Chapter Six
Date With Disaster
Luella had been sitting cross-legged on Sky's bed for almost an hour now. Since her dad was outside the school transferring the Burned One, which worried her, she had nothing better to do than flicker through the last pages of her book.
Sky had gone out after he and Riven had fought about Beatrix and hadn't returned yet, leaving her and Riven. She didn't mind that he was there, she enjoyed the silent company, and it let her focus more on the book. The specialist didn't seem bothered either; Riven lay on the end side of his bed on his back, still smoking now and then probably drowning in his thoughts.
Small gusts of gentle wind breezed at Luella's skin as she finished the last line of her book, the empty feeling slowly cascading into her chest. She hated but adored the feeling at the same time. It irrupted her when it stuck to her for too long, that's why she always had too many books on her bookshelf at home. She would start a new one, and dive into the character's thoughts and dreams.
She placed the book into her bag which lay beside her, "Riven?" She asked.
"Mmm?" He answered.
"Do you have any books to read?" Luella questioned him in a dazed voice due to the heavy feeling in her chest.
He turned around and pointed and a small section of a wooden shelf near his bed. Lue huffed before she got up, stretching a bit before looking at the selections of books. It was only three or four, and all classics.
Easy to tell he wasn't quite into reading.
Luella looked at Riven, "Classics," She stated.
"So you're going-" Rives stopped before rephrasing. "Book nerd?"
"Sure," she replied, she couldn't care less if he thought reading so many books was a weird thing.
"Here," he said grabbing his textbook close to him and throwing it at her which she caught. "Read that instead."
Lue rolled her eyes and then placed it on his desk which was scattered with papers and equipment. "You're funny," she replied sarcastically.
"So," Riven started taking a blow of his vape. "What'd Beatrix do to you to make you not like her?" He asked turning onto his stomach to face her.
"She offered to help me control my magic but said if anything happened, my death would be a minor inconvenience," She responded irritatingly looking out the window and then back at him, sitting herself at his desk.
Riven didn't reply. After a moment, he extended his hand out holding the vape, offering it to her.
"No thanks," she expressed, gripping it out of his hands before receiving a buzz from her phone. She looked down at her phone which she grabbed from her pocket to see a text from Aisha that read 'need help, there moving the Burned One' and 'Following Bloom and Stella to the barrier.'
Lue turned and grabbed her bag and stuffed her phone in her secure pocket, "I've got to go, suite drama." Lue stated.
"What about my vape?"
Luella contemplated before making a snowflake out of amusement and letting it glide over to Riven unconsciously, "buy a new one."
She then opened the door and started walking to the exit cautiously making sure there wasn't anyone there to catch her.
Footsteps began to catch up with her, "what the fuck Luella?"
Luella smiled, looking onward, "and the specialist knows my name," she announced.
"I asked Sky," Riven shrugged, then tried to grab the vape off her which Luella twiddled in her hands making it hard to get. "By the way, by buying a new one, I mean nicotine patches."
She walked out of the specialist building,
heading through the cobble of rocks to the front entrance since she saw no one there, which saved time.
If Luella managed to stop Riven from getting the vape back, she'd probably throw it away as soon as she would get back Stella's ring with her suitemates. Maybe she'd be able to save one pair of lungs from rotting.
"Wrong way," Riven announced as he stood behind Luella who opened the gates that made a creek which made Luella cringe.
"Nope, no it isn't," she replied to him. "Girl trouble is beyond the barrier."
"Don't trip over a dead body while you're at it."
-
After looking around for about five minutes, has been circling the Barrier, she found a few of her suite mates waiting for the rest to arrive.
Riven had given up on Luella and went back inside; he didn't seem very keen on going beyond the barrier and she didn't know why. She managed to keep the vape away from him which gave her a muddled satisfaction.
She walked up the steep, trampled, a small hill and approached the girls which consisted of Aisha, Bloom and Stella.
Stella tapped her foot impatiently as she muttered something about being on time, hugging herself in coldness due to her thin pink coat while Luella almost looked to be wearing summer clothes.
"They have limits," Luella heard Aisha say as she made it to the trio. "Your methods won't help her in the long run," Aisha stated.
"Lovely to see everyone calm and collected," Luella said as they looked over to her, acknowledging her appearance then looking to the other side where Terra and Musa also approached.
"Finally!" Stella exclaimed in annoyance.
"Sorry. I needed help with the Zanzibar. We're all good now though," Terra explained holding a little vile up.
They made their way through the barrier, a small tickle trickling Luella as she entered the forest. The trees were towering and twisted. The sky peeked through the slits of the branches giving small amounts of dusty light.
The girls trudged North through the dense woodland until they spotted the barn. They all stopped for a second to observe the worn-out place.
Luella followed along behind as they trampled their way to the entrance.
Bloom hesitated but opened the door cautiously.
The barn was dim and filled with random things like tools. In the centre, a wooden pole was implanted securely with loose chains but no Burned One.
"They've taken it already," Aisha observed as they went in to examine it.
Stella rushed in and clutched the loose chains with her hands, "no, no," she breathed. "My mums going to kill me."
Though Luella hadn't gotten warm with Stella, she felt some guilt for her. The embarrassment she was going to feel when she would tell her mum, the queen, but it didn't give her the right to take her frustration out on them.
Luella breathed in deeply, coming closer to the chains to look at them, kneeling. When she touched it, a small zap ran through her finger. An electric shock. She ignored it and touched it again, inspecting them. It looked to be broken, the hoop that was supposed to be connected with another.
"Guys?" Terra's voice echoed from outside which led Luella to stand up, letting go of the chains. "We've got a problem." She shouted unsettlingly.
Luella rushed outside, worried for her friend she quickly walked outside to where Musa and Terra were. She gazed at where they were looking and a flood of adrenaline coursed into her.
A wrenching smell of new rotting meat washed over me as stared at the dead bodies that were scattered and slumped. Their clothes and beaten faces were inked with blood and their eyes stared lifelessly at the dirt.
Luella's doe eyes were wide open, but her musty irises held a sudden concern as she remembered Riven's words, her dad was transporting the Burned One too.
She stumbled down the path, through the crimsoned bodies and stained grass, searching as she shouted for her dad; her heart pounding.
"Dad!"
The panicked girl heard a groan in daunting pain, she looked over to the sound to see Saul bloodied like someone had splashed red paint onto a canvas. Luella ran up to him and staggered to her knees.
His eyes were black and deep as an abyss and his face and arms were bruised with deep ruby blood. Silva shivered but managed to pull his sword next to his side and point it up at her, making Luella fall back.
"Terra!" Luella shouted, her voice wobbly. "The Zanbaq." She stood up and kept repeating to Silva, "dad, it's okay, it's okay."
"Please get back," He said in oblivious pain as Musa and Terra came, the sword shaking in his hands.
"Mr Silva, the Burned One's cut you and you're infected, but we're gonna help," Terra said trying to be reassuring, grabbing the vile in her pocket but Silva just repeated the same thing.
Luella stared at him for a moment in distraught, how could he be so insensitive to his health?
She felt a prickle of frost surge through her hands in frustration and worry as she muttered a swear. Not now, she thought. She had been in Alfea for less than a week and she couldn't possibly learn how to control her powers and emotions.
Then, a hand clutched Luella's, it was Musa. They looked at each other for a second but Musa looked away, she didn't want to feel the pain of her or her dad's emotions and stared at Terra instead but continued to squeeze Luella's hand in reassurance.
Luella looked at her dad and kicked the sword out of his hands, it wasn't that hard since he could barely hold it up anyway. She pulled away from Musa and came closer to her dad again, her hands still illustrated in a thin layer of ice.
Terra kneeled by him too, "I'm going to pour it into his mouth but I need you to hold his head, alright Luella?"
Luella nodded multiple times and gently yet tightly clutched his head as she watched her give him the Zanbaq while Musa continued to focus on the earth fairy.
The pain didn't stop swelling but the blackness drew out of his eyes and his breathing became an inch longer.
"Dad, dad, come on," Luella rambled as she slowly helped him up, letting his arm grip her shoulder while Musa went to his other side. Luella bit the inside of her cheek as they trampled through the standing trees making their way back to the school, not looking back at other lifeless bodies that lay paralysed in death.
Luella pushed the door open to the main hall where students were hanging and chatting, reckless to what was going on as they stared startled at what was before them.
"I need a med kit from the Bastion!" Terra declared to the people around her, urging for help.
Beatrix walked in, "I'll go get the headmistress," she spoke.
Musa switched with Terra to help Silva while they pushed through the students who crowded them in curiosity and others in worry.
Luella had never felt so claustrophobic in her life, she always felt empty and cold, not packed. Her breathing had almost started to match her dad's when she heard Terra saying to get him to the greenhouse.
"Sam, go and get dad," she said to a boy with brown hair, who was the same boy who Musa claimed to be cute.
"Dad?" Musa asked looking between her and Sam, stopping in her tracks.
"He's my brother," she replied hurriedly, walking onwards while Luella was congesting everything in her head.
-
Luella sat next to her dad on the bench in silence while Terra's dad, a professor at the school, Ben Harvey, treated him as Sky kept rambling with questions after he had seen Silva.
"Sky, I'll be fine," He said as he groaned from the stinging of the healing. "Just let Professor Harvey do his work."
Then, a concerned headmistress came rushing into the greenhouse, her heels colliding with the floor. "I should've moved it right away, had more soldiers," Miss Downing criticised.
"Guys, could we have the room, please? We'll keep you informed. Go on," Silva said, a grating pain in his voice.
Luella stood up, letting him take the rest of the space. "I'm not leaving you. Not like that," she stated as Miss Downing comforted him.
"Please go Luella."
"Dad-"
"That's an order."
Luella looked at him unbelievably. She was so worried for him and still is, and he expects her to just leave him to the professionals. She wanted to scoff but she didn't let it out.
Instead, she turned on her feet and walked away, wiping a tear away with her thumb. She walked out the doors bubbling with embarrassment.
❆
Sorry for the late chapter but have you seen the season two announcement? Ahh!! They said there were going to be eight episodes this time.
Hope you liked the chapter :)