Senka stood, drinking his coffee and hoping the kids got out ok through the tunnel. It was a small tunnel that led to the top of the rainforest. They’ll make it out. I just have to distract these morons for as long as I can.

He stood by his door watching as three men garbed in military apparel finally approached his house. Finally, as if the degenerated tree and a cave weren’t enough evidence geez!

“Stand aside, we are looking for fugitives,” one guard said, ramming his weapon, or trying anyway, into his stomach. He pushed the weapon aside easily.

“I’ll give you passage into my house. No need for violence amigo,” Senka muttered, drinking the last of his coffee and showing them in. Zen and the others had picked up after themselves and put the extra plates and silverware away after washing them. His table was set like always, for his missing family. Although I have found two members of that family. They may not be immediate but they are family and need me right now.

“Anything of interest gentlemen,” he asked as they took a stalk of his dining room table.

“You have many places set out.”

He looked at the guard and shrugged. “I’m waiting for the family that I lost. Sentimental value. That kind of thing.”

A guard approached the silverware and noticed how shiny it looked.

“There’s no dust on these.”

“I keep them clean. A habit ingrained from years of faulty memory. I lost most of it in an accident.”

The guard turned and began inspecting the kitchen and living room where they found nothing. They kept exploring until coming to the closed doors of the library.

“What’s through there,” pointed one of the guards.

“That is my library but I’m afraid I can’t let you through.”

“Why not? Stand aside.”

Senka grinned and in a swift moment overtook three guards, stealing their guns from them.

“My family is through there,” he said, tying the guards with his shadows and setting the guns beside the wall.

“Good day, men,” and he vanished into the shadows of the house and up to his room where he picked up his dimensional pocket and vanished into the shadows again hoping to scope out the forest a little before reaching the others.

“What a mess my family is in.”

###

Zen stopped at the crest of the hill and looked for some kind of latch to undo all this darkness. She found it overhead. As she reached for it another hand grabbed hers. She looked into glowing crystalline eyes. Stephan shook his head.

“There are at least fifty water signals that I’m reading out there right now,” he said and lifted his other hand with a dangerous glint in his eyes. “I can…”

Zen curled her fingers into his hand and gave him a little shove knocking him out of the trance-like state he had fallen to.

“It’ll alert the rest of them to the area with that many fallen guards,” she said, turning to Marco.

“Could you teleport out and tell Senka what we are dealing with,” she asked, running her thumb down Stephan’s hand as he bristled lightly. He looked at her and she shook her head. She wasn’t about to let him become a murderer again because of her and the crystal. She’d protect him as much as she could from using his abilities as unlethally as possible.

It could be that he likes to use them lethally Guardian. That was what he was taught after all.

Zen gripped his hand and looked him in the eyes. She could see relief and frustration in them fighting one another.

No Ishevara. He doesn’t like using his abilities to kill needlessly. He struggles to not use them lethally though.

It’s what he was trained in but that’s not why he’s frustrated.

What do you mean?

Ask him after this is over.

Marco sighed. “I can,” and then he teleported.

###

Marco stood behind a tree and watched as several guards walked by, right over the mound. His keen eyes took in the Rollers that were parked farther along the tree line. So that’s how they got to us so fast. Rollers. How exactly does that work in such a limited space? Unless they are bulldozing the forest? That would be a pity. He moved silently through the trees towards the Rollers noticing more guards up ahead. We need some kind of distraction. Maybe if I…

“Wouldn’t do that kid. You’re trying to escape, not bring down both battalions on you.”

Marco turned stifling a scream. “Senka! What! Wait two battalions! That’s over two hundred men!”

Senka nodded. “Where are the others?”

“Stuck underground until some distraction can pull the fifty or so guards from their current locations. Zen sent me for reconnaissance but things are worse than we thought if two battalions are after us!”

Senka nodded and patted his shoulder. Marco stiffened. “You leave the distraction to me. I’ll get those men moving. You guys concentrate on getting out of the forest safe and sound.”

Marco nodded. I’m a Traveler. I can hear your thoughts if you direct them toward me. I’ll be ready to move us when you give the signal.

Senka nodded and walked into the shadows covering the trees. Marco teleported back to the others.

“Well?” Stephan asked.

“I ran into Senka. He says two battalions are looking for us right now in the forest. About twenty men are standing overtop of us as is. He’s going to make a distraction and tell me when we can move.” He pointed to his head and the others nodded.

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“We’ll just have to wait and see what Senka does then,” Isaias mumbled, coming in behind Marco. Strangely, Marco didn’t freeze like with others and leaned in slightly.

“Yeah,” he said.

###

Senka appeared behind a guard and slammed said guard’s head into the Roller’s side knocking him out. Ridiculous to have only one guard on these things.

He disappeared and reappeared in the driver’s seat whistling as he felt the neural cables connect and the controls come to life. There were several screams as he backed up the Roller over the other Roller and squashed the front of it and the driver.

“Oops sorry. Just can’t get a handle on this thing,” he yelled waving. The other guards came running trying to stop a Roller.

“Idiots.”

He ran over their hides and kept going, leading the men on a goose chase.

“On the road again... Lalala...I forgot the rest,” he sang as he cruised through the forest grinning. The shadows alerted him to the now, empty hill.

Ok, mind reader, the coast is clear! Get the others moving. I’ll only hold them for so long!

###

Marco and the others heard the screaming and felt the footsteps leading away from them. They all held their breaths until Marco nodded and Zen grinned removing the latch on the bunker door. They piled out one by one rushing for the nearest tree and hiding against it. Zen was behind Isaias but close to Stephan and bringing up the rear was Marco. They tiptoed into the forest running in between shadows where Isaias simply vanished at times and appeared farther ahead. They looked on at the smoking Roller and squished guard.

Zen winced. “Senka,” she mouthed.

Marco shrugged. “Don’t know,” he mouthed back.

They began to move forward when Isaias stopped them and pointed to the only guard not out of his post chasing after a Roller.

“Smart guy but now we have a problem. We need to go that way

“Senka couldn’t move them all, Marco”. I spotted another stubborn one a few feet ahead, and telepathed Isaias while Zen and Stephan listened in.

“What do we do then? We can’t fight them due to alerting the rest of the battalions,” Zen whispered.

Stephan sighed. “I can create a distraction far enough away to summon these guys away.”

Isaias and Marco nodded while Zen was not so sure. She narrowed her thoughts straight to Stephan. Will you be alright?

He looked at her surprised. Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? I’m just knocking out a few guys.

But you don’t want to do you?

What other choice do we have?

None, but Stephan...you have me now. You don’t have to carry that terrible burden alone anymore ok?

Stephan’s eyes glowed for a minute before he raised his hand and closed his eyes. Thank you, princess.

Then he searched the forest for moving water. He felt the two males up ahead and skipped them. He needed other people. His senses traveled until they chose three targets. One was by the roaring rapids. He could feel the spinning tides. Perfect! He made a connection to the three targets and pulled. At once three men gurgled and fainted. One falling into the rapids. Stephan opened his eyes and grinned as yells were heard coming from farther up. The two stationed men got commed and began moving towards the fallen cave.

What did you do, telepathed Marco.

Stephan grinned. “I just made sure that they were needed elsewhere. Let's move!”

They crept into a darker part of the forest and began running for it. They didn’t stop until mid-morning dawned and they had no choice but to hide in the trees above as the brigades searched on foot on the ground.

###

Zen huffed and fanned herself as she jumped to another branch ahead of her. Isaias swung from one tree to the next like a monkey. Marco skipped teleported and Stephan leaped from one branch to the next beside her. He turned to her grinning.

“Who’d have thought the day would end up with us imitating primates?”

“This...is...tiring,” Zen muttered, hopping to another branch and running down the moss-ridden slope of the branch. It ended in a dead end. The other branch was too far away.

“Damn!”

She took out a whip from her dimensional pocket and swung it. It wrapped around the other branch and she let the forward motion swing her across to the other branch. She skidded to a stop and nearly toppled off her branch. A hand caught the collar of her shirt and pulled her forward toward the middle of the branch.

“Careful Zen,” Stephan whispered.

“Sorry I overextended,” she muttered fidgeting at how close they were now standing.

He was close enough to smell and while he didn’t smell so bad, she knew she did. Jumping around in the rainforest did nothing for one’s B.O.

“Um we should keep jumping,” she said, turning and facing the next tree which was even farther away. She looked at her whip and muttered “extend.” The whip extended a foot more and she threw her arm back to snap the whip. Instead, Stephan’s strong arms went around her and she was pulled into his lithe body before she was soaring through the air and her feet were being dropped on the branch.

“The next one’s closer. You can make that one on your own,” he said smirking.

She looked over at Stephan who leaped onto the next branch easily and waited for her grinning.

She pulled the whip in and tucked it into her pants. Then, she leaped for the next branch where she hit a spot of moss and slipped right off. She hit the leafy canopy and managed to grab hold of a branch and dig her nails into the bark. She held perfectly still for a few minutes before starting her climb upwards, but the damage had been done. A guard looked up to see her butt hanging in mid-air.

“They’re up in the trees,” he commed.

Stephan bent over and picked her up from the branch she was on and placed her back on the starting branch.

“We’ve got to move faster. They know of us being in the trees now,” she said blushing.

Stephan nodded and picked her up. “As you wish, princess.” He was jumping even faster than before while she hung on.

“Let our brother’s know,” she said.

He nodded and arrowed his thoughts to Marco. They know about the trees.

How?

Zen almost toppled off of one.

Damn! I’ll tell Isaias.

Stephan nodded and held Zen tighter as he leaped farther. They were speeding through the trees, a blur to any human’s eyes right then.

“They will be sending squads up soon,” Zen muttered as the breeze blew her shoulder-length hair from her face. She had long let it out of the braid Margarita had put it in, and instead used the rubber band to tie it in a high ponytail. It had fallen into disarray from all the jumping she had done and even had a couple of leaves stuck to it. He chuckled as she yawned. Tarzan, she was not. He’d leave that to Isaias who was last seen swinging about unhindered from branch to branch having the time of his life. If Isaias could have hollered, he probably would have by now. As it was, Zen had snuggled into his arms and closed her eyes briefly. She reopened them and turned to glance at him.

“How are you so steady? I can’t even feel it when we land on a branch.”

“There’s water inside the trees you know.”

“So you’re teleporting like Marco?”

Stephan shook his head. “I’m using the water to cushion my landing and to guide me...sorta like a compass.”

Her eyes widened. “You can do that?”

He grinned. “I can do a lot of things.”

“What else can you do? What did you do to those men from before?”

Stephan frowned. “I knocked them out with their own bodies. One fell into the rapids.” He leaped to another branch noticing the thinning of the trees.

“I think we’re almost out of this rainforest.”

She turned to face the front and nodded, also noticing the lack of trees up ahead. “They’ve run us clear to the other end of the rainforest! What’ll we do now?”

“First we’ve got to get to the end of the rainforest.”

She blushed and nodded.