The Elementals - The Ice Princess

Chapter 43

I don't know if the nausea is actually starting to lessen the more jumps I do or if my adrenaline is so sky high at being back in this classroom, but I feel okay after this jump. The classroom is dark and silent and it's just as I remember it from a week or so ago. There is new homework on the board that I will never even get a chance to start.

Laney shuffles her way toward to the door and slowly peeks out into the hallway. Everything is dark as if the school was empty. Laney motions for us to move towards the door. When we get there, I notice that Alexander is sweating. He is trying to not show the effects of the jump. I place my hand on his and offer him a quick smile that he returns.

Laney slowly opens the door and peers out through the crack into the hallway. She looks over at us and shakes her head before pulling open the door even larger and slowly entering the hallway. She does not ignite her illuminos for fear of illuminating the entire hallway. Alexander and I follow behind.

I take a look at my hands and see they are glowing a faint blue which means that my necklace is warning me of danger. Laney notices also and then changes her form to look like me. I never get used to seeing an exact replica of me a few feet away.

"What are you doing?" I whisper to her.

"If anything comes at us, we can confuse them if there are two of you. It might be long enough to gain a numbers advantage."

Her plan does make sense even though I may be worried about the distraction of watching another me fight.

The hallway is quiet and we move through it quite quickly. We come to the trophy cases that mark the ending of the north block and begin the east and west blocks. The trophy case displays many achievements by the student population both academic and athletic. There is a small hall of fame wall reserved for only the best of the best that the school has to offer. It has eight students on it, of which, the oldest one dates back to 1972 and the newest one being last year. This is the busiest intersection in the school so many people see this on a daily basis. I wonder if it is a subtle way to motivate students to try and be one of the faces forever shrined on the wall of the Snowspell high school.

Alexander peeks around the corner and sees that there are several scouts stopped in front of the double doors leading to the gymnasium. The doors are fire doors so they are metal and have no windows. They completely cut you off from the other side.

"There are at least five by my count, but who knows how many there are on the other side," he tells us quietly so as not to arise suspicion from the sentries at the door. "Even when we get through, we still have two more long hallways to get down. Is there another way into the gym?"

"I can't jump to it, I've never been there," Alexander tells us, sounding a little disappointed in himself.

"I don't think we have time for that," Laney says getting to her feet. "I will draw them off, you find your dad. Alex, jump her behind those doors."

Before we can object Laney is on her feet and walking around the corner. She has illuminos ignited, but it's a very small blade. I squint to get a closer look and see that she has willed her weapon to take on the shape of one of my icicles.

Immediately several high pitch screeches fill the air and there is movement coming from down the hall. It doesn't sound like feet running on the ground through. It sounds more like nails tapping the ground as they move. It probably sounds the way a lion or tiger would sound if it were running down the hallway at any given speed. The tapping picks up speed and Alexander pushes me back into the wall we are hiding behind so that it hopefully doesn't notice us.

As the tapping gets louder and quicker, I see Laney draw back her illuminos and snap it forward. The illuminos stretches out to extend nearly 9 feet in the shape of a whip. It wraps around the neck of one of the scouts and she reefs on it causing the cloudy figure to fly into the air and smash into the ceiling and disappearing before it hits the floor.

She then wills her illuminos into a long sword that she can wield with one hand. As she does this she turns to run away from the door. She gives us a look and a nod before she sprints off down the hallway. I count 4 scouts that are pursuing her.

"That leaves one or two still by the door," Alexander whispers to me. He takes a quick peek around the corner and then grabs my hand. "Be ready, just in case."

Once again, before I have a chance to say anything or react, Alexander and I have jumped again, this time on the other side of the double doors. We quickly assess that we are not in any immediate danger and are relieved when we find that the guards are only on one side of the doors.

We both quietly listed and when we hear nothing on the other side of the doors, we slowly crawl away from the door before returning to our feet and we make our way silently down the hall toward the gymnasium and hopefully my father.