Flame

Chapter 16: Down To Business

The days on the cruise passed quickly, despite the worry in the back of our minds about the fifth element. These days were mostly spent like any other holiday, sunbathing, swimming (well, not me) and just overall relaxing and having a great time. But it was when we got off the cruise, our bags packed and ready to leave, that the fright and reality really began to sink in.

We were sat in the back of a large taxi, suspense silencing the air. We had no idea what to do next. We would either have to stay in a hotel in Venice for a bit longer and miss our flight, but we hadn't enough money to do that, or we would have to go back to England and take Erion and Ingrid with us. But what if they couldn't?

We were stuck, and we all knew it.

"What do we do?" I said out loud, forgetting I had company.

"What do you mean?" My dad asked as everyone else eyed me suspiciously. I shook my head and gestured to the taxi cab driver looking at me through the mirror.

"Doesn't matter. I'll tell you later" They nodded as we pulled up to a small hotel.

It wasn't as fancy as the other one, but it was still nice. We were only spending the night there anyway, and then we'd have to leave in the morning to catch the plane home.

That is if we were going home

The sound of a phone broke me from my trail of thought and Ryan pulled out his phone from his pocket as the taxi pulled over to the front doors of the hotel and came to a halt.

"Hello?" he answered, frowning as someone on the other end spoke. I watched as his eyebrows slowly raised and he began to look around before opening the car door and climbing out, still scouring the hotel grounds.

"Yeah, where are you?" I heard him say as the rest of us climbed out and began to get out the luggage from the boot. The taxi driver helped, placing all our bags on the floor and my dad handed him a five-euro note before nodding to him and walking inside the hotel with some of our luggage. I began to pick up a bag, groaning as its weight pulled me down to the floor. It was Ryan's nike sports bag, and as I took a quick peep to see what was in it, a pair of black beady eyes met mine and a slithering tongue stuck out at me.

"I wondered what on earth was in there, it's you" I muttered to Nixie before zipping the bag shut again. Ryan quickly grabbed the bag from my hands and held it in his right hand as if it weighed nothing, holding the phone to his ear with the other.

"I didn't need your help" I frowned. He frowned back, trying to silence me as he listened intently to whoever was speaking on the other end of the phone. Finally, after a couple of minutes, he handed me his phone and took off with the bag into the hotel. I followed reluctantly and put his phone in my pocket. Looking up at the sky I noticed Blaze gliding high above me so I put my fingers to my mouth and whistled. He came swooping down, scaring the taxi driver to death, and landing on my shoulder.

We walked into the lobby, our bags all by the reception desk, and there, also standing by the desk, was Ingrid, and then I noticed, that sat down on the floor was Erion. I smiled as I felt myself buzz with excitement. It was the first time all four of us had been together, and it felt complete, like I finally found something that I didn't know was missing.

I ran towards them, not caring how insane I looked with a huge bird on my shoulder before stopping about a meter away from them both.

"Hi" I said, then rolled my eyes at myself at my lack of knowing what to say. I could have said something more interesting, but instead the only thing that came out my mouth was 'hi'.

My body practically glowed with excitement, and then it began to tingle and prickle at my skin. I had the urge to beam and laugh as a bubble of emotions swirled through my body. I suddenly felt cold, then warm, them my hands began to shake slightly as if was nervous. And then the strange sensation was over, and I felt like myself again, only this time, I was stronger, more powerful. I felt like my fire was burning stronger than ever. I looked around to find Ryan standing next to me. In fact, all four of us were stood up facing each other, and I wondered whether that was the reason for the weird sensation. Maybe we'd all felt it. Maybe that feeling was the thing that set all of this in stone. We were all sort of bonded now because we were all together. And as I stood next to Ingrid, Erion and especially Ryan, I felt something I'd never really felt before.