The Elementalists

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Lexi looked around tentatively from outside her Business Studies classroom. There were a handful of people, but they were engrossed in their own conversations. When she was positive no-one was looking, she walked around to the back of the building, fitting into a narrow corridor.

The Foreign Language block was the second from the one she was in. Lexi peeped on both sides of the corridor separating her from the one behind the next block. There was no person in sight, so she quickly clicked across to the next gutter corridor.

Only one more, she thought. She checked for people again before she jogged over to the corridor leading from Gamma House. Lexi quickly scanned the ground and, when she was certain no-one was around, sprinted across the ground to the tree line.

Well not necessarily sprinted. Her four inch heels made it look like a crabwalk on a tightrope. But she made it nonetheless. Following the pattern of the trees, Lexi walked along to try and find the clearing. After a while, it seemed like she was going in circles. She stomped the ground in frustration.

A wind suddenly picked up in the trees, rustling the leaves gently. Lexi frowned, and suddenly took a deep breath. A strange realization hit her. She knew where the clearing was.

She wasn't sure how, but she knew it had something to do with the air. As she walked along, it felt like there was a large space of open air. It was different from the air where she was; its flow was disrupted by the trees. But nearby the air was free and untouched.

Lexi walked in the direction of the clearing she had… sensed. It still seemed crazy, but made absolute sense at the same time. As she got closer, she noticed four disruptions in the air. The air was being removed from the atmosphere, and returned without one of its components. Lexi stepped into the clearing and saw Heath, Brett, Asuka and Jason standing in the middle of it. They all turned around as she walked towards them.

“Finally,” Jason droned. “We were gonna start without you.”

“Well, you didn't exactly give me a road map,” Lexi retaliated.

“True,” Brett said. “How'd you get here?”

Lexi hesitated. “It's gonna sound weird, but considering our weird is a whole new level… I sensed the open air of the clearing.”

“I'm so glad you said that,” Asuka sighed, sounding relieved. “I was too scared to say the trees told me where to go.”

“That still sounds weird,” Jason said dryly. “I could smell the water when I walked into the forest.”

“What water?” Lexi questioned.

Jason gestured behind him. Lexi's attention was drawn to a peaceful brook flowing by. Her eyes went wide with wonder. “Oh, wow. How did I miss that?”

Brett shrugged. “I just followed the patterns of sunlight made by the trees. They got larger as I got closer to the brook.”