Chapter 22

"Wake up Luce" Roland was shaking her gently. It was still dark outside and she groaned and rolled over.
"It cant to time to get up yet!" She mumbled, her head in her arms and eyes closed tight. Roland sighed and shook her less gently this time, getting frustrated.
"Outcasts managed to follow us back here, we need to get you out!" Roland almost shouted but controlled his voice. He didn't want to scare Luce.
This woke Luce up fully, she practically jumped to her feet alert. "Where are they?"
"Outside"
"Then how am I meant to get out?!" Luce was panicked, looking out the entrance of the cave, trying see if she could see their silhouettes.

"We'll cause a distraction" Roland turned around to Cam, who was pacing around, he had the sceptre and was placing it gently against the wall of the cave. "Cam and Molly will take you away, somewhere covered, they're the ones who know how your trainings gone".
Luce nodded, she could feel her heart hammering in her chest.

"Sarah, Gabbe, let's go" Roland gave a wicked smile in Cams direction before spreading his wings and flying out, closely followed by Sarah and Gabbe. Luce could hear the mutterings outside and the noise of arrows soaring through the air quickly turning into chaos.

Cam and Molly walked up to Luce, who felt frozen on the spot "Will they be ok?" Luce's voice was almost a whisper, she was worried, what would happened if they got hit by a starshot.
"They'll be fine, they're all strong fighters, I think they even enjoy kicking outcast butt" Cam smiled at her. It didn't relax Luce's nerves though.

Luce slipped on Cam's hoodie which she had been using as a pillow. "Where are we going?" Luce looking up at Cam, who was walking up to her, he had his wings spread out and began placing his arms around Luce, ready to fly out, but he never answered her question, maybe he didn't know himself, or worried revealing the location would risk the outcasts hearing.

"We'll have to go fast" Molly stated towards Cam who nodded back at her. Luce felt as if her heart was going to jump out her ribs. 'Fast?!'
"You'll be safe with me" Cam could feel her muscle tense after Molly's comment. When they were up close he could feel her heart hammering fast.

Before Luce had any chance to get anymore nervous, they were shooting out the cave into the air, Luce couldn't believe the speed they were going out, burrowing her head in Cam's chest to resist the urge to throw up. Cam held her tight, but Luce was still gripping onto his shoulder as tight as she could.

When she felt Cam's speed slow down, and her feet finally touch the ground, her legs wobbled and felt like jelly. She would have fallen over if Cam wasn't steadying her.

"Never do that again!" Luce gasped, placing a hand to her heart.
Cam smiled at her softly. "Sorry" he said in a gentle tone. "Suppose it was a shock".
Luce rolled her eyes in an 'obviously' kind of way, before looking around where they were.
There were no dusty orange mountains, or scorched trees. Instead Luce was standing in long damp green grass, and she could see a thickly wooded area in the distance beyond the field she was in.

"The forest will give us more shelter" Molly said, already walking towards it.
"Yeah, but forests is where everything bad happens in movies".
Both Molly and Cam looked at her with confusion on their faces.
Luce sighed "You know, the serial killer hides behind a tree a jumps out".
Cam gave her a smirk "That's all very well for a film, this isn't one". He walked over to her and took her hand, pulling her behind him.
"Fine!" Luce agreed to be pulled along, but quickly started shivering.

The wet grass was bitter cold and soaking through her jeans, making them freezing and quickly spreading through her body.

"You cold?" Cam asked. Before she had time to answer, he had draped one of his enormous wings over her shoulders. Luce blushed and looked down quickly trying to hide it. She could feel how extremely heavy they were, the soft feathers felt pleasant against her skin, warming her up, and she stroked them slightly while they walked towards the forest.

"Are we just hiding out here?" Luce looked up at Cam once she was sure her blush had faded.
"Yes, until the others come to get us" Cam pulled up a low hanging tree branch for Luce to duck under, reluctantly tucking his wings away from Luce and back behind him. Luce instantly missed their warmth and shivered slightly again.

After walking for a while, Luce had been stumbling and tripping, luckily Cam was always steadying her and lifting up branches for her, they had walked deep enough into the forest they found a place to settle down. "I don't see why we can't fight" Molly had found a log to sit on.
Cam glared at her "You know we can't risk it. You'll have to time to fight, just pipe down".
If looks could kill, Molly's glare would have Cam on the floor instantly. Cam dismissed her quickly, he knew how to react to Molly's behaviour, and he'd spent long enough with her now to know her.

They sat around for about half an hour. Molly and Cam bickering why Cam hadn't brought the sceptre. He explained it was powerless against the outcasts and would just be at risk of being broken or stolen.
Luce was still half asleep and listened without interrupting their conversation/argument. She leaned against Cam's shoulder and let her eyes close. His wing was back around her keeping her warm, and the softness was causing her to fall into a lull of peacefulness.

That peacefulness soon disappeared when a twig snapped sounded from behind them. Cam and Molly whirled around while Luce was slower.
"I'll go" Molly held her hand up, before quietly and carefully walking towards where the sound was made. Luce watched as Molly faded into the thickly wooded area and soon lost sight of her. 5 minutes past and Luce was becoming anxious.
"Maybe we should help?" Luce asked Cam with pleading eyes.
"It might be a trap" Cam's face was determined, but Luce could tell he was also feeling anxious with Molly gone for so long.

Then, as if she heard them, Molly shouted back "It's ok! It's just Daniel and the others!".
Cam gave a long sigh before starting to walk back towards Molly.

Luce was about to take her first step forward to follow Cam, when a hand came around her mouth, stopping her from screaming, and an arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her backwards. Cam glanced around, only to see Luce disappearing into the distance, terror in her eyes, with 5 silhouette of outcasts following her.

"LUCE!" He screamed, starting to run after them, closely followed by Molly and the others, but the darkness swallowed them up quickly. He looked around frantically before flying up above the tree's for a view of the distance.
Nothing.

Wherever the outcasts had taken her, they hadn't left the forest. But the forest was wide and thick, and there could be possible underground rooms.
Turning back to Daniel with fear in his eyes, he managed to let out a hoarse whisper "We need to save her".