At the crack of dawn Katia, Nathan, Celia, and Damien rose groggily. They followed Lilly in silence, too tired to talk. Celia was more irritable than usual and angrily swatted away any branches in their path.
"Ouch!" Nathan complained as a branch Celia moved hit him in the face. "Watch where you move the branches!"
"You should get out of their way. It's not like I'm aiming for your face," Celia snapped.
Nathan opened his mouth to protest that Celia had complete control of the trees considering her power over the earth. However Katia spoke first.
"Come on guys please don't fight now," Katia begged. She was tired and didn't want to deal with their bickering.
"Well I'm exhausted and hungry. Sorry I'm a little snappy," Celia replied sarcastically.
Lilly suddenly flew off and darted ahead. Katia shouted in surprise and chased after her, but she was lost in the trees.
"Great now you lost our fairy," Celia told her.
Katia rolled her eyes. "I already told you she can't just escape." Katia continued walking and searched the canopies. "Lilly! Where are you?"
Katia jumped back in surprise when the fairy darted back in front of her face. She looked down at Lilly's hands and saw that she was holding a single blackberry.
"Where did you get this?" Katia asked as she took it between her fingers.
Lilly pointed to the left. "Over there."
Katia smiled and popped the berry into her mouth. The sweet juice filled her with energy. "Lead the way!"
Lilly led them past underbrush and trees to a small clearing. Bordering it were bushes overflowing with plump berries they made the branches bend. Everyone immediately shouted for joy and ran over. They stuffed themselves and didn't care that the juice was dripping down their faces.
Katia glanced at Nathan and burst out laughing. His mouth was stained in dark purple juice and had dirt on his face.
"You look kind of feral," Katia laughed.
"I think we all look like savages. You have a wild girl look going on," Nathan said as he gestured to Katia's hair.
She combed it self consciously but her fingers got tangled in the mess. Katia realized it was helpless and just gave up. She wished her hair was short like Celia's so that she wouldn't have to deal with it.
"Should we keep going?" Celia asked.
Her mouth was also stained along with Damien's. Luckily the berries seemed to put her in a better mood. The deep scowl she was wearing was now her usual frown.
"Yeah," Katia answered and Lilly continued to lead the way.
By early morning they reached Agnitio's mountain. It was tall with a sharp point on top that pierced the clouds overhead. The winding trail leading up was surrounded by sharp, jagged rocks reaching out from the walls. Despite it being the middle of winter, the whole mountain was covered in lush green grass, plants, and blooming flowers.
Katia turned to Lilly flying in front of her. "Thank you so much for your help Lilly."
"You're welcome," she said in her small, high pitched voice. She smiled but then looked down, her eyes downcast.
"What's wrong?" Katia asked as she let her hand out for Lilly to sit on.
"I just miss my family and friends," she sighed.
"You didn't think we were going to drag you along to that cave did you?" Katia asked Lilly. "I want you to go find your friends and family and be happy, and that's an order," Katia said, pretending to be firm.
Lilly's little face lit up in a huge smile that went up to her ears. Lilly was bubbling with happiness. Little peals of laughter that sounded like bells escaped her lips. She twirled around screaming and flew high into the air before zooming back down. Katia and the rest of them laughed at how happy Lilly looked.
"Thank you!" She squeaked, leaving Katia a delicate kiss on her cheek. She then turned and began to fly away, laughing and somersaulting as she did.
"That was sweet," Nathan said as he wrapped his arm around Katia's shoulders.
"She deserves to be happy," Katia said with a smile.
She leaned her head against Nathan. Together they watched Lilly's glittering figure float away further until she disappeared among the leaves.
Celia cleared her throat loudly. "So are just going to stand here or are we going to climb that mountain?"
Nathan shot Celia a disgruntled look while she just smiled back innocently. Katia pushed Nathan's arm off of her playfully and clapped her hands.
"Okay let's go!"
They looked up studying the mountain. Celia reached her hand out and placed it against its side with her eyes closed.
"There's a ledge on the other side that we can get to the cave from," she said, turning towards them. She looked at Damien and was pleased to see a look of wonder on his face. "The fastest way is to fly. Then we'll have to walk the rest because the rocks are too low over our heads."
They walked around the base and Katia was glad that Nathan could fly. It would be a pain to climb up the jagged surface.
"Okay who should I bring up first?" Nathan asked when they arrived.
"I'll go," Celia offered when Damien and Katia didn't seem like they were going to speak up. They weren't too keen to stand on the edge of a mountain.
He grabbed her hand and lifted her up into the air. Damien and Katia watched as they flew. Nathan left Celia on the small ledge and jokingly saluted her before going down to get the other two. Nathan then got Katia followed by Damien. Soon they were each standing behind the other on the skinny ledge.
"Okay Celia lead the way!" Damien shouted from behind.
Celia slowly started to inch forward with Katia, Damien, and Nathan following behind her. They walked slowly across the side before reaching the end. They had to get to another ledge a couple of feet up, and the only way to get there was to climb. Celia was a natural at it, already knowing the strongest footholds. The rest of them just followed her path, and they made it safely on.
"Are we almost there?" Katia asked slightly out of breath. It was a good thing they had climbing training back at Aevria. If it wasn't for that, she would've collapsed from exhaustion.
"Kind of. We have to go halfway around and up a little. Then we should be there," Celia answered.
The four of them crossed more ledges that got so skinny that it was as thin as a balance beam. They were just inching across with their stomachs against the side of the mountain. Katia made the mistake of looking over the edge and saw that they were hundreds of feet up in the air. She gasped and almost lost her balance before Damien steadied her. Katia leaned forward and hugged the rocks with Damien's hand on her back.
"Yeah don't look down," Celia informed her.
"Thanks for the heads up," Katia responded sarcastically.
Celia disappeared around the side of the mountain, and they heard her feet land firmly on a platform of stone.
"We're here," Celia said as she glanced over her shoulder at them.
Katia carefully walked over the rest of the skinny walkway and joined Celia on the ledge. Right across from them was a small cave hidden within the rocks. If you didn't know it was there, it would've looked like a dip in the side of the mountain. Katia heard shuffling feet and turned to see Damien and Nathan joining them.
Together the four of them walked into the cave. Inside it was damp and there was a cold breeze flowing throughout. The cave was pitch black. They couldn't even see their hands in front of their faces. Katia looked back wondering how it could get so dark so quickly and discovered with a start that the entrance of the cave had disappeared.
"Guys the entrance is gone!" She said while shaking the arm of the person beside her.
"This isn't a normal cave," the person beside her muttered who she found out was Nathan.
Suddenly they could see all around. Damien had lit his hands on fire to provide light. For the first time Katia took a good look around and her heart dropped. She could see why Cato told them it was a maze in there. Before them was the reason only one person was able to make it out alive. Surrounding them were many more caves that would lead them down different paths that could take them anywhere. They could be stuck in here forever.
Katia heard Nathan and Damien curse beside her. The profanities began to echo along the caves, making an interesting chorus of sounds.
"Well isn't that absolutely beautiful?" Celia laughed.
"It was absolutely horrid!" Katia said in a fake British accent as she put a hand to her heart in mock horror.
The others began to laugh at Katia's horrified expression. She glared at each one individually, making them laugh even more. She tried to keep a straight face on but it was too difficult and she ended up laughing so hard her stomach hurt. She thought they were probably losing it but she didn't care. It felt good to laugh.
"We should probably get going," Katia said but she was still laughing a bit.
"Yeah we only have today and tomorrow," Damien said after calming down. "But how are we going to find Agnitio without getting ridiculously lost?"
"I can somewhat sense where Agnitio is staying but it's far away," Celia said as she studied every cave.
"Okay that's our best bet. Lead the way," Nathan told her.
"Everyone shut up," Celia instructed. "I have to concentrate."
Katia, Nathan, and Damien went silent as Celia closed her eyes. She placed her hands against the floor of the cave. She turned, took a deep breath, and opened her eyes to look directly at one cave to their left.
"This one," she said confidently.
Celia stood up and led the way with Damien into the next cave. Katia let out an involuntary shudder as they went in even deeper. Nathan noticed and put a comforting arm around Katia's shoulder. They went down more winding paths with Celia stopping occasionally to make sure they were going the right way.
After turning the corner to enter another path, Celia and Damien suddenly stopped, causing Katia and Nathan to bump into their backs.
"What's wrong?" Nathan asked. Katia peeked around Damien's tall shoulders and gasped. The floor was littered with hundreds of bones.
"What happened here?" Katia stuttered.
"I don't know. It definitely wasn't them getting lost and dying," Damien said in a hard voice.
"There might be something ahead. Stay al-" Celia warned before she was cut off by a loud growl that echoed around them.
"What was that?" Katia asked fearfully.
A shadow flitted across the wall ahead of them. They all whipped around but nothing was there. Nathan pushed Katia behind him protectively. Then they heard another growl, this time coming from behind them. Damien was cursing under his breath nervously.
The four of them backed up so that their backs were against each other. Nathan and Katia faced the way they came from while Celia and Damien looked ahead. The shadows were back and were darting around the walls with incredible speed.
They whipped their heads around, trying to find the threat. Suddenly the creatures growled and lunged at them from both sides. Luckily they all had fast reflexes from their training. Nathan and Katia hit one creature with a strong gust of wind and a blast of water. Celia lifted a wall of stone while Damien threw fire at the other one. The two creatures fell down in a daze.
"Malumcanis," Nathan gasped.
Katia remembered learning about them in her classes. They looked like wolves but their fur was hard as steel. They were extremely fast, had a great sense of smell and hearing, and they had razor sharp teeth. It was also rumored that the Hunters keep them as pets. Katia looked at the one before her and saw two long canines hanging out. They were so long that they went past its chin.
"The only way to kill them is to stab them in one of their front feet. It's their only weak spot," Nathan told them quickly. Katia, Celia, and Damien nodded. Then they attacked.
It wasn't easy. The malumcanis were fast. The two monsters dodged most of their attacks with incredible agility. The few hits they managed to get in hardly caused any harm. They just seemed to infuriate them even more.
Celia and Damien were struggling with the monster they were fighting. Damien tried to make a wall of fire to prevent the malumcani from coming closer, but it just jumped through without a problem.
They jumped back in alarm, and Celia hit it with a rock before it could bite them. After fifteen minutes of intense fighting, they were all out of breath and nowhere near getting rid of the mutts.
Nathan tried to trap the other malumcani in a tornado of wind as Katia tried to freeze water around it. They were able to trap it for a couple of seconds before it brought its sharp teeth on the ice, shattering it and breaking it in seconds. The malumcani lunged at Katia. She screamed and brought a wave of water up but it just broke through. Katia turned but one of its teeth sliced her arm.
"Katia!" Nathan shouted as she screamed out in pain.
"I'm fine," she grunted out through clenched teeth. "Nathan switch spots with Celia. I think that combination of our powers will work better."
Nathan looked at Katia who forced a smile to show that she was okay. He called out to Celia and they quickly switched spots before the mutts could attack again. In one swift motion, Celia spun back so that she was next to Katia. Katia's arm was bleeding, but she tried her best to ignore the pain.
"Celia get a bunch of sharp stones and combine it with my water. We'll hit the malumcani with it and I'll hold the water over it. The stones should distract it enough then you stab its foot," Katia told her quickly.
Celia took the rocks littered all over the floor and sharpened them. Katia summoned all of the water dripping from the walls. Then together they combined their powers. The monster lunged a second time and they blasted it off of its feet. Katia struggled to keep it within the water laced with stones as the monster writhed around violently.
"Celia go!" She shouted.
Celia lunged with her sword. It took all of Katia's concentration to keep the mutt off of Celia. When she was close enough, Katia turned it quickly so that its feet were exposed. Celia stabbed its foot quickly, finally killing the malumcani. They let out a sigh of relief and high fived each other. The two of them turned around just in time to see Nathan and Damien kill the last one.
They had combined their powers like Katia and Celia. Together they made a fire storm that had the malumcani trapped. Damien burned the ground so that it jumped in the air. The two of them synchronized it perfectly. Just as the monster jumped in the air, Nathan blew a hole in the storm and flew in the column of fire. He stabbed the malumcani in the foot before it could land again. It let out a loud growl before collapsing, dead. Nathan and Damien high fived each other in success and turned to see the girls staring at them impressed.
"Katia your arm!" Nathan said, running over to her to examine the wound.
It was about a centimeter deep and it was still bleeding profusely. Katia flinched when Nathan's hand touched the wound tentatively to wipe away some of the blood.
"Sorry did I hurt you?" Nathan asked worriedly.
"No it just stings a little. I think I can take it from here," Katia smiled up at Nathan.
"Oh yeah I forgot that you can heal yourself," he said sheepishly.
He was blushing slightly and scratching the back of his head awkwardly. Katia started to laugh when she saw how embarrassed Nathan looked. She stopped for a second then saw his pouting face and started to laugh even more. She took the water and wrapped it around her arm. She watched as the skin slowly started to come together and close the wound on her arm.
"Sorry for caring," Nathan said, looking down at his feet.
"No I'm sorry," Katia apologized as she hugged Nathan. "It's just that your face looked so cute."
"Like this?" He asked, striking a crazy pose.
Katia burst into another fit of laughter along with Celia and Damien.
"No, now you just look stupid," Katia told him, reaching up to ruffle his hair.
"Hey!" Nathan protested. He attempted to fix his hair but was unsuccessful.
Katia just laughed, shaking her head. They continued on their way. According to Celia they weren't too far away, probably another half hour of walking. As they walked, the four of them joked around while keeping a look out for any more threats. Finally they entered one last cave, but it was empty. At the end was a stone wall.
"I thought you said this was the last cave," Damien said.
"It was supposed to. I was so sure," Celia said confused. She walked up to examine the wall. Celia lifted her hand and concentrated.
"It's here. I can feel it," she told the others.
Katia, Nathan, and Damien walked up to examine the stone wall ahead of them. They looked around but couldn't find a way to get around it.
"Is there another way?" Nathan asked.
"No this was the only one," Celia said.
"Maybe it's like the doors we go through to teleport," Katia speculated.
"Worth a shot," Nathan said.
They each presented their powers. Katia raised some water, and Celia lifted a tower of rocks to it. Nathan blew a gust of wind against the wall while Damien touched his flaming hand to it. Then the four of them stood back and waited for something to happen.
At first the wall looked the same, and they exchanged nervous glances. Then it began to glow brightly and intricate carvings began to appear. The light spread along them until they met in the middle. The four of them placed their hands in the glowing square in the center and the cave wall melted into the sides until they could walk through.
"Yes!" Katia exclaimed.
They cheered and high fived each other. Then together they walked through into Agnitio's chamber. Katia looked around and saw beautifully crafted furniture made of stone. All around the room were plants spread around in an artful manner. She thought with a little pang of sadness that Amanda would've loved the interior.
"Great you guys made it!" Katia heard someone say.
She turned her attention from the furniture and looked for the source of the voice. She spotted a very old looking man standing by a ledge. It opened up like a window to show the scenery below and let a cool breeze flow in. The old man turned around slowly to face them with a crooked smile. Katia saw with a jolt of happiness and hope that it was Agnitio. The man they've been searching for for days, the man with all of their answers.