The Calling

Chapter 21

Cora collected her food from the canteen and made her way over to their table, near the back of the dining pavilion. She could already see the rest of her friends there, although Allie and Lyra were still nowhere to be seen. They were probably training with the rest of the elites, she thought.

They had not seen any of the Moondoor warriors yet today, the last time they saw them being the free time before the curfew last night.

"Hey, Cora!" Mia called over. "You know how you're my best friend?" She batted her eyelids and smirked playfully.

"Yeah...?" She set her plate of pasta down and sat between Seraphina and Melanie.

"Well, who do you think is more awesome at flying? Me, or Kestrel?"

Cora pretended to take the question into deep consideration, putting a finger up to her mouth and tilting her head to the side. "Hmm..."

"Think very carefully about this. Remember who has storm powers and can blast you to Antartica."

"Metaphorical Antartica." mumbled Kestrel, mouth full of fajita.

"Whatever. Anyway, I don't need your opinion to know that I'm way more awesome than all of you!"

Cora shook her head. "Oh, Mia..." She thought about the absence of the two elites. "Hey, have any of you seen Allie yet? Or Lyra? I can't find them anywhere."

"Yeah. They're with the elites getting ready to leave." said Killian, his voice strained. She hadn't even noticed him at the end of the bench. He was currently participating in an extremely serious-looking game of arm wrestling against Einaris. So far, neither of them was winning, but the looks on their faces could bore holes in the Earth.

"What? They're leaving?" she cried, her pasta no longer interesting.

"Yeah. Didn't you... know? Come on... You have to be tired by now!" He directed the latter at his opponent.

"Trust me... My arm is begging for mercy..."

Kestrel tuned in. "But they've only been here for about a day." she said. "Why are they so suddenly leaving?"

"I don't... know." His brows furrowed even more as he tried to force Einaris' arm down.

"But you're the initiate leader." countered Cora.

"Just because I'm the initiate leader, doesn't mean I know what the elites do. They're basically their own separate thing." he said, turning his head slightly to face the others. Before he could stop her, Einaris took advantage of his lack of concentration and forced his arm down with a cry of joy.

"HA! I BEAT YOU! WHO'S GOT NO MUSCLES NOW, HUH?!"

Killian looked dismayed. "Oh, come on. That's not fair! Rematch."

"No way! I won fair and square." She grinned. He grinned too.

"Fair and pear." Kestrel nodded, despite Mia's look.

"I heard Allie talking to Bjorn and Mr. O'Hare last night." he said, meaning the strange man that had greeted them on their first morning by promptly getting their names wrong. "They're leaving first thing tomorrow morning. Said something about a Jeger sighting in Edinburgh. They need to check it out." He sighed. "It's a waste of time if you ask me."

"Why's that?" Cora asked.

He looked down and shook his head. "Nothing."

Einaris' brows were creased, making her face look as if it had been carved from stone. "You know when you said that the Moondoor elites protect his place?" she asked Killian.

He leaned back and put his hands behind his head. A few seconds later he replied with: "Yeah."

"Well, what happens when they leave? Who protects the camp, or does it no longer need protecting?"

"You lot ask so many questions! Well, when the elites leave, the camp is protected by the power of the Heart of Moondoor."

"The what?" asked Mia.

"The stone which hold the soul of the camp. It has powers beyond anything you could ever imagine and it's the force field that comes from it that maintains the boundary between our world and the normal one."

"God, you sound like a textbook too." muttered Melanie, while admiring her reflection in the back of her spoon. Killian glared at her in a stare very much like Einaris'.

Must be an Earth thing.

Kestrel thought back to when Allie told them about the stone, on their first night.

"The Jeger, as they were called, wanted to steal a gemstone. A gemstone which holds the soul of Moondoor. We resisted, but soon found that it was no use. They took the stone, and we were forced to surrender, but once we realised their tactic, we defeated them easily. However, the Heart of Moondoor was lost."

"But what happens if it's stolen?"

Killian looked at her as if she had just declared civil war on carrots.

"Stolen? The Heart of Moondoor can't be stolen. It's hidden in the most secure place here, and only an elite knows how to find it. It can never be found, even more since the Battle of Moondoor Meadows with all the security they put up around it." He grimaced. "But if it was stolen, I'm guessing the camp would suffer greatly."

The group glanced at one another (except for Melanie, who was applying lip-gloss with the spoon-mirror) obviously thinking the same thing. Killian noticed.

"What is it?" he asked. When nobody answered he asked again. "Is it about the stone?" Worry was evident in his voice.

"No." said Kestrel, a little too sharply. "It's nothing. Don't worry." She paused. "What's everyone's favourite animal? Mines a pine marten. Did you know they're native to Northern Europe and are part of the mustelid family?"

"Mum's a vet." Einaris explained. "Listens to everything she says." She paused. "Oh, is that the time already?" Einaris pretended to look at her watch. "We best be off, sorry."

"Something we got to do. Can't be late." added Cora, getting the jist.

"See you later!" Kestrel waved to Killian and the others also took it as the cue to leave. Mia pulled Melanie off the bench roughly by her jumper, causing her to smear lip gloss all over her face.

When they were a good distance from the pavilion, they looked at one another seriously.

"We've got to talk to Allie tonight." said Einaris.

"Definitely." said Mia.

Kestrel firmly nodded her head and raised an eyebrow to Einaris.

Einaris understood, they would talk at night. No one else would be awake.

The stone was gone.

Camp Moondoor was in danger.

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Typed up by K.C

Word count: 1080

Thanks so much to everyone who's read and voted so far!