{ELEMENTISTS OF WILLOW FOREST BOOK III} The Bane of Technology

Power Cut in Planning

6: Power Cut in Planning

L awoke from slumber. She'd been having a slightly weird dream that had involved Harry Potter, Lucius Malfoy and Jace Lightwood all arguing at Alex and Magnus's bachelor dinner.

Proof she'd been reading too much 'Harry Potter' and 'The Mortal Instruments'.

M was already up, reading a book in Russian. L had genially no idea what the title was, but she guessed it had something to do with a robot, hence the one pictured on the front cover.

Since Sasha had come to Echo Valley then betrayed them all and run away, Felix had been seen less and less. He used to come to some of the training sessions to show them all what an amazing leader he was, but now he only ever stayed in his tent and talked to Bob, the leader of Death Wolves. Boring, boring, boring.

L heard a scream from the next-door tent. Urgh. @. She'd probably broken a nail or discovered she had a split end or something equally sissy.

@ was the chief tween girl at Echo Valley. She was obsessed with making sure that her nails matched her Alice band, and other hobbies that proved she had too much time on her hands.  Today, they were both cherry red. @ was lucky. Literally anything complimented her chocolate brown hair. Some people rumoured that she was dating J, the guy whom everyone without any sense liked. But then, there were rumours that, if were all true, meant that virtually everyone was dating J. @ was an air elementist, but as far as L knew, she only ever used her powers in order to blow-dry her hair and nails and make sure that her silky locks never fell out of place. Why @? Eventually, Echo Valley was going to run out of letters to use as code names. So, @ had volunteered to be the first person to have a code name outside the alphabet.

If you asked L, she just wanted her own letter to make her superior to all her cronies.

M slammed her book shut and followed L to see what was actually going on.

@ shared her tent with two other @ clones, A and K. All the tents were camouflage print on the outside, but inside @'s was a glittery pink Barbie palace, with a mirror on every wall.

"Look guys, c'mon, what is it now?" M sighed.

"Someone (sniff) stopped following me (sniff) on Instagram!" @ wailed. Her cronies joined her in desperation.

"Wait." K realised. "I'm not following either of you on Instagram!"

A and @ gasped.

"I don't think any of us are following you!" A squealed.

"Honey, who are you two on Instagram?" @ asked. "If you two followed me, I'd still have over twice the amount of followers as everyone else."

"We're not on Instagram." L said. "Or Facebook. Or Twitter. Or Tumblr. So why don't you just SHUT UP AND FORGET IT!"

L stormed out of the tent, and started running away from them. She paid no attention to the direction. She just wanted to get away from the land of idiots who spoiled her fangirling dream.

L found herself outside the Pentagonal Tent. It was where Felix lived, slept, and ran the place. She should have gone, really. But something told her to stay for a few minutes.

She heard voices. Felix; B, the new Lieutenant; Bob, the leader of all Death Wolves; and his deputy, Dave.

So this was one of these meetings that he'd been having all the time recently! Surely, as L lived in Echo Valley, she had a right to listen to what they were planning. The voices were muffled, but she could just about make them out.

Felix: Bob, how is clearing Les Serpents Rouges going?

The red snakes, L translated. Who the heck are they?

Bob: Um, very good, Master. Plan is going to plan.

Felix: (Sigh). Bob, have you even started?

Dave: Leader has. Leader do very good. Plan is going to plan very good.

Felix: Dave, don't back him up. Have you even got a plan?

Dave: Yes! Hunt, strike, k-

Bob: -Has been changed. We have a new plan. It very good plan. It even better than hunt strike kill.

L doubted that Felix believed that. She certainly didn't.

Dave: Yes! We do.

Felix: Well, at least I have a plan that actually exists.

B: Yeah, dog.

She heard snarling from the two Death Wolves.

Felix: Weakening the A of E by kidnapping Councillors didn't work. So we are going to strip them of something else. Electricity.

Dave: What is...

Bob: (Whispering) quiet!

Felix: At Willow Forest they grow a few crops, but all their other supplies come from Ethan and his lackeys hacking into computers, so supermarkets and clothes stores send them everything they need free of charge.

L had had heard of Ethan. Olivia - the Nemesis, had somehow made him break into loads of software illegally so she could have everything she needed without lifting a finger.

B: So, we take Ethan?  Are we still on the Councillor-kidnapping plan?

Felix: No. We cut out the electricity. Willow Forest is going to have a very long power cut.

*

Cléante watched as Rex looked up from sharpening his knife. The others were all circled around the fire, preparing weapons, poking the fire, the like.

"Dark Wolves." Rex announced. "Two just crossed the border. They are heading towards Roubaix."

Les Serpents Rouges picked up their weapons and headed into the night.