The Elements

Chapter Twenty Four

Asher was walking to somewhere with his friends. They didn't know where they were going, but they had to at least look for where Selene could be captured.
"Don't the Darkness have a headquarters?" Arabella asked.
"Well, if they did we'd probably find it by now," Flora answered calmly. She still held the sword in her hand, and Asher noticed vines and flowers were starting to decorate the silver, elegant sword.
"Hey, what's happening to the sword?" Asher asked, a sinking feeling erupting in his gut. A feeling telling him something was wrong.
"What do you mean?" Flora asked, and a look of worry spread on her face.
Soon enough, Flora saw what Asher was talking about, but she had a reaction that Asher didn't expect.
"Are you afraid of a bit of plants?" She teased, chuckling.
Cole let out a laugh, and so did Asher's brother.
"I-I have plant allergies." Asher answered, feeling the warmth of his cheeks warn him that he was embarrassed. Well, he already knew what he'd said was stupid, and his cheeks were practically screaming at him because of it.
Cole was still chuckling, but through it he said," Oh really? Why aren't you-"
But before he finished, some footsteps approached.
"Hide!" Flora hissed.
Asher, Jason, Flora, Cole, and Arabella his behind a bush. Asher hoped they wouldn't be seen, and that nothing would happen to them.
"Well, the Silver Ruins isn't here!"
"The girl was wrong!"
"Calm down. We will find it. It has to be at the right time." A familiar voice said.
"Oh hell no, it's that guy James." Cole hissed just loud enough so that his friends could hear him.
"Shhhhhh!" Flora shushed him.
Asher dared not to talk, because he had things to think about. Like how Selene had known anything about the Moonstone and its whereabouts, and something else even Asher couldn't admit to himself.
Asher looked at James and it seemed there was a boy with blonde hair also with him.
"Alright Casper, we're going to train. Since Blair isn't here, you can use more of your Death Element." James explained.
"I'm gonna give him something to train with." Flora growled, and started to get up. Asher as the closest, along with Arabella, so they worked together to pull Flora back down.
"Are you insane?" Asher whispered.
"Yeah, ditto. Are you trying to get us exposed?" Arabella scolded.
"I'd like to see James win against an angry Flora." Cole chuckled quietly.
"I will slap you, so stop it." Flora threatened.
"But wait, why are they training and trying to find the Moonstone at the same time?" Asher questioned.
"Do you hear something?" James asked.
The group went dead silent instantly.
"No, but I think if it wasn't just me, I heard something coming from this bushes." Casper answered.
Oh hell no, we're gonna get discovered-
And before Asher could finish his thought-
"Aha! I found you." James's voice broke the silence.
The group stood up, Arabella and Jason looked petrified.
"What do you want?" Flora dared to speak.
"I want the Moonstone of course," James said walking a little ways away.
"And what the hell do you want it for?" Arabella dared to say to the evil man.
"How dare you speak like that!" James's voice erupted in anger. But it soon turned deadly calm." But I like it. You just think you can stand up to me, but really I can kill you with the flick of my wrist."
"I'm not in the mood for jokes, or not now at least. What are you doing here?" Cole snarled.
James sighed heavily. "That's none of your business. Why are you here? In the Death Forest of all places."
"Well, we're still looking for our friend. So if you'd kindly-" Flora started to say, but she was then owned against a nearby tree.
"Hey! What's wrong with you?" Asher raised his voice and added a choice word.
"Ohhhhhhhhhh!" Jason said. "You got burned!"
"I don't have time for this. We're leaving!" James announced, gesturing for Casper to follow him.
Soon enough, James, Casper, and the soldiers were on their way down the road.
"We should follow them." Flora said firmly, landing on the ground.
Arabella helped her back to her feet. "Yeah, I agree."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go." Cole said." And I don't mean that as a joke."
Asher already had a bad feeling about this, and he knew Jason did too.
But they started to walk on the path James had taken.