All Eight Guardians

Karri's POV

The hotel room door opened and Knight, Base, and Annabelle walked in. Annabelle and Knight had their arms loaded down with bags and boxes while Base was carrying hardly anything at all.

As soon as Annabelle was in the room she dropped everything and flopped down onto a chair as she let out a long, tired groan.

"Thanks for offering to come with us, Annabelle." Knight said gratefully.

"I wouldn't have if I would have known I had to carry all that junk." Annabelle whined.

"Hey! It's not junk!" Base denied, "These are all my worldly possessions."

"Yeah? Well you need to give some of it back to the world." Annabelle snapped, "We'll never be able to pack all this into the wagon."

"I'm not departing without my possessions." Base said firmly.

"That's fine. If everything doesn't fit in the wagon we can carry the rest back." Knight said.

Annabelle shook her head, "I won't carry any of it."

Moose rolled his eyes, "Do you really think we have a choice?"

"I already carried it all once. I'm not going to do it again." Annabelle said as she crossed her arms.

"I'll help you carry it." I said.

"You don't have to carry it." Roman interjected.

"Why doesn't she have to carry it but I do?!" Annabelle flipped out.

"I really don't mind helping carry it." I said loudly.

"Karri, I'll carry something before you have to." Roman said.

"Why doesn't she have to do any of the leg work?!" Annabelle questioned.

"Because those were the King's orders!" Roman nearly shouted back.

"Why is Karri being treated like a princess?" Annabelle asked.

Both Roman and Knight were quiet.

Annabelle couldn't help herself and asked, "She is a princess, isn't she?"

The guards remained silent.

"...Am I a princess?" I asked quietly.

"This is neither the time nor place to discuss this matter." Knight said.

I nodded like I understood, but then I walked out of the hotel room with everyone calling after me. I walked up to the roof where I first met Base and it took a few minutes, but Roman and Knight followed after me.

"You shouldn't run away from us even if you're upset." Knight said quietly.

I refused to look at either guy and instead opted to look at the landscape and said, "I can't help you guys find the Guardians if you keep secrets from me."

"It's not that we're keeping secrets from you, more like we don't know all the information ourselves yet." Roman said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"At this moment we're in the dark about the situation just as much as you are." Knight said.

"As soon as we find out anything about it we'll let you know." Roman added.

I turned to face the guys looking hopeful and asked, "You promise?"

"We promise." Roman and Knight said in unison.

I took a deep breath before I decided to change the subject, "So do we leave for Omega in the morning?"

Roman nodded, "That's the plan."

"Actually..." Knight cut in, but trailed off.

Roman and I quickly spun around to face Knight, waiting for him to finish what he was saying. But he didn't.

"Actually?" I prompted.

"We're leaving tonight." Knight finished.

"Tonight?!" Roman questioned.

"Why tonight?" I asked in a calmer state than Roman.

"The locals are getting suspicious. We need to get out of here before they try anything." Knight explained.

Roman looked skeptical and asked, "Why do you think the locals are getting suspicious? Take a look around. There are no pitchforks, no torches. These people aren't suspicious. They're far from it."

"Hmmm, why do I think they're suspicious? Oh gee, I don't know. Maybe it was the group of people gathering while we were collecting all of Base's stuff. Then they followed us here and stopped outside the hotel. You may not be able to see them but they're here." Knight replied.

Roman shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe this Kingdom is just really boring and they have nothing better to do."

Knight rolled his eyes, "I highly doubt that."

"Are you sure?" Roman questioned.

Knight growled in annoyance and looked like he wanted to punch his friend. I knew this had to be stopped before it even got started.

I stepped in between them and lightly pushed them away from each other. "Guys, guys, chill out." I muttered.

Knight looked away and Roman said "Che." before looking away as well.

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do. Roman, you go prepare Lillix and the wagon. Knight and I will go back to the room, get everyone, get Base's stuff, and then we'll meet you at the stables." I instructed.

Knight nodded and Roman said, "Got it."

The three of us ran off the roof, down the stairs, and separated at the bottom of the stairs. Roman went one way while Knight and I ran off in the other direction.

Knight and I hurried into the same hotel room we had ran out of earlier to find everyone else still waiting around inside.

"Is this going to take much longer? I need to get my beauty sleep." Annabelle said.

Base smirked, "You're gonna need much longer than one night of sleep to make yourself look beautiful."

Annabelle dropped her jaw, clearly offended.

Base's smirk grew even wider, "That was for the comment about giving my possessions back to the world that you made earlier."

Annabelle gasped, "So you make fun of my looks because I said something about all your junk? That hardly seems fair."

Base groaned and started to say something else, but I interrupted him.

"Okay, you guys need to set your differences aside at the moment because we need to pack everything up and leave as soon as possible." I said quickly.

"Why?" Moose asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, "I just think it's the right time to get going back to Omega."

Karri, what's going on?" Moose asked as he stood up.

I didn't really know why I was beating around the bush so I just decided to tell them straight up. "It seems while Knight, Base, and Annabelle were out they gathered a crowd of curious on-lookers. We need to get out of here before they try something."

"I told you they were following us." Annabelle said.

Base shook his head, "You didn't say anything!"

Annabelle opened her mouth to say something else, but Nick barked loudly and interrupted her.

Everyone turned to look at me and Moose questioned, "What did he just say?"

I didn't think everyone in the group knew about our link, but I guess I was wrong.

I couldn't help but smile a little and replied, "He said less arguing, more packing."

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Knight and I walked from the hotel room to the stables. Knight was carrying a box while I wasn't carrying anything at all.

Knight stowed the box in the wagon and announced, "Alright, that's everything." to the others who were all already waiting around in the stables for us.

I walked up to Lillix the appaloosa horse and pet her and she nodded as she seemed to recognize me. "Are you ready to travel back to Omega?"I asked her.

Lillix quietly whinnied in response and I smiled.

I turned to Roman who was standing next to Lillix, "Are we ready to go?" I questioned.

Roman nodded, "Yup." he grabbed the reins and led Lillix and the wagon out of the stables and began to walk toward the front gate of Clover.

Nick jumped up into the wagon and circled around a few times trying to find somewhere comfy. But before he could, Lillix whinnied in protest.

Roman glanced back at the wolf, "Sorry Nick, you're going to have to get out of the wagon."

Nick growled, 'Sure, Lillix doesn't mind carrying lazy teenagers all day long, bus as soon as the wolf wants a ride she puts her hoof down.' he muttered as he jumped out of the wagon.

I couldn't help but giggle.

Moose appeared next to me, "What did he say?" he asked.

I gasped, "You scared me!"

Moose smirked, "Sorry 'bout that."

"It's okay." I said quietly.

"So...what did he say?" Moose asked again.

I shook my head, "Trust me, you don't want to know."

"That bad, huh?" Moose asked.

I nodded and repeated, "That bad."

Moose smiled, "Maybe it's a good thing you're the only one who can hear him."

I smiled awkwardly at Moose and he walked ahead to join John.

Annabelle was next to appear beside me, "I can't believe all his crap fit in the wagon." she said loudly.

From somewhere nearby in the darkness Base called out, "It's not crap!"

"Fine! It's not crap!" Annabelle shouted back. She turned back to me and muttered, "It is so crap."

I shrugged my shoulders, "It really isn't that much stuff."

Annabelle gasped dramatically and asked, "Who's side are you on?!" before she angrily stormed off and over to Moose and John.

"Apparently not yours." I muttered lowly.

We were stopped at the gate of Clover by the same guards who stopped us on the way in. One of them asked, "Leaving so soon?"

"We're headed back to Omega as quickly as we can while our friend has been feeling better." Roman replied.

The guard nodded and said, "Alright." actually accepting it and started to move aside, but the second guard stopped him.

"Wait a minute..." the second guard paused, "You're leaving here with one more person than you arrived with. Care to explain?"

Base shrugged his shoulders, "I'm out of smokes and I hear they're cheap in Omega. Practically free."

"Cigarettes are bad for your health, y'know?" the second guard questioned.

Base nodded, "I'm aware. But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop."

"Whatever." the second guard said as he rolled his eyes, but he still stepped aside allowing us to pass.

As I was passing through the gate, the second guard stepped in front of me, stopping me.

"Yes?" I questioned.

"Has your wolf been a good boy?" he asked.

I nodded, "He has."

"Did he bite or nibble on anyone?"

"Not a soul."

"I'd like to nibble on you."

"Excuse me?" I questioned as I raised an eyebrow.

"You heard me." he said as he took a step forward and I took a step back.

Nick growled at the guard from behind him, making the guy freeze up.

I smiled, "He may not bite the innocent, but he will tear you to pieces if he thinks you're putting me in danger."

The guard stepped aside and muttered, "Just go."

"Thank you so much for all your kind hospitality." I said in a sickly sweet tone of voice as I walked past him.

'I think you may have laid it on a little too thick with him back there.' Nick said quietly.

"He deserved it." I muttered before we quickened our pace and caught up with the others.