Elementals: Entwined

Chapter 20: Amy

"Must I deal with this airhead?"

Uri and I glanced up from the sofa in my room, where we had spent the last half an hour poring over blueprints of Weatherstone. Sneaking Tiffany out was going to take something close to a miracle - had we been in a normal school, a task like this would have been easy: West could have cast an illusion of my best friend that was so convincing nobody would have thought twice.

 Of course, things were different at Weatherstone. House of fire elementals were capable of seeing through illusions, which meant that West's trick would fail for at least a quarter of the school. It was because of that that we were now stuck with the age old method of just plain sneaking Tiffany out - something that had already caused us several hours of stress. The look Uri gave Diana could have melted steel. "What now, Di?"

 Diana dropped down onto my bed. The scowl that had been on her face the last few days was starting to feel permanent as she reminisced over whatever Shelby had done this time. "The popular crowd are such idiots! Stupid Shelby didn't even know the pipe system and she's a bloody child of Aqua. You'd think she knew basic information about the school's water supply, but no..."

 Uri and I rolled our eyes at one another, automatically tuning it out. Diana getting easily pissed off over the last few days was not uncommon - unsurprising given that Tori and her minions had alienated Diana for having a breakdown a few years ago. Since then they'd made it a habit to mock her for it whenever possible.

 The fact that Diana had been made to work with those people had been the last straw, even if technically none of them had really been involved. Diana detested anyone affiliated with Toni with a passion, and it was one of the few things capable of breaking through her usual ice queen exterior. Diana was renowned for seeming so emotionless at times that people had started making Elsa jokes - unsurprising when both had pale blonde hair and behaved similarly.

 Not that you would have believed that right then. "I'm saying it now: I cannot work with them a moment longer. They drive me crazy!"

 Uri sighed, planting his face in his hands for having to deal with her again. "Bozhe moy," he groaned. "Can you not just deal with her for a few more hours? You two need to fully know the system. If we take a wrong path we could end up anywhere."

 He wasn't lying. The main reason we'd had to steal the blueprints was because of the school's contingency plan. Every Elemental school came with an emergency system, a back-up exit for the worst-case scenario in which the safety of the school was compromised. In preparation for the event that this somehow happened, a series of tunnels had been built beneath the school. As Mythos students, we'd been given the privilege of being made aware of the system's existence.

 The teachers weren't stupid, though. If students had known of where in the school the tunnels were located, or knew how to access them, it would have been pandemonium. People would have snuck out just to go partying in the nearest town, leaving the school vulnerable to whomever found the way in. Because even we had no idea where the entrance to the tunnels were, Diana, Martin and Shelby had spent the last few days using their abilities to try and work out the locations.

 I wasn't entirely sure it was worth it: Diana had been in a rotten mood, Uri was on the verge of mental breakdown, and the rest of us actually leaving tomorrow were barely speaking to one another. Since the woods, Tiffany had been extremely paranoid around West, which had made lessons with them stressful.

 Quite frankly, I was surprised nobody had had a mental breakdown.

 "What have you worked out about the tunnels?" Uri asked now, rubbing his left eye. I knew the green contact lens he had to wear was bothering him, the same way I didn't like having to wear brown contact lenses. If anything, it was weird for me to see Uri looking so.... normal.