The Prophecy of Shadows (18 page)

“Now it’s your turn.” Danielle motioned for Chris to try.

He rubbed his hands together. “I’ve got the magic touch,” he said, kneeling down and wrapping his fingers around the eagle’s head. It popped right off. He reached inside and pulled out a rolled piece of parchment the same size as the one Danielle had found in her jar.

“What does it say?” I asked, resisting the urge to grab it out of his hands so I could read it myself.

He unrolled the paper and held it in front of him. “Follow the direction of Victory, as she will lead to the fuel that burns the fire. That which causes destruction can also be used for creation.” He shrugged and looked back up. “That’s all I’ve got. And Victory is capitalized.”

“The direction of Victory…” I said, looking up at the goddess in Zeus’s hand. “It could mean Nike. Didn’t Sophie say that Nike meant victory?”

Danielle stood up and wiped some dirt off her jeans. “It’s just another vague clue,” she muttered. “This would be easier if they could give us a map.”

“The fuel that burns the fire,” Blake repeated, looking at Nike. “She’s pointing to the woods.”

I faced the direction of Nike’s finger. “That’s northwest,” I said.

I had no idea how I knew that—but I knew I was right.

“Those are the woods near Darius’s house, right?” Kate asked. “The ones we stood next to on the night of the comet.”

“Clenton Woods,” Chris said, rolling the paper back up. “I live a few houses down from Darius. I used to play in those woods when I was younger.” He placed the paper back in the eagle and shut the lid. “Let’s go check this out.”

We drove on Odessa Road until reaching the woods. Once there, Kate parked in Chris’s driveway. The trees here were taller than the ones in Georgia, and they had more branches. In the winter they looked like skeletons, but I imagined they must be pretty in the summer with all of their leaves.

“Where to now?” Danielle asked Blake. “Do you hear something calling to you?”

“Or see something glowing?” Chris added.

“No…” Blake said, looking out into the woods. “Why don’t we walk around and see what we can find?”

“There are a few trails around here.” Chris walked towards the woods and motioned for us to follow. “They shouldn’t be too far. Some friends and I used to go to this abandoned cottage to play around in before my parents found out what we were doing. It had burned down a long time ago, and they said it wasn’t safe. They were afraid we would get hurt.”

“A cottage that burned down?” I repeated, surprised he hadn’t mentioned it earlier. “We should check it out. It works with the whole fire-destruction thing in the clue.”

“The trail should be right around … here.” Chris stopped at a small break in the trees.

It looked like an animal path—barely wide enough for an average-sized person. I probably wouldn’t have noticed it unless Chris had pointed it out. There was just enough room to walk if you ducked under the occasional branch and watched out for tree roots.

I glanced at Danielle to see her reaction to hiking in her stilettos. She had a look of disgust plastered on her face, which amused me. She would jump into a freezing cold ocean, but was horrified at the idea of walking through the woods. I didn’t think I would ever understand her.

Kate glided past us, pushing through a group of branches and walking underneath them. “Come on,” she teased. “The trees aren’t going to hurt you.”

Chris and Blake followed her, leaving Danielle and me standing at the opening. “After you,” I said, motioning for her to go ahead. She jogged to catch up with the others, stumbling over a tree root in the process. I followed as close behind as possible, managing to accumulate a fair share of scratches on my hands from the branches. I contemplated saving my energy and not healing the small cuts, but they stung, so I fixed them anyway. Using a tiny bit of energy wouldn’t make too much of a difference. If anything, it was practice.

“Here it is,” Chris said from up ahead. I followed Danielle, who was stumbling in her stilettos, and we caught up with the group.

We were standing in a small clearing, most of it taken up by the remnants of the deteriorating cottage. It looked like it only had two rooms before it had burned down. The charred wooden planks making up the floor had warped into themselves, and the log walls barely existed anymore. Mounds of stones made up what appeared to have been a fireplace. Nature was reclaiming most of the cottage—moss grew everywhere, and trees were sprouting up on the inside.

I could see why Chris’s parents didn’t want him playing there as a child. The place was just asking for someone to get hurt.

Blake looked at the house, his jaw tense. “Does it feel warmer here than in the rest of the woods?” he asked, studying the center of the warped floor.

A cold breeze passed through the air, the tree branches whistling in the wind. “I wish,” I said, pulling the sleeves of my jacket over my hands.

He walked towards the cottage and stepped over what was left of the wall, his eyes intense as he focused on that same spot in the center of the floor.

“Are you sure that’s safe to walk on?” Danielle asked.

Blake glanced at her over his shoulder and laughed. “Says the girl who jumped in the ocean when it’s below freezing outside.”

“Fair point,” she mumbled, taking a step back.

The wood creaked beneath Blake’s feet, and he was careful not to step on any parts that looked like they were about to cave in. Once at the center, he knelt down and pressed his hand against a plank that looked relatively intact compared to the others surrounding it.

Kate looked at me and tilted her head. I shrugged, having no more of an idea what Blake was doing than anyone else.

“Want to tell us what’s going on?” Danielle yelled, stepping forward and placing her hands on her hips. He didn’t reply, so she jogged towards the ruined cottage and stepped over the edge. She took a few steps, but her stiletto got stuck between the boards and she tumbled to the ground, catching herself with the palms of her hands.

Apparently she wasn’t as graceful on land as she was in the water.

She brushed the dirt off her palms and huffed, not making an effort to stand back up.

Blake looked over at her and smirked. “You know how you didn’t need me to jump in the ocean after you?” he asked, continuing before she could respond. “Well, you don’t have to help me here. I’ve got this covered.”

He turned back around and took out his lighter, flicking it to life. He transferred the flames so they hovered in an orb over his hand. Just as he had on the playground, he controlled the fire perfectly, lowering it to the floorboards. The burning wood smelled like a campfire, crisp in the brisk winter air.

I wanted to get closer to warm my hands, but Blake had made it clear that he needed to do this on his own. Plus, the floor didn’t look stable. I didn’t want to fall like Danielle, who had rejoined us and was still brushing the dirt off her jeans.

Blake lifted one of the charred floorboards and removed something from under it. His back faced me, so I couldn’t see what he’d found. Finally, he turned around, holding an iron box. It was smaller than the jar and the eagle—it looked about the size of a toolbox. He maneuvered his way out of the remnants of the cottage and dropped the box on the ground near our feet. Dirt poofed up from under it. The box must have been heavier than it looked.

“The clue must be inside.” Kate reached for the lid, but it wouldn’t open for her. “You try,” she told Blake.

When Blake tried, the lid lifted without a fight. He reached inside and pulled out two items—a leather book, and another, smaller box that was also metal.

Danielle kneeled down next to the box. “Where’s the clue?” she asked.

He opened the book, his eyebrows knitting together as he glanced through whatever was in it.

“Well?” she prompted.

“There’s no clue here.” He rubbed the back of his neck and paged through the book again. “All this has are instructions for how to make things.”

I peered over his shoulder to see what he meant. Diagrams were scattered all over the pages—instructions on how to create weapons. I shuddered at the thought. But then I thought about the monster from last night. If we had to face anything like that again, weapons would be useful to have around. I wouldn’t always have metal monkey bars at my disposal.

Chris circled around Blake to get a look. “What kind of things?” he asked.

“Weapons.” Blake lowered the book, his eyes hard. “It’s full of instructions about how to forge weapons with fire.”

“Cool.” Chris frowned, not sounding as enthused as usual. “But why do we need weapons? We’ve got our powers.” He swirled some leaves around for emphasis.

“I don’t know.” Blake closed the book and picked up the other, smaller box. He opened it and pulled something out that looked like an antique pocket watch. Five words were engraved on the top. They were written in Greek, but my mind automatically translated them: fire, water, air, and earth. In the center was the Greek word for spirit, or Aether.

Blake popped it open, revealing a black needle with a scripted gold K on the tip. Along the edges of the circle were four evenly dispersed gems—a ruby, emerald, topaz, and sapphire. A diamond sparkled in the center, the needle balanced on top of it.

“It looks like a compass,” I said.

Danielle reached forward and grabbed it. “What does it mean by ‘K?’” she asked.

“Was there an explanation in the book?” Kate asked Blake.

“No,” he said. “It’s only instructions on how to forge weapons. But feel free to look for yourself.”

Kate opened the book and paged through it. “You’re right,” she finally said. “There’s no clue here. So I guess the obvious thing to do is follow the compass.”

“Most compasses point north,” I thought out loud. “But this one points northwest.”

“How do you know that?” Danielle asked.

“I just do,” I said. “Ever since moving here, I can ‘feel’ directions. But you’re free to use the compass app on your phone to check for yourself.”

She opened her app and calibrated the compass. “Fine … you’re right,” she admitted. “The needle on the compass we found is pointing northwest, not north.”

I was tempted to tell her that I told her so, but I held my tongue.

Blake looked back and forth between the two of us. “I guess we’re going northwest,” he said.

With that, he grabbed the box and led the way out of the woods.

Due to my newfound sense of direction, the group insisted that I sit in the passenger seat and navigate. Even Danielle agreed.

The compass continued to lead us northwest, so we kept driving up Odessa Road, so far that we passed Kinsley High. But after passing the school, something changed.

“It’s moving,” I told them, watching the arrow steadily rotate. “It’s pointing east now.”

“Towards the school?” Danielle leaned forward to see for herself. “All of this running around collecting clues and it’s leading us to
school
?

“Not directly towards the school,” I answered. “A little more south. It changed after the intersection of Odessa Road and Beverly Street. There are woods just south of the school, right?”

Kate pulled into a side street and turned around. “Bosley Woods,” she muttered. “Great.”

“Is there something wrong with those woods?” I asked.

“No.” She shook her head. “They just give me the creeps.”

“Me, too,” Chris piped up from the back. “They give off a weird vibe.”

Creepy woods emitting weird vibes. Fantastic. It couldn’t be worse than a cemetery, but Kate loved nature. If the woods made
her
jumpy, they had to be pretty bad.

Kate turned into the school. Only a few cars were parked in front, but other than that, the normally bustling lot was empty. “We can park near the gym,” she said. “It’s closest to the woods, and it should be empty since there isn’t a game today.”

She headed towards the gym, and for the first time since we’d gotten into the car, everyone was silent.

“It’ll be fine, guys,” Danielle tried to break the tension.

“Yeah,” Chris said with more confidence. “We’ve already swam in freezing water, flown to the top of a sixty foot statue, and excavated a burned down cottage. We can handle whatever’s coming next. We’re the Elementals.”

“The Elementals?” I laughed and glanced back at him.

“We needed a team name,” he said sheepishly. “Since we’re going to be working together and all.”

Danielle sat back in her seat. “It sounds like something from a comic book,” she said. “We’re witches—not superheroes.”

“And you know this because … you read comics?” I stifled laughter, since I couldn’t picture that.

“No.” She crossed her arms and stared out the window. It looked ridiculous, since she was squished in the middle seat between Chris and Blake.

Chris smiled and nudged her with his shoulder. “Don’t lie,” he teased. “You used to bring them to school and trade them with Matt in second grade.”

“Matt?” I gasped. “You mean the human Chris introduced me to at the party last week? The one who’s dating Anne?”