Hi, I am so sorry for not updating it earlier. I know it's not a good excuse, but I've been really busy... Anyway. Please don't ditch me and continue reading the story and vote and comment! Please! I'm still dedicating the chapters to my loyal readers, so please vote and comment to identify yourselves to me! :D Picture of Dahlia, Troy and a monster on the side! :)
Chapter 11
Dahlia screamed, shielding her face from the glass that shattered everywhere when the house exploded. Stinging pieces of shrapnel cut her arms as she tried to move towards the broken window. Forcing her eyes open, she saw fires blooming all over what remained of the floor. Part of the floor, including the part that had held Raven’s bed, had caved in, sending all the debris to the floor below.
The smoke blossomed everywhere, forcing her to shut her eyelids as a small defence to the billowing fumes. Stumbling backwards, the floor gave way, making her gasp and inhale a lungful of poisonous gas. Coughing badly, she covered her mouth with one hand.
“Dahlia!” Troy yelled. “Raven! Where are you guys?”
His words ended in a cough as he too, breathed in the poisonous fumes. Trying not to breathe in for her lungs were burning, Dahlia concentrated on the sound of his voice. He sounded like he was quite close to Raven’s bedroom window.
“Here!” she croaked, unfortunately using up all the oxygen in her lungs; she gasped for air and ended up coughing again.
Dahlia heard a thump downstairs and feet pounded up the staircase. Her sharp ears caught the swear words that a male voice uttered.
“Hey, Troy, Dahlia! I need your help!” Tamarak shouted. “I’ve got Raven’s mother!”
“Tam?” Dahlia and Troy cried in unison.
Dahlia lunged forward, but as she did, half the roof caved in, collapsing straight through the room and dividing it into three sections.
“DAHLIA!” Troy shouted.
Her foot slipped and she crashed into Raven who was rising slowly to her feet. Losing her balance, Raven toppled into the chasm.
“No!” Tamarak yelled this time.
The floor was in three parts. Troy stood next to the window but every time he tried to inch forward, the floor crumbled, causing a wide chasm almost too far to jump without a running start. Dahlia and Raven were on the longest part of the remaining floor. Raven was clinging to what remained of her cupboard and Dahlia was straining to reach her. Tamarak was carrying Mrs.Wings at the door on the third piece of floor.
“Mum!” Raven shouted.
Mrs,Wings had a long cut down the length of her scalp. Even in her situation of trying to save Raven, Dahlia could not see her chest moving.
“Get Raven, Troy!” Tamarak shouted as Raven’s hand slipped visibly.
Troy shook his head, swearing like a fiend. Dahlia noticed the problem; there were no shadows for him to shadow-travel in. Dahlia leaned further forward, but even as she did so, she noticed that Raven’s form was flickering.
Not like Yasmine’s though. Raven was shrinking.
“Oh, my gosh,” Tamarak said, staring at the girl. “What is her power?”
Even as they watched, Raven vanished out of sight, becoming something small, black and winged. Her wings lifted her effortlessly up and she twisted agilely to angle her small body away from the sparks that were going everywhere.
“It’s a raven,” Tamarak said.
As he spoke, a shrill scream sounded from the outside. At the same time, the floor board beneath Dahlia collapsed. She screamed and the air, charmed to do her bidding, caught her before she could fall more than an inch.
“Yasmine,” Tamarak said.
“Guys, do you want me to come in and grab you?” Troy shouted, coughing as he leaned out the glass window.
Dahlia blinked to clear the fumes from her eyes and she saw Troy coming towards her, stretching out his hand to pull her up.
“Go!” she yelled. “Save Yasmine! I can get up out of here!”
“How!” Troy demanded.
“GO!” she screeched, her voice cracking due to the smoke.
“NO!” Troy shouted, snatching for her hand.
“Go,” she said, calmly, evenly and even Raven recognized the sound of magic in her voice.
“No!” whispered Troy, his eyes misting over with tears; his heart breaking at the thought for he could not bear the thought of leaving her behind.
“Troy, I love you, but you have to go,” Dahlia whispered.
Knowing full well that if he stayed, he would never leave, Troy turned and jumped out the window. As Dahlia watched, tears starting in her blue eyes, the black bird followed him out.
His heart shattered at his cruel abandonment, Troy broke his fall with a somersault. Unfolding his legs, he stood up, already drawing his sword from his bag which he still had been carrying.
Yasmine lay face down in the snow with several long black spikes sticking out of her back. He darted forward but something swept his legs out from under him, knocking him flat on his back in the cold snow.
“Look out!” Raven yelled; she had changed back into her human form.
Troy rolled to the left and he felt someone yank on his arm. Another black spike impaled itself in the snow heap where he had been a second earlier.
Troy didn’t know anyone who could throw spikes with that much accuracy. He knew that Marina, a Magician of Water and Dahlia’s guardian, back at the Elementary, could handle daggers that well and that Tia of Varmer’s guard, could throw shruikans and knives. But spikes were another genre entirely.
The shadow morpher scrambled back to his feet. Glancing around, he noticed that Hunter was fighting some... creature.
It was another half-an-half, but this one looked more like Dr.Fang than Venus, Hunter’s pet monster. Actually, it was the monster which Tamarak and Yasmine had fought earlier.
Troy pulled his sword out of its sheath, but as he charged forward, the roof of the exploded outwards, sending debris and bricks everywhere.
“Dahlia!” Troy yelled, torn between saying her and helping Hunter.
As if Troy had summoned her with the intensity of his shout, she shot out of the gap where the roof had been. She looked like she was flying, but that was not one of her powers. But knowing Dahlia, nothing was impossible.
“Look out, Troy!” Raven repeated.
Troy swung around but he was too slow. Swinging his sword, he only managed to block the spike with the flat of his blade. Even so, the force of the spike knocked him down.
“Troy!” Dahlia shouted, even as his lips whispered her name, knowing that death was imminent.
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The Moon Diviner-Book 3
FantasyLuna Merlin and her friends have been living at the Elemental Academy for the past six months. She has always known that she is a little different from the others, but her past holds a mystery that she has kept a secret; it's about the prophecy whic...
