Corbeau

Chapter Seven: Infiltration

She failed. That was all that Raven could think of at the moment. She had let Corbeau get away without even bothering to fight. Sure, it would have been impossible to beat her but she should have at least tried. She felt nauseous as she imagined the consequences of what happened today. Raven felt an arm wrap comfortingly around her expecting it to be her brother or Avor, but she was surprised to look up and see Blythe.

"What was that?" she breathed. During the fight she had forgotten that Blythe had somehow been caught up in this mess.

"I'll tell you on the way back..." Raven murmured. The group of Shimmers and themselves decided it would be best to head back to Avalon immediately and inform the council of the failed mission.

Raven quickly shadowed them back to Avalon, Blythe extremely confused but fascinated at the same time of the events unfolding. Raven began to explain the long tale their journey. She started from the beginning when Ms. Ethelde had gifted her the necklace which ultimately landed her in this situation. She described the weird things that had happened the day after her birthday when the necklace started acting up- how she and Sky freaked over it and turned hostile when Avor arrived. She went on telling her about how the council they were going to see right now had ridiculous policies of showing respect and how that got her in trouble when she first met them. She also told her about how she trained everyday which is why she skipped some days of school and working on decorating the school for Halloween.

"Sorry, I probably shouldn't have gotten your hopes up knowing that I couldn't make it," Raven admitted shamefully.

"It's alright, I understand," Blythe assured her with a smile.

Raven saved the legend of Corbeau for last to tie up the story. Blythe seemed fascinated and was somehow absorbing all that information better than Raven had expected. When she learnt of all of this, she felt like she was still dreaming for days and that she would wake up eventually. Blythe on the other hand just seemed interested and eager to here more.

The group eventually reached the Centenary where Blythe kept praising the beauty of the diamond. The elder trained Shimmers went in alone and told Raven to wait elsewhere. They would handle whatever insults the council threw at their way for their failure. The now group of four decided to think of places where Corbeau could be now. They supposed it couldn't be somewhere on Earth as Corbeau's main goal was the Centenary. They believed she had to be somewhere on Avalon. If she really was hiding somewhere in the republic, it must be very well hidden. The city guards were on high alert since that morning and so far had not reported anything suspicious. They decided to visit Eldwyn. Maybe she had some ideas on where Corbeau was located.

They made it to her house where Eldwyn solemnly greeted them with a worried expression. It quickly reverted back to a poker face once she noticed a new head in the group.

"And who might this be?" she asked.

"This is my friend Blythe," Raven replied. "Long story," she said sheepishly.

They explained what had happened at the portal to which she did not seem all that surprised. Raven guessed that she was expecting this. She sighed, of course Eldwyn didn't believe in her. They all nodded in unison; even Blythe who had just learn about Avalon in less than half an hour. There was an uncomfortably long gap of silence as Eldwyn carefully thought over what to say next.

"I suppose my sister would know," she finally stated.

"Sister?" Avor and Sky spluttered simultaneously. Raven explained the conversation she had with Eldwyn the other day and told them that her passing away had something to do with Corbeau.

Eldwyn nodded and continued, "she was researching on places where Corbeau's headquarters may be," she said.

"But if she was trapped in that portal the whole time," Blythe asked a question, "then why did Ms. Ethelde try to find her?"