Tam's POV

                Tam couldn't believe how long it had been since they left Havenfield. He and Biana had arrived first, and he had stood around awkwardly while she chatted to him and Woltzer. Eventually, she engaged him in their conversation more, and Tam was enjoying it. 

                 Soon afterward, Wylie and Maruca arrived. Apparently, there had been a small delay. The auburn sky that they had seen earlier had faded back to pitch black, and Wylie lost track of the light. They had to stop while he concentrated to collect more light. 

                  Tam knew that Dex and Stina were going to be last because Dex didn't want to take any chances of hanging around his house when there was even the slightest chance that his family could be around. So he was surprised when they showed up before everyone else. 

                   "Alright, come on, come on, let's go, I-wait, where's everyone else?" Dex asked, confused. 

                   "They're not here yet," said Tam, looking around. Dex grumbled. 

                    "All that careful planning! And they're not here yet? What's taking them so long?" Dex complained. "I want to find my mom!"

                     Tam shrugged. They all waited for a while, but when it was clear that no one else was around, Tam started to get worried. "I'm going to hail Linh," he announced when they had waited for long enough. "I'm not sure if she'll get it in the water, but I can try." 

                     Tam waited for Linh to pick up, and right when he was about to give up, Linh answered. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Tam exploded. "I was so worried!" Linh rolled her eyes.

                     "We're fiiiiiiiiiine, Tammy," she said perkily. "Don't call me that," Tam grumbled. "What's taking you so long?" 

                     "Sorryyyyyyyy, but Marella noticed that-" There was some whispering in the background. He heard Linh sigh. "Fine," she whispered back, not very subtly. She turned back towards Tam. "We'll be there soon, don't worry. Hey, where's the nearest lake?" 

                      Tam was about to protest more, but Dex grabbed the imparter, told her quickly where it was, and hung up. Tam glared at Dex, but he didn't seem to notice. "Okay, now where's Sophie and Keefe? And Ro and Sandor?" He asked impatiently, looking around.

                   Tam ignored him, scanning their surroundings for a dark-haired girl and a blond-haired, pixie-like one. Dex, exasperated, plopped down onto a large ice-cube rock that looked like it was melting. Tam was about to point out the fact that he could get stuck to it, but decided that would make it more amusing. Finally, he saw four figures in the distance. 

                  "Okay, at least Sophie, Keefe, Sandor, and Ro are here," Wylie said, speaking up. But when Tam looked closer, he noticed that it was his sister. He ran towards her and then froze. "Linh, there are two huge ogres following you. Get behind me," he said, pulling his sister towards him. Linh pushed him off.

                   "No, Tam, they're friendly. This is Lo, and this is Ko," she said. Tam stared at her. "You're serious? There's a Bo, Ro, Lo, and a Ko now?" He asked in shock. Linh fell to the ground laughing. She tried to answer him but was laughing too hard. Tam stared at her for a little then shook his head and turned to Marella expecting answers. She had an amused expression on her face. 

                    "That's not their real names. Linh was very excited about this though, so I let her have her fun. It's not every day she gets to trick her younger brother," Marella said with a sly look at Tam. 

                    "By one minute. One," he said. Marella grinned. "Oh, I know, Linh was talking about it the whole ride," Tam rolled his eyes. "Okay, back on topic. WHY ARE THER OGRES STANDING HERE AND WHAT ARE THEIR REAL NAMES," Tam asked calmly. 

                      Linh had caught her breath by now, and she was climbing on the ogre's back. ON ITS BACK. "He's very friendly," Linh said, patting the ogre on the head. The ogre grinned and shook his head. "Nice to meet you, Tam. Linh has said a lot about you. My name is Eakant. This is my brother, Batair." 

                        Eakant jumped into the air and twisted so fast that Tam didn't have time to react. Linh jumped off his back and landed on Batair, collapsing in giggles. Tam was about to yell, but decided if Marella was calm, he could be, too. Everyone else had been wary and standing far at the top of the hill, but the twist had them rushing towards them. 

                      Everyone besides Tam introduced themselves. He was still wanting answers. Finally, when everyone had calmed down, Eakant started talking. "Batair and I were abandoned when we were young, but we were perfectly fine with that. Our parents were cruel and supported a group called the Neverseen. We weren't sure what that was, but from what they said, it sounded bad. We didn't want to be like our parents, so when we were abandoned, we hid above ground in a forest. 

                      "We were finding our own food and we were perfectly happy, until one day some ogres came. We thought that all ogres besides us were bad, so we hid from them. They caught us, though, and trapped us in an empty river." At this, Tam interrupted. 

                        "What do you mean empty river?" He asked, confused. "All the water was gone," Linh explained mournfully. "The animals living in the river died, and so did many other animals that depended on the river's water to drink," she nodded at Eakant to continue.

                        "They trapped us there and tied us down. They came back every day to fill up the water. There was an elf there in a hooded cloak. He or she filled up the river a little more each day." A hydrokinetic! The Neverseen has a hydrokinetic! I hope he or she isn't as powerful as Linh. Otherwise, we could all die easily. Tam thought, stricken.

                          "The water got higher and higher. We were worried we were going to drown. They wanted to torture us for our treachery of leaving Ravagog. Today was the last day they were going to fill up the river. It was almost full, and only the very top of our faces were facing up. We knew we were going to drown. 

                       "But fire girl saw us!" Batair chimed in joyfully. Eakant smiled. "Yes, Marella spotted us from a water bubble. Linh drew all the water back and saved us. Marella burned our ropes and we were free! After three long weeks, we could move again!" Dex sucked in a breath.

                    "You were trapped for three weeks?" He asked. The ogres nodded simultaneously. Dex turned to the rest of the group. That's the same amount of time my mom has been missing for," he whispered, even though there was no point. Ogres have amazing ears. "Your mother is missing?" Eakant asked. Dex nodded. 

                    "And now we help you!" Batair cried. "Fire and water girl helped us! We help friends! You good! Also, water girl flooded home! Hooray!" Tam couldn't help smiling. He liked it when his sister's talents were appreciated. Then he frowned.

                     "It's almost morning, and Sophie and Keefe still aren't here yet," Tam said, troubled. Everyone glanced at the sky. They weren't sure what to do. Dex had already tried hailing Sophie, but she hadn't answered. They all agreed to wait as long as possible, and then they would go looking for them. Linh, Marella, and the ogres kept chatting animatedly, with Linh doing water shapes in the air. Woltzer insisted that Biana turn invisible so that he could practice spotting her, and eventually Wylie and Maruca joined in. 

                       Stina, Dex, and Tam tried making a plan for what they were going to do if the rest of their group didn't show up. Lovise stood as a guard, watching for anything dangerous. Finally, they showed up. Everyone ran towards them. Unfortunately, they had also brought extra people.

                     "Glimmer!" Tam exclaimed. "What are you doing here? What took you guys so long? What-oh," Tam stopped talking when he noticed Fitz standing behind Keefe. Dex looked like he was going to scream when he saw his sister there too, smiling sheepishly. "Surprise?" Keefe offered.

Hiiiii everyone. I haven't done an author's note in a long time because I don't know what to write, but... 165 days until Unlocked comes out!!!!!!!!!!!! Yayyyyyy!!!! I'm so excited!! But I don't think I can wait that long...