Wilting Blooms:
Winter melted slowly into a sad, wet March Spring. The buttercup heads drooped and howling winds tore through the grounds the SS. The Thief's Legion had been working well. They met in the secret room behind the tapestry of the Council. The only problem was the massive range in powers. They were all capable in combat. It was working together as a force that caused trouble.
There were the Elementals who had a Telekinetic Powers over the elements – water, fire, earth and air. The Spell Casters were like Luke and Aiden. They were able to cast spells using wands and ancient words. Alchemists were the scientists of the group and infused their concoctions with dangerous Magic. The Scryers were kept busy trying to spy on the Shadows. Many of the Thief's Legion were Healers and they gathered herb supplies, bandages and medicine. Almost all of the Legion could generate Shields using their Auras. Though they had all studied the ins and the outs of Dark Magic, none of the students could actually use it.
So far, the movement had gone unnoticed. The Legion had expanded to include over thirty students. Lucky, James and Aiden lead the Legion. Besides each person's Powers, every student learnt how to fight. Sword Combat, Staff Combat and Hand-to-Hand were taught as the SS but within the secret room, daggers, bows and arrows, nunchucks and slingshots were all added to the SS's enormous arsenal.
Though the Shadows had not yet attacked, little disturbances rippled the previously still water. A girl in her Second Year at the SS went missing for a week. When she finally turned up, she refused to speak. When they tried to get her to open her mouth, the girl set the Alchemist's Building on fire. But the Healers got a good enough glimpse to confirm that someone had cut the girl's tongue out.
Scryers in the Fliestone Towers could not see the Onyx Mountain Range. The visions they did have were fuzzy and clouded. Then, of course, there was the fact that almost all the baubles had fallen off the Emberorb Tree. The lights in those that remained seemed dimmed.
Lucky was standing beneath the Emberorb Tree when a pair of warm hands covered her eyes.
"Guess who," said a deep, smiling voice.
"Hmm. I don't have a clue. James?" She asked
"How did you know?" James sighed dramatically. He removed his hands from her eyes but before Lucky could move away, James slid his arms around her waist and pulled her against his chest.
"James, what are you doing?" Lucky asked, struggling to keep her voice even. Being in his arms was better than she'd imagined.
"I want to hold you. Is that such a crime?" James said softly. He smiled when Lucky placed her hands over his. For a time, they remained that way; happy, calm and though neither of them admitted it, in love.
"Lucky..." He whispered, turning her around so that they were almost nose to nose. He should kiss her. He wanted to kiss her. But any moment for kissing was lost when he heard Aiden yelling their names. A blush had spread over both their cheeks and when Aiden arrived and he saw James staring daggers at him and Lucky with her head down he knew he'd interrupted something.
"Sorry man," Aiden whispered and punched James' arm lightly. James glanced at him ruefully.
"You'd better come with me," Aiden said to both of them. "There's been an attack." Lucky's head flew up, her eyes wide.
"Where?"
"The third floor in the West Wing." Aiden paused. "It's a murder."
Lucky gasped. "Who?"
"Samantha, the Earth Elemental."
James swore violently. Samantha had also been a Healer and was a fantastic, kind leader among the Healers. Lucky could feel herself shaking.
"Come on. Maybe we can prove to the Heads that the Darkness is rising."
Samantha Dean:
Samantha Dean was nineteen. She had light brown hair and hazel eyes. She was tall but her voice was soft and gently. Lucky could hardly bare to look at her body. It lay in the Infirmary and the only reason she and James could look at it was because Poppy had secretly allowed them to. Poppy was the only staff member in the SS who knew about the Thief's Legion. They had had to trust her to get Healing supplies.
Sam's body was covered in great red welts. Lucky knew exactly what had caused them. When the Shade Monster had attacked her, she'd discovered red welts on her thigh and arms the next morning. Sam had one around her neck. Bruises were blooming across her face and neck and a wound in Sam's leg was still leaking blood. She had been discovered by her best friend, Laura Panner, who had gone to meet her on the third floor.
Blue Eyes:
For a long moment, Lucky stared at Sam's rigid body. Then, she turned and hurtled from the room. She stormed through the hallways and flung open the doors of the school. She stumbled out into the grounds. Lightning crackled above her head and the water in the school's lake lapped up over the sides.
"Lightning Elementals are born of Dark Magic," a soft, snake-like voice spoke by Lucky's ear. She spun around in terror. The voice was dangerous. Behind her stood a tall, hooded figure that was clearly a man. All she could see of his face were piercing blue eyes and a proud chin. But there was something about him...
"Lucky!" James yelled. Rain began to fall and lightning hit the ground in front of the strange man.
"You should be more careful," he said coolly. Fire lit the grass around Lucky, trapping her in a circle of flames. "You don't want to make enemies so fast."
A whip of flames lashed out and set the hem of the man's cloak alight and the flames around Lucky died.
"Leave her alone." James growled.
"Ah, James. Your power would be so great if you joined us and used Dark Magic."
The man turned to the two students. "How strange...a Fire Elemental and a Water and Storm Elemental. I thought you would do better, Mr Calner."
Suddenly, a scream tore through the rain. Lucky sprang forward and the rain turned to icicles. They shot towards the man. The man turned and Lucky saw the fear in his eyes. She hesitated. And with a laugh, he was gone
"No!" James yelled. "You should have – why didn't you kill him?"
"I couldn't." Lucky said.
"You couldn't?" James asked, incredulous.
"Well, could you have killed him?" Lucky asked. She turned her back on him.
"Yes. No. I don't know. I'm sorry." James reached for Lucky and pulled her into his arms. She was shaking but she wasn't crying.
"Sam—." She whispered.
"I know."
