Lina had found Mrs. Murdo, Poppy. Dr. Hester, and Torren standing by a bench, almost as though they were waiting for her to find them. Lina had immediately took Poppy's hand in her own and asked, "Are you alright? You're not scared, or anything, are you?"

Poppy gave her a quizzical glance. "About bandits? I'm eight years-old, they don't scare me!"

Torren gave a small scoff and Lina saw him roll his eyes. She cast him a glare and then turned back to Poppy and smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're not scared. You're probably braver then most people here." Poppy beamed at the compliment.

"Brave or not, we still need to listen to the town leaders and return to our homes," Mrs. Murdo chimed into to their conversation. She clutched the bag holding her items she had purchased against her side, and started off in a brisk pace back towards their house. Dr. Hester followed her, checking her bag to make sure she hadn't forgotten any items of her own, and occasionally looking behind her, as though she were making sure bandits weren't following her.

"I bet this is all just a big ruse," Torren told Lina as they walked. "I remember this Cordy Booth - well, sort of - but I'm sure he just made up this whole story so he could scare people and get some attention."

Lina listened to him ramble a bit more about how some people are just attention hoggers (Kind of like you, Lina speculated) until he had stopped talking long enough for her tell him her own suspicions.

"I agree with you that the story seems kind of unbelievable, but the question is - what if he's telling the truth? I mean, he might have a bad reputation for lying, but that doesn't mean he never tells the truth. But either way, I agree with Mary about being prepared, just in case. We don't want a repeat of the town of Shiloh." Lina could hear Penny's words echoing in her head, They completely destroyed the town, by the way, and shivered despite the warm temperature that morning.

To keep her mind off of the looming dangers that could possibly await Sparks, she decided to remind herself of how she had managed all of the other bad situations the town had been through. Of course, there was the Emberites first winter, and how almost everyone had starved until they discovered a way to bring food back from Ember. Then the summer following that, a patch of dry grass had somehow caught on fire and burnt down three houses. No one had been hurt - thankfully - and the rest of the town pitched in right away to build new homes for these families, despite the searing heat. Then just about a year and a half ago, a disease had broken out among the town, and many had suffered from it, including Lina herself. She remembered how it had been, lying on the window seat in the doctor's living room for almost five days straight, with a burning throat, pounding headache, and loss of the ability to keep food in her stomach. According to the doctor, she had only a minor variation of the disease, though it felt much worse in the time being. Looking back at it now, she realized she really had been lucky to have only the 'minor variation,' for other townsfolk had died from the full disease. That hardship had probably taken the hardest toll on most of the town, but they still managed to rid the disease in the end, by looking up medicine formulas in one of the books at the Ark, and finding a cure.

Although some of these memories were sad and reminded Lina of all of Sparks' hard times, they still gave her hope. Her city had prevailed against all the dangers and trials they had faced, and she was certain they could do it again.

·······

The next morning at breakfast, Lina was startled to hear a knock at the door. Mrs. Murdo and Dr. Hester looked up from their breakfasts, and exchanged uneasy glances. "Everyone's supposed to stay in their homes..." Mrs. Murdo started saying.

"And only leave for an extreme necessity," finished Lina, wiping her mouth with her napkin. "Whoever it is probably got hurt and needs your help, doctor," said Lina as she crossed the room and opened the door. She didn't know who she was expecting it to be, but she definitely wasn't expecting it to be Doon.

"Doon?" she questioned.

"Yes, that is my name. Why do you look so surprised?" he asked smiling, as he walked past Lina and let himself into her house.

Lina suddenly felt concerned. Doon wouldn't have come to the doctors unless it was some emergency.

"Are you alright?" Lina asked frettfully, closing the door.

Doon frowned. "Of course I'm all right."

"Are you sick?" asked Lina.

"No."

"Hurt?"

"No."

In danger?"

"No - and why would I come to the doctor's if I was in danger?"

Lina ignored his question. "Then why are you here?" she asked exasperatedly.

"To come talk to you," he responded simply. Lina didn't even try to hide her confused and shocked expression. Didn't he know that he was disobeying the town leader's orders?

Mrs. Murdo, who had been watching them from the kitchen, came into the room, a frown upon her face. "Doon, we have no objection to you coming and visiting us, but shouldn't you be at your home, with your father? You didn't leave him all alone, did you?" she asked, more concern lacing her voice. Lina and Doon, and pretty much the whole town, for that matter, knew the special relationship between Mrs. Murdo and Doon's father. Although the two would never admit it, both Lina and Doon knew they cared about each other deeply, and would be heartbroken if anything happened to the other.

Doon gave Mrs. Murdo a small, assuring smile. "Of course not! He is with all the other inhabitants at the Pioneer Hotel, completely safe from bandits or anything else."

"Well, that's...reassuring to hear," replied Mrs. Murdo, relief evident on her face. She then quickly changed her countenance to a more stern, reprimanding one as she looked up at Doon. "But it was quite foolish of you to come out here all by yourself, especially with the possibility of bandits attacking. Didn't you hear anything Mary, Wilmer, and Ben said yesterday, about staying inside until further notice?"

Doon nodded his head. "Yes, I did hear them," he answered in a polite, respectful voice. Then he cleared his throat and took a deep breath, a sign Lina recognized as a symbol that he was about to give some sort of a speech or lecture. "But if I may add, I know the leaders told us to all 'stay inside' so we would be 'safe,' but I think we would be better off if we were trying to figure out a solution as a whole town, not just leaving it up to the town leaders to decide. We might as well just be sitting ducks, waiting to be captured by bandits or whatever else there is out there. That's why I disobeyed, and I think that if we could talk to others and the town leaders, we could come up with a foolproof plan that could rid us the prospect of having to fight the bandits, and we could spare Sparks the danger of being massacred like Shiloh."

The doctor was now standing next to Mrs. Murdo, listening to Doon's speech as well. "In my personal opinion, I think that Cordy Booth was telling the truth, and he had a very obscure way of telling it. Since he was apparently such an avid liar, I think that after a while people started to disregard everything he said, thinking it was just a lie, even though it may have been the truth. So he had to come up with a way to get people listening to him again. My bet is that instead of using adjectives to describe normal, everyday things, he started using obscure words to describe details or someone's appearance. That way, people would remember what he said and put some thought into his words, and ultimately, they would pay attention to him again. And after a while, I think it became a habit for him, to describe things using vague words that seem to have no meaning. So when he tried to explain the appearance of the bandit leader, out of habit he described him using the technique he had been using the past few months or however long he was using it. There has to be some meaning behind the terms 'clear, cloudy eyes,' 'blue hair', and a 'wolf on his back,' and I think it's up to us to figure the meaning out. And if we do, we can help stop this attack, and possibly save people's lives." Doon paused and took a breath, then turned to look at Lina.

"I know you think this is probably really crazy sounding and far-fetched, but you've got to hear me out. I know we can figure this out if we think hard enough." There was a long silence. Doon's eyes pleaded at her, asking that she would believe him. It was obvious to Lina that he had put much, much, much, thought into this theory of his, and the look in eyes made it hard for her to try to disagree. There were a few holes in Doon's theory, but she agreed with him that they couldn't just sit still and wait for the bandits to attack; they had to take action.

Lina nodded, not taking her eyes off his. "You're right," she said simply. Mrs. Murdo suddenly seemed to finally absorb what Doon had just said and what Lina had just told him in reply.

"Wait one minute," Mrs. Murdo held up her hands, as though she was about to break up a fight "Doon, that is an interesting theory, but what do you possibly plan to do about it? As much as I want to help stop these bandits from coming to Sparks, I don't think brainstorming about the 'hidden depth' of Booth's words will stop anything."

Doon nodded, looking eager that they at least somewhat believed his theory. "I thought about that, and I think it actually will help. If we can determine the real appearance of the bandit leader, we would already have an advantage. We would know what he looks like, and then spread the word to other towns, so we can all be alert."

Doctor Hester cleared her throat and spoke for the first time since Doon arrived that morning. "Pardon me for interrupting, but bandits don't normally just waltz into a town. They raid it, normally in the middle of the night."

"That's true," Mrs. Murdo remarked. Doon didn't say anything, for just then there came a sound from the loft and Poppy ambled downstairs. "Doon!" she exclaimed happily, and rushed over to hug him. Doon gave her a faint smile. Poppy looked around to see the four adults standing in silence, and then she seemed to realize she had interrupted an important conversation. "What were you talking about?" she then asked. "You weren't talking about me, where you?"

Lina gave a small laugh. "Of course not, we were just...talking." They stood awkwardly for a few seconds, not knowing whether to tell Poppy about Doon's theory/possible plan. Poppy gave a slow nod, realizing that whatever it was, they weren't going to explain it to her. "I'm going to go back upstairs for a second," said Poppy suddenly. Lina knew Poppy really didn't need to go upstairs; she was only leaving so they could finish their conversation. She gave her little sister's hand a grateful squeeze, and then released her as she bounded off out of earshot.

"Maybe we should go outside to finish talking, before we accidentally wake Torren up too," suggested Lina, already feeling slightly guilty for brushing Poppy off like that as quick as she did.

"But we were told by the leaders-" Mrs. Murdo started, but was cut off by Doon.

"Like the doctor said, bandits normally attack at night, so there shouldn't be any danger in the daytime, and in the morning much less." He gave her an innocent, pleading look, and soon Mrs. Murdo complied.

"Alright Doon," Lina said, taking control of the conversation once they were outside on the porch. "Tell us the rest of your plan." Then for the next ten minutes, Doon explained his plan of how they could be better prepared. His plan was to have a person stationed on top of the Pioneer hotel and the Town Hall with telescopes or binoculars - since they could see the whole town from that elevation, - and to keep a look out for bandits. Then while they were on lookout, other people would set traps along the paths leading to Sparks, so that if the bandits came by, they would trigger the traps and alert the lookout, who could then alert the rest of the town. Of course, Doon had presented his plan with much enthusiasm and gusto, making it seem as though it was the perfect solution to all their problems. But Lina saw through his little charade. It was a very simple plan in reality, and she wasn't sure if it would really work or not, but she figured they could give it a try.

By the time he was done talking, Doctor Hester nodded her head, clearly convinced that it would work. Mrs. Murdo was a little more hesitant, and had stated, "it seems like a good plan, although there's only about a fifty percent chance of it working. It depends on how the bandits enter the town, and if they fall for the traps you want to set, and if lookout could even spot them," but agreed in the end by saying it was better than doing nothing.

"Great!" exclaimed Doon. Lina noticed something strange about the way he was acting. He was being almost over-dramatic about the whole situation, and was not like his normal, calm self. "I'll go present my idea to the town leaders and let them take over from there," he informed them.

Mrs. Murdo gave him a genuine smile. "You know, this is the first sensible plan you've ever had, Doon," she told him as joke, but Lina knew that there was much truth hidden in that comment. Doon gave a smile back and then turned to Lina. "Will you come with me? It's always safer in numbers, you know."

Lina agreed, not because she wanted to go and see Mary, Ben, and Wilmer, but because she wanted to figure out was Doon was really planning to do. She knew that his plan was not going to be 'safe' and 'sensible'.

Only a few minutes later the two headed off towards the Town Hall. As soon as they were out of earshot of the doctor's house, Lina stopped walking and turned to face him. "Okay, you can cut the act with me. What's your real plan?"

Doon gave her a real smile, unlike the ones he had flashed back at the house. "You know me too well," he remarked as he stared at her, his gaze holding hers a lot longer than most peoples' would. After a few seconds Lina looked down, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. "Please tell me. What do you really plan to do?"

Doon continued walking towards the town hall. "Well, I fully intend to do what I said I would do back at your house. I wasn't lying."

"But that plan you just told us has so many...holes! Anything could go wrong! I thought you were going to actually do something to help the town, like you said you would."

"I am," Doon replied calmly, as though they were discussing the weather.

"How?" Lina asked, starting to feel frustrated. Doon stopped to look at her, a slow smile growing on his lips. "Well, if you really want to know..." he drew out the sentence.

"Yes!" Lina cried, exasperated.

"Okay, you win. Back at the house, I might've left out a small, tiny, minuscule, part of my plan."

"And what would that be?"

Doon's eyes suddenly seemed to light up, and Lina recognized him once again as her adventurous, headstrong partner she had escaped Ember with. "The thing is...I have two plans, and the one I told you about back there? That was just the first."

Authors Note:

Sorry for the cliffhanger!(in the next chapter plan # 2 will be explained) and I just wanted to thank you guys for your encouraging reviews, and also to apologize once again for taking so long to upload. I also wanted to tell you that I'm going to be on a 10 day long trip in Canada, so I won't be able to update until I get back, but I promise the next chapter will be interesting! :D