Aria cursed under her breath. This wasn't good. She and the rest of the guys at the academy had been looking for Crystal for around an hour now, and they had found nothing. The woods were empty, her room was less filled and she wasn't there either, and she wasn't in any other rooms or facilities. She sighed.
      "Anyone find anything yet?" she called, hoping somebody would reply with a yes.
      "No, none that I can find!" yelled Cody, and everyone else had similar responses. Shít. This was not good. And out of all the people at the academy, Aria never thought Crystal would be one to run away... Or maybe she didn't run away, maybe she just left to get some work done... Yeah, that probably was it. Crystal was completely fine, it was all ok, she would most likely be back tomorrow.

Stop that, Aria. Listen to yourself - how can you allow yourself to be so laid back about this? You're useless most of the time anyways, so do something this time! For all you know, Crystal is lying dead in a hole somewhere! Stay vigilant, don't assume because you don't want to believe things can go wrong!

She sighed. Slowly, she turned and walked back to the others, thinking about the whole situation.
      "Don't worry, Crystal. We're gonna find you - just you wait!" she whispered to herself. This boosted her confidence about it, and that was good because a lower self-esteem was not what she needed right now, it would only get in the way of what needed to be done.

     "Anything?" she asked sullenly. Everybody shook their heads, obviously worried for Crystal. "Dammit..." she muttered, "We need to look harder!" she yelled in frustration.
     "Hey, we're all trying our best to find Crystal - you're not any different..." snapped Ethan. Aria hesitated.
     "Sorry... You're right..." she replied. Ethan stayed quiet. Cody slammed his fist on a table.
     "We need to think, dammit! Where could she have gone and why?" he commented in frustration. Jacob nodded, tapping his index finger against his thumb in a quick rhythm, making quiet ting noises every time they hit.
     "I...I think I might have an idea of where she could have gone..." said Alura slowly, "But I don't think I can... Oh, whatever, we're not going to find her if I don't tell you... So basically, Crystal told me a while ago that whenever she needs to think, or whenever she wants some time to herself, there's this little grove kinda thing near the edge of the woods, but I don't remember where exactly she told me it was... But at least it's a clue, right?"
     Jacob nodded in approval, "We can do that - go with a clue in mind, I mean..." he replied firmly. The others murmured in agreement and proceeded to sort themselves into pairs to go together and look for Crystal. Cody was with Aria, Jacob was with Ethan, but Alura insisted on going by herself. Aria didn't agree, but arguing with Alura was the equivalent to a death wish. Everybody knew that. Well, except Cody... He wouldn't stop flirting with pretty much every girl he met.

**********************

"Jacob, come here!" came Ethans yell. Half an hour later, nobody had found anything, and Jacobs eyes were on his phone screen, waiting to see if any messages from the other had popped up on the Whatsapp chat group. That was their idea, text if you found something, and it was a sucky idea, but it worked, as long as they had data... He jogged over to Ethan.
     "Wassup?" he asked quickly, eager to find out what Ethan was interested in. It was a hot day. Really hot, actually... It was beginning to make him uncomfortable, his arms would get really hot, and though he didnt sweat, having both your arms fully burning was horrible. That was why he didn't usually heat up his arms to fight, because it always weakened him slightly unless he did it through his Absorb.
     "Look over there... Can you see that?" murmured Ethan monotonously. Jacob peered, his silver and black eyes narrowing. In the distance stood a tree that was noticeably larger than its surrounding brethren, and what seemed like a jagged, car sized hole in its side, near its roots. It was unclear and wavy through the heat, but both Jacob and Ethan knew instantly that it was what they were looking for - it was somehow calling them to it, as if Crystal was still there, calling for their help. They looked at each other, and nodded in agreement. Ethan rose up into mid-air and water droplets swirled beneath him, the moisture in the air condensing and eventually becoming a large, flat platform of water, similar to a surfboard, and Ethan zoomed off towards the tree, shooting a trail of water behind him as he surfed the very air. Jacob rolled his eyes. "Show off..." he whispered before leaving a message on the group, telling the others where to find them, and beginning to run on giant metal pillars that extended and shortened with each step in a way that boosted him forward by metres with each step.

Cody's phone buzzed. "Hey, Aria, check this out, Jacob and Ethan might have found it, and it has a location attached... Let's go!"
Aria nodded and jetted towards their destination on fire jets. Cody spread his wings and followed.

Alura's phone went pling as a notification was set off. She ignored it, and continued to use a sharp rock to chip away at the stone around whatever it was she was being made to obtain. "Shít... This is painful... I wonder if the others have found anything yet... I really hope they haven't.... For their own good..." she muttered to herself. Her skin was slightly moist with sweat from this painstakingly endless and exhausting exercise. She just wanted it all to end... Why was he doing this? He didn't need to... So why? She yelled out loud, and her frustrated cry bounced off the cold, damp stone walls around her. Slowly, an apparition flickered into existence before her angry eyes, and the tall, black figure, though fuzzy, was immediately recognisable. "What do you want... What do you want!?" yelled Alura at the apparition.
     "Do what you're told, and nobody gets hurt, Alura. We both know what your best choice of action is. If you wanted to, you could leave right now, but know that if you do, the little remaining affection I still have for you will not have any effect on the amount of mercy I will show you or your friends. Or rather, lack of any mercy whatsoever. Understand?" came the ghostly, gravelly, dark and forboding voice of the silhouette. Alura hesitated, and nodded, hating how helpless she felt. "Good..." came the voice as two red dots flashed from the shadows head and it dissipated into thin air.
     "Fúck me..." Alura murmured.

The tree was strange. It was really big, and though it was mostly made of wood like any other tree, the cave at the bottom had stone walls, and there was a slope that led downwards, underground and out of sight. Jacob didn't like it. It was devoid of anything but damp stone, and that meant no metal for him to use if needed. He didn't like that. Ethan, however, was fine, because the slight moisture and the constant 'drip's meant there was more than enough water for him to defend himself.

Jacob's silver fingers ran over the damp wall and he breathed in frustration, not knowing what to do at all. This was stupid. Nothing was going to happen if he just walked around, waiting for something to happen. Jacob frowned. Something was wrong. Why would she leave anyways? And why couldn't they find her? Crystal treasured nothing more than her friends, so the only logical reason she would leave their company would be to preserve them... to protect them from harm, so she could still have what she treasured most... but they wouldn't have been in danger unless something or somebody else was going to harm them... and, being elementals, no object could do anything too bad to them in comparison to another elemental, meaning that only a person could be after them... so therefore, Crystal had left in order to prevent somebody from doing something, and if she hadn't returned by now and if somebody was stopping them from finding her, that person would have to be currently watching them and making sure that they couldn't find her, and that meant that whoever was trying to harm them was watching at that moment, and they could spring at any moment, and they could kill them all, and they could-

"Jacob? Jacob!? Where did you go?" yelled Ethan, his voice echoing off the stone walls.
"What?" came a nonchalant reply, "I'm right here..." said Jacob as his innocent eyes blinked in confusion. His innocent, purple eyes.