A Tale of Four Sisters: Chapter Ten

Celeste

“Cool!” Hugo exclaims.
“Okay, well then, can you toss all the skeletons away so we can escape?” Aura wonders.
“But first, what are your names?” Ava asks.
“My name is Aura!” 

“Hey, I’m Celeste.” I say.

“I’m Sienna, nice to meet you guys!”

 “And I’m Seraphine!”
“Okay, nice to meet you guys too! Now Hugo, throw them away like paper!” Ava cries. Hugo smiled and kept on fending the skeletons off. But soon, he got tired.
“Can’t─ keep─ doing─ this!” He pants.

“Um, does anybody have a sword or something?!” I ask frantically.

Seraphine suddenly yells, “Blaze, stop!” Blaze comes to a stop. She leaps off of Blaze and grabs a thick tree branch on the ground. The skeletons immediately make her their target. They start crawling towards Seraphine, the bony fingers rustling through the grass.

Are you sure you want us to fight you? Look how much bigger we are than you. The skeleton hands hiss at Seraphine.

Great. They’re huge skeleton hands, and now they TALK?! What could possibly be worse?
“Did anyone else hear that?” I ask.

“Yeah. It’s creepy.” Seraphine mutters. “You guys go somewhere safe! I’ll deal with these guys!”

“No, we aren’t going to leave you!” Ava shouts.

“Well, it’s the best choice, Ava! It’s better to leave one person in danger than letting all of them.” Seraphine insists.

“Yeah, but if we fight them together, it’ll go by quicker and we won’t leave anyone behind! Please, Seraphine! We don’t want to lose a friend!” Hugo protested.

Seraphine hesitated. The skeleton hands were getting closer. “Fine.” she says at last. “Quick! Grab something, and fight!”

Everybody hopped off without hesitation. I hop off too, and the skeletons start turning toward us also. I’m not afraid. Some skeleton hands must’ve noticed, since a few backed away just a little. Geyser. I think. Make a geyser in the middle of all those bony hands. 

Nothing happened. GEYSER! I think harder. My eyebrows furrowed together. Sienna must’ve seen me, because she quickly jogs over, and whispers in my ear, “Grab those big emotions, and free them. When we were fighting the Kelomuta, I unleashed all my anger to make those vines.”

I grin at her. “Thanks for the tips.”

“No problem.” then she walks over and tells everyone else. They nod, and turn back to the hands. Seraphine drops her branch. The hands must’ve thought that it was a movement of surrender, because they stood still, and stopped crawling towards us. That’s when I decided to use my powers. I thought about all my sadness. Leaving Mom and Dad behind, Rogina getting cut by the Kelomuta, Elementia dying, all those thoughts.

“GEYSER!” I screamed. A huge torrent of water erupted from the ground, and blasted a bunch of hands away. The bones that constructed the hands flew apart. Meanwhile, Hugo was still throwing some of them far away. Aura had summoned her wind to blow a few hands into the air, and they fell back down with such force, they crumpled to dust.

“FIRE!” I heard someone holler.

My body crashed into something hard. It was a skeleton trying to grab me.

“ARGH!” I shouted, and pelted him with ice cubes. I thrashed and kicked. I managed to detach one of its fingers. I used my knee to bonk the hand. It finally fell into a heap of bones. Then, I blasted the bones away with a stream of water. I saw a skeleton hand with Ava in its grasp, upside-down.

She had been trying to use her power with words, it seemed. Her lips were dry and chapped. Her face was getting red from being upside-down for so long.

“Help.” she managed to whimper. I jumped onto the skeleton hand. And started to pound it’s ‘back’. I kicked, punched, and stomped.

“AQUA!” I yelled. Aqua ran over. “Help me get the hand to let go of Ava!” I command. My Yenaki unsheathed her claws. She pounced onto one of the skeleton hand’s fingers. She viciously tore it off. I heard a POP! And the skeleton hand crumbled to the ground, and I leaped off before I could make impact with the ground. Sienna made a patch of grass grow where Ava fell to cushion the fall. She wasn’t moving. Her eyes were closed. Where’s the backpack full of supplies? I ask myself. I scan around, and glimpse the backpack meters away from me. I started to run towards it, but another skeleton hand swatted me away. I heard something crack, and pain shot through my left arm.

“Celeste!” I hear someone call. But I was in too much pain to move. My eyes start to close, I watch as my sisters and Hugo struggle against the skeletons. I see Ava motionless on some grass a few feet away from me. I try to get up, and wince. I lay back down. Suddenly, I heard a creak, and a huge metal cage fell down, trapping me and Ava inside. THUMP.

“Ugh… one of Argleni’s traps.” I mumble. Then, I blacked out.

When I woke back up, I saw my sisters and Hugo crowded around the cage. Hugo was trying to use his strength to lift up the cage. But he was already exhausted from the battle with the skeletons, so his strength failed him. I saw huge piles of bones behind Hugo and my sisters. I saw rips in Hugo’s jeans, cuts on Sienna’s face, bruises on Aura’s arms, and Seraphine had a nosebleed.

“Y-you guys defeated the s-skeletons?” I ask shakily.

“Yeah. It was extremely difficult though.” Hugo muttered. “Is Ava okay?”

I glanced over at Ava, she still wasn’t moving. “Could one of you guys pass me the supply backpack?”

Seraphine gets it and un-zipped it. I grabbed a few things. Bandages, ointment, stuff like that.

“I wonder what medicine people in Elementia use.” I say.

“I thought you’d never ask.” a voice replies. My sisters and Hugo whirl around. It’s… CASPER?! He looked like he had encountered a few fights too.

“Who’s that?” Hugo yells, and jumps into a fighting stance.

“Woah, woah, woah! Hugo, this is Casper! He’s not bad.” Aura stammers. Hugo was seriously about to punch Casper if she didn’t say. He gives Casper one last unwary glance.

“Fine.” he mumbles. “What’s he doing here?”

“Well, it looks like you guys need some help.” Casper replies. He looks at me and Ava. “Hmm… stuck in one of Argleni’s traps. Let me get something.” He does that thing where he snaps his fingers and something magically appears. Except, this time the object fell on his face. “OOF!” he yelps as a heavy bag lands on his face, then falls on the ground. I try not to laugh. He picks up the bag and takes out a weird-looking tool.

What is he going to do with that? I think.

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A Tale of Four Sisters: Chapter Nine

Seraphine

I woke up in some sort of cabin. I sit up, and look around. The last thing I remembered was being flung into the air by a giant lizard-thing, and falling to my death. Okay, maybe not to my death, because I remembered that I was alive. I looked around, and saw Aura, Celeste, and Rogina.

“Where’s Sienna?” I ask. I thought nobody was going to answer, because I thought they were still sleeping.

“I dunno.” I hear someone say.

“Aura? Is that you?”

“Yep. I remember falling from my Yenaki.” she mumbles.

“Well, at least you’re safe now.”

“Yeah. I have no idea who caught me. Was it you?”

“Nope. I saw a blur of red rushing over to you.”

“Oh. Then it couldn’t be Sienna or Celeste. It couldn’t be Rogina either, since she was in the monster’s hands.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Who could it be then?”

Just then, somebody walks into the room. It looked like a boy about the same age as Rogina, maybe a little older. I jumped up, ready to fight, and immediately wished I hadn’t. My ribs hurt from the hit by the weird creature. I quickly sat back down, and gave the boy a ‘if you DARE touch my sisters and friends, you’re busted’ look.

The boy saw me, and raised both of his hands above his head in surrender.

“Who are you? Why do you look like Rogina? What is this place?” I ask the boy.

“I am Casper. The reason why I look like Rogina is because I’m her older brother. You all are in my treehouse recovering from your injuries.” Casper explains.

“Is Sienna okay? Why isn’t she in our room?” Aura asks.

“I’m about to bring her up, wait right here.” Casper says, and walks back out. Phew, at least Sienna was safe. After a couple of minutes, Casper walked back in with Sienna! She was a little pale, but when she saw us, she smiled. I wave my hand.

“Hey, Sienna!” I say.

“Hello!” she replies, and waves back. “Are Celeste and Rogina alright?” she asks worriedly.

“They’re fine.” Casper said flatly.

“Are you sure?” Aura asks.

“Yeah, they just might take a little longer to recover than you guys.”

“Oh, okay. Is Rogina going to be okay? Are the cuts bad?” Sienna asks.

“Wait, what? What cuts?” I ask, confused.

Casper sighs. “Rogina got a few cuts from the Kelomuta.”

“What’s a Kee-lo-moo-ta?”

“The monster that attacked you guys. They’re Argleni’s allies.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“What’s so bad about the cuts anyway?”

“Rogina was scratched by the Kelomuta’s deadly talons. The talons contain a venom that can be fatal if it enters your body.”

“That’s… that’s scary.”

“It sure is.”

“I bet you’re really worried. I would be extremely worried if one of my sisters got poisoned.” I mutter.

“Of course I’m worried. But the cuts aren’t that deep. I think I’ll be able to cure her.”

I glance at Rogina. Her lips had lost a little color. I gritted my teeth.

“We’ll get revenge on you, Argleni.” I growl. Sienna walks over to me. She pats my shoulder gently.

“Don’t worry, we will.” she whispers.

“Anyway, what were you guys doing over there anyway?” Casper asks.

“Rogina was going to bring us to the King and Queen of Elementia.” I say.

“Okay, but why were there four Yenakis too?” Casper asks.

“Because we were going to go by Yenaki. We were learning how to ride them, Aura somehow learned how to fly on one, and she was having a great time when the Kelomuta popped out of nowhere and attacked.” Sienna explains.

Casper nodded his head slowly. “Oookay. Got it. Well, I’m afraid your trip to the King and Queen is going to be a little delayed.”

“That’s alright. We didn’t know why we had to go there anyway.” Aura replies. Suddenly, we hear a groan.

I whirl around, hoping it wasn’t another monster. Oh, phew. It was just Celeste. She had woken up, and was rubbing her eyes. She had a bottle-cap sized bruise on her forehead. Yikes.

“Are you feeling okay?” Casper asks.

“Yeah. I’m fi─” Celeste replies, but stops. “What is this place?”

“My treehouse.” Casper says.

“Why are we here exactly?”

“For you all to recover.”

Celeste eyes suddenly widened. “I remember! A monster. Looked kinda like a dinosaur. Except like, a thousand times scarier.”

Casper chuckled. “That’s exactly how I described it. It was a Kelomuta. They’re Argleni’s allies.”

Celeste shuddered. “Ugh, Argleni.” she muttered. “Ouch. My head hurts.”

“Yeah. You got a hit from the Kelomuta’s scales.” Sienna explains.

“Uh-huh, and you also have a bruise on your forehead.” I add.

“I DO?!” Celeste shrieks.

“Don’t worry, it’ll disappear in a few days.” Casper reassures her. Celeste eyes Casper warily, as if trying to make the decision to trust this dude or not. Finally, she sighs.

“Alright. I’ll believe you.”

Then, we all just sat there awkwardly. Casper broke the silence by suddenly blurting out,

“Oh! I almost forgot!”

I raise my eyebrows. “Yes…?”

He snaps his fingers like how Rogina did with summoning the Yenakis. A green backpack appears in his hands.

“I found this while I was bringing you guys over.” he explains.

“Is that… my backpack?” Sienna asks.

“I don’t know, I just found it.”

Sienna took the backpack and unzipped it. Sure enough, it was full of supplies. Sienna gasped.

“It is my backpack!”

“Perfect!” Casper says, and grins. “Glad I could help.”

We were all still a little wary of trusting Casper, but he did save us, so we decided to let the uneasiness pass.

BOOM. We all heard an explosion.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Aura yelps. CRASH! BAM. 

“C’mon, we’ve gotta get out of here! Your Yenakis are waiting for you guys below the treehouse. Go!” Casper shouts.

“What about you and Rogina though?” Sienna asks.

“Uh, use my magic to teleport us somewhere or something.” Casper stuttered. “Anyway, no time to lose! Go!”

My sisters and I scrambled down the treehouse. We hop on our Yenakis when we suddenly see a girl and a boy that looked a little younger than us. They looked absolutely terrified. (I don’t blame them. I’m terrified too.)

“What are you two doing here without a shelter?” I ask. A tree collapsed a second after I finished my sentence.

“S-sorry! We  found a portal in Zenith, and we went in, then got lost! Everything just started exploding soon after we saw that treehouse you guys came out of.” the girl stammered, and pointed at Casper’s treehouse.

“Okay well, what’s your name?” I ask the girl.

“Ava.” she replies. “This is my brother Hugo.” she adds, and gestures to the boy standing next to her.

“Alright, Ava and Hugo, hop on. You’re coming with us. We’ll bring you back to Zenith.” Sienna says.

“I’ll take Hugo.” Celeste volunteers.

“I’ll take Ava!” Aura adds. I see a boulder topple over.

“Guys! We’re running out of time!” I shriek.

“Run girl, run!” Sienna urges Flora. I do the same. We zoom away from the falling things. I see a moldy corpse along the way. (GROSS!) “Faster!” I yell, even though Blaze was already going so fast I felt like my head was going to fall off. Unfortunately, Blaze still had enough energy to go even faster. Sooo, I felt like the wind had already blown my skin all off.

“Okay─ slow─ down!” I puff. But suddenly, I see enormous skeleton hands pop out of the ground out of nowhere, like the Kelo─ okay, I already forgot the name Casper had told us. Ava gasps.

“It’s okay, Ava. If we stay together, we will get out of this. You have powers, right?” I ask.
“I-i think. I can heal someone with my words. I mean, I think that’s my power. I don’t really know. I just said something to my brother, and he woke up from his─ whatever happened to him. I don’t remember… oh my gosh, all these things are making me not think straight.” Ava stammered.
“That’s alright.” I reassure her. “BIG SKELETON HANDS AHEAD!” I warn my sisters behind me.

“Got it!” Celeste yells back.

“SKELETONS?!” Aura shrieks. 

“Well, only the hands of them. But… they’re clawing at us.” I mumble.

“I hate skeletons.” Hugo mutters.

“So do I.” Aura agrees. The Yenakis leap over the creepy hands easily. BUT, then they start following us. They fully pop out of the ground, and start crawling like spiders.

“AGHHHHHH!” Aura screams. “GO, GO, GOOOO!” she screeches at Breeze, her Yenaki.

Aaaand, here we go again. Back to running so fast my head’s going to fall off. Perfect.

But the skeletons were faster than I expected. They crawled so quickly they were almost keeping up with the Yenakis! Then, Hugo did something that would be among the last things on my ‘How should I survive?’ list. He stuck out his hand, and grabbed one of the huge skeleton hands, and flung it a million miles away. Okay, maybe not a million miles, but you get the idea.

“OH MY GOSH, HUGO!” Celeste shrieks.

“How─?! How did you just randomly grab a giant skeleton hand with one hand and thrust it so far?” Sienna yelps.

“It’s really light, actually.” Hugo confesses.

“R-really? Let me try.” Aura says. Once she finally managed to let go of one of her hands from Breeze’s fur, she tried to pick one up. It didn’t budge at all! She tried with both hands. Still didn’t move the hand!

“What do you mean? It won’t budge!” Aura hollered, confused.

“Really?” Hugo asks, and raises an eyebrow. He stuck out his hand and grabbed one like it was an empty water bottle. He hurled it away. We all gaped at him.

“I guess we know what my brother’s power is now.” Ava says. “Super-strength.”

A Tale of Four Sisters: Chapter Eight

Sienna

“AURA!” Rogina shouts in terror, and rushes to catch her. But the huge monster that just popped out of the ground swiped out its hand and grabbed Rogina by the waist.

“UGH!” Rogina yells, and punches the monster furiously. No use.

“Guys! We have to catch Aura!” I scream. Her tiny figure up in the sky was falling at what seemed like a million miles per hour. I gave the monster one last kick, and rushed off to catch Aura. I leaped onto Flora and we raced towards Aura. Seraphine and Blaze followed behind me, and Celeste stayed behind to help Rogina.

Come on, come on, come on! I think, and urge Flora to run faster. Aura’s body was getting nearer and nearer to the ground. I saw Breeze diving down, trying to save Aura too, but she just wasn’t fast enough. I could tell that Flora was getting tired too, and Seraphine’s Yenaki didn’t seem any better than mine.

“Aura…” Seraphine whispered, her voice raspy. I heard giant footsteps rumbling the ground. Seraphine and I whirled around, and my eyes widened. The monster was charging straight. At. Us.

“RUN!” I scream. Seraphine didn’t need to be told twice, and we both jumped off our Yenakis, and ran to save Aura, and also to avoid being monster lunch. Our Yenakis ran into the bushes for safety. The beast was getting closer. 

“Fire! Burn! Flames!” Seraphine shouted, trying to conjure some fire. But since she was panicking, nothing seemed to happen. Aura was only a few feet above the ground, and I was too far to catch her. 

“Nooooooooo!” I yelp, and everything seemed to be in slow-motion. 

Suddenly, a streak of red passed me, and somebody caught Aura just before she hit the ground. 

“How─?!” I shriek.

“No time to talk! We have to destroy the creature!” Celeste hollered.

Right. There’s a monster to kill. I think, and race towards Seraphine and Celeste, who were desperately trying to defeat the beast. Celeste was blasting the creature’s black, beady eyes with icicles, but the monster just swatted them away with a huge finger. I saw Celeste gritting her teeth.

“UGH! It’s not working!” Celeste groans. Seraphine was trying to burn the ugly giant with her not-so-big flames.

“Sienna, you’ve got to help! We’re useless against this colossal thing!” Seraphine yells. The beast suddenly used a huge talon to swipe her away while she wasn’t paying attention.

“Seraphine, watch o─” I try to warn her. But it was too late.

Seraphine soared through the sky, and soon, she was gone. I held back tears, and I was furious. I summoned all my anger. Aura’s fall, Seraphine getting thrust away like a rag doll, and I used all that anger to make a tremendous vine that wrapped itself around the creature’s legs. The monster easily ripped the vine away, which made me even angrier. I heard Celeste scream something, but I wasn’t listening. I conjured another vine, and this time it was thicker. I forced it to become even thicker. Thick enough for the monster to be unable to snap it. But all that power drained my already-tired body. The last thing I saw was Celeste sprawled on the ground, and Rogina struggling in the monster’s grasp. My world turned black. 

Once I opened my eyes, I found myself lying in a treehouse. My head throbbed, and my bones ached.

“W-where am I?” I asked nobody in particular. I saw a blurry teenage boy walk towards me. He was wearing a red baseball cap.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe.” he reassured me.

“Who are you? Where am I? Are my sisters and Rogina okay?” I ask. I had so many questions rolling around in my mind.

“My name is Casper. You’re in my treehouse, and your sisters are fine. They are resting on the second floor.” Casper said.

I didn’t know treehouses had more than one floor, I thought.

“Okay… Casper. What happened exactly?” I ask. I blink, and Casper isn’t so blurry anymore.

“Well, Aura fell off of her Yenaki.” Casper began. “She’s still recovering.”

“I remember that.” I murmur. “Were you the one who caught her?”

“Yeah, I was.” 

“Thank you so much. She would’ve gotten badly injured if you didn’t.” I tell him with gratitude.

“Rogina was caught by a Kelomuta.” Casper continued.

“A Kee-lo-what?” I ask.

“A Kelomuta. It’s a scaly monster with huge talons. One slash from those talons, and you’re dead. The talons are coated in a poison that could kill you if it gets into your body.” Casper explains. “They are like dinosaurs, except a thousand times scarier.” he adds.

I shiver at the thought. “Anything else?” I ask.

“Seraphine was hit by one of the Kelomuta’s talons, but since the poison didn’t get into her body, I was able to cure her.”

I let out a sigh of relief. At least Seraphine and Aura were safe.

“What about Celeste?” I ask Casper. “I saw her sprawled on the ground before I blacked out or something.”

Casper bit his bottom lip. “She got a hard blow to the head.” he mumbled.

Now that got my attention. “What?! What happened?” I demanded.

“Right before you blacked out, Celeste got bonked on the head by one of the Kelomuta’s tough scales.” Casper explains. I clench my fists.

“UGH! I hate that Kelo-whatever-it-was!” I growl angrily.

“Now, now. No need to get angry. It’s gone now.” Casper said gently. I looked up at him. He had the same chestnut-brown eyes as Rogina, and also had the same hair color, and freckles. Then it hit me.

“Are you… Rogina’s brother?”

Casper chuckled. “Yep, glad you noticed.”

I smile, but it fades quickly. I just remembered that Rogina probably also got hurt.

“Is Rogina okay?”

Casper hesitates. “She got a few cuts from the Kelomuta.” he says, his voice no more than a whisper. I saw something so familiar in his eyes. Fear.

A Tale of Four Sisters: Chapter Seven

Aura

“So… how are we going to beat Argleni?” I ask.

“First, we have to go to the King and Queen of Elementia.” Rogina says.

“Aaaand, where are they?” Celeste asks.

“In the Temple of the Elements.” she replies. “Come on, I’ll take you there.”

“Are we going to walk there?” Sienna asks Rogina.

“No, I have some friends that will take us there.”

“What kind of friends?” Seraphine asks. Rogina grins, and snaps her fingers. I expected something like some horses and a carriage. But as usual, I was wrong. Four jaguars (yes, JAGUARS!) appeared from out of nowhere.

“W-wait… we’re going to be riding j-jaguars?!” I shriek.

“They are not jaguars, they are Yenakis.” Rogina corrected. “As you can see, they have wings, and they have much thicker fur than regular jaguars.”

 I observed the jag─ Yenakis, and wow, they were gorgeous.

“Aqua is for Celeste, right?” Sienna asks Rogina. Rogina nods.

“So, Blaze is for Seraphine?” Rogina nods again.

“Breeze is probably for Aura.” Again, Sienna was right.

“So, Flora is for me?” BAM! Right again.

“Wait, but how are you going to get to the Temple of Elements?” Celeste asks.

“I can transform into any animal.” Rogina explains. “So, I’ll transform into an eagle, fly up into the sky, and you guys will follow me on the Yenakis.” I bite my bottom lip. I’ve never ridden a horse often, let alone a Yenaki!

“Is riding a Yenaki difficult?” I ask.

“Well, getting on the Yenaki might be a little challenging at first. But once you get the hang of it, riding it will be a breeze!” Rogina explains. Breeze the Yenaki turned to Rogina when she heard her say the word ‘breeze’, thinking Rogina had been calling her name. I couldn’t help myself but giggle, I think I was going to like this silky-furred Yenaki after all!

First, Rogina tells us that we should first get used to our Yenakis, and become their friends. So, she showed us how to pet them, and gave us a pouch of treats for the Yenakis. We all received a different leather pouch, because each Yenaki liked different food. Breeze liked these bars of what Rogina called ‘spiderweb fruit’, because when you cut open the white fruit, its juice would stretch like spiderwebs. The treats were technically white fruit bars. 

Blaze liked these little jelly bean-sized balls of ashes and wild clover honey mixed together. So the result was a gray, sticky ball. Gross. Seraphine looked like she was going to be sick once she saw the treats her Yenaki ate. 

Aqua had these little cough drop-like things that seemed to be made of ice. (how did they not melt?! Oh, right. Magic.) Rogina tells us that Aqua’s drops had this special type of sugar called Ikra inside each one.

Flora ate these marshmallow-like things that were made out of hibiscus petal powder, and nectar.

Ooookay. So we had some jaguars with wings, and their treats. Now, we had to learn how to ride them.

“First, you have to put one leg over your Yenakis body, then use your other leg to boost your body onto it’s back.” Rogina explains. “Watch out for the wings though! You don’t want your faces to be covered in feathers, do you?” she adds. I take a deep breath, and do what Rogina says. The first part went smoothly, but when I boosted my body onto it’s back, I used a little too much force, and ended up face planted in the dirt. Oof. I heard my sisters burst out laughing, and I lifted myself off of the ground. I could tell Rogina was trying hard not to giggle.

“Don’t worry, Aura! Practice makes perfect!” Celeste encourages me. I tried again. And again. Aaaaaand again. After what seemed like a thousand times, I finally managed to sit on Breeze without falling off the other side!

“GREAT WORK!” Rogina shouts.

“Thanks!” I say.

Now, it’s Celeste’s turn. Since she was a little taller than me, it didn’t take her too long before she successfully got onto Aqua.

“Nailed it!” she exclaims, pumping her fist into the air. I want to applaud for Celeste, but the moment I let go of my hands from Breeze’s fur, I felt like I was about to fall off, so I grabbed back on in a millisecond. On second thought, I’m not going to applaud, though Celeste did a great job. I thought.

Sienna and Seraphine got on their Yenakis quite quickly too.

“Great job, everybody!” I compliment.

“Thanks, Aura! You did great too!” Sienna replies, and gives me a smile. I smile back.

“Okay everybody! Time to practice actually riding the Yenakis now.” Rogina calls. I gulp. Things didn’t go well just getting on the Yenakis, so I don’t think riding it will be any better.

“So first, make sure you’re holding on to the fur of your Yenaki tightly. You don’t want to fall off, especially when it’s running.” Rogina tells us. I nod, showing that I understood. I see my sisters doing the same thing.

“Also, keep your legs close to the Yenakis body. Keeping your legs out would be dangerous, because it may crash onto trees, or other things.” Rogina explains.

“Okay.” my sisters and I say in unison. Rogina lets our Yenakis walk slowly.

Hey! This isn’t too bad after all! I think. Then, Rogina tells our Yenakis to go faster. Spoke too soon…  I think again. The Yenakis start jogging, then running, then sprinting.

“WOO!” I hear Seraphine shout with glee. I see that Celeste can already start letting go of on hand from her Yenaki, WHILE IT’S RUNNING! I scowl, and think: Why can’t I be like that?

Soon, my sisters are doing all sorts of tricks, while I can barely even sit on my Yenaki normally without feeling like falling off! Apparently, Rogina notices me, and motions me over. 

“Breeze, please bring me to Rogina.” I murmured. She walks over to Rogina obediently. I carefully slide off Breeze and I ask Rogina,

“Sooo, why’d ya call me?”

“You looked unhappy. What’s wrong?”

“Oh. Well, my sisters are doing all sorts of tricks while I can only sit on my Yenaki.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it soon.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” 

“Trust me. I know you can. Actually, I have something to tell you.”

“Really? What is it?”

She leans in and whispers into my ear,

“I can teach you how to fly on your Yenaki. I think you’ll be a natural at it, since you are the element of air.”

My eyes lit up. Flying? On a Yenaki? AWESOME! I could just imagine the looks on my sister’s faces when they see me soaring through the air on my Yenaki. I grin at the thought.

“Yes, I’d LOVE to!” I whisper back. Rogina beams.

“Perfect. Let’s get to the basics.” she replies. 

She shows me how to adjust my body weight when the Yenaki takes off, so I don’t end up sliding off. My sisters don’t even notice yet, because they are busy showing off their tricks to each other.

“You’re doing great!” Rogina compliments once she sees me flying a few feet in the air. I’m still a little wobbly, but after repeating the move many times, I feel stable enough to fly about a meter above Rogina’s head.

“This. Is. AWESOME!” I yell excitedly, zooming through the air. My sisters look up, hearing me. I smirk as their jaws drop.

“OH MY GOOOOOSH! Aura, are you FLYING?!” Sienna yelps. I want to boast and say, ‘HA! Yes, I am! Didn’t expect it huh?’ but instead, I said,

“Yep! The view’s great up here!” and stroked Breeze’s white, spotted fur. “You guys should really try it!” I add.

“How did you do that?!” Seraphine asks, astonished at how high I am. Before I even have the time to reply, a huge creature bursts out from underground. I see Rogina’s eyes widen, and her face turn pale. Oh-no, that could only mean something bad is happening. I quickly swoop down, trying to help my sisters and Rogina fight this monster. But before Breeze and I are able to land, a big, scaly hand with enormous claws starts swiping at us. Breeze panicked, and started frantically flying around. I lost my balance, and the next thing I knew, I was falling down to the ground.

“HEEEEEEEELP!” I scream.

Sneak peek!!

Here’s a sneak peek at the next chapter!

Aura

“So… how are we going to beat Argleni?” I ask.

“First, we have to go the King and Queen of Elementia.” Rogina says.

“Aaaand, where are they?” Celeste asks.

“In the Temple of the Elements.” she replies. “Come on, I’ll take you there.”