The Elementals of Edgewood

Chapter Ten

A low growling sound erupted from the direction of the kitchen. Without realising, George stood up, his heart beat racing in his chest. He focused his eyes on the double doors, not daring to blink in case he missed whatever came out of it.

"Clarie?" Sadie called out, rising from her seat. The growling grew louder. She slowly began to walk towards the kitchen. George exchanged a wild glance with Harrison.

She was actually walking towards the strange noise. Her insanity was confirmed.

A gunshot suddenly splintered the suspending tension, followed by a strangled howl of pain which was suspiciously wolf-like. George flinched, hitting his head against the window. The sound of the shot throbbed in his eardrums.

Sadie strode back towards them with panicked eyes- her expression causing George's terror to escalate even more. He blinked away tears that were beginning to well up in his eyes.

"I need you to help me." She murmered forcefully, quickly grabbing the stones of each of them and putting them in the bag. George watched her shove it in her hoodie and pull out a crumpled paper bag. "I need you to distract them."

"Distract who?" Arlo breathed, voicing George's thoughts.

"Whoever just shot Clarie." Her words sent a cold wash of reality over George. Someone had shot his waitress.

"Quick," She turned and strode over to the double doors, footsteps light. Arlo swallowed and followed her, Harrison in tow. George shuffled out of the booth after Jess, his ability to breath growing rapidly more difficult.

Sadie gestured for the two of them to get on the opposite side of the doors from her, Arlo and Harrison. He stood in front of Jess, the double doors next to him the only barrier between him and a person with a gun. His breath was still short and rushed, but he focused his attention on Sadie's expression across from him as she mouthed the words 'tackle them to the ground.'

He widened his eyes at her. Surely she wasn't serious. Surely the whole think was a joke. She didn't actually expect him to be able to tackle a murderer- an armed murderer?

But her gaze left his as she pushed Arlo in front of her, so that the boy's blue eyes were now opposite George. He was somewhat relieved to see the worry in them, that he wasn't the only one freaking out about the situation.

Sadie's fierce nod focused his attention on what he was supposed to do.

Tackle them to the ground.

Tackle armed people who weren't afraid to shoot their weapons to the ground.

No problem.

He could hear Jess's panicked breathing behind him. Georg closed his eyes for a moment, trying to settle his own racing heart when he realised it was a stupid idea to take his eyes off the doors.

"What are we waiting for?" Arlo shouted in a hushed whisper, growing restless. Sadie opened her mouth to scold him for speaking when the doors suddenly swung open, blocking the pair of them from George's view.

Two men burst into the room, scanning the entire diner with their guns.

For a moment, George was frozen by the quickness of their arrival, but seeing Arlo running towards them kicked his adrenaline into action.

The men hadn't seen them standing by the doors. They whipped around at the sound of their movement, but it was too late.

Out of the corner of his eye, George saw Arlo grab one of the men around the waist and fling him back onto the floor. Quickly mimicking his actions, George did the same. The man landed on the ground with an "oomph" sound, groaning in pain.