Chapter 34

The red-haired boy scratched his head and grinned. "Uh, actually, my name is Leo!" I was glad to see him okay, but that must mean he didn't escape Fran's initial impact. At least he's alright.

"Shad, er, I mean Leo! It's good to see you! How did you find us?" I whispered so I wouldn't wake up the girls. "I remember everything while I was a shadow! So I tried coming here as soon as I could!" He seemed excited to see me. It was kind of cool to see who he really was.

"Wait, if you remember everything, then what do you know about Talon?" He held up a finger like he had an idea. "That's actually why I was in such a hurry to find you again! I know what he's trying to do, and I know where his secret weapon is!"

My eyes grew wide. This was huge. "I'd better wake up the girls." I attempted to nudge Fran awake, but she wouldn't budge. Then I went to Rebecca, and she got up quickly. Her cheeks grew a little redder at realizing she had fallen asleep next to me. Fran eventually woke up but was groggy.

We quickly huddled together, then Fran and Rebecca blinked in shock at Leo. "Oh, sorry, this is Shad, well, he can introduce himself." Leo got a little nervous and sputtered out his name. "L-l-LEO DANDY!" Then he got on one knee, grabbed Rebecca's hand like some kind of theater student. "At your service, my queen!"

All of our jaws dropped in unison. Leo's head was bowed, so he couldn't see our visible shock and held back laughter. Rebecca looked like she had seen a ghost. "Don't... do that..." She said shyly, then she looked away and blushed. Honestly, Rebecca was way shy, and here I thought she had grown out of that. I guess this wasn't a cringe moment for her, though, because she clearly liked that straightforward approach. You could tell because she was almost silent the entire time we talked from then on.

Leo immediately went into reporting mode. "Talon summoned me to an underground lair; it's where we all go when we first turn shadow. It's under his base, and it goes down for a while. At the bottom, there is a giant tree root, with an orange glowing amber chamber in the tree root, almost like it had grown in the root. I do not know what the amber holds, but Talon was looking at the amber fondly. I was quickly told my assignment to interrupt Steven in any way possible."

Fran interrupted. "Why did he want to get in Steven's way?" I was confused too and asked another question. "It seemed like he wanted to kill me, though, when we saw each other last time. Although he did say he just wanted to capture me..."

We contemplated for a second what his true intentions were.

"Why would he just try to get in my way, but then try to capture me? What could he want? And why me?"

Leo shook his head. "I'm not sure why it had to be you, but clearly, you are involved in some way. And somehow, you're involved with his amber thing." We stared in silence again. Rebecca was staring at Leo in a daze. I tried to catch her attention. "Rebecca, hey, yoo hoo, you got any ideas on what he is planning?" Rebecca blinked and shook her head, like she was coming back to reality. "Um... I remember when we came here a while ago, Talon wanted Steven to develop his powers, but he said it was so Steven and I could--" She cut herself off quickly and shut her mouth.

Fran quickly raised an eyebrow. "So you could what with Steven?" Rebecca blushed even more; it was almost a permanent redness at this point. "Uhh... be friends... You know, because I had powers and all." I was the only one who knew anything about how their conversations went since I had seen one of them. "Did it have to do with your wish, Rebecca?" I asked, knowing that they had talked about her wish, but we still didn't know what it was. Rebecca curled her hair around her finger. "Um, kind of... He won't be able to fulfill my wish, though I don't think so, I'm not really worried about that. Unfortunately for us, Talon cannot fathom not granting wishes, so he will probably try to make my wish happen regardless."

We stared at her intently. Fran asked her, "What is your wish, Rebecca?" She scowled at her, knowing full well that it has something to do with me at this point. "We should know what your wish is just in case he does grant it. We need to know if he gains control over you." Rebecca blushed a bright red at this point. She covered her face with her hair.

"Ugh... It's... that Steven and I would be together."