Okay, then... *googles* Ah! There's a pic with a view from the top looking straight down! I nearly vomit just looking at it!!! That is ridiculously high. *shudders* Anyways. Hmm. Okay then.

Dehlia ~

Felix and I made quick work of the three guards in front of us. I moved quickly toward the center of the platform, while Felix scanned the edges. There I met Dora.

"Got them?" I asked. "Yes, all eight. Did you get the last?" Dora asked. I froze. 

"What last? I didn't see any others." 

Dora paled. "There were supposed to be twelve. The three you and Felix stunned, but then only eight that Errol and I stunned."

"Freeze!" A voice said behind us. We spun around. The final guard stood, gun in one hand, time tears in the other. Errol and Felix ran up at the sound of raised voices. Seeing himself outnumbered, he became desperate. I dangled the time tears over the side.

"Move, and I'll drop it!" he said.

I'm going.

Errol glances from the guard to the vial of tears dangling over the edge of the tower. He inhales slowly and evenly, judging his options.

The top of the tower and parts of the ground below are bathed in a warm glow from the streetlamps lining the roads. It could be enough. He raises his hands slowly in a sign of surrender. "Okay, then." He takes a small step backwards, into the middle of the strongest puddle of light.

The guard looks confused, but relieved. "Yeah, keep walking."

Dehlia and Dora shoot him looks that are poisonous mixtures of confusion and anger. He bobs his head to the left in a vague gesture that didn't accomplish anything more than making him look slightly ridiculous.

Dora is the first to say anything. "But- the tears-"

"Yeah," Errol replies, exaggerating each word. "We should get out of here. We wouldn't want him to drop those, would we?"

A light dawns on her face, and she nods. "You're right. We should probably leave pretty quickly." They make eye contact with Felix and Dehlia. 

Their next words all get lost in a muddle of language as everyone states clearly their own take on the idea, "I wish to go to the bottom of the Eiffel Tower."

The guard is not prepared to see a whole bunch of people suddenly disappear in front of his eyes. Naturally, his heartbeat increases and the glands in his hands begin to produce a goodly amount of sweat and oil, causing the thin glass vial to slowly slip from his fingers and began to fall the 324 meters to the ground below. 

--

Thinking since thay all said something different, they should be scattered around a bit. Make some tension, cause some running, etc. etc. 

Sorry, all. School is just keeping me insanely busy.

Dehlia ~

I shout, "I wish to go to the bottom of the Eiffel Tower," and suddenly I'm standing just below the place we'd been standing a few seconds before. I gaze up, then scream. The guard had released the bottle of time tears, and it was plummeting straight toward me. This gets Errol's attention. He gives a shout, and runs toward me, also seeing the time tears. Felix and Dora follow closely behind. None of us could tell exactly where it would land, so we spread out some, each of us braced to catch it. I took several steps back... I felt the smooth glass fall into my hands. The impact knocked me back a few steps. The impact smarted my hands, but other than that, the time tears were fine.

"You caught it," Errol said with relief. I nodded, and held it up for all to see. It's intricately designed bottle glinted in the light from the Tower.

"Ready to go back?" I asked. Everyone nodded.

"I wish to go back to Elexhiia," we said in unison. And suddenly she stood before us. I passed her the tears.

"Great," she said, accepting the tears.

"Your next destination is..."

*********************************************************************

@ L: I was wondering if you wanted to pick where we went next, since True and I both have picked the last places. 

I'm going to let True write the next piece. Also, keep this thread going, cause my internet is going down starting tomorrow evening for a week, so don't let this die!

Sorry, True! I've been busy. Plus my internet went down, and I fractured my nose! So those are my whiny excuses. Anyway (my history nerdiness can come in handy), though everything I say may not be right, this is what I've heard. The Library of Alexandria was a grand library in Alexandria, Egypt. Its exact layout is unknown, but there are theories on how it looked, including a reading room, gardens, and of course, scrolls to fill the library aspect. It was thought that it was burned, though this method of destruction is debated. Try looking on Wikipedia, though don't necessarily trust Wikipedia since anyone can write on it, so all its facts may not necessarily be true. But anyway, there's a start, and we'll just imagine the rest! But you're right. If it was burned, it doesn't exist. We need this to be as historically acurate as possible, though if this is all in the future, we can imagine that the library was discovered to be buried or something, not burned. I dunno. I'll wait to hear from you or L for your thoughts. 

But anyways, how rude of me. WELCOME BACK!!!!!! How was Japan? Did you enjoy yourself? What did you see? (ah! too many questions with too many answers! Sorry, I just like to learn and hear about places I haven't been!)

Cappie says emai. No Cappie, I don't email.

Yes, I'm fine! Thanks! I smashed face first into my boogieboard while on vacation. But it didn't hurt too bad. Plus I was surrounded by a bunch of good-looking lifeguards, so it wasn't too bad! ;) Just kidding, but it really didn't hurt too bad, and it doesn't now. I just have to be careful not to touch my face.

Ugh, I've never had jetlag, but it sounds awful! Hopefully your body will adjust to the time change. Coffee. Coffee's always the answer. Drink a cup of caffeine, like coffee, at night, so you don't go to bed quite as early. Hopefully that'll help you get a little better on track!

That sounds so cool! Japan sounds like an interesting place to visit. I've never been close enough to a deer that it could eat your shirt! Talk about an up close encounter! Maybe they'll be some of the places I visit when I win the lottery! (Note I don't say if, I'm convinced I will some day!)

Yeah, I'm waiting for L too. And thankfully it doesn't have to be! And yes, I did see that part in the "Chirps from the Chatterbox" too! That was so cool to read it in the magazine! Thanks again, Admins!

You're welcome. We're sharing the fun of Chatterbox with more Cricket readers. Thank you for your contributions.

Admin

I'll go ahead and write, since it sounds like Tovah isn't coming back for awhile, and I'm not sure where L is. Also, it just hit me that one of Tovah's posts had Elexhiia teleport somewhere else. But you can't do that unless you recently drank time tears. I guess we'll just work around that. (I am soley imagining the following descriptions, etc.)

Dehlia ~

I blinked my eyes open, and coughed slightly. We stood in a massive chamber, on a connecting bridge, lined with tile and marble. Railing of gold and pearl lined either side. Other bridges linked the two sides of the room, evenly spaced apart. The continued on different levels, down five or six floors. The whole chamber was built openly, but was divided by Greek pillars and bookcases filled with leather-bound books and scrolls. Hazy sunlight filtered in. I squinted harder at the window, and realized it was blocked by sand. Dust floated lazily in the air, causing my eyes to water. Everything was silent, dust, and dirt covered. Yet it was still amazing. Absolutely beautiful. The architecture was amazing. Fountains were positioned everywhere, and mosaics decorated the walls. The ceiling, evidenlty once a pristine white, was large and domed, with a chandelier with enough candle holders to illuminate the entire room.

"So, let's start looking," said Felix. "Fountains, bookshelves, secret nooks, anywhere that could hide a small, glass bottle."

We split up, and started looking. I was often set into sneezing fits, and felt completely overwhelmed. Buckingham Palace, the Russian Capitol Building, the Eiffel Tower, we had an idea where the tears would be kept, the most secure, logical place. But here? It seemed as if no one had been here for years. It was a library, how were we supposed to find a small glass bottle?