Chapter 40
Eliot clinged to my uninjured arm behind me, while Mother Nature dropped to the ground. It obviously used a lot of energy and she was exhausted.
"Run! Do it now! I can't control myself for much longer! Run! RUN!" she yelled, and I grabbed Eliot and ran, just like she said.
I hadn't gotten very far, maybe a few feet, when she grabbed my ankle and started screaming "GIVE ME THE BOY!"
"No!" I let go of Eliot and he stumbled out of my arms. He looked at the struggle between us two spring guardians. His eyes showed extreme anxiousness. She pulled me down hard onto the ground, attempting to bind me with plants, but after a few minutes of me undoing it, she got frustrated and just decided to trample over me to get to Elliot.
I grabbed a clump of dirt and thrust it in her face. She cried out, letting my feet go instantly, and I ran, grabbing Eliot.
I was too weak to make a plant platform to fly away on, and I was growing to weak to run. I slowly skidded to a stop, panting anxiously.
"Let's stop here." I said. I leaned against a tree, slowly sliding down it. Elliot groggily leaning on my left, uninjured arm. I pushed my left hand into my pocket, slowly, not wanting to nudge Elliot out of his sleep. I wished I could use my other hand, but unfortunately I could not.
It was two a.m. No wonder both of us were so tired. I set a quiet alarm, so only Eliot and I would hear it, and drifted off to sleep.
I was almost surprised we hadn't been caught when we fell asleep, but when we woke up we were still safe.
"Just a couple more hours... It's still dark.." Eliot said sleepily, cuddling with a tree trunk.
"No Elliot. It's nine o'clock. We have to get a move-on."
Elliot sat up. He glanced around anxiously. "C-Caleb warned me of this. He said the sun would go out. And then you couldn't heal yourself or anyone else, b-because Darkness tampered with the clouds." he murmured.
Uneasiness crept in my mind. "Yeah I haven't been able to heal this cut..." I gestured to my right arm's fresh wound, still hadn't had enough time to make a scab. I was becoming worried that it would get infected. But there wasn't a river or anything that I could wash it.
"Come to think of it, why does Darkness want you?" I just assumed Elliot was considered a loose end or something. But there was no way a scared little boy could be considered a threat. Even to a villain made of Darkness.
Eliot grew more comfortable, and grinned. He jumped up to his feet. "Because- I help people's abilities around me."
I looked up at him, saying "Kinda like Caleb? Except opposite?"
Eliot nodded.
"Unfortunately making the clouds go away is too hard for me. But! I can make it rain!" he grinned. He breathed in deeply. And when he let out, rain droplets started falling, healing my wound. After a few sprinkles he let it stop.
Smiling, he looked at me cheerfully. I had finished healing and my arm was completely back to normal.
Elliot hugged me, his little arms around my neck. "All right. Come on." I smiled. I picked him up and flew north, not knowing where to go anymore. We weren't traveling straight. So Darkness's lair could be anywhere.
Nothing really happened during the trip.
When we arrived, I knocked on North's door. Elliot slept soundly on my back, piggy-back style.
A small quiet man answered the door. When he saw me, a bunch of happy golden pictured whirred above his head.
I giggled. "Nice to see you too, Sandy."
He gestured and I stepped inside. North swooped me up and hugged me tightly. "Oh good. We so worried bout you. Where are Jack and others?"
"Kinda of a long story. They got kidnapped. By Darkness." Elliot held fast against my leg.
North nodded, still puzzled by my vague answer. Before asking more questions to stir it up, he asked "And who is this little guy?" he bent down and smiled, giving him a candy cane. Elliot took it quietly and muttered. "I-I'm Elliot." his voice broke. "Oh p-please. You've got to save my b-brother and mother! A-And of course your friends too!" he cried desperately. He sniffled, the tears still streaming down. I bent down, hugging him. I didn't want to tell him 'it'll be okay' or 'it's okay' because the truth was, it wasn't ok and I didn't know if it'd get better or not. I just let him sob quietly into my shoulder. I didn't bother saying 'sshhh it's ok now. Don't cry' either, mostly because I wanted to cry with him. He's probably been wanting to cry all this time, and North's kind words just made him break. I wondered when I myself would have an overwhelming emotional crying fit. Hopefully after I get some sleep, I grimaced.
We didnt really talk much. Sandy, North, and Tooth were quite worried about my health and practically forced me to go to bed.
I laid awake and stared at the ceiling for what seemed like hours. I couldn't fall asleep, and I was growing frustrated that I couldn't.
I sat up and groggily looked around at the strange room that I supposed I would call "my bedroom."
It was dark, and I couldn't really see a whole lot, just using the slim moonlight that managed to slip its way in dodging the blinds. I started to lean back down when I heard a noise. Tap.
Tap. Tap.
Tap tap.
Tap.
I followed the noise to the window. Raising the blinds, and lifting it open, I saw the source.
Caleb was throwing pebbles at my window.
"Caleb?!" I exclaimed excitedly. I gasped, putting my hand over my mouth, remembering Elliot sleeping in the bed across mine. He was too rattled to sleep in his own room. I was a little too.
He nodded, and started climbing the wall. I made a vine ladder, and he crawled over that once it reached him.
"Oh. Good! I thought you might be..." I looked down.
"No they didn't see me. I couldn't find Elliot so I was hoping he was safe here."
We talked endlessly, cautiously stopping whenever Elliot stirred, or when we thought we heard another person, either one of the Guardians coming to see what was going on or an attack from Darkness.
We slowly ran out of things to say and plan, and Caleb climbed into his brother's bed, Elliot immediately clinging onto him, as if he knew when something new had come just within his reach so he could use it as a replacement instead of a teddy bear. A brother you hadn't seen for a while was probably much better than any old stuffed animal anyway.
And we all slept soundly and satisfied, certain we had a plan for tomorrow.