Elemental Heroes: The Battle for Acruxia

Chapter 9 - Iain

Chapter 9 - Iain

You're probably wondering, your dorm is burned down, everything is chaotic, where do you? 

The same place anyone would go to, a bar. More specifically Witch Doctor's, knowing Jeannette she would still be running the bar and protecting herself from looting and any attacks.. 

Your probably thinking, ‘now's not the time to drink’ but we literally had nowhere else to go. The Academy was gone, we were screwed. So we found Nymph and went to the Witch Doctor's. 

Apparently, we weren't the only one with that idea. Trey, Imogen, Spark, Alex they were there. Not just them, Cast, Aldo, Mei-Mei, Sunny Kim, the champions from Seoul, Jessica Amberton and unfortunately Jade Stripe. 

Not to mention the barflies and homeless Jeannette let it. 

“Cast, I need a Scotch!” I yelled, sitting down at the bar. After the day I was having, I needed it.

Cast gave me the Scotch, “I heard what happened at the school.”

I chugged the bottle. “Yeah, I'm pissed off. Zoey could be dead, my home is in ruins, and I crippled Kite.”

“Well Aenar will fix him when he sees him. Have a little faith Iain.” Cast assured. Only a shifter would have their hopes up during a time like this. 

I as not only a lycan but an elemental could fear only the worse not only for my sake but for Kite's as well. I finished the bottle and headed to the bathroom. What I saw was absolutely shocking. 

Jessica Amberton was trying to kill herself. She had a bottle of pills along with some aspirin. Key words being that she was trying. She had tears in her eyes as she desperately tried to open the pill bottle. 

“Stupid child proof caps!” Jessica Amberton muttered. She managed to open it and put all the pills in her mouth. 

I nearly tackled her. “No, stop, stop!”

She had hit her head against the bathroom cabinet, forcing her to spit out some but not all of the pills. 

“Suicide is a private thing!” Jessica whimpered, her words partially muffled with the amount of pills in her mouth. 

“Spit it out. You're not helping anyone by doing this.” I explained. 

“Yes I am, “ Jessica started, the pills still in her mouth. “I'm a horrible person and the world will be better off without me.”

“I'm sure you're not, why would you think that?” I asked. 

“Well, look at what happened to Zoey! The whole thing was my fault. I could have done something, I should have done something but I didn't. I just stood by and now Jade and Courtney got away with it.” 

I grabbed her by the shoulders. “Wait, you mean to tell me you were there when it happened?”

Jessica nodded. “They said not to say anything, that they'd cut off all my hair while I'm sleeping and pin it all on me.”

Zoey's case was dismissed since there was a lack of evidence for Zoey's favor, not to mention Jade and Courtney were both Pure Elemental, so they got away with it. Jessica was a pure elemental, if she said something, Jade could be held responsible. 

“Okay… I agree, you should have done something. Courtney is dead, but if you tell them what happened they'll believe a witness. Jade would be held accountable for what happened. If you want to make amends, now your chance.”

Jessica spit out the pills. “I’ll do it then… your so much nicer to me then Jade or Courtney.”

“Why do you hang around them then?” I asked.

“I'm a follower, not a leader. I was struggling to find my own circle. I know their horrible people but in my own way, I admired them.” Jessica admitted. 

I went back to others and noticed Bianca and Danny were gone. 

“Where's Danny and Bianca?” I asked. 

Noah stared at her shot glass. “Danny figured, since we might die he should at least see his mom one last time. Bianca went with him since she can teleport them.”

“How did his mum take the news?” I questioned. 

“Your one and only son was trapped in basically a snow globe and three clans threaten to kill everyone in the city, how would you react?” Noah looked over to me. 

“Fair point… and Jace?” 

Noah pointed out Jace playing a card game with Aldo and Carnie and Ran. Jace was cheating and winning, he even won Carnie's bucket and Aldo's belt. Ran lost the most, as he betted gold coins and lost even without cheating. 

I went to Kite, whose half afraid to drink any alcohol. 

“How you doing Kite?” I asked, trying to keep his hopes up. 

He pulled out a large crystal, then looked at me. I then saw it was Pandoran. 

“Iain, I need to ask you something.” Kite stated. 

“What is it Kite?”

Kite wheeled himself so he faced me. He took a deep breath. 

“Iain… if Aenar doesn't come in time and something happens. I need you to do something. I need you to use this crystal and take my powers, just temporarily.”

I gasped at the thought. “Why Kite would you ask that?”

“Well, look at me, I can't fight, even if I could, I only master my powered, I can barely fight without relying on someone else's abilities, never my own. I need you to take them and lend them to someone who… who can help us out. To the Clans, I'm a weapon, I always have been. I don't want my powers to be wasted just to prove a point.”

That statement really got to me. I took the character and placed it in my pocket. Suddenly, we heard a loud metallic banging. Jeannette pulled out a shotgun from World War 2, while Cast and Aldo both in near perfect unison. 

Suddenly the door turned pitch black. At first, we assumed it was Alec, but we were dead wrong. 

The metal protecting Witch Doctor's doors and windows, were bent like it was a toothpick. It was swung to the side. It was Zoey, looking deadpan and miserable in her eyes but she managed to look serious. Aside from her black and gold appearance, she had suffered a small blow to the chest, but enough to make her bleed. 

“Zoey?” Trey gulped. “What happened to you?”

Zoey gave a wicked smile. “Something wicked but never mind that now.”

“What do you want from us you traitor!” Jace yelled. 

“Oh, I'm not here for you guys, that's what Shadow Clans are for.” Zoey pointed out. 

I knew the real reason why she was here. Eldingar may have been the one to help Zoey with Courtney Mason but the sad truth was that he couldn't help Zoey with that. Only Zoey could have option. 

“I'm looking… for Jade Stripe!”