SPRITES: Legacy of the Black Phoenix

Chapter 10 : The Protector

Back at the bus a pin could have been heard dropping. The group had never experienced such a dangerous situation before. There were tons of fights between the children growing up, but none of them were ever life threatening. The shaking feeling and adrenaline running through Vidaj was still suffocating him. Looking around he saw Mrs. Carter attempting to console her students.

"Everyone, please stay calm. I'm not sure what happened back there, but we're all safe. Now, if I can just get a quick head count, we can head back to school." Everyone was quiet as she counted. "And that's twenty-seven!" she finally said. "We're good to go."

Ian whispered to Lana, "Your plan was to run away?"

She shoved his face to the side. "No, you idiot. Look over there." Ian scanned the emergency exit at the back of the bus. "It's simple. Now that Mrs. Carter did her head count, she'll just stay in the front and ignore us. You know her—when she gets nervous, she always keeps to herself. Anyway, I'll create a distraction at the front of the bus and then we'll sneak out."

"No one's going to notice that we all cut out?" Ian asked her.

"I'll create an illusion of us. It'll hold for the entire bus ride. With all this chaos, we should be safe. I'll mute out the sound from the alarm system too so no one can hear us. Let's hurry before that thing hurts someone."

Lana created an illusion of a large fallen tree in the front of the bus. An ear-piercing scream escaped from one of the children. Just as planned, the gang escaped through the emergency exit.

Vidaj closed the emergency exit just as the bus pulled away and turned onto a side road. The group of Vidaj, Lana, Felix, Briggs, Ian, Mallory, Blake, Lance, and Jane all ran back to the courtyard, where the cloaked man was still standing.

Now up close with the being Vidaj studied his black cloak, which was so large that it covered his entire body. There were strange markings on it written in some golden ancient language. The being turned his face revealing a green leaf-covered mask.

"You have no idea how long I've been searching for all of you." He said it in such a deep, menacing voice that everyone sneered at him with looks of repugnance.

The group cautiously surrounded the man before Ian mockingly greeted him. "Are you the one who caused all of this?" pointing to the fallen tree branches and destroyed tables.

He hissed in such a way that it sent chills down Vidaj's spine. Vidaj shook off his fears and shouted out "I don't know who you are or what you want with us, but you're outnumbered nine-to-one!"

Unintimidated by Vidaj's threat the masked man removed his cloak to reveal a body covered in thick, dark brown tree bark. His arms were made up of branches, with long vines for fingers. His legs made of some tentacle-like roots. Everyone stared in open mouthed shock as he quickly extended his thin, branch-like arms. A long green vine drove through Vidaj's body. Slowly retracting the vines, he taunted Vidaj. "It's funny you actually think you have an advantage in this setting." Looking down at where the vine had pierced him, Vidaj's eyes popped out as he knew he had just escaped death.

Vidaj was unable to move, but the rest of the boys were already charged at the being. Just as the boys were within an arm's length of the strange man he extended his root like feet into the ground. Ten sets of vines, each at least ten feet long, shot out and rose into the air. The vines swiftly rained down on the boys, knocking them into the courtyard walls. As they attempted to get back up, the vines wrapped around their waists like ropes, making it impossible for them to move. Mallory, Jane, and Lana rushed toward the boys to help them. However, just as they approached them, the remaining set of vines sprouted from the man. Just like that it was over. The girls were tied up right next to the boys. The boys and girls squeeled in such a way that Vidaj didn't think was possible. The vines were squeezing the life out of them.