Distant Elemental

“Holy shit!” cried out Nayru, sounding genuinely surprised.
Bianca walked up to them, her squat, dark-skinned form appearing out of the darkness. If she had been using wings before, they had disappeared. A long, dark necklace swung from around her neck, glimmering oddly in the pale light.
“What the hell was that?” blurted Andromeda.
“Were you flying?” asked an incredulous Skye. In all honesty, they were trying hard not to laugh, but were pulling off the act pretty well. Bianca eyed them shrewdly, her dark orbs narrowed.
‘So here you are Ashleigh.” Bianca swung to look at Ash, her short, dark hair swinging across her shoulders. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Ashleigh visibly gulped, and Fulgora put a hand on her shoulder to steady her before looking at Bianca.
“What the hell do you want?”
A sly smile crept across her face. “Oh I was just wondering what Ash has been up to these past few days.” She was giving Ashleigh the most intense look, her dark eyes taking in everything about Ash’s appearance, including the sweat appearing on her forehead.
“You were just flying!” said an indignant Skye.
Guys, I can feel her emotions, she’s really unsure, if we keep acting shocked as though we had no idea she had powers, we might be able to pull this off! Skye communicated through the air.
Everyone gave a little nod, not making eye contact with Skye, and everyone besides Ash and Fulgora continued to look confused and astonished.
“Oh wow, I can fly, big whoop,” was the response. Bianca looked almost bored, still staring at Ashleigh, who was quivering now.
“Well you’ve seen her, now you can go. What’s your problem anyway? Why do you care where she is? What- are you two secret lovers or something?” Fulgora smiled, hoping she could distract Bianca enough to confuse her for a bit.
At her words, both Ashleigh and Bianca spluttered.
Keep going! encouraged Skye, it’s working! She’s confused!
“Ashleigh and I are not lovers!” she replied crossly. “How could you say that?”
“Why do you need to know where she is, then?”
“You just flew here!” cried out Skye, yet again.
“Oh shut up!” she said, whirling on Skye. “Yes, I flew here. So what?” she turned back to Ashleigh.
“Ashleigh, you shouldn’t be here. Now come with me. Oh, and in case you didn’t know,” she said, turning back to Skye, “Ashleigh has wings too, don’t you Ash?”
Skye could feel the expectancy floating out from Bianca in the air, and knew exactly what to do. She recoiled, mouth hanging open, staring at Ash as though she’d just revealed she had a secret love affair.
“You have wings!?”
Everyone else feigned surprise now except Fulgora. Bianca took in everyone’s expressions and Skye felt the satisfaction now arising from her. Damn, she’s evil, she thought.
Bianca was smiling widely now as though she’s just done the most cruel, wicked thing she could imagine and loved it. “Come on Ash, show them your wings!”
Fulgora stepped in front of her. “Back off Bianca,” she growled.
“Oooh I’m so scared,” was the sneering reply.
“Fulgora, you knew?” Skye was having a great time now, treating the whole thing as a scandalous affair.
“Yes, Skye, I knew!” Heads were turning from Skye to Bianca to Fulgora and Ashleigh and back again.
“How come you didn’t tell us? What else have you been hiding from us? Don’t tell me you have wings too! Alien!” she screamed, stumbling backwards.
“Skye, calm down! I don’t have wings and I’m not an alien.” Fulgora’s mouth opened slightly and everyone saw the flicker or motion and she stared around, whirling on the spot, trying to look for something. Or at least, that’s what they presumed she had done, as she had moved so fast only the elementals had known she had moved. Bianca and Ashleigh hadn’t noticed a thing.
What’s wrong, Fulgora?
Nova’s gone missing. Can you see him?
Skye looked around and saw no-one. It looked as though Nova had vanished before Bianca had appeared, and she hadn’t seen him at all.
I can’t see him anywhere!
“Well Ashleigh, you’ll be coming with me now. Step aside, Fulgora.” Bianca had a sneer across her face.
“No.”
“Oh really? I’m pretty sure she is.”
“Ashleigh isn’t going anywhere.” Blaise had now come to stand between Bianca and Fulgora, and looked down at Bianca coldly.
“Fine,” replied Bianca, “you give me no choice.”
Blaise blanched suddenly as his face paled. He spluttered and writhed where he stood, as though trying to fight off some invisible enemy. A faint outline of something dark seemed to have its arms wrapped around his throat, and they all heard the faint gasping noises from Blaise as its hold tightened.
“Blaise!” called out Nayru. She faltered, seemingly torn between her desire to do something and not wanting to show her powers.
With a roar, Blaise had suddenly pulled the thing off himself. It flew backwards, and Bianca stuttered in surprise.
“What the hell!?”
“Bianca, what are you doing?” called Ashleigh, and her wings burst suddenly from underneath her t-shirt, stretching out high above her head in a threatening poise.
“What, going to fight me now, Ashleigh? Fine, I’ll simply attack the both of you.”
“Stop!” yelled Fulgora, but now there were two figures of darkness, each grabbing hold of both Ashleigh and Blaise. The two struggled, both attempting to throw off what seemed like the night itself, and in a sudden inspirational move, Nayru flung herself at Bianca. The two sprawled to the ground, hitting and grappling, rolling about, trying to gain leverage. Blaise and Ashleigh were suddenly free of their attackers, and Blaise was upon Bianca, heaving her to her feet and holding her in a chokehold.
“Shut up now and listen,” he growled, sounding venomous. All that he received in reply was a stifled murmur.
“Good. Now, when I let go of you, you’ll turn around and fly back to whatever hellhole you came from, understand? If you ever, ever attack us again,” he whispered unexpectedly in her ear, “We’ll make your life a living hell. Understand?”
He threw her from him in disgust, and she stumbled before regaining her balance. Nayru stood up slowly, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth and almost literally hissing at Bianca. The latter spat on the ground, gave Blaise a death glare, and turned to walk away before looking back at Ashleigh.
“I tell everyone about this, and I’ll make your life a living hell. You’d better watch out.”
At this, Ashleigh walked up to Bianca and stood above her, taller than the dark-skinned girl.
“Pah!” spat Bianca, “I’m not afraid of you. You can’t do anything to me. What will you do, flap your wings at me?” she laughed.
She was cut short almost instantly as one of Ashleigh’s wings snapped out, clipping Bianca beneath her jaw. The girl toppled to the ground, caught mid-laugh, and slumped there for a few seconds. The elementals around her smiled and laughed, forgetting their ruse, and clapped her on the back. Bianca rose again, cursing, and glared at all of them.
Oh shit, she’s suspicious again. I think she might be working it out guys!
“Alright, time for some serious intervention then,” said Autumn.
“What?” asked Bianca, with no idea what she was replying to.
“Time to stop you,” she said, “from doing something stupid like dobbing on us.”
“Too late,” was the unexpected reply.
A sudden blaze of lights beamed from no-where, and the elementals and Ashleigh were thrown into confusion. Someone was screaming; there was what sounded like hundreds of footsteps; a blinding light obscured all vision. Worst of all was the far-off sound of Bianca laughing.