Saving Elementals

Chapter 6

We make it to the Fire Kingdom and enter one of the volcanoes. Kindle leads us to an old abandoned warehouse that sits inside. I jump off my horse and look around for a way to get in.
Kindle walks past me and up as the door up, sliding it into the wall. She leaves it halfway open and then motions for us to walk through. I duck under the door and walk into the dark warehouse. Kindle snaps her fingers and shadows dance along the walls of the room.
"It's creepy in here," Acid comments, their voice echoing around the dark room. I can't see Ebony at all in the dark but I can hear him walking beside me.
"People come in and out of here all the time," Kindle whispers, her voice carrying around the room. We walk to the end of the warehouse and see a door. Tornado walks forward and kicks it open, the door's hinges freaking loudly.
I peer into the room and see tons of empty dog crates lying around. There's blankets and other stuff around and I'm guessing that people use this place to hide out. We walk inside and I get a better look at the place.
"Well this definitely doesn't look like a crack house," Waves says sarcastically. I hear Ebony chuckle and I jump, forgetting that he is right beside me.
That makes everyone laugh and Ebony pats me lightly on the shoulder. I can feel his grin even though I can't see it and I playfully glare at him, rolling my eyes. I lift up one of the blankets and find a rotten sandwich that looks as if it's a thousand years old.
"What's that smell?" Acid asks, covering their nose with their shirt. I throw the blanket across the room and it hits a wall. Acid looks over and sees the sandwich. Their nose wrinkles and they walk further away, checking out another dog crate.
"It looks like some place that houses homeless people," Tornado comments offhandedly, pushing some blankets off a crate. He tries to pry it open but it doesn't want to open.
"Yeah, but where's all the homeless people then?" Kindle says, walking over and opening the crate for him. He shrugs and looks in the crate before backing up.
"What in the world is that stuff?" He asks. Kindle leans over the crate and looks in. She frowns and moves back. I walk over and peer inside the crate, seeing tiny red animals wiggling around in the crate.
"Lava worms," Kindle says after a moment. One of them climbs out of the crate and goes after me. Kindle quickly steps on it and then puts the lid back on the crate, sealing it with her fire.
"We aren't near any lava. They shouldn't be here," she says. Acid opens another crate and finds more lava worms wiggling around, eating a toy car. They close the crate and run over to us.
Waves and Ebony walk over and we stand there for a minute staring at the crates. I see another worm crawling out of a hole in one of the crate and I point at it, letting Kindle kill it.
"They are extremely hot to the touch but otherwise are harmless," Kindle says as she walks back to us. I realize that she can kill them because she's used to being near lava and is part of the Fire Kingdom.
"Well there isn't any evidence of kids being here and I really don't like those worms. We should leave now," Waves suggests. I nod and we walk away from the crates.
We walk back into the big room and close the door. I step forward and hear the floor crack beneath me. I immediately stop and the others watch as they stand by the door.
I slowly look down and see a crack spreading across the room. I look back at the others and Kindle seems to be trying to figure out what's happening. She tests the floor with her foot and then looks up at me.
"Keep going," she says quietly as if talking louder would cause the floor to crack more. I take careful steps towards the other side of the warehouse. I hear footsteps behind me and realize the others are coming with.
I make it a quarter of the way away when the floor groans really loudly. We all stop and I stare down at the floor. It cracks open more and I can see lava through the cracks in the stone.
"We need to get out of here, fast!" I exclaim to them. Acid starts sprinting across the floor to the door of the warehouse. I almost make it to the end when the floor comes out from beneath me.
I look down and see lava rushing under my feet. I hold on tighter to the stone and try to crawl up. Waves and Tornado grab my arms and help pull me up.
I sit down on the floor, a couple feet away from the hole in the stone. Ebony crouches down beside me while Kindle runs off to find someone to report the hole to.
Acid looks down into the hole and lifts their hand and sprays acid into the lava. It jumps up and almost hits them, but Tornado pulls them back just in time. They thank him and walk over to where me and Ebony are sitting down.
The sit down beside us and we wait for Kindle to get back. She brings someone and they state at the hole in awe. They run away to go get help and Kindle nods to me.
"We have to leave. My Kingdom can't know that I'm here after I disappeared," she says. I walk back over to my horse and mount him. We ride further away and into an alleyway where we won't be seen. Kindle pulls out the map and opens it, lying it across her horse's back.
"This is the only other suspicious place in the kingdom that I haven't been to," she says. I nod and she tucks the map back away.