Air {Elements of Power 3}

Chapter 39: Jasmine

"Roxy? Roxy? Where in the air did you go?" My surrounding had gone pitch black when Roxy vanished, and I was so unnerved that it took me a couple of seconds to spark my own flames to replace hers.

When fire finally filled my palms, I saw a huge gaping hole in the floor, spanning the door and about a metre into the room, exactly where Roxy had been standing. "Roxy?" I got to my knees, peering into the hole. "Roxy, are you down there?" I was met with nothing but silence. Oh air. What was I going to do now?

I lay down flat on my stomach, extending my arms as far as I could into the abyss, hoping to see her, to confirm that she was okay.

But my flames didn't make a dent in the darkness.

I tried to send a spark downwards, to see how far it went. In my state of panic it took me a few attempts to make the flames fly from my fingertips, but when I managed it, they didn't make a lot of difference. A small flare of fire trailed down and down into the gloom before going out. Absolutely useless.

Climbing back to my feet, I peered into the room itself. It seemed normal enough, but then Roxy had thought that too...

I had three options: wait outside and hope that Roxy, somehow, reappeared; drop down into the hole and hope that I didn't plummet down to my death; or venture further into the room.

I couldn't abandon Roxy and we needed Helian back up. I was going to have to be brave. I was going to have to be like Roxy.

I took a few steps back, closed my eyes, ran and jumped.

My feet thudded onto solid floor on the other side of the trap and my lungs let out a breath that I hadn't realised I had been holding.

Carefully, I put one foot in front of the other, testing my weight before taking each step forwards. I forced myself to breathe deeply, taking as much air as possible into my chest to try and combat the rapid beating of my heart. The surrounding area was silent save for my own footsteps, which echoed with a concerning level of noise.

After seconds that felt like hours, I made it to the door. I found myself in an equally empty corridor. It wasn't an area of the palace I had seen on my last visit and it was plain and dull in comparison to the opulence of the public spaces. I knew that I must still be in the staff quarters.

Since Roxy had fallen downwards, I figured I had better head down myself if I wanted to stand any chance of finding her. For that, all I had to do was find some stairs...

To start, I checked the two doors to my left, both of which led into empty rooms, before continuing down the corridor in the hope of finding a staircase. It took three more doors, but eventually I found one-heading up. I groaned. I was nearly at the end of the corridor. Perhaps there wasn't a route down from this floor. Maybe I needed to go up, to go down...

Taking a punt, I climbed the stairs. The next level looked a little more like the palace I remembered; fancy paintings on the walls, plush carpets, lots of glass. I was getting somewhere.

As I walked along this new corridor I felt a rejuvenated sense of purpose. All I had to do, was find a route down to the basement. It couldn't be that hard, could it?

The next few doors were not promising; most of them looked like meeting rooms. One had a large wooden table in its centre that had been scorched right along the middle; someone had got pretty angry in there at some point.

Shutting the door quietly behind me I carried on, but I before I reached the next door, a thumping sound made my pulse start to race. It was coming from a door at the end of the corridor. It didn't sound like an advancing defensive force though; more as if someone had heard my search and was trying to get my attention.

I paused in the middle of the corridor, unsure what I should do. At best, opening the door could be a distraction-Roxy had fallen down, not up, so it couldn't be her. At worst, it could be a trap set by whoever was occupying the castle. I should ignore it and continue my search. But the person behind the door could be in need of my help. Could I really just leave them there? It could even be my father if the guards at the gate had been lying about his location. I had to check, but I approached slowly, hoping that whoever was inside wouldn't realise that I was there.

The door had been bolted from the outside with a newly fitted metal bar. I pressed my ear against it, my hand hovering over the bolt. There was a definite thumping sound on the other side of the wood.

I breathed in, gathering my strength and letting the sparks ready themselves at my fingertips, then I threw back the bolt and opened the door.

A girl Roxy's age was standing on the other side of the room, looking at me in shock. Her short orange dress had been torn and wrinkled from what looked like weeks of wear. Her eyes were rimmed blue from a lack of sleep. But her hair was as red as ever and flames were already blazing at her fingertips.

"Avery?" 

{Another complication or a new potential ally? Let me know what you think in the comments and please vote if you enjoyed this chapter.}