Revealed (Keys To The Elements Story 1)

Chapter 19

"Woah," I breathed, when I took a good look at Willow Fortress. It was a little tower surrounded by small houses. Along the side of the village was a huge willow tree, draping over a small pond.

My kind of place, I thought. The last time I was here, I was 10. I looked around and spotted Diego, Parker, and Zoey already standing together. I hurried over to them because Lord Julian had instructed us to go off by ourselves to look for any sign of Bizaria.

"Hey, Clover. We were thinking of going to the village to ask around first," Diego told me.

So that's what we did. We went to every single store in Willow Village but no luck. After about an hour of asking, we sat down on a bench to think.

"I'm sorry," Zoey said to me. "This was a way for you to save Daisy."

Diego spoke up, finally. "Clover, can I talk to you privately?"

I looked at him and shrugged, following him away from the others.

Diego stared intently into my eyes. "Clover, I know this last week has been crazy for you and we barely know each other, but please, trust me, okay?"

Where was this coming from?

"Diego, I trust you. Of course I trust you."

He smiled. "Thank you."

My hands gripped my shirt. "But hey, I need you to trust me, too." I had noticed recently he hadn't been asking for my input on anything or asking me to practice teleportation with him.

Diego looked down. "I'm trying to work on that. But you just do things without thinking and I'm worried one day, that'll backfire on you, or someone you care about."

I didn't respond to his comment because I noticed something orangey-red from the corner of my eyes.

"Daisy!" I called out, running right towards the growing flames.

"No, no, no, no, no!" I heard Diego yell from behind me.

Great, I had just done what he said he was anxious about. But it was too late to change my mind.

I threw my hands out in front of me, creating a flood of water. I raced right into the flames and before I could do anything, it surrounded me. Everytime water engulfed some flames, more would start to burn. A few minutes passed of fighting the fire when I began to cough.

"Too... much... smoke," I wheezed. The rain shower I had begun earlier was dying down, with only a few droplets coming down. I kneeled on the ground and cried.

"Daisy, please," I begged. "It's me, Clover. I can't always be there when you use your powers. I have no idea how I'm going to survive the flames you're making now, but I just want you to know, I love you. I'm so proud of how much you've accomplished, even though someone's controlling you. I don't know, I somehow feel like I can get through to you by talking. And..."

I dared to take a peak of my surroundings and I saw a clear path between the flames. I wiped my eyes and immediately stood up.

"This way," whispered Parker, appearing on the other side.

I looked back at the flames. "Daisy..." I mumbled.

Parker walked slowly to the middle of the path. His emerald green eyes met mine. They were hard and soft at the same time, like they were sheltering a softer version of him inside.

Parker looked warily at the scorching flames. "I wasn't able to protect my brother and I'm trying to protect you so will you please," he pleaded. "Come. Here."

I nodded and jogged right over to me, grabbed his hand, and pulled him away. We were far enough now for me to finally take a deep breath.

"You saved me. You really did," I said in relief. Parker kept his eyes on the fire, though.

"Where are the others?" I asked, looking around, worried.

He replied, "They're alerting the other students and the villagers."

I looked up at the sky and almost fell in shock. Daisy... was flying.

"Parker, get me up there," I requested, without a second thought.

He looked at me, Daisy, and then back to me in disbelief. "What?"

"Can't you control anything? Lift me up or something." How was it not obvious to him?

He didn't say anything, but he kept his focus directed at me. When I gripped his arm, I saw a girl spin into the sky, as a cold breeze swept past us. But I couldn't get a good look, because I started to turn, as well.