“Anyone coming?”
Nadia looked behind us, first to the right, then to the left. “No. Are you sure we won’t be missed? We’re the only students here.”
Lucas shook his head. “We just have to make sure we’re back I don’t think they’ll worry so long as we keep out of trouble.”
Technically, we weren’t doing anything wrong – this time. We were just sneaking out for the thrill of it; any sentries patrolling would probably wonder why we were creeping out of a window instead of just using the door. It was the not getting caught part that thrilled us.
Matti eased the window open. “Ladies first.”
After Nadia and I slipped through, Matti and Lucas followed us, Lucas shutting the window behind him.
“Feels weird to be doing this during the day,” he said.
Luckily for us, the west side of the Academy faces the forest on the grounds. We crept into the trees, then started running. We knew the forest like the backs of our hands, and there was no chance of us getting lost.
That didn’t mean we could get careless. During term-time, there was always at least one sentry patrolling the forest; avoiding them was half the fun. There might be one around now.
“What’s the plan, Luke?” Matti asked.
“Don’t know,” was the casual answer. “I didn’t really have a plan. But then, we never really do, so…”
Suddenly a pale light appeared in the distance.
All of us froze.
“That’s Silver magic,” Nadia breathed.
There were three types of fae: Dawn, Silver and Shadow. They mostly coexisted with each other, but there had been tensions between the Silverfae and the Shadowfae for the past few years.
“It looks really strong, too.” Small flames appeared on Mathias’s hands.
“Should we find a sentry?” Nadia’s voice was trembling.
We probably should, but the light was like a magnet. It drew us forward until we found the source.
A tall archway stood in the middle of the forest. A path of fallen flower petals led up to it, and through the archway was a shimmering world. Purple and silver flowers wound their way up the arch itself, and the candles perching on the small ledges shone like tiny suns.
“That…that’s not right,” Lucas said. “The shield is supposed to weaken fae magic. Opening a gate here would take a lot of power and energy, and whoever cast the spell would have to know that.”
But why would a fae want to open a gate to Elemental Academy?
The answer came a moment later.
A piercing cry of pain echoed through the arch. We looked at each other sharply, then without speaking rushed into the Silverlands.
“How long have we got before that gate closes?” Matti asked. “I know it hasn’t been open long, but the shield…”
“Yeah, we know.” I kept my voice low. Where had that cry come from?
Our feet trod on ice-green grass as we moved through the trees. The bark seemed to shimmer in the pale sunlight; every time my gaze strayed towards them, I had to force myself not to get distracted.
There was a flash of purple and a figure came flying towards us. He hit the ground and rolled to a stop, face contorted with pain.
Four tall Shadowfae stalked towards him, magic dripping from their fingers. Their leader wore a dark, sweeping cloak that kissed the silvery grass. The expression on his face was one of deep loathing and rage.
“Restrain him,” he commanded.
Just then, the hem of his cloak caught fire. He shouted and tossed it off his shoulders, sending a blast of magic at the flames.
The fallen Silverfae scrambled to his feet. Without a glance at us, he ran as fast as he could. Before the Shadowfae could stop him, Lucas was sending gusts of wind at them, and Nadia was levitating chunks of earth and stone and pelting the fae with her missiles.
I looked around frantically but couldn’t see any streams or rivers. I wasn’t powerful enough to condense it out of thin air and there wasn’t even a puddle around.
Lucas grabbed me by the elbow. “Let’s go.”
We ran for our lives. Outraged yells and footsteps pursued us, but we didn’t stop. We couldn’t, not even we sensed magic stirring behind us. A purple blast shot right past Nadia’s shoulder. She screamed.
One of the fae barked a command. I didn’t understand it, but that didn’t matter. The gate was just ahead of us.
“It’s wavering!” Matti cried. “Come on!”
Just as the gate began to blur even further, we hurled ourselves through it and collapsed on the cold forest earth. The gate flickered once more and was gone.
The only sound was our gasps for breath.
To be continued…