The Elemental Night School, The Dawn of Echoburne: Book 3 ♛

Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

~Taylor~

I wake up in the emergency room with a tube down my throat and on a bed.

I look around the emergency room. I see a nurse come in and try to talk to her. "Now dear, do you know what snake bit you?"

I tried replying but I couldn't talk. I got kind of angry and pulled the tube out of my throat. The nurse was about to call for someone but I said, "Coral snake. A coral snake." She immediately called someone and got a bottle of anti-venom. A nurse came in and took a needle and grabbed the bottle out of her hands. She took out some anti-venom and gave me a dose of it. I fell asleep after she left, my thoughts swirling. It had all happened so fast...

~

After waking up again, the nurse says I can go home, but should take it easy for a few days. I lie and say, I would though I have no intention of doing so as I have my studies and training think about!

I return to the school in a taxi and pay the driver as I skip back in. I didn't worry about Sky as she would return back to her small stall inside the shack. I silently made plans to visit her this afternoon just to make sure she was okay just in case she got bitten.

~Emily~

After the elemental training is all over, I walk over to Tori with a smile.

"Hey there, Tori!" I say. "Haven't seen you in awhile. How you been?"

"Great!" Tori says with a grin. "Yeah, it's been awhile. How's Cody?"

"Fine, fine," I wave my hand airily.

"Do you plan on doing anything this evening?" Tori asks. "Maybe going on a date with your boyfriend?"

"Well, we were planning to go to this park outside of the school tonight after the park is closed to practice our wind element. We were thinking of creating and controlling a few mini tornadoes!" I say with excitement buzzing in my voice.

"Oooh, that sounds fun. I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do tonight. Maybe talk to my new friend Marcus. Or actually, you should meet him. Maybe we could both join you too tonight." Tori says.

"Okay, give me a moment to write down the address." I say as I quickly scribble down the address and hand it to Tori. "See you there!" I giggle before taking off towards the classrooms.

~Tori~

"See ya!" I reply as I turn to walk down the hallway towards my next class, which is English. Afterwards, I find myself staring blankly into my locker. Tonight I am going to hand out with Emily and Cody. It will be nice to talk to them again. Even though I share classrooms with Cody, it's not the same without Emily being involved alongside us. Of course, the same issue that was bothering me today floods back into my brain to pester me. Cody is going to make fun if me for not having a date, no doubt about it. Maybe I can con somebody into accompanying me tonight. I stand back to close my locker and suddenly, as if it could not have been timed better, I see Marcus walking down the hallway, and run out to approach. He expression is casual until he eyes widen as he sees me darting towards him as to catch his attention.

"Hey Tori. How are you?" He asks.

"Good. Sorry for the sudden rush. I was wondering if you would like to come with me tonight. I am meeting some friends of-campus and I wanted to bring somebody else with me." I offer to him. "

Hmm, I do not have any plans that I know of tonight, so sure!" He gleefully responds.

"Alright! I will call you when I am ready to leave." I say before turning to walk to my last class. Once finished with that, I take out my phone and dial his numbers, which thankfully he gave to me soon after I invited him.

"Okay, meet me by the cafeteria." I say to him before walking out to my destination.

~Valarie~

As we walk into the practice room, I see her brother for the first time, and man, is he attractive. I just better keep my mouth shut where I am around Rhiannon. I think to myself with a grin.

James is standing there, scratching the back of his head and looking around at the small disastrous mess that surrounding him. The floor is littered with shards of rock hard earth, which looks like they've previously been shaped into something.

"James?!" Rhiannon cries indignantly as she looks at the state of the room, unaware of my reaction upon seeing James for the first time. "What the heck did you do?"

"Well...I was practicing making little darts and throwing them at targets," he explains, snapping his fingers as he did so. A few clumps of earth around his feet responds to the click, and form together to create a small, tightly compacted dirt dart, and he flicks his hand upwards to make it hover in the air. "Then I threw a series of them at a rubber target and they all came flying back in my face because they were too strong to just shatter."

Rhiannon crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow. "I would have thought that someone such as yourself would've been able to predict that happening."

James shruggs. "I knew it was possible, I just wasn't sure what extent...besides, I wanted to try it because it seemed fun." He grins cheekily.

"You're incorrigible," his sister mutters, before turning back to me. "Valarie, this is my moron of a big brother, James. James, this is Valarie. She's new here."

James flashes me a warm and friendly smile and walks over to her, his dart dropping through the air and smashing on the ground as he forgot about it. "Hey, Valarie, nice to meet you. Welcome to the Crazy House....I mean Echoburne."

"Nice to meet you too." I say, smiling at James as I shake his hand. Normally I would be stressing over the shy, harmless expressions that I make when meeting new people. However, this guy's attitude is the type that would make anybody feel comfortable instantly, or maybe just me.

James smiles as he shakes my hand, his grip firm but gentle.

"So, did you only just arrive here today?" he asks, making little hand gestures like sweeping broom as he did so. The shards of earth behind him begin to sweep themselves into a little pile, though the whole time he does this, his eyes and attention remain on me, keeping that relaxed aura about him and the cheeky sparkle in his eyes for which he was so well known for, or at least according to Rhi

"Yes I did!" I squeak excitedly. "Figured it was time to go public with my abilities, and to actually do some good for them. They helped me throughout my childhood as an inspiration and a guide to perk me up whenever I was feeling low, but now I need to learn about it more." I continue.

James nods understandingly. "Rhia and I were the same. Using our powers before we came here was useful for a lot of reasons, but we never really learned to control them properly until we came to the school," he says with an easy smile. "So, in that case, I reckon you'll love it here. What element are you?"

"She's air, like me, because it's way cooler than earth," Rhiannon says dryly, not looking at her brother while she glances at her watch. "Ah, dang it. I have to get to a class in a couple of minutes or I'm going to be late. James, can you take care of Valarie, show her around and keep her company and all that?"

James looked at me, winks and gives me a mischievous grin. "Of course, sis," he says with a chuckle.

Rhiannon glares at him. "Don't go getting any funny ideas. I know you: that's your scheming face. Stay out of trouble and don't pull any pranks. I'll meet you guys in a couple of hours, and she better be in one piece when I get back or so help me I will toss you over the forest." She raises an eyebrow and puts her hands on her hips, that classic sassy streak of hers showing through.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure he stays out of trouble." I say with a promising grin. "See you after class!" I exclaim, waving to Rhiannon.

Rhiannon smiles wryly. "Good luck with that," she says dryly, giving a slight laugh. "Being around James is like a babysitting an overgrown child sometimes."

"Hey!" James cries indignantly, though he was grinning cheekily.

"See ya later!" Rhiannon calls, leaving the training room before her brother had a chance to retort, waving back to me as she walked out the door and turned down the hallway.