ELEMENTS: Acquiesce by Kathryn Andrews (snow like ashes series .TXT) 📕

It looked menacing in the fading light. Cordelia shook any negative thoughts from her mind and climbed up to the black rock. Leaning back from the edge, with her hands pressed on the rock behind her, Cordelia inhaled deeply the fresh Atlantic air. She peered down to the water below. Her friends were sitting on the edge of the pool watching. If she could just get over the height then mastering the dives would be no problem at all, she was certain of it. She stepped forward, closed her eyes and dived straight in.

Cordelia emerged from the water laughing. “That was amazing! I have to do it again!”

The four girls spent the next hour or so practising their dives, perfecting their twists and turns and teaching Cordelia how to do somersaults. A thunderous sound, disguised by the waves breaking on the reef bounded around the rocks as they hurled themselves over and over again from the black rock, their strong bodies crashing through the ice cold water below. They’d been having so much fun that they hadn’t noticed the tide coming in. Water flowed in quickly between the rocks, cutting them off from the mainland.

“Grab your things,” said Cordelia. “We’ll wade across.”

The four friends climbed out of the water. Their belongings were gone. Confused, the girls began to search.

“Hey!” shouted Masika.

Rafe and Max were hurriedly scampering across the rocks with their clothes and towels.

“Come back!” shouted Nerissa.

“They must have heard us talking at the amphitheater this morning,” said Lana.

“If you want your clothes you’ll have to come and get them!” shouted Max.

The girls chased after them as fast as they could, wading through the water beneath a twilight sky, the sea following close behind them. Rafe and Max were almost off the rocks when Lana stopped in her tracks.

“What is it?” asked Nerissa.

“Don’t you hear it?”

The girls turned to see a flock of ravens heading straight for them. The sight was apocalyptic. There were hundreds of them. Rafe and Max darted up the grassy bank to seek shelter in a stone hut at the peat bog, the only solid structure they could reach in time. While they peered out from the relative safety of the hut, the girls were caught up in the chaos raging outside. The birds swooped low over the reef, pecking at the girls’ hair as they flew past.

“That’s crazy!” exclaimed Max.

“We have to help them,” said Rafe.

“What are you going to do? Shoo them away?”

Rafe shot Max a disapproving look and went outside. He stood on the edge of the grassy bank, looking out to sea while Max dithered in the doorway. The tide was coming in fast but not fast enough. He stood unwavering as the daylight faded into darkness. In the pale moonlight he summoned the waves that came crashing over the rocks in a frenzy. Masika slipped and gashed her leg but there was no time to hang about. The ravens were relentless. It seemed they would never stop.

“Swim!” shouted Lana.

The girls flung themselves into the waves, swimming below the surface, between the weeds and the rocks of the Duggerna Reef and out into the open sea.

SIX

ENCOUNTERS

The boys raced across the cliff top to the lighthouse where they waited anxiously in the small cove for the girls to return.

“What was that?” asked Max, perplexed.

“I don’t know,” replied Rafe who was sitting on an upturned rowing boat, “but it didn’t look accidental to me.”

“You don’t think it was Zamira do you?” asked Max.

“I hope not but what other explanation could there be?”

Max scuffed at the ground with his boot.

“Make yourself useful,” said Rafe, “go and fetch some towels.”

Max rolled his eyes and skulked off into the lighthouse.

Rafe sat in silence in the eerie darkness, with only the sound of the waves and the tapping of his fingers on the wooden boat for company. Unable to sit any longer, he paced back and forth along the water’s edge wondering whether to swim out to sea. He removed his boots and shirt, then all of a sudden a silvery light appeared in the water. It moved swiftly towards the shore. It was Nixie; she’d been guiding Cordelia and her friends through the ebony water. The girls carried Masika out of the sea and placed her gently on the sand. In the light of Nixie’s glow, the students could see the blood streaming from the gash on Masika’s leg.

“Here, tie this around it,” said Rafe, passing his shirt to Lana.

Lana locked eyes with Rafe. “Thanks,” she said, taking the shirt from him.

“I think she’s going to need more than a shirt,” said Nerissa, holding her sister’s hand.

“We need Amatheia.”

“Amatheia?” asked Cordelia.

“The school nurse,” replied Lana.

“Where will I find her?” asked Cordelia.

“I’ll show you,” offered Rafe, pulling his boots on.

Cordelia hesitated briefly, taken aback by Rafe’s offer of help but cautiously accepted. “Lead the way.”

The pair walked up the slipway towards the lighthouse, Rafe in front and Cordelia following closely behind, her eyes wandering across his broad, muscular shoulders. They saw Max coming out of a side door, arms laden with towels. Rafe took one and handed it to Cordelia.

“Thanks,” she murmured.

“Take the rest to the others. We’ll be back soon,” said Rafe.

Cordelia liked the authoritative tone in Rafe’s voice, not that she’d ever tell him that.

Rafe held the door open. “This way.”

They walked briskly through the tunnels.

“What’s she like?” asked Cordelia, trying to keep up.

“Amatheia? She’s one of the good ones. She’ll sort Masika out, no problem.”

Finally they reached the medicine chamber but the door was locked and Amatheia was nowhere to be seen.

“She must be in the staff quarters,” said Rafe. “Wait here. We don’t want to risk Morwen seeing you dripping your way through the tunnels at this time of night.”

Just like that he was gone and Cordelia was left alone with her thoughts. A smile grew across her face. ‘Perhaps he’s not so bad after all,’ she thought. Cordelia waited patiently outside the medical chamber wearing nothing more than a wet bathing