The Elementals: The Rise of the Deviants

Chapter 8

Chapter eight

“What the hell are you doing?” I mumbled grumpily.

I’d been staring out the window for who knows how long, seething at the fact that I’d made the wrong choice of Stinger hideouts to search in. Out of two hideouts I picked the wrong one and these wasted hours could be the difference between life and death with Val and Cara. I hadn’t noticed that Blake had started lazily steering the car from one lane to the other like it was some sort of joyous bike ride.

“I’m just trying to keep the boredom to a minimal, Matchstick. It’s nothing but straight roads and it’s boring!”

“We’re trying to find out where our friends are! I don’t give a damn if you’re bored, drive straight and we’ll get there faster!”

I was losing my patience. I knew everyone was tired and the long stretch of driving just seemed to wear everyone out. It’d been over a day’s drive already since the ghost town and we’d all tried to get some sleep and taken turns in driving the car out west. I had been so sure that the factory was the right place considering the Elementals we found there... but I was wrong. Now we had driven far enough that the sea of dry grass no longer swayed next to the road, and instead tall trees grew thickly on either side of us.

The dark clouds that had been hovering around lately had turned a dark, gloomy grey in the last few hours and the closer we drove to the next hideout the angrier they seemed to become. It turn, my mood just became surlier and my patience was quick to snap. I hated rain. Not just because I was Fire-abled but because it reminded me of Val and how I was failing her, how I have been failing her. I grumbled and sat lower in my seat leaning my head on the window to try and grab a bit more sleep.

However, sleep was impossible when all of a sudden the shadow zoomed straight towards the car and grew to completely engulf the car in blackness. Blake slammed his foot down on the brakes as we all cried out in shock and the car skidded and zigzagged across the road before finally coming to a halt. It was as though everything outside the car had disappeared and was quite simply, black. No road, no trees or grass, no sky or the angry clouds could be seen.

“Everyone okay?” I called out, I was greeted with breathless nods. “What the hell is going on?!”

“Chimera! Evanesce! What are you doing?” Helena called out a bit calmer than me, but her voice was shaking as she did.

“You remove yourselves from the car before I blow a hole in the middle of you!” I shouted angrily as fire crept up my clenched fists and forearms. I was ready to trap the girls in case they were becoming Malum’s puppets again and losing control over their consciousness. The shadow unravelled itself from the car and suddenly everything could be seen again, just like ripping a blindfold off. The shadow split once more to show the girls, which I learned is because they couldn’t speak while in shadow form, and the two girls stood on either side of the car.

“Malum’s hideout is close” Evanesce whispered next to the passenger side, her red and violet hair blowing with the gushing wind.

I frowned. “What? How do you know?” I demanded, my heart pumping so wildly with excitement and anxiousness it was almost painful.

Evanesce nodded down the road which had curved down a hill so we couldn’t see ahead of us. “Guards” Chimera whispered.

My eyes widened. It seemed as though the shadow girls really had been disappearing to fly ahead and check for potential danger, and I was suddenly thankful they were here because now we at least had some sort of forewarning. Lightning flashed across the sky and thunder soon grumbled afterwards yet no rain fell and it just added to the dangerous atmosphere. Winds picked up all around the car and the tall trees swayed back and forth. “How many are there?” I asked the shadow girls.