Chapter Five: Vastre Hall

Cloudy slowly opened her eyes to the dark plane. The seats were upside-down on the ceiling and several people were still strapped in, their heads hanging limply as if they were asleep. Cloudy blinked, wondering if she was losing it. How could this be? What was going on?

Then Cloudy remembered. The plane had crashed and flipped upside-down. No wonder everything was topsy-turvy. She struggled to stand up but couldn’t because she was pinned underneath someone else, but who? Shaking her head and squinting her eyes, she peered more closely at the figure. It was Star.

“Star? Star?” Cloudy gently shook her older sister. “Wake up.”

“Hmmm?” Star murmured drowsily, opening her eyes. “C-Cloudy?”

“Can you get off me, please?”

Star obliged. Crawling to her feet, she grimaced. “Oww, my head and legs hurt.” She took a deep breath and stared at Cloudy. “What happened anyway?”

“We were flying in this plane and someone took over the controls and crashed and flipped it,” Cloudy explained. Then she suddenly looked around in alarm. “Where are my parents? Daddy? Mommy?” she called.

There was no reply.

“Miriam? Nika? Eloise?” Star shouted.

Three girls lying side by side not too far away sat up, their eyes blank and cloudy. “Ugh,” Miriam groaned, putting a hand to her head. “Where are we?”

“We’re in the plane,” Star said.

“What happened?” Nika wondered.

“Some nut crashed us,” Star said in disgust.

“Oh, that explains why this place is a total wreck,” Eloise said, ruefully surveying the snapped seatbelts, the crushed leather from the seats, the shattered windows.

“Guys, do you know where my parents are?” Cloudy broke in.

Eloise and Nika shook their heads, but Miriam frowned. “Wait, I think I know,” she said. “Right after the plane flipped and before I passed out, I saw them crash through the window and fall into the ocean, and that was all I recall.”

Cloudy gasped, shocked by what she had just heard. “I hope they’re okay,” she whispered.

Eloise glanced around. “Where are your brothers, Star?” she asked.

“And Arrow?” Nika chimed.

“And Zach!” Miriam burst out.

Star tramped gingerly over several bodies and finally found her brothers clustered together in the way back of the plane. All were unconscious and their heads were bleeding from a few small gashes.

Star started and retreated slightly. “I found our brothers, Cloudy, but they’re bleeding,” she reported.

“I found Arrow!” Eloise shouted from nearby. “He’s over next to Zach!”

“Are they okay?” Cloudy asked.

“No, they’re knocked out and bleeding too,” Eloise confirmed. “But otherwise, they look fine.”

“Someone find a first-aid kit,” Cloudy ordered. “I’m sure there’s one in the cockpit.”

Miriam’s eyes flashed with fear and she shook her head resolutely. “We’re not going in there!” she exclaimed. “Who knows if that guy’s still in there?”

“We have to take care of out friends!” Cloudy insisted.

At that moment, someone from behind touched Cloudy’s shoulder and scared her out of her wits. She let out a loud shriek and scrambled to hide behind someone’s overturned purse, slamming her head into the wall in the process.

“Good night, Cloudy, calm down!” Meta Knight’s voice issued out of the shadows. “It is only me.”

Cloudy’s head peeked around the edge of the purse. “Oh, Meta Knight, you scared me!” she said.

“I am very sorry about that,” Meta Knight apologized, his voice stricken. “Are you all okay?”

“Aside from being bruised and banged up pretty bad, we’re okay,” Miriam replied.

“But Cloudy’s brothers and Zach and Arrow are bleeding and unconscious and we need to get medical aid for them,” Eloise added. “The trouble is, we’re too scared to go into the cockpit to find a first-aid kit because we don’t know if that guy is still in there.”

Meta Knight shook his head. “I doubt it. He probably jumped ship before the plane crashed.”

“Then where did he go?” Nika asked.

Meta Knight shrugged.

“I’ll get the kit,” Cloudy offered, walking off toward the cockpit.

“Be careful, Cloudy,” Nika begged.

“Why would he do such a crazy thing?” Eloise demanded. “He might have killed us!”

Meta Knight fought to keep the shakiness out of his voice. “Some people in here actually are dead.”

Eloise stared at him, wide-eyed, noting the pain in his eyes. “Y-you mean. . .?”

“This was plain murder,” Meta Knight said gently. He knelt down beside the young girl and looked her in the eye. “No doubt he was out to kill.”

Eloise looked solemn and sad. “All these people—who died exactly?” she whispered.

Eloise felt Meta Knight take her hand. “Come with me and I will show you.”

Eloise sadly listened as Meta Knight pointed out those who had died and explained how they had possibly died. Even a tiny baby was dead.

“Oh—Oh, no. . .” Eloise felt tears sting her eyes and hastily wiped them away with the back of her hand. “Meta Knight, how could anyone be that cruel? That’s just sickening and heartbreaking!”

Eloise couldn’t see Meta Knight’s face in the dusky shadows, but she could feel him trembling. She was worried he might have been traumatized. “I don’t know,” he said. “I just don’t know.”

Eloise leaned her head against his hand. “Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine.” Meta Knight released her hand and walked off toward one of the broken windows. He stood there a moment, gazing upon the cold, gray ocean coated with a thin layer of ice. Eloise stood where she was, looking upon him sadly, wishing she could help him feel better.

Cloudy then returned with the first-aid kit. “Here it is,” she announced. “Oh, and for the record, that guy’s not in the cockpit anymore. He must have escaped.”

“Yeah,” said Eloise. “Well, let’s get to work.” She and Cloudy walked over to the other girls, opened the kit, and began cleaning the boys’ gashes well, trying to be as extremely careful as possible. After they had bandaged the wounds, the boys stirred and opened their eyes. Arrow looked up into Cloudy’s face and asked, “Where are we?”

“You’re on the plane,” Cloudy told him. She looked over at Zach, who was being tended to by Miriam. “How are you feeling, Zach?”

“Like I got run over by a truck,” Zach complained. “What even happened?”

“The plane crashed and flipped and we got knocked out,” Cloudy answered.

Cloudy’ brothers were being cared for by Nika, Eloise, and Star. Sniper opened his glanced about, then exclaimed, “Hey, who turned the plane upside-down?!”

“Some crazy psycho,” Nika replied. She heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank God, however, that everyone’s alive!”

Eloise sniffled suddenly. Nika looked compassionately at her sister. “What’s the matter, Eloise?”

Eloise’s voice was quivering as she said, “Meta Knight and I were talking a few minutes ago. . .and he said some people in here—actually were dead.”

Nika gasped, but said nothing. Miriam, overhearing Eloise’s statement, straightened up and said, “Eloise, you can’t be serious.”

“I’m dead serious,” Eloise said sadly. “It was downright murder.”

“Ha, ha!” Sniper chuckled. “Pretty good, Eloise! Dead serious! Ha, ha, ha!”

Cloudy turned on her brother, her eyes flashing fire. “This isn’t a joke, Sniper!” she snarled. “Some people are dead! Learn to be considerate of how this is negatively affecting others, will you?”

Sniper frowned, but said no words. He just reached up and adjusted the bandage on his head. The other brothers looked solemn and serious, as well as Star. Miriam clasped Zach’s hand and looked at the ground as Eloise began to cry and Nika hugged her.

Only Cloudy, in her opinion, felt truly awful. Not because she had been traumatized and shocked by this entirely fatal event, but she felt awful because of the thought of a sick freak being horrid enough to murder others who had done him no wrong. The world was messed up, life was spinning out of control, and she could do nothing about it. Her eyes traveled to Meta Knight at the window. Cloudy knew he was heartbroken. She knew he was suffering. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t fair. This shouldn’t have happened. But it had.

Cloudy slowly approached Meta Knight and pawed his arm, whining deep in her throat, a slow, sad sound. Meta Knight looked down at her, his eyes a dull gray. Cloudy whimpered and hung her head, knowing that he was feeling just as bad as she was, probably worse. What could she do or say to comfort him?

Meta Knight gently picked Cloudy up in his arms, hugging her tightly. Cloudy heard the soft breaths of him crying and her tall, pointed ears drooped. He must be very upset by this latest incident. I know I am.

Suddenly, two faces appeared in the window. Cloudy, who had been hugging Meta Knight, looked sadly toward the window and saw two faces silhouetted against the glass! She shrieked loudly and jumped, startling Meta Knight and causing him to drop her onto the floor.

“Well, I never!” Meta Knight exclaimed. “Cloudburst, what’s the matter?”

“Someone’s looking in the window!” Cloudy said, shivering with fear. She pointed with her paw to the two shadows.

Meta Knight looked where she was pointing and started upon seeing the faces. “Oh, goodness!” he gasped. “Who is that?!”

Cloudy took a deep breath and marched straight up to the window, trying to appear as brave as possible. “Who are you?!” she yelled gruffly.

“Chill and stop yelling, Cloudy! It’s just me,” Showerstorm said soothingly, speaking through a broken portion of the glass.

“And me,” Springtime added.

“Mommy and Daddy!” Cloudy cried out, relieved. She leaped through the broken window and landed on the thin layer of ice, and she skidded, floundering about wildly as she tried to regain her footing. But she slid right onto a thin spot and the ice broke, dropping her into the water. Showerstorm reacted quickly and yanked her out, then set her on Springtime’s back.

“Yikes!” Cloudy exclaimed, her teeth chattering. “That w-water is f-f-freezing!” Then she stared at her parents and noted that they were bleeding from several superficial wounds. “Y-You’re bleeding!”

“We’re fine,” Springtime said calmly, though her eyes showed strain. “We’re more concerned about you.” Her face contorted into an expression of worry and concern. “Are you injured? Are all of you okay?”

“Y-Yes, Mommy, we’re okay, and yes, a f-few of us are injured, but it’s nothing serious,” Cloudy assured her mother. Then her look became depressed. “but some p-people here are dead.”

Springtime’s eyes grew wide with horror. “Oh my word! Why would anyone want to kill innocent people?!”

“It was intentional murder,” Cloudy said.

Showerstorm dropped his head. “I’m very sorry about those who did pass,” he said mournfully. “How did the kids take it?”

“V-Very hard,” Cloudy replied, “but Meta Knight took it the worst of all.”

“I think there’s a reason for that,” Springtime said, twisting her head to look at Cloudy sitting astride her back.

Cloudy nodded. “I thought about that,” she explained. “A-And I remembered something he told me about a few days ago—something about and army called the GSA, or Galaxy Soldier Army. M-Many of his friends and fellow Star Warriors fight in that army. I’m sure he’s experienced tons of d-deaths and was pretty traumatized by that. Plus, with him b-being abused and all. . .”

“. . .That adds up to a whole mountain of trauma and grief,” Showerstorm quietly finished.

“That poor knight,” Springtime murmured.

Cloudy nodded in agreement, Then she scowled and looked down at the cold, frothy water. “I knew we shouldn’t have gone on this flight,” she muttered. “Miss Scazzarda knew what she was talking about.”

Springtime looked guilty. “I should have listened to you,” she said gently. “But I thought it was safe because I assumed he had left the airport. It never occurred to me he would try to sneak aboard.”

“I shouldn’t have told him we were going to Vastre Hall,” Cloudy sighed.

“You did what?!” Springtime exclaimed, alarmed. “You told him where we were going?!”

Cloudy looked sheepish. “Um, yeah, I guess I did. I didn’t think anything was the matter with it, but I guess I was wrong. . .” Her voice trailed off as she gazed away toward where the sea and the line of sky met on the horizon. “So. . .what now, Mommy? We’re c-crashed out here and we don’t have a way t-to get to Leupochena.”

“I’m not certain, dear,” Springtime sad. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “It’s only about thirty miles from here to Leupochena. Maybe we could hail a passing boat.”

Cloudy nodded, feeling excited. “You’re right, Mommy! We could!” she said. Then she scratched her ear, her green eyes pondering a question forming in her mind. “Um, but perhaps we could check the plane f-first, just to be sure we can’t fix it and fly on The p-pilot would agree.” Suddenly she remembered and her eyes grew wide. “Oh, no!”

“What’s wrong?” Showerstorm inquired.

“The pilot! H-He fell into the water somewhere in this area where the plane is!” Cloudy leaped off her mother’s back and frantically dived into the water, trying to search for him. The frigid water hurt felt like ice and made her body ache, and she came up for air, coughing. After a few seconds, she attempted another plunge into the deep, but Showerstorm stopped her.

“Whoa, stop, honey!” he ordered. “Calm down. We’ll find the pilot. We will. In the meantime, you kids see if you can flag down a boat, okay?”

Cloudy, nodded, shivering violently from fear and cold. “A-All right, Daddy.”

Showerstorm smiled encouragingly and gave her a boost through the window and she landed inside the plane. She shook herself off and ran over to her friends, who were clustered together in a corner, “Okay, e-everyone, let’s go! D-Daddy says we gotta f-flag down a boat t-t-to take us to Leupochena!”

Zach stared at the drenched Malamute. “Have you been swimming?”

“Not exactly,” Cloudy said, trying to skirt the question. “Okay, no more questions. Let’s do as Daddy says!”

Miriam threw up her hands in exasperation. “But it would have to be a pretty big boat in order to take us all!” she argued. “There’s at least a hundred and ten people here!”

“Minus the ones that died,” Eloise reminded her.

“Oh, yeah,” Miriam said. She fell silent and looked off into a far corner.

Nika jumped up. “Well, what are we waiting for?” she cried. “Let’s hail a boat, and fast! It’ll be night soon!”

The friends ran over to the window and leaped carefully through it, the water closing over their heads as they landed. “Yipes! This water’s c-cold!” Miriam yelped.

“Y-you’re telling me. I just hope I-I don’t d-d-die of pneumonia before the day is ou-out.”

“You’d b-be lucky if you didn’t,” Sniper joked.

Eloise gave Sniper a withering look. “Shut up, Sniper.”

“Fine. I can handle that,” Sniper retorted, then became sullen and silent.

They looked this way and that to see if there were any boats, but saw nothing but a wide expanse of grayish-blue water and a tiny city that seemed far, far away. Cloudy figured that must be Leupochena.

“Let’s swim around to the other side of the plane!” Arrow barked. They all obeyed and went around to the opposite side, but were suddenly intercepted by a huge ship coming their way!

“What luck!” Miriam exclaimed.

“There’s a ship!” Nika shouted. She waved her hands wildly. “Hey, hey, help! Help us!” she hollered.

The ship slowed and the captain steered a little to the right, then halted the ship so that it came to rest right beside the crashed plane. A few sailors ran to the side of the ship and peered over it, and one called out, “Are you all okay?”

“Yes, but we need to get to Leupochena before dark!” Miriam called back.

“Why? What happened?” another sailor asked.

“Some freak sabotaged our plane and took over the controls and crashed us here in the water,” Zach said. “He escaped, though.”

“Did you see anyone out here while you were rowing out?” Miriam asked.

The sailors shook their heads. “Didn’t see a soul except for you guys and gals, miss,” the first one said. “We’re the only ones who have permission to be out on the ocean today.”

Cloudy drew her brows down, realizing there was something about this whole event that wasn’t clear. “Hey, Arrow?”

“Hmm?” Arrow looked at Cloudy in a questioning manner.

“If that guy escaped from the plane, then how did he jump off without getting killed or injured? And where did he even go? Did he drown? Did someone pick him up?” Cloudy asked.

Arrow put a paw to halt her barrage of questions. “Those are good questions, Cloudy,” he said, “but at the moment I have no answers.”

Up on the ship’s deck, the sailors were still talking to the children. “If you can, get all the living out of that plane and their luggage and we can hoist them up on deck and take them to Leuopchena,” the second sailor said. “Be careful with any who are seriously injured, and leave the dead.”

“Will do. Roger that,” Miriam said. She signaled her friends to follow her and began swimming around to the other side of the plane, then swam over to the window and pulled herself inside. The others followed suit.

Meta Knight was standing with a group of survivors when Miriam jumped in. She counted the survivors in her head; there were exactly fifty of them. She frowned. That was quite a death loss of people.

“All right, all, we’re getting out of here,” Miriam said. “Collect all the luggage you can and follow me.” She and her friends hunted for their luggage, and once they located it, snatched it and jumped lightly out of the plane again. The water splashed gently as they landed and the survivors followed. None of the living seemed to be seriously injured and Miriam was glad. As they were swimming to the ship with Miriam in the lead, Springtime and Showerstorm swam up beside them.

“Hey, Miss Springtime and Mister Showerstorm,” Miriam greeted the two adults. “Where were you?”

“We went to look for the pilot,” Showerstorm said.”

“Did you find him?” a lady asked.

Springtime grimaced. “No, but we did find blood in the water near the spot where we saw him fall. I don’t know where he is or what happened to him, but I believe that, ummm, he now currently and will forever have an underwater grave.”

Miriam blinked in disbelief. Her glance strayed to Meta Knight, who wrapped his drenched cape around himself and looked away from her. Miriam felt miserable, but decided not to say anything to him for the time being.

Instead, she led them to the ship and the sailors dropped down a giant ladder. Several people climbed on the ladder and hung on while the sailors pulled them onto the ship, and then the ladder was dropped down again for the second round of people.

After the third group had been taken up, it was Miriam and her friends’ turn. They all grabbed onto the ladder and hung on tightly as the sailors pulled them aboard. Once they were safely on deck, one sailor dropped the ladder again and climbed down.

“Where’s he going?” Miriam asked the captain.

“To inspect the plane,” the captain replied.

Miriam watched as the sailor slowly swam around the outside of the plane for some time, then climbed inside and was gone from view. After a minute, he climbed out again and swam back to the ship, where he was hauled to the deck.

“So what was wrong?” the captain wanted to know.

“Someone clogged the engines with debris and destroyed the landing gear,” the sailor explained. “However, no one was in the plane except the dead.”

“Hmm.” The captain frowned a little and shrugged. “Not much to run on, then. Well, we need to get to Leupochena. I’ll call someone to collect the dead bodies, the plane, and these peoples’ luggage. Um, Fred, Agro, make sure these survivors are well cared for.”

The sailors instantly jumped to do the captain’s bidding. As they were rowing steadily toward Leupochena, Miriam went down to Meta Knight’s room. He was sitting on the bed and had his cape wrapped around himself. Miriam climbed on the bunk beside him. “Meta Knight?”

“Yes, child.”

“Are you okay?”

Meta Knight stared at her, and slowly the tears filled his eyes. He looked away. “Please go.”

“What? But I—”

“Miriam,” Meta Knight pleaded, his voice cracking. “Go. . .please.”

Miriam gave him a sorrowful and sympathetic look, then jumped off the bunk and walked out of the room. She seated herself on a small bench outside his room, thinking, These recent events must have hit him hard.

Miriam folded her hands and closed her eyes, inwardly praying, “Jesus, please be with Meta Knight. Please be with us all.”

* * * * *

“Here we are at Leupochena!” Fred called cheerfully.

Miriam ran up to the deck upon hearing Fred’s words and gazed with awe at the big city. It was beautiful, what with its Christmas lights strung everywhere and Christmas carols ringing out in the streets. Down on the dock, she saw a female husky who looked very similar to Star. Aunt Summer?

The gangplank was lowered and Springtime and her crew ran off the ship and over to the husky. “Summer!!” Springtime cried out.

“Springtime!” Summer exclaimed, embracing her older sister. “So nice to see you!”

“Nice to see you too,” Springtime said, and quickly introduced her friends and family.

“Wonderful to meet you all,” Summer said happily. “Well, this is my husband, Soldier, and these are our children, Elena, Eliot, Warren, and Karrie.”

“Hey,” Cloudy greeted her cousins.

“Hello,” Elena said softly, smoothing her fur.

Summer gestured to two humanoids standing beside them. “These are Dana and Frank Mesterein. Dana’s expecting.”

“Well, congratulations!” Showerstorm said sincerely.

“Thank you,” Dana replied.

“They own Vastre Hall,” Summer went on, “and that’s where you’ll be staying.” Then for the first time, she took in their bedraggled appearances and the boys’ bandaged heads and grew alarmed. “What happened to you?!”

“Our plane crashed,” Sniper said cheerfully.

“What?!” Summer gasped.

“It’s a long story,” Showerstorm broke in tiredly. “We’ll tell you all about it at Vastre Hall.”

“Okay, then. Let’s go,” Soldier said.

They all grouped together and left the dock. After passing through several busy streets and intersections, they finally came to a long stone driveway. They walked the thick pavement until they came to a huge iron gate, and Summer unlocked it and pushed it open. They stepped into the yard and the gate clanged shut behind them.

Cloudy looked up with amazement and wonder. There, in front of her, was a beautiful, four-story mansion made of shiny, yellow brick. Christmas lights draped the eaves and porch railings and a Christmas tree could be seen in one window.

“Vastre Hall,” Cloudy said softly.