The Last Phoenix- Book 1 of the Legends of Henge Series

Chapter 35

"We'll just wait here and see for a few days," Lark suggested. "See if there's any odd activity and check it out."

"You might want to come back to our campsite then," Luna told her. "We're really close to a small town and that's where most of the fires seem to be targeted at." Lark nodded.

"Send someone tomorrow morning to lead us over and we can join forces," Lark ordered and Luna nodded.

***

I woke the next morning to Lark making eggs over the red hot coals. I joined her. "I don't think this is a good idea," I whispered. She glanced at me sidelong.

"Why?"

"Well, it's a bit odd that they just happen upon our campsite and instantly give us the solution. And the solution just seems too obvious," I told her. "It seems more like someone is trying to distract us."

"You think Luna is trying to distract us?" she questioned, raising her eyebrows at me. I shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe she's just misinformed," I suggested. Lark snorted.

"You mean you think she's being mind controlled," she corrected and I just shrugged.

"It's possible," I pointed out.

Lark didn't say anything more so I went to pack up the tents. I knew there was something off about this but I couldn't place my finger on it. As I was tying up the poles, I heard a sound in the woods again and my hand immediately flew to my Tomahawk.

I crept forward between the trees. Maybe it was Luna again. I could listen and see if she gave anything away.

But it wasn't Luna.

Arielle stood alone through the trees speaking with a leather clad figure. I vaguely remembered her from somewhere but I couldn't place it.

She lifted hand, her arm covered with black leather and metal studs. Arielle stopped short. "Someone's listening," the figure whispered and I recognized the voice as female. She was that Agent that Aurum had put on the case. What was her name? Lauren? Something like that. Started with an L.

"It's not important," Arielle sighed after a moment of silence. "I have nothing to hide anymore. We're close. I can feel it."

"At least you've finally caught on to the Phoenix, Arizona thing," the mysterious figure pointed out, tone dry.

"You knew about that? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't realize I'd have to give you that many pushes!"

"So it's true," Arielle said. "Asteria's in Phoenix."

"Not in the city," she paused. "I think she's just outside it, though."

"I'll let the rest of the team know," Arielle turned to leave but a leather hand caught her wrist. Arielle grimaced, as though the grip were painful.

"And what proof do you have besides my word? No, you'll lay low. Let them come to the conclusion and then you will find her."

"What? Why? We're running out of time, so there's no point in keeping you a secret anymore!"

"They won't believe you if you bring me into this," the girl pointed out. "You wouldn't either if you didn't know me. You were all suspicious of Lisa and they'll all be suspicious of me. It'll take more time convincing them than it will for them to figure it out."

Arielle sighed in impatience. "Fine." She turned to go again but stopped when the girl spoke once more.

"Arielle, just... just be prepared to see her. You might not like what's happened."

"Arielle!" Lark called from camp. "Have you seen Chetan?" I looked around at my name and when I looked back, the black leather girl was gone. "Luna's here to take us back to their camp!"

***

By the time we reached their camp it was almost noon which led me to believe that Luna was an early bird. The other members of her team looked as though they'd just woken up. Hero's hair was a mess, sticking up in random places.

Quinn's eyes were drooping and Cander had actually fallen back asleep by the fire, his head resting on his fist. Nesia looked like the only one alert besides Luna.

"Arielle," I called her name. She looked back. I waited until everyone was listening. "What exactly was that conversation I overheard?"

She kept her face carefully neutral. "I don't know what you're-"

"Don't lie," I snapped. "You were just talking to someone before we left. That girl investigating back at Vale. She was feeding you information."

"What?" Lark questioned, looking at Arielle in confusion.

"You know something we don't," I pointed out. "And I think it's time we heard what it was."

Arielle closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "Alright, but you should probably sit down.

"Asteria Glass is the last phoenix, as you all know. The last because there can only be one phoenix to exist at one time. Their reproduction process is kind of odd," Arielle started to explain. "The phoenix is the oldest known shapeshifter besides the Kitsune. There has never been two in existence. When a phoenix dies, they go up in flames, literally," she paused.

"The next phoenix is born from the ashes but not with any hereditary genes from their predecessor. That means that it can be any gender, ethnicity, and combination of traits. A phoenix cannot conceive their own child with someone else. It's just impossible." Bailey glanced at Arielle as though expecting her to go on.

"The only exception is if-"

"It's forbidden," Bailey cut in, a tiny light in her eyes that I could not identify. Arielle looked at her oddly. "My mother told me a story a long time ago. I thought it was just that."

"It's possible for the phoenix to conceive a child with someone else. This is extremely rare and forbidden. If this were to happen then the child would continue the line of phoenix but also gain the abilities of the second parent, therefore making the child even stronger than any phoenix before it. It's happened before and because of that, it was forbidden for any phoenix to have a child. But more than one phoenix can't exist so the predecessor dies.

"People try to take advantage of that and make a child they can enslave to do their bidding. Only one succeeded and that was Lief Himura. Aurum thinks that whoever kidnapped Asteria is trying to do the same thing." We sat in silence for a moment before Lark stood and grabbed a tent to set up.

We set up our tents as a second ring around the fire and just waited. It's all we could do really but it was extremely boring. My visions of Quests had been fighting creatures heroically day after day but in reality most of it was just sitting and waiting.

It was a couple of days before anything happened.

Hey, it's not the best edited but at least it's on time, right? 

Question of the Chapter: Who's your favorite MCU character?

My Answer: That's hard because I'm a big Captain America fan but I like a lot of characters about as much as him. Loki, Shuri, T'Challa, Spider-Man, Tony Stark (not Iron Man), Guardians of the Galaxy, Winter Soldier, Hawk-Eye's family, Dr. Strange, Stan Lee, and Okoye. 

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