Searching for the Key

Chapter 18

Celia opened her mouth to say more but the three of them quickly dragged her out of the bookstore.

"Celia! You have to watch your mouth. You could make Cato angry then we'll never find Agnitio," Nathan scolded.

"Well sorry this is a stupid waste of our time!" She fumed. "Find his freaking hat which I'm sure he could do if he wasn't such a bum!"

"Come on," Katia sighed as she led them into the forest. "The faster we find this hat, the sooner we can end all this."

"Why can't you just keep quiet?" Damien muttered at Celia as he passed by. Of course Celia wouldn't let it go and snapped a response back.

They entered the thick foliage with Damien and Celia arguing back and forth the entire way. Nathan sped up so that he was walking next to Katia. They talked about anything but the quest. The two of them just wanted to take their minds off everything and their two friends bantering as usual in loud voices.

Katia, Nathan, Celia, and Damien continued to trek through the forest. Sometime after twenty minutes, Damien and Celia blew off all of their steam, and Celia caught up to take the lead. She could sense where the tree was located if she really concentrated. She led them around hidden paths and across rivers. They were still far so they had to move quickly. Soon they were so deep into the forest that the sun was blocked by the thick branches overhead.

"If we continue on this path we should reach the tree in a couple of hours," Celia informed them.

Nathan tried to fly with them so they could move faster, but the branches were too thick. Every couple of feet they would get whipped in the face painfully that they just decided to walk.

After walking for about an hour, they heard a rustling in the bushes around them.

"Did you hear that?" Katia whispered.

They all instantly froze in their places as they stopped to listen. They strained their ears but all they could hear was the breeze flying through the trees around them.

"Yeah it was coming from over there," Nathan whispered back, pointing a couple of feet ahead.

Then they heard more rustling, but this time it was coming from behind them. Then Katia felt that dreaded feeling again. Her necklace turned ice cold and everything went silent before her senses came back to normal.

Seven Hunters emerged from the bushes all around them with their black knives in their hands. They were surrounded. They sneered at the four of them but didn't bother making small talk like the others before. The four of them didn't even have time to talk before they were attacked.

Fast as lightning, they lunged at Katia, Nathan, Celia, and Damien. Katia ducked and threw the Hunter over her shoulder while quickly unsheathing her sword. Nathan was able to jump over one and stabbed him in the back. Damien punched the one closest to him and pierced the sword into the Hunter. Celia, overwhelmed by the sudden attack, was again too flustered to fight. She was backing up while shakily holding her sword in the air. Soon one Hunter was able to grab her from behind.

"Damien! Help Celia!" Katia screamed.

She and Nathan were too preoccupied with the other six Hunters still alive. They struggled to keep them away from Damien so that he could save Celia. Katia rose water from the ground and froze it around half of the Hunters.

Meanwhile Nathan blew a strong wind to push the Hunters away from him as Katia raised a wall of ice. They were able to draw them away from Damien and Celia, but now they were trapped with four Hunters. Katia looked around frantically, trying to think of a plan as she and Nathan were struggling to block the quick attacks of the Hunters. She saw the branches overhead and suddenly thought of something.