. And no one was outside.”

Valeria frowned. “And the castle don’t have electronic cells.”

Milada ignored her and turned to Aaron. One problem at a time. Sighing, she said, “No, you didn’t. You came to find me just as I entered the facility. I was alone.” She waved her hand. “Honestly, Aaron. Stop messing around. We need to find Larina—she will do too much damage on her own. I’ll contact Daniel while you call in the troops.”

“Who’s Larina?” The blonde one asked. Milada looked at her, trying to place where she’d seen her before. It felt as if she knew her, but then again, she didn’t trust anything right now. What room was this? She didn’t remember Haw Tech using old techniques of stone—all the walls were made of concrete for maximum protection.

It was Aaron who answered her question. “Larina was another Immortalia who escaped Haw Tech years back.” He walked over and looked into Milada’s eyes. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine.” Milada wanted to growl at them. Why did they waste her time? She needed to focus on the mission.

Her mission… To find Larina before she harmed anyone. To bring her safely back.

“Are you sure about that?” Valeria asked. “You look kind of pale.”

Truthfully, she wasn’t fine at all. Her head ached, and she couldn’t concentrate. Who was the girl beside Aaron? Her long white hair shone in the candle-light from above. Why was there candlelight?

What was happening to her?

She felt dizzy. Hoping to avoid falling to the ground, she staggered over to the wall. One step at a time. Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough. Her knees buckled and she landed on the stone floor. Groaning, she tried to stand up.

Aaron and the rest of the people hurried to her side.

“Milada!” Valeria yelled. Her eyes were wide, and Milada noticed a speck of green in the otherwise brown eyes.

“Are you okay?” Aaron asked. “Did you hurt yourself?”

Milada tried to speak, but no sound would come out. Their worried faces blended together, her vision becoming blurry.

The blond one—the one she couldn’t remember—took her hand. “It’s going to be okay, Milada. We’re here for you.”

As Milada looked into her eyes, she found it increasingly harder to place where she’d met this girl before. There was something about her… But as she kept trying to remember, her persistence turned into paranoia. What secrets hid behind those eyes?

“Who are you?” Milada finally found her voice. “Get away from me.”

She yanked her hand away from the blondie. Milada hadn’t felt this powerless before, and quite frankly, it scared her.

The girl scoffed as if she couldn’t believe her own ears. “Milada, what are you talking about? You know me, I’m—”

“Aurora,” Aaron interrupted. “Stop talking.”

He took Milada’s hand. “It’s okay. I’m here.”

Frightened, Milada looked up at him. “Aaron…” she whispered. “I’m scared…”

Then everything went black.

A/N: I think some of you might have thought the Novella was over. As you can see, it isn't. I don't know exactly how many parts the Novella will have, but I want it to reach around 15.000 words in total--you can follow the word count in my profile text. (It's also where you'll first see if I started working on "The Catalyst". As you also can see, the parts are shorter than regular chapters. However, I hope it's stil enough to sate your hunger for more Immortalia.

In other news. I need your help. Some of you are long-term followers, and you know how much I try to improve and make a good story for you guys. You also know how important you guys are to me and my writing.

And this is why I need to call upon your support once again. You see, I've entered my story "The Lores of Lyra - Rising Star" into a competition called the Young Writer's Prize here on Wattpad. The grand prize is a publishing deal with Hot Key books worth 10.000 dollars, or a year's worth of mentor-ship (Imagine how much I could improve there)

But to get that chance, the editors need to see my story. And I need your help for that.

All votes on the first chapter of "The Lores of Lyra - Rising Star" during this period of time will be counted, and can save me a spot on a long-list of competitors. Editors from HotKey Books will then pick five stories for a chance to win.

So I need your votes.

Now, I don't usually ask and plead for votes. It's highly encouraged, but I don't do vote-goals because I don't feel like making you wait longer than necessary. This is not a vote-goal either. I'll still upload Immortalia as soon as I can.

This is however a hope that you guys can understand how big a chance this is for someone like me. So ask yourself, if it were you: wouldn't you want me to give you a chance?

I'm not asking for you to just go in and vote. By all means, read the first chapter--give it a chance. And see if it's something you want to support. I know there are many of you who haven't given it a thought, but it's the story that made me love writing. Without Rising Star, Immortalia wouldn't have been here.

So please, if you have any faith in me as a writer, then consider voting for the first chapter of "The Lores of Lyra - Rising Star". It could change my life.

ALSO: Please now, I understand if you don't want to. If you think the story sucks, or if you don't think I'm worth it. That's completely fine. I'm not trying to tell you how to be my fan. I'm merely asking for help, and hoping you guys think I'm worth it.