Chapter Twenty-One:

The sounds of Isla, Finley, Estelle's screams echoed throughout the Headquarters and tore Freya and Elliot apart. The Space Pod was now slowly spinning around with just enough gravity to keep it afloat.

Isla felt as if her insides were churning and as much as she tried to ignore the agony, she just couldn't. Not paying attention to her surroundings as they all dangled upside down for a few seconds, Isla felt the seat belt digging into her and Freya holding her tightly. She still couldn't figure out who was screaming and why her back felt as if it was on fire. Isla could just make out an outline of Elliot holding on to Finley, who was obviously also in pain, in the dimming light of the Headquarters.

Charlotte watched in horror as her friends and some visitors writhed in pain around her and she couldn't do a thing to help them. Seeing a movement out of the corner of her eye, she craned her neck to glance out of one of the circular windows. She looked just in time to see an outline of a lone Whale-dragon gliding amongst the white space.

"We are trying our best to find out what is happening. Nothing to worry about, yet. We'll keep you updated," came Mason's voice over the loudspeaker. Elliot noticed how his voice trembled and a sinking feeling formed in the pit of his stomach. He knew that there was something the crew wasn't telling them and saw John struggling to undo his belt tying him to the sofa.

At any other time Elliot would have laughed at his twin sister's sharp comment telling John to sit still. He looked over at Finley, Isla and Estelle. He knew that if they didn't get medical attention soon they could be in serious trouble. Elliot turned his head slightly to see that a young man, Noah, was calling out for someone to help Estelle who just like Isla and Finley, wasn't doing well at all. Her head was spinning and dizziness consumed her. Charlotte and Elliot shared a look that said, "we need to do something now,"

Before they could unbuckle their belts, however, the Space Pod tilted violently, and a loud bang emanated from above making most of the passengers scream. Isla clutched onto Freya's hand as she tried to make out any other meteor-like booming among the chaos. Cosmo wrapped his wings around her so tightly she could hardly breathe and the pain of the experiments weren't helping either. Elliot tried desperately to keep Finley sitting in an upright position, but the young man had almost doubled over in pain. Opposite them Cosmo, who was still clinging onto Isla, forced a few of his tears onto her shoulder, which trickled down her back. Although it did alleviate some of the pain it didn't help as much as he thought it would. Isla smiled at his kind gesture through her own tears. Cosmo would have said something encouraging or funny to help take the pain away, but what he felt next shook him to the core; there was ancient magic trapped inside her. The very thought made him shudder and as he turned to stare at Finley and Estelle the Raven-dragon knew that they too had foreign blood bubbling always inside of them.

"What the hell is going on?" Someone shouted from the back of the Headquarters, fear trapped in their voice.

Both Isla and Finley recognised the voice from their time in the Intergalactic Federation Space Pod and whispered in unison, "I don't know."

***

Back in the Pilots room everything was in complete disarray. The ceiling had a massive dent in it from where the meteor had landed narrowly missing Rosiee and Mason in the process.

"Shit!" Taylor exclaimed, as the Space Ship swerved off the trail she was heading in. Adrien took his steering wheel and reared off to the side narrowly missing a boulder the size of a Whale-dragon.

"Alright! This is getting more and more ridiculous! We have to do what we should have done ages ago. We need to call The Intergalactic Federation," James stated as he stood behind the pilot seats next to Mason, Melody and Rosiee. 

Mason turned to him in astonishment as he said, "Are you insane? We're talking about the same government or Organisation that took Luca and Finley to their deaths! Well, almost, in Finley's case, and they kidnapped Isla! Have you seen the state they're in?"

Slightly taken aback by his outburst, James answered, "yes I realise that and I'm sorry, but..."

"I'm sure we'll figure it out on our own. Besides if we do call them, they might just take hours to show up at all or they'll bring in the lot and try to take their 'prisoners' back," Melody interrupted.

She glanced at Mason to find him smiling at her and she turned away quickly as they listen to Taylor, who was still looking through the glass screen, seeing nothing except a pure white glow, "You know, that's not such a bad i...,"

BANG!

They screamed as the Space Pod lurched forward and Rosiee lost her balance. She would have fallen on her head had Star not been there to cushion her fall and protect her. Before anyone could say anything else or even register what was happening, the Space Pod began spinning. It was turning so fast that Taylor and Adrien didn't know right from left anymore and couldn't see where they were going. Taylor tried desperately to regain control of the steering wheel and buttons on the dashboard, but to no avail. Taking advantage of the fact that he had a seatbelt on, Adrien bent down to reduce the gravity slightly using the Gravity Button, hoping that every in the Headquarters had left their own seatbelts on. Mason, Melody and Rosiee tried to hold onto each other for dear life, each other groaning in pain as they smashed into the walls. Gradually, however, they began to raise slightly, weight being lifted off their shoulders, and the three of them floated upwards stopping between the floor and the ceiling.

"Are you alright everyone?" Called Taylor, glancing behind her as everyone nodded. As Melody looked to her left she noticed that Star was lying in an awkward position on the floor of the Pilots room and she wasn't moving. 

---------------------------------------

Sorry about the wait, but it's here now!!! 

Thank you for your feedback!