“I don’t have time to explain!” I shout over the noise, hands still clamped over my ears. “But those guys want to kill me!”
The pretty girl’s brown eyes widen with shock before she composes herself. “Okay. We’ll hide in the hall.”
Before we can move, the door bursts open and three men rush in, their mouths stretched into wide grins.
“Remember us?” one hisses, twisting his hand around in a circle as a royal purple ball forms around it.
It’s the voice of the guy last year who wanted me dead after my exam just because I’m a commoner. He destroyed most of my possessions and threatened to kill me because commoners don’t deserve to pass in his eyes.
With a gulp, I nod mutely and the three men roar in laughter.
“Time to show you what we’re made of.” Another one darts forward and grabs me by the throat.
My throat starts to freeze over, and a thin layer of frost spreads over my whole body. My breath comes out in icy puffs, and in my peripheral vision I can see Aqueous being dragged outside by a purple dragon.
“Get away!” Ariel’s panicked scream hits my ears as one of the other men approaches her, sparks of electricity flying from his hands.
“Leave her alone, it’s me you want!” I shout.
The man holding me crushes my wrist with his other hand. “Don’t tell us what to do, bitch.”
Ariel screeches at the top of her lungs and seizes where she stands as the man electrocutes her, laughing maniacally the whole time. The man drops his hands and Ariel crumples to the floor, frothing at the mouth, but alive. Taking a deep breath, I raise one hand towards the man and feel icy-cold water flow from my elbows.
“What’s she doing?” the third man cries out from behind me.
I fire at the man who electrocuted Ariel, smothering his face in a veil of water.
“Stop!” The first man releases his grip on my throat, but I don’t stop drowning his comrade.
He frantically whacks at the water strangling him, but it reappears. After a few more seconds I release him, and his eyes roll back into his head as he falls face first onto the floor.
“Jason!” The two men go to their fallen friend.
I rush to Ariel and help her up. We take only two steps towards the door before the purple dragon from earlier thunders in, roaring. Tears form in its eyes as it stares at its companion’s fallen body.
“You killed him!”
I killed him.
My head spins at the sight of the man crumpled on the floor, lifeless. The world starts to spin and Ariel has to steady me. The purple dragon turns its fiery gaze on me, its lips pulled back in a snarl. My companion rams it from behind and Galaxy quickly pins it down, her deep blue eyes steely. Aqueous flicks his head behind him, pointing towards the forest.
Needing no more encouragement, Ariel and I flee into the wilderness. All I can think about is the lifeless body of Jason, and the grief in his partner’s eyes.
I killed someone. I’m a criminal.
* * *
Ariel and I run for what feels like hours until we collapse beside a small stream, panting heavily and draping ourselves across the grassy undergrowth. Our companions aren’t far behind, thudding after us a few seconds after we stop. Aqueous looks at me with wide, concerned eyes, but I can’t return his gaze.
I killed someone. Bile rises in my throat and I can’t hold it in as a stream of vomit erupts from my throat. My companion noses my cheek once I’m finished, his breath warm on my aching throat. I curl into his neck, sobbing softly, the image of Jason’s lifeless eyes staring at me every time I close my eyes.
“What do we do now?” Ariel coughs at the effort of talking after our run. “You can’t go back. I’m pretty sure we’re not on camp grounds anymore.”
“But we have to be, we didn’t come across a wall,” I sniff.
“I’m not convinced that this ‘wall’ even stretches around the entire camp,” Ariel confesses, glancing at the stream beside us. “What if it was all a ruse? To keep us in?”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that maybe students have escaped but the camp pretends they haven’t.”
“I… I find that hard to believe.”
“For years we’ve been told not to question anything,” Ariel throws her hands up in the air in frustration. “I mean, we thought that elements had been around forever, but that Draca thing told you otherwise, yeah?”
“Yeah? So?”
“So, what if they’ve been lying to us about other stuff? Like the camp being impenetrable?”
I have to admit, she is making sense. We’ve been lied to before; we could be lied to again. When we were running we never saw any sign of a wall in the forest. Over the trees I can see it stretch around the camp, but once it hits the forest it stops. Maybe that’s how the Wyrms are getting in.
“Okay, so say we have left camp, what do we do now?”
She shrugs and slumps over in defeat. “I dunno.”
“Plus, we left the others behind. They’ll be wondering what the hell is going on.”
“You’re right.” She casts an anxious glance at the direction we came in. “You can’t go back, but I can.”
Galaxy grunts in agreement and puffs her orange chest out.
“You want to go?”
“Yeah, technically I did nothing wrong,” the girl cringes as I urge once more. “I’m sorry, Hazel, I have a life back there; I have to go back. I’m sure you’ll be fine on your own.”
Another sob wracks my chest as she mounts her companion, looking at me pitifully.
“Please don’t leave me on my own,” I beg.
“I’m sorry, I really am. I won’t tell the others what happened; I don’t want them coming after you. Especially not Braith.”
Galaxy reluctantly stretches out her wings, unable to meet my and Aqueous’ gazes.
“Please.”
“I’m sorry.” With that, Galaxy and Ariel launch into the air and soar in the direction we came in, both casting regretful glances back before disappearing from my vision behind a group of tall trees.
Collapsing to the floor, I sob uncontrollably at being left in the wilderness with my companion. No food, no water, no shelter; we won’t last long. My companion nudges me softly and growls in my ear, but he is scared too. After a few minutes of feeling sorry for myself I rise to my feet and wipe the tears away with my arm.
“Come on, we can’t stay here,” I murmur. “There has to be somewhere we can go.”
Nodding slowly, my companion nuzzles my hand lovingly as we walk further into the unknown forest, unsure of our next move.
15
Chapter Fifteen
Marco anxiously taps the table with his finger and glances out the window. Night has fallen quickly due to the short winter days, and Hazel has yet to return from dragon training. Inwardly, he curses himself for being so clingy; she’s probably just hanging out with Violet.
“Come on, Drea. Let’s go out and get something to eat.”
His companion rises to her feet and yawns widely before following him out. They ignore the shattered door behind them; Ariel said that she and Galaxy had tested the panic alarm and wanted to see how long the doors would last in the case of attack. He’d thought it was stupid, but hadn’t said anything. A few teachers had poked around as well, which he thought was odd. Why would they care if she tested the alarm?
Before he can reach the town, a shrill voice calls out to him: “Marco!”
Violet rushes towards him, her face bright red and covered in sweat. She skids to a halt before him, her chest heaving with each breath.
“Jesus, are you okay?”
“No…” She manages to get out between breaths. “Where’s… Hazel?”
“I haven’t seen her. I thought she was with you.”
The small girl’s grey eyes widen with fear. “Oh no…”
Dread fills his stomach. “Has something happened?”
Violet sniffs and
nods. “It was an accident. It was my fault but everyone blamed her.”
“What happened?” he asks more forcefully, his heart in his throat.
“One of the reporters grabbed me during training, and I set them on fire!” she sobs. “I didn’t mean to… But Mr Stirling shouted at Hazel and threw her into the air-”
“Is she okay?” he interrupts, horrendous images of his girlfriend falling to the ground filling his mind.
The girl breathes heavily between tears. “Aqueous caught her. But then some people went after her in the forest; they wanted to kill her.”
“Where did they land?”
“Around here, I think. I thought she’d go back home.”
It all clicks into place in his mind: the shattered door, the apparently out of the blue panic alarm test, Ariel acting strangely and letting the teachers take bin bags away from the entrance. everything.
She let the teachers poke around, to look for evidence probably.
“Come on, Ariel has been lying.”
“What do you mean?” He ignores her question as he storms back home, his hands clenching into fists.
Drea keeps up a steady pace beside him, her pink eyes narrowed and her lips pulled back in a snarl. Due to Marco and Hazel’s relationship, she’d grown fond of the quiet blonde girl.
Ariel and Galaxy are outside cleaning up the splinters of wood scattered outside the building. First she waves half-heartedly, only for fear to fill her gaze at Marco’s obvious anger. She stands her ground as he stops in front of her, ready to confront her.
“Where is she?” he snarls.
Ariel shifts uncomfortably and rubs the nape of her neck. “Who-”
“Don’t you dare!” he booms, embers of fire pouring from his mouth with each word. His throat starts to heat up and flames lick at the roof of his mouth.
She flinches, her bottom lip trembling. “Gone.”
“Where?”
“I’m not telling you; it’s best she goes. You’re lucky I told the teachers she took off instead of pointing them in her direction.”
“Where?” When his mouth opens, fire shoots out, making Ariel block it with a shield of earth.
Once the orange flames have died down, the shield crumbles. “She’s a murderer,” she hisses.
This makes him stop in his tracks. Hazel wouldn’t murder someone in cold blood; she was far too kind.
“No, I burned those men!” Violet cries.
“No, she killed one of the men that went after her. She’s a criminal.”
“Hazel wouldn’t,” he croaks.
“Hazel did,” she replies coldly. “And she left, saying that she hated us all.”
The bin bags. The body was in one of the bags, that’s why the teachers took them away.
Instantly Marco knew she was lying about Hazel’s parting words. He knew Hazel better than that. Every time he looked into her deep hazel eyes he could see genuine love for him, and she wouldn’t have spent so much time with him if she thought of him as nothing.
“Tell me where she went.”
“Into the forest somewhere.”
“Which direction?”
She points behind the building. “Over there somewhere.”
Suspicious, he looks at his companion, who opens her mouth to taste the air. Drea trots in the direction opposite to where Ariel pointed, and bends down to the ground, picking up a dull black scale. Knowing it must be Aqueous’, Marco rushes inside and down the hallway to his room. Throwing open his wardrobe, he digs out a few backpacks that he and Mason used to share. Picking the two largest ones, he begins to fill one with his clothes and toiletries when Ariel appears at his doorway, mouth open in shock. For a minute he ignores the girl, hoping that she’ll get the message and leave, but she continues to stand in his doorway, mouth agape.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going after her.”
“Why?”
“Because I love her. Is that not fucking obvious?”
“But…” Ariel looks around the room helplessly. “You have a life here.”
“A life I can do without.”
“But what about your future?”
He stops packing to look her in the eye. “She is my future.”
“But, I mean… No offence, but she isn’t anything special.”
“She is to me,” he snaps, making her flinch once more. “She’s always been there for me, and always will be. You may have convinced her that leaving would be the right thing to do for all of us, but I don’t.”
“But she can’t come back.”
“Then I’ll go wherever she goes.”
Ariel rolls her brown eyes and sighs irritably. “Don’t be so dramatic! You can find someone else. There are other girls beside Hazel, you know. She’s average-looking, average intelligence, and she’s a commoner. Don’t you want more than that? You never know what’s in front of you,” she replies wistfully, leaning on the doorframe and twirling her hair with her finger.
Now it’s his turn to roll his eyes. “Believe it or not, I’ve noticed your little crush on me, and it is not reciprocated.”
It’s true; he had noticed Ariel trying to get his attention, by flirting in the hallway, trying to feel his biceps and coming to his room often. Now he is especially glad that he hadn’t given a shit about her.
Ariel pouts and crosses her arms. “I think you’re stupid, throwing your life away like this.”
“Well, I’m glad I don’t give two shits about what you think,” he replies, picking up the backpacks and shouldering roughly past her. “Maybe Braith will.”
“At least Braith likes me back, and she’s actually attractive, unlike your sorry excuse for a girlfriend. Come on, think about it!” Ariel snorts, following him into Hazel’s room as he starts packing some of her clothes.
He doesn’t really know what to pack as he goes through her drawers, so he picks random items that he’s seen her wear often.
“Oh my God, you have no idea what you’re doing, do you? You can’t just wing something like this, Marco,” Ariel laughs from the hallway.
Once he’s finished he barges past Ariel and raids the kitchen, packing tins and packets of food with good best before dates. His heart starts to thump wildly at all the time he’s taking; if Hazel is on the move she could be miles away by now.
“What’s going on?” Braith’s voice hits his ears.
As he zips up both backpacks and throws them over his shoulders the others enter the room, looking confused by his packing.
“Hazel is a-” Ariel begins, but Marco cuts her off before she can go any further.
“Oh, can it, you bitch.”
Though surprised by his outburst, Mason’s gaze falls on the bags. “Are you leaving?”
“Yes. Ariel has driven Hazel away from the camp, and I’m going after her.”
“What?” Rocky’s gaze turns cold as his head snaps towards Ariel.
“She killed someone,” Ariel protests.
“I’m sure it’s nowhere near as bad as you’re making it out to be,” Marco growls. “Some guys decided to start a man hunt.”
For a second Rocky looks confused before realisation dawns on him. “Oh, shit.”
“Yes. So, I’m going to find her. She can’t come back here, so I’m going after her. You can come with me if you want.”
Marco is surprised to see Rocky hesitate. He is usually always the first to jump to Hazel’s aid, so why is he hesitating now?
“I… I can’t.”
“What?” Braith cries out. “But she’s your sister!”
“Ciara is pregnant.”
“So? It’s not yours!”
Rocky’s gaze drops to the floor, and realisation dawns on Marco. “You idiot. You said it wasn’t yours!”
“There’s a chance it could be. I’m one of three possible fathers.”
“Fuck me, she’s a whore,” Braith breathes.
“I can’t leave. If it’s mine, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myse
lf for leaving it without a father. My father left us, and I don’t want to leave an innocent child the same way. It’s not fair on the baby. Even if it’s not mine, I could step up if no-one else will. I have a responsibility to this child. Hazel has to come second, for once.”
“You and Hazel turned out all right,” Marco argues half-heartedly, but he can see that Rocky won’t change his mind.
“Tell her I’m sorry,” Rocky mutters, his eyes starting to get red and puffy from holding back tears.
Before Marco can say anything more, Rocky exits the room with his shoulders hunched over and his head drooped.
His heart aches at Rocky being so upset. He knew Rocky never liked him but he’s still Hazel’s brother. She’ll be crushed that he’s staying behind. Pushing the thought of her crying to the back of his mind, he concentrates on packing food.
“When are you leaving?” Braith asks.
“Now.”
“Can you wait ten minutes?”
“Why?”
“I’m coming with ya, of course!”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know, but I don’t like being here anymore. There’s a whole world out there, and I’m supposed to be stuck here for another year and a half? No way! Plus, I want to make sure Hazy is safe. She’s my friend; I wouldn’t be here with you guys if it wasn’t for her.”
“Fine, ten minutes only, okay?”
Braith jumps on the spot excitedly. “I’ll be back before ya know it!” she cries before dashing off.
Ariel looks flabbergasted at Braith leaving as well, and barges past Mason and Violet to chase after her. There is no way that she will be able to convince Braith to stay behind, Marco’s confident about that.
“Marco, don’t go,” Mason speaks up, rubbing his arm uncomfortably.
“I’ve got to.”
“There are other girls,” Mason mutters.
He replies: “Like I told Ariel: there may be other girls out there, but there’s only one Hazel Adams. I want to be with her.”
“But if you leave you can’t come back.”
Marco shrugs his shoulders. “I’m aware of that.”
His brother looks stung by his reply. “Won’t you miss your life here? Miss… me? I know that we aren’t on great terms but you’re my twin brother. I know I don’t show it often but I do love you.”
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