STATIC; JR [2]

4.1

We all walked slow and cautious down the empty street, the movements of each set of legs all falling in sync, and in our silence I felt a sigh escape my lips before I even realised it was ready to come out.

I noticed Jake peering down at me, a deep frown etched onto his otherwise smooth features.

"Well, at least we know Oscar's power works." Sam mentioned, his voice small and inadequate.

"Not that it helped." Jake replied, his arms swinging ungracefully as his feet carried on. "Any chance of us getting Andy back disappeared with that book."

Sam shrugged, his nose scrunching up slightly as his thoughts raced. "We have to get creative." He said, glancing over at me in search of my approval. I had no idea why he always looked for it, but it was a nice gesture to know he cared about my opinion. I just nodded at him; it was only once and curt, before I turned my eyes away.

Jake, despite my non-verbal agreement, seemed to think that the brunet was incorrect. "We already got creative!" He exclaimed, using his hands to talk as well as his words. "Or, are you forgetting the water demon we created?"

I shook my head at his sarcasm, and that's when Felix stopped.

"What is it? Did you forget something?" Sam asked him, his eyes suddenly wide and his face arid with worry.

Felix mumbled a reply, offering a wave of his pale hand to dismiss the shorter boy's question. "If we had a real water element, we could do a tracking spell..." He said, orbs glazed and full of wonder.

"We already lost our water element." I reminded him, shooting him a sympathetic glance.

He just waved his hands in my face, now stopped completely. "We could find someone else." He told me, ducking his head down slightly to shield his gaze from the sun and to also get closer to my level of height.

The blond boy smacked Felix's chest gently with the back of his hand, both surprise and confusion coating his expression. "Wait, there's someone else?" He questioned.

"Possibly." Felix said, a little too nonchalant about it for my liking. "You weren't the only ones with potential, and Edith is just proof of that."

He was right; I was. I hadn't been on Felix's mind when his original plan was taking place, but it turned out that the spell he cast only worked because I was there. I shuddered at the thought of our first night alone in the forest.

Sam sunk down, his tanned face falling with deep sorrow. "I thought we were special." He murmured.

"You'll always be special to me, Sam." Jake quipped, smirking at the boy as we all started off again; Felix's house now in view.

"Well, if there is another water element out there, how do we find it?" I asked, both Sam and I glancing up to the boy in question. I didn't think much of it when he was looking the other way, but then when Felix's skin grew even paler than before, which I had deemed impossible a long time ago, I realised something was off.

"Roland." He muttered, grabbing my covered wrist with his clammy hands and scurrying off in the other direction. I peered over his shoulder, only to just catch a glimpse of the police vehicle that was parked in Felix's driveway. I felt the bile rise to the back of my throat, but pushed it down as best I could when my Gothic friend dragged me behind a bush. The two remaining boys were close behind us as we all watched Felix's mother invite the man inside.

"We should get out of here." Sam suggested, but I didn't turn my head to look at him.

Felix's head shook with defiance. "He'll find us sooner or later." He mumbled, beginning to stand and come out from the shadow of the bush. "You guys get out of here, and I'll go talk to him."

"Felix, maybe you shouldn't." I offered, the worry rolling my stomach once again. He sighed and moved his eyes across the structure of my face as Sam and Jake backed away.

"I'll be okay." He told me, finally turning around completely and walking, as calmly as he could manage, up the stairs and into his house.

I felt a tug on the sleeve of my jacket, but the action seemed so small to me I couldn't help but ignore it.

What if we lost Felix, too?