Chapter 37 (The final chapter):

Willow sat on her windowsill and looked outside, they had left to the smoking building not too long ago. It was pointless to be worried, they did these things constantly, but, Willow couldn't help herself.

She obsessively watched the smoking village, hoping she could make something out. She was so set on trying to catch a sight of blonde hair or long brown one, that it wasn't until there was a boom at her door, did she realized they were being attacked.

~~~~~~~

Chris felt horrible, there was a terrible pit at the end of his stomach. He dragged the large furniture with Cirestain in front of Willow's door. Cirestain seemed completely unaffected, but then again, he had been working with Machire for so long, he was probably used to betraying people.

The Smoulders and Bolesgire were already at the doors of RiverPlain, there were very few Ganashes here. Most of them -like Michael, Alicia, and Chelsea- had left to the village.

Just as planned.

After what seemed like the thirtieth piece of heavy furniture slammed against the door, Cirestain rubbed his hands together. "Well done." He said.

Chris looked over at Willow's door. The Bolesgire and Smoulders would go through the windows and Willow would be stuck in that room.

Without weapons.

Without hope.

And with sure death.

~~~~~~~

Willow slammed herself against her bedroom door over and over again, until she was sure she had dislocated her shoulder. She knew this was different from the Elves. The Elves had magically locked the door, this time, somebody had put something in front of it. A lot of somethings.

She ran to the window just to see them climbing the walls, really, just like at the Elamore.

But, unlike in Elamore, she had no weapons. Nothing to help her defeat the monsters. A Ganash Blade would've been handy in this situation, but of course, no such luck.

She remembered what Michael had said if she were weaponless.

"Anything can be a weapon."

Willow looked around, anything could be a weapon. She grabbed the bedside table and (as hard as she could) threw it against the bed post. The bed post shattered and Willow was glad of all those pushups she had done. The canopy bed collapsed entirely.

Grabbing the largest and pointiest broken part of the bed, she hid. Maybe if they couldn't see her, they wouldn't come in.

Silently closing her closet door; she waited, hardly breathing at all. Her make shift weapon slightly shaking in her hand. It was dark and she heard her window crash. There was shuffling and an awful gurgling noise.

"Ur javiaon Glasspiers conbre!"

One of the monsters said, she guessed it was the Bolesgire. Chelsea had said that Bolesgire had their own language. Willow hadn't understood a thing, except her last name in that sentence. Holding her breath, she knew they were searching her room and would soon arrive to the closet. She couldn't tell how many there was, but it was more than she could handle with only one stake. If they couldn't see her, could they catch her?

Very efficiently she climbed the racks and held onto one of the wooden beams at the ceiling of the closet. She had gotten all this agility from Alicia's lessons. Hanging onto the top beams, the Bolesgire broke the door open (which Willow thought was unnecessary). They sniffed around and -as if a dog catching the smell of their prey- their heads snapped to Willow.

Willow smiled. She was much higher than them, and she didn't think they could climb.

She was wrong. They started to scramble up the shelves and Willow panicked for a brief moment. She looked down and realized she was really high, but it was her only way out. When the Bolesgire were very, very close to her, almost touching range, she let go of the beam and landed on the ground; wincing slightly at the pain that shot through her toes.

The minute she touched the ground, she ran out and looked around. The Bolesgire were already jumping down and she had nowhere to go. There was no ledge to climb out of like in Elamore. Running to the window she knew it was her only chance. She climbed over the ledge and without a single pause,

Jumped out.

~~~~~~~~~

When Alicia and Michael arrived, half the place was in flames. Michael immediately looked up at Willow's window and was relieved to find that it wasn't in flames, yet. What did worry him was the cracked open window. Alicia's eyes trailed to where Michael was looking and she saw the worry in Michael's eyes.

"Don't worry," She said to him confidently. "Willow's a fighter, trained her myself." Michael nodded slightly and ran into the building. There were a few Ganashes here and there, but Michael didn't pause to look at them. He was already running up the stairs. Alicia running after him.

They got to Willow's door just to find a heap of furniture stacked in front of it. Alicia furrowed her eyebrows, "Who would lock Willow in?"

"I don't know," Michael replied, already kicking the furniture out of the way. Alicia helped him and in minutes, the door was free. Michael was already looking around. Her bed was completely ruined and lopsided, but other than that, the room was still neat. Michael looked out the window and said, "She's not in here, she jumped out."

Alicia looked out and knew what he meant. There was a slanted roof she could slide down; and then she would've of probably held onto the pipe and made her way across it. From there she would jump that high height.

Michael was already out the door. Alicia followed him, just to find that the hallway was already in flames. She made her way carefully, but Michael didn't. He just charged through it, determined to find Willow. They made their way outside, just to find that the Ganashes (and Willow) were huddled together talking.

Alicia looked back at the wreck of ashes that was once her home.

RiverPlain was gone.

~~~~~~~~~

"All the portals are gone." Eric said. The people from the village that was being attacked came were all back, including Chelsea. Chris, and Katrina's group was out as well.

Willow couldn't help but be surprised when Michael and Alicia came out of RiverPlain. She thought they were with the other Ganashes at the village. Michael's eyes had scanned the crowd and landed on Willow. But, he didn't say anything, so Willow didn't ask him.

They were together now, Katrina with her arms around Michael. Willow had this dull ache in her chest when Katrina had come back and Michael had kissed her. She ignored, of course, and pretending it was because of her nervousness.

RiverPlain was gone. The portals were gone. What would happen of her? Would they go to another Ganash HQ? Would they just walk to the Incoy Dragon's 'lair'? All these questions would be answered briefly, they were together to discuss them now.

"Should we go to Scandavaliana?" A Ganash asked. "It's the closest Headquarter here."

"That's a good idea," Another said. "Plus, we would pass the Incoy's place, so we could get rid of Glasspiers."

Michael's eyes flashed momentarily at that, but he didn't respond.

"That is a good idea!" Eric considered. Eric was a leader at RiverPlain, Willow hadn't met him before because he was with Katrina and all them at Eladore (It seemed every Elvish kingdom had an 'ore' at the end).

"So we're gonna walk?" Another Ganash asked, absolutely horrified by the idea.

Michael laughed, "You sound like a teenager who's car broke down."

Eric ignored Michael's comment and continued, "We have no other choice, Gale!"

"Didn't we send an emergency call to CarvesWay?" Gale asked.

"CarvesWay was attacked as well, all portals are gone." The leader replied in a flat tone.

"All?" Gale whispered in horror.

"All."

Alicia sighed in indignation, "Is it just me or we have grown really sucky at keeping our Headquarters safe?"

"No," Eric replied. "We haven't grown weaker. They've grown stronger."

"I'd bet you Machire is behind all this." Gale muttered

"Machire? Really? Why would he be the one behind attacking every HQ?" Alicia said sarcastically.

"Look, lets keep our cool. There is two HQs close to RiverPlain, lets hope they aren't ashes, too. We'll split in two groups; one will take Glasspiers to the Incoy Dragon and the other will go straight to the other HQ; MoonitHills. For the group taking Glasspiers to the Incoy Dragon, once we get rid of her, we will continue to Scandavaliana."

"Question," Michael sarcastically raising his hand. "What if Willow is the One?"

"Highly doubt that," Eric replied as if Willow wasn't sitting here listening to the whole conversation. "But, if by some miracle she is the One, I guess she decides what to do. Now, let's get going." In minutes, the groups were chosen. Most people decided to go straight to MoonlitHills, but some -to Willow's surprise- chose to go with Willow and -of course- her group.

Eric went with her group, and also Michael, Alicia, Chelsea, Chris (of course), Gale (which surprised Willow), Jack, a Ganash named Sebastian, Clarissa (another Ganash), Abriel, and Angeline, who were also Ganashes that Willow didn't know.

It was then, as she saw the new Ganashes come up, that she had to ask. "Where's Cirestain?"

Michael, Chelsea, Chris and Alicia all looked down and Willow furrowed her eyebrows in worry. "What?" She asked.

"He died in the flames." Chelsea whispered. Willow couldn't help but feel their pain, this was the man that raised them since they were twelve. This was the man who sent them on missions and whatnots. And now he was gone.

"Alright, then," Eric said, clapping his hands. "I guess we go. We'll see ya in the other side." He said to the other group.

And just like that, Willow and her group of eleven, marched off to her fate.

END OF BOOK ONE