Scarlet Eclipse [Temporarily on Hold]

Chapter 4

Markus

The lovely girl—Lucy— gestured to me expectantly. I smiled at her and she seemed taken back for a moment. She didn’t smile back. A shame, I wanted to see her smile. 

“Markus Kersey,” I said briefly. “Half water elemental.” I tried to be calm about saying this, but I could never be relaxed with the fact. Here I was, part mythical creature when all I wanted is to be normal for once. It enraged me sometimes.

The girl blinked. “Kay,” she said and hesitantly turned to the young man with the silly smile on his face as he gazed longingly at the redhead, Alyxa. She was pretty, I’d give her that, but even I knew that falling for these types were bad news. They broke hearts, shatter them sometimes. Beyond repair. 

Like with Fallyn. 

I missed her a lot, my twin sister. I curse the man who broke her poor heart and drove her to run away. That was half a year ago, and I’ve never seen her again since. 

“Carter West,” he said. “I’m a fire elemental,” he said looking straight at me with a careless grin. “Full fire elemental.”My jaw tightened. 

Oh god, a fire elemental. That won’t go well with me. Water and fire, they don’t go together. They clash and end in steam. We’re going to have a bit of a problem, here. Especially since he’s a full fire elemental and I’m only half. 

I scowled at him and he only grinned wider. Lucy noticed the exchange and her eyebrows pinched a little in worry. “Well, alright, it was nice meeting you all and stuff, but we’d best get going if we’re to make it to the Lunar palace safely,” she drawled and tapped her empty wrist. “Time’s a-ticking, guys.” She began to walk across the remaining part of the sand that ended at the edge of a forest. Reluctantly, we followed. What choice did we have? Our survival depended on this girl who was getting increasingly father away. 

She expertly began to navigate her way through the trees, weaving graceful in and out of the towering trees. We did this for a while, maybe an hour or so until she stopped. Reily bumped into her and the scowling kid, Jaymes, crashed into Reily. He backed away hurriedly and shoved his hands in his pockets, his face pink. 

Lucy stared straight ahead solemnly. Poor Reily tried to peek around her but the area was so small that she could barely see past Lucy’s shoulder. “Be careful,” Lucy said softly. I almost couldn’t hear her. “Your first test is here.” 

She moved aside for us to see. The area we were walking on continued on for a few feet… into a fifty-foot drop. It went way down there, into a chasm of darkness that occasionally lit up with a huge fiery flare. The only way across was a swinging, rickety bridge with boards missing every few steps. 

Lucy turned to look at us all, glancing appraisingly over each of our faces. I looked around myself, wide eyes and pale faces meeting my eyes.  

Lucy gave a rueful smile. “So, who’s afraid of heights?” she asked. Out of the seven of us, three raised their hands. Lucy blinked. “Well then. This is going to be interesting. Let’s hope none of us die. Kay?” she said cheerfully. 

“Let’s go!” she began to lead us in a march through what could be all of our deaths.