April 18, 2004 – 21:00
Sonylla was running, glancing once in a while behind her.
"What happened in there?" said Coralis through mind-link.
"We walked into a trap. Tobly received a tip regarding cursed weapons hidden in a building under construction in Calgary. I was sent there with Clara to investigate. There never were cursed weapons in there," said Sonylla, sending fireballs behind her.
A laser passed through her elbow. Coralis felt it and focused on healing it. Understanding the situation, she sat down on the floor, where she was.
"Don't worry guys, I think I got this," said Coralis, her eyes still shut.
"What's going on?" said Sebastian.
Frank kneeled beside her, worried. He saw the back of her right shoulder blade turning red and black.
"Sonylla and Clara in Calgary. Trap. Will tell more in a bit."
Coralis tried to look through Sonylla's eyes.
"We tried to fight them, but more came. They killed Clara on the top floor. I'm trying to get to the exit downstairs, but I'm still on one of the upper floors."
"I see a window ahead of you. Do you have your stick with you?"
"Yes, but they got the building surrounded and I'm not as skilled as you riding it."
"On which floor are you?"
"I'm on the tenth floor I think," said Sonylla as she dodged a laser beam. "There's five of them on this floor, I think. When I got to the staircase, more came up, so I exited on whichever floor I got to."
"Your stick is in your cloak, right?"
"Yes, I got the keychain version like yours."
"Go straight to the window and let me in. We will turn it into air and jump off. Let me handle getting you out of there on your stick, and you focus on throwing fireballs their way."
Coralis took a deep breath and rested both hands on the floor. She channelled her inner energy and followed her bond to Sonylla's body, as they practiced. She entered her mind and let her energy spread to her body. Sonylla was approaching the window at high speed.
While Sonylla used her left hand to send a fireball behind her, hitting the head of one of her attackers, Coralis used her right one to turn the window into a thin layer of air and ran through it.
"Grab your stick."
Sonylla grabbed it with her left hand, then used her right one to throw another fireball behind her as she jumped through the window. Coralis let her energy flow to her left hand and control it to jump over the stick and stabilize her altitude using both. Through Sonylla's eyes, Coralis saw six men facing them. She took a sharp turn upward.
"Try to hit them with fireballs using your left hand, I'll be fine to ride us out of here using the right one. Just focus on hitting them and I'll focus on losing them."
"Are they the same people who tried to capture you 6 months ago?"
"I think so, but I'm not sure. Can't say I had a good look at them, but they were just as organized and coordinated as these guys are."
Frank saw her right ear turning red and black.
"Luv, what's going on? Please tell me you're okay?"
Coralis nodded to him. She could hear what Frank was telling her, but she didn't want to get distracted and lose her focus.
"I'm flying Sonylla out of the danger zone. Nothing I can't heal."
"Should I contact High Mage Finnas?" said Sebastian.
Coralis nodded to him.
"Clara is down."
Sonylla burned down one of her pursuers, and another one.
"If I weren't running for my life, I'd find this fun," said Sonylla. "Thankfully we're not in wildfire season."
"Sebastian is reaching out for High Mage Finnas I think," said Coralis as she took a sharp turn right and narrowly passed between two masked females wearing dark brown cloaks.
She took another turn left as Sonylla hit the woman to their left.
"Of course, Sebastian is at your place. Why again am I forgetting that you two are almost always together?"
"That's what happens when two flyball team members get into relationships with siblings and start working alongside the same people outside the field," said Coralis as she took a turn downward and spiralled on herself so that Sonylla could send a fireball upward toward one of their remaining pursuers. "You and I usually see each other at training, but not much outside of that. It's probably why you're forgetting that me and Sebastian have connections from outside the CMMA."
"Yeah, well, right now I'm thankful we took High Mage Finnas' advice," said Sonylla as she saw their last pursuer on fire and falling off his stick. "A twinning bond with a professional flyball player is what is saving my ass right now. We're making the best team out there, that's for sure."
Coralis stabilized their altitude and saw a tall building ahead of her.
"I'm going to land on that building and relay to Sebastian what exactly happened. We didn't think about sending coordinates from your hologram, but there would be six burned bodies to retrieve on the ground before humans stumbled onto them. Send me the location of where you were sent to on my hologram, so High Mage Finnas can send a crew there to retrieve Clara's body and have the tip you received investigated."
"Thank you for your assistance. How exhausted are you?"
"We're in this til' death tear us part, you'd do the same for me. I am very exhausted, but I think Sebastian and Frank are trying to get me to drink a mighty monster juice," said Coralis as she landed on the rooftop. "I'll get back to myself before they force it down my throat. I'll send some of its energy your way."
Coralis went back to herself and opened her eyes.
"FINALLY! You scared me, I thought I was gonna lose you for a minute," said Frank, who was still kneeling beside her, his arm wrapped tight around her back, his other hand holding hers on the ground.
Sebastian was crouched in front of her, handing her a vial of mighty monster juice. Stephanie sat on the floor beside Sebastian, on her other side, and she was holding Sebastian's hologram. High Mage Finnas' holographic image floated above it.
"Blue Thunder, what happened tonight? Did Agent Sonylla Windflame get captured?" said High Mage Finnas as she drank the content of the mighty monster juice vial in one sip.
"She's fine now. General Tobly received a false tip regarding cursed weapons in Calgary. He sent Sonylla and Clara there, but it was a trap. I'm not sure, but I think it was the same people that tried to capture me 6 months ago," said Coralis, glancing at Frank.
"You said Clara was down," said Sebastian.
"That's what Sonylla told me. She was running for her life when I got into her. I didn't see Clara," said Coralis as she received a set of coordinates from Sonylla on her hologram. "These are the coordinates of where she was sent with Clara. They were on the top floor when Clara got killed."
"How did you escape?" said Stephanie, watching her sister-in-law's injuries gradually fading.
"I got her to jump off a window with her stick out. The building was surrounded. I maneuvered us out of there while she threw fireballs at the pursuers, so there will also be bodies to retrieve between that building and the one I landed on to get back to myself."
"I tried to give you a might monster juice when I saw your head looping. Frank even tried to grab your hand to make you hold it," said Sebastian.
"I think I felt that. We had just taken down our last pursuers and I was on my way to land us. It was weird. I could hear you and Frank talking at first, in the background, but I couldn't get distracted, so I think at some point I tuned out your voices. Then as I was landing on the building, I felt exhausted, yeah, but I felt as if you were about to team up to shove it down my throat."
Frank and Sebastian chuckled.
"That was a close one for both of you. You saved Sonylla tonight, but we could also have lost you both. I will have the tip they received investigated, but I will not have you send me an official report of what happened. Your twinning bond to Sonylla must remain a secret. Have a good night."
In the morning, Frank was watching the news report on the television when Coralis woke up.
"Luv, the building Sonylla escaped from last night was in Calgary, right? Was it a 12-floor building in construction?"
"It was a building in construction in Calgary, yes, but I'm not sure how many floors it had. A little bit over 10, I think, but can't tell for sure, why?"
"Because the press is now saying that she set it on fire, to hide evidence of a demon summoning attempt. She now ranks 28th."