Saving the Soul Stone - The Elementum Academy Book One

Maps and Riddles - Part Two

Cyrus P.O.V.
      They looked at me, all completely confused. "What?"
      "We can't explain all of it, and to be totally honest, I don't know how to explain half of it. Just give us until the morning, okay?"
      They all looked at Celia and I wearily before nodding. "Okay. Well get a hotel room, and then we go to Bridger-Teton in the morning," Malachi said, and with that, Mia teleported us to a nearby hotel, and we got our rooms.
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      After everybody else was asleep, I flipped on the dim lamp and walked over to C's bed, where she had been reading a book with her night vision. Sitting down next to her, I leaned my head on her shoulder, tired. "Tomorrow is going to be hell."
      She chuckled. "Definitely. You need sleep. Go to bed."
      "I'm not tired."
      "Do I need to pull the big sister power card?"
      I rolled my eyes. "No. We need to talk about tomorrow before we go to bed, though."
      I felt her sigh. "So what's our story?"
      I heard the smirk in her voice, and I sat up, matching it. "So we grew up nearby and saw someone going out of the village while we were in the woods."
      "We confronted them, and eventually they brought us in. We made friends with a lot of the people, and were allowed constant access."
      "And what if they figure out we're lying?" I asked, concerned.
      "Then we'll tell the truth. But for now, we need to try and keep this all quiet."
      I nodded. I stayed silent for a few minutes, thinking, before I finally turned to her again. "I guess we're going to have a family reunion."
      She furrowed her brow. "Why do you say that?"
      "Really?" I chuckled. "Isn't it obvious? Queen of souls? Leaders cloaks? We all know mom and dad are the leaders, they must've gone home, and Willow has the queen of souls literally inside of her."
      "Oh..."
      "Yeah, now goodnight."
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      Waking up the next morning, we explained our made up story and teleported to Bridger-Teton National Forest. We knew it wasn't safe to go straight to the entrance, so we walked around for a while, going around in practical circles, until we finally got everyone else lost and knew we were safe. Then we walked for a while, stopping at a thicket of trees. "This it?" Pierce asked.
      "Almost." We pushed aside the trees and allowed them to walk through to a stream of water. We walked over and knelt down on the bank, putting our hands on the top of the water, and as soon as they touched, the force field appeared.
      "Take our hands," Celia told the others. "You can't go through without us."
      They took our hands, and we walked through. What appeared to be the continuation of a forest suddenly turned into a small village, and I smiled, seeing familiar surroundings.
      "Where are we?" Eero asked, shocked.
      "Wispy Creek," Celia and I said at the same time, causing us to chuckle.
      Mia stepped us now. "So where are we going? The project talked about a council where the leaders would have the keys, and the queen of souls. Any idea who either of those are?"
      I turned. Where to first?
      Home. We need to see Willow at the house before we see mom and dad. If she's there, we might be able to keep this a secret longer, maybe even completely.
      I'm going to ignore all the logic in that and say you just wanna see Willow first.
      She rolled her eyes. "Screw you."
      I laughed before turning back to the really confused group of people behind me. "We know what all of it means, except what the keys are. We're going to see the queen of souls first."
      "And who is that?"
      I grinned, looking at my sister. "You'll see."
      They accepted that answer and followed us as we navigated through the many dirt streets with expertise, until we got to a large, out of the way, wooden, yellow, Victorian Era house. As we walked up to the door, I linked C. You link her the details, I'll talk.
      Okay.
      Knocking on the door, there was no answer. After a minute, I sighed and pulled out the key from the box attached to the bottom of the porch swing. Walking in, I looked around. I knew she was here. "Willow!" I yelled, taking a few steps up the stairs.
      After a second, an extremely pale girl about an inch taller than Celia and I came into view. Her (literally) glowing  blue eyes and (literally) blue flaming hair that dimmed down to just solid blue waves when she was tired or sleeping caught that others off guard, but we were used to it. We grew up with her right by our side.
      Seeing us, a grin grew over her face. "Cel! Cy!" She sprinted down the stairs and jumped straight onto Celia, me having to use a gust of wind to keep her from falling backwards. After a minute of the two hugging, and probably Celia doing a quick mental explanation of what was happening, she walked over and embraced me in a long hug.
      When we finally pulled apart, all three of us were grinning from ear to ear, and we probably looked pretty stupid, but we didn't care. I turned to the others to make proper introductions. "Guys, this is Willow Rivers. Willow, these are Malachi Kosin and Mia Faye, two of the teachers at school, Pierce Kopano, one of our classmates and friends, and Eero, our protectour."
      "If I may cut in, no offense meant, but can we have an explanation about... this?" Malachi asked, waving his hands at Willow and her appearance."
      "None taken," she said. "I'm used to it. Long story short, there was a time back when I was a newborn when the will o' the wisps were running out of essence because their queen was dying. I was dying, too, and the queen found me and placed herself and her essence inside me."
      "Wait. Aren't will o' the wisps the souls of lost people?" Pierce asked.
      "Among many other things, yes."
      He gasped. "Queen of the souls! It makes sense!"
      Celia and I laughed. "Yeah. We'll go to the council soon, but for now, we're going to have breakfast. Cause it's eight in the morning, I've been up for two hours now, and I still haven't had my yogurt." I said.
      Everyone nodded in agreement, and with that, we hooked arms with our guardian, and walked into the kitchen.

Hey guys! How do you like Willow? What do you think the council is going to be? Where do you think the keys will lead them? Tell me in the comments. See you soon!