Telluric

Chapter XXIII: Luminescent Lake

XXIII

The sun glared into Clary's eyes as her and Muse followed behind Noah, Mayla, and Diego. MUSE sighed and rolled her eyes, bored out of her mind while Clary as intense as a dense flame. Her hands were heated in desperation and intensity, her eyes not straying for a moment from the trio. Eventually, they led her to the police station, where Mayor Roxanne Montgomery had worked tirelessly to find some sort of way to rid the town of the zombies and stop the demon from its goal.

With watchful eyes, the girl with a fistful of fire watched Noah, Diego, and Mayla enter the police station. MUSE decided at this point to vanish until later, when Clary should call upon her again. She spied through the window of the police chief's office as Noah and Mayla sat down across from the Mayor, who occupied the desk at the time. Using a quick spell, Clary enhanced her listening ability.

"We found the other coin." Noah explained to Mayor Roxanne. "I have it in my pocket." The Mayor beamed at him and lifted her hand, though Noah shook his head. "Tell me first," He began in a tone that was both solemn as well as apathetic. "Why do you need the coins in the first place? And what about my aura makes me a trump card?"

Combing her hair with her fingernails, Mayor Roxanne sighed and nodded to her assistant, Carlos. "Your aura is... in a sense... connected to the town. I suppose that would be the best way to put it." She shook her head. "You don't really need to know-"

"TELL ME!" Noah shouted angrily at the Mayor. Everyone in the room was a bit taken aback by the sudden outrage. "All I want to know it why you need these damn coins and what the hell my aura has to do with you having a trump card! Why can't you explain that to me, without any of this grown-up bullshit?" Even Clary gasped at his aggressiveness. The boy who was the epitome of passiveness suddenly becoming aggressive is not something you can necessarily ignore. Noah grasped the cleaver in his hand until his knuckles were bare white, before slamming it into the desk. The slice echoed out into the room, and Roxanne stared silently at the teenager.

"Fine," Roxanne began. "I need you, because you are connected to the town. Your aura is entwined with that of the town, and because of this town's powerfully dark aura, the demon is going to become incredibly powerful, upsetting the balance between dark and light, death and life... because of your connection to the town, you are the only one who can stop its dark aura."

"And why am I connected to the town?" Noah questioned interrogatively.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure about that... though I suppose one explanation may be that you were chosen by the guardians of Graywood, the Gray Ladies." Roxanne explained half-heartedly, and everyone was silent.

"What about the coins?" Mayla asked from the chair adjacent to Noah.

"You'll see..." Roxanne replied. "Noah, Diego, Mayla, Carlos... follow me." Suddenly the mayor swiftly stood up and glided out of the door, her graceful steps followed by the rest. Clary trailed them as they left the building, taking a police car. Running through the woods next to the road, Clary hid herself from view. The group flowed through the streets, and the zombies that roamed around them seemed to either ignore them or crouch away when they walked past. After about five minutes, the silent group made it to their destination; Luminescent Lake.

"The lake?" Mayla asked aloud to Roxanne.

"Obviously..." Roxanne muttered out of character. "Yes, the lake." She then made a ring with her fingers inside of her mouth and whistled. The sound echoed loudly out into the stretching abyss water and trees. Water rippled and shuddered at the acoustic noise as bubbles began to ripple the water even more. Bubbles then led way to a rising figure that emerged from the lake; Diver slide through the ripples and into the cool spring air.