Elemental: Fire

Chapter 5

Scarlett sat in the courtyard, munching on an apple. Roman plopped down next to her, chomping on his sandwich.

"Anything new," Scarlett asked her friend.

"Well, I heard the Dean and Professor Nova talking about you," Roman casually said.

Scarlett sat up. Talk about her was normal for her. Gossiping is a problem as the next place. But when the teachers do it it's different.

"Did you hear why?"

"Something about a message. Probably this semester's marks."

"But we just started the semester," Scarlett wondered.

"Then I have no clue. Just forget it. Go play Kutomun. I'm sure Finn would love to get his vengeance."

"Humorous, Roman. I'll see you 6th term."

Scarlett walked to the field and looked around at the teams. There was two teams, one with many Air elements and the other with mainly girls. When Scarlett walked to the girls, they didn't really acknowledge her, so she turned to the other group. They gladly welcomed her, sliding on their shoes.

Standing at the ready, the whistle was blown, and the groups zoomed off. Scarlett went after the Rej, catching it before it hit the ground. Finn was invited by the girls to their team, or more like 'lured', in Scarlett's eyes. As they sped around court, Scarlett was successful in the game.

It was until she was near the Justle, an unexpected happened. There was a sudden shout of 'look out', then something wrapped around her ankles. For, a split second she saw the vine around her feet before her body was pulled to the ground. The free fall didn't last long, and the impact against the Earth was hard. Her eyes were closed shut, but opened when Scarlett rolled along the ground. All she could think about was the pain at her side. It was absolutely piercing. The game was stopped and her team surrounded Scarlett.

"Ow, ow, ow," Scarlett muttered, holding her rib area.

"Get a professor," someone shouted.

Scarlett was lifted to the infirmary. Professor Nova came running out of the buildings and held Scarlett's hand. With a sweep of her hand, they disappeared and teleported to a room with cheap white mattresses and bed frames. Old pictures lined the walls, as well as puce colored flowers on the night stands. Scarlett was laid on a bed and the nurse lifted her shirt to reveal an abnormally red and swollen area of her left ribs.

"Oh dear, it's a broken rib. I'm sure some Ligo leaves will fix this up."

The nurse pulled out some big blue leaves from a cupboard. She quickly prepared them near Scarlett.

"Alright, this is going to hurt."

She pressed the leaves against Scarlett, and at first they burned terribly, like a minty burn. She bit her lip to try to control the pain. Sooner or later, the burn decreased, then became nothing. Scarlett laid against the pillow sweating from the experience. She was given a hospital gown to replace her slightly uncomfortable clothing. It would take about 10 hours for the Ligo to dry up and heal the broken bone, so Scarlett would spend the night there.

Scarlett thought about when the accident happened, but she thought it wasn't an accident.

It obviously wasn't, Scarlett thought.

It was an Earth elemental, no doubt about it. And her team was mostly Air and a Water, so it wasn't them.

The other team wasn't very fond of me. It was obviously one of them, Scarlett contemplated.

"And Finn is an immediate suspect," she said under her breath. But that didn't bother her then. She was exhausted and the sun was setting.

Her head rested on the pillow and darkness overcame her. But that's when images began to surface in front of her.