The walk down to the train yard was unpleasant to put it bluntly. Unpleasant, awkward, tense and altogether not a very fun trip, even if it was only for a few minutes. Shadow's rage was still rolling off him like waves on the shore and the occasional pulse of darkness flashed between his fingers giving me a minor heart attack every time I saw one and causing me to back up a few paces next to Sheira who was making sure there was at least a ten-foot clearance zone between herself and out favourite little bomb (And while he's technically already gone off the key word here is "Aftershock"), before continuing to walk.

It reminded me of one of those school trips from hell. You don't know what's going to be there when you get there and in the mean time you've got to sit on a bus smelling of cheesy feet while the person behind you decides to practise for their karate blackbelt by trying to kick your seat in and the person in front of you is throwing a tantrum because their homemade slingshot was confiscated after hitting little Tommy Parkinson in the eye with a gumball. Ah...all in faded days.

Though seriously, being on this journey with these two was turning into hell on earth. On this last week we had been attacked on more than one occasion, we had been ambushed, tricked, captured, nearly barbecued (Twice in my case) and to make things even better we couldn't go five minutes without bickering like a bunch of children. Shadow would turn hostile if we blinked at him wrong, Sheira would get snappy and irritated if we argued and while I'm certainly no saint and my Chandler Bing like ability for comebacks was getting on everyone's nerves, at least I was trying to keep everyone on track. Although I have to admit it sometimes felt like I was in the colosseum fighting two grizzly bears with a wooden stick. Wasn't doing much good.

But we had strategy, well part of it. A little bit of a plan...Let's say twenty percent of a plan and call it an idea...Fine, ten. We had a train to catch and although we had no idea where it was going we knew it was at least going somewhere. Either way, however it turned out it was going to be the biggest I told you so in the history of mankind, Shadow if it went right, Sheira if it went wrong, and let's face it, its probably going to go very, very wrong. Oh well, you don't know if you don't try, even if it ends up with you being horribly murdered and your body being thrown into a ditch.

Sigh...Be an elemental they said, it'll be fun they said.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we'd finally reached the huge wooden and wire walls of the train yard. The whole thing looked like it was rotting, the wood wearing away, the wire rusting to powered as the whole thing was torn down piece by piece by pure age. What was left of the trains stood silently, empty and warping into twisted metal from time, slow reclaiming what was left to die. A whole yard, filled with British history, left to rust.

"Is there a way in?" I asked, eyeing up the wall. It was too high to climb and what looked like it had once been a service door was buckled and broken, unusable unless someone had the Hulk in one of their pockets.

"Over here!" Sheira called out her torch beam was pointed at a hole in the wire fence. She crouched down and examined the wire as Shadow and joined her. "It's a clean break which means its been cut, quite recently too, the ends still look clean. Someone came prepared."

"Ladies and gentlemen, Sheirlock Holmes."

Sheira raised a disapproving eyebrow, "not the time Watson. Now get your ass through there."

I crawled flat on my belly through the gap, hoped up on the other side and held the chain a little higher for Shadow and did a quick three sixty of the space around me. The whole place was unnervingly quiet, and not like library quiet where you know people are there and they have to be silent. This was where you couldn't know if you were truly alone or surrounded by thousands of people. I'd always hated hide and seek.

Sheira was the last to crawl through and once she was clear we all glanced at her. She wiped the dirt from her clothes as best she could before turning to face us. "Okay, so first port of call is to find that train and with the size of this place its probably going to be beneficial to split up."

Oh good, horror movie rule number one: Never, ever split up. Welp, that's gone out the window.

"I think it would be best if me and you went together Nick and Shadow went off on his own. Does that sound good to everyone?"

We nodded.

"Alright. Nick and I start on this side and Shadow can go to the other end of the train yard, we'll use these to communicate."

I held up the small object that Sheira had dropped into my palm. It was a stone, no bigger than one of those pressed pennies that you always find in gift shops that you have to actually pay a quid to get your hands on. It had a flat texture and I might have actually considered that she'd accidently given me a bog-standard rock that your average five-year-old would have considered as treasure, until I flipped it over that is. On the other side a sigil, shaped like a diamond attached to a chain on either side, was carved into the stone. It pulsed gently, a pale white glow emanated from the carving and a strange feeling washed over my head, a feeling of connectivity. Hmm...

"They're called communication stones," Sheira explained. She must have noticed my slightly baffled expression/figured that I wouldn't have a scooby doo about what the heck I was looking at, so she decided to take pity on the idiot that didn't know anything. I swear to god that sometimes she looked at me like I was a disabled duck, which might have been deserved sometimes...okay, a lot. "I picked them up in Greencoast because I know for a fact that at some point, for better or worse we're going to need these things. They're all connected, and they should provide instantaneous link between all three of us. But they're only for emergencies, and god forbid that we should need them hold the sigil flat against your palm and think help! Got that?"

I nodded and slipped the communication stone into my coat pocket. At least now we had a way to talk to each other when we were inevitably stranded, surrounded and praying to whatever deity you believe in.

"Lets just get this over with," Shadow muttered. Then he stepped back into and vanished into nothingness. I felt myself shudder involuntarily. It was quite obvious that Shadow was still a little bit mad at us, and let's be honest here a blind ant could probably tell that he was royally pissed off. What for, we would probably never know because the entity known as Shadow was a locked book that was written in a language no one could read. You'd have more look cracking the Zodiac killer's codes that trying to work out what was going through Shadow's head.

I turned to look at Sheira, who had gone slightly pale and simply gestured for me to follow her. And while my thoughts of Shadow were racing round my head, being left alone in a dark, creepy and altogether terrifying 'empty' (Because I really doubt we were the only ones in here) train yard was not on my priority list. So, I dashed after her.

By now the whole world had turned dark. Stars dotted the black sky and the pale moon rose steadily towards midnight. The air was silent, only punctuated with the sound of chirping insects and the occasional flutter of wings and the blurred shaped of a bat that accompanied it. The withered carriages cast pitch black shadows and the rusted engines loomed upwards like monsters in the dark. It was like London at night. You couldn't see, any noise made you jump a mile and the unending feeling of terror was your new best friend. Oh, the wonders of living in a city.

Sheira's torchlight flicked across the ground and in my hand my own golden light made our shadows dance eerily against the warped wood and rusted metal of the ancient train carriages. The whole thing was incredibly unnerving and to make things even worse I swear to god that I was seeing things, figures in the dark that might just be a trick of the light, or maybe...

"Well this is horrifying," I said finally as a form to break the nerve-wracking silence.

Sheira chuckled lightly, "yeah, this is the worst. Tracking through an almost certainly haunted train yard in the dead of night is just a brilliant idea of fun isn't it?"

"Hey, some people like this sort of stuff, it's terrifying but each to their own I suppose. But at least were together so that I can sacrifice you to the monster and run screaming for the hills when were inevitably ambushed. Ouch! Okay, okay, I deserved that." I apologised after Sheira's remarkably pointy elbow made contact with my ribs. "I wonder how Shadow's doing all on his own?"

"Shadow can take care of himself," Sheira muttered bitterly.

I looked back at Sheira. Something was clearly bothering her even if she didn't show it on her face her eyes were worried. "Hey," I said, nudging her gently withy my shoulder, "what's up? You seem distracted."

"Its nothing..." She trailed off. There was a pause, then she sighed. "Okay, it's just..."

"Shadow?"

She chuckled, "yeah. Shadow. He just scared me a little back there, I wasn't expecting him to just, you know, detonate like that."

"I don't think any of us would have expected that, and for all I know I have psychic powers."

"You're not psychic. At least I don't think you are. I thought it was just an innocent question, I mean, he can't possibly know how to use all those weapons in his vault, it would take centuries to even learn the basics for god's sake!"

"And he was good with a sword, Incaendium said he was good so that obviously accounts for something."

"And when he took me to get my gloves we passed a training arena and there were water bottles, equipment that had obviously been used and about two dozen training dummies that had all seen better days if I'm being perfectly honest but when I asked he ignored me. That's weird, isn't it?"

"The guy's an enigma and I'm good at reading people, you have to be if you grow up in the city, it could be the difference between someone passing you on the street to a knife being held to your throat."

"I know what you mean, sometimes I think he hates us and then he offers to train you. Thanks for not kicking up a fuss about that by the way."

"Don't sweat it. Incaendium has also mentioned some things that are a little weird, he starts talking about Shadow and then he just shuts up and back tracks on what he just said. Then in the vault, all those doors that he was shutting, the guy's hiding something." My mind then fell back to what Shadow had said earlier on, the pure sadness in his eyes, the feeling that I was looking at something real. "Okay, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but in that hotel room back in Southmarsh, after you left, Shadow said something about how we had to keep fighting for what I believe in, to find something worth fighting for."

She turned and gave me a curious look. "That doesn't sound like him," she said with a frown.

"But when he was talking it was like I was seeing him without a mask. It was only for a second, but I felt like I was seeing him without his walls. And that wasn't the only time this has happened. Back on the hill we were having an argument-"

"No surprises there."

"Exactly but then he almost called me by someone else's name. Yeah, that was my reaction too, but he got really upset for a second, genuinely sad about this guy. I think they knew each other really well. You should have heard the way he way he talked about him, or at least I think it was a he, and I've never seen so much admiration in anyone's eyes."

Sheira was silent for a little while, but I could almost hear the cogs of her head whirring away at this new information. "What name did he almost call you?"

"He stopped himself, so I only got the first letter. It starts with an L, that's all I know."

She shrugged. "Information is information when it comes to him but mark my words mister Hayden, I am going to crack this puzzle, or at least try to."

I scoffed. "Good luck with that. Never mind a closed book, Shadow is a book locked with the answer to life, the universe and everything and then he's written in a language that no one can read, and to top it all off I really don't want to alarm you, but I think were being followed." I dropped my voice to a whisper and watched Sheira's expression carefully.

Most people would look alarmed, or slightly scared at the least but Sheira being as cool as a cumber barely flinched. Instead of freaking out like a normal human she simply kept walking and dropped her voice to a low whisper, so quiet I had to lean in to hear her.

"How long have you known?" she asked.

"A couple of minutes. I heard footsteps, but I thought they were yours until you stopped, and they kept walking," I hissed.

Her shoulders sagged slightly. "Oh no...I was really hoping that was you."

"Sorry to disappoint, now what the hell are we supposed to do?!"

"Keep walking and talk normally, that's what were going to do," she said calmly.

I on the other hand was having an internal freak out because I didn't have the foggiest idea what was following us and what their intentions were. What wasn't helping was that being followed in the dark by someone I couldn't see was literally my worst nightmare. Okay, maybe not the worst but it was definitely in the top three. It was taking everything in my power to not turn around and start spastically waving my torch/flaming fingers around like I was playing FNAF4.

I gently placed my hand on Incaendium hilt for reassurance as while Shadow might have kindly pointed out I was still far from your average Jorah Mormont I had more faith in a sharp metal object than the fire that I was still slightly terrified to use in a battle scenario. Would we actually have to fight our way out of this? Because we certainly didn't have numbers on our side and the most powerful of us with the biggest beast was lurking somewhere in the dark at the other side of the yard and there was a very high chance that he might just let us die.

I felt the communication stone buzzing gently in my jeans pocket and when I looked over to Sheira I could she the faint white light peeking through her fingers.

"Do you really think he'll help us?"

"He has to," Sheira said, but there was an underlying layer of uncertainty to her voice.

We slowly began to make our way through the twisting maze of rust, taking sudden paths and spontaneous changes in direction as a way to throw whoever was pursuing us of our trail while also trying to make our way over to where we thought Shadow might be, because we were really starting to need him right now. Why? Well my guest put there were at least ten people behind us and that number was climbing, always keeping their distance but occasionally you'd hear that horror movie snap of a twig from somewhere in the blackness.

"They're getting closer," I hissed.

Sheira didn't answer but her pace quickened. And then it happened. A loud crash, followed by a string of curse words as someone tripped over the ice barrier that Sheira has set up was all the evidence we needed to run like merry hell. The two of us sprinted as fast as we could, ducking under railings and leaping through open doors while the sound of footsteps, seemingly hundreds this time closed in on us from all possible directions. We banked left and right, dodging tracks while simultaneously screaming into those communication stones for Shadow to get over here and help.

My heartbeat pounded in my ears as Sheira lead me through the twisting maze, clearly making a beeline for the other side of the yard where hopefully our darkness powered ally was waiting for us. I glanced back over my shoulder and yelped in shock as at least ten figures charged their way towards us.

"Sheira!" I yelled.

She turned and cursed loudly at the sight of our pursuers. "Come on!"

We kept running but something kept bugging me at the back of my mind. There were more of them then there were of us, so why hadn't they caught up to us yet? It shouldn't take this many people to catch up to us and it didn't seem like they were running at full speed. It was like they weren't trying to catch us, it was more like they were trying to- Crap.

"Sheira wait!" I yelled just as the two of us broke from the towering crates of rusted iron. We were standing in the dead centre of the train yard, the turntable where new carriages or engines would first come and then sent out to be stored away along the iron arteries that spread out like a web from the heart of the yard. It was a wide open and empty space, an easy to surround space, a space that was perfect for a trap.

Sheira realised this a second later than I did, but both of us were too slow. We skidded to a stop, instantly turning to the way we had come from but to our dismay the path was blocked off by at least twenty people all armed with weapons and wearing light, brass coloured armour that shone dully in the moonlight. I turned and scanned the perimeter and felt my heart sink to my stomach. There were hundreds of them, all armed and dangerous with the pointed ends of their weapons pointed inwards in an unbroken ring of sharp spikes. They'd prepared for this, keeping their distance silently stalking us, setting up an ambush this entire time. And if there's one thing nature documentaries have taught me is that the easiest prey is the kind that doesn't know it being hunted.

But this wasn't the Army. They didn't wear armour, just thick leather gear that was far from this light, carefully crafted protection that these guys wore. They all had a corresponding colour as well, red, blue, green and purple as shown clearly on their shirts and their helmets, as well as on the strange marks stamped into the metal. A symbol that was very familiar. I heard Sheira swear again as the realisation dawned on us and a figure stepped through the impenetrable wall.

It was a woman, a woman who looked significantly older than she actually was because her hair was a curtain of pure white and a set of deep worry lines on her forehead added years to her age. But you wouldn't be able to tell all that if you didn't know her because her face was contorted in fury, her eyes blazing brightly, and wisps of smoke curled from her fingers as she struggled to keep her element under control.

"Evening Harpy," I yelled cheerfully despite the fact that my sinking heart had now plunged to foot level and wasn't going to move from there. "Nice night we're having, perfect for a walk in a creepy trainyard, don't you think?"

Elaine Harpers glared like I'd never seen anyone glare before. "You little twit! You brat! You pathetic, ignorant, treacherous idiot!"

"Steady on."

"Do you have any idea what you've done!" she screamed.

Did she really want me to answer that? She knew exactly what I was doing out here (Sheira, not so much) and that was why she had probably brought so many people with her. She knew that I was going to put up a fight and even I wasn't completely sure what I was capable of.

"Well gee, I don't know. I wonder what I could be doing out here? It might have something to do with the fact that the only family and the only people I love in this stupid world are being held hostage by psychopath who could start murdering them any moment know and the person who claimed to be their friend is nothing more than a coward who would rather let two little kids die than stick her own bloody neck out! What do you think I'm doing!" I yelled, my voice rising with pure rage as I spat out that last sentence, the faint feeling of rising heat dancing under the skin.

The Harpy visibly flinched but recomposed herself. "I know you're angry-"

"You think?" I spat sarcastically.

"But what do you expect me to do? We have no idea where they are and for all we know they're already dead. And even then, the likelihood of failure vastly outweighs any chance there may be for success! So as much as it pains me to say, there's nothing we can do."

I stood rigid and stared at her. "Are you freaking kidding me?"

"Look Nicholas."

"No, you look you heartless bitch, I don't care what you think my chances are because I know that any glimmer of hope you can reach you take it and you never let go."

"You're basing this on pure hope," she argued.

I shrugged. "Hope has won wars. And for the record, its Nick. Not Nicholas, N-I-C-K and that's what it always will be. Got that?"

The Harpy's lips had shrivelled up so tightly they weren't even visible, and her body had become so rigid that she wouldn't look out of place in the British Museum. The other figures surrounding her (Who I know realised were the residents of London Camp) were beginning to fidget. Some clearly looked like they didn't want to be here in the first place and others didn't look entirely comfortable with intervening. Sheira was still at my back, somehow going unnoticed by the Harpy as she frantically sent wave after wave through the communication stone. Where the hell is Shadow?

"Miss Winterton," the Harpy said, finally taking notice of Sheira. "Of all people to help him out I never would have even have considered you."

"With all due respect you told me to keep an eye on him and that's what I'm doing. You have me to thank that he's not dead."

"She's not entirely wrong either," I added.

"Not helping," Sheira said. "Look, I know its crazy, I'm not denying that but at least we're out in the field and attempting something rather than sat behind a desk twiddling our thumbs and waiting for the problem to go away."

A look of pure shock crossed the Harpy's face before it set in a stony glare. "I am a soldier, I make the calls to prevent as much loss of life as possible."

"So, act like a human for once," I said quietly.

The Harpy froze, her gaze unwavering, but I could see something in her eyes. She was conflicted, struggling with what the right decision was. Lives would be risked but there was certain death if we didn't do anything, but knowing her, she was thinking about whether it was worth it. This was either going to end with a fight or an agreement, it all depended on whether or not the Harpy would help us out.

Finally, she sighed, and looked up and my heart, which had already plummeted to my feet, was now chilling out in Australia. "This madness stops now," she said firmly. "We can either do this the easy way where you come with us no questions asked, or we can do this the hard way. You can guess what that entails."

I glanced at Sheira. Both of us were thinking about our next move. Handing ourselves over and just giving up wasn't on my resume but we were severely outnumbered here, just a hundred to one, no biggie. But if somehow, and I use the word somehow as the key term here, we managed to bust our way out of here they wouldn't be able to catch up with us. I could only presume that they'd been tracking us and from the exhausted look on all of their faces, they'd all been awake for days, probably scoping through the nearest elemental settlements until they found out about our little getaway themselves. And from the frantic look in their eyes, they knew this was their only chance.

I was all set to fight my way out of here or go down trying but I needed to make sure that Sheira was with me. She was chewing her lip anxiously but when she caught me looking at her she sighed.

"I just want you to know that you'll be paying me back for the next three of your mortal lives."

"Fair enough." Flames leapt to my fingers, crackling like a bonfire and spitting sparks while shards of ice curled around Sheira's hands, her gloves feeding more energy into her power. "Sorry about this you old bird, but we're going down swinging."

Her lips curled into a vicious snarl. "So be it. Campers, ATTACK!"

Not all of them responded instantly. Some hesitated, notably those wearing red and blue but for everyone else we were fair game. Sheira twisted round, her back pressing against mine as she flung a wave of sharp, blade like crystals at the advancing legions. She would have to take care of herself as I had my own problem to deal with, or rather my own fifty problems all running at me, pointy bits facing forwards. Sheira's training kicked in and without hesitating two jets of solid flames raced forwards, catching several full on while the others dived out of the way, only just avoiding getting scorched.

I snapped my fingers, a fireball swirled to life in my right hand and I hurled it full force at one of the campers who was carrying a very large and very nasty looking battle-axe. I snapped my fingers again and threw fireball after fireball at my opponents each one finding its mark and driving them further back with each volley of flames. A sudden burst of wind knocked several of my projectiles off course and my attention fell onto a short figure in brass armour, wind whipping from her palms. I channelled as much energy as I could muster and sent it out in a concentrated beam towards the figures chest. The wind managed to dissipate the majority of the heat, but the full force of the impact sent her sprawling.

A boy from Earth ran forwards, his baton driving downwards towards my head. I quickly generated a shield and forced my fist into his gut the moment I felt the impact. He stepped back wheezing and them flew backwards with one wave of my arm and the tendril of flame yanking him through the crowd, toppling them like a winning strike.

A screech from above caused me to look up at the talons of a large grey bird that was plummeting downwards towards my face. I yelped in shock and pushed a shield over my head, the bird spiralling as its talons made contact with the flames. It landed uneasily and then sprang upwards, Phinea's ember filled eyes blazing in rage as she launched at me again her talons aiming to pierce my chest.

A roar filled my ears as Flame leapt forwards, effortlessly pinning the eagle to the ground and shaking her wildly in his massive jaws, finally letting her go so she streaked across the trainyard and landed with a loud bang in one of the carriages. He fell back to my side and pounced on anyone or any beast that came too close for comfort while my constant waves of projectiles kept most people at bay.

Where was Shadow? You could probably see the carnage of this fight from a mile away so where the hell was he? We could use a highly powerful guy with the equivalent of bulldozer for a beast right now, especially considering the fact that Sheira and I were now taking on at least ten people at once and we were being seriously overrun here.

I heard Sheira shriek from behind me, so I turned to see that last thing I wanted in this situation barrelling towards us. It was a rhino, just not the right one. Megan and Irontrap pelted towards us a whole variety of weapons and traps clinging to the rhino's massive hide. Sheira and I dived out of the way of the rhino's charge, (I barely missed the business end of his horns) a shrill whistle of screeching steel and metal filling the air around us. I pushed myself upwards only to see Irontrap turning for round two.

He charged, bellowing angrily, the ground shaking as he ran, full speed towards us. Once again we dived out of his path but this time the sound of screeching metal was not the only thing I heard. The unmistakeable sound of clicking machinery and the whistle of something being ejected from the armour was the only thing that kept my head down, until I heard Sheira's panicked scream.

My head snapped up to see Sheira wrapped in a suit of wires. Her hand pinned behind her back and her legs fused together. I raced forwards and tried to pull the metal free. The wires only seemed to tighten and tighten and there was no way I was going to get this off without causing Sheira pain. I heard Irontrap below once again and I saw Megan's smug face grinning at us, her job half done. She clicked her tongue and Irontrap raced forwards, his armour gleaming viciously in the moonlight as her ran towards me like an unstoppable train train barrelling down the tracks as I was helpless to do anything but summon fire to my hands and wait for the inevitable.

And then Irontrap went flying. I blinked in shock as one second Irontrap had been directly in front of me and the next he was flying very fast in the opposite direction before crashing straight through one of the steel carriages like it was made of butter. I turned back to the large black object that had hit him, and then it was my turn to feel smug. Crash stood tall above the rest, doubling the height of the tallest beast by far, and there sat cool as a cucumber on his beasts back was Shadow.

"Took you bloody long enough!" I yelled as Crash shook his massive head in greeting.

"I had to fight my way here," Shadow protested, "though it seems that I arrived right on time."

"Who the hell are you!" the Harpy screamed, running forwards to this new contender.

Not a second later Megan and Irontrap burst from the twisted metal both visibly seething at getting thrown around like a rag doll. "WHO DID THAT!" she bellowed. "WHO DARES THINK That they...could...do that?" Megan's voice died spectacularly. They both gaped at the sight at what had hit them. Crash was twice the size of Irontrap and probably could have crushed him with one foot without even thinking about it. Every now and again you needed something to put Crash's ridiculous size into perspective and to remind yourself that nothing should be that big.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!" the Harpy screamed again.

Shadow rolled his eyes and threw something at me followed by a pulse of darkness. A stylus landed at my feet, followed by a sigil forming from the swirling blackness. I quickly started tracing the sigil onto one of the flat pieces of metal connecting the wires hoping that the fact that I couldn't draw for toffee wouldn't affect the situation. In the meantime, Shadow had begun to talk.

"Well, well, well, seems like you lot aren't as friendly as I was expecting."

"Who. Are. You!?" the harpy said warningly.

"I'm nobody. I'm just the poor fool that's helping these two idiots out, making sure they stay on track, making sure they don't die. You know, stuff that you should probably be helping out with, the Old Bird is it?"

"Elaine Harper," she growled.

He snapped his fingers. "The Harpy! That was it! Oh, don't look like that, they all call you it."

The Harpy's back straightened out. Business like. "You don't have to fight with us, we can help you out, give you whatever you want - what's so funny?"

"Nothing, I've just realised that you're one of those people."

The Harpy frowned, "what does that mean?"

"You think you can buy the world. You think you can give people what they want, and they'll be eating out of the palm of your hand. You like a little bit of control over everything. Now that...that's dangerous."

"A lot of people are like that."

"Including Molly. The only thing separating you two is your ideals and yet you're happy to let two little kids die, so maybe you're not that different."

"I'm not killing them!"

"You may as well be watching, holding the tool that could save their lives and yet you keep watching. Tell me how that doesn't make you a murderer."

The Harpy didn't say anything. She didn't respond. She just stood there her mouth open as she desperately fought for an argument. But nothing came.

"Just what I thought. Anyway, you couldn't change my mind if you wanted to. I might have developed a few personality flaws over the years but one thing that remains untarnished is my honour. I always keep my word."

The wire trap sprung open and Sheira leapt to her feet as Megan finally recovered her voice. "Then you're in our way, so we'll have to go through you."

"You're going to regret the day you were chosen," Irontrap swung his horned head, but failed fabulously to look intimidating next to Crash.

Crash feinted forwards and Irontrap shot backwards like he'd be stung. "I'd like to see you try, you little pipsqueak. Come at me without your armour and then we'll see if I can throw you into the next county!"

Shadow patted the side of Crash's leathery hide. "Hey, relax big guy that tin can is your midnight snack."

The campers settled back into their battle formations, beasts snapping and snarling by their masters side. Irontrap looked particularly menacing as his armour had suddenly grown vicious spikes and what appeared to be a rocket launcher. A dark grey veil curled around the Harpy and flickers of ember flashed menacingly in the dark. Meanwhile Shadow just looked bored with the while affair. It was like this wasn't even going to be difficult for him (and let's be honest it probably wasn't) so it wasn't going to be fun.

"Oi Shadow! Don't kill anybody, we're actually kind of fond of some of these idiots!" Sheira yelled.

Shadow's shoulders sagged. "Oh, come on, you're just dragging all the fun out of it now. But fine, I won't kill anyone and you lot head towards the north entrance."

"What are we looking for?" she asked.

Shadow rolled his eyes again. "It's the most obnoxious thing you've ever seen. You can't miss it."

Shadow smirked and then vanished, leaving nothing but a trail of darkness swirling into Crash. Crash's eyes opened, now gleaming red as shadow was now the one in control. "Oh, and one more thing," he said, a knowing glint in his eyes. "I highly advise you run for it."

And with that he rose onto his back legs, somehow towering higher than the tallest engine as Sheira and I turned and bolted towards the north side. I turned over my shoulder to see blackness swirling round his feet as he suddenly brought that power down. The ground splintered as a wave of shadows raced outwards, engulfing all and giving us the chance to vanish into the night.

***

I'm back! Schools starting soon so the next chapter might take a little longer to appear but it will... eventually. In the mean time give this chapter a vote if you enjoyed it (It really helps authors out) and leave a comment about who your favourite character is, I always love finding out.
See you next time x