The Elementals : The Dawn of Darkness

Chapter 6 - Hiking, Battles and Ashwood Dale

"Anything from the trolley dears?"

"Black coffee. And a croissant. And a bagel and the paper if you have one. Do you want anything Sheira?" I asked as I stuffed money into the trolley lady's hand and took my purchases. Sheira stayed silent, carefully pouring over the books and notepads she had spread over the table in front of us.

"Black coffee, a couple of milks and sugars and another croissant please." I took the extras and pushed them in front of Sheira. Whether she decided to eat them or not, she had them as an option. Although to be fair she'd hardly moved since we had boarded the train at Kings Cross, it turned out that Sheira had also raided her cabins cash jar including her head counsellor Sapphire's personal stash.

Getting into London had been easy with Sheira's help and figuring out where the hell we were going had also been down to Sheira. She was the reason we were on a one-way trip to York and not being dragged by the ears back to Camp. But she was mad at me. Blind people could tell she was mad at me. She barely said a word as we travelled north, allowing me to get some sleep while she holed herself up into a corner and planned what our next move was. I was grateful, don't get me wrong, but I got the feeling that I would be paying her back for the rest of my life. I sighed and picked up the newspaper and scanned the first page.

"Well I made the front page. I can cross that off the bucket list," I said.

"Hm?" Sheira looked up from her pages. "Oh, for God's sake," she muttered.

"Page three, listen to this. London based family disappears in a towering inferno. The Hayden family consisting of thirty-six-year-old Aleena Hayden, her sixteen-year-old son Nicholas and the five-year-old twins Lilah and Maxwell have become the latest victims in the disappearances that have been spreading across the country. Aleena, Maxwell and Lilah were last seen walking back to their flat on the Sears Estate while Nicholas was last seen by his teacher Hector Slattery- That's that old bastards first name?"

"Keep reading!" ordered Sheira.

"Fine, calm down. Nicholas was last seen by his teacher Hector Slattery after serving a detention, although reports that he did in fact return home is still being disputed. The disappearance would have been waved away as another sad occasion and another set of names for the police service, if it not for the utter destruction on the fifteenth floor of the Demoney Tower where the Haydens lived. Just hand out my address to the nation why don't you?"

"Nick!"

"Sorry. The floor was practically obliterated. Residents reported loud bangs and screams from the fifteenth floor but when some braver residents attempted to reach the floor they found that they were unable to for no apparent reason. Some claim that the stairwell had caved in while other suggested that a barrier of some kind had been set up although no evidence of this has been discovered. Walkways were singed, barriers and walls had parts torn out, vast quantities of water had flooded the floor despite there being no evidence of burst pipeline. Two jets of fire, presumably from a flamethrower were seen spilling over the side of the building-"

"Your handiwork," said Sheira her arms crossed in front of her.

"And I presume that's yours?" I said, stabbing my finger at an image. A thick carpet of snow was covering the courtyard where we should have hit that ground.

Sheira scowled. "It was either that or our necks, which would you prefer?"

"Don't get me wrong I'm grateful, just didn't know you could do that."

She glared at me. "Of course, I can, now keep reading."

"A thick carpet of snow suddenly appeared out of nowhere after two figures were seen plummeting from the fifteenth floor, the identity of these two figures has yet to be discovered but they are presumed to be a male and a female. However, their bodies were not discovered and so no one has been able to figure out who these two are. The male is theorised to be that of Nicholas Hayden as the figure roughly resembled him but as the bodies have vanished it is impossible to confirm this. Police are also searching for a white van that appeared shortly after the two bodies fell which was captured on CCTV. The Camp I presume."