Chapter Eight

We had been on the road for about an hour now.

After Austin and I had come out of Wyatt's secret room, we found Delilah, Dylan and Naya waiting eagerly at the entrance of the room. We showed them what Wyatt had gifted us and they had inspected it with excitement.

After a lot of fuss from both Wyatt and his wife, they had finally allowed to leave after Noelle came back. They had wanted to give us a tour of their village but Ryder had told them we were on a time sensitive journey and that we wanted to take a rain check. Noelle had come back empty handed, and I guessed Momoko had told her not to pack anything. She had changed her clothes, though. She had been very excited about the opportunity to finally leave her village but was sad that she was leaving her family behind. Just like every other Emaette, her real family were in Trevia, but the villagers considered themselves family.

***

The back seats in the van could fit about eight to nine people, and we were currently six. Austin, Noelle and Delilah were in the last row and Dylan, Naya and I were in the second row. I suspected Momoko was dozing off in the passenger seat. Everyone was busy with whatever activity they had occupied themselves with.

Ryder hadn't said a word to anyone since the drive begun. I often wondered what went on in his mind. He was so hard to figure out. Why was he so quiet? Was he hiding something? Had he always been this way, or had something made him this way? These were questions only he, or probably Momoko could answer. And because of that, I could never completely trust him.

I was holding a "Guide To Trevia" book that I had found in my backpack. I was looking at it and trying to process it, but my mind was thinking about how I was doing a bad job at socializing with the people I was traveling with. Well, that wasn't a surprise and it wasn't necessary for me to, but I felt like I should at least get to know them on a basic level since I didn't know how many days we were going to spend together. The twins and Naya weren't a problem. Austin and Ryder were obviously out of the picture due to obvious reasons. Ryder only talked to us 'kids' when he wanted to bark out an order or train us and Austin...was someone who made me realize the extent to which I could dislike a person. That left Momoko and Noelle. Momoko was a very nice lady who looked out for us and seemed like she had our best interests at heart. She didn't behave like a princess like she claimed to be. And it was quite obvious that she was fond of Ryder, no matter how much she tried to hide it. I wasn't sure if they were in a relationship or not, but that was really none of my business. Noelle, though I had just met her, seemed like a very serious, always ready for battle kind of girl. She was a Dark Emaett, and if that was anything to go by, I might have a hard time liking her. But to be fair, I didn't want to judge her before I actually knew anything about her.

Even though I had headphones on, I could hear Noelle and Austin chattering away behind me. I thought I heard my name once but I couldn't be sure. He was probably instigating her against me, telling her I was the bad guy. Just like I had expected, they seemed to get along pretty well. Austin was obviously excited that Noelle was a Dark Emaett just like him. And Noelle was obviously enjoying his company. I decided to tune out their voices so I increased the volume of the music to the highest. I'd reduce it later so I wouldn't burst my eardrums.

"Momoko?" I heard Austin call out after a while.

Momoko stirred in her seat and looked back "Yes dear"

"Um, I was wondering about your makeup"

I raised my head, wondering why he was asking this here all of a sudden.

Momoko immediately looked uncomfortable. If the makeup had not completely obscured her cheeks, I think I would have seen her blushing.

I took the risk and looked back to see Noelle and Austin awaiting her answer.

"Oh hey, I thought you were asleep" Noelle said as she did a little wave in my direction.

After a few beats I returned the wave weakly. Then my eyes caught Austin looking at me with a slight frown on his face, like he was daring me to say something. And that was the last thing I was going to do. I turned forward and rested my head against the window. I tried not to act interested by going back to reading my book, but I was actually curious about the reason too.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I was just wondering" Austin said quickly, when he noticed she was reluctant to answer.

"Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious why you always put on so makeup to the extent that you look almost completely different without it"

Momoko didn't reply for about a minute and I thought she had decided not to answer "It's kind of a long story, but let's just say I don't want some people to know how I really look"

"Well, whatever you're hiding, I'm sure you don't need that much"

"Thank you, Cressida, but let's not continue this conversation" Swiftly changing the topic, Momoko turned the attention to Noelle "So tell us more about yourself Noelle"

"Well, what do you want to know?" Noelle replied brightly

"Anything really, a brief overview, things you're interested in, or the stuff you've been telling Austin since we got into the van"

I looked back and saw Noelle looking embarrassed.

She cleared her throat and composed herself.

"Okay, I like playing games with my siblings, solving puzzles and riddles and combats with or without weapons. I started training to be a warrior when I was five, because my parents regularly took me on walks to the fields and I always admired the discipline and skill of the warriors practicing. I'm currently the youngest fully trained warrior. We've actually had to use our training only a few times, though, because we're isolated and very safe but yesterday's was by far the most interesting fight I've been in"

"How did you handle those Vultures after you ran off?" I asked

"Threw spears at them" she replied "I was able to hit only a few because they flew really fast, but the ones I did hit turned into a puff of smoke"

"That's because they're Erps, creatures from Trevia. But I guess you don't know anything about that yet, do you?" Momoko asked.

"Actually, I do. Austin has been catching me up on everything I need to know so I wouldn't be holding you back"

"You agreed to come so easily, why's that?"

"I love adventures, and I've never been outside my village before. I'd love to meet my biological parents. And lastly, you guys were so cool using your powers and defending my people and fighting all those other creatures Austin told me about. Cressida was awesome yesterday using her essence!"

I found it quite shocking that someone thought I was awesome.

"Thanks" I said in a low voice, feeling embarrassed all of a sudden.

"So has Austin told you what class of manipulation you fall under?"

"No, I figured that out myself. Noticed the mark on my wrist shortly after we started traveling and checked the guide to Trevia book and found out which class I belong to. I'm an elementalist. Earth"

"How convenient" Dylan said "Water, Fire, Earth. Who are we recruiting next? Air?"

"Actually, no one can manipulate air, not Emaes, and certainly not Emaetts" I said. I had read about that a few pages back.

"Nerd alert" I heard Austin mutter under his breath

"Like you're not one too" I replied. We were practically nomitated for the same nerdy spot in school.

"I don't behave like that though" he argued.

"That's what you think"

"I..."

"Anyway," Noelle said, cutting off what could've become an argument, and gave us strange looks "I'd love to begin training how to use my abilites with you guys"

"I'm glad you said that Noelle dear, because your wish is about to come true right about now" Momoko said just as Ryder stopped the van.

I looked outside the faintly tinted window to see an expanse of sand for miles and miles in my line of vision. We were in a desert. There was no sign of any living creature anywhere close by.

"Why did we stop at a desert?" Delilah asked, confused.

"Get down kids, it's time for your next phase of training" Momoko said as she opened the door and got out of the car.

"Wow, this is actually really great. Cressida, open the door and let us get out. This is just perfect" Austin rambled on.

Ignoring him and taking my time, I began packing my stuff into my bag.

"You think you're annoying me but really you're just proving my point that you're slow" Austin sneered.

"If you're in such a hurry, why don't you just jump out the back window?" I retorted, annoyed.

"Oh not again" I heard Delilah say and finally decided to open the door. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I stretched and yawned. As Austin got down he ran into the open sand spreading out his arms after being cooped up in the car for so long.

And then I noticed him bringing out the pouch of marbles from his pocket.

And then I realized he had been planning to do ever since. He was planning to play with his marbles here. I mean, it was the perfect spot. But won't we be like, blown up too?

***

We had all gotten out of the van and stretched our limbs. Momoko was searching for something in the boot of the car, Ryder was leaning against the hood of the car, waiting for Momoko just like the rest of us. Except Austin. He had run far away to try out his killer marbles that could destroy everything within a mile radius.

I heard one explode just then. The earth under my feet vibrated from the impact. Sand exploded in the air and I was pretty sure he had just created a dent in nature's earth. I could hear him laugh in excitement. The wind blew the sand in our direction and we all had to take cover in the car until the mini sandstorm was over while Austin didn't move an inch and got ready to throw another one.

When Austin had thrown marbles to his heart's content and come back, Momoko said to all of us.

"How about we start the lesson now?"

"What's it about?" Dylan asked her.

"Since you've all learned to control and use your essence at will, which was lesson one, we're moving on to lesson two, learning how to use it in a real battle"

"We've actually done that a couple of times already" Austin stated as he came back "Three times to be precise"

"That's true. But you weren't expecting any of those. This time, you have a heads up. And you know exactly what you're up against"

"Not to be obvious, but isn't it going to be easier if anything?" Delilah asked.

A small smile appeared on Momoko's face "We'll see about that. You'll be facing scorpions this time. Mechanical scorpions made by Ryder's friend, the same one that manufactured the van"

"Robot scorpions?" Delilah scoffed "Like I said- easy"

"Oh don't get too overconfident just yet. You never know what might happen." Turning to all of us she said "I'll be nice and give you a headstart. You can go as far as you want. The goal is to not get caught and bitten by the spiders. Their bites are poisonous and very painful, but not deadly. Are you ready?"

"Yeah" we all said. How hard could it be, right? I could just kill them easily and be done with the lesson. And how fast could they move? They were mechanical. I was very sensitive to physical pain, so that could serve as a motivation not to get bitten.

"Oh, and kids? Did I mention that they can't die? You're going to have to endure and keep up for as long as possible" she smiled sweetly, but I could tell she enjoyed seeing the fear in our eyes.

There was no way I could manage to outrun them. Sooner or later, they were going to catch up with me, and I was going to regret once again ever coming on this adventure in the first place.

***

I moved a few feet ahead of everyone else before we started to get a headstart, just to be safe. I saw Momoko upturn her brown sack and pour its content on the sand. They were about a dozen huge scorpions made with some sort of shiny metal. Their had sharp pointy legs and strange antennas on them. Momoko held up a remote in the air and pressed the button. The antennas on their bodies suddenly shot up and they immediately started running. They literally covered a feet every three seconds.

I snapped out of my paralysed state a little late and began running as fast as I could. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't a great runner. And the scorpions chasing me were catching up. I slowed my pace a little, turned back, held out my hand and doused them with water. They stopped while I sprayed them, but the second I stopped, they continued running.

That gave me an idea.

I turned to face the two scorpions chasing me and began running backwards, blasting water out of my hands. As long as I continued hitting them, they couldn't move and I could gain more distance between us and I could easily complete this lesson. It was a perfect plan until I tripped on a stone and fell. I used my hands to support myself and soften my fall, consequently stopping the flow. The scorpions started moving again and they were catching up my real fast.

Have I mentioned I'm completely useless in emergency situations? There was no way they wouldn't sting me eventually.

I stood up and was about to start running as long as I could before they inevitably caught up with me when I remembered the hairclip Wyatt had given me. I hurriedly took it from my hair and held it in my hands. I said the spell and watched as it morphed into a bow and arrow. Because they were so close to me, I didn't have time to think about the fact that I would most likely miss my shot and just took the shot anyway. But as it seemed, I didn't need a great shot, though my aim had been perfect.

There was a great explosion, just like Austin's marbles, but unlike his, mine exploded water. So much more water than had ever seen at a time in my life, flooding everywhere within a mile radius. Normally, the water should have entered their system and fried their circuits. It seemed Ryder's crazy friend had created waterproof death machines. Awesome, if you weren't the one being chased by them.

I was getting tired, and the left side of my stomach hurt, so I decided to carry out another trick. And I really hoped it would work the first time this time. I stopped running completely and concentrated really hard on my E Zone. I moved my hand all around the spot where i stood and it actually worked. I was enclosed in a crystal shelter. A shelter for a very tired and exhausted me. I sat down on the sand and waited to see if the scorpions could penetrate my cage when they caught up with me.

In the meantime, I looked to see how my friends were doing. Delilah was using her turbo boost function, because unfortunately her essence couldn't save her in this situation. She was athletic, and she was putting that advantage to use. She ran steadily and kept a fixed distance from them. She was currently ahead of all of us and I wondered if she would have the energy to run back.

Naya who was on my other side had summoned a row of cactuses to block the spiders path, but then one of the scorpions pierced it with its stinger and it wilted immediately. Was that was going to happen to us? Were our limbs going to go lifeless like that too if we got stung?

Noelle seemed like she was enjoying the challenge. I didn't know how she was so good when she had just discovered her essence literally yesterday. She was uprooting chunks of the earth and throwing it at the scorpions, and that slowed them down a lot.

Austin also seemed to be doing well. He had so much power now with those marbles of his and he was taking full advantage of it. He was practically jogging because he could afford to, the scorpions were barely moving because they were being interuppted by the fire balls and marble bombs Austin was constantly throwing at them. It was so annoying he found it so easy.

I was so focused on all the others I didn't see that my own scorpions had caught up with me. They were scratching my amber coloured cage with their legs.

I had two options. Blast them away with the cage and have a headstart or wait in the cage and hope that they weren't able to break it.

I was about to go with the former option when one of them spat out a yellowish liquid that melted the part of the cage that it touched. That wasn't good.

To be clear, I wasn't slow, those things were really fast and one of them got in through the hole it created and bit my leg before I could make a run for it. By reflex, I immediately shot the scorpion out of my cage and covered my cage with another shield. I created two big crystals with pointy edges and crushed my two tormentors with it. They didn't look like they were getting up any time soon.

I tried to stand up but I immediately fell back down.

Yup, my leg was completely lifeless.

***

Gosh, I was so lame at being a rare powerful magical being.

Okay, maybe not magical. Or powerful. But I was an Emaette, and I was supposed to be awesome and special. But I wasn't, and I was tired of getting reminded of that everytime.

I rolled up the leg of my jeans carefully to see how bad it was. It was red and was already swollen. I had never seen a scorpion sting but I never thought it would be as disgusting as mine was right now. I looked away before I had the urge to throw up.

The fact that they could sting me didn't even make sense, because the scorpions were made of metal and weren't supposed to have venom. It was getting more painful by the second. I didn't want to be even lamer and burst into tears but I was so close to doing that right now. I was just a moment away from crying for help when I saw Noelle running towards me. I noticed that there were no scorpions on her tail and then I saw a huge boulder in the direction she was coming from and realised that she must have trapped them under it.

I broke down my cage when she finally reached me and she helped me to my feet. She put my arm around her neck and let me lean against her to keep the weight off my leg.

"I'll help you to the van. Momoko will know what to do" she said as we began to walk in that direction. To say I was embarrased was an understatement. Even a newbie was better at manipulating her essence than me.

Okay, to be fair to myself, I was just two days more experienced than her and I wasn't that bad with my essence. I managed to do some really cool things from time to time.

"Ouch, that must be painful" Noelle said and I saw that she was looking at the swelling that was obvious through my jeans.

"Thanks for helping me. That's really nice of you"

She smiled at me "We're a team, and teammates must support each other, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so"

"I think we're going to be great friends, Cressida D'Andrea"

I was confused as of how she suddenly came to that conclusion but I didn't disagree. Maybe she could see the future too.

Momoko and Ryder were leaning against the car when we got there, awaiting our arrival.

"Well done, Cressida. You worked very hard and fought well. You're improving" Momoko said with a sympathetic smile as she opened the door of the van and Noelle dropped me on the seat. ",and you used your new weapon well"

I scoffed as I stretched out my injured leg "You don't mean any of that, you're just saying it to make me feel better, and it's not working" I said flatly. Momoko began using her special ointment that seemed to treat just about any kind of injury on the spot where I had been bitten.

"I do mean it. Even Ryder agreed with me, and we both know he would never do that just to make you feel better about yourself"

I looked at Ryder questioningly. He didn't even acknowledge my presence but he didn't deny what Momoko said and somehow, that made me feel a bit better.

"All done" Momoko said after she finished wrapping a bandage around the area.

"Excuse me" Noelle said "When does this lesson end? My team can't last much longer out there, except Austin, of course. He's doing great actually" she added

"I think you kids have had enough exercise for today" Momoko picked up the remote from the floor of the car and pressed a button. I watched as all the scorpions dropped at the same time.

"You can come back now kids, lesson's over" she yelled loud for everyone to hear.

When everyone had gathered, all sweaty and panting heavily, Momoko said

"Good job kids. It's time for lunch now, you can all choose what you want to eat, except Cressida"

"What, why?" I asked, confused.

"Because I'm going to give you a potion now that'll put you to sleep for a while"