Atlantis Academy: The First Element

CHAPTER TWO

The Lake of Twenty-Five Thousand Lovers.

I finally let out a giggle at that terrible name and glance back, but FAE's gone. It's like the path ends where I left her.

Invisibility spells can really mess with your head.

I try to shrug it off, but my heart's beating too fast as I pick up my pace.

This new world is so strange... but it's also beautiful.

I just gotta get used to it.

Birds are singing in the branches above me, and light is reflecting off something on the other side of the forest to my right. That's gotta be the lake, right?

I'm giddy with anticipation as I break into a slight jog.

I still can't believe this is happening to me!

I'm high on life—but very out of breath—by the time I finally reach the little wooden sign marked "A and B."

It leads me down another path, deeper into the woods and away from the lake, and then it abruptly ends.

There's nothing here, and my giddiness fades a tad, replaced with fresh anxiety.

What now?

I stand there for a moment, waiting for more shimmering, but there isn't any. Where's FAE when ya need her?

"Halllooo?" I call out. "Where do I go next?"

"The elevator," a man says. "Ugh. Obviously."

I turn around, my heart leaping into my throat.

There's a very... petite man staring at me from the ferns a few feet away.

He's wearing a medieval-looking outfit in shades of green and brown, with a pouch hanging from his waist, and he's slender and short, maybe three feet tall. If it wasn't for his chest-length beard, I'd mistake him for a boy.

I blink at him stupidly, my mouth hanging open.

He looks like a freakin' cookie elf.

Holy crap. Is he an elf?