Four Elements Book 1 - Hidden Powers

Chapter 15 - Fresh start - part 1

It was Ellie.

"Hi, I wanted to say, I was really impressed with your voice."

"Thank you."

Then, an idea came to her.

"I was wondering, can I just have a peak at the prop room? Just to see what sort of things we'll be working with."

"Well, I can't see why not. Follow me."

"Can we come?" Isabelle asked.

Ellie hesitated.

"Well... it's supposed to be drama club members only..."

"We won't touch anything, promise! Just a tiny peak?" Emily asked, playing along.

"... Oh, why not." Ellie smiled.

"Thanks!"

They walked back down the stairs and to the side of the auditorium. The prop room was bigger than Andie had imagined. But then, there were a lot of props. Clothes, shoes, accessories, stage props like a table, painted walls, a bench, and a huge chest of all kinds of other objects. Andie looked around, pretending to admire it while really searching for the staff.

"So, there we have the Romeo and Juliet costumes from last year..."

"Yes, I saw that, it was great," Andie said, more to make conversation than much else.

"Why didn't you audition last year?"

"Oh, I was very different, last year," Andie said. "Nothing like the person I am now."

"I see. Well, that's good news for us," Ellie smiled. "Here are the costumes we're going to use."

She indicated another rack with medieval like clothes and a splendid pale purple dress with a pearls and embroidery all over the skirt.

"That one is yours," Ellie added, following her gaze.

"What if it doesn't fit?"

"Oh, it's elastic. It'll be fine."

"It's beautiful..." Andie whispered.

"It's already been used, I'm afraid, we played Cinderella two years ago, and that was her dress."

"Oh, that's okay." Andie said.

She turned away and looked around again. Just then, among the swords and walking sticks, she saw a long wooden staff with a golden ball on the top and a little point.

"Wow, what's that?" She asked innocently.

"It's... a King's staff. We use it a lot," Ellie said, but Andie noted her hesitation.

Bingo! She told the others. Now... if I can just touch it, we should be able to tell if it's what we're after or not...

She reached out, as if to look more closely at it, and picked it up gently, praying it didn't vanish in her hands. But it seemed to like being in her hand. It seemed to thrum gently in her fingers. And it felt warm. Andie looked triumphantly at her friends.

We've found it!

They soon took their leave after that and left the auditorium as calmly as possible. The moment they were out of earshot and alone, they looked at each other.

"The staff is in there, why didn't we just take it?!" Emily asked.

"I was tempted," Andie admitted. "But we should make a copy. People will think it's weird if it appears out of nowhere and disappears the same way. And I managed to snag a picture while Isabelle was distracting Ellie, so I can replicate it. Well, with my dad's help."