Protectors Of The Supernatural

Chapter 26 - Trees, Trees, and Trouble

Chapter 26 - Trees, Trees, and Trouble

Christina's P.O.V.

     "Let's go Christina," called out Xavier through mind link. In response, I looked over at him and nodded.

     "Anything?" I called out to the rest.

     "Nothing in the North," replied Mani.

      "Same here in the East," chimed in Lowell. 

     "Everything checks out in the West," sighed Peyton. 

     It had been early in the morning when all of us had caught wind of a unusual noise coming from the outer-skirts of the forest, way before anyone else woke up. The problem with this was the fact that we were out in the open and the noise was echoing throughout the forest, so finding the unusual sound was a little more on the complicated side.

     "Christina, you should probably head back to the rest before they wake up," suggested Brielle. 

     She was right. Having all of us gone would definitely raise some suspicion flags and that was the last thing we needed. We needed to keep this on the low to stop the spread of worry and fear within the campus. I looked over to Xavier through the opening of the trees, who flanked my right side as we dashed through the forest . He made eye connection and nodded in agreement and understanding. I stopped briefly to make eye connection with Theo, who flanked my left side up in the tree to get some higher ground, he nodded and continued to jump branch to branch, tree to tree. We continued running up North to the campus when something had crossed my mind.

     "Xavier, Theo, you two head back, I need to meet with the head Gnome briefly," I called out to them through mind link as I had stopped in my tracks. 

     Xavier stopped and looked up at Theo. I glanced over at Theo and saw that he nodded before he jumped over the path I was on to make a right turn. He landed on one of the trees and possibly said something to Xavier through mind link before he continued on first back to camp. Xavier glanced over at me and basically gave me a look to be careful before he turned and followed Theo closely behind. Once they were out of sight, I continued on straight to the Gnomes' village. Once I reached it, many of the Gnomes' either stared at me or gave me a brief 'hello' or 'good morning'. I would just reply back to them with a slight smile or a greeting back. I made my way through the village, careful to not get any close to the Gnomes' magic or potions. One bad incident in the past had taught me the real power of a Gnome. 

     As I reached the head Gnomes' hut, I gave a quick knock to the carved wooden door and awaited patiently. 

     "Come in," I heard his gruff voice call out. Once I entered through the door, I was hit with a strong smell of lemongrass and smoke. I let out a single cough while waving my hand in-front of my face to move the smell away from me. I quickly shut the door and made my way into the part of his hut where I wasn't too close to the troublesome looking pot of whatever he was brewing up. 

      He glanced at me briefly, "what can I do for you my dear good friend?"

     "I have come here to alert you of a strange noise that my friends and I had heard earlier head Gnome-" I had began to say, but was eventually cut off by him.

      "Please, Christina, you know me well enough to call me that," he sighed. I watched as he moved around and threw something into the pot, with that, a large puff of purple smoke had me moving closer to the walls and away from the pot and him himself. 

     "I apologize Orion. You know me," I said sheepishly. He nodded before he moved around, looking for something in the wooden carved jars. I moved around his hut to look at the pictures that hung on the wall. One picture instantly caught my attention. I moved closer to see it more clearly and realized that it had been an old Polaroid picture from when I was younger and had yet to receive my inner demon.