Fortnight Field Academy

Chapter 28

She didn't scream- the girl in the fire, although her eyes had opened. The flames embraced her body like a big hug, but her skin didn't burn, and she still looked at peace.

I quickly closed the distance between me and Maggie with Aaron on my tail. I reached for her waist so we could make a break for it, but my hand hit some sort of barrier. I tried again, and again an invisible wall blocked me. "Maggie," the shout scraped my throat on the way out. My fists beat the wall until I could feel bruises forming.

Nobody looked my way.

The fire around Coleen died down to normal candle sizes. She gently floated to the spot she stood before, then dropped to the ground with a cacophonous clang. Maggie turned pale and her eyes froze wide. I think she was in shock.

Aimee and Jordan, still holding hands and reciting in Latin, were oblivious to the events playing out around them. Their eyes were closed like they were concentrating really hard on what they were saying. I didn't really worry about them now, though. Maggie was my only problem.

She snapped out of her daze when the unknown boy's head fell back. He grabbed his neck as if he was being choked. Maggie made her way over to him. "Are you okay?" She might as well not have spoken at all. "Hello?" Again, no response. Giving up on trying to make conversation, she cradled his head in her arms as he writhed. She looked like a mother protecting her son.

I punched and kicked the wall until a weak voice interrupted me. "What the hell is going on?" Nix limped up to me from wherever she was hiding.

Nicely put, she looked horrible. Her dark brown hair that grew past her collar bone was twisted and matted into a bird's nest. Two quarter sized black moles had appeared on either side of her nose. Her back hunched over like a scared cat, and she leaned on her right leg. I wasn't sure, but I think there was dried blood on the left.

Could this really be the girl I saw less than an hour ago?

I ignored the first question that came to mind: What are you doing here?! Instead, I asked, "What happened to you?"

She waved her arm away pathetically. "It doesn't matter. What's going on and why can't they see or hear us?"

As I was about to tell her that I didn't know, Aaron cut in. "I think it's an elemental shield." When neither of us said a word, he added, "When wielders combine all the elements, they can make an impenetrable dome thing around themselves."

"And how do you know this?" Nix snapped.

Aaron's face contorted with guilt. "I sort of helped Aimee practice it earlier. I didn't think much of it. She told me it was for her class..."

Nix snarled with mistrust. "There has to be a way to break it, right? Did Aimee say anything?" I injected before she could say whatever she was thinking.

"Only a wielder of a greater power could break it. But..."

"But what?" she barked. The change was defiantly affecting her irritability, but it seemed as though something else was there. Perhaps she just didn't trust Aaron.

That was totally understandable, considering her position, but we needed him now. And I felt a little bad for him. After all, none of this was actually his fault. I put my hand on his shoulder and gave an encouraging smile. "But we shouldn't be able to see then either," he finished. "When she did it earlier, it was like she completely vanished into thin air."

"That's what happened when I first got out here," I added. "But then they came back."

"Maybe it's not as strong since she's busy doing... that," Nix theorized. "Maybe we can use that to our advantage."

The boy's head slowly shifted into place. He rolled his neck around like he'd just woken up from a long nap. Startled, Maggie jumped back. "Little Aimee Pierce," he greeted, almost in a fatherly tone. "I can't thank you enough for-"

As if it heard out speculations, everything within the elemental shield suddenly seized to exist. We were the only people visible for miles.

And at that exact moment, Nix's eyes rolled to the back of her head before she fell to the ground.