Battle of The Elements COMPLETED

Chapter 3

 Titania

I didn't speak to him. I didn't even look him in the eye after we left the bar. We found Dane and Harrison in our room and ignored their questioning looks when they saw the tension in the air.

After Alex saw me and Bridgette, he stormed over and pushed me away from her. Then, without warning he pulled his dagger in her and demanded she showed him her 'mark'. With a roll of her eyes, Bridgette pulled her dress up slightly to reveal an ugly scar in the shape of a flame. Then, Alex pulled me away from the bar and Bridgette. I hadn't spoken to him since.

"Ok... ignoring the two sudden enemies in the room," Dane said, eyeballing Harrison "we found what the problem is by the way you two."

Alex didn't look up from his bed "Yeah, there's a flame elemental here. She's probably starting fires and killing people like a typical magician." He glanced my way "It's in their nature."

It took everything inside me not to yell at him that he was wrong, that magicians – like any other human - just want to live like a normal human being. But I kept my mouth shut because he didn't know any better than what he had been taught, and he didn't know that everything he had been taught about magic users – like most of what people say about them– was completely untrue.

"Nope." Harrison said from his spot on the bed closest to the door "Actually, it doesn't have anything to do with her, not that we know of. There have been reports of children going missing."

I looked up at him "While that is horrible, what does it have to do with magic?"

"Well," Dane said casually leaning against the wardrobe "they all happen at the exact same time every few days. Not only that, but the children seem almost...hypnotised by this...sound."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked, staring at the ceiling while laying down on his bed.

"It means" Harrison said "we spoke to a few towns people and they all said relatively the same thing. Every few days at around nine in the morning this noise comes from the forest and the children will stop at nothing to follow it and they...they don't come back."

The whole room fell silent. We all knew what we had to do next was get out of that hotel room and ask questions.

...

Harrison let out a sigh as they walked down the road next to me, it was freezing outside and we had been going door to door for hours to find something that might help us. So far the same information was being repeated at every door – every few days there is a noise that hypnotises local children to go into the woods and not come back – until we came to a little house on the end of the street.

Harrison knocked on the door three times slowly like this was a chore he had done every day since he could crawl. We stood and waited for a few minutes until, just as we were going to leave, a red haired girl opened the door. Her lips were cracked and there were dark bags under her eyes and she was paler than I had ever thought possible "Can I help you?" She asked, her voice was as cracked as her lips and so quiet you had to practically lean in to hear what she was saying.

"Hi, I'm Titania and this is Harrison. Can we ask you a few questions please?" I said gently.

The girl stayed quiet for a moment then nodded slightly as if she was unsure "sure." She said, then she turned around and walked inside without closing the door.

Harrison and I exchanged concerned looks, but stepped inside none the less. The house was small and well furnished. The girl led us into the lounge room and gestured for us to sit down on one of the floral-patterned couches before she sat in a little arm chair just across from us. She was so skinny you could practically see the bones in her arms. "What did you want to ask me?"