Obliterate

ten

THE PAIN IN Sophie's throat disappeared just as the unnaturally high-pitched screeches and the pair of eerie white eyes did. She squeezed her eyes shut. Her nerves were shot. Her heart pounded frantically within her chest. Rubbing at her throat, she tried to focus on Eli's rhythmic heartbeat. Each muted thump of his heart calmed her own.

Eli's voice shattered through her thoughts. "Can you tell if those creatures are still behind us?" he asked.

Sophie peeked over his shoulder. She couldn't see anything. Closing her eyes again, she allowed her senses to heighten. Tree branches rustled as they sped past them and, as she inhaled, she noticed that nasty smell had vanished. She couldn't hear or smell anything that indicated the weird creatures were following them.

"No," she answered. "I think we are in the clear for right now."

"Okay," he said. His pace slowed. He pushed through for another few miles, cradling her close to his chest. Then he slowed to a stop. As he gently lowered her to the ground, Sophie took several deep breaths. Her hands trembled. She carefully looked around. She and Eli stood in a small clearing, pretty close to a winding stream. The castle's towers could be seen just above the treetops in front of them.

Eli lightly grabbed her by the arms. "Sophie," he said, staring at her intently. "Are you okay?"

She blinked at him. "Yeah," she answered slowly, making sure that her voice didn't crack. "I'm fine."

He sighed. He pulled her into a strong embrace, burying his face into her hair. She rested her cheek against his chest. "We need to alert your mother," he muttered. "And the others. There could be more of those creatures out there."

She nodded. "I wonder what they are."

He pulled away and shrugged. "I've never seen anything like them. Aubrey might know some-thing about them, or might be able to find something about them using her computer skills."

"But..." Sophie trailed off, sending him a meaningful look.

Eli ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I know. She's not in the right mind to really help us right now. It wouldn't hurt to ask anyways though. Your mother might be able to help too. Since she's been around a while, she might know some old legends or have seen creatures similar to these."

"Let's get back to the castle," Sophie said with a small sigh. She glanced back over her shoulder, toward the trees. "It will be dawn soon, anyways."

Hand in hand, the couple sprinted back toward the Academy. Each step that they took seemed to calm Sophie down. The attack wasn't forgotten, the gnarly faces with clouded eyes and flakey skin refused to leave her mind. But it became easier to process, easier to digest and file away into her traumatic folder, where most of her memories of the war resided.

As they approached the main entrance, Sophie noticed that a few of the other teachers were already crowded around the staircase. One teacher in particular sat at the base of the steps, surrounded by a few other teachers with vacant expressions. Some stood behind her, others sat with her. Aelia stood in front them, her arms crossed over her chest. A worried expression marred her usually stoic face.

Sophie opened her mouth to get her mother's attention, but froze when she realized that the seated teacher was crying. It wasn't the few-composed-tears streaming down her face crying either. It was hysteric, snotty sobbing.

"What happened?" Eli asked as they slowed to a stop in front of them.

Aelia whirled around. Her expression visibly relaxed when she saw Sophie, seemingly unharmed.

Sophie met her gaze with a quizzical look.

One of the other teacher's spoke first, a witch with lilac hued hair. "She and her partner were attacked," the witch explained, putting her arm around the shoulders of the sobbing teacher. Her expression was grave. "She managed to escape the attack, but her partner did not. He hasn't returned yet."

Sophie's eyes widened as she looked closer at the sobbing teacher. It was the ogre who'd made the snappy remark about her and Eli earlier. It took a moment to recognize her through the tears and the snot. Sophie thought back to before the groups had dispersed into the night. The ogre had paired with a male witch, who had a longer-than-normal nose and a hushed voice.

Her stomach started to twist. "What attacked you?" she asked intently.

Eli's hand tightened around hers.

The ogre inhaled sharply. "I don't know. I don't know what it was. It wasn't human. It wasn't supernatural. I've never seen anything like it before."

Sophie and Eli shared a look. "Did it smell?" he asked.

Aelia watched them with a troubled expression.

The ogre's shoulders shrugged. "I don't know. I couldn't really smell much."

"Were you attacked as well?" Aelia asked.

Sophie and Eli nodded.

"There were two of them at least," Eli launched into an explanation. "We have no idea what they were, just that they definitely weren't friendly. They screamed really loud and moved fast, but it looked almost like their limbs were broken. And they smelled awful."

"It was hard to really see them well," Sophie said. Her arms crossed over her chest. "From what I could tell, the creature's skin was pale. And it flaked. Almost like it wasn't attached to its skull anymore. It also didn't have pupils."

Aelia frowned. "I'm glad you both are unharmed."

Eli nodded. "It was close for a second. Have you sent a search party out?"

"Several teachers have gone in search of him," she assured them. "They should hopefully be well equipped to take down whatever these creatures are."

"I wonder if they are what killed Robby."

Aelia's frown deepened. "I don't want to assume anything just yet. If these creatures are the cause of his disappearance, it means that Robby either tried to run away from the Academy or that they managed to get inside our castle without being detected. Regardless, we need to minds open and try to learn more about these creatures, especially if they are so immediately hostile."

Eli nodded. "We need to do research. Aubrey might be able to help us with that."

A dark expression crossed Aelia's face. She didn't really respond to that. Instead, she turned to the teachers in front of her. "All of you, get inside. Classes will start soon. I will send out an email to the other members of staff. We must not alert the students, just please remind them that leaving the castle unsupervised can be very dangerous. All field trips are now postponed until we get this sorted out."

The teachers and staff members nodded. Some started up the steps. Sophie and Eli lingered behind until Aelia sent them a stern look. As they started toward the entrance, Aelia reached out to the lilac haired witch. She said, "Please get Miss Niles inside and to the hospital unit. Once she's calm, she may remember more of what happened during the attack. I will wait for the search party out here."