The Academy

In the Forest

I woke up to the smell of something cooking. It smelled really good. I couldn't tell what it was though. I looked around the tent and saw the Amanda and Abigail had already left. Tracy was on the other side of the tent still asleep. Her hair was a mess and she had a little drool trailing from her mouth. I got up rubbed my eyes and went outside the tent. All the boys except Alex were already up and busy with the camp. Xavier was cooking breakfast on a small stove. I went over to him to see what it was. Eggs and bacon. It smelled and looked so good. He looked up at me with a smile. "Good morning! You hungry?" "Extremely. What time is it?" "About 8:30." We would have woken up earlier but Tracy and Alex are still recovering so we let everyone sleep in." I raised my arms and stretched my back. I looked over to my left to see Austin gathering wood. Calum was tending to the fire. I just realized how chilly it was. Amanda and Abigail were sitting by the fire with jeans and sweaters on. I only had my sweatpants and short sleeve shirt on. I rubbed my arms waking over to Amanda. "Hey Amanda. Do you have a jacket or something I can borrow?" "Yeah girl I got you." She went back to our tent. There was any empty chair next to Abigail. I sat down and stared into the fire. The heat resonating off of it felt so good. Amanda came back out a few seconds later with a purple hoodie. "Here, this should keep you warm." "Thanks." We sat there for a few minutes in silence. The only sounds we could here were the fire crackling and the sound of food being cooked. I looked up and saw that the ice spike and sphere were still there . I got up and walked over to them. Half of the spike was red with blood from the Rahumin, and the one in the sphere looked terrified. I touched the spike. No sweat at all. I guess my ice really doesn't melt. I went back over to my chair and sat down. Austin walked over with a bundle of wood in his arms. "It's impressive you know. What you did last night." I looked up at him with a perplexed face. "Really?" "Yeah, I don't think any of us expected that from you. You have like no training and you were able to do that." He pointed at the spike . "Oh, well, I just wanted to help out and I did." I gave him a smile. "Food's almost done everybody!" Tracy burst out of the tent. Her hair was in her face and she still had some drool trailing out. She cleared he throat. "Did someone say food?" "Yes I did and it is done." She crawled over to one of the chairs and laid on it. We got forks and napkins while Xavier served up the food. "Xavier is a really good cook Violet." "Aww thanks Abigail, but I'm nothing special." We sat there for a few minutes eating in silence. When everyone was done Calum began addressing us. "Okay today we are gonna start tracking the Briar spirit." Tracy had her head on the chair and her voice was muffled. "How can you track one? They like fly around and junk." "Well I was thinking that when we start walking and get near the Conerium village we could just start hitting some trees. Maybe it'll be drawn out." "No we aren't doing that. I'm not hitting trees." "I know you control trees and stuff Austin but that's the fastest way to find it." "Well I'm not hitting trees." "Can I burn the trees?" Austin looked astonished. "No! You cannot burn the trees! Trees have feelings to! You may not know it but they talk to me! I can understand them! They will let us know if the spirit is nearby." Calum let out a sigh. "Alright man. We won't hurt the trees." With that we got up and started to pack everything up. It took us about a half hour. It would have gone faster but Amanda was trying to help Tracy with her hair. Once we were all ready we set off into the forest again. When we walked it was completely silent. I couldn't hear any wildlife. Even the sound of our footsteps was muffled. We kept walking  for a good while. I looked around and everyone was looked so focused. Staring straight ahead with no emotion. I wish I could be like them. So confident and courageous. But I wasn't either. I was scared to death right now, but I wasn't gonna let anyone know that. We were deep in the forest by now and I had a feeling that the deeper we went, the more dangerous it would get. I had to know what we might face. I caught up to Abigail was walking next to Calum and Amanda. "So what kind of creatures can we expect out here?" "Oh, I actually don't know. It could be anything really. We weren't told about what was in the forest. And we aren't supposed to be out here either." She shot Calum a dirty look. "This part of the forest is forbidden to students. It's much to dangerous for us out here. Just stay on guard though. Don't know what we'll fight." That just made me feel worse. We kept walking for what felt like an hour. All in complete silence. Xavier looked at his watch. 1:38. "Hey we should probably stop for lunch soon." Calum shot the idea down. "No we already lost enough time sleeping in. We can wait until dinner." I heard an astonished gasp and whimper from Tracy. She ran up in front of Calum and got right in his face. "If you deprive me of my food so help me! There's no telling what I'll do! I might go crazy! I will get my food!" Calum simply pushed her aside. "No. We can all wait." Tracy flopped on the ground and started crying and screaming. "But I'm so hungry! I haven't eaten since this morning!" "It was like 3 hours ago. You'll be fine." "THREE HOURS! I'VE NEVER GONE THAT LONG WITHOUT EATING!" Xavier picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. "C'mon girl. I think I have some cookies or something in my pack." She hugged his back. "My beautiful chocolate guardian angel!" She reached into his backpack pulling out a box of cookies and devoured them. We walked until we came into a clearing. "Ok we can stop for a water break." We all sat on the ground. Xavier put down Tracy who was shaking the crumbs out of the box into her mouth. Calum pulled out eight water bottles and handed them out to us. I drank half of mine. I did some sports when I was in school, but I never walked this far without stopping. I wonder if anyone in school misses me. I don't know how long it's been since I was taken away by Calum. "Hey Calum. When you rescued me from the train station. Do you remember what day or month it was?" "It was only a few weeks ago. When I brought you here you were asleep for a few days. I was worried that you somehow died." "Well what's today?" "August 18. Why?" "Oh, no reason." I was taken away during summer break. People probably think I went to a different school, without telling them. That's for the best. "Well we should start walking." We got up and kept walking. After 10 minutes of walking I started to feel really strange. I felt dizzy and lost. I heard whispers. I couldn't really make out what they were saying. My chest felt really hot but really cold at the same time. I started stumbling and almost fell, but Alex caught me. "Hey are you ok? WOAH GUYS!" They all turned around and came over to us. Abigail got there first. "Oh my god! What's wrong with her!" "I don't know she just fell!" My eyes were black and the veins in my neck were bulging. Alex set me down. "What do we do!" Calum came over and lifted up my shirt. My chest was glowing bright red. "She's been possessed by the Briar spirit." "How do you know? All we learned is that they can control. Trees and stuff!" "Well Abigail I actually did my research for once. The next lesson on them would have been about their ability to possess people." "Well how do we get it out?" "That glowing spot on her is the spirit. We have to cut it out." "ARE YOU CRAZY?! YOU'LL KILL HER!" "No I won't." He summoned a small dagger and brought it to my chest. He made a small incision and a black liquid started seeping out. I started talking in a different language. I didn't know what I was saying and I didn't even mean to talk. "What's she saying?" "Nothing it's trying to curse is just ignore it. They all covered their ears. He then summoned a much larger sword and went to a nearby tree. He struck it and with one swing of his sword he cut the tree down. We all heard a loud roaring coming from deep within the forest. A howl escaped my mouth. The black liquid started flying out of me and landed on the ground. It started growing in size and took the form of the briar spirit. A large tall beast made from wood and plants. The orb was right in the middle covered by thick wood and thorns. It's arms were made of vines and thorns and its legs made of tree stumps. When the last of the black liquid came out of my I started gasping for breath and crying. My eyes went back to their normal color and my chest stopped glowing. I've never felt that kind of pain before. The Briar spirit let out a loud roar and charged at us. Amanda and Abigail picked me up. "We'll take her to safety you guys keep that thing busy!" I could hear them fighting and shouting but it was all echoed. I thought saw Amanda shed a tear before I blacked out.

"Are the excavations under way?" "Yes Mr. President. We have almost located them." "Good, when you do find them put them under the highest protection. I can't allow anyone finding them." "Yes Mr. President. And what do we do if they awaken when we find them?" The President chuckled, "You run."