The Elementals

Chapter 7: Corrupt

There was a faint shuffling sound in the distance, then silence. A moment passed, then it started up again. Alexis blinked away sleep and stretched, pushing her hair out of her face. She wasn't sure what it was that woke her, but she wasn't happy about it. Glancing at the window, she saw it was still dark out. With a sigh, she pushed herself up into a sitting position and stared blankly at her door. She could make out some type of quiet thumping, almost like footsteps.

"What the hell..." she mumbled. Getting to her feet, she wobbled over to her door and, before she opened it, heard a louder thump like something had fallen. Groaning, she opened the door and stepped out into the dark hall. She wiped her eyes with both hands to clear her vision and yawned before examining her surroundings. A few doors down stood two minotaurs and six strong looking fauns. Against one of the walls was a body, its limbs seeming to be bound together. Shocked by what she was seeing, Alexis quickly backed up and stepped into her room. Peeking around the corner, she saw the two minotaurs open the next door and three fauns move to the other. Those rooms were Elizabeth's and Kyle's; that meant the body had to be Brandon's, he had been put in the room closest to the stairs. The minotaurs had gone into Elizabeth's room and everything remained silent there, and the sound of a struggle could already be heard in Kyle's.

"You three don't just stand there. Go get the others, the male first," a quiet voice ordered. Alexis looked around, not being able to spot the one who spoke, but that was the least of her worries. As the three fauns made their way down the hall, the small girl jumped up quickly and threw out her right hand, a powerful gust throwing them back. At the same moment, the two minotaurs were ejected from Elizabeth's room by a dark mass and slammed against the wall. The fauns drew their swords after they recovered from their fall and ran forward, going for Elizabeth's shadow. Running past Noah's and Candice's doors with a few hard, rapid knocks on both, Alexis ducked under the darkness floating in the hall restraining the minotaurs and threw out both of her hands this time, the creatures' bodies being raised and hurdled down the stairs. Barging into Kyle's room, she saw the boy snap his fingers and spark the air around him in flames.

"Don't light the whole place on fire!" Alexis yelled at him, drawing the attention of one of the fauns. She backed out quickly when it charged at her but crashed into another body. Panicked, she stuck out her hands with the palms up and raised them, picking up herself, the person behind her, and the faun in front of her.

"If we could all calm down here that'd be nice!" the one behind her growled as they grabbed her right wrist and twisted it, bringing her whole arm behind her. Alexis hissed in pain and her gust died, dropping them to the ground.

"Alexis!" Kyle yelled, pushing the fauns away from him and running towards her. "Let her go!" Before she knew it a cold blade pressed against her neck and everyone froze. The fauns drew their swords and pointed them at Kyle's back.

"Come any closer and I'll cut her open," the elf threatened.

"What happened to calming down?" a hostile voice asked, Noah. Candice was behind him, the look on her face a mixture of anger and fear. "Let her go and we will." The blade against her neck pressed down and Alexis sighed, her lip curling into a scowl.

"If you pierce my skin, I'm going to cut your fucking hand off," she growled as she started to wiggle the arm being held behind her. The person chuckled and let her go, pushing her into Kyle's arms.

"Such a big threat from a small person. Cute." Getting a good look at her attacker, she saw it was just an elf with short black hair and hazel colored eyes. It glared at Elizabeth as she casually walked out of her room with the two minotaurs wrapped in her shadow and walked over to Brandon, dropping the large creatures at the elf's side as she passed.