Secrets to Unfold

View the characters on my profile!

Cinder's POV
--

Cinder batted her brother playfully. "You'll never get me, Ash!" She mocked as she turned and ran. Ash chased after her, tumbling down one of the few small slopes on Mt. Shiveer. Cinder leaped into a tall tree not far from her den where her parents were. As she skirted up the trunk, digging her claws in, she heard Ash scream, "Not fair!" and climb after her. But when Cinder reached the top, she let out a gasp. Her parents weren't in the cave, and there were no tracks in the snow, and there was a tiny splatter of blood. ''Mommy? Daddy? ''She nearly fell out of the tree. Ash swiped at her. "Not now!" She yelled. Ash whimpered. As Cinder apologized, she explained to her brother what she saw. They walked back to their cave together, their lives changed forever.

Mystical's POV
-

Mystical hid in a clump of seaweed, her eyes focused on her mother. She was talking to her older sister, congratulating her on winning the craft fair contest for Kani Cove. Her mother occasionally glared at Mystical's general location, as if she wished she had never been born. She hates me, Mystical thought. Then a startling thought struck her. ''If mom doesn't want me, then I'll go. Nobody cared about me here, anyway. I'll travel all over Jamaa! I'll see things no other seal has seen!'' With that, Mystical sneaked away, carrying nothing but the clothes on her back.

Meek's POV
-

Meek's vision blurred unexpectedly. he banged his head against his pillow to get out the searing pain that came next. He wanted to call for help, but his parents weren't home. His vision then cleared, but he wasn't in his room anymore. He saw his mom screaming in pain while his dad watched ominously from the corner with a smirking smile on his beak. Then then the vision melted back into his room. Meek was breathing heavily. His head was throbbing, but the terrifying visions were gone. He collapsed into his pillow, trying to blot out what he just saw.

#342's POV
--


 * 1) 342 had no name. He was a mindless phantom, pinned in a lab, ready to have his tender paws poked with electric prodders because he was somehow special. But Three knew in his heart that he wasn't a real phantom, he hated them. They seemed to be always searching for something that he didn't have. Others animals around him were being flushed with water, buried in soil, exposed to the sun, or had plants grown at their feet. Three knew the phantoms were searching to trigger a reaction of some sort, but he didn't know what. What Three did know, was that the chance to avoid a life of this suffering was to escape. I'll do just that, he thought.

Kite's POV
Kite was frozen in shock. His aunt and uncle were dead, and had been for hours. He was at their funeral now. I wish that phantom hadn't killed them he thought, swallowing his grief whole. Kite was supposed to perform at Captain Melvile's Juice Hut, but this sudden death in the family had ruined his dream. I will never be a dancer, thought Kite. It saddened him. He turned toward his legal guardian's coffins. ''The horrible phantoms had ripped them apart with their magic. ''Kite watched the coffins being lowered into the grave. He watched the shovels bury all he knew. ''What will I do know? ''He thought.

Dusty's POV
-

''Gotcha! ''Dusty quickly crushed a giant beetle under a paw with a satisfying crunch. She swept it into the trash by her desk, and she returned to the file she was looking at. It was about the same mysterious incident she heard about the news. "Clydesdale horse couple ripped apart by a phantom in the night" As she peered over the pile, looking through the evidence, seeing which things matched up and which didn't, she noticed something odd. There were no electrical burns on the victims, which would be the only way for a phantom to be able to dismember two horses of that size, and they appear to have been crushed. It couldn't have been a phantom that killed them, it must have been a jammer.

_________________________________

Uberpirate's POV
---

"Come join me, I'm going to go stack rocks into a huge pile!" Uberpirate shouted to his brother as he went out. "I'm coming too!" Uber's sister declared. "Me too!" His oldest sister quickly added. As they headed off to the rocks, Uber swore he heard the hissing slither of a rattlesnake. "I think we should go back," He said nervously. "Yeah, I'm also getting some chills," His brother agreed. As they returned to their den, the hissing of scales became more and more frequent. A little after they had returned, Uber's parents started hissing at something large, long, and thin at the door. It was more than one something. It was two rattlesnakes.

Daintyhamster's POV
--

Daintyhamster slashed through the reeds with a tiny sword. She was new to this, as she was now leaving her parents for a new home. She was all grown up. Dainty dove strongly into a creek, braving the minnows that nibbled at her fur, and praying to Mira that she didn't encounter any larger fish. As she was pulling duckweed from her fur, she noticed something odd. Looking through some ferns, she discovered that all the plants past a certain point were an odd polluted purple. They were dying or already dead, and the ground beneath them had puddles of black goop. Dainty remembered her mother telling her something about this, how she should never come this way, and what caused these plants to wilt. They are called phantoms, she remembered, ''or were they called goo-spiders? ''Dainty decided calling them goo-spiders, because it sounded funnier. ''Uh-Oh! Looks like I'm going to meet some! ''Dainty panicked as she spotted some through the decaying willows.

_______________________________

Cinder's POV
--

"What will we do?" Cinder asked Ash, not expecting him to answer. "Well, we are almost old enough to be out on our own...," Ash trailed off quietly. "Yeah, so do we just split up? Do we live life on our own, traveling Jamaa to find who killed, or kidnapped our parents?" Cinder wondered. "Yes." Ash agreed slowly, then added. "It's funny to think we were just playing like kits a few minutes ago, and now... I might be a goodbye forever." Cinder teared up. She looked at Ash's magenta eyes, and saw that it pained him too. "G-goodbye," she choked out, wrapping her paws around him. "I will miss you," Ash replied. And finally, they broke apart, parting ways, not looking back.

Mystical's POV
Seaweed clung to her face as she pushed through. Sea stars clung to her face as she swam into them. Mystical had no time to spare. She had to get as far away as she could from her family before they noticed and started looking. As if they care to look, Mystical sighed. As she broke free of the seaweed, she saw something she had never seen before - open water. ''I've made it to Deep Blue! ''Mystical immediately recognized the seemingly bottomless fiery chasms and the plethora of terrifying animals. She looked above and below herself, and saw the distant lights of Bahari Bay and the closer lights of Deep Blue. She knew she couldn't stay here, because she needed air to breathe, so she headed to the small glittering twinkles above her.

Meek's POV
---

"...Welcome to the Jamaa Wrestling Championship! ... She's the master of levitation, she vaporizes anyone she sees, and she has just landed here, in JWC, it's Puff of Smoke! ... and in this corner, we have the tough, the mighty, and the strong, Roar!" The announcer boomed, as the crowd cheered for Roar. Meek sat back in his chair. He was certain that the Roar would win, he wins everything with grace and power. He's the hero, after all. Meek was certain of it, because Puff of Smoke was just a bunny, and Roar is a lion. ''But she made it this far... ''Meek shouldn't be fussing anyway, not after that strange headache vision he had yesterday. Meek shook himself and continued to watch the match.

Later in the match, Meek was shocked when the announcer shouted "Oh! And Roar is down! Will he get up? Will he fight again? It was out of the question, of course he would get up! That's his favorite move! Pretending he's down, until the last moment when the heel triumphs and the crowd boos... Wham! He gets the heel down and wins. "One, two, three, OUT! Puff of Smoke wins!" What?! This can't be possible... Meek squinted. Roar wasn't just down, he was tranquilized. Meek saw the feathery-tipped pin on one of his legs. But who would thwart this fight? Why would anyone here want the bad guy to win? Meek looked around, but all he saw were cheering fans. Meek decided to head home. He thought that he will never solve the mystery.

#342's POV
--

Three knew there had to be some way of escape, but never in his entire life had he seen anything else. Why did the other phantoms treat the unusual phantoms differently? Was it because we're special? Three thought. Three knew there were points at which he was not on the table, and instead of in a cell. ''How could I convince the phantom guards that I want more to my life? ''Three thought back to the unusual phantom that taught him about the rest of the world. She was miserable, because she knew that there was a life better than this one. That person tried to escape many times, but ultimately failed. She ended up killing herself with a sharp piece of metal because she knew that she could never be free again. Three told himself that he wouldn't do the same, and he wouldn't give up.

That night, he pretended to be asleep. When the clock above his bed struck 1:00, he crept out cautiously. He looked at the guards near one of the exits to the lab. They were asleep at their posts, tentacles sprawled on the floor. As he creaked open the door, he saw more to the lab. Here, there were bars on the cells and awake guards were marching around. ''Does the other exit lead the same way? ''He asked himself. But just when he was about to turn around, he heard a voice behind him. "Where do you think you're going?" It said.

Kite's POV
---

Kite was packing his bags. He took a deep breath when he closed the "Just sold" door of his old home. As he started out into the outback of Kimbara, he saw a cloud of dust on the horizon. ''Sandstorm. I better make it to Jamaa Township in time. ''Kite slung his stuff over his back as a saddlebag. He tied it on tightly and started to run, his hooves kicking up puffs of morning dust as he galloped through the desert as gracefully as a bit of cloud. His gait soon stalled to a trot, and then he took a rest under a prickly bush. He looked over his shoulder at the incoming storm. It was much closer. He had to hurry. Kite immediately got up and broke into a run. He swore he felt tiny pricks of sand along his back as the storm closed in. ''I've run out of time, I must find shelter. ''Kite just barely saw a shallow cave under a large bolder when sand cascaded over him. It stung his eyes, and pelted his back, yet Kite didn't slow his pace. He could barely see where he was going when he dove into the cave.

Dusty's POV
-

Dusty knew she couldn't stay in her office to look at files, she needed to see the real thing. She winced from disgust as she remembered the last time she visited a crime scene. It was a mess, a literal one. She put the files back into the folder. She closed her briefcase and put her cloak and hat on. She opened the door and stepped out. Then Dusty saw it, there was blood on the floor.

____________________________

Uberpirate's POV
--

WIP