Silver Wheel: Beginnings

I arrived in the living room just before 2pm. I was the first one there, giving me a chance to look around. The room was quite big, with three sofas arranged in a square, leaving the last side open for a big flat screen TV. The room itself had white walls and a light wooden floor.
The door opened and in walked the guys, with Sage in the lead.
“Good to see that you are already here. That means we can start straight away. Take a seat.” Sage said.
I sat on the middle sofa, with the others sitting on the other sofas; two on each side. I looked at them expectantly, not really knowing what I was expecting them to say.
“Arianrhod, you said you didn’t remember how you got here. Well, I think that should be left to be explained later. More to the point is what you are going to do while you are here, and why you are here.” Sage started.
I started fiddling with my ring, which was on the middle finger of my right hand. I looked down and noticed for the first time that it is very similar to the one I had seen drawn in the book.
It can’t be the same; surely not. But, I wonder…
“Arianrhod? Did you hear?” Dylan asked. I was so lost in thought that I had missed what was being said.
“Sorry, what?”
“He said you will be here at least a week.” Flint repeated for me.
“A week?!” I exclaimed, which startled me.
“Yes, until we know why you fainted, and if you’ll do it again.” Sage said.
“What do you mean? I fainted?” I asked.
“You don’t remember fainting?” Dylan said. When I shock my head, they all exchanged a worried glance.
I took a deep breath, trying to get things back on track, “Okay,” I said, “What do you know so far?”
“That would be nothing.” Zac said.
Great!
“There is nothing we can think of that could have caused this. There are theories, but we don’t think any of them are feasible.” Sage said. “But, we still don’t know much, so we should be able to get to the bottom of this.”
I decided not to mention the ring, thinking that I might want to do some reading on it first, just to get my facts straight. The meeting finished there, seen as no one could think of anything else they needed to say.
On the way out, Sage stopped me. “Meet me out front at 4pm to go shopping for anything you’ll need while you’re here.” He said.
“Okay, see you there.”I said. I had an hour to spare, so I went back up to the library.
*
Anyway, I ended up outside the house at 4, waiting for Sage to show up. I heard the sound of a car engine and then around the corner of the house came a big four by four/ jeep thing. Sage leaned over and opened the passenger door for me to get in.
The journey to the small town was quiet; neither of us said a word. I started to get the feeling that the boys were hiding something from me. We pulled up outside a supermarket and we both went inside.
“I have a few things to get; I’ll meet you by the check outs in about fifteen minutes.” Sage said, leaving me in peace to get whatever I wanted. I went straight to the clothes section and grabbed a pair of jeans, a pair of black leggings, and some different coloured tops.
I was just about to meet Sage at the check out when someone grabbed my hand. He had short black hair and violet eyes. He was wearing a black t-shirt, black smart trousers, a black trench coat and a necklace with an ankh pendant.
“It’s nice to meet a friend of Sage’s, seen as he doesn’t have many.” He said, smiling at me, “I’m Thanatos. And what name do you have that suits such a pretty face?”
Who does this creep think he is?
“I’m Arianrhod” I said, trying to sound polite while attempting to get my hand free.
“Well it’s nice to…” he started, but was cut off by Sage
“Get away from her.” Sage growled, “You are not to touch her, or even talk to her; do you understand?”
“I was just introducing myself.” He said “Tell me, how is my brother?”
“He doesn’t miss you, and he certainly won’t be pleased to hear that you have been with her.” Sage replied tightly.
And his brother would be?
Sage turned to me and took my hand, but Thanatos still hadn’t let go of the other one. I stood there with both boys holding my hands and then I started to feel faint.
“Sage” I said, turning to him. He looked at me worriedly as I started to wobble on my feet.
“Let go of her, you idiot!” he shouted at Thanatos, he sounded almost panicky. He quickly did, but I still felt unsteady. I let Sage put his arm around my waist. “We should go, now!”
“No, I’ll be fine in a minute.” I said, “I just need something to drink.”
“I don’t care. I’ll take you back to the car; then I’ll come back and pay for these.” He said, leading me away. He turned back around to Thanatos, “Stay away for her. That’s your only warning.”
Sage put me in the car and made sure I was alright before going back to pay for the clothes, which we had left at the check out on the way out. When Sage came back I still didn’t feel too good; my head was starting to spin.
We had only just gone out of the car park when I could barely keep me eyes open. Sage kept glancing at me worriedly, but I was doing a good job of hiding how bad I felt. That was until my eyes closed and I didn’t have the strength to open them.
“Arianrhod, stay awake now. We’re almost back. It’s going to be alright.” Sage said, “Talk to me Arianrhod. Um… When’s your birthday?”
“December…” was all I managed to say before I passed out.
*
I woke up back in bed, wondering how I had gotten there. Then I remembered going shopping with Sage. Everything came back then, and that included some more information as to how I had ended up in the house. I remembered reaching out to look at a necklace; a shark tooth necklace.
Dylan! I thought.
At least I know knew who had brought me there.
I could here someone snoring next to me. I slowly opened my eyes, which didn’t hurt my head as much as the last time I had woken up in that bed, but again, I was still wearing the clothes I had been he nightbefore. I looked and saw that Zac was asleep in a chair next to me. It was sort of cute seeing him dozing on the chair with a blanket around him.
I got up, wondering how long I had been out. Well, I was hungry, so it was probably the next morning. I went through the door, careful not to wake Zac.
I went straight the library. As soon as I got in, I headed to the sections I guessed would contain information about the ring.
Firstly, the history section.
I picked up a book and looked closely at the sketches and notes. Most of them were on people and places, seeming to follow the progress of something. It seemed that most of the people had either been killed, or had died in mysterious circumstances. The places all seemed to have faired just as well; in each they was war, violence and strings of crime.
Everything was following something. But, it was never clearly stated what. The people all were random, and so were the places. The more I looked for a link, the less of one I saw.
The only consistent thing was the ring. Every now and again it had been drawn in; always the same ring. I took a closer look at it and found that it was the same ring that I was wearing; two triquetras on their sides, next to each other.
“Guys! Arianrhod’s gone!” I heard Dylan shout from my room. There was a lot of running footsteps going up stairs as I put the book back.
“Arianrhod?!” Sage shouted.
The boys seemed to be worried about me; they were all going around the house looking for me, I even think that Zac went outside to look around the gardens. I came out of the library and nearly went straight into Flint.
“Where the hell have you been?!” He shouted, grabbing my wrist and dragging me back to my room, “Guys, I found her!”
“Let go of me!” I said, tugging my wrist away, but he wouldn’t let go. “I was only in the library.”
He wasn’t listening to me. “Anything could have happened to you,” he said pulling me through the door, “Anything.”
I stood staring at him, wondering what could have got him so worked up. The others filed in a few seconds after us.
“You little pixie!” Flint said, rounding on Zac as he walked in, “How come you didn’t notice that she was wake?!”
“Hey, she sneaked out, okay!” Zac said shouting back.
Flint pushed me behind him, “That’s not good enough!” he shouted. I didn’t believe what happened next.
The boys tensed as fire appeared in Flint’s hands. I backed up and had my back to the wall; I was trapped behind Flint. Just to add to matters, I started to feel dizzy.
“Flint, stop this. You know what could happen.” Sage said calmly, taking a step forward.
“You don’t know what he’s like Sage!” Flint said, “and this pixie would have let him take her!”
“Flint, it’s not his fault” I said, stepping between them, “I’m the one to blame; I’m the one who sneaked out. Please, I don’t want you to fight.”
Flint looked at me. I could feel the heat of the fire on my face, but I wasn’t afraid; I didn’t think Flint would do anything to harm me, even if he was mad. His eyes were reflecting the flames in his hands, making them look like they were on fire.
“Flint, please.” I said, putting my hand on his arm right next to the fire, burning my hand in the process. His face softened and the fire died.
“Don’t ever do that again.” He said, before trying storming out of the room.
“Wait,” I said “I would like some answers. Now!”