Evanescence

Chapter 1: Fern

Three years earlier....

I laughed with glee as I soared over the trees, my magic sending leaves spiraling after me. I shifted direction, my wings propelling me upwards. I halted for a brief second, scanning for my friend Ivy through leafy, sunlit branches. As my searching eyes landed on her short form, I let myself plummet towards the ground. The free-fall was exhilarating. Magic streamed from my fingertips, dancing and drifting on the wind even as I left it behind.
Ivy yelped as I pulled up right over her head, flipped, and tapped down just in front of her. She stomped her foot, her beautiful silver eyes burning with anger.
"What do you mean by scaring me like that?!"
I smiled. I was one of the few people not intimidated by Ivy's demeanor. What she lacked in stature, she made up for in spirit.
Ivy is my short best friend. She is the confidence to my timidity, the bossy to my...well, non-bossiness. I don't know what word to use for it. She's an elf (but don't call her that unless you want to die).
"Sorry."
"NO YOU'RE NOT! THERE IS NO WAY ON THIS WHOLE BIG EARTH THAT YOU ARE SOR-"
Ivy suddenly broke off. "Did you hear that?" she whispered.
I shook my head, confused. Elves have amazing hearing, so it didn't bother me that she had heard something I hadn't.
"Listen." Ivy cocked her head. "There it is again."
This time I heard the faint yell coming from somewhere to my right. As it came again, I grabbed Ivy's hand and took off towards the sound.
"Really?" Ivy grumbled as I hovered over a tree. I looked down and winced. Her arm was twisted around as she hung. I landed on a branch and let go of her hand, grabbing her as she started to tip over. She scowled at me as she rubbed her wrist.
I soared higher, trying to pinpoint what and where the noise was coming from. After a few minutes of futile searching, I shook my head and gently touched down on the branch beside Ivy.
"See anything?"
"Nope. I need to you to show me where the noise is coming from."
Ivy smiled up at me. A dangerous gleam came into her eyes.
Uh oh.
"Leave this to me." Ivy looked down at the ground and seemed to pale. I glanced down as well. We were higher up than I thought. I flitted out in front of her and held out my hands. She took them and we drifted to the ground.
Ivy closed her eyes and concentrated. I couldn't hear anything, so when she started walking, I sure hoped she knew where she was going.
The soft carpet of moss felt boingy underneath my bare feet. You might think it's weird that I go barefoot, but I usually fly instead of walking, so it seemed natural.
"Wait," Ivy whispered as she grabbed my arm. "It sounds like someone's coming." I fluttered my wings and lifted a few inches off the ground. Until Ivy frowned. Then I froze.
I could hear the footsteps now. Tmp tmp tmp. The footsteps grew closer, now accompanied by a ferocious growling. There was a sudden yell.
Ivy took off running in the direction the noise had come from. Personally, I would have rather gone in the opposite direction, but I couldn't just let her go off by herself now, could I?
I sprinted after her. I was a pretty decent runner, but Ivy was super fast. I tried my best to keep up with her, and I was doing pretty well, until I tripped over... an egg? I gently picked it up and kept running.
Finally, I saw Ivy coming towards me, panicked and panting.
"What, what?" I asked as she stopped.
"Gri-gri-griffin!"
"What?"
"Well, technically a boy, who told me to run back this way. Did you not hear the word GRIFFIN?!"
I raised the hand that wasn't holding an egg in surrender. Ivy gasped.
"Where did you get that?"
I looked down at the egg. For the first time I saw the gold and white leopard print. It was beautiful, the way the colors seemed to shimmer and move in the sunlight. I tilted it back and forth, getting a good look at it from all around.
I glanced up and noticed Ivy staring at me. She made a well, get on with the answer gesture.
"I, uh, well...actually, I tripped over it."
Ivy face palmed.
"You tripped over it?"
I nodded sheepishly.
"Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
"CRAP NUGGETS!"
I turned, startled, lifting off the ground in preparation for an attack. A tall, muscular boy with shaggy blond hair tumbled out of the bushes. An arrow fell out of his quiver. He stared up at us for a second with brown eyes.
"Hey, you're the girl from earlier!"
Ivy snorted. "No dip, Sherlock."
Shaggy-hair rolled his eyes. "Well, then, why didn't you get out of here?"
"I'd like to take a moment to mention that I have no clue what's going on," I interjected.
"Long story short, I made a griffin mad."
"Why?" This from Ivy.
"Well, I may have-hey, you found it!" Shaggy-hair grabbed for the egg. I noticed he had a LOT of blood coming out of his left shoulder. He had a strange expression on his face, which, along with the sword, bow and arrows, and the knife, kind of creeped me out. The griffin screeched louder, letting us know she was getting close.
Ivy whirled, her brown and silver hair flying around her face. She nodded in my direction: do your thing. Shaggy-hair looked panicked.
I sighed. "You idiot." This comment directed towards Shaggy-hair, just as the griffin charged into the clearing.
I passed the egg off to Ivy and threw up my arms, muttering protect. Immediately, a shield rose up around us. The griffin ran into it and bounced off with a muted thwonk. It looked extremely surprised at running into an invisible wall. It squawked and tried again. And again. Andagainandagainandagain.
I winced as the griffin attacked. The spell was only as strong as the caster, and I had been feeling the impact of every hit. Ivy placed her hand on my shoulder and whispered something in my ear.
"In my bag," I replied weakly, vaguely wondering where the egg had ended up. She grimly nodded and reached into the custom made backpack for what I always carried with me. She double tapped my shoulder, and I let down the spell for a split second.
Ivy sprinted out to the griffin with twin daggers in her hands. We agreed not to kill it, just to keep it from following us until we could get away. Out of the corner of my eye, it looked like Cameron had the egg. Ivy had probably handed it to him in her rush.
The knives flashed as she ducked and rolled, avoiding the sharp beak and piercing talons. She weaved in and out of the wings, cutting off the primary feathers. Ivy climbed up the back and neck and gave it a good, hard thump on the head to send it to sleep.
I completely dropped the spell, and the three of us took off.