Element Guardians *To-Be-Edited*

31 ~ Emotions

After some hard persuasion of feelings courtesy of my gem, we sat out on the front steps of the large court building, waiting for our dad to pick us up.

I didn’t hesitate to hug Ashleigh once we were properly released with consent and didn’t let go of her. I can’t believe she’s survived! Then again, she is a very tough cookie.

“You’re finally back!” I gushed, squeezing her into a hug and felt the tears spring to my eyes. “Finally, you’re back! Oh god you’ve missed so much!”

She smiled weakly, her hug half as strong as mine. Her blonde hair had lost its shine and was dull and scraggly. Her blue eyes had momentarily lost the mysterious twinkle yet I could still see it somewhere beyond the hardness.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, my brow furrowing.

“I . . . I just missed you guys, that’s all,” she mumbled and hugged me tightly. “It was just some bad stuff at the Detention Centre.”

“That would explain why you’re so much braver – not that you weren’t brave before!” Felix added quickly, seeing the death glare Ash had sent him.

“Well we’ve got the Fire Crystal,” Ashleigh said with a smile lighting up her face. “One more left to go right?”

“Uh no,” Cale said with a sigh and ran his hands through his hair, obviously distressed. “Two actually.”

I grimaced, confirming this with a nod while Ashleigh groaned in response. “Man, you miss out on a lot over two days!”

I laughed hoarsely in agreement, feeling utterly drained and tired but made an effort for my friend. “Got that right. Felix burned down my entire wall!”

Ashleigh let out a sharp gasp, her eyes narrowing at Felix playfully. “You did not!”

He shrank back in response and avoided her gaze. “By accident. She splashed me with water!”

“Yeah but she did the same thing before you got your crystal!” she whispered angrily, clenching her fists. I felt the ground shift beneath me but it could have been just my own little shifting to make myself comfortable on the hard steps. “Why did you choose now to retaliate and end up burning her wall?!”

“It was an accident!”

Ashleigh sighed. I put my hand on her arm and gave her a mischievous smile. She sighed once more and shook her head. “I’ll patch it all back up for you Rose – so long as Felix hasn’t stuffed it up too much yet.”

“It’s just charred,” he sniffed defensively and leaned back just as our dad’s black car drew up at the front. The window rolled down, revealing dad beckoning to us tired. “Let’s go home.”

Ash and Felix were allowed to stay at our house until school ended for our peers and so we had roughly two hours to decide our next tactic.

“It’s good to be out of that place,” Ashleigh groaned in pleasure and ran upstairs straight to my room. A loud scream rang through the house, emitting a chuckle from me and Cale.

“I’m guessing she saw the wall,” Cale mumbled with a smirk. “I’ll go upstairs and check on her. You and Felix need to sort out your problems.”

I felt the atmosphere of the house lighten as Cale jogged upstairs and left the two of us standing there, staring each other down.

Something tugged annoyingly at the back of my brain. It felt like it was informing me of a little detail that I’m trying to dismiss.