The Shadow Morpher-Book 2

Chapter 1

Hi! This is the second book in The Elemental Chronicles series. :) I really hope that you loyal readers who are staying with me for this book, really like it and how it turns out! :) And please comment and hit the vote button! Please tell me how I can improve this! Also, I'm dedicating chapters to my loyal readers so please identify yourselves to me by commenting! ;) Last of all, there's a picture of Troy Flarehill on the side! :)

Chapter 1

                Troy Flarehill tumbled out of the shadow of a large sand dune. He lost his grip on Dahlia as they hit the side of the dune. He skidded down half the slope of the dune before coming to a halt.

                There was sand in his hair and in his red Egyptian clothes. His black cloak was brown with grains of sand that clung to his clothes.

                His head swimming, Troy sat up dizzily and looked around. Luna and Kayla had rolled to a stop higher on the sand dune but Cedric had plunged headfirst into the sand with his legs poking out of a dune. Dahlia, on the other hand, had reached the bottom of the dune.

                Troy stood up and waded down the slope towards Dahlia. He reached the bottom of the dune and gathered her limp form in his arms. Hoping that she would wake up, Troy shook her gently.

                A drop of some oozing green liquid fell from Dahlia’s back and hit the sand. Troy froze. As gently as possible, he turned her over.

                The whip had cut straight through Dahlia’s skin, leaving bits of limp skin dangling from her back. Troy looked at the lethal green liquid.

                Poison.

                Troy forced himself not to scream. But Dahlia did it for him. There was a look of ultimate pain on her face and, try as she might, she could not hold it in.

                At the sound of Dahlia’s cry, Luna and Kayla struggled to their feet and stumbled over. Cedric tried fruitlessly to prize himself out of the sand.

                Kayla’s face went pale when she saw the poison on Dahlia’s back. She shook her head in desperation.

                “I know that poison,” she said. “Varmer created it. Only healers have the power to cure that poison. No mortal medicine will work. Only a healer’s magic.”

                “But Varmer’s the only healer that we know of!” Troy protested. “And can we go back there? No, right?”

                “Calm down, Troy,” Kayla said. “Varmer isn’t the only healer in the world. My friend, Sapphire, is a healer and a Magician of Water. She lives in Paris.”

                “How do we get to Paris?” Troy asked. “And… um… where are we?”

                There was a little silence as they all registered Troy’s statement. Until then, none of them had fully registered that fact.

                “We’re in Egypt,” Luna declared.

                Her porcelain-coloured skin was only slightly flushed by the heat of the sun. Her blonde hair fell around her face, obviously very messy from all the times they had been in crazy battles.

                Kayla frowned. Her brows were creased, her lips tightly together. She looked a mess with her brown hair coming out of her plait.

                “We can take a plane to Paris, right?” Troy asked.

                Cedric shook his head. He had freed himself from the sand but he was so covered in sand that it was hard to identify what were his eyes and what was his nose!

                “No. We have no idea where we are and by the time we get to a place in Egypt where there’s an airport , it could be too late,” Cedric said.

                “Are you saying that there’s nothing we can do for her?” Troy asked, terrified by the thought of losing Dahlia. “Helen gave her life for Dahlia and we can’t even honour her by keeping the person she sacrificed her life for alive?”

                “Calm down!” Kayla snapped. “We can save Dahlia. You need to use the shadows as a door to get to Paris before 10 hours are up.”

                “That’s it,” Troy summarized.

                Kayla nodded. “Good luck.”

                “What, now? Like right now?” Troy asked, surprised.

                “Do you want to wait so that you can eat lunch or something?” Kayla asked.

                “Um... No,” Troy admitted.

                “I thought not,” Kayla said, smirking.

                “But I don’t know where the heck I want to end up in Paris!” Troy protested. “And I’m not even sure how to get there!”

                “You did it while we were fighting Dracklon,” Luna pointed out. “If you did it then, you can do it now. Besides, you also did it about five minutes ago.”

                Troy had to admit that Luna was right. Actually, deep down, he was more afraid of losing Dahlia if he left right now. But she would die if he didn’t go, so the smartest thing to do was to actually go and see if he could get to Paris.

                “You can conjure up an image of the Eiffel Tower,” Luna suggested, smiling to herself.

                Troy inhaled a deep breath. He let it out rather noisily.

                “Relax,” Cedric suggested.

                “And let us take Dahlia and look after her,” Kayla offered.

                Troy reluctantly shifted Dahlia’s dead weight into Cedric’s arms. He laid her down on the sand gently and then turned to Troy.

                “Good luck,” Cedric said.

                “Yeah... I think I’m going to need it!” Troy mumbled.

                Then he ran straight at Luna’s shadow and vanished.

                “Did I ever say I hate it when he does that?” Luna asked Kayla and Cedric in amusement.

                “No,” Cedric said smiling.

                “When do you think he should come back?” Kayla asked Luna.

                “Soon, provided he doesn’t get into all the trouble that I can see heading his way,” Luna said, scraping her blonde hair back from her face.

                “How long? Cedric asked.

                “Maybe 10 minutes?” Luna suggested. “If he takes the route in one of the branches of the future, I mean.”

                Cedric started counting.