{ELEMENTISTS OF WILLOW FOREST BOOK V} The Journey Across Water

Les Serpents Rouges

6: Les Serpents Rouges

I stared at the boy (who I later discovered was Rex) blankly. I didn't know French yet.

He quickly switched to English, although it was fairly obvious that neither he nor any of his nine companions had to speak it very often. "We are Les Serpents Rouges. I believe you asked."

Even I could tell that what he had said in French wasn't the same as what was put in English, but I brushed over that quickly. "Who are Les Serpents Rouges?"

"Us." The leader responded.

"Who are you?"

"Les Serpents Rouges. The literal translation is The Red Snakes, but we are much more than just a name. Nous sommes Les Serpents Rouges."

I tried a different approach. "What are you?"

All ten laughed. It wasn't an overly kind laugh, but I didn't mind, because I wasn't exactly used to kind, from my grandmother who dared to buy me lots of presents.

"I like you." It was the leader, again, who spoke. "Would you like to come with us so we can explain further?"

"Yes please." I replied.

"Run in the middle of us as we run." One of the girls said, "And you will run with us."

"Okay."

And I followed the strangers through a strange place in a strange country. I liked it.

*

"You can speak now." Sasha said. "Go on, tell me every last detail Hephzibah told you about the people I already know every last detail about."

Olivia opened her mouth, and let out a great rush of air, like she'd been holding her breath the whole time. When she stopped panting, she stared straight again. "You ran with Les Serpents Rouges?"

"Why is that so hard for you to get?" Sasha asked. "What's the big deal?"

"WHAT?!" Olivia shrieked. "Running with Les Serpents Rouges? No big deal? Sasha, do you even know who Les Serpents Rouges are?"

"Well, yeah." Sasha replied. "They're this gang of teenagers."

"And..." Olivia hinted like there was more to be added.

"...That's it. They're a gang of teenagers running around France. Expert hunters, trackers... expert everything."

"And..."

Sasha sighed. "Fine. Maybe when I was little I somehow got it into my head that they had magic powers and went around killing monsters called Dark Wolves. But, when I got older, I realised that that was just me fantasising regretfully about them after I'd gone back to England, trying to make the best time of my life feel even better, even though it was in the past."

Olivia shook her head. "Sasha, you weren't fantasising."

"You mean..." Sasha opened her eyes wide. "Oh, please tell me they're not Elementists. There's no way that the best time of my life, before I found out I was an Elementist, was with a bunch of Elementists."

The descendant of Hephzibah hesitated. "They're... not Elementists. Yet they know about us, and are sort of in our world with us."

Sasha stared. "Explain."